LOVE KNOWS NO BOUNDARIES...Zitao's Background
Title: Love knows no boundaries...
Author: tikibuddy91
Characters: Zitao, Qian (Victoria), Jinri (Sulli), Luhan, Sunggyu, Woohyun, Dongwoo, Howon, Sungyeol, Myungsoo and Sungjong
Word Count: 6580
Rating: PG-13
Genre: College, AU, idekwhatelsetolabelthis...
Summary: Zitao's life before Chapter 3. (A/N: There may be possible multi-band crossovers but they're not as important as the people listed above.)
Warning: There may be some moments of intense (perhaps graphic) moments in this background so be prepared.
There are some Chinese and Korean phrases used here, but like Daehyun's story, there are translations provided in the italic parentheses.
If you like to understand the symbols on the vowels used, here are the rules:
Since Chinese depends on tonal usage, the rise and fall of tones, these symbols direct the behavior of tones.
ā = high flat tone
á = increase in tone
ǎ = sharp bounce in tone, descending and then rising
à = decrease in tone
Huang Zitao was born in the seaport village of Qingdao in China to a family of parents and a 5-year-old sister named Qian. He was only a year old when his family moved to South Korea. His younger sister, Zhenli or in Korean, Jinri, was born when he was 2 years old. Their parents taught Chinese to their children at home while they were learning Korean in school and in their neighborhoods. Their mother was a kind and docile woman, whereas their father was a stern and caring man. The three of them were very obedient to their parents, not wishing to go against their wishes or to make them unsatisfied.
Growing up with two sisters, Zitao was a very shy and passive child. He would play and chat with his sisters inside their house instead of hanging out with the neighborhood kids outside. When Zitao was in elementary school, he was often bullied by students his age and older because of his soft and obedient personality. He would be teased and picked on by his classmates; he did not have friends because they thought Zitao weird with his big nose and the creepy eyes. He did not question his teachers or headmaster, and he simply did what he was told. Despite his close relationship with his family, every time when he got bullied, he never told anyone about it, not even his family. He felt that his wounds were his alone to heal and deal with. He would suck up with the verbal thrashings and mocking, as well as the poking, prodding and shoving. The father was glad to see that his only son was performing well at school, but then again, he was not aware of the bullying that happened to his son. Noticing, after a few months, that Zitao was only hanging out with his sisters and never going outside to make new friends while his sisters did, the mother felt suspicious and was worried for her middle child.
From then on, his torments increased gradually, reaching the peak of physical and emotional abuse that Zitao could handle. He would get sneaked up on in bathrooms and in quiet hallways, and he would have his lunch trays flipped, messing up his school uniform. Zitao did not miss the sneers and jeers from his classmates and from those who knew him by face. In hallways and in classrooms, he could not avoid the mean stares, the gossiping, and the constant whisperings that were audible enough to be heard without difficulty. Zitao would be shoved violently against the lockers or the walls. Female classmates would slap him on the grounds of sexual harassment. Yet he never told his parents or his siblings. He would clean up his wounds in the school bathrooms before coming back home on time for his curfew. When Zitao got home, he would put on a smile and pretended everything was okay.
His father unknowingly joined in on the emotional abuse as he began to question his son’s meek character. Even though he was proud of his son’s academic achievements, he was mad at him for not being able to get out of the house and make new friends. He chided Zitao for being weak, and for shutting himself away from the outside world because Zitao’s sisters would not always be around to keep him company. He said with an air of indifference to Zitao, “Life must not be worth living to you if you do not make friends and connections outside of home.”
The bullying took its turn for the worse on a warm spring day in 7th grade. Zitao was on his way to his locker to get his backpack via an empty hallway, ready to go home.
“It’s a little too quiet,” Zitao murmured to himself. He looked around and there was no one in sight. Approaching his locker, he started humming to keep himself distracted from the loneliness and the fear slowly creeping inside of him. Suddenly, he gave a start as he heard some people yell behind him. He shifted his eyes to the side, to try to see them out of the corner of his eyes without turning his head, and refused to acknowledge his name being called repeatedly. He turned to his right and walked in a calm manner, but when he heard the voices getting closer and the noise of shoes shuffling on the floor, he started to increase his pace. One of the people exclaimed, “The Freak is walking faster! Let’s close in on him!”
Panic starts to build in him. The bullying experiences that he had in the past had never gone that far enough to be more physical. Zitao tried to outrun the mob and sought a good place to hide. His luck ran out when he arrived at a T-intersection, and he could see that 5 people were cornering him, two people on either side of him and one behind him. The bullies had spread out so that there was no way out of the enclosure. He made his way to the lockers opposite him and backed himself up on the metal wall.
“What do you want from me? Why are you doing this? I didn’t do anything!" Zitao shouted to his bullies that were closing on him from every direction. The leader, who appeared to be older than Zitao, walked up to stand in front of him. He gave a chuckle and a menacing reply, “No, you didn’t do anything. To the teachers, at least. You quietly walk though this school without any problem. The teachers are not giving you a hard time. But all over the school, we’ve heard about you; you did something to us. You have been making us all look bad, and you’re not even Korean. You don’t belong here. You’re an alien freak, you’re not one of us.”
Helpless and terrified, with his back still pressed against the lockers, Zitao whimpered and said that he was sorry for whatever he had done, and that he did not mean to make others feel bad. The bullies said that was not enough and was hardly an apology. He brought up his arms to defend himself, but it was a weak move. On either side, one guy grabbed his arms and exposed him to the predatory stares, as the leader adjusted his jacket and started clenching his fists. Zitao whirled his head around in panic and tried to protect himself in any way he could but he was in such a vulnerable position to brace himself for what was to come.
“Let me go, please! I don’t know why you guys are doing this; just let me go please. I’m begging you,” Zitao begged to the guys, but the predators refused to heed his pleads.
The leader rolled up his sleeves and stepped closer to Zitao. He grasped Zitao’s chin with his left hand as he inspected the face of his frightened prey.
“This nose could need a little makeover, don’t you think, boys?” asked the leader. The other guys tittered. With two fingers of his right hand, the leader pinched Zitao’s nose, making Zitao wince a bit. It was not very painful, but for Zitao, it was really uncomfortable to bear. While pulling it side-to-side, the leader said, “It’s too big for our liking. I think it needs to be shrunken a tiny bit, what say you guys?” The guys nodded enthusiastically.
Zitao shook his head fiercely, trying to shake off the leader’s strong grip. He kept saying “no, please, don’t” but it came out so horribly nasal, that the guys laughed like hyenas. Finally the leader drew back his hands and Zitao stood there trapped, and gasping. The leader gave a chuckle and turned around. Zitao was confused but he started to relax, thinking that the leader decided against his own decision to “shrink Zitao’s nose”.
This was a mistake. The leader whirled around again and pressed his body up close that there was no distance between Zitao and the leader. This made Zitao gasp and blush with embarrassment, and suddenly he felt so uncomfortable. He squirmed, trying to back away from the leader.
The leader shouted at him, “What? You never had a person come up close to you before? Huh? Am I making you feel weird?” With his body, he continued to torture Zitao with his grindings and reached behind Zitao, about to grab his underwear. He whispered in his ear, “Is this too close for you, Zizi? ‘Cause I like it when my preys are wriggling and squirming, they’re so helpless, just like you.” The guys holding Zitao guffawed and did not release their grips or move at all. Zitao was gasping and tried to shrug his attacker off.
Zitao cried out with a wince as his tormenter pulled up his underwear from behind, the feel of fabric pushing up his lower region in a painful manner and lodged in his behind. He whimpered at the pain and discomfort, staring in disbelief at his torturer.
“Let this be a lesson for you to know your place in this school. Boys, let him go. Zitao, you can move now.” Heeding their leader’s orders, the boys released Zitao from their grips and stood back. Zitao took a few seconds to look at his bullies, glancing at all of them. Nobody moved in this quiet hall, and so he hesitantly moved one step. Seeing no reaction from the boys, especially from the leader who was smirking at him, he moved another step.
Am I free? That’s it?, he thought to himself. They’re not moving so I guess I can go now. With everyone’s eyes on him, he started to make his way around the leader when he felt a hand on his shoulder and the dread filled the pit of his stomach when he heard the voice again, “Did I say that you were free to go?”
The hand on his shoulder whirled him around and then before Zitao could react, there was a fist colliding with his nose, and he saw white.
Pain…White, blinding pain.
Groaning, Zitao regained consciousness and tried to make out his surroundings. He felt a warm thick liquid running down his lips and he raised his hand to wipe it off. Some of the liquid had entered his mouth and it tasted metallic. He saw the dark crimson smear against his jacket sleeve and on his hand, and felt the warm dried smear on his cheek from where he wiped it off. Blood…He hit me in the nose, he thought to himself. I need to get out of here.
A punch to his cheek. Grunt. A punch to his stomach.
His vision was dangerously spinning when he woke up. At some point in his unconscious state, his jacket was removed and he was on the floor. Zitao could feel the blood still running down from his nose, and from the punch to his cheek, he could taste some blood in his mouth. Disoriented, he felt a hand gripping his hair and pulling his head back, his eyes spinning to look up at four faces of the leader. He winced and screamed when he felt the hand yanking his hair further and he could feel some hair strands being pulled out of his scalp. He could make out the leader’s voice among the sniggering of the other guys, “I only said you can move but that doesn’t mean you can move past us. And you were the smart one.”
The laughter got louder and was ringing in his ears. Zitao tried to scramble back up his feet when he felt something holding his ankles down. He looked to his feet and saw a guy holding his ankles together. Zitao grunted with every attempt to kick off his holder but it was feeble. He could not tell which was left and right, only that he had to get out of there.
A powerful kick to his leg. Was that his scream? A kick to his ribs.
Zitao shrilly gasped for a few seconds. His eyes rolled back as he moaned in pain. Still having his hair in his grasp, the leader yelled at him, “SHUT UP! You ought to be quiet and brace the pain like a man! You’re pathetic, you shouldn’t even be making any more noises. No one’s gonna hear you anyway.”
And with that, he let Zitao’s head go and towered over his body. The holder had let go of his ankles and Zitao could finally move. He laid there in a fetal position, trying to shield himself from his attackers. Zitao felt the tears in his eyes and the blood coming from his nose, and suddenly he felt a hand on his throat, choking him. He was gasping and grabbing at his choker’s arms, trying to breathe, while the leader yelled at him, “Fight back, you pathetic and worthless wimp! Where’s your kung fu and fists flying? Go back to your homeland. You don’t belong he- oof!”
The hand that was holding his throat was released and Zitao gasped loudly. He opened his eyes and sat up on his elbows to see what had interrupted his attacker’s rant. There was a clamor of noise and yelling as few more guys came to the scene to help sort out the situation. He could make out a guy with hamster cheeks and small eyes, a lean-muscled guy with thick lips, another lean guy who could pack quite a punch and had quite fiery eyes, a muscled guy with canine teeth, and a short but lean guy with cold eyes. They were all punching blows and clapping them on the ears. There were two other boys, a freakishly tall guy and a feminine-looking guy, that were a few steps away from the scene. The tall one yelled loudly at the brawling crowd that he was going to get the principal and the nurse. The feminine one came to Zitao and grabbed his arms.
Zitao resisted, thinking that this boy was going to torment him some more. The boy’s voice told him in a brisk manner, “My name is Sungjong! I’m not one of them! My friends and I are here to help you. You need to see a doctor right away!”
Hearing the sincere tone in his voice, Zitao instantly trusted him and let himself be dragged a few steps away from the fight. At a safe distance, he willed himself to sit back up against the wall and closed his eyes to regain his vision. Meanwhile, the young, feminine boy squatted next to him and kept checking on both the fight and the victim.
“A-a..are you okay?,” the boy asked him, his brow furrowed in concern. Zitao stared at him and nodded. He refused to speak.
“Oh! My name is Lee Sungjong, and we happened to be outside the building. It was lucky for you that this hallway was quiet because Dongwoo-hyung - that’s him right there,” he pointed to the guy with the thick lips, who had his captive in a headlock, smiling, “ - heard some screaming and we all went to find out where it was coming from. We were walking over there,” he pointed to the direction where Zitao had been coming from before he was closed in, “when we saw you on the floor with a bunch of guys standing before you, laughing. The leader was talking but he was about to kick you before Woohyun-hyung stepped in. That’s him over there with Myungsoo-hyung, the shorter one, and Howon-hyung, the one with canine teeth.” He pointed to the lean guy, who was sneering at his captive that the mentioned Myungsoo and Howon were holding in their grip.
Sungjong chuckled and looked over to the scene. “Looks like the fight is over. Sunggyu-hyung has the leader in his hands now. Sungyeol-hyung will be back soon, he went to get the principal and nurse. You’ll be fine…er…” he stared at the person he rescued, wordlessly implying that he had not gotten his victim’s name.
A bit overwhelmed with the introductions of Sungjong’s older classmates, Zitao, still heaving, stared back. He was looking back with fear and cautiousness. Sungjong gave a genuine smile but did not pressure him to giving him his name.
“RIGHT HERE, PRINCIPAL!!” Zitao and Sungjong jumped with a start at the sudden shouting. “My friends have the bad guys there! They were beating up a student, sir!”
The boys saw Sungyeol with the principal, the school nurse, and a student that Zitao did not recognize. The student looked too pretty to be a guy, just like Sungjong; he had doe eyes and a porcelain face except there was an air of masculine charm to him. The principal was looking warily at his guide but he looked disapprovingly to the scene in front of him.
Sungjong muttered to Zitao, “That’s Sungyeol-hyung there, always a screamer, hahaha! He may act young for his age, but he’s really a gentle, caring giant once you know him.”
Sungyeol led the principal, the nurse and the student to Zitao and Sungjong, who were huddled at the edge of the lockers in the main hall. Zitao could only watch with a horror-stricken stare as the four people walked up to him and stood there, observing him. The principal looked at him with sympathy and instructed the nurse and student to take Zitao to the nurse’s office while he handled the bullies.
Sungyeol went up to the leader and towered over him. “What do you have to say for yourself now, leader? Did you think you were gonna get away with it, huh? Huh?” He childishly sneered at the leader, who was intimidated by Sungyeol’s height. The boy with the cold eyes, named Myungsoo, snickered at the reaction and watched his friend with pride. With the leader in front of him, Sunggyu was holding the leader’s wrists behind his back, but he was chuckling too at his captive’s scared reaction. The principal walked over to Sungyeol, and with a small smile, patted the student’s back and said, “Now now, that’s enough of that, young man. I said I would handle this.”
Sungyeol did an “I’m watching you” gesture with his hand, swiveling his hand back and forth to the leader, between his own eyes and the leader’s eyes. Meanwhile, as the principal sorted out the situation, the school nurse checked Zitao’s physical condition and ordered the two boys to help him up and come with her. The stranger, along with Sungjong, helped Zitao up and they were led away from the scene. Zitao was oblivious to the scornful look of his bullies but he was glad that he was leaving the scene. Sunggyu shouted to Sungjong, “Take care of him! We’ll meet you at the nurse’s office later.”
On the way to the nurse’s office, the doe-eyed stranger introduced himself as Luhan and mentioned that he knew who Zitao was. Zitao’s eyebrows rose in surprise, and Luhan explained that they were neighbors.
“I have rarely seen you outside of your house across the street from my house. I have always wondered why you never come outside with your sisters. We don’t have the same classes since we’re in different grades. I was walking past the principal’s office when I heard from Sungyeol that you got attacked. News travel fast when it comes to shy students and their bullying experiences. I have been watching you since you came into middle school. I’ve seen you dealing with the teasing and the taunts from your schoolmates. I couldn’t do anything because I couldn’t find you after you had gone away from the incidents. It was like you vanished without a trace every time. So now, I wanted to help out.” Luhan concluded with a smile. “Jiào wǒ ‘gēgē’, hǎo ma? (Call me ‘gege’, okay?)”
Zitao did a double take at the random Chinese at the end, and nodded happily. Sungjong looked nervously between the two of them and sulked, “Aw man, I knew I should’ve taken Chinese 101 this year.”
The two Chinese students smiled, and Zitao was already in better spirits after the bullying. The trio finally ended up in front of the nurse’s office.
Once the nurse had taken care of Zitao’s wounds, she handed him a crutch and a note, saying that he would be excused for the next few days from school, before leaving Zitao to his new friends. Luhan loaned him his jacket, telling him that he would check up on him during Zitao’s absence from school. Sungjong volunteered to get Zitao’s homework from classes he would be missing in the next few days, giving them to Luhan after school. Zitao was looking between the two of them and was still cautious about their friendly natures. Maybe they mean well, they aren’t the bad guys.
“Uhm…why don’t you say anything? I thought we were friends already,” Sungjong said weakly.
Zitao looked around for something to write with. As if reading his mind, Luhan offered him a mini-note pad and pen for him to use in the meantime.
“Don’t worry about returning them back to me, they’re yours to keep,” he said with a small smile.
Zitao smiled weakly in return and flipped open the notepad to write “谢谢” and then he thought about Sungjong and wrote “감사합니다”. He showed them the notepad page that expressed his thanks for helping him out. Both Luhan and Sungjong replied, “You’re very welcome.” Luhan offered to walk him back home, given the condition of Zitao’s leg, in which Zitao accepted.
When Zitao hobbled out of the office with the crutch with Luhan and Sungjong carrying their own bags, they almost ran into six boys who were looking a bit messy in their school uniforms. Zitao recognized them from the fight earlier.
“Ah! Hyungs, did everything go okay? What did the principal do?” Sungjong asked his hyungs.
“Yeah, everything went well. The princthipal gave the guysth temporary susthpensthion from sthchool and sthchool activitiesth. Zitao-sshi, I hope you’re doing okay. Luckily we were around to sthave you from them. I’m Kim Sthunggyu, by the way,” the guy with the hamster cheeks, small eyes and a mildly terrible lisp introduced himself. The other guys introduced themselves, not knowing that Zitao had already known who they were, thanks to Sungjong’s rave about his hyungs.
Zitao shyly nodded to each in greeting, and still having his notepad and pen out, he wrote his Chinese name and then his name pronounced in Korean. “黃子槄 > 황지타오,” he showed them on his paper. They all came close to read it and Sungyeol goes, “Oy, did you lose your voice?! Dang, when we saw you being throttled by the guy, we didn’t think he would go that far to damage your throat! I SAY WE HUNT HIS AS- OW!”
Myungsoo had slapped his friend’s head and gave him a look that clearly said “Shut. Up. Yeol.” Sungyeol whined at him, “Geez, you didn’t have to hit me that hard.”
The group chuckled, and Luhan asked Zitao for his locker, so he could get his backpack for him. Zitao had forgotten that he did not have his backpack because he had not able to get it in time before the bullying happened. He wrote down his locker number and the combination and showed it to Luhan. Luhan looked at the paper and told Zitao to stay there and talk with the guys while he went to get his backpack.
Dongwoo slung an arm around Zitao’s shoulders and said, “Yo, what’d the nurse say? She give you a note?”
Zitao looked a bit embarrassed at the sudden physical contact from Dongwoo and reached for the nurse’s note to show Dongwoo. Dongwoo read it out loud while the others listened, and afterwards, the guys assured Zitao with lines of “Dude, when you come back, if anyone’s giving you a hard time, let us know”, “We got your back, you won’t have to worry about it. Sthome of usth are a bit…unique, but we sthure know how to give people a hard time”, and “Hey man, get some rest”. They did not clap his shoulders in encouragement in fear of touching Zitao’s bruises, but rather patted them gently. Luhan came back and was holding both his own and Zitao’s backpacks, signaling to Zitao that it was time to go.
Sunggyu said to Zitao, “Remember, you can count on usth. Sthungjong here thold me that he’ll help you with getthing the assthignmentsth, and sthome of usth can tutor you if you like. If you wanna find usth, we’re the Infinite pack, becausthe no one can promisthe to sthick together forever like we can.”
Zitao smiled and nodded in understanding before joining Luhan to walk back home. The Infinite Pack stood there and waved with smiles on their faces, watching them leave before going ahead to walk back to their own homes.
Hop..step…hop..step…hop..step…
Zitao grunted with every step he took, and Luhan wished that there was some way to ease the pain. Noticing the awkwardly quiet atmosphere between them, Luhan decided to break the ice to keep the mood light and cheery. As Luhan narrated, Zitao learned that Luhan was from Beijing, and had moved to South Korea with his family when he was 4 years old. He was also the eldest of three siblings, with a younger brother named Yixing and a younger sister named Amber. They had known his sisters for some time; Amber and Jinri were especially close since they go to the same elementary school. Zitao could not believe how many friends he had made today, notably one who was a neighbor and someone his own family knew, within one hour after the bullying incident. He felt a bit elated and safe. Father was right to scold me for not having connections outside of home, he thought to himself, there could be people outside my family who care about me.
Thirty minutes later, they arrived at Zitao’s place. Zitao remembered with a chill in his body that the moment he opened the door, his family would begin to wonder what had happened to him today, and at least find out about what had been happening to him these past few years. Luhan asked him if he will be fine and told him that he should tell his family, because it had been obvious to Luhan that the family did not know about Zitao being bullied, due to him cleaning his wounds and making himself look presentable to his family after school. He asked if Zitao wanted him to help him out with explaining to his family what had happened because it would be a lot to write, so Zitao could write half of the story and Luhan could fill in the rest of the story, starting with hearing Sungyeol’s account of what happened in the hallway. Zitao nodded, agreeing that Luhan was right and it was time to tell them about it. Retrieving his backpack from Luhan, Zitao walked past the front gate to his house, with Luhan trailing behind.
Qian was the first family member to notice something was wrong with her brother. That late afternoon, their mother had gone shopping for groceries, while the father was at work, being a Chinese translator for the Korean CEO of his company. Jinri had not come home from school yet as she had dance class afterwards. Qian was preparing ingredients for the family dinner that night. Zitao arrived home in a school uniform with a jacket over his blazer, limping. What registered in her mind first was not her brother limping with the crutch but the jacket. It was not any jacket that Qian knew Zitao would own. She decided not to question Zitao about it and instead wondered what happened to her brother’s leg that had him limping.
“Tao-dì, nǐ shēntǐ hǎo ma? (Tao, are you alright?)” She took a moment from cutting up the vegetables and made her way to Zitao. Zitao had not once looked up since his arrival nor did he know that Qian was at home so when he heard his sister’s concern, he slowly glanced at her with a nervous, wincing look while toeing off his shoes. He gulped and tried to answer but nothing came out.
Qian felt dread creeping in her when she saw the look of despair in her brother’s eyes and noticed that he was trying so hard to speak.
“Zitao. What. Happened. To. You?”
Qian's eyes widened and she tried to keep herself calm from going hysterical. She was the oldest sister, she needed to take care of her younger siblings when the parents were not there. Zitao sighed and lifted his hand to beckon someone on his right to come in. Luhan entered the house and Qian looked at him in surprise, recognizing him as the neighbor across the street.
“Luhan? Zài zhèlī zuò shénme ne? Fāshēng shénme shìle tā? (What are you doing here? Do you know what happened to him?)” Qian asked Luhan.
Luhan asked Qian to sit down, because what he and Zitao were about to explain, would be quite shocking and not very pleasant, and she did what she was asked. Halfway in the story, Qian could only gape at her brother in shock, and reached out to hold his hand. After they narrated their account to Qian, she could only sit there numbly, tears forming in her eyes.
“Oh god. So that’s what the crutch was for…and Zitao,” she stared at her younger brother, “The. Past. Few. Years. And we never knew? Oh god, Zitao, why would you do that and not let us know? We’re your family!” she exclaimed. Zitao winced before he wrote in his notepad, Father was mad at me a while back, for being weak and not being manly enough. If I came home with signs of bullying, it would make me look weak, as if I could not take care of myself.
Qian and Luhan read it and looked at him with pity. Qian knew that their father had been a bit too strict with Zitao, because he was his only son and did it out of love for Zitao.
“What will happen to you now? Are you going back to school tomorrow?”, Qian asked her brother. He shook his head and gave her the nurse’s note to read. Qian drew a deep breath as she read it. “So that’s how it is, I see. Well, the family will have to hear about this, you know that, Zi-“
“See you later, Amber-unnie! Mama, Jiejie, Gege! I’M HOOOOMMM - oh, Luhan-ge! Z-zài zhèlī zuò shénme ne? (What are you doing here?)” Jinri had finally arrived from school, surprised to see Luhan with her older siblings, and did a double take at the sight of her brother with a crutch.
“Gege, nǐ zěnme le? (Older brother, what happened to you?)…Did you fall down at school?” Jinri frowned and made her way to Zitao to hug him from the side. When the three of them told her what happened, she slowly drew back from her brother to observe him then went back again to hugging her brother.
Luhan smiled at Jinri’s affection for her brother and announced that he would be leaving to go back home. He bade them goodbye and told Zitao that he would come by the next day to check up on him and give him the homework.
“Zhù nǐ zǎorì kāngfù, haǒ mā, Zitao? (Take care as you recover, okay, Zitao?)” Luhan said pointedly with a smile.
Fifteen minutes after he left, their mother arrived home with bags of groceries. The children had already set up the table and dinner was almost ready. Qian retrieved the bags and went to finish making dinner immediately. The sisters broke out the news to their mother as Zitao came back, limping, from the bathroom. The mother had almost the same reaction as Qian when she saw Zitao walking around with a crutch and found out that her middle child could not speak. One thing was different, however, in her reaction to the bullying incident.
“Yàoshi zǎo zhīdào jiù hǎole (I should’ve known),” she said with a solemn voice. “I was aware you didn't want to make friends because you were so shy and you’d rather hang out with your sisters. The students have been bullying you because they think you’re different from them? Shame on them, and shame on their parents. At least some people were genuine enough to make friends with you.” She sighed.
“I wanted to tell you about Luhan who lived across the street but I figured you might have seen him in school often, I guess I was wrong to assume so because today was the first meeting for you guys. His family and our family are pretty good friends, so you can trust them.”
Qian brought the dinner to the table, and all they had to do was wait for the father to come home. So the family sat down and Zitao had placed his crutch aside, leaning it against the wall, while the mother studied her son in a thoughtful manner.
“You know what, Zitao,” their mother said with assertiveness in her tone, “something like that in school can be quite traumatic for you and it will come back to disturb your mind time and time again. Your sister Qian and I will teach you Buddhist meditation as well as Tai Chi, so you can learn how to be at ease and seek calmness within yourself. For now, you’ve suffered injuries so give yourself a lot of rests because your chi is bruised. Once you have healed, child, we’ll teach you. I have some herbal medicines to treat you after dinner.”
“Mama, can I learn it too? It looks so cool, and Tai Chi looks fun with all the arms and legs,” Jinri flailed her arms in imitation of a basic Tai Chi move. Their mother chuckled, “Sure you can, Zhenli. You can learn it once Zitao recovers.”
There was a noise as the father has arrived. The father was oblivious to Zitao’s condition, as the whole family had sat down for dinner. He entered the dining room when he spotted a crutch leaning against the wall, behind Zitao.
“Whose crutch is that?” He implored, pointing to the metallic, rubber-coated object.
Zitao raised his hand, a bit scared at his father’s hardening look. Qian was about to explain to their father, but he held up his hand, silencing her.
“What happened to you, son?,” his father gave a stern look. “I want to hear what you have to say.”
Zitao placed his hand on his throat and shook his head. The father goggled at his son and looked to the others for explanation. Qian explained that the bully leader had choked and verbally abused him to the point where Zitao refused to speak. Speechless, the father turned his wide eyes back at his son before blinking and regaining his composure.
“Why..don’t we have dinner first and we can sort this out later, okay? It’s been a…long day for all of us. First of all, Zitao, are you okay for the most part?” Zitao nodded in response to his father’s concern. “Okay, let’s eat for now, shall we?”
Dinner went on with some chatter and some glances. Once dinner was over, the father asked Zitao to join him in the living room for some talk while the ladies clean up the dining table. Grabbing his crutch, pen, and notepad, Zitao followed his father to the living room and they both sat on the couch. The father patted his lap, and Zitao stowed his crutch near the couch. With his notebook and pen in his hand, he went to sit on his father’s lap. The father looked at him closely, and he brought his hand up to rub his son’s back.
“Son, I want you to take wushu training, once you have recovered. I didn’t think you’d face such a traumatic event, but I think it’s time that you learn how to defend yourself when words fail.” Detecting the serious tone in his father’s voice, Zitao looked up to his father’s eyes and saw a fiery concern in his eyes. “Your mother has informed me that you will be learning meditation and Tai Chi techniques from her and Qian, but I would also like you to learn wushu. It is a traditional martial art, and I advise that you learn it for self-defense and avoidance and not direct combat fighting. You do not fight violence with violence, but you fight with non-violence.”
Zitao’s father sighed, looking down. “I am aware that back then, I have called you weak, that you would be living an aimless life if you did not have connections outside of home. I was wrong to say that, especially to my own child. You are a strong, bright child. You know what is right and what is wrong. Please forgive me. But know that I am always proud of you and of your achievements; the projects you do in school and the high scores on your exams, I have never felt so much pride for you. I am proud to call you my son.”
Zitao peered at him, noticing a slight wetness in his father’s eyes. He flipped open his notebook and wrote two lines on it. “好的, 爸爸. 我 知道 了. (It’s okay, father. I understand now),” he looked up with a small smile.
The mother and sisters had finished cleaning up and headed to the living room to join the father and brother, who had just pulled out of a hug. The family all settled on the couch and talked about what would happen in the next few days and afterwards.
Over the next few days, Zitao rested in his bed, only getting up from his bed for the bathroom breaks or meal breaks. Sungjong and Luhan did as they promised they would do, Zitao got his homework and a neighbor-slash-friend visit. Luhan was aware that Zitao would not be talking for a while and whether this muteness was a permanent or a temporary thing, he promised to be there for him. He and his family had known Zitao’s family for a while, so it was normal that Zitao’s family welcomed him and his younger siblings over without hesitation after school was finished. Meanwhile, the mother had also treated Zitao with herbal tea and medicines to help ease his pains and discomforts from the trauma.
One morning, once Zitao had fully recovered and was walking without need of a crutch, he grabbed his notepad and pen on his way out of his bedroom. The family was gathered in the living room, his parents watching TV and his siblings reading books. Jinri looked up from her book and saw her brother walking down the stairs. She cheered on for her brother, which brought attention to the rest of the family. The mother got up and walked to her son, hugging him. The father also got up and patted his son on the back with a grin on his face. Zitao pulled back from his parents and headed to the couch to sit down next to Qian. She patted his leg and asked him, “Dìdì, nǐ hái hǎo ma? (In good spirits now, little brother)?” Zitao nodded.
Zitao flipped open his notepad and wrote, So when can I start on the meditation and Tai Chi? Qian read it out loud and giggled, replying, “Why don’t you ask Mom and hear what she has to say?” Zitao looked to their mother and she gave a smile, “We can start the meditation in a little bit but the Tai Chi will have to wait for tomorrow morning. It’s already past 10AM.”
Since that day, Zitao, and Jinri, learned Buddhist meditation and Tai Chi, from both his mother and sister, as to repress his traumatic episodes and keep his mind and body invigorated on a daily basis. Zitao had also attended wushu classes on weekends to keep his body fit and alert, but he still continued to choose not to speak, in fear of saying something that would give him trouble. He had kept in touch with the Infinite Pack but the frequent communication got lesser and lesser when they went to different high schools and universities. Zitao and his siblings still had Luhan and his siblings, and when it was time for Zitao to head to college, Qian had invited Zitao and Jinri to live in her rooftop apartment since it was halfway between their home and their schools.