Chapter 53: Bonds of family

• The incident took him back to those years when he had first felt an attraction towards the same gender. He was curious and that thought had scared him out of his wits. He so badly wanted to talk about it with someone but that possibility was erased when his father defined what a real man was, a definition shaped with hammering from generations of patriarchy that made Yul lock up his curiosity. Since that day, he never allowed himself to look at any other guy that way. He was a real man, his father's pride, the one who would be becoming a police officer in the future. He couldn't risk it for a fleeting moment of confusion, at least that was what he had thought of it and made him hide in a shell.
• Zeng had been the first guy to make him forget the resolutions he made, to light the same fire of curiosity within him with a newfound passion, to make him submit to pursuing him. Yul thought over the years, maybe things had changed. Maybe he wasn't the same way he once was. Zeng had proved him wrong and he was grateful for that.
• The world may have changed but Yul didn't change and neither did his parents. Yul didn't care about the world but he cared about the people he loved, he cared about what they thought of him. He had been in a shell to avoid any troubles with the world. His parents were one of the very few people he allowed himself to be true to. Then came Subin and then Zeng. One taught him friendship, the other taught him love.