Inmate schedules at Siguang-Ri prison were regulated by the prisoners’ general knowledge of the schedule and the occasional reminder from guards – there were no alarms to signal when one period started or ended. In the end they didn’t get to leave early at all, despite Fang’s best efforts to be quick – he was so terrible at folding uniforms that eventually Rai went out of his way to get baskets of just towels for him. And even then, it felt like the incoming supply of fresh unfolded linens was endless. By the time the guards in the room allowed people to start exiting for lunch, Fang’s stomach had been growling nonstop for the past hour already. 

“We have to do that every day?” he wailed in dismay as he trudged wearily in Rai’s footsteps. 

“Yup.” Rai glanced back him, looking completely unruffled as he smiled blithely. “And we still have two and a half more hours of it after lunch. But trust me, we’re lucky. The kitchen works weird hours and the factories give you tough labor.” 

Quickening his pace slightly, Fang caught up to the boy and slipped his hands into his pockets with a relaxing sigh. “Where do the others work?” he asked curiously, glancing ahead and feeling a pang of excitement in his empty stomach as he thought of the cafeteria. He’d barely seen Aris at all today – after staring at nothing but orange fabric and white cotton, he couldn’t help but think that it would be refreshing to see the man’s pretty face.  

Rai didn’t reply immediately as they slowed down to squeeze past the narrow cafeteria doors. It was already extremely crowded, with still a long line of inmates in front of the food window. As they filed into the line, the boy glanced around the room and lifted a finger to point out Zhu Han. “Han works at the license plate factory. It’s full of tough guys but because he has that face, they don’t pick on him.” 

“What about Aris?” Fang queried, leaning out of the queue to see how far they were from the food window. Still a couple feet, but least the line was moving pretty quickly. Workers were inside the window handing out portions of food and rice.  

At that, a shadow flickered across Rai’s expression and he scowled. “Who cares about Aris.” 

Taken aback, Fang fell silent, simultaneously distracted by a squeezing gurgle in his stomach. It was getting pampered, he mused to himself – all that warm, delicious soup and fresh bread these past couple mornings had kneaded his tummy into a soft, wobbly pudding.  

Perhaps thinking that Fang’s silence was because of him, Rai cast him a faintly apologetic look and spoke up again in a friendlier tone. “Where do you come from, anyway? I’m a French-Jap halfie, but my mom immigrated to Beijing when she married a Chinese guy, so I grew up there. Your real name was Luo Shanzhao or something, right?” 

“Yue Shantao,” Fang corrected, smiling back at the boy and feeling his spirits lift as they took a couple steps closer to the food window. Almost there. He glanced back at the table where Rai had pointed out Han earlier and noticed that the dark-haired man was alone. Where was Aris…? Was he still mad about something? Swallowing down a pang that he convinced himself wasn’t disappointment, Fang opened his mouth and added, “I’m from Zhuhai.” 

“Ah, that place above Macau.” Rai made a face. “Are your parents from there, too?” 

 “Dunno, probably,” Fang replied listlessly. 

Rai raised an eyebrow curiously. “Your mommy didn’t tell you?” he pressed, a hint of teasing in his voice. 

“She didn’t give birth to me.” Shrugging, Fang turned his attention away as they reached the corner of the food window, squeezing his arm forward to grab a tray. Sticking close to the guy in front, he shuffled up and held out his tray to the first server in the window. 

“Urk.” Aris’s nonchalant expression twisted in an instant look of disgust. Surprised, Fang felt his jaw drop in an instant grin.  

“Oh hey, I was wondering where you were!” he said ecstatically, all but wagging his tail as the man placed a large bowl of soup unceremoniously onto his tray. Lifting his gaze again, Fang cast the man a hopeful stare, but Aris just averted his green eyes and waved his gloved hands dismissively. 

 “What, that’s it?” Aghast, Fang let out a whine. 

Eyes narrowing in irritation, Aris lifted his hand and flicked a black bean off his glove, smack into the middle of the boy’s forehead. “Keep moving,” he said gruffly. 

Cringing, Fang cast the man an injured look as he was shoved forward by a guffawing Rai from behind.  

“Hurry up or the guys behind us will complain,” Rai said, still chuckling as Fang smeared the bean and its sauce over his forehead. “My ass can only sacrifice itself so many times for you, you know?” 

Uttering a mock sigh of despondence, Fang then smiled ruefully and continued on to get his rice and juice. After waiting a couple seconds for Rai to join him at the end, they set off in Han’s direction.  

“So Aris works in the kitchen,” Fang said thoughtfully.  

At the mention of Aris, Rai’s expression again darkened but this time he offered a grudging grunt of response.  

“Did you get in a fight with him?” Fang blurted out honestly this time, skirting carefully around a sharp table corner as he side-stepped someone. That put him behind Rai, and he couldn’t see the boy’s face as he received his reply.  

“Not particularly.”  

“But I thought you were friends.”  

Rai’s shoulders shook in a brief laugh, but the sound was carried away by the noise of the cafeteria. “No, we aren’t friends. We were never friends.” 

His brows scrunched up in confusion, but Fang kept silent about it since they’d reached the table and Rai became busy showering Han with a bright greeting. In any case, once he’d sat down and was able to start eating, he quickly forgot the issue. It was just a little lonely sitting on that side without Aris, watching Rai and Han talk amongst themselves – though, at the very least, he had food to keep his mouth busy… 

At one point, he happened to catch Han glancing at him. As their gazes met, Han grew distracted from Rai’s chattering and instead offered him a smile.  

“How was your day?” the man said, his deep voice amiable. Beside him, Rai paused, a faint pout forming on his pink lips when he realized Han’s attention had been diverted from him.  

“How was what?” Fang echoed, realizing a second later and nodding. “Not bad, I guess.” He couldn’t find the heart to say anything negative while eating food. 

“What did you do before you came here?” Han asked, voice warm with curiosity despite his rather stiff facial expression. “Were you a student?”   

“Mm, no.” Fang shrugged, pausing to chew his bread properly. “I did whatever work I could find. Temporary jobs and helping people out.” 

“Ever tried prostitution?” Rai piped up wisely, lifting a finger. “With a cute face like yours it shouldn’t be too hard.” 

“Don’t listen to him.” Han sighed, ignoring the brown-haired boy as Rai jabbed him indignantly in the arm. “That’s what got him stuck in a place like this.” 

“Well it’s better than stealing,” Rai pointed out, casting Fang a side-ways look and adding in a mutter. “Besides, it’s not like it matters anymore…” 

Confused by Rai’s mood swings, Fang fell silent, too tired from work and the pain in his hand to deal with the boy’s subtle hostility. He ate quietly for the most part, listening in on Han and Rai’s conversations – mostly Rai gossiping about the other inmates and Han nodding occasionally in agreement. A couple times, Fang found himself glancing over his shoulder to sneak looks at the kitchen window. Now that most people had settled down and were eating, there were only two servers positioned to hand out food. But he could still see Aris in the corner, long hair tied up, the straps of a blue apron wrapped around his long neck and his green eyes gazing listlessly at something in front of him. He had been gnawing on that cob of corn for a while now. 

“Hey.” Deeply distracted by Aris, Fang didn’t notice the rough voice that had been barking at him until a large body planted itself into his field of view. Blinking, Fang looked up into the shadow that had been cast over him and immediately recognized Tao’s tattooed head with a jolt of delight. 

“Hey!” he said brightly, turning around in his bench to properly face the man. Behind him, Rai and Han had fallen silent and were watching with stiffly apprehensive stares.  

At his friendly greeting, Tao’s thin eyebrow twitched upwards in surprise, but then the man scowled and reached forward, fisting the front of Fang’s uniform and lifting it up. “Hey? Who the fuck do you think I am, your friend? I’m here to finish beating the shit out of you.” 

“I’m eating,” Fang protested, opening his mouth wide and pointing at the bits of mushed up bread on his tongue. “Can it wait?” He would have pushed Tao away from his uniform, but his left hand was throbbing weirdly, and he was still holding his spoon in his right hand.  

Tao hesitated. Seeing a flash of uncertainty in the man’s beady black eyes, Fang grinned sharply and took a wild guess. 

“Or are you worried that Aris will interfere if we wait?” 

“You…” Snarling, Tao tightened his fist around his uniform and pulled him up. Flinching as he felt the man’s warm breath against his face, Fang turned his head away a little. From the corner of his eye, he happened to see Aris gazing at them from the kitchen window – it gave him a little spurt of pleasure, the knowledge that the man had noticed him from so far away. Enough that he barely heard what Tao said next. “Listen up, brat. You might think you’re fast and smart and shit, and you might think Aris has your back, but real soon I’m gonna show you –” 

“Nope,” Fang interrupted, blithely ignoring the flash of black rage in Tao’s expression. Tearing himself swiftly away from the man’s grip, Fang ducked low to dodge Tao’s fist and threw his spoon upwards, into the chin. Right hand then freed, he pulled it back and was about to give the man’s shin a real good punch when he felt pain sear through his scalp. At the same time, a voice shouted out – “Stop immediately!” 

Holding back his fist, Fang felt the stinging in his head fade as Tao let go of his hair. They both stepped away from each other as two guards ran up, both armed with a white plastic-coated guns of some sort.  

“He started it,” Fang declared, pointing a finger straight at Tao. 

Tao growled, eyes darting warily between the boy and the guards. “Crawl back to your daycare, you toddler.” 

Both of the guards went up to Tao, tapping the man on the shoulder and gesturing for him to follow. Grinning, Fang lifted his bandaged hand in a wave. “See ya.” Feeling triumphant, he turned his back to the man’s ugly glare and smiled broadly at Rai and Han, a little bewildered by their wary looks.  

“… Well, now you’ve gone and done it,” Rai said dryly, leaning his head against Han’s shoulder as he sucked on his juice box. “You’ve made Tao mad.” 

“Isn’t he always mad?” Fang raised an eyebrow dubiously. At that, Rai laughed, but Han’s grave expression didn’t change.  

“He’ll be out of your skin for a day or so but once he’s back he’s going to declare war against you,” Rai said, waving a hand at Fang. “I feel sorry for you but don’t make it my problem, alright? He’s the one guy I don’t want to share my ass with. And on that note – don’t expect Aris to help you, either.” The boy sighed airily. “He may be a little bit soft on you because you’re a kid and you have pretty eyes, but fighting for someone else – that’s beyond him.” 

“Don’t worry,” Fang said dismissively, irked by the way Rai said Aris’s name. Not friends? How can they be so familiar if they aren’t friends? “I’ve always fought my battles alone.” 

“Is that so?” Rai smirked, but there was a tinge of stiffness to the way his lips curled. “Well, let’s hope that we really don’t have to worry,” he said airily, stacking his tray on top of Han’s and pushing it across the table. “Are you finished, Fangie? If you are then we should head out. Get a good spot at the bench,” he said, grinning as Fang gave the stacked trays a hesitant look.  

“Only two and a half hours, right?” Fang demanded as he picked up the trays and got up. “You’re not lying, right?!” 

Back at the table, Rai’s boisterous laughter was quickly muffled by the cafeteria chatter. In front, Aris was still leaning against the kitchen window, arms crossed, still holding his eaten corn cob as he gazed straight at Fang.  

Their eyes locked for a moment. Then, unable see past Aris’s nonchalant expression – and rapidly starting to lose sense of his own emotions, Fang pulled himself away and quickly cleaned up the trays. 

By the time he returned to the table, Han was gone and Rai was already on his feet, brushing off some bread crumbs from his uniform. He met Fang’s questioning look with a smile and jerk of his head.  

“Han headed out already, you ready to do the same?” 

Puffing out his stomach with a satisfied huff, Fang lifted his hands in a stretch and nodded.  

Rai then turned, a vague smile on his face. As Fang followed him out the cafeteria, he stared at the brown curls on the back of the boy’s head.  

He’s always smiling like that, Fang thought curiously, resting his hands behind the back of his head as they strolled in comfortable silence down the hall. His mother had once said that people who only smiled weren’t truly happy, because one had to be honest with themselves – and their emotions – in order to be happy. …But then what about Aris? Inevitably, Fang found himself thinking about the man again as Aris’s nonchalant stare flashed into his mind. The back of his hand stung, stirring him with a mixture of sourness and strange tingling. 

… What must have happened to make him not smile at all…?