"Why is he back so early!?" Kris muttered anxiously.

"Is everything ok, Kris?" Mayr asked. The others looked at Kris with worried looks on their faces. Kris became visibly scared and jittery. This was a surprise to everyone. Everyone had known Kris as the fearless man who would stand by you no matter what, so seeing him afraid threw everyone off.

"U-um, yeah," Kris began to speak frantically, "we should leave now". Kris quickly got up and walked up to his room door. He slowly opened the door, just a crack, and peaked outside.

"Ok, we need to quietly leave through the back door." Kris instructed worriedly. The boys were confused, but they simply followed Kris' instructions. They got up without thinking and started slowly walking down the hallway. They did this so robotically that Mayr forgot to put the glass soda bottle away and kept it in his hand.

"Get me a beer!" The boys heard in a man's guttural voice. The voice came from the living room.

"Yes, dear!" Kris's mom's voice replied with a noticeable anxiousness.

In the living room, there was a TV facing the entrance of the living room. To watch the TV, one would have to sit with their back to the stairs. Furthermore, aside from the TV, there was also a wooden table in the center and 2 sofas. One right next to the entrance of the living room and one on the right side of the living room.

Kris observed from the top of the stairs, looking for a moment to slip out of the house. The boys saw Kris's mother exiting the kitchen with a beer in her hand. As she was walking through the hall, she gave the boys a look with a nod towards the back entrance of the house. It was a clear signal that she would try to stall while they exited the house.

"How did you get home so early?" She asked the man while handing him the beer. "Those fuckers laid me off!" he said angrily while staring at the TV.

As the two grownups were talking, Kris slowly led the boys down the stairs, hoping to slip through the man's field of vision.

Although most of the boys were able to walk down the stairs without a sound, Jun, because of his weight, kept making the wooden stairs creak.

"What the hell are those sounds?" Said the man. "No, no it's probably nothing." Said Kris's mother in an effort to keep him from seeing the boys, "Just relax and enjoy a beer, you've had a hard day."

"No, let me see what that noise is." The man said as he got up from the sofa. As soon as he stepped out of the living room, he saw the 8 boys that were walking down the stairs. Mayr took a look at the man. He was a large, heavy set man. About 6 foot 2 and bald. He was around the same age as Kris's mother, and was not the man that was in the picture that Mayr had seen in Kris's room.

As Mayr was looking at the man, he saw that a rageful expression appear on his face. "You bitch!" the man growled at Kris's mother, "You knew about this didn't you!?". Kris's mother simply backed away timidly, staring at the floor. "And you!" said the man as he turned towards Kris, "Who gave you permission to bring people into my house? Huh!?"

Kris didn't reply and avoided eye contact. "I asked you a question!" said the man as he began walking towards Kris. anticipating what was about to happen, Kris's mom ran in front of the man in an attempt to stop him. "They've only been here for 10 minutes." she lied as an attempt to calm the man, "Please just let it slide this time!"

In a fit of rage, the man grabbed Kris's mother and threw her on the wooden table. "You're gonna tell me what to do now!?" he yelled furiously. All the boys felt a bit nervous and concerned, except for Mayr and Kashi. Kashi felt concerned for Kris, but wasn't afraid of the man. Mayr, however, was furious. Seeing what had transpired, his blood began to boil and his body began to shake with rage.

"Kris," Mayr said gently as the man was yelling at Kris's mother, "That bruise we saw on your eye, how did you get it? And don't you dare lie to me!"

Kris hung his head in shame and frustration and said, "it was him. He became physical with my mother and I tried to intervene."

As soon as Kris said this Mayr became so angry that the glass soda bottle shattered in his hand. Most of the pieces fell to the ground, but some of them dug into Mayr's hands. Mayr started walking towards the man with a rageful look in his eye. Noticing this, Kris grabbed Mayr's arm and held him back. "Please, Soju," Kris said on the verge of tears, "let this go."

"We're leaving," Kris said to the man, "please stop yelling at my mother". The man looked at Kris with an angry look. "Get these people out of my house." he said without yelling for the first time, "I'll deal with you when you get back."

Kris knew exactly what this meant, but he would put up with it if it meant that this situation would end.

Kris led the boys out of the house and they started walking back towards the school. "Sorry, Kris," said Jun in an apologetic tone, "if it wasn't for me none of this would've happened".

"It's ok, Jun," Kris replied with a slight smile, "it wasn't your fault."

As the boys were talking to each other, trying to lift each other's spirits, Mayr simply walked in front of everyone in a quiet rage. The crew noticed this, but were apprehensive of asking Mayr about it. Feeling that it was his fault that Mayr felt like this, Kris walked next to Mayr and asked him if everything was ok.

"Why?" Mayr replied passive-aggressively, "Why would you put up with that?"

As a child, Mayr only had his mother. He never knew a father, so the concept of another man being abusive to his mother was foreign to him. He had seen it happen to others multiple times, but was never able to wrap his head around why the woman or her loved ones would allow this to happen.

Kris and the crew went quiet. They simply walked in silence for a few minutes. "My father died 5 years ago," Kris finally spoke, "He died of a heart attack". The boys immediately became attentive towards Kris.

"He was the breadwinner of our house." Kris continued, "He worked incredibly hard to make sure that he could provide me and my mother with the best life possible, but all of that got to him and he ended up passing away. Since my mother didn't have experience being in the workforce, the next few years were extremely difficult for us financially. 2 years ago, my mother met this guy. He was the son of a rich businessman. After his father died, the inheritance was split between him and his 2 siblings. My mother and him dated for a year, and at the start of this year, we moved in with him. In the beginning he was ok, but as time went on, he became more and more abusive. I swear, if it wasn't for my mother, I'd have beaten him with a baseball bat myself, but right now, we're staying with him out of necessity. As soon as I'm able to financially support myself and my mother, I'm taking her and getting out of that place."

Sadness took over Mayr when he heard of Kris's predicament. He looked at Kris with a caring gaze. "Why didn't you tell us?" Mayr asked concernedly. "Telling everyone my problems won't fix them." Kris replied in a sad tone, "I just have to deal with them on my own."

"No, you don't," Mayr said sternly, "what did I say when you became one of my men? 'I will not let anyone fuck with you'. We're brothers now, and if finances are the problem you're dealing with, then consider those problems solved."

Kris looked at Mayr with a surprised look. He never imagined anyone going to these lengths for him. Kris looked at the other crewmates and they simply smiled back, indicating that they agreed with what Mayr had said. Kris's eyes welled up and began filling with tears. "I want you out of that house tonight," said Mayr sternly, "and that's an order!"