People always say that it's not the fall that kills you. It's the landing.

When people hit the ground, their body dies-but what of their minds? They have a few seconds of complete incoherent panic-surely when the mind is gone, the body is nothing but a shell?

A few bubbles of dreams bursting against her mind, Mei came to consciousness slowly. "What…" she murmured, and pushed her bangs off her forehead. It was Saturday, she remembered; the hump day. She rolled over and bunched her blankets up around her shoulders so that she could face away from the window and thus home in on the only warm spot in the bed: Yong Soo.

It wasn't that they were a couple, or together or anything of that sort; that would imply that they had the energy to do anything remotely romantic, and the last time something interesting happened in this place was when a rat gnawed on the power line and subsequently cut off the heating system in the entire building (mind you, Mei had suspicions about that rat. It had put the expensive heating down for days and the landlord had strutted about with an extra spring in his step.)

She didn't want to get up. Life sucked and then you died; so why should she have to wake up and actually give a shit? Why should she try and do anything at all?

Well, Mei reasoned with herself, if I've woken up before four then I can doze for a bit. She cheered up at the thought.

Blearily, she reached over her foster brother's sprawled body with limbs of lead to pick up the alarm clock, whose alarm had stopped working years ago and now only kept time. Its chipped, plastic face read four-thirty-two.

"Hello, glorious world." rumbled Yong Soo, woken by Mei's movements. "And hello, less-glorious sister. Time to get up?"

Mei made a noncommittal grunt. She sloped out from under the covers and stretched, cat-like, against the bed. Her muscles popped and stretched as her bones shifted back into place. It was almost the entire room, the bed; and that wasn't saying much, since the apartment they were in was smaller than a phone booth. Yong Soo and Mei could only afford the two-room deal: thus, they were forced to sleep on the same ratty mattress.

"Well, aren't you a ray of sunshine." grinned Yong Soo, bouncing on the balls of his feet. His brown eyes crinkled in mirth when she fell back onto the bed with a groan and twisted up into the sheets again. From her view her upside-down roommate now seemed to become impatient. His sharp, clever face could be read like an open book.

"Come on, we have to go to wooork!" he whined, prodding her with one foot before retreating into the bathroom. It was a mark of how thin the walls were that Mei could still hear him tinkering around, trying to get the tap to flow by breaking the ice around it. She opened one tired dark eye, and guessed that it was okay for her to start changing. This consisted of Mei stripping down swiftly and pulling on her other set of clothes-shapeless black t-shirt, shapeless jeans and almost too-big sneakers that had seen much better days. She glued the soles back on with the last of their superglue and was shrugging on her threadbare hoodie when Yong Soo emerged from the bathroom.

"My turn." She darted past him like she usually did in the mornings and locked the door. Another day, another morning sharing a bathroom with your brother. Her eyes slid closed and she bent her head to rest on the cool (freezing, actually) wall. It had been six months since she had graduated high school, six months since she had failed to get the scholarship. And Mei had had no other backup plans, and near nothing save the clothes on her back, her family and a deep ache in her very bones.

She inspected Yong Soo when she got out of the bathroom. He was pale and too skinny to be healthy-and when no one was looking, he let his feet drag. She knew she was no better, when they ran out of the building to catch the bus; he looked as haggard as she felt.

So it was two weary siblings that managed to collapse in the bus seats, huddled for warmth (because this was exactly the kind of bus you don't catch in the middle of winter).

"This is just great." muttered Yong Soo. "Not only do I have to share an apartment with my little sister, I have to act like we're together too. I'll never get a girlfriend!"

Mei rolled her eyes. "Come on, Soo, you're being ridiculous."

He looked from the window to her face, hope shining. "You mean, you think that someday I'll-"

"-die alone? Regrettably, yes, but I'll say something nice at your funeral."

He punched her shoulder when she started snickering. "Mei, I'm serious! Jeez, you're so cold," he moped, splaying one of his hands on his forehead, "shooting down your only brother-"

"-one of my brothers, we're not even related-"

"-fine, then, your favorite brother so quickly and mercilessly! Oh, it cannot be endured!" he clutched at his heart melodramatically, making her snort. The bus was at a red light and the driver looked back at them in the same 'I-can't-believe-you-two-live-together' face that he wore every time they got on his bus.

"Could you keep it down, please?" he asked irritably. "I'm trying to drive here."

"Good bus driver, we shall do our best to contain ourselves." responded Yong Soo grandly. Mei muffled another snort of laughter as they rolled to their stop. Being the only people on the bus, they always made sure to tip the poor guy for his trouble (it was probably the only reason why he let them on his bus). And then they were back out again in the freezing winter day and skidding on the icy pavement.

"See ya, and remember we're having New Year's lunch at Xiang's place today!" she yelled over her shoulder. Yong Soo gave a wave out of the corner of her eye and darted across the street to where the KFC was across the road.

Phase one of her day: complete.

Fun part of her day: also complete.

Or…so she thought.

It was five-ten when she burst into the store, out of breath and with a horrible feeling she was late. The girl who worked the night shift gave her a grateful smile as Mei ran into the changing room to get into uniform. It was pretty cold in her uniform but thankfully the store proper was heated, and Mei gave a relaxed sigh as she took her place behind the register, the other girl already walking to her apartment. She gave a cheerful wave, which the girl returned.

The tea eggs were stewing nicely, a few lazy prods with a spoon enough to get them turning gently. The sausages, boiler vats full of other food, and refrigerators were working well too. After going through all the appliances (and checking the stock) Mei gazed longingly at the rice balls. She couldn't eat any-that would be a waste of money, and besides, she was going to have lunch today-but she still couldn't stop herself from thinking about the tantalizing, in-her-reach riceballs.

Her first customer came in just when she started to salivate. With a startled "meep!" she shook her head to dislodge her thoughts and painted what she desperately hoped was a welcoming expression on her face. "Welcome!" she chirped.

"Mei!" exclaimed the man, and she could feel her heart sink deep down into her toes. It was one of her old classmates. Damn.

"Hey, Al!" she replied warmly, while inwardly cursing. She'd thought that all her classmates had graduated and went on to college out of town. Trust Al to be the only one to stay. She could feel her face warm up as he strolled over, grinning just like he used to. His hair was still tousled wheat-gold and his features still had that sort of openness that made people instinctively trust him.

Yes, out of all the people that had to show up and see that she was a failure, it had to be the one guy she really did not want to see: Alfred fucking Jones.

"So can I have a tea egg, please?" he asked, nonchalantly leaning on the counter.

She blinked, before springing up. "Of course, sir." she said, sweetly almost. Mei hid her burning face by stirring the eggs so that they wouldn't over-cook.

"'Sir'? Who are you and what've you done to Mei?" he joked, taking up a pair of tongs and joining her in getting one for himself.

"Enjoy it while it lasts, beef-brains." she retorted.

Al just smiled inanely (and no, her heart did not just skip a beat) "Now that is what I'm talking about."

Mei tapped in the order (tea egg-quantity, one) and, keeping up the façade, said brightly "Now your total comes to this," while tapping the screen.

He fumbled with his wallet and extracted the coins, handing them over. She put them in, flicked a few buttons on the bulky register and printed out the receipt.

"Here you are, sir!" she said, holding out his change while bowing. "Thank you for shopping at our store! Please come and throw your money at us again!"

He burst into laughter while taking the change. "Thanks, Mei, you're awesome. Wanna meet up sometime?"

Another customer had come in and was browsing the store; she was going to cop it from her boss if he saw that she was loitering when a piece of money was going around the shop without being spoon-fed.

Screw her boss.

"Sure. I get off at six, so I'll meet you for dinner at…?" she trailed off, uncertain.

"That place down the street, with the really good ice cream. My treat, so don't you dare bring your wallet!" he said, grinning again. Then he seemed to drop the swagger for a second and said, sincerely, "It was nice seeing you again."

Mei felt another blush creep up her face. "You too."

Her other customer-a balding businessman-coughed irritably. She gave an apologetic smile to Al as he walked out of the store and listened to the man drone endlessly on about how he needed a spicy-seaweed salmon riceball, and would that be too hard to manage because he did so need a kick in the morning and you look like such a helpful girl?

Mei retreated into the storeroom to get the flavor and when she came back out again, the man had changed his mind and now absolutely needed tuna, thank you very much for trying to find it but he just needed this one, thank you.

But when he came to the register he dithered and thought, well, if he's going to have something salty he must have a drink.

A headache was coming on by the time he left, twenty minutes later. But, happily enough, her job went by uneventfully for the rest of her shift, and at twelve noon on the dot she bid good-bye to her dusty corner and gladly shucked off her uniform. The boy who replaced her had a dour face and mournfully said farewell.

Mei ran across the street to the fast-food place where Yong Soo was and waited impatiently for him to get off work. Her shift usually ended five minutes before his unless he was busy and busy he was, because the store was entertaining a birthday party. The birthday boy was oddly familiar to her, but she didn't dwell upon it as Yong Soo burst out of the kitchen and they both started walking to the bus stop.

"How're you?" she asked as they waited for a bus. Yong Soo wiggled his eyebrows.

"Well, I'm fine. Did you get a visitor today?" he poked Mei's cheek as she flushed a brilliant red and swatted his hand away. "Because I happened to bump into a very familiar someone."

She stiffened. Of course. Old acquaintances did not simply waltz into the very same shop you were working at six months after you graduate.

Your idiot brother directed them to you.

"Im Yong Soo, I hate you so, so much right now." she growled. He chuckled nervously as they filed onto the bus, running all the way to the back to escape her rage.

"Hey, I thought you liked Al!" he protested. "You kept mooning over him in Biology-" Thwack!

Mei slammed her backpack into his side, making him whimper in pain. She sat beside him with a thud and dared-dared- him to say something. To his credit Yong Soo finally got the hint and held his tongue for a whole ten minutes.

"So did he ask you out?"

She took a deep, satisfying breath and said, while getting off the bus, "He invited me out to dinner at the ice cream place-" here Yong Soo opened his mouth-"as friends, Soo. Friends. Platonic. Non-romantic. At. All."

"Aw, my widdle sis got a daaaate! Nice goin'! I knew that having his phone number would come in handy someday!" He gave Mei a one-armed hug, even though they were in public, and wiped an imaginary tear from his eye. "Oh, and to think just this morning you were being your usual, prickly self-ow, haha, Mei that hurts-"

The girl walked away from her foster brother and started walking up the stairs to get to Xiang's apartment. After rubbing his injured stomach Yong Soo followed behind, dashing up the steps and flying past Mei completely, near knocking her over in the process and only grabbing the stair banister helped her from falling. A few muttered expletives under her breath later, she arrived panting at the fifth floor of the small building, the tall man hopping from foot to foot in impatience and jabbing at the doorbell.

Shaking her head, Mei opened the door with the spare key Xiang had given her-he didn't trust Soo with it, that would just be asking for trouble- and entered the relatively spacious rooms her other, blood-brother had.

Xiang was still at school-he was three years her junior, and just starting his sophomore year of high school. He went to the same school Mei had gone to; but he couldn't live with them, since there simply wasn't enough space (and all the apartments they had gone to had point-blank refused to take on three penniless loafers, let alone two) so they had to split up and live two streets away from each other.

She smiled brightly (if without energy) as Xiang poked his head in from the small kitchen and said that lunch was ready.

"Thanks, bro!" she called, seating herself at his low table.

Xiang had enough rice to feed an army-which would just be enough for Yong Soo. He also had some cheap salad-seaweed, pidan dofu (which was hard to scare up, which earned a whistle of approval from Mei), half a duck in a watery plum sauce (which was given to her from the girl who worked the night shift, after she heard Mei's stomach growling in the morning) and a trio of the piping hot sweet red-bean paste dumplings that had become part of their tradition for new year's.

The entire feast had been stockpiled for days, so nothing was really a surprise (save the pidan dofu; that was not only good quality but fresh, which was puzzling). Mei called the boys together and pressed Xiang down to sit. She cleared her throat and held out her hands.

Rolling his eyes, Yong Soo joined the little 'love-fest'.

"I hope that, for this year, we'll be able to eat tons of food, and set off as many fireworks as we can and finally," she concluded, "I hope that we'll still annoy and harass each other and stick together no matter what."

"And find love." piped up Yong Soo. This drew a frown from his foster sister, which Xiang watched with interest. However, the moment to ask questions passed just as it came and the food was getting cold.

It wasn't often that Mei, Xiang and Yong Soo got to eat such a large lunch, and as a result they sat for a good fifteen minutes after the dishes were washed glorying in the feeling of a filled stomach.

"This is the life," groaned Yong Soo. He picked his teeth clean one last time and sighed in pleasure. He kicked out his long legs on the sofa, where Mei had fallen asleep against his knee.

Xiang said little, as was his wont, but his self-satisfied smile was enough. He looked at the clock, lazily.

It was one-fifteen.

He whipped his head around and jumped on his sister. "Mei! Mei you have to go now!"

"Whu-what the- dammit, guys, it's one in the morning-" she turned over on her side, facing the sofa wall.

But, in a rare display of seriousness, Yong Soo tipped her out of the sofa and frog-marched her to the door. "Afternoon. It's after-goddamn noon."

"Oh. Oh fuck," she swore, tripping in her haste to get her shoes on.

Xiang was already writing away in his exercise books and the other two were out the door in three seconds flat-not a bad record, considering-and they ran down the stairs like madmen, notions like elevators thrust clean out of their heads and left somewhere in the land of ten minutes ago.

Someone up there was on her side, because her boss was out (which was good news-Mr. Honda required everyone to be five minutes early) and Kim had covered for her brilliantly. Which was, of course, the entire problem-when one arrives, out of breath and forty-five minutes late to your job, one simply does not have the brain capacity to deal with whatever your friend comes up with.

"Wow, coming to work when that sort of thing happens? You're brave, Mei." Belle, who had never really talked to her before, patted her hand in sympathy. Katyusha's eyes began to brim with tears.

"I-what?" she wheezed. Out of the corner of her eye she could see Kim beating a warpath through the well-wishers and drag her to the locker room.

But not before she caught the tail-end of a sentence "-her brother diagnosed with cancer, poor girl-"

Mei opened her mouth. She closed her mouth. She opened her mouth again and said, very quietly, "Kim-I-am-going-to-kill-you."

The taller girl bit her lip and turned away from Mei, making good her escape through to the tables.

Mei frowned; she changed quickly and followed Kim out the door. It was one thing telling people that your friend's brother had cancer; it was quite another to then avoid her like the plague. She really hated it when people gave her short shrift and her temper was not improved by the fact that she was in a maid costume.

A second-hand maid costume.

Surprisingly, people paid well for young girls to dress up as servants and serve them coffee.

"I'm still going to kill you later." she said out of the corner of her mouth. Kim rolled her eyes (if Mei was going to do anything, she would have by now).

Immediately, almost, the younger girl saw someone attempt to catch her eye. She took a deep, inner breath, and brought over a menu.

"What would you like today, sir?" she asked with a cheerfulness she didn't feel.

Alfred blew out a puff of dragon-smoke. It sure was cold today, even more so now that the sun had gone down; he hadn't remembered that winter tended to land in a soft whump upon the year and immediately freeze anyone foolish enough to not look at the calendar.

He'd been visiting his family during the winter break; it was always nice to see his parents and his brother. His mom was doting of course ("Didn't call us for a whole two weeks! Al, what if you'd been having drunken parties?" "Oh, you heard about that?" "Al!" "Just joking, Ma!") and his dad as taciturn as ever. But seeing Matt was just amazing.

See, when most guys had elder brothers who were either dicks or bossy or just didn't acknowledge your existence, Al had been gifted with an older brother who was smart. And sarcastic. And his other half, practically. People used to mess up and say they were twins-something that Al had gleefully adopted and subsequently spread around the school they used to go to, never mind the fact that Matt was a year older than him and had an ID with a different birthday.

His old school bros weren't around (they were, he assumed, either not released from college as early as he was or were too busy meeting up with family). In fact, out of everyone he'd known at his old school, only one person had stayed behind: Mei Ling. And to be completely honest, he hadn't thought that she would be the one to stay behind; she wasn't the smartest person in his year, but she was the most hardworking and was the only reason why he hadn't failed Trigonometry.

His shoes crunched in the fresh snow as fat flakes of it floated serenely from the sky. He puffed a few out of his face and wiped his glasses, the bright shop blurring into a hodgepodge of color. He placed them back onto his nose, blinking in a yellow pool of streetlight. He sat on a bench right next to the restaurant and closed his eyes. It was nice, he thought, to just feel the soft weight of snow falling on you.

Her shift ended with the customary creepy guy who always seemed to show up asking if she'd like to go to his house. After a firm but gentle refusal, she went back to get changed and Kim started mopping up the blood.

"Has he given up yet?" she asked Kim. She shook her head, and stowed away the cleaning fluid.

"You really have to stop serving him, Mei. It just eggs him on."

She grimaced, putting her tips into her slender wallet. "But he gives me a huge tip afterwards."

"What, still? I would've thought that he'd stop after getting his nose broken for the fifth time."

Mei shook her head. "If anything, they've just gotten bigger." She pulled on her hoodie as she walked out the door, the inside of the maid café nice and toasty compared to the snow outside.

Kim sighed and, when they had to part ways, pulled Mei into a tight hug.

"Whoa, whoa! Is this the end of the world or something?" she asked, half-serious. She could count the number of times Kim had hugged anyone on one hand.

"Just-promise me you won't go around alone after dark? That guy seemed more persistent than he usually was." She replied, withdrawing her arms just as suddenly as she had extended them, as though embarrassed by her break in stoicism. "Please?"

"Sure! Dodging creeps-why not?" she asked, making Kim crack a smile while she walked away.

Mei felt almost as if she'd been imagining the entire encounter with Al the entire day; that was probably why she didn't immediately approach him when she saw the guy waiting outside the restaurant.

Really, he hadn't changed much. He was still tall, still had a way of tweaking her heartstrings (just like many in the grade-she'd been a sympathetic ear into which Al poured his lady-love woes) and still did completely stupid things like jumping up energetically as soon as he'd spotted her, as if he'd been waiting all day for this dinner.

"Hey, Mei! How're you doin' since this morning?" he asked, shaking off the snow he'd accumulated.

She patted some of the snow off of his jacket in the same sisterly way she'd always had. "I'm doing fine. Any reason why you're trying to be a snowman?"

Al grinned and shook off the rest of it, showering the girl in snow. "Watch it!" she joked, punching him (but not really punching him).

"Yeah, yeah. C'mon, let's go eat!" he pumped a fist into the air, drawing stares from passer-by. Mei pushed him towards the restaurant, as quickly as she could. Al mussed her hair up, causing it to stick up on end.

"That's Mei, always lookin' out for my reputation."

She shook her head and patted her hair back down. "Oh, please. You don't even have a reputation."

"They're boring things to have, aren't they?" another quick wink at Mei and he went up to ask for a two-person table, which they got promptly. (This process was probably speeded by the fact that the girl who got them their tables looked suspiciously like the girl who took the night shift. She quickly mouthed 'good luck' to her when Al's back was turned.)

It was a place they'd gone many times back when they were in high school; usually on Fridays. It was cheap and the food was exceptionally good for the price that you paid. The place had no discernable cuisine (except for maybe 'salty') but there was a cheerful atmosphere to it, offset by checkered plastic tablecloths and whitewashed walls plastered with photographs.

Under the warm lighting of the restaurant, Al could notice things that had not been clear in the murky yellow of streetlights. Mei's clothes hung off her, and seemed too thin for winter. Where once they were respectably filled, cheeks were hollowed out by hunger and there were deep purple smudges under her eyes. Her step was heavy and she almost seemed to fall into the plush chair offered.

"Ah, it's been a long time since I've been here!" she exclaimed, looking through the menu. "I don't care what you say, Al, I will pay."

That jolted him from his silent appraisal. "Oh, please, Mei. I owe you one!"

"Yeah, sure you do. Seriously, I'll pick up the bill-"

With a gesture, Alfred called over one of the waiters. "Don't let her pay, no matter what." he said distinctly.

"What! That isn't fair-!"

"Sure." The waiter winked at Mei. "Lucky girl. Try to hang on to this one, huh?"

"Wait, we're not-"

The waiter gave a big, beaming smile and loped to the cash register, where he proceeded to tell every server that passed not to let Mei pick up the bill. She lowered her burning face into her hands, shaking from embarrassment and not a little bit of mirth.

She muttered, "I almost forgot how stubborn you were."

Al merely replied, "Don't try the trick where you order the cheapest thing on the menu. You look like you haven't had food in ages."

Mei staggered to her last job, still groggy from her lack of sleep. Al had had to wake her up not once, but twice during the course of the meal (which still gave her horrified chills when she remembered-how could she have been so rude?)

Thankfully, this one was in her own apartment building, presided over by her own landlord. Who absolutely loved to rub it into her face that she was living on his property, and refused to let her actually buy the flat she and Soo shared.

Not like anyone would like this dump, she grumbled to herself, making her way past dingy yellow walls and cracked concrete floors. The bare lighting made her squint and almost bumped into Mr. Wang when he came out of his office to greet her.

"Good evening, little sister. Punctual as always, aru." He always called her little sister-she couldn't tell if it was an insult or a compliment. Mr. Wang wanted everyone to call him big brother, which she drew the line at. Not even countless threats of eviction could change her mind, and he forgave this fault in her eventually when Yong Soo caved.

"Hello, Mr. Wang." she replied, picking out a mop and bucket. "How are your flowers doing?"

Mr. Wang grimaced. "Poorly, aru. All this frost is bad for them." her landlord watched as she whisked the soap and water briskly in the bucket. Then he retreated into his office, which connected to his rooms.

Twirling her mop, she slapped it wetly on the concrete and started to swab. She was lucky that her landlord accepted this as part of her payment towards her and Soo's rent; nothing would have persuaded him to take in the two penniless foster siblings otherwise.

As she worked, her tired muscles screaming for rest, she amused herself by watching all the water get sucked up by the thirsty concrete floor-until the shiny coat was nothing but dull gray again.

Yawning, Mei crawled into bed, closing her eyes. Her legs were growling at her in pain, and she could distinctly feel her feet peeling themselves in pain. But tomorrow was Sunday, and everything would look better in the morning. The clock face read 2:25 when she finally fell asleep.

"I'm not yours to give." Her mouth made the words, but it felt like someone else was speaking. A man was standing against the sun, and it was too bright to see what he looked like. A rough hand at her shoulder stayed her comments as they went closer to the sun-man.

"You are not mine to give, that's true, aru. Now you are his." said the same rough man who was pushing her. She started backing up, away from the terrible graceful silhouette. The silhouette drew his sword and gave chase as she ran into the jungle.