Story and Art Forum

Chapter Sixty-Two: The Second Pillar Much to Adam’s surprise, Seo-ya left Shik to handle the guests’ departure and get him ready for bed. About halfway up the stairs, his stress and adrenaline had dropped enough for him to process how odd that was… at least, to him. He would have assumed she wanted to stay with him through to the end. Looking up at her, her eyes were distant. She was lost in thought, and her face had dropped all its normal pretense, revealing a deep concern. Looking down at Little Boja, he flashed a smile, finally able to feel glad he was safe (and ignore the anxiety that it wasn’t permanent). He spent the remainder of the walk to the nursery inspecting him for any signs of tears at the leg joint, and found the pressure point where a slight hole now showed the white stuffing. He frowned and swallowed, looking up to Seo-ya again, but she appeared still on autopilot. He stared at her face, watching her mouth and eyebrows twitch periodically. Her eyes finally moved when she stopped in front of the dresser and opened the pajama drawer, then finally noticed he was staring. “Thank you,” he blurted out quietly as he looked down at the stuffed tiger. “You’re welcome,” she replied with a hint of a smile, grabbing the top set of light green footie pajamas. She drew in a breath and held it for a moment, then the corner of her mouth tugged. “Maybe you should stick with the kangaroo for a while.” “Yeah,” Adam agreed without really meaning it, then pointed to the wound. “He’s…” he paused, staring at the stuffing for a moment as he hesitated in using the first word that came to mind. Demonstrating his attachment to Little Boja downstairs had been instinct, but now, in the quiet aftermath, he realized how vulnerable he felt showing it. Yet, while he still felt he struggled to understand Aunt Bones, he felt certain about one thing: any attempt to be mature to her that wasn’t prompted by her (like being polite) always yielded bad results. “Hurt.” “Ooh,” she cooed and pouted her lower lip out as she gently brushed his hand aside to look. She smiled slightly after assessing it and walked him over to the changing table. “I’ll fix him up tonight, sweetheart.” “Really?” he asked in earnest as he looked up at her, surprised by this. He had expected more reassurance and coddling, not an immediate and kind solution. “Of course,” she smiled as she set him on the table. “We can’t let him have an open wound, can we?” The pair stared at each other for a few lingering seconds, and her eyebrows rose in a questioning way, awaiting an answer. But he was stuck on who this person was and what she had done with Aunt Bones. Had his attachment to Little Boja really made her change her tune? Or had their shared trauma of trying to keep Shik appeased softened her? Or his willingness to play along with her lately, and he had technically been good at dinner (who cares if that was because he was too busy listening in to cause any problems)? Each time he questioned if it was one thing, he had a darker voice remind him of everything else she had put him through and how her kindness, if he could call this that, was all contingent upon him playing the role of a good baby. “Oh, nephew of mine,” Seo-ya sighed after his brain continued to spiral on the topic and argue with himself. Then again, he blinked as a thought broke through the noise: he had to keep in mind she was rather changeable, depending on the mood of the house. He couldn’t kid himself that this was permanent. The Amazon ran her palm over his forehead and hair as she sank down just enough to kiss his forehead. “You and your little tiger are safe. You’re okay.” Adam stared at her again, his brain looping back to the previous argument with himself. Seo-ya gave him a mix between a frown and a reassuring smile when she realized he wasn’t going to respond and gently pushed him onto his back onto the soft padding. For once, she let Little Boja stay for the duration of the diaper change, and Adam swallowed, clutching the tiger tightly as his mind snapped back from the debate to remind himself that he was presently functionally incontinent because of her. Averting his eyes to stare at the nursery, he was reminded of his mixed feelings on Kang when he started showing kindness. He grimaced slightly, pulling Little Boja upwards to shield his expression so Aunt Bones didn’t comment on it. Either he was a passive forgiver, where he would just let things go if he was around someone long enough, or he was just so desperate for affection that even hers was tempting now. Neither option was great, but at least the second meant it wasn’t so much a personality flaw as a circumstantial reaction. “Okay, baby, Little Boja has to move for a bit,” she said gently as she shook the stuffed tiger, and he nodded, sighing as he reluctantly released him. This gave him a perfect view of her flushed face as she smiled at him and set Little Boja down within arm’s reach. “See? He won’t be far.” Glancing at him and giving a half smile, Adam nodded, which doubled as a response and as acceptance of one of his hypotheses as the root cause: his genuine fear of losing Little Boja must have triggered this nicer version of Seo-ya. Swallowing, he averted his eyes from her at every possible chance. While grateful not to be hyper-vigilant and trying to navigate her, he didn’t want to take it in or appreciate it too much. Seo-ya hummed through the change into pajamas, and he gave one longing look to Little Boja as he was lifted up into her arms. “I’m going to repair him while you sleep,” she explained as she lifted the tiger up to his face and smiled at him. “So say goodnight and you’ll see him in the morning.” Adam licked his lips as he stared into Little Boja’s blue and brown eyes, then reached out and hugged him. At this point, he had already screamed and cried over the toy’s life, so it wasn’t like he could dig a bigger hole to show his attachment. “Goodnight,” he whispered with a sigh and then released the tiger, sitting back with a flushed face. “Goodnight!” Seo-ya replied in a high-pitched voice and lurched Little Boja forward, making their noses touch as she made an exaggerated kissing sound, “MWAH!” Adam’s lips pursed as he looked up at Aunt Bones, and she chuckled in response, turning towards the crib and placing him in. She made Little Boja wave, which he waved in response, and as she stood up, her eyes lingered on the mobile. He swallowed as he reached out for Hopper, pulling the purple kangaroo close as he stared at her. She tilted her head to the side as she reached a hand out and shook it gently, arching an eyebrow down at him. “You really don’t hear this?” she asked curiously. Adam’s throat tightened slightly, and he clenched his jaw as a version of the truth threatened to bubble up. Slowly, he shook his head from side to side, worried any words he might use to explain would fumble the current cover he had. Her mouth sort of shrugged as she looked at the mobile again, and she lingered on it for a long, silent moment before taking in a breath and smiling down at him. “Goodnight, baby.” “Goodnight, Auntie,” Adam replied cautiously, staying seated upright until she closed the door, then he sighed and flopped onto his back. It took him all of thirty seconds to hiss and scrunch his face in annoyance that he hadn’t started the jungle sounds before being parted from Little Boja. Great. Now he’d be left with his overanalyzing thoughts. He moved Hopper onto his stomach to stare at her, rather than the mobile. He drummed his fingers on her feet, looked at the slight bulge of the battery at the bottom of her pouch, touched it to verify, and went back to drumming on her. He looked to his side for a baby monitor, tempted to talk out loud to Hopper but not wanting to be candid if they were listening; once more, he saw no sign of one, but he decided that didn’t mean anything. It could be disguised as a lamp or toy. “Shit!” Adam gasped as he sat up in alarm, causing Hopper to tumble downward. He stared at the door as his heart slammed in his chest; why did he point out the hole? He had just given them an opening to search Little Boja! Shit, shit, shit!! Panicking, he grabbed Hopper’s foot and clenched his jaw as he breathed heavily. Fudge! Fuck! How could he be so stupid?! He lifted his hands and curled them into fists, pressing them against his forehead. He had let Seo-ya’s sudden gentleness distract and disarm him, and he took her at her word. And even if she was telling the truth that all she would do was repair him, Shik might take the opportunity to tear him open first. If she knew how to fix him, she could cover it up! Fuck! Thankfully, his outburst and tears downstairs had used up all his crying for the day, or so it felt. In fact, he had cried more this week than he had in his entire pre-Adoption adult life. He allowed himself a single laugh at the thought that maybe he had cried enough for a lifetime now, and would never cry again. He shook his head at the idea of crying out for him. It might confirm there was a monitor in here, but even in Seo-ya’s current kindness phase, he couldn’t see her not getting suspicious. Or triggering Shik’s anger even more. What was wrong with him?! First, he fucking blows his protection cover, risks Little Boja’s life, and exposes his childish attachment, and then fucking hands him over without a second thought! After a few minutes of chastising himself and spiraling on why he had made such a series of dumb decisions, his entire body deflated on a heavy exhale as he hung his head. He knew. He had already admitted it to himself. He was exhausted and homesick. He gambled that a recording of him getting caught would move his rescue along faster, and for what? Little Boja was nearly decapitated and wounded in action; Joomi was now seen as a threat to Japok’s future of seizing, selling off, and regressing Littles, and… and all it did was make the enemy move faster. He hastened things all right… Just the wrong side. Collapsing onto his side, he grabbed Hopper’s foot and dragged the kangaroo back into his arms and hugged her tightly. Instead of jungle sounds, he fell asleep to a chorus of chastising, shame, and self-loathing. Needless to say, he did not sleep well. “Good morning!” Adam awoke with a start, his eyes opening wide to be greeted by Little Boja perched on the railing of the crib. After a few seconds, it registered that it was Seo-ya’s high-pitched voice for the tiger, and he blinked rapidly, trying to force his brain to wake up faster than it was able. He had fallen back asleep earlier despite seeing the sun shining through the cracks in the door, and Aunt Bones chose one of the worst times to scare him awake. His body was heavy, his brain foggy, and his reactions incredibly slow. “I see it’s going to be a slow morning,” she chuckled as she reached a hand in and pinched a bit of fabric at his chest, then pulled it up to wipe at his mouth. “Must have slept well, Mr. Dool.” “Ehnnm,” he grumbled as he tried to move his head away from her wiping, to no avail, and he lazily lifted his left arm for the stuffed tiger. She cooed at him as she lowered the tiger down, and he put his best friend in a chokehold as he nuzzled his face into him, his eyelids threatening him with more sleep. As always, Aunt Bones kept to her own plans as she wrapped her thin fingers around his waist and lifted him from the crib into her arms. He scowled, feeling the heavy diaper obeying gravity and pulling away from him, and again when she placed her hand upon it, pressing its soft mush against his skin. It was a good reminder of what she was doing to him. Good armor for the day to shield himself from leaning too much into her new, kindly attitude. His eyes flew open as adrenaline flooded his system, and he was suddenly incredibly awake. He pulled away from Little Boja and began scrutinizing him, but she quickly lowered him onto his back on the changing table. Seo-ya hummed as she smiled, reaching her thin arm forward to worm her hand underneath and point to where the hole had been. “See, baby? He’s all better,” she purred. He looked at her briefly and then back to her finger, trying his best to ignore her dilated pupils and flushed cheeks. He reached out an index finger and thumb to pinch the folded fabric, and he gave a small smile. “Thank you,” he whispered. “You’re welcome,” she smiled and tapped her fingernail on the side of the changing table, indicating where he needed to place Little Boja. Tempted to test the eyes and nose, Adam stared into the tiger’s face for a moment, then set him down. Seo-ya inclined her head approvingly and began to undress him. “Todaaaay,” she sang, her face lighting up as if she was talking to a small child. Adam pursed his lips slightly; he wasn’t quite sure yet, but he believed he was starting to miss shitty Aunt Bones. The one who knew he was an adult, didn’t hide it, and laughed at his resistance. “A friend is coming to play!” Adam’s face must have shown the level of surprise she was expecting, because she chuckled. Today? Yikes, Yoon worked fast. He glanced at Little Boja, having not heard whether or not the recording had been sent, and looked back to Seo-ya, his mouth going slightly dry from hanging open. “Uh… who?” he asked cautiously, knowing he needed to pretend he wasn’t aware of the truth, even if his genuine surprise at the timing was helping. “Mmm,” she hummed as she raised her eyebrows and ripped open the tapes of the diaper. After a few seconds of lingering silence, she grinned as she rolled up the soiled diaper, and Adam shivered slightly at the cold of the house smacking his lightly moist and exposed privates. “It’s a surprise.” He sighed and nodded, stretching his arm out to poke Little Boja’s nose. ‘Menu!’ The happy-go-lucky voice chirped in his ear. Adam smiled in relief. “Okay,” he mustered with a small bit of enthusiasm. “When?” “This afternoon,” she explained, picking him up out of the PJs, leaving them open on the table as he was drawn into her bony grip completely nude. He grimaced and tensed up, knowing what was coming. “Bathtime!” The morning was a roller coaster of anxiety, uncertainty, and relief. Uncle Shit was surprisingly in a decent mood, given the events of the night before, which accounted for Aunt Bones’ continued good mood. This was somewhat surprising, as Adam would have assumed Shik would have been livid about Seo-ya hiding what she knew about his immunity from the baby toys from him… Yet, the good moods weren’t unwelcome. Sort of. Shik in a good mood was bad for the grand scheme of things, but good in the moment. Hence the roller coaster of anxiety. Then there was Little Boja. He looked the same, though Adam kept convincing himself something was off, only to then convince himself it wasn’t. After breakfast, he finally checked the queued messages, and none were pending. That could mean the recording had sent, or there was an error and it didn’t send (maybe too long?), or, worst of all, that Shik had found the plush’s brain and hijacked it. That last option seemed unlikely since Adam felt he was still of sound mind. Given the idiotic experiment that ended with him putting himself in a hypnotic state, he had to imagine that if they had figured out the technology, they would have baby-brained him by now. Or maybe they had found the computer, but hadn’t figured out the earpiece yet. Maybe they were faking their moods, waiting for him to activate Little Boja, to catch him in the act. …Hence the roller coaster of anxiety. He sucked on a canine several times during these internal debates, from the playpen he was set in among some mundane toys. Closer to lunch, Seo-ya put on Didi’s on the TV, which Adam allowed to distract him from his concerns, though thoughts leaked in periodically. Then at lunch, he spent the free time he had since he was fed by Aunt Bones thinking about the coming visit. He wondered if he could convince Jeong to say something to Zhang. Make some kind of plea not to side with Shik. Each time he thought of some kind of tactic or request, he could just picture Jeong’s panicked look and refusal. And he couldn’t blame the Tweener. Zhang was scary. 『 I’m going to set up the large playpen in the sitting room, 』Seo-ya stated as she wiped down Adam’s face with a wet napkin while he grimaced and tried to avoid it; he was pretty sure his face didn’t need it. 『 Very good, 』 Shik murmured, not bothering to remove his eyes from his phone. 『 I’ll host Zhang in my office. 』 He paused, scratching at his jaw, then looked over at his wife. 『 Yoon is coming, too. 』 Seo-ya closed her eyes as she sighed, one of her arms dropping to her side. 『 Can’t you send her away? 』she heaved, shaking her head as she spun around to face her husband. 『 She scares him. 』 『 Good, 』 Shik scoffed, giving a slight eye roll. 『 I presume you and Zhang want Adam and his son to have a good time? 』 Seo-ya questioned carefully, eyeing his body language as she spoke. 『 As I understand it, Zhang couldn’t care less, 』 Shik mused, implying his own lack of care as well, and shook his head dismissively as he returned to staring at his phone. Seo-ya frowned but disengaged, having accepted the loss, and cleared the table. Adam arched an eyebrow as he glanced over at Little Boja and Hopper, both of whom he had asked to be brought down in hopes of spreading out the attention between the two plushes. Great. Now instead of worrying about how he might be able to talk to Jeong with Seo-ya around, he had to steel himself against Yoon’s insanity. With any luck, if he could lean into Jeong’s fear of her, Seo-ya would step in. This was her house, too, after all. Adam let out a laugh, leaning back in the high chair as he marveled at that thought. Him hoping Seo-ya would protect him. Shik’s eyes briefly darted to him as he raised an eyebrow, and Seo-ya chuckled as she stepped up to him and leaned forward. “What’s so funny, baby?” A shock of fear rocketed through his veins, and as he breathed in through his nose, he used the suction to pull up a burp from deep in his gut and release it. Then he smiled widely at her. She pulled back slightly, her eyebrows raising in surprise, then she rolled them with a grin as she reached out and unclipped the restraints. “Burping yourself?” she asked in a bemused tone while lifting him to the burping position. “Yup!” he chirped with a bit of a forced giggle, turning his head slightly to see Shik disengage and bury himself back in his phone. A few good pats and he let out a much louder, and from further down his gut than the first, “uuuUUURP!” “There we go,” she purred, leaning her head against his for a moment, and ran her hand down his back to cup the swollen diaper. Pressing his lips together, he tensed up and leaned forward as she squeezed and prodded, then without fanfare or announcement, walked him out of the kitchen, through the dining room, and into the other side of the house. He had seen parts of it the night before, but he had spent so much time preparing and listening that he hadn’t really taken it in. It was the same lean, modern, and obsessively clean look as the family side of the house, though a bit more ostentatious. There was more art, all bigger and more impressive than anything else in the house. And it was very well lit, with striking tones of dark grey and black ceilings and bright white floors and walls. She brought him to a room taller than it was wide, spanning the building’s two stories, and practically encased in glass walls. One glass wall looked out into the central garden yard, one formed a barrier from the water falling over a stone wall, a third was the entrance they came from, and only one wall was opaque, where a large fireplace was nestled into a marble facade. He looked around in mixed amazement and discomfort. It was visible from almost any angle, which was likely why she chose it. Some of the low, white leather couches were already pushed aside, which Adam could deduce from the still remaining imprints of their feet in the carpet where they normally sat. A large, folded playpen leaned against a couch, and an ottoman was covered with a blanket, with a changing pad on top. Unsurprisingly, she walked him straight to it. “Can I know who’s coming yet?” Adam blurted out as he was lowered onto the mat, his throat tensing up as his eyes darted around at all the glass and high ceilings. It made him feel like he was about to be naked on the stage of a stadium, broadcast for an entire audience to see. “I won’t spoil the surprise,” Seo-ya grinned at him and began unzipping the bodysuit that started at the center of his chest and ran all the way down his left leg. It was a footed bodysuit and, having learned to ignore what he was wearing to save his own sanity, Adam only now took stock of it. It was navy blue with happy little dog faces printed all over it, and he smiled at the feet, which looked like the same smiling puppy face but had fabric, flopping ears. He hated it at first blush, but he could practically hear Joomi giggling, and that made it more bearable. Seo-ya pulled his legs out of it, and his view of the room shifted as he was laid back. “Adam,” Seo-ya started after ripping the tapes off, and he frowned, pulling his eyes away from the ceiling to look at her with trepidation; it was never a good sign that she wanted to talk while he was seconds away from being fully nude. She pursed her lips in thought for a second, then peeled back the front of the diaper. “You’ve been very quiet lately.” He blinked. Then blinked again. “Uh,” he started awkwardly and then swallowed, averting his eyes to the waterfall wall. He felt his nostrils flare in irritation before he stifled the emotion. “Are you feeling okay?” she asked as she pulled the heavy diaper out from under him, and he curled his legs in protectively. “Yeah,” he murmured, keeping his eyes pinned to the waterfall. This felt like a trap. She was at her nicest when he played ball, yet this seemed like she was trying to coax the secret adult in him out again. He choked back a laugh, wondering if she missed their stand-offs, too. He jerked slightly when she laid the back of her hand on his forehead, and he couldn’t help but look at her in confusion. She looked up as she checked his temperature, then her entire expression could only be read as a shrug as she wiped him down. “Auntie,” Adam said flatly, feeling his annoyance winning out against both logic and self-preservation. “What do you want from me?” “Excuse me?” She didn’t sound on guard… yet. There was a hint of incredulity, but mostly confusion. And on the bright side, she didn’t stop wiping him down. “I… I just feel like I can’t be good enough,” he exasperated with a sigh and spread his arms out wide to the sides. “If I’m too talkative, I need to let the Ama – Adu – Grown-ups talk,” he course-corrected each time, noting the eyebrow twitch from her and then the approving smirk when he landed on the “correct” word. “If I’m too quiet, something’s wrong. If I’m too smart, I’m laughed at; if I’m too dumb, I’m looked at suspiciously.” Seo-ya nodded along lazily, like none of this was news or illogical to her. Adam’s nostrils flared in irritation. “So I just - I just want to know what you want from me, so I can… do it right, I guess,” he grumbled, losing steam in the anger as anxiety reminded him of what happened the last time he angered her while naked. He didn’t know why, but these types of conversations always seemed to happen on the changing pad or table. “I appreciate that,” Aunt Bones stated with some bemusement in her tone as she unfolded another crawler diaper. “But it’s not your job to perform for me. Just be the Little that you are.” “That’s not –” he stopped, feeling suddenly petrified by the sharp, Medusa-esque look she shot him. Seo-ya stared for a few seconds, then closed her eyes as they rolled up, and she sighed dramatically. “My darling nephew,” she heaved, lifting his legs and sliding the fresh, crinkling diaper beneath him. “This world is a dangerous place. I think you’ve been in this family long enough to understand that.” Adam gave a soft nod when their eyes met. “And you,” she paused, eyeing his body before reaching her hands out and grabbing his chest. She looked him directly in the eye with a purposeful expression and gave a squeeze. Just a little, then a little harder, then a little harder. When his face contorted and he let out a gasping noise from the pain of the compression, she relaxed her grip and gave him a pitying smile. “You are very small and very fragile. That was no harder than opening a stubborn jar lid for me.” She took a breath, removed her hands, folded up the front of the diaper, and began taping it on. “You are a Little,” she stated calmly, tugged at the tapes to make sure they were secure, and smiled widely at him. “That’s all you need to be.” Adam frowned and looked away, disappointed that, as always, she wouldn’t dig any deeper with him. He scratched at his rib cage absently, burying the demonstration of strength deep in his psyche alongside Kang’s spankings, and rationalized it away by pointing out it was unnecessary — he was already mathematically very aware of the difference in strength. Quickly, he was zipped back into the puppy bodysuit and placed on the couch as he took in the details of the room while she set up the playpen. Once that became boring, he pulled his feet in and began flicking the ears of the puppy face on his feet and smiled once more, thinking of Joomi. “What are our cultural pillars?” Seo-ya asked in a strange tone as she stood up, assessing the shape of the playpen. Adam shot her a confused look, and she met his gaze, raising her eyebrows. “Well?” “Oh, uhh,” he stammered, then cleared his throat and listed them as he counted them on his fingers. “Respect, Piety, Kibun.” “Good,” she nodded approvingly as she distributed the toys rather haphazardly into the pen. She put her hands on her hips as she assessed the spread, while continuing in her half-teaching tone, “Describe the first one to me.” “What?” Adam asked reflexively, squinting at her in confusion. She locked eyes with him and arched an eyebrow. “Describe the first pillar to me,” she enunciated clearly, leaving no room for him to be confused about what she was saying while demonstrating no interest in explaining the why. Adam frowned slightly, feeling like he had missed a pivot in the conversation, but didn’t press his luck in pushing back. He swallowed as he looked down, considering what he learned of the pillars ahead of his arrival, and what he had learned since. “The first pillar is about… status and hierarchy,” he stated quietly. “In every interaction, there is a hierarchy that must be obeyed and respected. It exists in families…” Flashes of various Ma family interactions played in his mind as he recalled how people acted differently depending on who was in the room. “Friends.” He thought about Jeong, which quickly made him realize he didn’t have many friends outside the family. “And… coworkers.” His eyebrows furrowed, thinking of Kang’s iron-fisted grip over Japok members versus Shik’s uneasy hold. “What factors determine hierarchy?” Seo-ya asked after giving an approving nod, continuing to adjust the room by moving furniture, grabbing blankets, moving toys, and shifting the walls of the playpen that looked oddly familiar. “Age,” Adam murmured, glaring down at his puppy feet. He knew where this was going. “Family role, job, experience…” He paused, and Seo-ya smirked at him; he pursed his lips. “And size.” “Well done,” she chuckled and nodded. “Describe the third pillar.” The blonde frowned, surprised she skipped around, but shrugged. “Kibun is one’s duty to the whole,” he explained matter-of-factly, leaning back against the couch slightly. “It’s the call to put the needs of the greater before yourself. Like the first two, it can be on a small scale, like family, or a grand scale, like your country.” “Is that what Joomi taught you?” Seo-ya snarked bemusedly, shaking her head slightly as she lifted a rolled-up play-mat over the playpen wall and set it down. “Adoption may be the one that gives you the most status and recognition,” Adam snarked back. “But it’s not the only form of kibun.” “Watch your tone,” she warned quickly, glaring at him as she pointed in his direction. “Sorry,” he grumbled and bowed his head apologetically. Her lips puckered, and she nodded in acceptance, then rolled out the mat. “You know the first and third well enough,” she observed as she flattened out the mat and used some toys to pin down the corners. She stood up and brushed her hands off. “But you struggle with the second.” “You didn’t ask –” “I don’t need to,” she smirked at him. “I know, Little nephew. Which is why I saved it for last.” With the room set up, she took it all in with a satisfied smile and placed her hands on her hips, basking in her own work. Adam fell into thought, considering her observation. Annoyingly, she was right. He had struggled from the beginning to understand why circumstances beyond one’s control, such as birth order, age, and size, would grant power over others, but not things like intelligence, wisdom, and maturity. Why should an Amazon child like Sisi be given authority over him just because she’s taller? It was a system designed to favor simplicity and strength, rather than merit and suitability. In fact, it was very animalistic when he thought about it. But after giving the other pillars their due consideration, he set his judgment aside and tried to see how obedience to a strict hierarchy might be beneficial. This was much harder than he anticipated. On the one hand, the pressure created a sense of duty and something to strive for, like an innate purpose. Kang stepped up in a moment of family crisis because the birth order had made him the head of the family, and rather than sinking into grief and despair, he thrived. On the other hand, it created resentment, like in Shik, who could never achieve enough in his life to gain the same kind of prestige Kang had, because he just wasn’t born in the right order. Then again, as Adam tilted his head to the side, if Shik had his own family, he would be its head. Still beholden to Kang for larger Ma family issues, certainly, but he’d have that built-in status over his branch. As his eyes flashed to Seo-ya, who approached him, he wondered how much of that was a choice or biological circumstance. “A good family is one that obeys the order,” Seo-ya stated as she ran her fingertips through his hair and sat next to him on the couch. “It keeps harmony and order. The oldest are more experienced and wiser, and guide the younger. The bigger are stronger and protect the smaller.” She brushed his hair back with a smile, but Adam barely noticed as he stared forward, his eyes unfocused. He was momentarily stunned by the hypocrisy of her trying to teach this lesson, but he realized that current events were precisely demonstrating the second pillar’s structural integrity by breaking it. “You obey me,” Seo-ya continued as feeling returned to him, sensing her fingers in his hair move to cup the back of his head. “I obey my husband, and he -” she hesitated, and his blonde eyebrows lifted. “His brother.” “But he’s not!” Adam blurted out before he thought it through, throwing his arms out indignantly. How dare she say that! “This whole thing is about defying Halbo!” He shot a frustrated look up at Seo-ya, but her shocked expression sent a jolt through his body, and he realized what he had just done. He felt the color drain from his face as Seo-ya’s mouth dropped open slightly, and they stared at each other as all the goodwill and affection they had built up was sucked out of the room in an instant. “How…” she whispered. And then the doorbell rang.

While I don't object to stories about underage characters, provided it is the characters choice. After all I chose to wear diapers before I was over 18. What really gets me is a statement that the character is 18+, followed by said character; by actions, speech, behavior, thoughts and treatment is anything other than little kid. 

It occurs to me I haven't actually wet my bed in over a decade. And that my current mattress has to be nearly as clean as when I bought it. I do sleep wet every single night. And my diaper does leak on occasion. But I have a reusable bed pad I sleep on AND a fully encased, zipped shut, full mattress protector. With so many "layers" of protection am I truly a "bedwetter"? Yes, yes I am. Per it's very definition a bedwetter is; a person, usually a child, who urinates while sleeping, esp. habitually.

In Worcester new in MA. Just relocated from abroad. Looking for freinds. 

Hi ,I have relocated to the Boston area from South Africa. Please contact me. Little seeking a mommy