For the next few weeks, things were glorious. I was home, with my family again. And I had Haru. Mother and Song were so kind to him, treating him as if he were a member of the family, and he treated them just as well. His spot next to mine at the table seemed to be official, and Mother had allowed him to personalize the guest room as his own. To me, things seemed as if they were going wonderfully. But after a month or so, Haru came to me appearing tense, and I prepared for the worst.

"Harmony, can I talk to you for a minute?"

I looked up. He looked a bit nervous.

"Sure. What's wrong?"

"It's about me staying here."

My insides froze, for fear that he was leaving. I became worried and no doubt my voice shook.

"Why? Don't you like it here?"

He shook is head.

"No, no, it's not that. I do like it here. It's just…I feel uncomfortable, like a burden, as if I'm freeloading off of your family."

I let out a sigh of relief, but was confused as to why he felt that way.

"What are you talking about? Nobody sees you as a burden; Mother and Song love having you here. And I think it goes without saying that I do too."

Haru ran a hand through his hair, bunching it in his fist toward the side of his head in frustration.

"I know, it's just that it doesn't feel right; I feel like I'm taking advantage of them. Of you. I with there was something I could do to help out around the house."

The sudden seriousness in the tone of his remark came as a surprise to me. He seemed genuinely upset.

"What do you mean?"

He looked up at me again.

"Like…I could get a job, pay rent, something."

An idea occurred to me.

"You could work at the medicine hut with me and Song."

He shook his head.

"No, I'd just be in the way. I know nothing about medicine. I mean, I could work for one of the merchants at the market, if it's alright."

"Oh."

I paused briefly.

"When do you plan on searching?"

"The first chance I can, I suppose."

I looked outside, and the sun hadn't yet begun to set.

"How about right now? You're not doing anything. And it's Song's shift at the hut, so I can come with you."

Haru pondered over this.

"You'd really come with me? You don't have to."

"Of course I would! What makes you think that I wouldn't?"

I laughed as he began to rub his chin. He paused when he became aware of the new facial hair on his upper lip. His eyes widened in shock.

"Oh! I'd better go shave first, then we can go."

"Hmm…"

I observed his face, and grinned.

"Don't. I kind of like it."

He looked at me like I was crazy.

"Really?"

I thought some more.

"Yea. It looks…mature. Handsome. Keep it."

"Huh."

He rubbed his chin again, this time stroking his upper lip. I giggled, unable to contain my amusement at his profound expression. He still appeared to be pondering over the moustache.

"Well then," he spoke up, holding out his hand. "Let's go."

I placed a hand in his and he "escorted" me out the door. We walked along the road towards the marketplace, joking the length of the way. It had rained the night before, so mud puddles speckled the streets of the village. Not many people were out strolling, but there were still plenty of villagers making their daily rounds. I looked around at the various shops, trying to determine who might be in need of service. I finally spotted a fragile looking ld man working alone in a grocery store. He was hunched over, trying to pull a ladder over to take down a bag of onions from the top shelf for a customer. The man below him was tapping his foot impatiently as he watched the old man struggle. I watched the grocer for a moment, and it became eventful that the man was not going to move the ladder far enough anytime soon. I elbowed Haru, who was looking in the opposite direction at the moment.

"Hm?"

He turned his head to look over at me, and I subtly pointed over at the man, reminding him why we were here to begin with.

"Oh! Right!"

Haru jogged over to the man, me following closely behind. He placed a hand on the elderly gentleman's back, helping him stand upright.

"Do you need any help sir?"

I stood in the doorway of the shop as he spoke to the man. The man's expression changed throughout the conversation from surprised, to confused, then almost forlorn. I leaned in closer to hear what the two were saying.

"You know, I used to be like you. Young and strong; managed this whole shop on my own for years!"

The man chuckled.

"Well, that hasn't been working out so well for me lately. My ol' back's goin', and these here veggies are quite the load. Some of the suppliers 've been worried about me. Come to think of it, I'll take you up on your offer. It's high time I hire some help around here."

Haru shook the mans hand.

"thank you, Sir. I'll begin right away."

He hefted the sturdy ladder and carried it over to the shelves, dropping onto the ground where he knew that the customer's selection was located and began to climb. Once he had grabbed the bag of onions, he carefully balanced himself with one hand and made his way back down. He hopped off of a rung near the bottom and handed the burlap sack to the shop owner. He was still as the man rang up the impatient customer. The next person in line stepped up to the counter, and Haru obediently did as the shopkeeper asked and fetched the requested tomapples. This process continued, and as much as I enjoyed watching Haru, it became boring after a while. When there was break in the customer rush, I pulled him aside.

"Haru, It's great that you found a job on your first day."

He grinned.

"Yea, and my boss seems great!"

I laughed, picturing the old man. Then I remembered why I called him over.

"Haru, this is great and all, but would you mind if I left?"

I was surprised that he didn't appear hurt at all.

"Sure, go ahead. It's pretty busy anyways, and you can be a bit of a distraction."

I blushed, then smiled and rolled my eyes at his eagerness to get back to work.

"Alright, then. See you when you get home tonight."

One hand moved up and pulled his face closer to mine. I softy kissed his cheek in parting. He tilted his head so his lips met mine. We started really getting into the kiss when I pulled back. I shook a finger at him playfully.

"Ah, ah ah. You, sir, are at work. You wanted this job, so now you're going to do it."

He pretended to pout, making me giggle, then he kissed my cheek again.

"See you later!"

He jogged back to the shop owner and awaited his next task. I stepped outside and noted that it was nearly dusk. People were beginning to clear the shops, going home for dinner. I started to walk back home, but stopped by to wait for Song. She was just cleaning up.

"Song?"

She looked up.

"Oh, Harmony, it's you."

"Are you ready to go?"

She looked around the small hut, and to me everything seemed spotless. Song put a hand to her face, contemplating whether or not it was clean enough. After a moment, she tucked her rag into her apron, satisfied.

"Mm hmm. Let's go."

We left the hut and started back up the road towards home.

When we returned, it was almost completely dark. Candles were lit in the windows, and Mother was cooking dinner. Haru arrived shortly after, and we all sat around the table. Haru looked over at Mother.

"Miss Yuwong?"

She lifted her head.

"Yes, dear?"

He turned to me, and I gave him an urging glance. He could get nervous over the smallest things. He looked back at Mother.

"Would you be offended if I began to pay you for your hospitality? I feel as if I haven't been contributing enough."

Mother noticed his sincerity and smiled.

"Of course not. If you realy wanted to, it would be just fine."

Haru breathed a sigh of relief.

"Thank you. I'll have my first payment in two weeks."

The rest of the evening we discussed Haru's new job, which he really seemed to enjoy. When it came time for bed, I had no trouble at all falling asleep. Now, everything was perfect.

Wow, I haven't uploaded in forever! I'm sorry; I've had projects due in every class in the pre Spring Break cramsession. And thanks to Pandaclaw, Sainglingseas, avatarcatz2323, Sydips, AlmightyTaco123, and Trygger, I finished one of those projects in time. (If you helped and I missed you, I'm terribly sorry and just let me know) Anyways, I finally got this chapter done. I'm not a big fan of it myself, but let me know what you think.