That Damn Kid

"Why did you save me?"
"Pity."
"Don't pity me... or you won't be able to escape in time."
It was a warning from a stranger on a torrential, rainy night—one that Phram, a thirty-eight-year-old auto shop owner, completely brushed off. He thought he was merely saving a cornered stray dog from a brutal beating. Little did he know, that very stray would follow him home, steadily devouring every inch of his life and violently shaking the foundations of his long-sealed heart.
Tiger, a twenty-four-year-old with a tragically messed-up life, had no home and no future. Yet, beneath his rugged exterior lay a relentless, coaxing persistence that caught the older man entirely off guard.
From a destitute kid begging for free meals... he became an apprentice mechanic.
From an apprentice mechanic... he transformed into a fiercely possessive 'damn kid' who barred anyone who dared to step too close to his Hia.
As their love blossomed amidst a gaping age difference, social disparities, and neighborhood gossip, Phram desperately tried to build walls to push the boy away. But the harder he pushed, the more stubbornly, maddeningly in love Tiger became.
"Let them think I'm a leech living off you, I don't give a fuck! I'd gladly be your pet dog for the rest of my life... But please, don't chase me away, Hia."
When the kid was this much of a menace, yet loved him this deeply and fiercely... how could an older man like him ever hope to put up a fight?