Jeonghan didn’t usually care much about who he had been ordered to kill. It didn’t matter to him, who he killed, or who he did it for, as long as he got paid those were trivial details. That night had been different. Compared to the usual middle-aged man with a face that lacked empathy, the person that Jeonghan had to kill was a young lady.

Park So Hee… The lady lived alone in a small apartment, no relatives, no spouse, no children. When Jeonghan had broke into her apartment and held his gun at her head, she had reacted with an “Eh?” At this point, Jeonghan would have pulled the trigger already. He didn’t let them think, he didn’t let them have their last words, he knew if he did, he would begin to question what kind of person he was killing.

The lady had short black hair, and she had been in the middle of cooking a meal for herself. “W-who are you?” She spoke fearlessly, whilst completely aware of the gun pointed at her head.

Jeonghan didn’t answer. I should shoot her. Is what he thought as his finger rested on the trigger.

“Why are you doing this?” The woman asked a different question. Within her wide eyes, Jeonghan could see his own reflection. “Please, let me live… what have I done to offend you?”

Jeonghan’s reflection was scary, any murderer would look scary, Jeonghan was no exception.

“I don’t have any money, I don’t have a good paying job, this is my only property, I have nothing for you! Why are you doing this to me!!”

Jeonghan pulled the trigger and watched as her body fell to the floor, as her blood splattered onto the objects in her room, as her soul departed from this earth. That night, for the first time in many years, Jeonghan hoped that she was a bad person, a devil just like him. He wanted her to be so, so that he wouldn’t feel his stone heart begin to crumble.

The devil was losing its darkness.

~

When Jeonghan had arrived back home, it had only been seven o’clock at night, however, curled up on the couch fast asleep was Joshua. The blond boy walked right past Joshua and made his way to the kitchen. In his hand, a plastic bag.

Placing the bag into the fridge gently, Jeonghan noticed a container filled with rice and eggs and a note on top. Jeonghan took the note alone and closed the fridge.

Eat when you get back. Eat, even if its a pain. - Joshua

Jeonghan felt the corners of his lips twitch slightly. Damn… what an idiot. Jeonghan tucked the note into his pocket and sat down on the couch besides the one Joshua was occupying.

Again, like an eye of the storm, Joshua was the only source of light within Jeonghan’s household. And that light, seemed to radiate calmly, a prominent presence that knocked Jeonghan’s center off balance.

His gun still had bullets, he still had every chance to kill him now. It wouldn’t be that hard to clean, then he could go back to his regular everyday life. Jeonghan truly contemplated that possibility for a long time, so much that he had taken his gun out from his pocket. Time ticked slowly as Jeonghan twirled the gun in his hands.

It wouldn’t be hard. Not at all. Jeonghan could kill anyone. Anyone.

“Jane…” Joshua’s soft whisper made Jeonghan’s body turn rigid. His eyes widened and he couldn’t believe his ears.

Jane? Jeonghan had not heard that name for so many years. The woman that had been their mother. A mother for him, for Jack and Renee.

No. Jeonghan bit his lips, it couldn’t be her. It couldn’t be the same Jane, that was impossible.

Jeonghan gripped his gun tightly now, just who are you, Joshua?

~

“Good morning, Jeonghan,” Joshua was already awake by the time Jeonghan had made his way down the stairs the next morning.

Jeonghan frowned, “Why are you awake so early?”

Joshua smiled that same smile, “I had nothing to do yesterday, so I slept.” The boy held a cup up to his lips, “You bought the milk.”

“Tsk,” Jeonghan bit his lip, “it’s only because it was on sale yesterday.” He began to brew his coffee.

“You didn’t eat the food I made you though,” It was Joshua’s turn to frown and he faced Jeonghan.

“I don’t like rice.”

“Funny for someone to say that when it’s practically the only thing they own that’s still in date.” Joshua made the snarky remark before taking another sip from his cup. “I’ll go outside and buy some groceries sometime.”

“If you leave those doors, I will not let you back in. Be grateful I haven’t kicked you out yet.” Jeonghan growled.

“Then you go buy something, anything will work, I can write a list for you if you need it.”

“Do whatever you want,” Jeonghan finished brewing his coffee and took a sip for it.

There was a moment of silence as neither of them spoke up, each taking sips of their drinks and enjoying the short moment of silence in the morning.

“Joshua, where did you come from? Do you have any family or relatives? Where exactly did you come from? All you explained was the bull that God led you here.” The question came out of the blue and Joshua froze.

“Is that important?” Joshua spoke, clearly uncomfortable.

“Who’s Jane?” Jeonghan set down his cup of coffee. He wanted an answer, no matter how afraid he was of knowing the answer.

“Jane? Where did you get that name-”

“You said her name in your sleep.” Jeonghan said, “Joshua, are you an orphan?”

The question struck both of them hard and a deadly silence ensued between the two. Still, Jeonghan wanted an answer.

“Yeah, I’m an orphan,” Joshua answered finally, “Jane is the lady that owns the orphanage and takes care of us.”

It is her. Jeonghan gulped. It was the same Jane, the Jane that had witnessed his first murder. His one and only eye witness.

Jeonghan’s hollow laugh erupted on the empty street - he stood up in a daze, the knife still stuck within the disfigured body. He had killed him, and it had felt good.

“J-Jeonghan?” His eyes grew wide as he turned around to see Jane on the floor. That’s right. She had been on the floor watching the whole time as he had stabbed the man. She had seen him smiling. “What have you done…”

Jane’s eyes were wide and full of tears - her body shook. Jeonghan had never seen her that way before. It was only then that Jeonghan realised it. His hands, clothes, face, and hair, were completely drenched in blood. Warm, wet blood.

Jeonghan didn’t cry, but he felt utterly disgusted and ashamed when he looked into Jane’s eyes. Then he had ran. He didn’t know how far he had ran, but he didn’t look back, not once. He didn’t go back to that orphanage ever again, he never wanted to see Jane again. He didn’t want to see those eyes. Those terrified eyes.

“Jeonghan?” Joshua tilted his head.

“H-huh?” Jeonghan blinked, realising he hadn’t been paying attention to Joshua. “Oh… how is she, Jane?”

“Did you know her?” Joshua seemed surprised at Jeonghan’s question.

The memory of Jane’s terrified eyes came to Jeonghan, “Yeah, I knew her.”

“Are you an orphan too? Perhaps, were you at the orphanage as well?” Joshua’s voice grew bigger as he spoke.

Jeonghan bit his lip, “Many years ago I was,” He reminisced, “it’ll be thirteen years since I left soon… is she doing well?”

Joshua nodded, “She’s doing great, got her hands full with all the children though.”

“Did you… run away?” Jeonghan raised his eyebrow, “It’s unlikely that Jane would’ve kicked you out.”

“No no, nothing like that,” Joshua set down his cup, “A few kids arrived last week and Jane didn’t have the money to feed all of us anymore. I’m turning twenty soon, so I told Jane that I would be fine alone. It took a lot of convincing, but Jane finally let me go.”

“So, instead you decided to leech off of me instead?” Jeonghan made the snarky remark before emptying his coffee into the sink.

“Haha, you could say that. I didn’t really think my plan through, I just wanted Jane to be less stressed about it.”

Jeonghan sighed, “She’s always been such a worrywart…”

Jeonghan’s phone rang at that moment, and their conversation cut as Jeonghan picked the call up. “What do you want?”

“I’m outside, open the door.”

Jeonghan’s eyes widened, and he felt his shoulders tense, “Why are you here…”

“To deliver your ammo, what else?” His boss answered, “Hurry and open the door.” His boss hung up the call and Jeonghan let his hand fall to his side.

“What’s wrong?” Joshua noticed Jeonghan’s silence after the call.

“You have to go down to the basement,” Jeonghan said hurriedly as he grabbed Joshua by the hand forcefully.

“Huh? Why?” Joshua said surprised, but complying.

Jeonghan bit his lip, “Don’t question me and just go down there! Don’t make a noise and don’t come up until I tell you to!”

Joshua simply nodded his head and stepped down the stairs. … what the hell am I doing! Jeonghan closed the door and quickly made his way to the door. Before he opened it, he made sure his breathing was calm and his clothes were straight.

“What took you so long.” His boss wore a black suit and he walked in Jeonghan’s house without taking his shoes off.

“You have ing horrible timing. I was in the washroom when you called.” Jeonghan growled and acted the way he usually did. “Hurry and give me the ammo and just leave. I don’t appreciate you stepping in my house with your shoes on.”

His boss ignored him and continued to walk around Jeonghan’s house, when he reached the kitchen, he stopped. “I didn’t know you drank milk?” He held up the half drunken cup of milk.

. In the hurry, Jeonghan had forgotten about Joshua’s cup. He swallowed, “What’s wrong with a little change?”

“Murderer’s don’t change, they never do.”

“You don’t know me well enough then.” Jeonghan answered back, his teeth bared. “Give me the ammo and just leave.”

His boss smiled, “You seem to be in a bad mood today, Jeonghan. Reminds me of when I found you on the streets. Your white hair stained red from blood. Your fearless eyes. How could a nine year-old look like that when they had just murdered a man in cold blood by stabbing him seventeen times?”

“Just ing leave.” Jeonghan didn’t ask for the reminder of how they had first met.

“Fine, I’ll leave,” His boss dropped a metal box on the kitchen counter. “Don’t drink too much milk, Jeonghan, wouldn’t want you to get a stomachache.”

~

Joshua was surprised at how much he could hear upstairs. He heard Jeonghan open the door and he heard the footsteps of another person. He could hear their conversation.

“Reminds me of when I found you on the streets. Your white hair stained red from blood….. How could a nine year-old look like that when they had just murdered a man in cold blood by stabbing him seventeen times?”

In the emptiness of Joshua’s head, a memory suddenly flashed in Joshua’s mind.

“Nine year-old orphan in Busan has gone missing after killing a man outside their orphanage. The man was stabbed seventeen times and died instantly during the assault. The reason for the murder is correlated to the man hitting two children from the orphanage who were crossing the road. Both children are currently recovering, however, they are both alive.”

Joshua remembered watching the tv and hearing the mention of a murder. He had been seven at the time, and he had been in the hospital after a car accident.

A/N: Haha I said this chapter would be late but I lied xD You guys were curious about Joshua's backrgound so I had to add in a few hints. I'm quite excited for the next few chapters, and hope you guys are too! Let me know what you think and anything else you guys would like to see ^^~ 

Shoutout to serenitee and milakarla1230 for upvoting ^^ Thanks to everyone that commented as well!! The feedback is amazing and I love y'all <3