It was eleven years ago, he was seven. 

It was raining in the city of Seoul. The wind was chilly and blowing all around, carrying with it scraps of light litter and and an earthy smell, little Chanyeol ran along the grungy alley, jumping over suspicious puddles of liquid and weaving through stray boxes and garbage cans that were now wet from the rain. He held a bundle tightly to his chest his heart picking up in pace with excitement and anticipation.

He reaches a small opening in a fence and ducks under the chain. He jogs a bit to and open arch way in the side of a building and looks down the dark steps before racing down them. Chanyeol reaches the bottom and faces a tall door that was eaten by termites in some places, he pushes through, the smell of musk strong but it didn't bother him, he's been immune to that scent for years now. 

The place wasn't the best, it wasn't a condo or a penthouse that's for sure. The floor boards were broken in some places revealing the concrete and pipes underneath. There were some buckets scattered around to capture water from the leaks. The room just had a mangled, dark green carpet that they had took from a charity donation box. There were dirty pillow chairs to sit on although there wasn't a TV or anything to enjoy, the springy mattresses were off to the corner one big one for his mom and dad and the other for him a smaller one. The kitchen was in between the wall that cut it from the vast living space, it was gritty and moldy but it was better than nothing, and Chanyeol's favourite thing in the world his moms piano was leaning against the wall by the kitchen. He loved when she played for him.

 Chanyeol heard the melodic whistling coming from the kitchen and saw his mom standing by the counter. He smiled feeling proud to show her the bundle he had in his arms. 

"mommy, mommy" he said running over eagerly. 

She looks up from whatever she was doing, it looked like she was chopping vegetables and Chanyeol makes a face at the prospect of having to eat those later. But he soon gets over it as he remembers what he's got.

Nora chuckles at her cute son, "what is it sweet pea? What are you so excited about?" she puts down the knife and kneels to Chanyeol's height. 

Chanyeol always thought his mother was the prettiest woman ever, her long flowing black hair that despite the limited resources stayed in a state of softness and lushness, her big dark brown eyes that he inherited and a smile that always made him feel safe and warm. 

He quickly holds his arms out carrying the large bundle, it was wrapped in a plastic with a stores logo imprinted on it "I helped Mr. Kim clean his meat shop, and he said for being such a good boy and a big help he'd give me a large cut of meat" he speaks excitedly. 

Nora looked into the twinkling eyes of her only child and her heart swelled, what did she do to deserve such a precious boy? She takes the cut of meat and smiles brightly petting her son on the head. 

"mommy? Do we get to eat meat tonight?" Chanyeol asked and Nora nodded. 

"yes baby, we do. Thank you for always taking care of us" Chanyeol grins.

"now go and take a bath, I'm sure you're dirty from working so hard" 

"okay!" Chanyeol says and runs through the door on the farside of the kitchen that leads to a little compartment outside that held the water pipe and bath basin. 

"don't stay in too long, it's cold out" Nora raises her voice for Chanyeol to hear. 

Nora so wished, she could afford a proper water system and shower. She sighs, she wanted Chanyeol to have more of a childhood. He already couldn't go to school do to them not having enough money and poor baby didn't have any friends, she's witnessed the kids before making fun of him for being dirt poor and she felt guilty. Guilty that she didn't do more for him but he was too much of a sweet kid and never asked for anything.

Nora had never gotten a proper stable job, she worked here and there and eventually got sacked from her last job a couple months ago due to them not wanting someone of such 'charity' and 'liability' even though she had worked herself sick just to get one can of beans to heat up and feed her family. The only one that worked now was her husband, Dokyung, but even he didn't get paid that much working as a deliverer. She carefully prepares a pot on the stove and goes to tend to the cut of meat.

Nora chops the meat into quarters, she listens to the splashing of water as Chanyeol washes himself, he'll most likely forget to come out soon so she needed to keep and ear out.

Suddenly she hears a barrage of footsteps outside the door before the door bursts open. 

"Nora!" her hand wavers and she almost drops the knife as her husband calls out to her. 

She forces a smile to her lips as a group of rough, looking men also enter "yes honey?" 

Dokyung, staggers a bit and she knows he has been drinking. "get me a beer" he walks over to her stalkingly and she grips the knife tightly. 

"we don't have any, and it looks as if you've already had drinks" she says going back to smoothly slicing the meat. 

"what did you say?" Dokyung reaches a hand over the counter and grips to front of the Nora's shirt. 

She looks into his eyes, these were not the same eyes. She scans over the scowl on his face, the deep lines, this was not the same face. This was not the man she married. 

"answer me!" he shakes her. "my friends and I want a beer!"

She lays the knife down flat under palm "we haven't got any" she repeats. 

She knew it was coming put it hurt nonetheless, the slap was hard and firm, tilting her head to the side "then get me some!" his eyes flared. 

Nora looked down, her hair falling over her shoulders "okay" she says quietly 

"that's a good girl" he walks back over to his guests who were still standing by the door. They all sit down on the floor and start talking amongst themselves. 

Why is she living like this? Why is she putting Chanyeol through this?  Is it because she's a coward? To scared to be on her own?

Her head shoots up as she realizes, Chanyeol! She could still hear the water. She forgets the food and rushes over to the door. The room was small, so when Nora looked in, there was Chanyeol eyes closed and sleeping in the water with a cold wind blowing in, giving her instant goosebumps. 

"Chanyeol!" she hurries over to where he was in the water "!" she quickly takes him out, frantic and worried. The water had gotten cold from the breeze, How could she forget to keep an ear out?

"Chanyeol, sweetie wake up"  Nora lightly pats him on the cheek. She looks over his body and his pale skin had a slightly blue tint to it, she was getting more frantic. 

"Chanyeol, sweetie I was careless, I'm so sorry" she speaks rapidly tears already spilling. When was she going to do right by this precious boy?

She gets up and hurries into the house. "Dokyung! Dokyung!" she yells. 

All of them turned around at the sudden shouting. She quickly grabs the only flimsy blanket they have from the storage space. 

"why the are you yelling" he gets up. 

"it's Chanyeol! He was in the bath too long and it was cold outside, I was careless please, help me warm him up. We need to take him to the hospital!" she was so frantic all her words were jumbled together as she hastily but carefully wrapped the blanket around her baby boy. 

"Nora, we don't have money for a hospital" Dokyung says,

Nora stared at him dumbfounded, "we still have some of the savings from when I worked. We could use that" 

She looked down at Chanyeol, his head against her chest as she held him. Nora kissed his forehead and whispered "it'll be okay, baby"

"Nora, we aren't wasting savings like that" Dokyung scoffs. 

"this could be serious! Why are you even questioning this, he's your child!" she screams at him.

"I used those measly savings to buy beer anyway" he says with a wave at his hand. 

Nora was taken aback. What!? She felt anger well up "Dokyung, how could you!" but what else did she expect from this man?

Dokyung turns around not wanting to deal with this crazy woman anymore, why he chose to marry such a ditz he would never know. "come on guys let's go, it just got dreadful in here" 

"Dokyung!" Nora shouts behind him but the man just walks out. 

She didn't know what she expected but it was none of that. How could things happen like this? How could she just let all this happen, why was she such a coward? Why was she so pathetic? 

"mommy?" she heard the small voice of her son in her arms. 

"yes, yes, mommy's here" she soothes. 

"I feel really cold" he says. 

"I know sweetie, mommy's sorry but it'll be okay"

Nora looks around the house before going over to put Chanyeol on the mattress, she goes to the storage and takes out all the clothes bringing them over to cover him with. "keep warm, I have to grab something quickly"

Nora looks down at his beautiful big eyes, much like her own and his cute ears pointing out the sides of his head, her handsome man. She smiles down at him and wipes his hair aside, his skin was cold to the touch "mommy's here for you, don't worry" 

Nora gets up and goes over to where Dokyung and those men were sitting, she bends down and picks up the leather wallet she noticed just moments ago. She knew it was Dokyung's because every time she washed his pants it'd be inside the back pocket, he also didn't go anywhere without it. She opens it, knowing this wasn't a good idea but she had no choice, she opens the money pocket and was surprised to see a lot of bills in there. 

Where did he get all of these? Did he get a new job she didn't know about? Nora gazes back at Chanyeol who was buried under a pile of clothes. If it were any other time she would never consider stealing from anyone but with the way things are now it didn't look like she could rule it out. 

She goes over towards Chanyeol and picks him up from the pile. 

"mommy?" 

"we are going to the hospital right now, you'll feel better soon" she assured him 

"will you play me the piano when we come back?"  Chanyeol mumbles and Nora smiles.

"of course, sweet pea. I'll play our favourite song" 

Nora tucks the wallet in her pocket and secures her hold on Chanyeol as she leaves the rundown home. Nora rushes Into the open main street, clutching her son to her body, the breeze was blowing harder and colder, she wasn't wearing a jacket but she didn't care. She makes a turn and starts on her way to the hospital.

But what Nora didn't know was that stealing that wallet was much more costly than she had thought.