Myungsoo adjusted his backpack straps, he lowered his cap until his eyes were hidden and walked faster. He wanted to arrive at his destination early, keeping his gaze trained on his old worn-out sneakers but still managing to maneuver his way around the busy people on the street although the sky was getting darker.

He remembered the place well even after only coming there yesterday; he fished through his favourite washed-out jeans pockets anxiously, he could not lose it. The little slip of paper was his only saving grace, at least for the night, his mood darkened as he entertained the possibility of going on empty stomach again. He shook his head, wanting to stay as optimistic as he could and dug deeper into his back pocket and found it

6390

Those were the numbers written on the piece of pink paper, he held it tightly in his hand. He wished with all his might that lady luck would finally be on his side. After not having any fortunate things happening to him lately, fate owed him this. He jogged to the front entrance of a huge supermarket seeing many hopeful faces already gathered. A man with long black hair was standing on a raised platform with a microphone clasped around his long fingers.

Myungsoo went nearer to the man, eyes hungrily locked on the prizes table, he prayed that he could win the fifty boxes of instant ramen or that ten kilograms of chicken meat, maybe even that thirty dollars voucher at a restaurant. He huffed when several people blocked his view of the supermarket’s representative on the platform; he caught a glimpse of an empty spot beside a little girl with her hands wrapped lovingly around a huge teddy bear.

He tried to rush to the child’s side, not taking his eyes off the spot, wishing no one would take it. He was completely focused that he did not realize a tall, red-haired man was hurrying over, wanting to get past him quickly. He just remembered that one second he was taller than some people and the other second; he hit a wall-presumably-and fell on the ground with a loud thud causing several on-lookers curiously turned to look at him

“aww,” he heard a groan, he was rubbing his bruised arm when he finally noticed another man was on the ground beside him wearing a pained expression, he had his hair in a messy ponytail and wearing a thick jacket. The man let out several more dramatic groans before he narrowed his eyes at him accusingly.

Both of them were distracted, however, as the spokesperson was announcing that he would begin drawing numbers soon. Myungsoo scrambled on the ground for the pink paper after realizing it was gone from his hand, he made a grab for it as he saw it just out of his hands at the same time as the other man triumphantly held up another pink slip just a bit to his side. The man then turned to Myungsoo with a glare

“I’m letting you off the hook because you’re lucky I have more important matters to attend to, otherwise…,” he glowered at him, eyes large, letting the sentence hang . It was supposed to be a serious threat, but Myungsoo could not help the feeling that the man was only messing with him. This was proven true as the man stuck his tongue out at him and dashed off leaving Myungsoo coughing at the dust swirling around him.

Standing up with little difficulty, the hungry man moved more sluggishly to the front, not caring about his dirt-covered jeans or his aching arm. His mood had gotten progressively darker by the minute. Therefore, to make himself feel a bit better, he concentrated on the boxes of ramen on display and a little smile ghosted over his lips.

He glanced down on his paper quite satisfied until he reread the numbers again in horror

7313

His jaw dropped and he shook his head in denial, he thought that he was being deceived. He bit his lips, holding back stinging tears as he looked at the cursed paper. Somehow, he just knew that those numbers would not get him the food he desperately needed. He slumped to the ground, too overwrought with emotions to even stand up; the people around him fully ignored him. They did not know nor did they care.

In a fit of rage, he got up and pushed roughly through the crowd, coldly leaving them when several stumbled or hit other people.  Myungsoo‘s patience was at its last string and the final one was about to snap too

All of a sudden he heard the representative declared that the next winner was “…Six…three…nine…ohhhh…please come forward to the person with the numbers six-three-nine-zero. Fifty boxes of delicious instant ramen waiting for youuuu,” Myungsoo whirled around, his feelings were mixed as everyone plus him turned to a familiar voice bursting into a cry just a few paces away from him

“What? I-I won? But…but,” it was the previous man Myungsoo had collided with, wearing a shocked expression as he scanned his pink paper slip over and over again. The representative took notice and welcomed him with a wide sly grin. A younger boy beside him was urging him on, tugging at his sleeve with a consoling expression when the other man was still rooted on the spot

“But I-I promised you the camera, Jongie…I was so sure…I really…,” the man looked guilty and sad at the same time

“Doesn’t matter hyung, at least we got something,” the younger boy comforted him, Myungsoo watched as the fair-skinned boy smiled softly at his hyung. Something foreign stirred in him as he noticed the boy who seemed to glow in the night even though everything was bright enough.

The said hyung sighed in defeat and went over to collect the fifty boxes from the front and Myungsoo stared at the ramen boxes green with envy, his stomach grumbled loudly and he stomped on the ground angrily in response.

“Okay, the next very fortunate person is going to win a Canon Powershot digital camera!” the announcer cheerfully revealed “give a round of applause to the person holding on the numbers...seven…three…oneeeeeee…aaaaand…threeeeee! Seven-one-three-one-three, please come forward,”

Myungsoo stopped kicking dust when he heard the familiar numbers, he tripled checked the paper in his hands and he did not know if it was the result of his frustration mixed with his hunger, he just felt that it was ironically funny. He began to laugh, getting louder and louder as he looked upwards to the black sky dotted with dazzling stars winking at him.  As sudden as his laugh, Myungsoo stopped short as he felt a deep pull inside his heart.

‘Is fate laughing at me?’ He thought gloomily

“Oi the person over there, you have that set of numbers right? So come over here,” The man warmly said through the microphone, Myungsoo nodded weakly in reply as most of the attentions were on him. He was aware of a few mutters as he walked the way to the front

“He’s weird, isn’t he?”

“Probably crazy…and homeless, just look at his clothes,”

He accepted the camera box, a cute purple bow wrapped around it. He wondered if he could sell it that night but he knew it would be quite a feat. ‘Maybe tomorrow morning,’ he whispered.

Myungsoo arrived at his house, a two-storey one and he inserted the key into the lock and twisted it. Immediately after he pushed the door open, he was assaulted by the smell of food. He was even more infuriated as he could feel a sharp pain in his stomach reminding him that he had not consume any real food since morning. He went upstairs in a mad dash, taking out another key to open his bedroom door.

Honestly, the person who said he was homeless was quite right. Yes, he lived in a double storey but it was not his. Myungsoo only rented the medium sized bedroom with an even smaller toilet. He threw his backpack near the foot of a futon he used to sleep on every night. So technically he did not own a house, he could not even afford to rent the whole thing. Just to pay the bedroom rent, he had to starve himself for a week because if he got kicked out, he would have to sleep on the street and just because he was poor, Myungsoo never wanted to be labeled as ‘homeless’. It was one thing for people to assume he was homeless but it would be another if their supposition was true.

Carefully, he put down his camera just beside his other belongings in the corner of the bedroom before taking his shoes and socks off and went to the toilet to prepare for bed. Really, Myungsoo thought that the day was as horrible as any other day and thinking positive did not work as many claimed it would. He dozed off with the last thought

‘Tomorrow will be even worse’

The next day was very bright, he let his hair all tousled and messy before he set off to the park near a beach; he wanted some cheap breakfast because he could barely survive the intense pangs of hunger attacking him that morning. He was pale and he could feel the beginnings of a headache coming on. He searched the place for some stalls, wetting his chapped and dry lips over and over again.

“Yah, you must do the posture correctly. Hands clasped together, yep that’s right, one leg up,” he saw a blue-haired man critically assessing a young familiar boy’s stance with a huge smile on his face. Furthermore, he also recognized the red-haired man beside the boy, doing the same meditational pose with both his eyes closed. A small smirk made its way to Myungsoo’s lips as he saw the red-haired-who stole his pink paper slip and therefore his dinner-open one curious eye, sneaking a peek over to his side, putting the leg he was holding up down ever so slowly

Just then the blue haired man who was apparently the shortest of them all stepped back and caught the red haired trying to cheat and instead of being angry like Myungsoo thought he would be, the other man laughed and ruffled the already messy hair of the tall man

“Sungyeol, do push up fifteen times now! As your punishment,” the short man ordered, chuckling with no trace of mockery. Myungsoo could see it because it seemed to lighten up his whole face. That kind of sincere man was hard to find nowadays. Seeing Sungyeol’s reluctant face, the man added “I’ll tell the Mrs. if you refuse,” another grin

“Hyung, tell Yeollie-hyung to do another three laps on the beach if he whines,” the other young boy who Myungsoo remembered Sungyeol called Jongie seemed to radiate mischievousness in a playful way. Sungyeol pouted as Dongwoo nodded rapidly in agreement

“Yah, you-you evil, arghh really…really Lee Sungjong?!” Sungyeol was saying this through gritted teeth but his face was plastered with a huge beaming smile. Lee Sungjong stuck out his tongue teasingly in response. Myungsoo did not know what made him walk the few steps towards them, he almost reached the nearest person, the blue-haired man when his vision blurred and their voices seemed to get farther and farther away, he held out his hand and opened his mouth to ask for...

The last thing he remembered was of three people turning to him in shock