"Hopefully they're all still awake..." Minho mumbled as their horse slowed to a stop in front of an old, decrepit cottage in the more remote part of the town.

Taemin's eyes wandered curiously around the small village they had just rode into. It was his first time seeing the slums up close, and it felt so foreign and strange to him. He'd always wanted to explore this part of the city on his own to see what it was like out of curiosity, but his parents always said it was "too dangerous" and "dirty and disease-ridden".

"Come on." Minho reached his hand out to Taemin, offering to help him down. Taemin blushed slightly and took Minho's hand, stepping down from Kidaes's back.

"Just go along with what I say...and if I catch you trying to call for help you're dead. Got it?"

Taemin nodded. "Where are we though?"

Minho sighed and grabbed the boy's arm, dragging him to the door. He pressed his ear up against it to check if anyone was still up, then knocked twice after hearing a ruckus coming from inside.

A middle-aged woman was revealed as the door slowly creaked open. Her black hair was messily put up in a bun, a couple of gray strands dangling in front of her face. She wore a wrinkled apron and a bandana around her head as a wide smile occupied her face. Taemin's eyes, however, were focused on the tiny bundle moving around in her arms. Getting a closer look, he discovered that it was an infant baby cradled in her arms, cooing at the woman holding him.

"Minho! It's so good to see you again!" she exclaimed and enveloped the man in a hug, but was careful not to squish the baby in between them.

Minho eagerly hugged her back. "It's good to see you too! Have you and the kids been well?"

"We are. You kids never visit me anymore! Where are Onew, Jonghyun, and Kibum?" the woman asked as she pulled away.

"Oh we just thought we'd stop by and pay you a visit since we were on our way here anyways." Minho answered and turned his head to Taemin, who nodded in affirmation.

"We?" the woman asked as her eyes landed on the Prince. 

"He's just a friend."

Taemin bowed respectfully towards the woman. "Good evening." 

"Good evening to you as well." she greeted him with a smile.

"This is Sunja ajhumma, the owner and caretaker of the place as well as a second mother to me." Minho introduced her to the Prince, a hint of tenderness in his tone.

"Oh but you can call me Mrs. Park, sweetie. I-"

A loud crash coming from inside interrupted the woman before she could complete her sentence.

"Dear Goodness not again..." she sighed.  "Why don't you boys come inside?" 

"Yes ma'am." the two said in unison and stepped through the door of the cottage.

What was revealed before Taemin's eyes was an abundance of children from infants to adolescents, an estimate of maybe thirty, cavorting around the small living space doing a variety of activities; playing marbles, reading, playing hand games, drawing, and kicking balls back and forth to one another. A group of boys in the corner of the room ran around in circles in panic when another glass broke from their reckless fun.

"Would you hold him for me dear while I go scold them?" Mrs. Park hastily handed Taemin the infant without waiting for him to answer. The Prince's eyes widened as he stared at the sleeping baby in his arms, surprised as the woman ran off and yelled at the boys. He relaxed, however, after taking a good look at the chubby baby peacefully laying in his arms.

Minho chuckled and the infant's cheek with his thumb. "Do you want me to hold hi--"

"OPPA! You came back!" a little girl about five years old screamed and ran over to Minho, who welcomed her with open arms and embraced her in a hug. Taemin stood behind him and cradled the baby as he watched curiously.

"How have you been, Eunsook? You're studying hard right?" Minho chuckled.

She nodded ecstaticly. "I've been learning how to write!"

"Really? That's great!" Minho exclaimed and ruffled her hair.

"LOOK, HYUNG'S BACK!"

"MINHO OPPA!"

Suddenly, floods of children bombarded the thief with hugs, obviously ecstatic to see their older brother return.

"Alright, alright it's good to see you too but don't get too close! I'm still recovering from a cold." Minho chuckled and defended himself with his hands, avoiding the close-contact skinship.

Taemin smiled warmly at the sight. After getting to know Minho's seemingly cold personality,  it was unexpected of him to act so kindly towards kids.

A small tug at the hem of his shirt snapped the Prince out of his thoughts. He looked down and saw a litte girl with braided pigtails looking up at him, smiling.

"You're handsome," she bluntly stated.

Taemin giggled and bent down so he was eye-leveled with the girl. "Why, thank you. What's your name?"

"Minah." she answered. "Are you going to be my new daddy?" the girl asked innocently as she played with the ends of her hair.

Taemin's gave her a bewildered look. "Y-your new daddy?"

The girl nodded. "Yeah. Old daddy left because he didn't want me, so ahjumma let me live here and told me that one day new daddy would come and get me."

The Prince slowly stood up, wide-eyed as he looked around the child-filled room, mentally facepalming for not realizing sooner that the place Minho took him to was an orphanage.

He sadly smiled at Minah and pet her hair with one hand while the other cradled the baby. "I wish that I could take you home Minah...but I'm just too young to raise a child."

The young girl's face fell. "I understand..." she mumbled, looking down at the floor.

Taemin was almost brought to tears at the sight. "But don't worry! You seem so nice I'm sure someone will adopt you really soon." he reassured her.

"Promise?" a hint of hope lit up Minah's eyes.

"P-promise." Taemin hesitantly answered. "Now go play, alright?"

The girl nodded and threw her arms around Taemin's neck, then ran off to join in on a game of hide and seek with her friends.

"So you found out, huh?" Minho sighed as he turned to the Prince.

Taemin nodded. "But what does this have to do with me?"

Minho pushed the boy into an empty room down the hall, then gently closed the door behind them to be sure they didn't wake the sleeping child still nurtered in Taemin's slender arms. The man sighed and took a seat on one of the orphan's beds, then gestured the Prince to come and sit down as well.

"What is this place to you?" Taemin asked, examining the foreign atmosphere of plain, white walls and aligned bunk beds.

Minho exhaled before he spoke. "A haven."

Taemin only had time to furrow his brow in confusion before the elder spoke up again.

"Which is why I can't sit back and watch it get demolished as innocent children are left homeless."

"Why would something like that happen?" Taemin asked.

The thief ran his fingers through his dark locks, as if contemplating whether or not he should tell Taemin the whole truth. He decided that he should, in hopes that Taemin could perhaps help their cause rather than fight against them. "Unfortunately these days, more and more kids are getting abandoned by their parents and sent here. More kids, more mouths to feed and more supplies needed. These things don't exactly come cheap these days either. With the raising taxes your father brought among the peasants, it's been a lot harder on this orphanage."

"S-so this was all for revenge?" Taemin cut him off, eyes-widened in shock. "Kidnapping me was just some way to get back at--"

"No!" Minho snapped. The man huffed and rubbed his temples. "We're not that cruel...it's just that we haven't been able to pay the demanded amount of money every week to keep this place open. Sunja ahjumma talked the tax collecter into giving us a month to pay it all back...but we were running out of time. We were desperate, and since thieving was only enough to feed the kids, we had no other choice but