The day was rapidly ending and these 2 men are running like crazy in a narrow and muddy street. It didn’t help much that it started to rain. They were used to moving a lot but running away from unknown strangers was something new for Junho.

“Dad, I can’t run anymore. I’m so tired” Junho said as he gasped for air.

“Let’s continue running a bit more so that we’ll entirely lose them, okay?” his father answered.

They continued running a couple more blocks until they found a place where they could stay for the night. It was a small inn and luckily it still has an available room. They settled in before they started talking, not that they have much stuff with them. The only things they got are the clothes they were wearing on their backs plus a set of change clothes and a small bag which his father never puts down. Junho always wondered what was inside this bag but his father never let him take a look at it and orders him to never even ask. And just like the good son that he is, he just does what he was told.

“Son, I’m very sorry for putting you through all this. I’m very grateful to have a son like you” his father said as they were lying down the single bed in the room.

“I would really want to ask why we are doing this but you know what, let’s just call this a night. I have no idea what will happen to us tomorrow so it’s better to have lots of energy for whatever obstacle we’ll face tomorrow.” Junho exclaimed out of exhaustion.

His father was left speechless and he turned his back on his son. He was trying to suppress the tears that were about to fall from his eyes knowing that he disappointed his son yet again but he felt Junho patting his back as he say, “I’m also happy to have you as father. Sleep well. I love you, dad.” Junho also turned his back from his father but the tears he was trying to suppress just fell instantly after hearing his son’s words. “If only your mother were still here, if only Ji-eun was with us, if only I weren’t such a bad luck to this family” the old man whispered before falling asleep.

Junho was sure he heard his father murmuring something and it wasn’t the first time he heard this so he wasn’t surprised. He lived 21 years of his life moving from place to place with his father. At first, he was not happy about it and he surely wasn’t happy about it until now but he seemed to have gotten used to it. They never stayed at a place for a year. The longest they stayed somewhere was in a seaside province in the north. He never knew why they did this but his father was always good to him and never let him in danger so when he started to wonder what they were doing and his father never dared to explain, he just never asked a question. His father was proud of him because despite of running away, he was able to finish school. Well, they never knew how he did it but it was probably a mix of his hard work and ambition. He worked as a cleaning person for schools during the day and he studied at night. He was able to study for free in exchange of his work. He never got a salary; just a small allowance for food and that is all. He often wondered how they were able to survive all these years but his father was probably thrice more hardworking than he is and worked almost ten jobs wherever they went. It may be a bit exaggerated but really most people they know are puzzled with how they manage to live their everyday lives. His father was a nice person because he happens to make friends with people in all the places they’ve been. The exact opposite was Junho, because he knew that they will leave at any moment, he never lets anyone be so close to him. He never lets himself get attached because he knows he’ll be hurt for sure. He did get hurt when he left his only friends 9 years ago. Good thing they still kept contact with each other, he really misses Wooyoung and Suzy and whenever he has the time, he tries to contact them and these two together with his Aunt Shinyoung, his father’s friend, are the only people who he allowed to get close.

His mind continued wandering just like that until a ray of sunlight hit his face. He wasn’t able to sleep, yet again.