► Chapter One

Boogey Monters

Seven year old Joonmyun gazes softly at the baby tucked safely in his trembling arms, wrapped under the soft velvety blanket with its name crafted in violet ribbon on the white material. Thin limbs are shaking in dismay as Joonmyun holds the baby closer to his chest, tightening his embrace to keep the infant away from the cold.

Rain falls in heavy droplets, wind gushing through his thin blue shirt but the poor boy paid no care for the extreme weather; he needs to find a decent shelter now, for the baby and him. Through foggy eyes and quivering legs, Joonmyun eventually finds one, a stranded garage just across the street and instantly approaches it with his small, yet heavy steps.

The rain falls relentlessly down upon him Joonmyun has to quicken his steps to make sure the baby in his arms doesn’t receive a spill of the raindrop. By the time he enters the garage, (squeezing his tiny body through the gap of the garage door) Joonmyun sighs in relief to find that the child in his arms is still asleep peacefully, unaware of the world around him.

The seven year old chuckles lightly when the new born yawns, eyes still tightly shut as he proceeds to continue his sleep. Joonmyun slides down the wall, holding the baby securely to his body and is amused when the baby draws closer to his chest as it seeks warmth blindly (even though Joonmyun is literally soaked).

He is famished, too weak from lack of food and water. He barely had breakfast and lunch today when he decided to run away from the accursed house. The place Joonmyun used to call home. He barely had meals shoved down his throat today and now, he, going to skip dinner is not a doubt. For a seven year old boy, this is already too much for Joonmyun to bear.

He makes a silent groan when he realizes he had only brought his little baby brother’s bottled milk with him, without bringing his own meals that afternoon when Joonmyun decides to escape silently from the front door. But freedom was just right across that gate and without anymore thoughts, Joonmyun slid out silently out of his garden gate and now here he was, curling up like a cornered puppy with his brother sleeping soundlessly in his arms.

The garage is dark, cold and silent it scares Joonmyun. He was always scared of the dark; He’s scared of the things in it. ‘The boogey monster will come and get me! It’s right behind my cupboard!’ Joonmyun cries out under the thick layers of sheets as his mother tucks him to sleep one night, long before Joonmyun decides to make his run. ‘There are no such things as boogey monsters, Joonmyun,’ she replies as she smiled fleetingly. ‘Goodnight, honey.’

Tears cascades down his pretty white cheeks as Joonmyun recalls the memories he’s had with his family. The once happy and perfect family. He tries his best to suppress down his sobs of agony, not intending to wake his sleeping baby brother. But the pain he feels is too agonizing, so very painful it has the small of his shoulders shaking violently.

Joonmyun caresses the small round cheeks of the baby, soft flaky skin and so very fragile did it feel under his touches and the boy smiles fondly through his tears as he gazes tenderly to the infant. He leans forward and presses a two-second kiss on his temple and the baby wriggles as he stirs in his sleep.

“Don’t worry Jongdae, everything is going to be fine,” He coos.

Joonmyun falls asleep with his head lulling forward with the image of the boogey monster in the back of his mind and Jongdae’s small form, curled securely under his arms.

What had made Joonmyun stir awake in his sleep that morning is due to the fact that there is the presence of two men right in front of him, with ridiculously neat ironed uniforms, the smell of their seemingly cheap perfume invading Joonmyun’s nostrils, black shades preventing Joonmyun from seeing the glinting eyes hidden behind it. Joonmyun recoils in shock, eyes wide and guarded though a little groggy, still hazed by the sleepiness as he pressed himself further against the wall, bringing Jongdae tight to his chest.

One of the man advanced foreword, stepping closer to the boy and Joonmyun shuts his eyes tightly, expecting any harm from this man. But nothing came and Joonmyun’s eyes flutter open when the man swiftly took baby Jongdae away from him, Joonmyun’s gaze disoriented.

Fear not, child, the other said as he grabs Joonmyun by his arm, forcing him to stand on his wobbly legs. We’ll take you somewhere safe, he said and just like that, Joonmyun lets himself being dragged in his wake towards a foreign car, parked just outside the garage.

Joonmyun is not surprised to find himself inside the local police station shortly after the ride with the two men, so he assumed that those two men he met earlier were two polices in patrol. Joonmyun, however, does not like the fact that he and Jongdae are being separated in a different room.

Jongdae is not with him at the moment, being taken care for a short while with the young police woman in the room just beside where he is. He refused at first, screaming and kicking under the grasp of the adults that forces him to stay put. This why he hates grown-ups, never had they once try to understand him. But when the young police woman (who took care of Jongdae now at the moment) told him that they are going to return Jongdae back to him if he follows them quietly to certain room, Joonmyun instantly breaks to silence and watches as their satisfied and pleased face came to view. Sick, fake, liar Joonmyun thinks.

If this is the only way to get Jongdae back to his arms, then Joonmyun will do it. He’ll trust them. He’ll have to trust them. What choices does he have anyway?

“Hello,” One of the officers greeted kindly once they’ve settled in a small room, more like an office. “What’s your name? How old are you?”

Joonmyun glared at him, but answers nonetheless. “Kim Joonmyun,” he answers shortly in a snappy, cold tone, too much harsh for a seven year old boy, “I’m seven. What does that have anything to do with you?”

The officer raised an eyebrow and chuckled at the cheeky response he received from Joonmyun before scribbling something on the piece of papers spread in the table in front of him. His hand writing is untidy Joonmyun thinks.

“And I suppose the baby you held before is your little brother? What’s his name?” The man asked once again. Joonmyun looks hesitant to answer, but after contemplating with himself for a while, he decided that giving a name wouldn’t cause any harm.

“Jongdae. His name is Jongdae. He’s still fourteen weeks.” Joonmyun answered, this time a little softer. The officer nods briefly and took a small sip of his already-cold coffee, before placing the ceramic mug back to the far side of the table.

“Well, Joonmyun, where are your parents?”

Joonmyun stiffened in his seat and despite his composed look; he was panicking on the inside. What will he say? He couldn’t just confess that he had run away from his house and took his baby brother with him.

“They….died…years ago. I had to look over my baby brother and I have no other place to go….”

Lie.

Joonmyun squirmed uncomfortably under the officer’s gaze before he heard a soft ‘I’m sorry’ from the man. Joonmyun nodded and the officer turned back to his documents, missing Joonmyun’s small smile of triumph. Well done Joonmyun, he mentally pats his own back. You lied well.

The officer smiled and continued scribbling on the paper in a blue ink pen, words written in poor cursive hand writing in which is too rough for Joonmyun to read, much to similar like doctors. He could only manage to make out the word Joonmyun and Jongdae and something like Sung Ddeok and Young Sang.

He then proceeded to type what he had written earlier at a typewriter, the clicks and taps of the old-fashioned machine as the type bars hits against the paper is a little too loud in the silent room.

“Umm…sir?” Joonmyun starts, impatiently drumming his fingers against the wooden surface of the table. He was getting to the state where he is beyond extremely irritated now of not having a clue to why he was brought here in the first place and aside from that, he needs to see Jongdae now. The poor baby is probably innocently looking for him by now.

“Can you let us go now? My brother is waiting for me.”

The man looks up and smiles fondly at him. He finishes his typing with a rather loud sigh, releasing the paper from the machine’s platen. He placed the paper neatly on the table in front of him; his face abruptly fell into a stern and solemn look.

“Joonmyun, you are not going to return to that garage again with your brother.”

The boy blinks confusedly at the statement, eyebrows furrowed. “Oh? Are we going to be adopted or something-“

“No. We have decided that the both of you will be placed into a different orphan house.”

Joonmyun broke into a rigid state, his eyes widening in shock. By different, it means separate. By separate, it means apart. Apart. He and Jongdae will be separated from each other. No. He didn’t want that. Joonmyun’s eyes fell upon the sheet of paper the officer had typed before and lets his gaze ponder across the typed words.

Now he understands.

Now he understands why the man had wanted his and Jongdae’s name earlier.

CHILD NAME             : Kim Joonmyun

AGE                    : 7 Years old

GENDER                 : Male

ORPHAN HOUSE           : SUNG DDEOK ORPHANGE





CHILD NAME             : Kim Jongdae

AGE                    : 14 Weeks

GENDER                 : Male

ORPHAN HOUSE           : YOUNG SANG CHILDREN HOUSE

Oh how Joonmyun regrets giving out his name.

 A/N: Hello there guys!! It's half term holidays now and I have got loads of spare time to write fics and I decided to update the first chapter today, so there you go! I might as well update the second chapter fast since I have nothing to do haha. and please don't forget to comment! Any feedbacks are welcomed and if there are any grammar mistakes or any typos that you notice, please don't hesitate to tell me! Thank you for reading :D