The happy screams and laughter of a little boy filled one little apartment in the country side.

"Caught you!!" a man touched the boy's shoulder then ran away.
The 5 year old boy called Taemin screamed even louder and started chasing the man, his father Youngwan.

Youngwan ran to the bedroom and tried to hide behind the bed but Taemin had already seen him. The little boy climbed up on the bed, trying to reach him and just when Taemin was about to touch his father, he picked Taemin high up in the air and carried him towards the living room.

"Appaaa!!!" Taemin squealed.

"Shh... I think that you and me should try calm down now. Your mommy will be here anytime, she won't be happy seeing what a mess we made again." Youngwan said smiling and let Taemin down.

Taemin pouted. "Appa, let's play!"
"We will, but later." Youngwan patted his son's head.
"Besides, do you know how old your appa is? I was here before the dinosaurs.. I get so tired easily!!!"

Taemin giggled. "Appa lies. Umma told me that dinosaurs were here even before the president was here and the president ahjusshi is really old!!!"
Youngwan chuckled. "Mian. Maybe appa did lie a bit."

Just then the door opened and Taemin's mother walked inside.

"Umma!!" Taemin exclaimed happily and ran to hug her mother's feet.
"Hey handsome." his mother smiled, she crouched down and pecked Taemin's cheek. Taemin smiled happily.

Youngwan carried the shopping bags that his wife had left by the door to the kitchen.
"Anything good Boram?" he asked.

Boram shrugged and stood up to hug her husband too.

Taemin stared at his parents for a moment then ran back to the living room. He climbed on the couch and looked out the window that was behind it.

He could see the big ocean that now was so peaceful. The little family lived in the country side by the sea.
They were quite poor, Youngwan worked in a small factory and Boram stayed home.. but that wasn't a problem at all, instead of money the family had so much love to give to each other.

Taemin's parents loved each other so much and loved their only son, Taemin more than anything in the world.
As he was their only son, they often spoiled Taemin a lot, in the whole neighborhood there wasn't a child that would have been as loved as Taemin was.

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All that happiness lasted for about five years but slowly without Taemin even knowing it, his family was slowly breaking apart.

One day when Taemin was 10, when Taemin came home from school from outside the house he could hear how his parents were fighting in the house.
Taemin didn't know what was going on and he hated it if his parents ever were fighting together so instead of going in the house he walked to the beach to wait that they would stop.

He stared far to the sea, something about it today looked strange, the usually peaceful sea looked so scary and threatening today.

-

Inside the house Youngwan and Boram were arguing.
Boram had just told Youngwan that she was pregnant. But hearing those news had made Youngwan really furious. After getting Taemin the couple had tried to get another child for countless of times but until now they had never succeeded.

And now that Boram suddenly told him that she was pregnant, Youngwan couldn't believe that the child was his. He was convinced that his wife had slept with some other man and got herself pregnant.

"Who is it??!! In Guk??" Youngwan yelled at his wife.
"I already told you, the baby is yours!!" Boram yelled back
"You're lying.." Youngwan shook his head. "I'll call him..."

Youngwan reached for the phone but Boram stopped him.
"Don't. Don't involve other people in this." she shouted.

"That bastard is already involved. I will.. will.." Younghwan tried to reach the phone once again.
"Stop it!" Boram yelled. "Don't you dare do anything to In Guk."

Younghwan glared at Boram. "Don't I dare... because you don't want your new man to get hurt huh?"

"Why can't you just.." Boram said. "Shut up!! I know what is going on, I saw you two, with my own two eyes a few weeks ago. But I didn't say anything for the sake of Taemin but I saw you, with In Guk. So don't try to feed me that crap that this baby is not his!!" Younghwan shouted.

Boram was shocked for a moment but that shock soon vanished.
She wanted his new boyfriend more than she wanted her husband, for a few years she had thought about getting rid of Younghwan in some way and here was her chance. She didn't love him anymore, but had only stayed with him for the sake of Taemin.

But now the thought of having a totally new life with a new man and a new child sounded so appealing to her.

"FINE!! You are right!! It's not your baby but In Guk's. I love In Guk, is that the truth you wanted to hear?!" Boram yelled.

Younghwan stared at Boram for a moment feeling disgusted and sad, then without saying a word he rushed to the bedroom to pack his bags.
With the corner of his eye he saw Taemin walking around the beach.

-

I wonder if they stopped fighting now. Taemin turned around when he saw his father running to him.

"Taemin~!! Come here!!" Younghwan shouted.
"Why?" Taemin shouted and ran to his father.

Younghwan just held Taemin's hand and dragged him with him to the car.
He opened the door and pushed Taemin in then got to the drivers seat himself.

"Appa.. where are we going?" Taemin asked and glanced to the backseat that was filled with bags and boxes and some furniture.
"We are moving." Younghwan said and started the car.
"MOVING?!!" Taemin exclaimed.
"Yes, to Seoul." Younghwan said.

"Seoul?? What about umma.. is she coming later?" Taemin asked.
"No. She's not." Younghwan said coldly.
"Why not.?" Taemin asked.
"STOP ASKING QUESTIONS!! SHE'S NOT COMING OKAY!!!" Younghwan shouted making Taemin silent.

Taemin looked back to their little house that was getting further away from his sight.

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Three years had passed from the day Younghwan and Taemin had left Boram. Taemin was now 13.

The two lived in a small house somewhere in Seoul. When they had arrived to Seoul, Younghwan had been desperate to get money from somewhere so he thought that the fastest way to get that was by gambling.

So soon Younghwan was in deep trouble because of his gambling, he owed a lot of money to many people, he got involved with gangs. But even thought he was in deep trouble he was convinced that he could just pay everything back to all those people by gambling some more.

From the day Taemin had came to Seoul with his father. Younghwan had started treating Taemin really coldly, and often ignored him, he wasn't the father Taemin had known before.
And Taemin really wanted to know why they had left Boram but whenever he would ask questions about his mother, Younghwan would get furious. Taemin was never allowed to go meet his mother again or search for her.

The reason why Younghwan treated Taemin like this now was because every time he saw Taemin's face it reminded him of Boram and it made him feel sad as all those happy times had never left his memory.

Taemin spent most of his days outside with his friends, he didn't want to be home as he knew his father got angry at him so often thesedays.

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Years passed more.

And one day everything turned even worse than it already was.

Taemin was just reading some comics on his bed when the doorbell rang. He ran to open and saw his father standing there.

"Appa.. " Taemin greeted his father. Younghwan was smiling, it was rare to see him smile like that so it made Taemin feel a bit strange.

"I brought some chicken Taemin-ah. Let's eat together." Younghwan said smiling and handed Taemin a shopping bag that had the chicken inside.
"Wow. Really appa! Thank you!" Taemin exclaimed. He felt really happy, he loved chicken and it had been ages that he and his father had spent some time together like this.

Younghwan smiled and followed Taemin to the kitchen. He smiled but inside him huge guilt and burden were pounding on his heart.

Taemin, maybe you will never be able to forgive me. I'm so sorry son..

-

Taemin had just finished eating all the chicken and got up to get some juice from the fridge when the doorbell rang again.

Younghwan went to open, slowly Taemin followed his father to see who came inside. The door opened and a group of scary looking men dressed in suits walked in.

"The boy?" one of the men asked. Younghwan looked down and pointed towards the kitchen.
He had never felt this bad in his life, he had just sold the son he loved to gangsters to get rid of his debt.

He saw no other option and as Taemin always made him remember Boram so clearly he thought that maybe it would be better if Taemin wasn't at his sight any longer.

A few gangsters walked to the kitchen. Taemin backed off when he saw the gangsters approaching him.

"Appa." Taemin called and looked around for an escape, he could sense that those men meant no good.

"Come on now boy. Come with me." the man who was now really close to Taemin smirked.
Taemin shook his head. He felt so scared.

"I said come!" the man shouted and took a grip of Taemin. He started dragging him out the kitchen.

"APPA!!!" Taemin shouted in fear but there was no reply, he saw his father nowhere around. He tried to get off the man's grip but he held tightly, he couldn't.

He was pushed outside.

"Appa!! Please!! Help me!!" Taemin yelled for his father as he tried to fight his way out of the man's grip. "Appa!! Ap-"
"Shut up boy!!" The man pushed the boy into the door. "What point of 'you've been sold' don't you understand? You're our property now."

Taemin had no idea what the man meant by his words, why he was saying that he had been sold. All he wanted was to get to his father but he couldn't see him anywhere.

Taemin's back hit the doorknob and he fell to the ground. The man sat on him pinning Taemin to the ground. He slapped Taemin's face a few times. Taemin cried. It really hurt him.

"Are you sure you're a boy? I think you're too pretty to be a boy. Let's have a see." The man on top of Taemin began to violate him.
"Appa!! Help!!" Taemin cried. "Stop!! Please it hurt!! Sto- Ahhh!!!!"

Taemin screamed as the man tore off his shirt and began playing with him.

All of a sudden Taemin heard a gunshot and the man fell on top of him. Taemin's heart almost stopped beating. He thought someone was going to kill him. He felt so so scared.

Around the place he then heard noises of hitting and kicking, fighting. He had no idea what was going on as the man's body was still on top of him. Taemin closed his eyes, waiting for his death.

Suddenly the man's body was flipped off him.
Taemin saw an unfamiliar man staring at him.

"D-d-d-don't hurt me!!" Taemin pleaded as he cried.
"Key, take the boy to the base." the man ordered.

Another man reached for him, Taemin fought back.

"No, no, no!! Don't touch me!!" Taemin began screaming and fighting back.

But suddenly he was flipped onto his stomach, handcuffed and carried to a car.

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Taemin sat in the corner of a big empty room. He was shaking in fear, still thinking that he would be killed anytime.

Suddenly the door opened. Taemin closed his eyes. "Please don't kill me." he cried out.
"I'm not going to kill you." Taemin opened his eyes when he heard a female voice. He saw a girl sitting by him, she was smiling.

"Hungry?" the girl asked. Taemin shook his head.

"Okay, then just tell me when you are. My name is Jessica by the way." the girl told Taemin.
"What about you?"

Taemin hesitated for a moment but then answered. "Taemin."
Jessica nodded. "You are now in a base that belongs to a gang called SHINee if you wondered."

"SHINee.." Taemin repeated hearing the strange name.

The door opened, Minho, Key, Onew and Jonghyun walked in. Right away when Taemin saw them he shouted. "Where is my appa?!!! Did you kill him?? Where is he??!!!"

"Your father.. you mean that man Younghwan? You know... that man.. he sold you to that other gang." Key said.

"Sold?" Taemin stared at Key. Sold me? Appa really sold me to some people? He.. sold me?