It was during a heavy downpour when young, little Taecyeon dashed across the street to find for shelter. He was cold, shivering and afraid of what his surroundings were. He didn’t know anyone, he was lost and didn’t know where to go. Two days since he was strolling around the neighborhood looking for food and a home. He faced scenarios where food stall owners shooed him away because he was consuming the leftovers on the plates. He couldn’t sleep by the sidewalk either because officers would chase him away. 

“Hey!” Taecyeon ran as fast as he could out of the convenience store after he stole a bottle of water from the fridge. 

He was done when he was met with a police officer. “Officer please! Let me go!” he tried to pull away from the older man’s grasp on his collar. 

“You’re coming with me kid.” 

Taecyeon cried the whole night as he was locked up in a cell at jail. He sniffed, wiping away the tears on his face. He was pathetic and miserable at this state. A week in jail was spent until he was taken by the police officers to a Youth Court, and sentenced him with three months of community work as well as being supervised under an orphanage. After all, Taecyeon was just ten years old. The judge took him into consideration to a boys’ hostel where he would be staying. 

To him, it was a terrible place. There were rough boys from all around the city confined to this big hostel, and they were bullying one another. The worst part was that the people managing the hostel didn’t even care about the behavior of the boys. They would only step in if one was literally dying. 

“Watch it bastard,” a tall kid scowled at Taecyeon whom he brushed past. 

There were tons of things Taecyeon heard that weren’t nice to hear. They were straight up hurtful, mean and harsh. He literally was feeling like a piece of whenever boys would come about harrassing him. He thought the place to be hell rather than a place where people could take care of you. His daily routine was getting up, wearing a set of uniform clothings, go out in public to pick some trash up and come back to the hostel looking all exhausted and hungry. 

Taecyeon stared at the wall one night, just thinking about the possibilities if he would have a normal life like other normal boys in his age. He wanted a family. A father he could look up to, and a mother who would put him to sleep and receive a good night kiss on the forehead. Tears brimmed up in his eyes again. If only his fate wasn’t like this. If only he wasn’t abandoned in the burning house. 

If only he wasn’t all alone. 

He rose from his small bed bunk, carefully stepping out of the room quietly. He had to get out of the hostel. He couldn’t stand it no longer. He was sick and tired of getting beaten up and doing public work that he wasn’t supposed to be doing. Living at a park would be much better than living in this hell. He checked if the coast was clear, no guards in the hallway. It was a perfect time to escape. 

Running. Taecyeon didn’t even bother look back as he ran forward, already creating a distance between him and the location of the hostel. He knew he had no idea where to go, but he really felt the need to make a break for it. Not even caring whether they would be looking for them, he bet there were other desperate boys who escaped the hostel before. 

Taecyeon sat on the park bench, watching people pass by him. He was glad he ran until the city where it was far from the hostel. He was dying from starvation, but he wouldn’t go back to the hostel for the food. Never would he go back to that awful place. 

He got up from the bench, deciding he would take a walk along the streets. He paused at another food stall, eyeing on the delicious sight of rice cakes in a package. The things he would do just to have a chance to eat again. He glanced at the stall owner who was busy serving other customers. Should he do it? Without another thought, he grabbed the pack of rice cakes and ran off with it. 

A police officer who was guarding the streets caught him running away desperately. Taecyeon heard the familiar whistles and shouts of an officer. 

“Stop right there!” whistled the officer again. 

Taecyeon stumbled across the pavement, bumping into a taller man in a business suit. The man turned around to see a scared, trembling boy on the ground holding onto a small package of food.

The officer marched right up to him. “Young man, I’m afra