Song for the chapter: Sia: Elastic Heart

 It was one of the rare lucky days with the sun bright and shiny in the sky, one in which  Admiral Do had travelled out on town on a special assignment. Taking advantage of the clear and pleasnt weather  Mrs Do decides to take Kyungsoo to the neighbourhood playground. Dressed in blue jean dungarees and pastel green ninja turtle tshirt with tiny hands clutching a book Kyungsoo and his mother set off in the warm saturday breeze.

Kyungsoo's eyes was met with an array of bursting colors and his ears was filled with a cacophony of noise both from the little children running around the expanse of the playground and the adults sitting on painted benches eating hot dogs while keeping a watchful eye on their children.

Mrs Do's attention was immediately snatched up by the other mothers in the arena who adored and looked up to her every action. Soon enough Kyungsoo was left to his own devices, looking around the playground he sees children of all shapes and sizes running around the swings or building tiny sand castles in the sandpit, he considered all these silliness beneath his intelligence and really couldn't be bothered to engage in such silly childish acts. If these other kids are contented staying within the boundaries of their underdeveloped minds, he isn't. He is going to push beyond every limit of his mind.

Striding along the playground with the sharp sand getting into his black Kito sandals he sports a slide on the far right side of the playground. On getting closer he noticed the slide was broken and the yellow and blue paint that once covered it had flaky almost completely peeled off. The slide had been abandoned by the other kids for the newer and shinier red one  situated in the middle of the sandpit.

Kyungsoo decides this was going to be his very own special spot, away from all the noise and activity on the playground. Dropping to his knees to crawl into the darkened space under his newly found special spot, he is taken aback when he finds out that this very space was already occupied by another kid. He thinks of abandoning the spot but something about the other boy makes him crawl closer instead.

Sensing rather than hearing the presence of someone else beside him, the former resident of the slide raises his head from his lap to stare at Kyungsoo. He was a rather frail looking boy dressed in white colored shirt and white colored shorts with raven black hair and deep brown beady eyes.  The latter occupant of the slide thinks to himself how much this boy had rather similar features as he when he was much younger, the bowl haircut, tiny body frame that had bones sticking out clearly from pale almost sallow skin pale. The corners of his mouth were down turned just like the edges of his eyes, he looked so so unhappy. 

The only difference Kyungsoo could see was  in their eyes, while the other boy had smaller eyes favoring a downward tilt Kyungsoo's were wide and round. Perhaps if his eyes were this small, he wouldn't get hit so often by Admiral Do.

All through  Kyungsoo's perusal of the other boy, he had remained  silent and had just kept on staring at Kyungsoo with his small beady eyes. 

The newer occupant of the enclosed space decides to break the awkward silence, sticking out the other hand not clutching a book he gestures for a handshake from the other kid.

'Hi, my name is Kyungsoo I'm eight years old, I like to read books and watch documentaries on the Tv. I don't like to be in the sun too much because my mum says I  get sunburn easily, I don't know what that means but i like to listen to my mum so i stay away from the sun. How about you, what's your name?'

The frail boy looks at Kyungsoo hesitantly before gesturing to the collar of his shirt, which had the number '04' stitched into its center. This only makes Kyungsoo tilt his head to the side in confusion at the number and at the boy.

'No that is a number, I'm asking for your name'.

More silence.

'Wait you don't have a name?' Kyungsoo asks incredulously when the boy remains silent.

'Where are your parents?' he asks again looking around the playground checking to see if he would find anyone