♦ P R O L O G U E  ♦

"Kevin-ssi! Kevin-ssi! Where are you?!" He heard everyone shout.

"You need to blow the candles!" Came another holler.

But no matter how hard they screamed, nothing can fix how much he misses his eomma. The woman who died just a week before his sixth birthday.

"Eomma..." He sniffled in the old wardrobe. It smelled like vanilla, the scent of perfume his mother always wears. He has been hiding in there since ten minutes ago, when he could not contain his tears. He had to hide away from the party guests, his friends, his father... "Eomma, why did you go? Why did you leave us?" He whispered softly.

Suddenly, the door creaked open.

Kevin looked up at the person who opened it, half hoping it was the ghost of his eomma.

But the eyes that looked back at him weren't the soft eyes that belonged to his eomma. Instead, a sharp emotionless yet very child-like gaze stared back at him. Another boy of his age, wearing a similar mini tuxedo as his, was looking straight into his eyes.

Kevin kept on sniffling and sobbing, his eyes were still puffy and his nose was still running.

"Stop crying." The boy ordered.

"Why?" He kept on sobbing as he watched the boy pull out a napkin from his pocket and handed it over.

"Your eomma must be dissapointed." The boy said, not answering his question.

"Why?" Kevin asked again, still sniffling. He was considering if he should accept the napkin.

"Take this napkin, wipe your tears, and I'll tell you why." The other boy said. Kevin did as he was told, but he was still sniffling.

"Now tell me why." His puffy red eyes were looking into the other boy's eyes with a lot of sadness, and a hint of curiosity.

"Because my eomma is always dissapointed in me when I cry because she is going to leave me." The boy said, climbing into the wardrobe with him. "She told me that she never leaves me, no matter what."

"But she left you..." Kevin replied weakly, still trying to stop sobbing and sniffling.

"That doesn't matter. Because she's here." The little boy pointed at the left side of his chest. "And your eomma...here." Then Kevin's left side of his chest. Kevin's eyes followed his finger in awe.

"So don't ever cry again, okay?"

"Okay."

"Promise?" The little boy held his pinky finger up.

"Promise." Entwining his finger with the little boy's, Kevin smiled.

"I'm Lee Kiseop by the way."

"I'm Kevin Woo."