Chanho was especially hard to handle that morning. Taemin was supposed to have him ready for school 10 minutes ago but the 7-year-old was pretending to feel sick so he could stay home. Lately, it happened a lot and it pained the young father to send his son to school where he would once again be the target of all the teasing he had endured ever since he started elementary school. Taemin had thought of transferring schools many times. But he just couldn't handle moving at the moment when his work was expecting the most from him and he really couldn't lose that job.

Even now, they were anything but financially secure, the little money he made used up for only the most basic necessities. The thought of having to pay for a moving truck, possibly new furniture and the bureaucracy fees for a school transfer were just not something he could afford at this point in time.

It pained the young father to see his son struggle though school because of the mistakes he had made. They called him unwanted. They told him he was so worthless, that his mother didn't even want him. And the worst part about it all was, that Taemin couldn't even deny it.

He couldn't tell his son that his mother loved him because that would be a lie. The day she had told him about the pregnancy was still vivid in his mind - he thought about it almost every single week. She wanted to abort "it" instantly. Her family urging her to go through with it too as they were disapproving of the early, premarital pregnancy.

Even back then, he had felt a connection to the unborn child, so he made a deal. She carried out the pregnancy and in return he will take care of the baby, not contacting her ever again. He never regretted having Chanho. But he did regret never finding a woman to be a mother to his son.

He had tried, but what girl in her early twenties would want to be with a single father? Additionally, Taemin hadn't been able to muster up feelings for women ever since he could remember.

The girl who gave birth to his son hadn't been more than a girl he met up with because of the pressure in their friend group. Him being interested in men was one of the most protected secrets of his life.

He would rather stay a single forever than having his son go through even more bullying because his father was a homoual.

His family didn’t know either. They weren’t on best terms anyway. They did support him financially the first two years after he moved out with his son and could only take up so many part-time jobs. Most of them had been online jobs he could do from home, proofreading documents, entering numbers into spread sheets.  Nevertheless, they had pretty much refused any contact, not interested in getting to meet him or the baby who had by now up into a smart young boy.

Life hasn't always done him good, but Chanho made it all worth it.

Even now as he looked at his crying son who was refusing to go to school, terrified of the other children and their