Chapter 1: Broken Promises
Overmorrow
"Mingyu! Run!" Samuel ran towards the swing Mingyu had been sitting on for the last three hours, Samuel tried to ran as fast as he could with an injured knee, he almost stumbled twice becuase he kept looking back. As the younger boy came closer to him Mingyu noticed Samuel's messy hair and clothes that were full of mud and that he had a scraped knee again. His previous injury just started healing and he successfully managed to hurt himself all over again after just a week, only this time it was his other knee.
"What are you doing?! I said run!" Samuel grabbed him by the shoulders and shook him, Mingyu did not understand any of this and thought the younger boy was being crazy again until he saw two big dogs and their not-so-caretaker coming their way. They did not look very happy, even the dogs looked pissed. "! What did you do this time?" Mingyu stood up and grabbed Samuel, he carried him and ran furiously for their room.
When they got there they locked the doors and shut the blinds. They were both shaking in fear since both of them knew very well they're gooing to get punished for whatever trouble Samuel caused today. Mingyu sighed in annoyance or what could possibly be disappointment. "What did you do this time?!" Mingyu asked as he looked for a first aid kit on every drawer they had in a room shared by eleven other orphans like them. "I―I tried to escape..." Samuel focused his eyes on his scraped knee instead of the older boy panicking in front of him. "Again?"
"Yeah, well I'd rather not rot in here for the rest of my life!" Samuel burst in tears.
Mingyu softens up with the sight of this, he hates when Samuel cried, it broke him more than anything. "You know they'll always find you and even if you do escape, chances are the world outside wouldn't be any nicer." He says to the younger boy who carelessly threw himself on the bed face down. Samuel cried some more as he buried his face in the pillow. Mingyu sat on the floor next to the bed, he pats Samuel's back and says something about them having to stick with each other since all they have is, well, each other.
"I really don't wanna live here anymore, hyung..." There was a crack on Samuel's voice and it made Mingyu feel hopeless as well but being the big brother he had to be strong for the two of them and so he managed a smile, a fake one. "Don't worry, remember how I told you hyung has been saving money? When I make enough money we'll leave this place and we can even go to Lotte World! You like Lotte World, right?" Mingyu tried to cheer the younger boy up.
Samuel often mentioned how he wanted to go to Lotte World. Talking about the rides and all the fun and cool stuffs he wanted to experience was the only thing that ever made Samuel enjoy being a kid, since most of the time he had to face people who constantly made him wish he did not exist, people who hurt him everyday, people who say he's worthless and unworthy of love since nobody wanted to adopt him because of his bad behavior. An eleven year old boy and he had to face all that, imagine how broken he's gotten. He had every right to want to escape from this hell and to be mad but what can he do? He's only a kid.
Samuel kept crying for about an hour until he finally fell asleep. Mingyu just kept watching over his little brother in silence trying to think of ways to quickly earn more money to finally be able to keep his promise to Samuel.
Samuel and Mingyu are not blood related at all, but Mingyu used to have a real younger brother and now he has no idea where he is. Mingyu and his younger brother ,Dongjin, were brought into the orphanage at the ages of five and two when their mother left their drunkard father for an older rich man. Dongjin got adopted after only two weeks by an elderly couple who had always wanted a child of their own. Mingyu promised Dongjin that he would never let them be separated, but it was a promise he never got to keep. He tried looking for him even though that meant a bad beating once he got back home. A year later an eleven month old Samuel was left by the gates of the same orphanage. It was Mingyu who first found him and brought him in. From then on he treated Samuel as if he was his real brother and he always protected him. Deep down this was Mingyu's way of saying sorry to Dongjin, he promised that this time around he will be a good brother since Samuel was all he had now.
Ten years later after a six year old Mingyu made that promise to Samuel, he was still there for him, keeping all that he had promised. Mingyu made sure that no one would ever want to adopt him, even though the orphanage was an absolutely horrible place he chose to stay. "A few more years, Samuel..." he says to the snoring boy next to him. "A few more years and I'll finally get out of here and I'm taking you with me."
Samuel woke up in the middle of the night because of the pain his scraped knee was causing him, Mingyu who was still awake asked Samuel what he wanted. "Hyung, what happens when your wound gets infected?" he asks Mingyu and suddenly Mingyu remembered Samuel's injury. "Hold on a sec, I'll go sneak into the kitchen to grab a first aid kit." says Mingyu but Samuel grabbed Mingyu's hand to stop him. "Hyung, once they found out you're still awake sneaking around they'd beat you...." Samuel's grip on Mingyu tightens, he remembers the time he got beaten up for trying to drink water after curfew time. "I'll be careful," Mingyu assures him and left quietly. He made his way downstairs very quietly, it took him very long to get to the kitchen since their room was on the third floor and to get to the kitchen he also had to pass the rooms of their caretakers and to make matters worse the dogs were lying in front of the kitchen door. After some time Mingyu finally got to the medicine cabinet and grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge. He successfully managed to go back to their room without being caught. "See? I'm okay." Mingyu ruffled Samuel's hair as the younger boy cried and hugged him. "Hyung," Samuel wiped his tears. "Thank you."
The sun finally came up and everyone was down stairs doing chores when suddenly a commotion broke. Mingyu heard Samuel shout for help, he quickly ran towards where he was and there he saw a couple talking to their head caretaker who had had a firm grip on Samuel's shoulder though she had a smile plastered on her ugly face. Samuel tried to break free and kept shouting for Mingyu. When Mingyu tried to go near him, the other caretaker grabbed him. "Don't even dare, boy!" he says to Mingyu but Mingyu still tried to go after Samuel even after they carried him to the car. Samuel was crying desperately for Mingyu's help as his new parents drove away with him. Mingyu was panicking, his heart was racing, he did not know what to do or feel anymore. All he knows is that he cannot lose Samuel, he cannot lose someone important again. He must keep his promise to Samuel. Along the process of trying to break free from the tight grip around his arms he somehow managed to hit the caretaker, and ran after the car. He ran and ran as fast as he could, but he never got to follow them. He lost him too. Not wanting to give up just yet he still chased after the car that was no longer there. When his legs finally gave up on him he stumbled and fell on the sidewalk. Instead of trying to get back up he just stayed there on the ground crying.
He lost the only reason he ever looked forward to tomorrow. Broken he was before, but now everything was just drained out of him.
What else was there for him but nothing?
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