More or so, Taemin’s life wasn’t a puzzle.

Simply, he had no parents. He knew who they were, but they harmed him and left him stranded at an early age, all alone in a park in Seoul. It was at least near midnight when a woman in a van stopped, noticing the boy all alone hugging a streetlight for dear life.

This woman barely got a paragraph out of Taemin’s mouth, but he said enough to say his parents had took the car and left him to play, never picking him back up.

So the woman took little Taemin to where she lived; to Namwon.

Taemin knew better than to get in cars—especially vans—with strangers, but what choice had he? If he was left on the streets, the same thing would’ve happened later on, or someone would snatch him up if he fell asleep. The chances were all the same.

Somewhere inside little Taemin’s head, he knew something bad was going to happen to him at some point. His parents started fighting often, or not coming home, leaving him and his brother to fend for themselves.

His brother. The best person on the planet. His brother took care of him all the time, whisking him away from trouble and keeping him healthy and strong—body and mind. They played often together, and his brother never seemed to mind when Taemin whined for constant attention.

But then there was that one day. That one day where Taemin’s father grabbed his brother by the back of his neck and led him outside the house.

There was shouting—a whole lot of it. It wasn’t just his parents, but his brother. His brother never fought before, but the elder was sticking up for himself in which Taemin had no idea what to.

Taemin left his room quietly, looking down the hall as he watched his father and brother blazing eyes at each other. His father spat things at him and his brother retorted.

  “You’re a tyrant, not a parent!” his brother shouted at him, “That isn’t how you treat kids!”

  “Says you!” His father growled, grabbing his brother by the hair, “I do more than you could ever do for a kid!”

His brother shoved their father off roughly, “I take care of Taemin unlike you two! You don’t care for him! Just because you didn’t mean to get pregnant doesn’t mean you cast him aside!”

Taemin heard his mother shriek at him, watching as an abstract hand hit his brother on the cheek, “You have no right! It’s totally beyond the point!”

  “What point is there?!”

His father grabbed him by the back of his neck, and Taemin started darting forward as his family went out the back door.

  “We don’t need or want you,” his father spat, leading them into the trees, “There’s a better use for you and we’ve already made the deal!”

They trudged forward, Taemin slowly behind, following them far into the trees until the house behind them was far long gone.

They were all still fighting as they came into a dirt clearing, a rather scary man with a few others behind him standing straight and tall, watching the father and son.

Taemin hid a few trees back, watching as his father threw his brother to the ground.

  “There. All yours.”

The man’s face never moved an inch, but waved his hand forward for a man behind him to step up and place a bag in his father’s hand, “You know what’s in that bag won’t get you far in life.”

  “ that,” his mother growled, taking the bag for herself, “Try living in today’s society, sometime.”

Taemin, horror in his eyes, watched as his brother’s face came to conclusion, scrambling to his feet.

  “You’re selling me?!” he screamed, “You’re—no! Taemin needs me! No!”

His older brother took a run for it, leaving behind all of them. The men behind that specific guy wanted to move but they were ordered not to, “Leave him. When he’s tired, we can force him into the asylum with ease.”

An asylum?

Taemin froze. That word was spread all over morning news enough for him to know the definition.

His brother wasn’t . . . crazy.

  “He’s usually obedient,” his mother input, huffing, “He was never one to be reluctant.”

The man only gave her a side glance without care as he was cut off, turning to his men and walking away, “He’ll go insane easily when he’s tired. So don’t bother to hassle.”

Taemin ran back to the house as fast as he could, the tears burning in his eyes, his little heart beating to fast, his fingernails running into his palms as he shut the door to the house, locking himself in his room (after a few times of jumping to reach the knob).

His brother. His parents let go of his brother.

His brother wasn’t coming back. His brother ran away.

His innocent brother.

Taemin started panicking, clutching on to his little hands as he tried processing everything in his mind all at once. Everything was wrong, so very wrong! Parents don’t give their children away. Parents don’t do that!

What would happen to him? What were his parents going to do with him? The same? Or was it only his brother?

  “Taemin!” his mother sweetly called.

The boy wiped his eyes quickly trying to find his toy train, taking a few attempts to unlock his door and sat on the floor, pretending to be occupied with the toy and not the devastation.

  “Taemin baby,” his mother opened the door with a smile, “How’s my baby?”

Taemin quickly pulled a small piece of the train apart from it, holding it up for his mother, “The train broke!” he cried, pretending it was the toy that made him upset.

  “The poor train!” his mother audibly gasped, kneeling down on the floor and taking a good look at the now broken train, “Don’t cry, baby, Daddy can fix the train!”

Taemin nodded, wiping his red eyes again.

The only thing his Dad could fix with trains was try and get him on one.

  “Stop it!” Taemin struggled.

It was a good while that Taemin finally spoke a true demand after the long while of his parents abusing him. They were so angry, so red, that Taemin’s fear was becoming leveled with anger. He was feeling so confused in the midst of all the pain and hurt that he just wanted to ask if it would all end.

Ever since his brother was gone, Taemin was getting hurt constantly. His parents would always find some opportunity to give him at least a red mark.

Today, they decided to take more out on him until they dumped him at a park in Seoul. Taemin had no experience with this place ‘Seoul’, so his parents must’ve found it pretty smart.

His parents said they’d pick him up later as long as he’d stay in the park, and no matter how much he didn’t want that, he had no where to go.

Anxiousness headed northward in his throat as he wanted to find a hiding spot in the park—he couldn’t be seen. He didn’t want to be seen.

He ended up hiding behind bushes or trees. It was a constant move when an old ahjussi or ahjumma would discover him with smiles on their faces, offering him their hands.

He’d screech and run as fast as he could until the people were out of sight again and hid behind, once again, another green stem.

His head hurt so badly and his arms had a pulse. His legs ached from running and his shoeless feet were burning. He told his parents he forgot to put shoes on, but they said socks were enough as it was.

He knew it was coming, but at certain points he didn’t. After his brother’s disappearance (his parents deemed him ‘Missing’ to all the neighbors and even to him), he expected to be next. But it was a couple years later that his parents decided to drop him, too.

When it was night, he was extremely sleepy. He walked through the park, wondering if his parents were truly going to pick him up, but had the biggest hunch they wouldn’t. He was at the edge of the park—all the greenery turned to concrete sidewalk with street posts before a road, and Taemin couldn’t find it in his legs to try walking across.

Cold, afraid, he wandered to the closest light—the streetlight—hugging it the best he could, feeling the gross soot cover his hands, clothes, and cheek as he rested upon it. What was he going do to now?

And then a car stopped in front of him.

After the lady brought Taemin to Namwon, she couldn’t get an utter of a word out of him. It left Taemin sorry because she was a warm person with a nice little family, all welcoming Taemin in as if he were already a part of the family they just missed.

Taemin was traumatized. The day after he was picked up, he was screaming, thrashing, crawling all over and crying about everything. The woman and man that lived in the house tried calming him down as they sent their children—three of them—off to school with rushed goodbyes.

It would be the same routine every day until the first month in the house was up. Taemin was finally calmer and exhausted, his fingers clenching for something—for anything comforting—until he let the woman finally hold him in her arms, clutching her long black hair in his fists as he fell asleep on her shoulder.

When they could finally talk to Taemin about everything, he spilled just about everything to them. Even when the other kids eavesdropped in the background, shocked looks on their faces, he continued on.

When the subject came up about his brother, Taemin face grew red as he tried thinking hard. He thought too hard to the point where he broke down once again, rolling around on the bed hysterically, baby-cursing at the air about the unfortunate turn in his mind. He couldn’t even remember his brother’s name.

And just barely his face.

----Note~----

So, here's some background on Taemin, his parents, and this lost brother of his.

I can't believe I torture my characters like this omfg.

I feel bad for putting his brother in an asylum when he wasn't crazy. 

LOTS OF REGRET.

But hey, wouldn't it still give Taemin hope to find his brother after all this?

He may not remember his name or face, but hell, checking through an asylum's system shouldn't be... difficult?

Idk what I'm talking about, I'm rambling.

So yeah, do you think he'll find his brother?

Byeeeeee.

~FlaMinhoe