Hanbyul woke to the faint shuffling sounds coming from beside her and slowly opened her eyes when she felt the soft skin of her son's hand make contact with hers; the petite fingers entangling themselves in between her own. She tried to get her bearings, her eyes flickering around their one bedroom flat that showed obvious signs of harbouring a child. There were pieces of paper and clothes strewn all over the floor along with Hwan's few toys which were scattered in piles like rubble from the remains of an explosion - the was so little floor space visible that Hanbyul found it a surprise how they managed to move about in the tiny room that they called home. I need to clean up a bit Hanbyul thought to herself, she was exhausted just by the thought of it. 

"Hwan-ah? Are you awake?" Hanbyul whispered into the brown tuft of hair that peeked out from under the blanket. She slowly peeled off the top of the sheets to expose Hwan's face and smiled like an idiot as she glimpsed those sparkling dark-brown eyes that gazed at her, showcasing the pure innocence of a child. Hwan shuffled closer to his mummy and now his button nose and his cute, pouty lips came into view. As he saw his mummy smiling so brightly at him he decided to return the favor, his mouth stretched out in a upside down trapezium-like smile, his mouth forming a shape that was more like a square than a semi-circle. He was the splitting image of his father, Hanbyul mused, he even smiles like him. Then she caught herself again and pushed the thought away, what's the point of thinking about the past now, she muttered to herself. 

"Mummy, I'm hungry," Hwan pointed to his stomach to emphasise the extent of his hunger. 

Hanbyul ruffled the little boy's hair and pulled herself out of bed to make breakfast. The routine was the same each day, every day; Hanbyul would get up, make her son a simple breakfast of egg and rice, take him to kindergarten, go to work, pick him up, go to her 2nd job, take Hwan home, feed him and put him to sleep, go to her night job, come home and sleep and the next day it would repeat again. She knew that it wasn't fair on Hwan, leaving him alone at night where sometimes he would wake up in the dark alone and Hanbyul with find him crying with puffy eyes and a snotty nose in the middle of the floor when she returned from her night job, however, she had no choice if she were to earn enough money to for the living expenses needed to raise her child. She had no school qualifications and so the only jobs she could get were part time jobs that required a lot of labour but paid little. She hadn't had time nor the effort when she was a teenager to attend school properly and when she did attend, she slept through most of the lessons because she was so exhausted from the hours of practice that she had to endure the night before. And well, she had never gotten the chance to attend college or uni as she had been too busy trying to find jobs to raise her newborn child. Her parents had helped a bit, until he was just over two years old but then they started to distance themselves from her again, just like they had when she had decided that she wanted to become a k-pop idol contrary to their beliefs that it was her destiny to become a doctor. She remembered the night where her parents had kicked her out of the house and he had taken her in and comforted her, said he would always be here for her...

But that was the past

Now...

Well now she thought it was safe to believe that they were alone... 

It's just her and Hwan

against the world.

~~~~~

Thankfully, Hanbyul had managed to obtain a suitable job; babysitting to be more specific, for her evening job which would allow her to take Hwan along and would also give Hwan a chance to make some new friends. And there she sat now, watching with a tired smile as the children finally settled in front of the Tv after a few hours of running around and causing mini catastrophes. It seemed to her that Hwan had gotten close to the Lunde kids and she was glad. Finally given the chance to get a bit of rest, her eyes went towards the music program that the children were watching. She didn't recognise the song (she didn't get a lot of time to listen to music) nor the group... until she saw him. 

Byun Baekhyun.

He sent a wink to the camera while singing his line and Hanbyul's breath caught in . Unaware of her actions, she found herself unconsciously picking up the remote and turning the Tv off. At the sudden distrurbance, the children started up a cry of distaste. Hanbyul shushed them but not tenderly enough which caused Cooper -the youngest of the children- to start wailing. Hanbyul stared as Lauren went to her younger brother and comforted her, Hwan stood awkwardly to the side looking at her in confusion, almost as if he was wondering if she was really his mum; Hanbyul was never one to raise her voice or treat Hwan harshly but her sudden actions must have startled him. And it was that look that did it, it was that look that brought her back to reality. 

Hanbyul sighed and picked Cooper up who thankfully, didn't squirm in her embrace. She rocked him until the salty tears had dried on his face and the haziness started to kick in, causing him to fall into a deep slumber. Lauren too, had been tucked up with a book and her eyes were starting to flicker as Hanbyul set Cooper down beside her. Just as Lauren too had fallen asleep, their parents returned and thanked Hanbyul before giving her that day's paycheck. 

Hanbyul took Hwan's hand and led the sleepy boy outside. He plopped along obediently beside her, rubbing the grime from his eyes. The coolness of the night was starting to wake him up again and halfway towards home, he spoke, "Mummy."

"Yes?" Hanbyul replied squeezing Hwan's hand.

"Lauren said that her daddy was taking her and Cooper to Lotte World (a Korean Amusement Park) on Saturday," Hwan paused, "Where's my daddy?"

Hanbyul swallowed, she was unsure of the approach to take with this topic, whether to tell him the truth or to lie. 

"He's..." Hanbyul choked up and walked in silence for a few moments to stop herself from crying in front of Hwan.

Hwan squeezed her hand and looked up at her, "Mummy are you sad that I asked? I'm sorry... I won't ask if it makes you sad."

Hanbyul nearly cried at her son's comforting gesture and squeezed back to show her gratitude. And with that, they walked in silence, occasionally squeezing each other's hand to show that they were there for each other. 

~~~~~

The next few days were not a good time for Hanbyul.

Money was tight, she had lost her morning and night jobs due to the shops closing in her area for a huge construction project to take place. She still had the babysitting job however Lauren and Cooper only had to be babysitted twice a week and the pay for that wasn't enough to pay for the rent and for the food and clothes for Hwan. Hanbyul heard loud banging on the door, she wanted to ignore it but knew that she couldn't. She reluctantly got up and opened the door for the landlady who had been visiting them for the past three days since Hanbyul had run out of money to pay for the rent. 

"I'm sorry Mrs. Park, I'm trying as hard as I can," Hanbyul mummered apologetically as she opened the door. 

"I'm sorry too Ms. Song but I'm going to have to ask you to leave by tomorrow. I know its hard for you but money's tight for me too and I have a coupel of people who actually can pay wanting a room."

Hanbyul put her hand to her forehead in distress, "Please Mrs. Park, I have nowhere else to go... just let us stay here a bit longer, for Hwan's sake, please..."

The landlady shrugged her shoulders as if to say I want to but you know I have no choice, "Maybe you should put Hwan in care for a while... just until you can get yourself back on your feet. I can't let you stay any longer." Without a backward glance, the landlady left, leaving Hanbyul worrying about what she had to do now. But she knew one thing, she would never part with Hwan, never.

After taking Hwan to school, Hanbyul spent the rest of the day looking for a new morning job and a new night job. It was difficult since she had no qualifications that made her stand out from any other person applying for the same job and there were not many jobs to go around in the first place. She gave up after a few hours of searching and decided to go and pcik Hwan up from kindergarten. 

Just as she entered the gates of the tiny school, she glimpsed a sleek, black car driving out and for some reason her eyes were drawn to it. She waited for Hwan to come out and found it weird that she was the last parent waiting as Hwan was usually one of the first to come out. With a feeling of dread in her stomach she went and consulted Hwan's teacher about her son's whereabouts. 

The young teacher, looking uncomfortable replied, "I'm sorry, Ms. Song but it seems that someone called social services regarding Hwan and came and picked him up today, literally about twenty minutes ago. I would have thought that they would have consulted the mother before taking him but-"

"What?!" an overwhelming sense of panic overtook Hanbyul, "Where did they take him? Please I need to know!" 

The teacher gave her the address and with a hasty goodbye Hanbyul rushed off to the address scrawled on the folded piece of scrap paper. The piece of paper led her to a bleak looking building, seeming too quiet to be harbouring children. 

She went inside and spoke with the receptionist, "Hello? A boy called Hwan was brought here today, I need to see him and I need to speak to the person in charge. I'm his mum,there must have been some sort of a mistake."

The receptionist didn't even look up at the flustered Hanbyul that had approached her, "I'm sorry Miss, you aren't allowed to see him."

"Why not? I'm his mum, he can't sleep unless I'm next to him. You can't just take him without asking me!" Hanbyul's voice rose as did her panic at the thought of Hwan being taken away from her.  

The receptionist looked up this time, annoyance written over her face, "Please calm down!" 

Hanbyul tried to go in through the doors behind the receptionist but the receptionist pushed her back, "He's not here at the moment anyway, calm down and I will tell you how to get your child back." 

Seeing that Hanbyul had managaed to calm herself, the receptionist carried on, "Song Hwan was taken because we have been notified that you do not have enough money to provide living quarters for him from tomorrow. You have less than £100 in the bank and we think that is not enough to care for yourself and your child. When and if you manage to find a suitable living space for your child and when and if you save more than £1000 in your bank we will return your child to you... I'm afraid that if you cannot do this in approximately 6 months to a year then we will have to put Hwan up for adoption." 

The strength was sapped out of Hanbyul at every word she uttered, it was an almost impossible task...

The receptionist, seeing the helpless state that Hanbyul was in, added, "You could ask your parents to help you... or, Hwan's father if you still contact him... I saw that you were a single mother. If you don't know his contact details I could look them up for you. What's his name?"

Hanbyul closed her eyes.

No this was all wrong. Taking this option would be going against why she had left Baekhyun all those years ago. But as she thought about it, it was the only way to make sure that she could get Hwan back. And she was surprised to find that now, if she had to choose between Hwan and Baekhyun, it would be Hwan. 

She faced the receptionist and uttered the name that she said she would never say aloud again.

"Byun Baekhyun."

I have no choice.

I'm sorry. 

A/N: Well that's the first chapter done. I got to say it's longer than what I usually write but I think I got a little carried away. 

Although this was more focused on Hanbyul and didn't really mention Baekhyun very much, I'll tell you that he will be mentioned more in Chapter 2 and the future chapters to come.

Especially in the next chapter as the next few chapters will alternate between flashback and events in the present day. 

Thank you to all the people who subscribed and for those who havent't I would appreciate it if you subscribed and upvoted

:)

Hope you enjoyed reading this chapter.

By the way this is what Hwan would have looked like but maybe a bit older,

It Bacon as a baby:P Shooo Cute~~~