Each day or every minute was just torture for him. He had to smile. He had to look as if he was listening. He had to make everybody think that he cared. Yes, this was important for his dead Father’s business, but he didn’t have any right to be the owner or CEO of the company now. He was the only son of Kim Bum, but…his Father should’ve continued his work, but he had to die early.

        6:00 am, he woke up and took a quick shower.

        From 7:00 am to 12:00 pm, he went to school.

        12:30, he went to work.

        1:00 pm to 5:00 pm, he had to work and enter press conferences that he wasn’t even interested in.

        5:01, he went back home.

        7:00 pm to 5:00 am, he went to sleep.

        His life was like an agenda. It was all planned out for him. Ever since his Father died and after turning 14, his stepmother had him do the work, while she bought stuff to impress everyone. He had never liked her or trusted her. He had no friends or other family to go to. His aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandparents had disappeared. And then his friends were gone too.

        He had just gotten home and had found a young man talking nonsense. He believed the man was insane, especially the fact that the man had entered his home. He felt a little different as he entered his stepmother’s bedroom, or his Father’s and stepmother’s bedroom. His stepmother had everything that belonged to his Mother or Father burned.

      Sadly, he hadn’t known, so he couldn’t do a thing about it. He did have one thing of his Mother’s and Father’s though. He had two necklaces. One was a pendant of the sun and the other was a pendant of the moon. The blue moon pendant had belonged to his Father while the red sun pendant had belonged to his Mother. He didn’t have pictures, they were burned too.

    Kibum exited the bedroom, but noticed the mirror. He also noticed the tasty blood red apples in the silver bowl on the black coffee table. Kibum tilted his head and entered the room again and approached the table. He picked up an apple and stared at it, examining it.

“Why not take a bite?” Kibum wheeled around to face his stepmother who was at the doorway. She wore a black tight skirt, a black blouse, and black leathery boots with at least 5 inched heels. Her dark brown hair was in a bun and her red lipstick was light red. She smirked.

      Kibum looked down, “Stepmother, what are you doing here…so early? I thought you were with—”

       Mrs. Kim put her hand up and closed her eyes and frowned, “No need to speak, Bummie. I know that you dream for me to only live far away from you, or to stay very away from you. I love you; you do know that, right?” Love? Kibum would’ve snickered, but he decided to play along and see what else she had up her sleeves.

“Do you love me as much as you’d love your very own child? Do you love me as much…that you’d protect and care for me?” Kibum asked with sniffles. He knew his real Mother would’ve been able to, like his Father. But, he just knew that his stepmother couldn’t. He didn’t know why, but he just could sense that she wasn’t any good.

        “Question denied,” Mrs. Kim straightened her back and crossed her arms, and added, “I’m having an idea and I hope you’d support it, or I don’t care really. If anything, I would like it if you just left me alone and didn’t come down at all. Just, don’t. Tomorrow, a special guest will be coming and just stay in your room, understood? That’s an order and not a question.”

        Kibum chuckled bitterly, “That’s an order? Where do we live, Miss Hyuna!? Do we live in the days of kings and queen and princes and princesses???!!! I don’t think we do!” Mrs. Kim exited out of the bedroom and Kibum was too irritated by her that he followed her out. Once he was outside of the room, she was already taking one step down. He said something that made her look back at him, “I wish you could just disappear!”

       And so Mrs. Kim looked at him and stopped, she looked shocked and offended, she had gasped, “You wish for me to just disappear? Do you know how much I was hurting when it was just the three of us? You were frightened and feared me, and your Father loved me. I could win his heart over…but never yours?”

        “I know you didn’t love him! I even believe that you killed him yourself! You did, didn’t you? You seduced him so you could enter his life that was fine with how it already was, and then you killed him so you could keep his money and company! You were able to win him over and trick him, but not me. You will never win me over!” Kibum felt a bit proud of himself, but he was too mad to smile or applaud himself.

        Mrs. Kim raised an eyebrow, “I loved him and that’ll never change. You can believe that I seduced him for money, and you can believe that I killed him so I can take control of the money and company, but don’t you ever say that we didn’t—”

       Kibum cut her off and chuckled, “Loved each other? I bet you were just a replacement for my Mother! I bet he couldn’t even tell the difference! You were just a toy. You were just a second choice. He never loved you and he’ll never love you as much as he loved my Mother.”

        Mrs. Kim pointed at him and gritted her teeth, “I’m going to tell you this, Kim Kibum. I am your legal guardian, I hope you know that. You are to stay in your room until I say you can get out. You’ll be tutored at home and not to go to school. A maid will come and collect your laptop and phone. You won’t have any connection to this world, understood? I’ll make sure that you regret what you’ve said! If you want to say more, I’ll punish you even more. But I will not allow you to insult the love me and your Father shared. I’m serious, Kibum. You will regret this.”

~~~

        His room was big, but his Father’s and Mother’s bedroom was the biggest amongst all the rooms. He liked his room, it was his after all. The walls were painted white, and he wondered why. He could’ve asked his Father when he was still alive, but sadly, he didn’t find the question that important to ask. He kept the two necklaces that belonged to his parents in a red little box.

        There were posters of famous English bands; the Rolling Stones, the Black Eyed Peas, and the Beatles. He didn’t know much of any of those bands, but these posters were just given to him by one of the maids. Since he didn’t have friends, he made friends with the maids and servants. He had also made friends with their pets; he was friends with three dogs, five puppies, seven kittens, four cats, and nine hamsters. He didn’t just have human friends, but animal friends too. It was strange, but it was all he had.

        He was tutored, like what his stepmother had wanted. She had a man come in and exchange the locks on the doors. Now you could look it from outside, and not from inside. She did it to Kibum’s and her own bedroom too. She had taken all of his things that could be used to communicate with people; his phones, his laptop, and his car too. His stepmother even had a ring of keys; the keys to all of the rooms.

        The doorbell rang when his tutor had gone to the bathroom and the maids had gone to the grocery store, the servants were buying somethings that his stepmother had told them to buy, and as for Kibum…he had nothing to do. He found it rude to keep the guest waiting. He tiptoed out of his room and ran downstairs and luckily, the guest was still ringing the doorbell so he could grab the doorknob and open it to reveal a handsome young man.

      This young man was taller than Kibum. This man had dark brown eyes and light tanned skin. He had his hair styled professional which made him look very handsome. Kibum has never seen such handsome face before, but he had. Kibum didn’t know why, but he knew this person. This person was his childhood friend, but he hadn’t seen him ever since they were just kids. This man wore a black suit and had a case in his right hand.

      Kibum had to answer, “Um…sir, what are you doing here?” Kibum knew who it was, but he was scared that if he were to say the name…the man would question how he knew his name. He was scared if he mistaken this person for someone else.

        The handsome young man chuckled bitterly, “Bummie? Is that you?” Kibum flinched by the nickname. Only one person called him that, or only one person called him that and he felt safe when that person called him that.

       Kibum raised an eyebrow, “Siwon? It’s surprising how you could still remember me? I mean, we haven’t seen each other since…well, if you remember me then you should know how long it’s been since we haven’t seen each other.”

       Choi Siwon, heir of the Choi Creations, he chuckled nervously and smiled nervously too, “Sorry about that, and…about your lost.” Kibum seemed shock. He was shocked that Siwon remembered him, but he was even more shocked that Siwon knew. The Choi’s usually had received big news later on, and Kibum would’ve predicated that they’d know way later.

       Right when Kibum was about to answer, he was cut off by a voice from behind, “Kibum-ah, you’re supposed to be studying!” Kibum wheeled around and surprisingly saw his stepmother. What was she doing here? Or how did she get here? Kibum could’ve sworn that she was out.

       “Um…hello, Mrs. Kim, you must be devastated by your lost?” Siwon asked as he looked at the woman seriously. Mrs. Kim couldn’t help but smirk at him. She had smirked at handsome young men, especially this young man whom is an heir to a whole company. She nodded to reply to the young man’s question.

        “Yes, I’ll go back to my study,” Kibum said and waved at Siwon and then went back upstairs. By his surprise, Siwon had looked sad when he left and had smiled weakly while waving too.

      Kibum didn’t have any pictures of Siwon. He knew who he was, but he didn’t clearly remember the time they spent together. What he did remember that was strange, was how every birthday he had, Siwon would always send him a gift. It was an always an apple. Kibum wondered why an apple, but he never did send a letter to his childhood friend to ask why.

      Kibum thought perhaps his Dad had pictures of the two hanging out, but if he did have pictures, they were burned by his stepmother. Kibum never liked his stepmother. Who could like her? She was a monster. She was a witch. She was a mistake. She was a tyrant. Kibum could never like or love her. She’d never be known as his Mom or Mother.

~~~

        The day of seeing Siwon had gone by and another day had come. Kibum had been able to have a day off since his tutor had other people to tutor. Kibum couldn’t go outside to where the people were, and so he went outside to the huge backyard with five gardens; a flower garden, a vegetable and fruit garden, trees that just have leaves, and then fruit trees.

        By his surprise, he had gone to the apple trees and saw something he’s never seen before. He heard something crunching on something. Surprisingly, he had spotted a boy with blood red apples beside him and one in each hand. He was taking small bits from the apple in his left hand and then taking huge bits on the apple in his right hand.

        Confusion was all he felt since the boy looked clean, but he was just taking huge bits as if he hadn’t eaten in days. Could someone dress clean but not have eaten in days? Or could it just be fraud? Would this boy be lying and just wanted a snack, perhaps? Kibum was eager to find out.

        “Um, hello?” Kibum spoke aloud to get the boy’s attention and he had. The boy was handsome, but cute at the same time. He had light brown hair, dark eyes, light tanned skin, skinny, and looked taller than Kibum.

      The boy snatched out a knife from one of his side pockets and pointed it at Kibum and swallowed the apple pieces in his throat, “I HAVE A WEAPON AND I’LL USE IT!”

        Kibum shook his head, “No, no, no, I’m just asking why you’re here.”

       “I was hungry and so I served myself, luckily I was able with my super long legs to climb over that fence of yours!” The boy explained.

        “If you’re hungry, take us many apples as you want, or as much fruit as you want. I don’t care, just make sure you’re not spotted by my stepmother, the servants, or the maids or they’ll call the cops on you,” Kibum warned as the bot nodded. And so the boy took a basket full of fruit and was out to jump the fence until Kibum stopped him.

      “What’s…your name?” Kibum asked awkwardly.

        The boy smiled nervously, “They call me Hunter by its Changmin, Shim Changmin, what about yours?” 

Kibum nodded his head, “Everyone calls me Snow White, but’s Kibum…just Kibum, the last name doesn’t matter.”

It wasn’t long before the boy was gone. Another handsome boy Kibum had seen.

    Siwon was a prince.

  Changmin was the hunter. 

   Kibum was Snow White.

   What a mix up? Kibum thought with a small smile.