Cinders and dirt caked his face as he cleaned the chimney that was used all night and also from the fireplace that they had on every night so the house can be as warm as ever. He had a cloth, but it was already caked in dirt just like his face was. He couldn’t get water to clean his face or to clean the cloth since his stepmother would find out and if she did, that wouldn’t be any good.

        Heechul wasn’t dumb enough to stop his work and complain that’d give him punishment if he were to do that. Every second of his was torture. He had lost his Mother at a young age and then had lost his Father when he was getting into his teen years. At the age of 12, Mr. Kim, his Father, went out to find a motherly figure for his son, but what Heechul got were imposters.

        He had a nice stepmother and two nice stepsisters in the beginning, but in the end, once his Father had died, those nice people who he believed were nice were nothing but tyrants from hell who came to haunt him. His stepmother, Jung Jessica, and his two stepsisters, Yuri and Taeyeon, were the tyrants. They were the liars. They were the imposters.

        Heechul wasn’t fair, nor was he kind, but he was his own self. He was bossy and was a diva, but he was being himself and he wasn’t cruel. His goal wasn’t to ruin someone’s life, but just to live his. His stepfamily wanted him to suffer and suffering he was going through. He couldn’t speak word of his Mother or Father without receiving stares from his stepmother, so he couldn’t talk about them until he got to his room, which was the attic.

        As he was about to stand up, someone pushed him down, making him immediately look up just to find his two stepsisters right behind him. They were snickering and giggling. He had an idea to why as well. They were wearing new and clean clothes while he was wearing old and dirty clothes. Or either because their faces were clear and clean while his was caked in ashes and cinders.

        “What are you two doing here? Especially right by where the fireplace is? You don’t want to get dirty, now do you?” Heechul asked as he suddenly had the desire to throw some ashes and dirt at them.

        Yuri tilted her head, “Ash and dirt? There are new names to give you! Ooooo, Cinder! Oh yes, Cinder would do best for you. Hello, Cinder.”

        “Oh yes, Cinder would be our new name for you!” Taeyeon agreed.

        “You forgot to clean the fireplace, Cinder!” Yuri and Taeyeon laughed about their new name for Heechul and continued to make jokes while Heechul just looked confused.

        He crossed his arms and cleared his throat, “Are you two done joking around, because I have work to do and if all you’re going to do is distract me, I might as well start cleaning something else.”

        “Don’t forget to go to the booth today, we need more money!” Yuri warned.

        Heechul groaned deeply, “Now, how am I supposed to work when I’m doing chores? Don’t you guys think you’re giving me too much things to do around here? Shouldn’t you guys be working? If you don’t learn how to do stuff, how on Earth are you going to find a husband?”

        “How are you going to find anyone with all that dirt on your face? No one will notice you,” Taeyeon said like always, Heechul wanted to punch or kill something or someone, be he spent his life in hell and he knew spending time in jail was hell too.

        “Thank you for your comments and remarks, I take them seriously, now be gone so I can go to work and get your precious money,” Heechul said and continued to clean the fireplace as he noticed that it wasn’t long before the girls had gone. His last thing to do on his list was go to the booth.

        It was once Heechul turned 16, was when Jessica believed that he was old enough to work all by himself. She had bought him an old fashioned phone that didn’t work in a lot of places or area because of its low use of work. Jessica had bought a booth where Heechul could sell and repair stuff. It was quite a surprise to Heechul since he didn’t even know how to be a mechanic, but studying was what he did and he was really forced to it by Jessica or he’d go starving for a week, so it got by quick for him to remember almost everything. 

        Heechul had no transportation, but he had his legs and he used them to jog to the outside markets. The booth didn’t necessarily have a name; it just had big bold blue letters that spelled the word mechanic. There was a door on the side and that his only entrance. The booth was kind of big, not much really. Only tiny shelves with heavy objects on them. The counter didn’t have much either, except for a small white cardboard sign that said OPEN on the front and CLOSED on the back.

        Once he got to his booth, he flipped the sign from CLOSE to OPEN and entered the booth. Before sitting behind the counter on an old chair, he noticed something had fallen. He bent down to grab it. While bending down to retrieve the small object, a loud thud had been heard from the counter. Heechul immediately went back up to see a young man wearing a black hoodie. Heechul’s eyes widened and his breath was caught. It was a handsome rich young man who went by the name, Hangeng.

The whole wide world knew who this handsome young man was.

He was in every newspaper and magazine.

He was in every tablet.

He was in every article.

This young man was known as the richest man in China. He was the prime minister’s son. The prime minister’s first newborn son; his second born was a young man known as Han Zhou Mi who was likely in his home while his Brother was here?

Heechul cleared his throat and tried to concentrate, “Um…hello?” Luckily, he had noticed something on the counter. It was a tablet. He raised an eyebrow and led his eyes back to the handsome young man, “How may I help you?”

Hangeng scratched the back of his head and replied nervously “Hello, you probably know who I am already, so no introductions from me are needed. But I’m looking for…” He fished out a piece of paper from the pocket of his hoodie and read the name choppily, “G…Kim Hee…Chul?”

A streak of pink was plastered all over Heechul’s cheeks as he strangely raised his hand to get the other’s attention. He spoke nervously and shyly, “I—I am, Kim Heechul.”

Hangeng tilted his head, looking lost and confused. He let out an awkward chuckle, “Um…you’re Gim…Kim Heechul?”

Heechul nodded in reply and decided to speak too, “Yes, were you expecting someone else?”

Hangeng looked quite nervous and shy. He replied to the latter, softly and gently, “Um, yeah.”

Heechul quirked his eyebrows and crossed his arms and chuckled nervously. What had Hangeng been expecting? A woman? An elderly perhaps? He was given some glares that didn’t necessarily bother him, but he did wonder why they stared. Was it because he was too girly? Or perhaps it was because he was too young to be doing such things? He didn’t have answers.

“What were you expecting?” Heechul asked softly.

“Um…an old man with man-like features?” This made Heechul flinch. He was a man, perhaps not manly features, but…does Hangeng think he was a boy?

“I’m a boy,” Heechul blurted out with a pinch of anger and irritation in his voice. He then told himself to cool off and so he did, adding on to what he was saying, “You do know that right?”

Hangeng chuckled, “I was aware of that. I’m sorry if I sounded as if I didn’t know, or if it was an insult to what I had said.”

“Oh no, no, no! Don’t mind what you said, perfectly fine.” Heechul spoke quickly as he wanted to avoid that topic immediately. He cleared his throat and asked for Hangeng’s purpose, he eyed the tablet, “Um, so why are you here again? I noticed you brought a…tablet???”

Hangeng nodded his head and folded his hands, “Um, yeah. This tablet is my first one. I’ve had it since young. As a child I’d always play games on it, but as I grew older, realizing what I’d have to deal with. I started using it for political matters.”

Heechul nodded meaning that he understood. He cleared his throat and asked softly, “Um, what seems to be the problem? Glitches perhaps? Unexpected and unnecessary adds on the side?”

 Hangeng shrugged, “I was using it a week ago to put in some more information and then a week later, it just starts…acting up. Mechanics from China are usually very busy and must tend to their families, and…seeing a rich someone arrive, well, you can imagine the attention.”

Heechul understood. He loved the attention, but having girls and young women crowd up at his booth, not for him, would be disappointing to him. But he can understand that some people just couldn’t handle the crowd, especially during personal or private times.

Heechul nodded to Hangeng’s answer, but went on speaking about the tablet, “Has it ever acted like this before?”

Hangeng shook his head in reply, “Nope. It was working perfectly fine for 18 years until now. But I guess tablets aren’t programmed or designed to live that long? But even though, if it has last for that long, shouldn’t it have lasted…I don’t know, a couple more years?”

Heechul chuckled, not all phones and tablets worked like you wanted them too sometimes, he replied, “I guess so?” Heechul took the tablet in his hands and banged the side once. Heechul looked displeased, “Doesn’t work this time, now does it?”

Heechul sighed deeply and gave a nervous look to the handsome young man, “I’m sorry, but it does seem broken, but I’d need to figure out a way to…transfer the information on another tablet, would that be okay?”

Hangeng sighed in relief, “Yes, as long as that information is still alive and can be given back to me. If transferring it in another tablet, I’m perfectly fine. Here,” The handsome young man placed at least a two billion won dollar bill on the counter.

Heechul’s eyes widened even more and he gasped, “Um, you don’t have to! It’d be my pleasure.”

Hangeng shook his head, “Nah, I’ve been told that mechanics aren’t paid a lot. They got much to deal with already. If you’re the best then I should give you more, but I’d know that when I get a tablet back with my information.”

Heechul blushed, “Um, thanks. I’ll make sure to get your information back, I promise.”

Hangeng nodded his head, “Thanks.” Once he turned back, which was when Heechul could squeal, by his surprise, Hangeng had turned back with a killer smile, “See you soon.”

Heechul bit his lips down hard to keep him from screaming in happiness. He’d sound like his stepsisters if he were to do that.

He got to see the prince.

The prince knew his name.

The prince went to see him.

It was like a dream come true.