A Tangled Web

Chapter 1

"I'll be back for you soon." The woman promised kneeling in front of the little boy, she handed him a stuffed bunny, and straightened up, looking up at the other person standing behind the child. "It isn't permanent, I'm coming back for him, don't let him be adopted." With those words she turned and  left. She didn't turn around as she headed through the gates of the orphanage. Mother Superior looked down at the child, "Let's meet the other children." She smiled brightly,not seeming to notice that the little boy didn't smile or show any emotion at all. 

Four year old Lee JongSuk stared at the gates  Eomma had  just walked through as if waiting for  to come walking through the gates, but she didn't come, she was never going to get him. She lied.

Lee JongSuk woke up heart pounding he tried to control his breathing , he didn't know why he dreamed about that day, he had wanted to forget about that day and he had for the past sixteen years he had pushed the memory down , but every once in a while he would remember ,the look on Eomma's face when she left him at the orphanage, she had promised to return, she never returned, she had lied. When he was six years old, his only friend in the orphanage had been adopted by a rich couple and had moved to Japan, that's when he realized that everyone he loved or cared for always left him , when he was three years old, Appa died, Eomma abandoned him and his friend had been adopted leaving him alone. 

There were a lot of things he wanted to forget growing up with no family, abandoned by his mother , other kids at school and even the parents when they found out he had no family looked down on him . Even when he was bullied at school the teachers ignored it and the few times he fought back against the bullies he got in trouble not the other kids. He learned to ignore them (he really only fought back when he was pushed too far) he studied hard and managed to always be at the top of his classes even without private tutoring. He wanted to go to culinary school and become a chef, though he wasn't sure how that was possible, something like that cost money, in high school he was working two jobs at a convenience store and delivering food . He didn't think he would be able to afford to pay for culinary school, but to his surprise he had gotten a scholarship to one of the most prestigious colleges with a culinary program in Seoul, he had to leave the village and orphanage he had spent most of his life in, he wasn't really that sad, he would miss the younger kids at the orphanage though, he had been the oldest and had taken care of the smaller children. The orphanage wasn't really big there were only between twenty to forty children in the past sixteen years,this year was the smallest there were only six children including him money was running out and the orphanage was barely surviving . JongSuk had never been adopted at first he hadn't wanted to be because he thought Eomma would come back for him, she had promised him and he had believed her, but by his tenth birthday , he realized that Eomma had lied and she wasn't coming back. He also learned on his fifteenth birthday that he wouldn't be adopted, because Eomma had told them not to let him be adopted,the nuns were under the impression she'd return for him, and when they realized she wasn't coming back for him he was too old, no one wanted to adopt a teenager, most couples wanted the younger children .

  He pulled his phone out from under the pillow and turned it on , half past seven. He could see the sun peeking through the curtains, he sat up he wasn't going back to sleep anytime soon, besides today he was the day he was leaving for university, he was leaving the orphanage today, his suitcase was already packed and sitting by the door waiting for him, the door crashed open and five  children tumbled in, he sat up.

"Told you he was awake" one of the boys said,he had chocolate smeared on his face, he bounced on the bed and the other four also crowded onto the bed 

A little girl with two front teeth missing signed  she wrapped her arms around him leaning her head against his arm. She showed him a picture with a child crying, and pointed to him, then his suitcase and shook her head.

"We don't want you to leave, Hyung, can't you stay here." The oldest boy asked he pushed his glasses back up , the remaining two children identical twin girls nodded emphatically. 

JongSuk sighed"Mianhe" he looked at the younger children, "Remember I said I want to be a chef, I have to go to a school that will teach me."

The kids nodded, JongSuk shooed them out so he could get ready, twenty minutes later, he was ready to go, he stood by the front door, the orphanage director the only mother he had known since he was left here at four years old, hugged him, "Make sure you eat and don't get sick, wear your coat and gloves when it's cold, you get sick easily."

He nodded ,"I will, Eomma." He turned towards the younger children, they looked ready to cry ,but he smiled and they smiled back.

He turned towards the oldest child a young boy of twelve years old, "Don't get into fights at school" 

Jihoon nodded ."I'll try, Hyung" he promised holding his hand up .

JongSuk turned to the other boy , "Min Hyuk,don't eat too so much chocolate you'll be sick. I won't be here to take care of you anymore." 

"But I love chocolate " MinHyuk looked at the bag of candy in his hand and sighed, "But I'll only have one piece." He promised .

He turned to the twins, the little girls were eight years old and mirror images of each other, the only way to tell them apart for people who didn't know them were the bracelets they wore, but sometimes they switched the bracelets, they had switched the bracelets that morning.

"Do you have to go." Eun Byeol asked , she was older by two minutes,whatever she did her twin EunHa followed . "Can't you stay." 

"I'll visit and call , I promise." JongSuk promised. "Switch your bracelets before you leave for school." He motioned to her wrist

EunByeol grinned and turned to her sister,"Told you he'd notice, even the teacher never notices when we switch bracelets she can't tell us apart yet." 

JongSuk turned to the youngest child, a little girl around six years old , she looked ready to cry, Min Seola had come to the orphanage at three  years old , having been abused by her mother she was skittish and frightened of nearly everything and everyone including the other children who were loud and boisterous. She reminded JongSuk of himself when he had first arrived at the orphanage,scared and wanting to go home not understanding why he couldn't. He had met an older girl who was four years older, she didn't bully him like most of the older kids did ,instead she played with him and protected him. While the other kids didn't bully Min Seola they were just too much for her, she had gravitated towards JongSuk preferring his company over the other kids. 

JongSuk handed her the stuffed bunny the same stuffed bunny Eomma had bought him before she abandoned him, he had been tempted to throw it away, but for some reason he couldn't do it. So he kept it, after sixteen years it was faded from being in the sun, rain ,mud being washed multiple times mone eye was missing . MinSeola's eyes lit up, she never talked whether she couldn't or didn't know how Min Seola had never spoken a words in the three years she'd been at the orphanage. 

After one last goodbye to everyone, JongSuk stood up and grabbed his suitcase, he took a deep breath and opened the door as he headed through the gates leaving the orphanage for the last time, he turned around everyone was standing in the doorway. He waved before heading towards the bus stop in a few hours he would begin a brand new chapter in his life and he was nervous and excited.