$ o n e $
Winter 1999.
A seven year old in dirty tattered clothes heard the crying of another child in the busy streets of Seoul. No one stopped to help him, no one cared to ask why he was crying or why he was there by himself. He followed the sound after a few minutes, leaving the safety of his makeshift home--an old tent underneath a bridge that went over the Han River. Nearby was a park, and that was where he found another little boy like himself, sitting in the grass. His hands were covering his face as he sobbed into them uncontrollably.
Junmyeon approached the strange boy with some hesitance as well as some pity reflected on his face. "Hi there..." He said in Korean, tilting his head ever so slightly in an attempt to see his face better. "Why are you crying? Where are your parents?" The two little boys were about the same age, yet Junmyeon was there comforting him.
The little boy continued crying into his hands. He was crying so much that he couldn't even talk.
But from the looks of him, Junmyeon concluded that he was foreign. He knelt by his side, placing a hand on his shoulder to get his attention. The little boy pulled his hands away from his face and looked up at the only person who had tried to comfort him. His tears didn't stop as they rolled down his face, but his sobs softened enough for him to speak. "I can't find my parents. I-" He sniffled, getting the words out in broken Korean. "I was playing and when I turned around for a minute they were gone."
He started crying once again when he remembered what had happened to him. Junmyeon smiled at him, a friendly smile to ease the other little boy's worries. He knew what it was like, not having parents. "Do you want me to sit here and wait until they come back?" He offered.
The other little boy gave a nod of his head, somewhat comforted by his words. At least now he wouldn't have to wait there by himself. "Yeah...thank you."
Junmyeon quickly plopped down on the grass next to him, and began to make casual conversation in an attempt to get his mind off his worries. He began with introductions. "I'm Jun. I live over there by myself, in a tent I found in a dumpster." He gestured underneath bridge, by pointing to it. "What's your name?"
"Yifan." The little boy replied, wiping his tear soaked face with his hands.
"You're not from here, are you?" Junmyeon asked the question bluntly and with a genuine curiosity.
Yifan now gave a shake of his head. Though Junmyeon could already tell by the accent in his words when he spoke. Still, he was impressed that even as a little boy, Yifan spoke any amount of Korean. "Papa got a big promotion at work so we came on vacation here. I'm from China." Yifan explained.
The two made conversation until the sun went down. By then, Yifan had forgotten momentarily why he was sad. But when there was no indication that his parents would show up, his eyes welled with tears once more. This time, Junmyeon had more words of encouragement for him.
"If you want to, you can come to my tent, and we can share it together." He said, getting back on his feet and extending his hand out for his new friend to take.
Yifan nodded his head, and took Junmyeon's hand, assuring that it would only be until he could find his parents. The two walked to his tent together. It eventually became Yifan's home as well, and Junmyeon his only family.
-
Spring 2001.
The two nine year old boys spent most of their day time on the streets, helping people carry their bags to their cars at the grocery store for money. They'd eventually get chased away by the grocery store workers. By noon, they would make enough money to buy some fruit and bread, even meat if they were lucky enough. The two were at the park by the Han River, sharing a bag a few apples they had gotten with their earnings that day.
They sat underneath the playground slide where there was a little house for the children to play in. Junmyeon grabbed one apple for himself and tossed one to Yifan, the two boys digging in hungrily.
As they ate, they could hear the voice of a little girl yelling with excitement in the distance. "Chase me, Hyuna!" Her laughter filler their ears, but they gave it no importance.
There were footsteps heard and the laughing got louder as the little girl ran underneath the slide, stopping when she saw there were already people there. The little girl chasing her was laughing too, stopping when she ran into the girl she was chasing. "Caught you, Hani..." Her voice trailed off when she saw why her cousin had stopped running. To little boys in tattered clothing, eating apples underneath the slide.
An eight year old Min Hyuna tugged on the arm of her eight year old cousin Min Hani.
"Hani..." She started slowly. "Lets go back and find your mom."
Just by looking at them, Hani gathered that they were homeless. She shook her head at her cousin, refusing to go with her and leave because the two boys lived on the streets. "Maybe they want to play with us." She said to Hyuna, and then looking at the little boys, she asked the question. "Hi, I'm Hani. Do you want to play freeze tag with me and my cousin Hyuna?"
The two boys looked up from their meal and Junmyeon smiled at them politely. "Yeah, okay."
Yifan also nodded in agreement.
They followed the two little girls out from underneath the slide and Hani tagged Junmyeon first with a wide smile on her lips. "You're it and you have to chase us!" Then she took off running, grabbing Hyuna by the hand and running away with her, screaming at the top of their lungs.
Yifan didn't understand at first, but then followed their lead. Junmyeon had been on the verge of chasing them when a woman stopped them. "Hyuna! Hani! Get over here right now. What are you doing?" She was over dressed for being at the park. A dress, an expensive coat, high heels, sunglasses covering her eyes. She beckoned the two little girls over to her who had stopped running in their tracks when they heard her rather cold voice.
When they did nothing to move towards her, she cut the distance between them, and grabbed each of them by the wrist.
"I don't want you playing with those boys." She scolded them, and gesturing to them she added, "Look at them, they're filthy, and they're homeless. Who knows what kind of diseases and flease they're ridden with. I knew coming here was a mistake, but your father insisted that us being seen at the park like regular people was a good idea."
The woman dragged the two girls away, towards a waiting car, while Hani looked back at the two boys. She waved a sad goodbye at them until she was taken away.
-
the first update for this story because i am feeling super inspired with this series. i hope you are all excited for the prequel, i am very excited because i have been wanting to write exo as a twelve member pack for a long time.
also we're going to get EVERYONE'S backstories. this is yifan and junmyeon's. how they met.
thank you all so much for reading and supporting me.
-clary
