Orphaned

Prologue

Quiet steps. They moved quickly but were quiet nonetheless. The young boy didn't say anything as he was carted through the streets, the severity of the situation hanging over his head like an ax ready to swing down and end his entire existence with one strike.

The man carrying him tried to be gentle, but with the pace that he needed to keep it was rather difficult. While the young boy feared the ax, what plagued the man was far worse. 

 The man wasn't sure what fate could be worse than death, but he knew it was what he would suffer if he wasn't careful. The young boy was the only solution; the only thing in the entire world that could stop the crumbling of the man's fragile hope. The boy was the only thing the man had left to bet on, the only thing left that made any sense in his life. 

 The man had no faith in himself.

Not anymore.

But he trusted the boy.

He supposed to some extent he must trust the middle-aged man that he passed the boy to as well. The child struggled, clinging to his shirt with a surprisingly tight grip for the size of his small fingers. The man lightly scolded the boy, his heartbreaking with the fall of the youthful face. The boy didn't cry, but it was clear that he wanted to. The new man didn't say anything to either of them at first. He didn't want to be the one to break the fragile silence that was surrounding them. "Promise that you'll take care of him," the young man demanded, his eyes meeting the gaze of the other man.

"I'll take care of him."

"Teach him. Teach him to be better than them."

"I'll teach him well."

"Love him. Unconditionally," the younger demanded. It was his final request, but it was the most important. He could live if the boy wasn't taught about the lifestyle that he'd been taken from. But the thought of no one loving the boy was too much. His heart nearly broke imagining it. 

 The older man hadn't expected this request. He blinked, surprised by the severity of the younger man. He turned his head towards the small home that he had come from only moments before. A small face was peeking through the front window, her small hands gripping the curtains. The older man would go through most of his life without loving the young boy. In fact, he merely tolerated him. But the older man knew the habits of the young girl peeking through the window. The older man would not love the boy, but the girl would. "He will be loved. Unconditionally."

~

The boy didn't like the girl at first. The older man spoke with a stern voice that left no room for argument, but the boy was accustomed to that kind of voice. It didn't phase him any longer. "She's your noona," the older man stated. 

The young boy didn't like that. He had a noona and she was the meanest person he had ever met. He didn't want another one. 

The young girl was not deterred by the boy's scowl and instead brought herself much closer to his small frame. He was only a year younger than her, but she couldn't help seeing him as a child. She held out a small hand and said, "I'm Ri-Na and I'm five."

The boy didn't care about her name or age. But the older man delivered a swift slap to the back of his head, and the boy found himself forcing the words out. "I'm Jung-Kook and I'm four," he mumbled. It was enough to make her smile. 

This was the beginning of their confusing relationship, a small step towards the door that would lead them both down a dark and desolate future. 

Jungkook didn't realize it at the time, but he was staring at the only person that he would ever truly love. 

He was staring at the person that would push him into doing unimaginable things. Things that would haunt him every time he closed his eyes. 

She would inspire a disgusting storm of emotions to roll through his mind, leaving him with a broken idea of the world and its inhabitants. 

She wouldn't do anything other than love him.

But that was more than enough.

After all, she was the only person that he trusted.

He would do anything for her.

Anything.