All I Ever Wanted Was Love

Some children grow up surrounded by love.

Phuwin grew up listening to screams through thin walls.

Every night was the same.

His mother crying.

His stepfather shouting.

Doors slamming.

Plates breaking.

And a little boy sitting alone in the darkness, covering his ears and pretending he couldn't hear his family falling apart.

Nobody ever asked if he was okay.

Nobody ever noticed when he stopped smiling.

Nobody ever realized that a child could feel lonely even in a house full of people.

The only person he had was Dunk.

The little boy he helped raise.

The little boy who followed him around like a shadow.

The little boy who eventually grew up and stopped needing him.

Or at least, that's what Phuwin believed.

Years passed.

The fights never stopped.

The wounds never healed.

And the desperate need to be loved only grew stronger.

Phuwin became the kind of person who would accept any affection, no matter how small.

A smile.

A compliment.

A touch.

Even if it wasn't real.

So when a stranger offered him money for a simple prank, he agreed without thinking.

One foolish decision.

One desperate moment.

One encounter with a man named Pond.

What Phuwin didn't know was that his life had already been chosen long before that night.

Pond wasn't a coincidence.

Joong wasn't a coincidence.

Even Dunk's fate wasn't a coincidence.

Behind every meeting, every smile, every moment that felt like destiny, there was a carefully crafted plan.

A plan that would give Phuwin everything he had ever wanted.

Love.

Family.

A place to belong.

Only to rip it all away.

Because sometimes the cruelest thing a person can do isn't hatred.

It's making someone believe they are loved when they aren't.

And when the truth finally comes out, four hearts will discover that heaven and hell are often separated by a single lie.