Chapter 0 – Prologue

James, a normal 5years old kid with a height of 4.5’ft, his hair and eye color are black, typical traits of a Japanese kids these days, he is definitely one of the tallest kids at his age. His father is the son of an old fashion old man, who seems to be comparable to a monk, not to mention his old man also lives in a forest, and is secluded from the city.

James mother died while giving birth to him, so he does not know what motherly love feels, since his father is… stupid? or let just call him an idiot. Not in a sense of intelligence but it could be said that his father’s actions is somewhat moronic in the eyes of others and heroic in the eyes of the kids.

His fathers actions seems always to be thinking for the good of others, just like those of heroes of justice sometimes being watch by younger kids. His father met a Korean woman, who he rescued when a bunch of thugs was hitting on her, the thugs was going to drag her away but his father saved the Korean woman, the two of them fell in love and is now living happily ever after. It could have been great If that did happen but fate is a bitch.

James father decided to move together towards his step mother’s home, which is pretty much a home of the richest people alive. Imagine a huge mansion with 10 servants serving her family and 2 private guards guarding the huge mansions front gate.

His step mother seemed to be one of the richest girls in Korea, her father is also a manager of one of the most popular bank agencies in Korea. And it seemed that his step mother only went here in japan just to study and at the same time releasing her new hit album.

James step mother is basically a rich daughter and also a young Korean superstar.

Many objected to their marriage because who would have though that an elite girl like her would end up marrying an average looking and not to mention a poor man as her husband. But since his father and step mother fell in love with each other no one could literally separate the two of them, much more object.

James father could be said a despicable man, why? because he did not even inform his current wife that he already had a son from his previous deceased wife, not to mention that his son is already 4 years of age.

After the marriage, both James and his father arrived at his step mothers home in japan.

James step mother was literally shock when she saw James, she somewhat felt betrayed but also did not dwell on the matter too much because of her love towards his father.

Little did James know, he started to developed a somewhat unique personality which he acts mature in the outside but act like a kid from time to time when being alone, he was a silent type who hardly speak more than a few words to strangers.

Both James and his step mother did not become close, because James only spoke few words to strangers, and he consider his step mother a stranger. Because he could feel the hostility aura emitting from her, he could feel that his step mother has not yet accepted him as her step son.

~~~

9 months have passed, James step mother, Haesoon, Hae in short, is now giving birth to two girls, a twin.

~~
After two years, both James and his step mother got a little bit closer with each other, but its mostly a conversation with a few words, like, ‘hello mother’, ‘good morning’, ‘breakfast is ready’ etc… with each other. Which is kinda sad, because James being a kid as he is could tell if a person likes him or dislikes him, and he could feel that his  step mother has not yet accepted him as her own son.

His father, Shun, is always doing lovely dovey stuffs with his wife every day, like flirting and such.

Such a good couple in the eyes of the others, but if looking closely, we could see that they are not a good family, because James the only son is mostly ignored at home.

James does not have friends, he plays alone in the garden because his step mother won’t allow him to play with his step sisters.

James grew up without getting too close with his step sisters, even after two years had already passed.

~~

His step sisters were running inside the mansion, while getting a lot of attention from both parents. While James is somewhere in the garden playing alone.

James sometimes would cry alone while no one is around,  he even pretended to thin to himself that maybe tomorrow his father and step mother would play with him and spend time together with him like how most kids receive attention from their parents.

James is a good kid, he does not seek attention, he does not grab the attention of his father and step mother, he does not cause trouble, and he does what he was told to do. With thoughts in mind that maybe if he is a good kid, his step mother Hae and his father Shun would pamper him, and share to him some love that they were showering their twins with.

~~

2 years have pass, and James is now 8 years old, his height is around 5ft while both of his step sister’s are now 4 years old, his two step sisters hardly speak with him, much less play with him.

Since they saw that their mother Hae, seldom spoke to their step older brother James.

They don’t hate James they were just influenced by their mother.

Both James sisters are now playing in the park, accompanied by his father and step mother,.

The both of them were quite a handful, they ran around endlessly  doing quite a lot of mischievous things.

James sisters was going to play some prank for the first time on him, but saw him in a daze and is staring on the other kids who were playing happily together with their parents.

Both sisters is now slowly approaching James from behind, but they suddenly stopped their approach and said to each other.

Maylene: “Neesan, is James Niichan crying?”

Selene: ”Of course not, we never see him cry even…” her younger sister then pointed to James face, Selene saw that James was really crying, with tears falling down from his eyes.

Selene: “Yea I guess James Niichan is crying, it’s the first time we saw him cry right May”

Maylene: “Yea, I wonder what he was looking at…”

Both Maylene and Selene  turned their heads on what James was silently staring at, and they saw it, it was a normal scene, which they experienced for themselves firsthand. A happy family playing and bonding together with each other. Both girls felt bad so they abandoned their plan on doing a prank on him.

It was lunch time, both twins saw firsthand the different in treatment their parents were doing to their older step brother.

James as obedient as he is, is only silently sitting on a corner, while both of them were being pampered by their beloved parents.

Maylene: “Mama, papa”

Hae/Shun: “Hmm?”

Maylene: “Do you not love James niichan?”

Both Hae and Shun became silent, they were pondering to themselves why their daughterhad asked them that kind of question, and it hit them they turned their heads to look towards were James where.

But they had not found him on his supposedly spot, it was like they did not even know he was there in the first place, they did not know if James had just gone to a bathroom or is playing somewhere.

After a few moment of waiting, they felt something was wrong, they felt that their hearts were hit with some kind of electric shock. Their hearts ached as if blood was being pump constantly and is being circulated faster and faster, they felt some kind of emotions swirling inside of them.

Tear’s suddenly flowed out from Haeyon’s eyes, while Shun’s eyes started to widen from the sudden revelation.

Selene: “I feel bad when I saw niichan crying alone while watching other kids happily playing together with their mama and papa” as if they were hit with the moment, Selene and Maylene started to cry.

Hae: (Wh-what have I done, how did I become this cruel? I-I never wanted to outcast Shun’s son, no, I never wanted to outcast my-my son. Re-rembering His-his eyes… I know those eyes, it’s the same eyes my father had when he lost my mother.) Haeyon was regretting her actions, her eyes started to redder by each passing minute.

Shun: (Ho-how did it come to this?, why am I such a moron, my father always told me that I should show my love to those people that are important to me, ho-how could I have neglected my very own son. His mother died, and I bet, I also died together with her in his mind, remember his eyes… they looked empty. How can I atone for this sin that I have committed to my very own son.)

Maylene and Selene was already crying while hugging each other, while Haesoon and Shun were holding their self from bursting to tears.

Haesoon had decided to search for James and apologize to him, but Shuns phone suddenly rang, when he answered it, he was shock, he even accidentally raised his voice.

Shun: “What! What do you mean my father died?”

Shun: ”He-he died from heart failure…no, that can’t be, father *tears falling*” Shun could no longer contain his emotion, tears were now falling from his eyes he looked towards James previous location, he saw an image of James eating alone, and was very lonely, He laid his phone down and spoke.

Shun: “Ho-how could I explain this to James? My father died, he was more of a father to him than me, he took care of him when I was away, gave him more love that I could ever hope to give him.” Shun were pressing both of his hands towards his face, as if he was covering them and is hiding them from people so that no one would know and see that he was crying.

Hae: “Dear, we still have a chance to show our love to our son, and we still have a chance to mend our mistakes, lets show our son our love and show him that it was foolish of us to ignore and neglect him. I am ready to prostrate myself dear, if it’s to seek forgiveness from our son.”
Shun smiled upon hearing what his wife had said, since she did not even prostrate to her father when she was asking to be free, and wanted to marry him. And now she wants to do this to James, Shun felt that his wife had finally and fully accepted James as her own son.

Shun: “Yea, let’s do that”. Shun showed a warm smile, and a resolute face.

But fate is a bitch, both of them could not show their love to James and did not even manage to have the chance to ask for forgiveness, since, the next thing they knew, James was nowhere to be seen, rather, James was gone, poof, he could no longer be seen anywhere in the vicinity of the park.

Both Haesoon and Shun panicked while Maylene and Selene showed a worried face, they were finally starting to understand their mistakes and was now going to mend their errors.

Shuns phone rang, when he answered it he was utterly shock, because the one who called him was Julie, she was Shun’s step mother, in other words, Julie is the mother of Shuns deceased wife, she was by blood James grandmother

Julie(on phone): “Hello Shun, don’t panic, James is in good hands.”

Shun: “ Julie, what have you done to my son?”

Julie: “Oho? Is that how you speak to your step mother?”

Shun: “ Me and Naija, weren’t married, or rather, fate separated the both of us.”

Haesoon was listening on the conversation of Shun and Julie, since Shun turned the phone to the loudspeaker mode. She was shock upon hearing that shun was not married before he met her which means that her jealousy was somewhat meaningless , and also she felt relieve when she heard that James was in good hands.

Julie: “I don’t care about that, I was going to personally tell you that your father died, from heart failure a couple of months ago, but when I saw how you treated MY GRANDCHILD! I changed my mind and decided to make sure if what I saw was real, so I had you and your current family monitored, and it was just as I have feared you don’t give a damn about your son, you don’t give a damn about MY GRANDCHILD! you don’t deserve this child, oh how furious my daughter must be in heavens, seeing the child she died giving birth to being treated like this!” Julie was shouting on her phone, anyone listening could not even imagine that she was over 60 years old with her loud shouting.

Shun: “I know Haesoon and me had wronged our son James, and we are prepared to mend our mistakes, soo…” Shuns voice was somewhat in pleading tone.
Haesoon took the phone and said,

Hae: “ Please returned our son to us, after we had finally decided to become a proper parents to him, and ask him for forgiveness…you can’t do this….please….”

Julie: “Oh? is this perhaps Haesoon?”

Hae: “Ye-yes”

Julie: “As I said, I had your family monitored these past few months, and you know what I found out?”

Hae: “N-no…”

Julie: “I-I found out that my grandson was being treated as a stranger, and is always crying secretly alone, and I-I bet he was crying alone secretly much much longer than before I had found out” Julie’s voice sounded like she was crying, it was just too much for her, who would not cry if they found out that their grandson was secretly crying alone and there was no one there for him to cry on to.

Julie: “You know how a mother feels about seeing her son or children crying all alone right? How would you feel about it if you were in my position? Ho-how could you do this to him? He was a great child, he-he don’t cause troubles for others….a-and he is…..” Julie could no longer contain her emotions and was now crying.

Julie: “A-and he is always crying alone secretly in order not to give troubles to you, his parents….”

Hae: “*sniff,sniff*” Haesoon also began to cry, she could not retort or much less argue, because it was the truth, she cried louder, her heart felt like it was being grip tighter and tighter upon hearing that James was always crying alone secretly, she had always though that James was a mature kid already, since he rarely shows his emotion, but she was hugely mistaken, James was just the same as any other young kids, they feel lonely and tends to cry.

Hae: (Wh-what have I done.)Haesoon returned the phone to Shun and was now hugging both twins in her arms, the three of them are now crying together.

Shun: “Ju-Julie…”

Julie: “It’s a no Shun, you can’t have James back, rather you can’t have my grandson back any longer. I decided to raise him together with my husband here in our home, and don’t even think about visiting him, since I already talked to him and he willingly followed me.”

Julie: “You lost him Shun, you already lost him the moment both you and Haesoon did not showed him a bit of love, and you expect him to willingly stay with you? Even I, am amazed that my grandson here did not ran away from home, which is if he did ran away, I don’t know what I would have done to you Shun, you do know what I am capable right? So you better distance yourself from my grandson.”

Shun: “Bu-but”

Julie: “This is for the best Shun, you and Haesoon should just concentrate on your
daughters. Me and my husband, will give James here the love and care that he deserve.”