Six months had passed since he was sent to Cloverfield, an orphanage located in the countryside, and for him, living in that place left much to be desired and that was him putting it nicely. These past few months have been a complete and total hell for Minkyu.

Not to say he expected anything different, he was a fragile kid in a wheelchair that didn’t talk, he was basically a bully’s wet dream. Like moths to a flame, all the lowlifes that got their kicks out of hurting the weak flocked to him.

Also, his commitment to not speaking made him the most desirable person to pick on in the entire orphanage. That soon changed though when Minkyu met him, the person who would soon become his lifelong friend.

Minkyu remembers that day all too well, it was a bleak day in December. Two of his main bullies cornered him while he was sitting outside trying to get some air. He should have known better and not stray too far from the eyes of the orphanage workers. 

He had one of those nightmares again, the ones that involved his and the car crash again. All throughout the day he kept thinking about his nightmare, until he started to become a little claustrophobic, needing to clear his head he went to get some air. 

The two meatheads that found him, were named Lee Joong-ki and Kim Bo-gum they were the biggest bullies in the whole place, they were also the most hated. They wouldn’t just call the person they picked on names or humiliate them by flushing their heads down the toilet, they were much worse.

They would beat up the kids they caught, not to the point where they had to go to the hospital or anything, but they would feel that beating for the next couple of days. The only reason they were never caught and kicked out of the orphanage was for the simple fact that they were smart enough to only hit people where others couldn’t see the bruises.

After learning that Minkyu could indeed speak but wasn’t doing so, they made it their mission to get some kind of noise out of him, most likely of the pain variety. Right now they were twisting the skin on his arm hard, and when he didn’t make a sound they just did it harder and harder. 

“What’s the matter, freak? Does it hurt?” Joong-ki asked. “Don’t worry, the pain is just beginning.”

That’s when he arrived Muk Yeong-Jin, everyone was terrified of him even the bullies. From what Minkyu would later find out, Yeong-Jin had killed his own father. It was in self-defense, but it still made people afraid of him. Once a killer, always a killer as they say.

“What are you two doing?” Yeong-Jin said threateningly. 

“What’s it to you?!” Joong-ki said before turning around to see who was talking. Once he saw that it was Yeong-Jin he paled and nudged his friend.

Angrily Bo-gum said while never stopping in his assault against Minkyu, “What’s the matter, go deal with the guy.”

“Deal with me? I would love to see that.” Yeong-Jin replied arrogantly.

Wondering who had the nerve to talk back to him, Bo-gum stopped what he was doing and turned around only to see Yeong-Jin. He became white as paper, everyone knew about Yeong-Jin and what he did, only a fool would mess with him. 

Yeong-Jin walked towards Bo-Gum and grabbed his collar pulling the boy towards him and calmly said, “If you so much as lay a hand on him again, I will find you and cut off the hand that touched him after beating you within an inch of your life .”

You could tell from the look in Yeong-Jin’s eyes that he was dead serious, and from how Bo-gum was now peeing his pants he could tell it too. Scrunching his face up in disgust as the scent of urine hit him, Yeong-Jin threw Bo-gum to the ground. 

“Get out of here now before I make good on the promise,” Yeong-Jin said while cracking his knuckles.

The two bullies hurried and ran away without looking back once, while Minkyu watched the whole thing go down in disbelief. He couldn’t help but wonder why this boy had helped him. Nobody else ever did even when the bullies were hurting him right in front of their eyes.

As if reading his mind Yeong- Jin said, “From your face, I can tell your wondering why I saved you right? It’s a good question, I don’t even know myself really, but If I had to come up with an answer I would say that it’s because I saw myself in you, getting hurt with no way of speaking out for help. I couldn’t just stand there and watch.”

Minkyu tried to say thank you but with him not using his voice for the last couple of months the only thing that came out was a squeak.

“What was that?” Yeong-Jin asked, with a mix between confusion and laughter.

After clearing his throat some, Minkyu said once again in the softest voice ever, “Thank you.”

“Your welcome.” Yeong- Jin said nonchalantly like it wasn’t a big deal he was talking.

For the first time in months, Minkyu smiled. He would always remember that day, it was the day that he felt that he could have a normal life again and it was all thanks to Muk Yeong-Jin. 

After that day the two became closer, almost inseparable. Yeong-Jin urges him to talk more, while he made Yeong-Jin feel like a normal kid and not some monster as others thought he was. Months went by and by the time it was summer Minkyu could walk normally again, it was also during that summer that the two of them found their one true dream.

0.3 ~0.5