It was there in the school where they met for the first time, a classic all-boys private Roman Catholic school - the primary school sector, which has the same strict rules.
Taeyong was weeping in one of the church stools facing the cross on the white, mostly empty wall. It was dark in the room, the candles for the one's whoom had passed were the only thing that lit the room up.
Little eight year old Taeyong weeped and weeped, wiping his tears on the sleeve of his green tartan and grey school uniform. His small whimpers echoed through the hall.
A small creak came from the wooden, large doors, then the clicking of footsteps were made, to then be halted at the little Taeyong.
His tear-ridden face looked up at a boy who was around the same age as him. His uniform was finely pressed and fresh, crisp looking. His hair combed neatly to the side except for a couple stands trailing off into his right eye, he had a stern and serious face; even though he was a young boy.
'Why are you crying? I'm trying to do my homework.' The boy crossed his arms. 'Hush it, will you?' He had a posh and more-literate tongue compared to Taeyong: who was brought up in an average middle-class family to this school.
He only continued to sob. 'S-s-sorrwy...'
The boy sighed and rolled his eyes. 'It's sorry, not sorrwy.' He began to tap his foot impatiently.
Taeyong sniffed, making a small hiccup due to crying for too long.
'S-sorry.'
The boy smiled. 'Try to drop the stutter and maybe it will be more proper.'
Taeyong furrowed his eyebrows. 'Wh-what's a s-stutter?'
'What you just did obviously.' The boy then made Taeyong budge up on the stool so he could sit beside him.
Taeyong nodded slowly. 'Oh... O.K.'
'My father told me that boy's shan't cry outloud. It is disgraceful.'
Taeyong lowered his gaze.
'I-' He sucked air in. 'M-my mum used to say to not...'
The boy had rolled his eyes again. 'What did I tell you, the stutter. It's also... my mum said to cry. But oh well, fair-enough.' He sighed at Taeyong who gave him the sharp eye. 'What is it cry-baby?'
Taeyong whined loudly. 'B-bwut my mum isn't even here, my dad too!'
The boy's face went pale.
He fixed his tie and cleared his throat, not even apologising for his mistake and also never hearing such a story of death to someone he had seen in school. 'Wh-what do you mean, passed-away?' This was the first orphan the boy had ever encountered of course, his lovely parents told him most orphan's had physical and mental problems that lead to their parents discarding their children. He had never heard of a child not having parents at all, being wrapped-up in cotton wool takes a toll on your mind.
Taeyong hesitated but he nodded slowly.
He looked at the boy's face as the he looked away, the candle-light had caught his frozen, blank expression. Taeyong had eventually stopped crying.
The boy raised a handkerchief from his inner-pocket and gave it to Taeyong while still looking in the opposite direction. 'If you use your sleeve it will look mucky, the other children will make fun of you.' He avoided Taeyong's eye-contact.
'My birth name is Jeffrey Jung the II. But my Korean name is simply Jung Jaehyun. Pleasure meeting you.' He stuck his hand out for Taeyong to shake, which Taeyong gratefully shook after taking the hankercheif with his other hand and dabbing it on his eyes gently.
'Lee Taeyong.' Taeyong moved his hand away, his palms were too awkwardly sweaty to make the handshake good.
Jaehyun sighed, getting his hand-sanitizer and rubbing it into his hands.
Taeyong blinked a few times. 'Sorrwy.' He had mumbled and slouched back into the stool. Jaehyun rolled his eyes. 'It's sorry! How many time's must I justify! But, just take it, it stops the bacteria, gross surroundings, it also stops you from getting sick.' He shoved the hand sanitizer into Taeyong's hands quickly.
Taeyong sniffed, taking the small bottle. Get sick... he didn't want to... end up like his parents, so he squirted some onto his hands just like Jaehyun and made sure to put it up his arm as well.
'See? Clean.' Jaehyun had smiled, which made Taeyong do the same but weakly.
...
The next day, Taeyong was walking from the school to his foster-home and suddenly a fancy black car pulled up in-front of the crossing he was about to step into. He was confused, until Jaehyun rolled down the window and waved. 'Why are you just standing there like a statue? Get inside.' He demanded before a man in a fancy suit had opened the door from the window that was rolled down, and gestured to Taeyong to hop inside.
And so he did as he was told.
Taeyong hopped in and found that Jaehyun was buckling his seatbelt into the side beaside Taeyong. Taeyong did the same, after he held his hands on his lap nervously, he began to do his ugly sweating again. 'Where are we going?' He asked as he heard the door close again, where the man got into the driver's seat and began driving.
'Home.' Jaehyun said with a wide and cheeky grin sprawled across his face.
Taeyong blinked. 'Your house?'
Jaehyun rolled his eyes and shut them in an agitated way. 'No. I said Home. Our house.' He said in a tone of tiredness. 'I signed the paperwork.' He smiled.
Then, Taeyong then began making stutter sounds as he tried to find what to say and how to respond to Jaehyun. 'But grown-ups-'.
'I have my ways.' Jaehyun brought a lollypop from the inside of his pocket and put it in his mouth.
By this, Jaehyun had meant that he had thrown a tantrum to his butler, Carlos: who was driving; about how he wanted a friend at home and how he wanted to be Taeyong's new parental figure. A child, could do that.
Little Taeyong fiddled with his fingers in his lap nervously. 'Oh.' He was jealous, just a little, by this rich boy who he had recently made friend's with. He had no idea how he could befriend someone completely different to himself.
After a while of driving, the vehicle turned into a private property, into a driveway of pebbles which seemed to be endless just as the gardens were an actual forest. Taeyong peeked through the window in a wide-eyed gaze of amusement. Jaehyun scoffed. 'That's nothing, that's just green and boring.'
Taeyong turned to Jaehyun with a confused look. 'I-It's beautiful though.'
Jaehyun watched Taeyong's continuous amusement at the side of his eye with a smile, being proud of what he had to offer.
Taeyong then noticed a massive house appear, wait... no, a mansion. One bigger than anything he had ever seen before. It was as big as the main school building, or bigger. He was in shock.
The car stopped, and the butler opened the door. In which Taeyong was shoved out by his new friend and family to get out too. Jaehyun sighed. 'It isn't as big as my mother's and father's house. But they don't want me in there, they have too many parties and gambling stuff. They said it's Illegal but fun.' Jaehyun said in a disappointed tone.
Taeyong furrowed his brows at the ungrateful boy. But he was probably bathed in this rich lifestyle too much that he hadn't realised that what he had was more than enough. A whole 5 or 10 family's could inhabit his house and be completely away from one another.
Jaehyun walked in and dragged Taeyong by the sleeve as he did.
He brought Taeyong in through the house and dragged the poor boy up the massive grand staircase that had a chandelier decorating it, along with various paintings and a red carpet. Taeyong then mustered up the courage to speak. 'How do you have so much money? Where are you taking me Jae?'
Jaehyun swallowed a gulp.
'Jae, never have I ever been called that... but fair enough. Also, you don't need to know those questions cry-baby.' He continued, dragging Taeyong through the massive hallway full of doors to many huge rooms, the hallway smelt freshly painted and new. Jaehyun then suddenly had stopped at one at the end of the hallway with Jaehyun's name labelled onto it with a metal sign, probably real gold.
Taeyong then looked at the door opposite to it, saying Taeyong's name with the same gold sign... Him too? Jaehyun opened the door to Taeyong's room.
It was beautiful... It was modern and fresh, even built with a balcony and onsuit. But he couldn't imagine what Jaehyun's must look like, that spoilt brat must have it all, right?
Jaehyun then watched Taeyong look around in amazement, with crossed arms and the same rolling eye habit he had near Taeyong. Then the rich-boy stamped his foot, gaining Taeyong's surprised attention. 'Because you're now mine. You have to hug me, now.' Jaehyun demanded, Taeyong rubbed his neck and slowly approached Jaehyun's wide arms where he hugged him, this filled the gap within Jaehyun's empty heart.