Prologue

Dulan never tried to hide when people came looking for his father.

When the loud door banging came up once in a few weeks, some unpaid bill or some old rival, Dulan quietly opened the door and showed them where his father was sleeping. He would then roam outside for hours till no more noise came from his home and he could return. It always earned him a beating, but, at least pushed the old man to arrange some money, and the two of them would have something to eat.

That was how it went every time, after all, Dulan had no mother or siblings. The only one he could depend on was his drunkard father. He nearly always stayed outside the house, so that if he came back one day and found his father dead, he wouldn't get caught by the perpetrators... so then why was Dulan hiding under the kitchen sink today?

First, today seemed to be the day loan sharks would finally kill his father. They had come with guns and with more people. From what noises he could hear, the scene sounded as if they were breaking things, shouting and most probably, threatening to shoot.

And second, there was a pampered kid inside his house. How would Dulan know if he was pampered? Well, the boy had that sort of a smell and the appearance of money. His clothes were clean and his hair was fluffy. He had big frightened eyes that filled up with tears if Dulan even looked at him funny. He shook and whimpered every time a scream or a loud bang was heard and clung to Dulan's shoulders. 

Almost every night of his life that he can remember, Dulan went to bed hungry. But the boy looked like he had never worried about food or shelter. They were probably the same age, but destiny had it so different for everyone.

Unlucky for both of them though, the kid had followed him inside his house even after Dulan tried to shoo him away; which was why they were stuck in a bad hiding spot. They'd surely get shot if they tried to run out now, so hiding without making a noise was the only option.

"Don't make any sounds, okay?" Dulan whispered.

That may have somewhat calmed the boy in his arms. 'Should I just throw him out of the window? He'll break his bones but at least he'll live. We both don't have a chance to survive so at least the pampered Young Master should be thrown out?' Just as he was making plans mentally, he heard loud footsteps approaching closer.

Dulan held the boy's mouth tightly with his hand so that no sound could escape. The boy struggled in his grasp but seemed to understand the mission, they had to stay dead silent. "Damnit! That guy ran away again!"

"He had a son hiding with him here! He's a little 10-year-old, must be hiding around here! If we find him, maybe he knows the code to the safe?"

Dulan had never heard of a safe but they were coming to kill him. 'Sorry young master, but we'll have to die together in this ditch.' he thought darkly. 

The sink tap had been leaking for months, but he never thought it could be such an inconvenience. A drop of water dripped on the kid's shoulder and he flinched back and fell out of Dulan's grasp.

"There you are!" They were both spotted now!

"We haven't anything to do with you! Let us go!" Dulan screamed and the kid was full-on crying now. What a pain seriously.

"Just like your father, aren't you? Can't you open your fucking mouth?!" He swung his knife, nearly stabbing Dulan in the thigh, but he slid away with a deep cut instead. Dulan cried out at the sharp pain but realized quickly that he had no luxury of crying. The man tried to hit the kid's face, probably annoyed by his incessant crying, but Dulan pulled him away quickly. His right eyelid started to bleed. 'If he survives this, I hope he isn't blinded by this wound.'

"They're just two kids, what's taking you so long!?"

"Ugh!! They keep slipping away!" Dulan hid the kid behind him, kneeling in a defensive position, eyes closed, and ignoring the gaping pain from the knife wound. He had very much expected another stab to come, but he heard a gunshot instead.

"Father!!" The kid behind him screamed and ran forward. Dulan slowly opened his eyes. He saw the fiercest amber eyes he had ever seen. The man had a dark, handsome face, and thick eyebrows; he was tall and looked huge in Dulan's tiny living space. He was dressed in an expensive-looking dark red suit and his gun had shot down his attackers, who was also, apparently, the kid's father.

"Father! I was so scared! Why didn't you come sooner!?" The kid cried again.

"A-Fang, didn't I tell you not to run away?" The man spoke softer than he looked like he could. It was a gentleness reserved for family, and how Dulan felt jealously rise in his mind as he felt light-headed from blood loss.

Dulan averted his eyes. His own father had never spoken to him softly, nor had he ever protected him. Heck! He had already abandoned him in front of danger and ran away! No one called him A-Lan so softly. Maybe, when she was still with him, his mother used to...

"You protected my son, child. What is your name?" The man asked him.

"Chen Dulan." He answered weakly.

"That wound would likely get you killed and..." He paused, amusedly looking around at his surroundings. "If you don't have much going on, why don't you come with us?" 

He laid out his hand to Dulan, an opportunity no one should take. He would later come to know this man as the leader of 'MinYao', the mafia group he could never cut ties with again. He would have better landed dead. But little Dulan didn't know any such things.

Chen Dulan took the Boss's hand.