It was early in the morning, and the sun was hidden by fluffy white clouds with snowflakes slowly descending on the ground, draping the streets of London in a white coat.

Children played in the snow, throwing snowballs at each other’s faces, and building snowmen, their cheeks rosy. A young, good-looking boy stared down at them from an elegant, red-brick mansion’s open window, his gray eyes following every thrown snowball as it went for its target.

One of the children, a teenage boy, felt his gaze and looked up at the window. He grinned. The young boy, Ethan, quickly tried to close the window, but it was too late.

"Smash!"  A huge snowball smashed hard against the Ethan’s face, making him fall hard on the floor of his room from the impact.

The children below the window laughed loudly, their laughter particularly loud in Ethan’s ears.

"Oi! Ethan! It hurts, doesn’t it? How about you go crying to your father? I am sure he’ll help you!" shouted the teenage boy below, his face filled with amusement.

Ethan quickly stood up and ignoring the children’s ridiculing laughter, closed the window, blocking the noise, but the teenage boy’s words kept echoing loudly in his ears.

Ethan looked around his room.

His bedroom, with its gray walls and not much furniture, excluded a dull, dark atmosphere and was not quite suitable for a 9-year-old child but Ethan didn’t care, in fact, he liked it because it was his father’s room when he was the same age as Ethan.

Ethan walked back to his king-sized bed and laid down on it, staring at the white ceiling.

He knew what the boy meant; he was used to it, but Ethan couldn’t just abandon hope.

His father was a successful businessman, and his businesses usually involved things that young Ethan couldn’t understand, but he knew that they were not something good; after all, his father was always busy due to it and never had time to see Ethan, let alone talk, but Ethan always felt that his father never really tried to make time for him.

Several times, a terrible thought arose in his mind, but Ethan refused to admit it, he didn’t want to.

“Knock, knock.” Someone knocked on the door. “It’s Eli, Young Lord.”

Ethan quickly got up, brushed the snow underneath his bed with his hands and sat down on his bed before calling out.

“Come in.”

A pretty young woman with a slightly round face, white-blonde hair and kind, light brown eyes walked in, carrying a breakfast tray in her hands.

"Good morning, Young Lord. I see that you are already awake." she smiled, "Today's breakfast is your favorite; bagels with havelnut spread and fruits with a cup of hot cocoa."

“Yeah, thanks, Eli.” said Ethan, forcing a small smile.

‘Hope my face looks alright…’

Eli smiled back and sat at the edge of Ethan’s bed, watching as he ate the delicious bagels.

“What will you do after you finish your lessons, Young Lord?”

“Don’t know, maybe I will read something at the library.” replied Ethan, his cheeks bulging.

He was thinking of finishing the history book he’d left yesterday to lighten up his mood.

“Don’t you think you should visit your friends at the orphanage? I’m sure they will be delighted.” assured Eli, her voice was soothing and warm.

“But I-” Ethan stared at her eyes, which seemed to sparkle from enthusiasm which made him feel slightly flustered. “Er… I will think about it then.” He hesitantly said.

Eli smiled again; her face glowing from happiness.

“Well,” she said as she stood up and took the breakfast tray from Ethan who had finished eating. “Please get ready, there’s a lot of things we have got to do today, Young Master.” Eli left the room and closed the door.

Ethan washed his face from a washbasin and put on a warm brown jumper with a pair of dark blue leather jeans.

Ethan walked out of his bedroom where in front of him followed a long marble staircase which led to the hallway while beside his bedroom there were three doors, one leading to his study and the other, his own library. The third lead to…

Ethan was walking down the stairs and had almost reached the end of it when he heard two voices arguing but he couldn’t work out what they were saying. He cautiously walked in the hall where he saw his father and the butler, Giles near the entrance.

The hall was huge with several windows all around curtained in coffee-coloured hangings and a sparkling, mammoth, glass chandelier hung from the ceiling.

There were many paintings on the walls and the floor was, just like the staircase, a white creamy marble.

Ethan was considering leaving when he heard Giles say, “-however, the Young Lord- “

That was all that took Ethan to walk towards them swiftly but quietly as a mouse and as soon he was near enough to clearly hear every word they were saying, he quickly hid behind a one of the hangings and listened carefully.

“-all the same, Giles, but why don’t you understand that I have done all this just for Ethan’s sake? Why? How’d you think that he would hate me for what I’ve done for him all these years?” Father said, his voice seemed angry and desperate.

‘What did Father do? Why would I hate him? This is the first time I’ve heard him like that...’

Ethan felt worried that Giles might have thought wrong, however, he knew that besides Eli, who’d been with him ever since he was born, the one who knew him best was Giles, not his father.

“I do understand that Lord, quite clearly actually. However, please try to think in Young Lord’s shoes, how would you feel? How would you feel if your own father wouldn’t even look into your eyes out of guilt, and never tell him why? Yet he still thinks highly of you. And now, you’re going to leave him for months- “

Giles suddenly stopped, and Ethan heard footsteps coming towards where he stayed hidden, getting louder and louder.

He could tell it was his father just by the sound of them, but he couldn’t care less now.

He wanted to hide from everyone, he wanted to hide somewhere no one could find him…

Just as his father had reached his hand at the curtain, Ethan ran as quickly as he could with his eyes tied shut and turning a deaf ear to his father’s shouts, he ran up the stairs, past his bedroom, study, library and in his mother’s old room.