Chapter One

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The discarded and unlabeled child was dropped off at an orphanage,  slash,  detention centre, just days after coming into this world.  The place was essentially an institute for the unwanted,  the wayward and the homeless, and, all manner of miscreants. 
The sorriest child,  he was naked and hungry,  dirty and sickly.  The underweight baby was frightfully small and was left without so much as a newspaper for comfort.  The infant was placed directly on the wet concrete stairs.
It was the heart of the rainy season and by the sheer grace of God was he found.  The rains had momentarily stopped and could have easily drowned or washed him away.  His tiny figure so light it would float as a styrofoam cup.

The young man that found him used his foot to push open the door.  The boy sitting at a desk just inside,  said:  "Another one P'Park?  That's two this month.  What's going on?"

The baby shivered.  Park used the same foot to shut the door behind him.  

"Nong,  grab one of those towels for me,  please."  Park pointed to the washroom that was just down the hall.  He held the cold infant close to him.  

Park thought the odds were not good.  The newborn would get medical care but they couldn't work miracles.

He wrapped the little one in the towel and used the corner of it to clean the baby's face.  Park was absentmindedly talking to it.  "You didn't like that cool air,  did you cutie?"

Park held him up and showed him to Nong'Pop.  "Doesn't he looks so much better with the dirt gone from his face?  Isn't he the sweetest?"

Pop nodded and smiled.  "You're such a softie P'.  What's his name gonna be?  I'll get him registered.

Park asked Pop which name he preferred.  "Cool,  or Air."

...

Six Years Later

Young Master Air was expected to leave the orphanage every morning with all the other boys and attend school.  The academy was a five-minute walk and was reached by cutting diagonally through a meagre park that separated the two buildings.  The grassy,  shady green and the occasional flower found there,  were the only colour in the lad's life.  

Considering that the orphanage was in the core of Bangkok,  it was a surprisingly quiet enclave.  The hum of the city and the rumble of trains,  blended with honking horns and leaves rustling in the wind.  The compound had its own hospital,  workshops,  a giant laundry facility,  there was a big administration building too.  Almost all of it was off-limits to the boys that lived there.

Air knew nothing of love or the meaning of expressions such as 'family ties'.  Air thought the people around him were harsh, cold,  and frankly,  cruel.  He guessed it was because running the institute was more of a business than a place of caregiving.

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