Paris was often called the 'city of riches and love'.
However, behind the facade of the beautiful architecture and monumental history, poverty and crime were rampant.
On a winter day of 2009, an unfortunate baby was born.
His mother would name him Lucas, a common name in the region, in hopes that he would be able to fit into the society better than she did as a first-generation immigrant.
Originally, she didn't plan to have him or ever have any kids for that matter.
As she never received any education and was too weak to work in labor-intensive jobs, her only option in the fast-paced and ruthless French society was....prostitution.
From an accidental pregnancy, the idea of bringing a child into this world turned into reality.
She wasn't wealthy at all, but she would devote all of her resources to her one child.
As a child born on French soil, he received citizenship on birth and could access services and privileges she could only dream of.
And thus, the infant grew up into a child and enrolled in public school.
Lucas never knew what his mother's profession was, or who his father was, and whenever he was asked that question in school, he never had an answer.
His mother was a kind woman, and she raised him with plenty of affection, but she had her own set of problems.
As a child, Lucas recalled how she would often come home reeking of alcohol, and with purple bruises on her face and neck.
"What's wrong, mom?" Lucas held on to his mother's pants.
"I tripped down the stairs, love..." His drunk mother always gave the same excuse.
Then, in spite of her state, she would prepare him food and make sure he was well-fed and happy.
"Bluurggh...."
Lucas held up the blanket over his face as he heard his mother vomit every night.
And thus, years passed, and the boy was now in his last year of middle school.
They recently sheltered a stray cat from the harsh winter, and ultimately, they took her in.
"Milo!" Lucas called out to the cat and played with her.
It was getting quite late, yet his mother was not home yet.
Eventually, he had to go to sleep, though he occasionally woke up and checked on the other side of the couch to see if his mother was there.
She never came.
As the anxious boy went to school, the principal had them gathered in a hall and asked them to offer a minute of silence to the victim of a tragic murder in the city.
That night, the corpse of a woman was found in the Bois-De-Boulogne with stab wounds and signs of abuse.
The woman was later identified as a prostitute, and the main suspect in the matter was arrested.
Only later, as a social worker stood in front of their home, did Lucas understand that the victim of the murder was in fact...his mother.
After all these years, he realized why the neighbors looked at him with such pity and disdain.
As the child of a prostitute, he was considered a bastard, and a sinful child.
However, he did not care about any of that.
The poor boy just wanted his mother.
Over time, he moved on, and throughout his high school years, he survived on government subsidies.
He had a big dream.
He wanted to become an engineer and enroll in Polytechnique Paris, the best institute for engineering in the entire country.
He worked very hard, and when he underwent the admission test, he was unfortunately rejected.
As his only ambition in life broke down, Lucas felt hopeless.
He studied in an average university and graduated as a mediocre engineer in a saturated field.
Overworked, and underpaid, both his mental health and physical health weren't the best.
Lucas then met a woman, and the two fell in love.
She was very kind and loving, and so was he, but over time, problems arose in their relationship.
She wanted to become very wealthy, and she worked very hard for it, whereas his ambitions were limited to becoming financially independent.
She wanted to wait for her forties to settle down, while he wanted a stable family situation in his twenties.
Because of their disagreements, they ended up breaking off and moved on.
His next relationships were all failures, and he met many people who had an incredible amount of hatred for the world, themselves, and other people.
As failures piled on, he stopped trying.
Then, he attempted to work out.
He absolutely loved it, even though he was bad at it, it allowed him to lift and overpower dumbbells like they were his life problems.
There, he met someone who would contribute to him making the biggest decision in his life.
His personal trainer, a man who used to live in the poverty and crime-stricken areas of Brazil.
He studied biology, worked very hard, and let go of all of his past, moving to Paris.
The idea seemed ridiculous to Lucas, but as he grew more hopeless, so did the allure of the concept creep inside of his mind.
He finally made the decision when he once came back home and found his beloved cat, deceased.
The vet informed him that it was from a preventable kidney disorder, and the look the doctor gave him as he sent him off made Lucas feel like a failure.
If only he had checked the cat's stools more often, instead of working uselessly, maybe it would have turned out different.
And thus, there he was in front of the Seine River, staring at the strong currents of the water.