Therapist • KTH ✔

74. Stick Figures

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I learned to love my scars by forgiving those who gave them to me, including myself.
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Nov 23, 2026
Author's POV

It was Monday morning.

"MinJun ah, It's time to wake up, honey... time for a wake up cuddle," Amy said cheerfully, ruffling MinJun's hair and trying to wake him up for school.

"Eomma... cuddle," MinJun sleepily stretched out his arms, smiling cutely with his eyes still closed.

Amy hugged him tight and planted kisses all over his cute face and ruffled his hair.

"Eomma... I love you. You're the best," MinJun hugged his mom breathless.

"I love you more, my darling. You're the best son. It is because of you I'm a super mom," Amy chuckled, wriggling out of his bone-crushing cuddle.

MinJun sloppily kissed her on both cheeks and she pinched his cheeks gently.
"Come on.. brush your teeth and join me for breakfast. I've made your favourite French toast with strawberries today," Amy chimed.

"Wow, really?" MinJun clapped and jumped out of bed and rushed to the bathroom.

MinJun was almost seven years old in Korean age. He was attending the kindergarten school near St. Mary's hospital. Amy drove him to and from school every day, and she was now working as a senior counsellor.

Amy's POV

I picked out a fresh set of uniform and set it down on the bed for Minjun.

I was full of hesitation to send MinJun to a regular school since I feared that he would start asking about his dad after seeing other kids being with their dads. I wanted to hire a home tutor for him, but after considering many other factors, I decided to go ahead with regular schooling. And to be realistic, for how long will I be able to hide it from him? Not that I wanted to, but I really didn't find the need to tell him yet.

He has been attending school for almost a year now, and he hasn't yet asked me anything about his father, but I know the day is probably closer than I think it is.

Scuttling over to the playroom, I cleaned up his shuffled books, and I happened to flip through his drawings from last night.

My heart stopped beating inside my chest for a moment.

He had drawn stick figures of a father, a mother and a son—all holding hands and standing at a river bank, smiling broadly and watching the sunset. My eyes welled up instantly.

My child IS missing out on growing up with his father. Kim Taehyung would have been the best dad ever. Taehyung missed out on MinJun, who is the best son ever. Why is my life so hard? I only wanted a simple life with the one man that I loved. Was it too much to ask for?

For most other parents, this would have been such an endearing and simple, almost dismissable thing by a normal six or seven year old kid. But for me, it is an absolutely heart-shattering encounter.

My fears have taken over me to such an extent that I completely shut off all kinds of screens from MinJun's life. Giving up on the little pleasures of snuggling up to my son while watching The Lion King or Moana or anything else on TV, just so I wouldn't have to face the dreaded question about his father for which I still had no proper answer was only killing me from the inside. Yet, now I know that he has reached a stage where he is out in the world, though he's still a baby inside my heart, and there's no way that he wouldn't know about a child having two parents. I know that he knows now. Maybe he knew it all along, but it is just now that his thoughts have manifested on paper.