The Search | BTS (Kids-Teens)

37

"Changjun, we should change his name." Mother whispered. It was in the dead of night. Her little boy was asleep and she was determined not to wake him up.

She was tired. Sick of the child's endless screaming, his refusal to eat or be dressed or showered. Sick of the child's odd disobedience. She had cross-checked Jin's behaviour with her friends who had children her boy's age, none of them seemed to have an issue as problematic as Jin's.

She was sick of his constant questions: where are my brothers, Mommy? She couldn't answer him. She wouldn't answer him. Ignorance was the only way they could make the firstborn forget that he was ever a big brother. They needed him to forget.

"Yeah, I think a name-change sounds good. A way of giving him a fresh start, a new identity. To let him start a new life as an ordinary boy without any siblings?" Father replied equally quietly. "To let Kim Seokjin die and be reborn as Kim Jin, a whole new different person. Kim Seokjin is the oldest son in a family of seven sons. Kim Jin will be an only son."

Mother hummed in complete agreement. "I'll call the lawyer tomorrow. We will get him a deed poll."

And there was that. They had killed their own son's identity and crafted a new one for him.

Without asking him for his permission, or giving him a proper explanation.

*******

Teacher Chang had called Father last night to discuss about a meeting with three new boys that they have found. Father disagreed on first instinct, hollering about how time-consuming it all was to have to go through round after round of reunification meetings before he's able to take the boys home. But Mother was agreeable, and she talked her husband into attending the meeting. 

Upon arriving at the office at the children's home, Father was displeased that the child he was supposed to meet today was not already in the room waiting for him when he arrived. He made a huge scene when Teacher Chang told him that they have just gathered Jimin, Namjoon and Taehyung into one playroom and would be taking the boys into the meeting room in turns. Father said, "I don't give a damn which kid you bring here first. Just speed it up."

So the social workers left the family in the meeting room while they went to prepare for the session. But as Teacher Chang was settling Taehyung in the playroom, a caretaker rushed up to him to tell him that she had heard a distinct noise from the meeting room that sounded very much like a slap. Another social worker went forth to see to the matter, because Taehyung clung onto Teacher Chang and refused to let go. The social worker came back right when Teacher Chang had successfully convinced Taehyung that he would be back soon and it was safe for him to play with Jimin and Namjoon.

"The father hit Yoongi." The social worker said in a full panic. While it wasn't unusual for the social workers to witness parents hitting their children upfront, it was still painful for them to see children writhing in pain but unable to fight back.

Teacher Chang saw to the matter himself. The moment he opened the meeting room door, he heard Father yell, "You don't think I forgot what you did this morning. You think the house belongs to you? You think you own my house? You have the cheek to be so rude to me. I am your father!"

And Yoongi had shouted back, "You are NOT!" From the door, Teacher Chang could see that both sides of Yoongi's cheeks were already swollen red. 

Before Teacher Chang could intervene, Father stood up and gave the boy another hard, tight slap across his cheek, sending him flying off the chair and onto the floor. When Jin tried to stop him, Father showed no hesitation in shoving his own son aside so hard that Jin crashed against the wall, his head missing the pointed corner of a photo-frame by a mere inch.