The Meaning of Family: The Collections

Jimin & Rosie's Wedding (9/11)

"I think this is my absolute favorite day of wedding planning so far." Jimin commented as the cake shop placed various flavor samples in front of him and his fiancée, licking his lips as he eyed all the options.

Rosie nodded in response. "Me too~"

The consultant they were meeting with to determine their wedding cake chuckled at the couple. "Well, you can dig in and see which flavors you like the most. You said you wanted a different flavor for each layer, right?"

The couple had already picked out the design of the cake at the beginning of their appointment, opting for a three-layer piece with a pink to purple ombre icing, flowers added on as decoration. They had also agreed long before their appointment day that they would want multiple flavors in order to satisfy multiple people's tastes. "Yes, and we already know that we would like the icing to be buttercream, since that goes with everything."

The consultant nodded in agreement. "Okay, these are our flavors that already come with a buttercream frosting," she gestured to a section of cakes on the table, "and the rest we can alter to fit with a plain buttercream frosting if you decide you like those flavors the most."

Jimin and Rosie picked up their forks and dug into the plethora of dessert in front of them, barely taking the time to actually analyze the flavor before moving on to the next one as the cakes were just so good. Eventually, when they grew tired of eating cake and their stomachs were beginning to hurt from being so full, they finally agreed on a chocolate layer, a vanilla layer, and a lemon layer for their wedding cake.

***

Jimin's leg bounced as he and Rosie sat at one of the tables by the escalator in the airport, waiting for Rosie's parents to arrive. He looked up when his fiancée put her hand on his. "Hey, it's okay." She said quietly, as she could tell how nervous he was. "Everything's gonna turn out great." The 27-year-old took a deep breath and nodded, squeezing her hand as a thank you.

It was only a few minutes later that Rosie's parents appeared on the escalator, 25-year-old running to greet them. "Mum, Dad!" She exclaimed, hugging them as soon as they stepped off the escalator while Jimin hung back a few feet until she introduced them. "This is Jimin!" She grabbed Jimin's hands in hers as he moved forward to greet them.

"It's very nice to meet you." He held out his hand to shake theirs. The older couple looked him over, and he suddenly felt self-conscious as he just knew they were judging him.

"Yes, it's nice to finally meet the man our dear daughter has been seeing for nearly two years now." Rosie's mother commented, obviously bitter about how long it took for them to be able to come and see Jimin in person.

Jimin offered to carry their suitcases as they made their way out to his car to start the 30 minute drive (hour long with traffic) back to Conway so they could take Rosie's parents by their hotel to freshen up after the long flight before dinner. The drive was mainly filled with Rosie and her parents catching up, Jimin feeling a bit awkward as he drove in silence for the duration of the trip.

When they finally got settled at the restaurant of choice for dinner, her parents decided to start their interrogation of Jimin. "Jimin," The 27-year-old looked up at Rosie's father, "Rosie has told us a bit about you, but not a lot. What is it that you do?"

"I'm a social worker." Jimin answered, smiling a bit as he loved what he did. "I work with kids in less than ideal situations and help them cope with their life changes while helping their parents or guardians work towards being the best versions of themselves in the hopes that they can be reunited one day."

"So, you work with...orphans and the likes?" Jimin couldn't help but frown a bit at the hesitation and tone Rosie's mother took with her question. "That's...interesting. What made you want to do that?"

"My dad's a social worker." He stated honestly, not feeling any need to hide any part of his past. "My brothers and I were in the foster system for a while and he helped us make sure we had great lives despite our backgrounds, and he inspired me to do that with children who have similar experiences."

The couple's eyes widened a bit. "Oh, you had that kind of childhood too." Rosie's mother said with a hint of judgment in her eyes that was aimed towards Jimin.

He really wanted to snap at her, "It's not like I asked for my birth parents to neglect me to the point that I was digging through trash for food scraps." But he managed to refrain from responding, instead picking up his water to take a drink.

Rosie noticed the tension and thankfully broke it. "Jimin's really good at his job. Everyone loves him, his coworkers, the kids he works with, even the parents all end up loving him even if they think he's the devil at first." She ran her hand through Jimin's hair, smiling lovingly at him.

The conversation dwindled a bit as their food came out, but Rosie's mother brought it back not too much later. "So, your father's a social worker, what about your mother?"

Jimin held back a chuckle at the assumption that he came from a heteronormative family. "My other dad is the director of a preschool." He didn't miss the expression that suddenly overtook Rosie's parents' faces with the correction but opted to pick his battles that night and ignored it. "He used to teach there, but when the last director retired, he was promoted."

"A preschool teacher and a social worker...how nice." Rosie's mother leaned closer to her husband and whispered, "Maybe we should have picked a different restaurant to eat at."

Jimin wasn't sure if she had whispered loud enough for him to hear on purpose or not, but either way he was no longer in the mood to converse with the couple over dinner. So, he chose to stay quiet, only responding to questions with short, direct answers that rarely led into further questions. He managed to keep that up for the rest of dinner until they had to take the couple back to their hotel so that he and Rosie could go back to his childhood home for his family's New Year's Eve party.