Unambiguous Love

Chapter 19: It takes a village

"You have everything you want to bring, darling?"

Gukkie scanned his bag. His eyes zoomed in on the bubble gun in the midst of a face towel, articles of extra clothes, a first aid kit, a small tumbler of water and a pouch containing a bottle of cologne, a medicated baby powder, an insect repellant, an all-around soap, a toothpaste and a toothbrush.

He nodded his head to Ms. Ji.

"You remember where to get the inhaler and epipen?"

He nodded again.

"Let's wait for your grandpa downstairs."

They came out of his room and crossed the hallway to the staircase.

"Can I say bye-bye to mama?"

He was already pacing towards the master's bedroom. Ms. Ji quickly grabbed his hand, stopping him from doing so.

"Your siblings might be sleeping." She said in a low voice. "Taerin easily awakens."

She downplayed the warning but Gukkie understood what she meant. He wouldn't want to wake them up. Mama will get mad. These days, mama is always mad. Everyone tells him that it's because he's very tired. Taking care of two babies is hard.

They came downstairs and waited for Namjoon to arrive. Gukkie left the house without kissing his mama goodbye.

"Where have you been, grampa?"

He questioned when he noticed that Namjoon was wearing a suit. It's the weekend and he's wearing his work clothes.

"The office."

"You have work on a Saturday? Like papa?"

Namjoon gave him a bedimpled smile. "Yeah. Grampa Jin too."

He picked Gukkie up to see Yeobeen and her baby. He did it as soon as he finished a meeting. Everyone was unavailable. They're all busy at Jeon Inc., Yoongi is on a business trip, Irene has been battling with the flu, Hoseok has already been detained and Jungkook have his hands full with the twins. The visit was meant to be canceled but Gukkie looked forward to it, all week. Namjoon has a downtime in between meetings so he decided to squeeze it in his schedule.

"How's home, bunny?"

"It's fine."

Gukkie voices no complaints. Despite the glaring truth that he wasn't given much time and attention anymore. It wasn't like he's being neglected. But he's been so used to being with his parents all the time. Nowadays, their time together has been greatly reduced. Taehyung leaves early and comes home late. They can only spend time together during breakfasts. Jungkook, although with him at home all day, cannot give him a moment of his undivided attention.

Thankfully, he has plenty of people who showers him with all the time and attention he's been missing. On their less hectic days, each one of them spends time with Gukkie. When some cannot, one always fills in.

But for a child, parents hit different.

"I waited for you. You didn't say goodbye when you left." Jungkook whined.

"Sorry, mama."

He squeezed the little boy in his arms and gave him an eager, forceful kiss on the cheek. Taehyung watched them while he lounged exhausted on the floor of the living room. Beside him were the twins. On their backs, flailing and kicking. He's glad. Jungkook seemed to be in a good mood. These days, he's always mad. Always trying to fight with him. But he knows that he's just terribly weary. And sad. He misses his father and worries about him every day.