Phobias

Part 20

The Kims weren't anything special. Just a normal, working class family. He was a grocery store manager. She was a teacher. They had one son.

To be fair, if anyone in this normal family would qualify as 'special' it would be the boy. From the beginning, Seokjin was kind, compassionate, and eventually grew to be so handsome girls would stare at him everywhere he went. He was also a straight-A student, was adored by his teachers and was his parents' pride and joy. In his father's eyes, no other child could be more perfect than His precious Boy.

While Mr Kim had no interest in having more children (they already had one perfect son. What more could they need?) his wife wanted to expand their family by at least one more. Her husband wasn't sure he could ever love another child as much as he did His Boy (as cruel as that may seem) but he loved his wife and she didn't ask for that much so he agreed to try. However, after two miscarriages and a stillbirth, she reluctantly gave up on having another child after years of trying.

Her husband moved on from this disappointment much more quickly than she would have liked him to. He was perfectly content spending all his free time with His Boy, coaching his basketball team, taking him out for pizza and the movies, bragging about him to all of his friends. As Jin grew, so did his father's love for him, to the chagrin of his wife.

In the case of Mrs Kim things were a bit more... complicated. While she loved her son dearly, she always knew her husband loved him more than her and- try as she might- she just couldn't seem to shake the resentment she felt towards her son because of that. And as Jin entered his teen years, he began to grow weary of his father's...obsession with him. He expected a lot from him. Almost too much. If he brought home B's, his dad wanted A's. If he brought home A's, his dad wanted to make sure they stayed A's. He also basically had his entire future decided for him. He was insistent that Jin go to Law School and become a lawyer ("With brains like yours, you'll win every case!") but Jin already knew from a young age that he wanted to be a registered nurse. He didn't want to argue with people. He wanted to help people. His father did not approve.

"No son of mine is getting a girl's job!"

"Dad, it's not just for girls! There's plenty of male nurses! The one who treated me when I had my tonsils out was a guy!"

"Well, that's his problem. And his father clearly didn't love him the way I love you. Trust me son, this is what's best for you. You'll see when you start Law School."

"No I won't because I'm not going to Law School! I'm going to go to Nursing School because that's where I want to go! It's my life, my future, and you don't get to decide that for me!"

"Don't you yell at me, young man! I've made sacrifices for you! I gave up my own dream of becoming a lawyer so that I can raise you and get you the education you deserve! I will not see you throw that all away to clean bed pans!"

"Cleaning bed pans? Is that seriously all you think a nurse does? They do a whole lot more and you would know that if you payed a speck of attention! And we both know you didn't 'give up' anything! So because you didn't become a lawyer I have to be one for you? It's not my problem you flunked out of Law School!"

It was at this moment Mr Kim slapped His Boy, leading his wife to yell out his name in furious shock. Jin had run away from him then, eyes burning with tears. He didn't talk to him for a week after that. It was during that week he started to notice his mother had gained a bit of weight...

When her husband also started to notice, the Mrs couldn't keep it a secret any longer. So she sat her boys down and told them: she was pregnant. And the fetus was healthy. After many failed attempts, she was determined to bring her baby safely into the world. At this news, neither one of them were sure how to react. While Jin at one point had always wanted a little brother or sister, he had been much younger then. He was 14 now. And pretty used to being an only child. Then again, maybe with another kid in the family his father would finally back off...