puzzle piece | jeong jaehyun

9

"Your child was involved in a fight with another child in the school's playground at lunch time today."

That was the only sentence from the principal that rung through both Yunhui and Jaehyun's minds as they drove separately towards the school to attend an emergency meeting.

For Yunhui, she was nervous. Minhyuk was a quiet and reserved kid that was far too sensitive for his own age. He usually never acted out or thrown tantrums over things that weren't that important. And from what she was aware of, he only hung out with another kid in his class who was equally as quiet. Whatever this situation was, it had to be extremely serious.

For Jaehyun, he was frustrated. His kid was already a troublemaker, as everyone told him, but he knew she had a strong sense of doing the right thing, just like him. And sometimes it clouds her judgement. But he had enough faith in his daughter to know that she wouldn't pick a fight with someone at school unless they really deserved it—and she's five! What could she have possibly done?

Both parents parked their cars at a free space in the lot, usually during the mornings when they would drop them off or evenings when they would collect them, it would be packed with impatient parents wanting to get their child and go. Luckily today with all the anxiety and frustration—they didn't have to worry about finding a spot that was relatively close to the school gate.

Yunhui stepped out of her car, her hands quickly throwing her hair into a bun that would be held together by some random dinosaur themed pencil she found in one of the car's compartments. Jaehyun stepped out of his car, ripping his sunglasses off his face and resting them on his head as a strand of his black hair drooped down to his eyes.

They finally saw each other, a moment of blank silence between them before a glare started to form in their eyes.

Of course it was that neighbour kid who would do something to my precious child. I knew this would happen.

"I'm not even surprised—of course he would pick a fight with Jinah, he takes after you" Jaehyun said, starting their hostile conversation—clearly more frustrated that he had to be pulled out of an important meeting at work for this

"Right, as if your kid isn't the one that's been attaching herself to my son every chance she gets. Maybe he finally got sick of it and her god awful singing" Yunhui shot back—having no time to waste since her boss expected her back at her desk in no later than an hour

"Very mature, you've probably raised him so well" Jaehyun said sarcastically, still being a gentleman and opening the door for them, letting her walk in first regardless of the insult

"Well I'm not the one keeping my kid up until 2am, so yeah, I guess i did raise him well" she said, rolling her eyes as she walked straight towards the principal's office

"Where's Minhyuk?" She asked, not wasting a further second to open the door without knocking, seeing her already conversing with an angry looking couple

"Oh you made it, and so did you Mr. Jung. Please have a seat. The kids are being supervised in the playroom at the moment" the principal explained, pointing towards the two empty chairs beside the couple.

Yunhui examined the two parents, a dad that looked like he left his wife on the weekends to go golfing with 'the boys' and the mom who was fully decked out in a matching lululemon yoga set. The worst pairing of all mankind. The yoga moms and the golf dads. Jaehyun carefully eyed the parents, trying to understand the situation as he closed the door after him and sat down beside Yunhui.

"What happened? Is my daughter okay?" Jaehyun asked, the second they could begin. He almost immediately heard a scoff from the other side of the room, and surprisingly it wasn't from his mean neighbour

"Your kid is perfectly fine in this situation. She overreacted and this woman's son pushed my poor child in the middle of the school yard—"

"Wait what?" Yunhui asked, snapping her head over towards them and the principal cleared her throat

"There seems to have been an altercation today. Mr and Mrs. Kang's son, Woojin teased Jinah and Minhyuk stepped in between them and pushed Woojin to the ground" the principal explained and Yunhui sighed

"Seriously? That's it?" She asked, her hands extended out like it was the most anticlimactic thing in the world. The woman beside her gasped a little by her reaction

"Excuse you, my poor baby has scrapes on his hands from the fall" the mother said from beside her and she rolled her eyes

"Oh no! It sounds like he might need surgery for that!" She exclaimed sarcastically before huffing and crossing her arms over her chest. Jaehyun had let out a snicker from beside her, realising her pettiness knew no bounds and wasn't only targeted at him. She was pretty ruthless to just about anyone it seemed.

"This is what happens when children are raised by single parents" the mother mumbled, loud enough for the two single parents in the room to hear her sentence and get equally offended, however Jaehyun was rather quick this time

"Yeah, and children with two parents are bullies. Great job" he fired, making the two turn their heads to him

"Are you accusing my son of being a bully?" Mrs. Kang asked, looking extremely taken back

"Yes I am. He was picking on my daughter who's five years old and new to this school. So unless you're going to apologise to me, we're done here" Jaehyun said, standing up from his seat with an evident scowl on his face and his arms crossed over his chest

"We're not done here until Ms. Oh apologises for her son's actions towards my son" the woman said, a challenging look in her face

"Well I'm not apologising for the fact that my kid stood up to a bully." She said, standing up to her feet before the woman could protest any further with her adamant responses

"I guess we're done here." Jaehyun said with a sigh, opening the door once more for Yunhui and letting her out first before following her angry footsteps as she stomped in tall black heels. He was partly grateful for the fact that she knew exactly where this playroom was since he had absolutely no clue.