Lost & Found

Chapter Twenty-Four

Present Day
22-Years-Old

Yoongi helped Aera back to the courtroom. She did not look well. Her eyes were red, and the skin around them was puffy and swollen. She was still shaking. Yoongi knew she wouldn't, but she looked like she might throw up at any moment. Even so, Yoongi had never seen her like this. He was at a loss, trying to navigate his own thoughts and feelings about this mess while doing his best to stay strong for Aera. But even he felt like he might collapse into a ball of tears soon as well.

When they entered the courtroom, Sunhee and the judge were missing. The Kims were sitting where they had been, talking quietly to someone who appeared to be a lawyer. The bailiff was standing guard by a door, looking slightly confused.

The Kims turned and looked at Yoongi and Aera as they entered. They stared at the two for a few moments before finally mercifully looking away. Yoongi and Aera didn't know what was going on or what to do, so they simply sat back down where they had been before and waited.

It took a good 20 minutes for the judge to return. When he did, he called for Yoongi and Aera to follow him. They did into a small room where four people, including Mrs. Kang, were sitting at a table. Yoongi held Aera's hand tightly.

"Ms. Seong, Mr. Min, this is the court's adoption committee," the judge explained. "The five of us have been having a very interesting talk with Ms. Park."

"What does that mean?" Yoongi asked as Aera dodged eye contact with all of the people in the room. She simply kept her head down.

"Ms. Park was encouraged to tell us what she knew about the accusations against Ms. Seong. It turns out you were right, Mr. Min. It seems she was behind everything."

"So, what does that mean?" Yoongi asked again. "Where do we go from here?"

"Well, Ms. Park is on her way to the police station to be booked on charges of falsifying information and calling in a false tip."

She couldn't bring herself to do it, but if anything within the past hour could have made Aera smile, that news would have been it.

"I had initially recused myself from the committee in the matter of Jungkook," Mrs. Kang suddenly said. "But when this new information about Ms. Park came to light, the judge asked the committee to reconvene and asked me to join it this time."

"Okay..." Yoongi said. He had been speaking on behalf of himself and Aera since they entered the room, but he was becoming at a loss of what to say.

"Why don't you two have a seat," the judge said, patting Yoongi on the shoulder.

The two sat down on the opposite side of the table from the adoption committee. Mrs. Kang took the lead in the conversation after the judge excused himself from the room.

"You two must be very confused. Believe me, we all are, to be honest."

Yoongi nodded. Aera continued looking down.

"I had chosen to recuse myself from Jungkook's case once I realized how biased I had become toward you two after your home check. I knew I could not impartially consider any other couples as options."

It took everything in Yoongi to not look at the other three people at the table and scowl at them. They were the ones who had chosen people other than him and Aera for Jungkook. He kept his eyes trained on Mrs. Kang.

"The judge has asked me to rejoin because he has decided to do a recheck of the committee to decide if a mistake may have been made the first time."

Aera finally looked up. She looked at Mrs. Kang, then turned to Yoongi with her brow furrowed. Yoongi offered her a small smile as he squeezed her hand under the table.

"So..."

"So, he believes the committee needs to hear from me as Jungkook's caseworker, and that I need to provide them with more information regarding you two – especially Ms. Seong – as candidates for adopting Jungkook."

"So..." Yoongi looked at all three of the other committee members in turn. "You might...change your minds?"

"Might," a man spoke up. "There are many things involved in the decision making process that need to be considered. And one of those things is this new information that Ms. Seong's accuser has been identified and has admitted that everything that was said was undeniably false. It could change everything," he said, causing Aera's eyes to widen. "Or, it could change nothing. This is not a guarantee that we won't suggest Mr. and Mrs. Kim again."

"If nothing changes in the end, this seems like a very cruel joke," Yoongi said quietly.

"We will all take Mrs. Kang's opinions and information sincerely and to heart," another woman beside the man said. "We assure you we are all taking this very seriously. None of us see this as anything close to a joke. A little boy's life is at stake here. We all understand the severity of the situation."

"Do we get to take Jungkook home in the meantime?" Aera finally spoke up. As all eyes in the room turned to her, her cheeks turned pink.

Mrs. Kang's expression softened. "I'm so sorry, Ms. Seong, but no. He will stay in the custody of child protective services until a new decision is made. We can't show favoritism, and letting him go with you would be doing that."

Aera lowered her eyes. "Does anyone have a piece of paper and a pen I could borrow?" she asked quietly.

Mrs. Kang furrowed her brow, but pulled some paper out of a folder in front of her. "Of course," she said as she handed it over with a pen. Aera quietly thanked her, then began writing.

"A, are you okay?" Yoongi asked under his breath, so only she could hear. She shook her head, but didn't look up. Yoongi internally sighed. Surprisingly, he had no idea what was going through her mind. But, they'd never exactly gone through anything like this together before.

"So, basically we just have to sit around and wait now? How long will this take?" Yoongi asked.

"It shouldn't take more than a few days," the man said. "We may do another home visit just to double check, but then again, Mrs. Kang's information may be more than enough for what we need."

Yoongi nodded. "Do we need to go see the judge again, or are we free to go at this point?"

"You're free to go," Mrs. Kang said. "The judge is currently informing the Kims of this situation."

"What if you do change your minds?" Yoongi suddenly had a thought. "Will the Kims have any sort of legal grounds to fight it?"

"That would be a question for the judge, as this situation is unprecedented for us," Mrs. Kang said. "All we can do is reevaluate and make our decision."

"Okay," Yoongi said quietly.

"Ms. Seong," Mrs. Kang said, turning her attention to Aera. "Do you need some more time?"

Aera shook her head, as she was finishing up what she was writing. She finally looked up as she was folding the piece of paper. She handed it to Mrs. Kang.

"Can you please put this in Jungkook's bag?" she asked.

Mrs. Kang took the paper. "May I ask what this is?"

Aera sighed slightly. "It's some information about Jungkook's favorite things," she said. "Favorite song, favorite book, favorite food, favorite toothpaste. Our bedtime routine, the way he likes his hair washed, the way we're working on his speech. I wanted to make sure it was available for whomever," she said as tears filled her eyes. "Just in case."

Mrs. Kang's expression softened. "Thank you for this. I know it will be greatly appreciated, especially for now while he's in protective services."

Aera simply nodded. She knew if she tried to speak, she'd lose it and start to cry again.

"Okay, I think we're going to go," Yoongi said, taking Aera's hand. "Please let us know if you need anything else from us for the time being."

"We definitely will," Mrs. Kang said.