Unexpected | pjm

Chapter 1

Jimin walked inside the center after inputting his ID to unlock the door. "Hello." He greeted the director when she came out of her office to see who had come in.

"Hello, Jimin, I thought Mila was coming to get Jiho."

"There was a change of plans, so I came to get him."

She nodded and pointed to the back door of the center. "They're out on the playground."

"Thank you." He left to go outside. He smiled when he saw Jiho riding around on a tricycle. He was about to call out to get his attention, when he saw two other kids walking up to his son. He watched as one of the kids shoved Jiho off the bike and stole it from him. He ran to pick his crying son off the ground. "Hey, are you okay?" He looked around and noticed that the teacher had yet to move from her spot, not to check on Jiho, or to scold the child that had pushed him. "Are you not going to do something?" He asked as he hugged Jiho to his chest.

"It was just a little shove, he can take it. These things happen all the time." She waved him off and pulled out her phone, tapping away at it.

"C'mon, Jiho, let's go home." He hugged him tighter as he carried him back through the center and out to the car.

"I thought Mommy was coming." Jiho said, still sniffling as he sat in his carseat. Jimin watched him struggle to buckle his seatbelt for a few seconds before reaching over to do it for him.

"She couldn't make it, buddy. But that's okay, you can have lots of fun with Daddy!" Jimin assured him with a cheerful voice so that Jiho wouldn't hear how annoyed he was, both with Mila and the teacher at the center.

***

Jimin had Jiho sitting on the bathroom counter as he doctored up the scrape on his knee that he had noticed when they got home. He had just started applying the hydrogen peroxide when Jiho started crying again. "Hey, hey, it's okay! It's just a little scrape, nothing bad! You're okay now." He said in a soft voice, crouching down slightly so he was face to face with the boy.

"That's not why I'm sad!" Jiho wailed.

Jimin straightened back up and started cleaning the wound again. "Why are you sad?"

"No one likes me."

Jimin froze for a second when he heard his son say those words, but quickly went back to doctoring him up. "What do you mean? I like you!"

"Not you, daddy. At school. No one plays with me, and they take my toys. They hit me and bite me. And they don't go to time out."

Jimin felt anger bubbling up inside him, but stayed calm for Jiho's sake. "Does this happen often?"

"All the time. Everyday." Jimin placed the bandage on his knee and looked at his son's face, seeing the sadness in his eyes. He picked Jiho up off the counter and held him close to him.

"Don't worry. That won't happen anymore."

***

Jimin and Jiho were sitting at the table, eating dinner when they heard a knock on the door. "I'll be right back." Jimin ruffled his hair as he continued to make his dinosaur chicken nuggets fight each other.

He opened the door and Mila walked in, not even saying hello. "Jiho! Let's go, Mommy needs to get back home!"

"Hi, how are you? I'm good, thanks for asking." Jimin said as he closed the door. He turned back to see Jiho already making his way over to Mila. "Actually, Jiho, why don't you go to your room for a second and make sure it's picked up?"

"Okay!" Jiho said before running off to his room.

"We need to talk." He said as soon as Jiho was out of sight.

"I don't really have time, Jimin, I-"

"Are you aware that our son is being bullied at school?" Jimin cut her off.

Mila started laughing. "Are you serious? He's 3! He doesn't even know what bullying is!"

"Preschoolers don't know what racism is either, yet they can still say racist things!" Jimin argued. "When I picked him up, I watched another kid shove him and steal his toy. The teacher did nothing, just got on her phone. He's convinced no one likes him! Now look at me and say that he isn't being bullied."

Mila rolled her eyes. "Kids take toys all the time, it's not a big deal."

"It is a big deal!" Mila turned to head towards Jiho's room. "I don't want him going to that school anymore."

Mila turned back towards Jimin. "And what exactly do you propose we do? Who would watch him? You have school and work. I have work. And you and I both know neither of our parents want anything to do with us or him. So tell me, Jimin, what exactly do you want to do?"

"I'll find another school for him, but he is not going back to that school."

"Oh, yes, another school. Just completely disregard the fact that this is the least expensive preschool in town, and the only one in our budget."

"What do you mean our budget? I can't even remember the last time you paid any part of his tuition, even when we were still together! It always came out of my personal bank account! You always claimed our joint account didn't have enough to cover his tuition!"

Mila rolled her eyes again and turned to the hallway. "Jiho! It's time to go!" She turned back to Jimin. "Good luck finding another school for him." She said just as Jiho ran into the room and ran up to give Jimin a hug.

"Hey buddy!" Jimin crouched down to his height to hug him. "Your room all clean?"

"All clean!" Jiho pulled back and smiled at him.

"That's good! I'll see you tomorrow!" He kissed Jiho's head before standing back up. "I'll come get him before you leave for work. I'm serious about him not going back to that school."

"Whatever." Mila muttered as she grabbed Jiho's hand and pulled him out of the apartment. Jimin sighed and moved to the kitchen to clean up from dinner. Afterwards, he grabbed his laptop and began searching for preschools in the city.