Unexpected | pjm

Chapter 4

"What's wrong?" Jimin asked as he felt Jiho's grip on his hand tighten as they got closer to the center. It had been a few weeks since that first visit, and Jimin had finished filling out the majority of the paperwork and got together the money he needed for the first payment. He would finish the final paperwork in Seokjin's office after he took Jiho to class. "You were all excited last night about your first day at your new school."

"But now I'm scared."

Jimin stopped at the front door and crouched down to his son's height. "Why are you scared?"

"What if everyone's mean to me?" Jimin could see tears welling up in his eyes.

"I promise they won't be mean to you." He brought his hand up to ruffle the boy's hair. "But if they are, then we'll figure something out. Now let's go." He stood back up and held Jiho's hand. He rang the bell, since he had yet to be set up with an ID number that would allow him access.

Seokjin appeared mere seconds later and immediately smiled at the 3 year old as he opened the door for them. "Well if it isn't Jiho. I'm so happy you came to school today!" He moved to the side to let them in before making sure the door didn't slam behind them. "You are going to love Miss Eunsook!" Seokjin walked beside Jimin as he took them to the classroom. "She's our newest employee, taking over the preschool classroom last August after we had to let our previous teacher go. She's great with the kids and has great ideas for lesson plans and activities." As they walked into the classroom, Jimin's eyes immediately fell on a young woman, about a couple of years younger than him, sitting on the carpet playing with a little boy. "Eunsook.." She looked up as Seokjin said her name. "Our newest student is here."

She stood up from the carpet and walked over, crouching down to Jiho's height. "Hi Jiho, I'm Eunsook. It's very nice to meet you!" She said in a bright voice, shaking his hand. She turned her head to look at the other little boy. "Biwoo, come say hi to Jiho."

The little boy walked over and asked, "Do you like trains?" Jiho nodded shyly. "Yay! Come play trains with me!" He grabbed Jiho's hand and pulled him over to where he was playing before as Eunsook stood up.

She held her hand out to Jimin. "Hi, I'm Eunsook and I'll be your son's teacher."

"I'm Jimin." He shook her hand and smiled at her.

"I'll let Eunsook explain things and answer any of your questions. I need to go greet the other kids as they come in. When you're done, you can come to my office so we can finish up things." Seokjin left the room.

"I notice you seem nervous." Eunsook said as Jimin looked over at his son to make sure he was okay. "Don't worry, most parents feel that way. You are welcome to come by and visit him anytime you want, and feel free to stay as long as you need to for you and him both to feel comfortable."

Jimin smiled again, masking his shock. The other school would practically rip Jiho out of Jimin's arms, even if he was screaming that he didn't want to go, and wouldn't let Jimin see him until it was time to pick him up. "Thank you, he's not very socially adapted yet, so I do worry how he'll fare with the other children."

"We have a lot of kids like that." Eunsook said. "Believe it or not, Biwoo over there had the worst separation anxiety for the longest time and wouldn't talk to anyone. But as you can see, he's better now." They both looked over to the two boys who were enacting a train crashing into a mountain together, Jiho laughing more than Jimin had ever seen. "As I'm sure Seokjin has told you, don't be afraid to come forward with any questions you may have, and once again, feel free to visit anytime."

Jimin nodded and thanked her again. "Jiho, I'm going!" Jiho jumped up and ran to his dad, hugging his leg.

"Bye, Daddy!" He ran back over to his new friend to play again.

"Bye." Jimin waved, even though Jiho was no longer paying attention to him. "It was nice meeting you." He said to Eunsook before leaving to go to Seokjin's office.

***

"So this is where you put down the names of people allowed to come pick Jiho up from school. If someone comes that is not on the list, we will call you to see if it was a last minute thing, or just for safety measures. Anyone who comes to pick him up will need to provide a form of picture ID, proving they are them, before we will release him to them. Except for you, since we have seen you and know that you are his father." Seokjin said, sliding a piece of paper over to him.

"Okay. As of now, the only people I know of that should ever pick him up are me and his mother, but in emergency situations I may have friends come to pick him up." Jimin said as he wrote his and Mila's names on the paper.

"It would also help, with you and your wife's situation, if you would let us know who is supposed to pick him up on which days."

"I have class from 3-4:30 on Tuesdays and Thursdays, so his mother should pick him up on those days. I usually pick him up every other day, unless something comes up."

"Sounds perfect." Seokjin said as he collected the papers to put in a file that had Jiho's name written on it. "And you are set to go. I'll see you this afternoon." Seokjin shook his hand before standing up to walk him out of the center. "Your code should start working this afternoon." He said as he stopped right in front of a tablet attached to the wall right inside the door to the center. "This is where you will check him in and out for the day. You will choose "student" then input your code, and when your child's name pops up, you click accept, and it will either check him in or out, depending on whichever one it is you are doing." Seokjin explained, going through the steps as he checked Jiho in for the day.

"Thank you." Jimin said.

"One more thing. We usually ask parents come in after their child has been here for two weeks for a parent-teacher conference, just so they can discuss their goals for the child. We prefer if both parents are there, but if that's an issue..." He trailed off.

"I'll talk to his mother and see if I can get her to come. Just let me know when we need to, and we'll be there." Jimin said before saying bye and leaving the center.