Unexpected | pjm

Chapter 11

Jimin stood in the doorway, watching as Eunsook lay the now sleeping Biwoo in his bed. He had been very emotional from all the excitement just a couple of hours earlier, and she had just been able to calm him down and get him asleep. "Biwoo's your nephew?" He asked as he followed her out of the room. Eunsook just nodded, going to sit on the couch. "What happened?" Jimin asked softly, sitting next to her.

"My sister has never been the greatest person. Growing up she was selfish with no regard for anyone else's feelings. She would hit me occasionally, and she would tell people that the rest of our family abused her and that she was just a victim in everything." Jimin nodded, letting her know it was okay to continue. "She met a guy during my next to last year of high school, and she seemed to get better. She got a job, she was nicer, and she was happy. Then he broke up with her after 5 months because she kept asking him where the ring was even though he told her he wanted to wait a bit longer before proposing. She claims he had commitment issues and was abusive to her. My senior year, she met another guy, was moved in with him within the week, and he proposed to her on Christmas, they had only been together for two and a half months. She found out she was pregnant 3 months later, and just so happened to be that far along. 2 months after their wedding, at 7 months pregnant, she went into preterm labor, and Biwoo was born. For the duration of his stay in the NICU, she was barely there. My grandmother even stayed over at the hospital on multiple occasions because she had no idea where my sister was. She, once again, seemed to be getting better after he came home. Stuck to a feeding schedule, did tummy time regularly, made sure that he was taken care of. She wouldn't even let him spend the night at anyone else's house."

"What changed then?"

Eunsook shrugged. "We don't know. Suddenly, when he was 6 months old, it was like she just didn't want him anymore. I didn't get to help much, or see much of what was happening at that time because I had gone away for school. I didn't realize how bad it was until I came home for a break, and had to keep my nephew for the entire week because she had pulled a knife out on her husband. To hurt him or to hurt herself, we don't know. After that, I transferred schools and moved back home to help with him. By the time he was two, he was cycling between my house, my mom's, and my grandma's. He never stayed with his parents. We finally sat down with my sister and her husband to ask if they would agree to signing us on as his legal guardian, but they refused, claiming that we were stealing their child from them."

"Wait, 'their' child? The child they never saw?" Jimin asked.

"Exactly." Eunsook nodded before continuing the story. "After that, I took it upon myself to keep a log of every instance that they committed what could be classified as child neglect. Once I had gathered enough evidence, I turned it in, and he was removed from them. I applied to be a provisional foster parent, since I'm his aunt, and I was accepted. After a year, they had a court date for my sister and her husband to see how they were doing with their checklist to get him back. They hadn't even started it, so the courts started the process for me to formally adopt him. My sister was obviously not very happy about it, and occasionally comes here, threatening me if I don't give him back." She finished the story, tears threatening to spill over. "That's why Yoongi moved in. The first time she came over, Biwoo and I lived here alone, and she was armed with a knife. Yoongi said he would feel better if he were here to protect us in case she ever came back."

"I'm sorry you've had to go through that." He looked in the direction of Biwoo's room. "I can't believe anyone could be like that with their own child." Jimin began to feel sad as he thought about how he was close to loosing Jiho. He then thought about Eunsook gathering evidence for child neglect. "What exactly counts as child neglect?"

Eunsook looked up at him. "Why?"

"I think I may have found our case."