Paper Balls | Yoonmin

orphan

i stared down at the picture my dad had texted me. my heart instantly went out to the little boy. jimin and i had been talking about the idea of having another child...

"hey, jiminie?" i called. he came into our room with flour all over himself. he and jiya had been making bread all day. because, of course, we couldn't find anything better to do with our weekend.

"my dad just sent me this thing about a little boy he's got in thailand. lost his family when he was a baby and has been living in an orphanage. barely talks but he speaks korean and thai." i showed him the picture. jimin's eyes softened.

"really? poor thing."

"do you... want to go meet him?" i couldn't hide my slowly growing smile.

"you mean what i think you do?"

i nodded.

"yes, yes yes! yes, yoongi. we should." jimin said excitedly. i could see his eyes almost shining.

"i'll tell my dad, and um, see where it goes from there? do you think we can? he's five so it's not going to be like raising a baby. plus, jiya is almost ten, i'm sure she'd appreciate a little sibling." jimin sat down next to me and attacked me in a hug. he got flour all over my shirt but i didn't mind.

"let's go meet him." jimin giggled, "should we tell jiya?"

i shook my head, "no, i think we should wait. we'll leave her with chaerin and fly out for a day or two- probably on a weekend. whenever my dad can work it out for us to go."

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"is it okay that i'm tearing up?" jimin wondered, kicking his legs back and forth as we sat on the seats, waiting for the plane to arrive. about a year ago, jimin and i flew out to thailand to meet tao. we thought the name fit him perfectly. if i'm being honest, jimin and i completely fell in love the little boy the moment we met him. he was a little shy and hesitant at first but seemed to like us. he used to not want us to leave and that just made us sad. we knew we had to but didn't want to.

we quickly decided that we'd adopt him. we told him as soon as it was final. we weren't expecting him to cry. he hugged tight to the both of us and just cried. i guess he was happy. jimin of course, couldn't help but allow himself to cry a little, too. jiya was so ready for a little brother. taehyung and jungkook and my mom- everyone was so excited to finally meet him.

the process was long and stressful- nothing compared to moving houses. luckily for us, there were no complications with the government allowing his adoption. they told us we'd have him in no time but those weeks turned to months and those months turned into a year. we flew out and visited him as much as we could but other times we video called him through my dad.

now, we have his room all set up. we made sure to ask him all about what he liked before going back to korea. it's all dark blue and tinted with gold. there's pictures of marvel superheroes on the walls. it looked just like we hoped it would.

there was an announcement that the flight had arrived. he was officially ours today. i held jimin's hand tightly as we searched for the little boy in the crowd of arrivals. after a few minutes, we saw the familiar boy running towards us. he attacked us both into a hug and i picked him up.

it was such a relief to have him after waiting for so long.

"h-hi daddies." he stumbled and wiped his teary eyes. his little smile beamed at us. my heart lurched and i hugged him back. jimin joined in. i couldn't be happier now knowing that he's really ours. people stared at us, and not in a good way, but who cares?

i switched to over to jimin and grabbed his bags, "ready to go home, sweetie?" jimin wondered. tao nodded eagerly but we could both tell he was still a little nervous. he has every right to be. he's in a new country with a new family and all that.

sadly, he won't get to meet bean. he passed a few months ago. he was an old dog but we loved him greatly. we sat zitao in his carseat and began the drive home.

"daddies?" he said quietly. jimin answered for the both of us.

"yes?"

"do you think they'll like me?" from the sound of his wavering voice, i could tell his eyes were probably becoming teary.

"of course they will, honey. don't you worry about it, okay?" jimin smiled that smile that makes my heart flutter every time i see it. jimin and i knew about the "welcome home" party that everyone was setting up while we were out. jiya just couldn't keep her mouth shut. i laughed to myself just thinking about her reaction when she let it slip.

tao nodded shyly.

"your uncles tae and kookie have a baby named jinyoung, we think you'll like him. ahh, everyone is so excited to finally meet you in person! you remember them from when we video called you a few weeks ago?"

zitao nodded again, "yep. uncle tae is the one with the blonde hair, yeah?"

"yes, and kookie is the one with the black hair. and you haven't met jinnie and joonie yet but you will love them, too." i said and turned into our neighborhood.

"we're almost home, baby. jiya bought you a big stuffed bunny. it was your uncle kookie's idea but jiya bought it with her own money. she wouldn't let uncle kookie pay." jimin chuckled. i remember getting a call from jungkook saying that jiya wasn't going to let her pay for the item. jiya was so ready to be a big sister and jimin and i could tell she was going to be a great one.

tao hugged tight to me as we walked up to the front door. the moment we opened it, they all shouted "welcome home!" jimin and i smiled whereas tao just stared forward. we could tell it scared him a little. and plus, there were a lot of new people.

taehyung came up to me. zitao turned around and his eyes lit up, "uncle taetae!" he shouted and reached out. i transfered him over to taehyung. everyone laughed and the cuteness.

"ready to meet the rest of your family?" jimin asked, placing his hand on tao's back. he nodded hesitantly, looking back and forth between everyone standing around.

i can proudly say the night was a success.

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