Divorced // bang yongguk (#26)

사

I sat down at the meeting room listening to all the people talk while they discuss how they are going to market the upcoming group that the company had formed, the group is going to debut soon and they are in charge of selling them to the public. And now they are debating the concept and image that the group is going to go with, it is a boy group of 7 boys around the ages of 17 - 20.

It is already the third group that we are going to debut, the previous two groups were praised highly and I have the confidence that this group will do the same as their seniors in the same company.

"I suggest that they go with a hip-hop concept." The leader of the team spoke. "It is the trend these days and I'm sure that the group will do well with a hip-hop concept."

"Hip-hop?? It is not trendy at all. These days, it is about the tropical house concept. It will work well for this group, I'm sure of it."

"Tropical house?? Can we not use this concept?? This concept would work for groups that have debuted for some time already."

I looked at the time and it was nearing the time where work would end soon, SeRa promised that she would pick up Sehyun from school as soon as she finished school for the day. I wondered if she had remembered to do that.

She and Sejeong had both taken turns taking care of Sehyun when I am out working even though they are both just with their schoolwork. Sera is a high schooler and she has just started her school term and she mentioned to me once last week that she is going to be busy and she might not have the time to pick up Sehyun from school who is a toddler.

I looked through my phone for any messages from Sera, she would message me every time she picks up Sehyun from school no matter what but she sent me something else today.

Sera

2.56 pm

Appa, I can't pick up Sehyun today. I've got remedial at the last minute.
Can you ask Sejeong instead?

"Sajangnim, what concept do you think that it is better? Hip-hop or tropical house?"

I want to go home now. I have to. No one is tending to Sehyun and I don't even think that Sejeong has even communicated with Sera about the picking up of their youngest sibling. They haven't been talking to each other properly for at least a year for some weird reason that I don't even know, it was as if they just stopped talking to each other.

And if they do, it would be a fight between the two. It would last for about a week or so and they would go back to how they were, not talking to each other and being away from each other's problems.

"I think that we will discuss this at the next meeting, I would want the two of you to decide on the concept that we are going to do and you two report to my office first time in the morning. I will be expecting an answer by then." I walked out of the meeting room without waiting for any of them to reply, I had no time to wait for them to say anything back to me.

Sehyun can never be left alone... He's way too young to be home alone, especially when child kidnappers are on the rise these days. They would sneak around parents who are working and they would choose a time where no one would be at home to take care of the child, they would do anything to achieve what they wanted - a huge ransom of at least a million dollars.

I switched on the car engine and I drove out of the entertainment company that I was the owner of and I made my way back to the childcare centre. It has been a few hours since school has ended and I don't even know if Sehyun would be there waiting for me to come to pick him up with those big eyes that resemble a kitten.

I dialled the first number on my contact list and she didn't answer my calls as expected, she couldn't pick up my calls as she was still in school and teachers banned the use of mobile phones during class. I then called the second child of the family and he picked up after a few rings, in a very irritated tone.

"What, Appa?" I would love to hit him for having this attitude towards me, his father but I let it go for now. If Sehyun is indeed with him and he picked him up from school...

"Is Sehyun with you right now?" I was at the traffic lights and I had time to calm down before shouting at him for his younger brother whom whereabouts that I still don't know about.

"SeHyun? I thought Noona is supposed to be in charge of him." He answered. "Why are you asking me about that?"

"About that..." I paused for a moment. "Sera told me in the afternoon that she couldn't be able to pick him up and I didn't see that message until just now. And she wants you to pick him up."

"But I'm still in training, Appa... Competitions are coming up and I can't skip at all." He loves playing badminton ever since he was a little kid and I have always brought him out to play badminton with me every Saturday, regardless of rain or shine.

He joined the badminton club as soon as he entered middle school this year and he never stopped talking about badminton, during dinner and even when he is sleeping. It seems that the only things that he would ever care about right now are badminton and sleep.

I reached the childcare centre and it was closed, I called one of his homeroom teachers and she told me that Sehyun already went home a very long time ago. He told her that his brother will be waiting for him at the nearby café and he went home by himself without any supervision from anyone, he has never done that before.

But the fact that the childcare centre is just a few blocks from the apartment building and he knows the direction and the way home which makes me relieved for a second. But what if someone follows him home?

Without a moment to wait, I got myself at the door of the apartment that I had moved in not more than a year ago with the children and I saw a note at the doorstep with a unfamiliar handwriting.

Bang Sehyun is with me, come and collect him. I'm your neighbour and I live opposite you.

Signed, Han YiYeong.