Real Family

Seven Strangers

There was a total of twelve kids living in the orphanage, and as soon as Katie announced that a K-pop group known as BTS would be visiting to adopt one of us all hell broke loose. Everyone was running around, putting their best clothes on or grabbing their favorite toy while Katie frantically cleaned. Sweeping the floors, vacuuming the rugs, and even spraying some lavender perfume that she only used on special occasions. Vans of news reporters started to line up outside, cameras and microphones being set up, and it quickly became clear to me how this was a publicity stunt, and that the group was probably adopting for charity or to get a bigger fan base. I begged Katie to let me go to my room and hide since there was no chance that they would choose me over a little boy or girl. But, apparently, there were these things called 'laws' that prohibited a child to be locked away during a viewing. A viewing was basically all of us kids in one room chilling, playing, and future parents could talk to kids and mingle by getting to know them. Sometimes if they really liked you they would ask for a private conference. Which was basically the parents interviewing the child in a room alone. I had seen the process countless times, even gone through it. I shivered at the thought of my previous adopted parents, how they all seemed so nice when I first met them. But, when I went home with them the masks wore off, and all I could see was the abusers, child rapers, and manipulators.

I felt a tug on my sleeve, looking down I found James giving me a gummy smile, "are you excited, Mia? There's a lot of people outside. What if I get to be on TV?!" I smiled at the excited 5-year-old, scooping him up and spinning him around as he yelped and cheered, "maybe. Just don't forget about me when you're famous". Katie then ushered all the kids into the living room, telling us to act casual as screaming and yelling erupted from outside. I took a moment to look around the room of boys and girls, I was the oldest and James was the youngest. The rest fit between the ages of six to thirteen. Knowing that the group was a band and had public eyes on them I assumed they would go for the cute portion, probably a girl. I turned my head to six-year-old Sarah, playing with James, assuming they would choose between the two. "Are you looking for a particular age group?" Katie's voice flooded my ears, a slightly higher tint to it than normal, which always happened when she talked to people who wanted to adopt. I turned towards the voices, spotting the seven bodies entering the room. The boys looked around their twenties, different expressions ranging on there faces, from excited, nervous, and agitated as they stepped into the room. I raised an eyebrow at the strange group, they looked so out-of-place and confused in the room full of kids. All pretty, young faces that didn't look ready to take on the task of raising a child. One boy with brown hair and a red supreme headband walked over to Sarah, sitting down with her and starting a conversation with the little girl. A few of the other boys followed in his footsteps, finding a child to talk to while two of the older looking boys stayed back to talk to Katie. I turned towards James, frowning when I saw that none of the boys were talking to him, "Hey James," I scooted next to him pointing towards one of the younger boys who I assumed was in the band, his face was round and chubby, black hair slightly falling into his eyes. "Go ask him his name." James nodded before skipping over to the man, I smiled at the scene, the boy had so much courage to talk to these strangers with so much excitement.

I jumped suddenly, as someone poked my shoulder, turning around I found a man with an oval face, orangish brown hair and a bright smile on his face. "Hi, I'm Hoseok, what's your name?" His voice had a slight accent to it as if English wasn't his first language, and I then took notice of how all of the seven boys did not look American. I looked left then right, raising an eyebrow then pointing to myself, as if asking if he was really talking to me. His eyes crinkled in a silent laugh as he nodded his head. My eyes widened, and I had never been so starstruck before, why was he talking to me? It felt as if I was choking on the air for a good 30 seconds before I answered, "Um, I'm Mia." He gave me a reassuring smile, clearly sensing my nervousness when talking to him. "How old are you?" Before I could answer his question one of the boys who had been talking to Katie came up behind him. "Hoseok, Namjoon says he wants to talk to us." He glanced over at me, a look of annoyance crossing his face while Hoseok simply waved goodbye to me. I looked towards the rest of the boys who were all filing towards one boy, clearly the leader of the group. Soon all of them filled out of the room towards the conference room. Katie stayed behind, talking to James, then walking towards me. "Are they going to adopt him," I shifted my head towards James, and she just gave me a nervous smile. "Actually they wanted to have a conference with him...and you."
"What!" I shouted, getting some weird looks from some other kids, "they barely even talked to me why do they want to conference with me?" She shrugged, turning her head then answering, "maybe they see something in you"
"You're lying." I said quickly, "you don't make eye contact with people when you lie." She whipped her head towards me, a scoff on her face, "just get ready, after they talk to James they'll want to talk to you." She stomped away grabbing James hand and leading him towards the conference room.
After fifteen minutes of James talking to the boys, he had left the room, a bright smile on his face and skip in his step. But, even his happiness couldn't cheer me up. My thoughts ran wild with what could happen if they choose me over James, could I really do that to him? Leave him here when I'm sure they could provide a much better life than the orphanage could. Soon Katie was standing in front of me, impatiently tapping her foot and beckoning me towards the conference room. Wiping my sweaty hands on my leggings I entered the room, shocked to see all seven men so close up. That's when I noticed why there were so many people outside, these guys were seriously attractive.

I took a few steps forward, sitting in the warmly lit room across the table from the group. Katie went to the corner, taking a seat and pulling out a clipboard to take notes on. The room was dead silent for a moment, before one of them spoke up, "hi, I'm Namjoon, this is Jungkook, Taehyung, Jimin, Yoongi, Jin, and I think you've met Hoseok." Each of them either sent me a wave, smile, or glare. Nice. "I'm Mia, but you probably, already know that," I spoke, trailing off at the end."So, what do you like to do?" One of the older looking ones spoke up from the seven, giving me a reassuring smile, Jin I think. "Well before I came to the orphanage I liked to dance, but I had to stop when I got here." Hoseok instantly smiled, "really I love to dance." Despite the awkward tension Hoseok was able to almost make up for it with his kind energy, almost. Another silence filled the room, I glanced towards Katie, watching as she opened her mouth but I quickly beat her to it. "Okay, so thanks for meeting with me, but why am I still here. There's a bunch of younger, cuter kids that I'm sure the press would love to photograph you with-"

"Mia!" Katie stood up from her seat giving me a stern look, which I ignored. "Seriously though why are you wasting your time with me. You barely seem interested in this conference, and most of you have looked miserable since you walked into the building. I'm sure your fans don't want to see you with a teen girl anyways. James is a really good kid and he deserves so much better than this hell hole." I turned towards Katie, sending her a glare before leaving the room.