My Baker's Dozen

10

Seungcheol's POV

"Hello?" I asked while adjusting the phone in my hand. The caller ID had read as Samuel's Mother, but she never calls.

"Seungcheol, we ran into a problem." I furrowed my eyebrows and adjusted myself so my elbow was propped against the table. Some of my boys were giving me side glances to try and figure out who I was talking too, so I just got up and headed to my room. Making sure to shut the door behind me.

"What kind of problem?" I asked the question quite hesitantly, scared to know the answer.

"My husband and I are getting a divorce, but because Samuel is from foster care, we can't exactly have joint custody over him. But neither of us can really take care of him on our own, and he's planning on heading back to Mexico whereas I want to go back home to the United States..." She paused during her rambling and I moved further away from the door, just in case my kids could hear.

"Is Samuel in hearing range?"

"No, he's in his room and I'm in the basement. What do we do? I don't want Samuel to just get thrown around the country in foster homes."

"I'll take him in." I meant what I said, even though it wasn't something I had much time to think about. But I knew it was a decision I wouldn't regret. The boys all know him, and Chan is attached to him by the hip.

"Are you sure? You already have so many and he's a lot to take on..."

"I'm sure. Like you said, I wouldn't want him floating around in the foster care system." The line went silent for a bit, and it was obvious these were some hard times for her.

"Does Samuel know?" The line went silent again.

"I know he won't let Chan come over because of the fighting. But other than that he doesn't know." I sighed and ran a hand through my hair.

"When do you plan on telling him?"

"We don't know. Probably when the divorce papers go through." I nodded to myself knowing very well that she couldn't see me.

"The sooner the better because then he will have more time to let it sink in as opposed to everything happening at once."

"I'll remember that. Thank you, Seungcheol. I'll bring you over the paperwork for Samuel to you tonight if that's okay."

"Yeah that's fine. I'll be here."

"Okay, bye."

"Bye." I hung up the phone and sighed. Gosh I wish you were here Jagiya.

A tear slipped down my cheek, and I quickly wiped it away. I heard the doorbell ring a few minutes later, and I ran to go get it so the boys wouldn't see anything quite yet.

"Hello!" I heard Jeonghan say as he greeted her at the door, and I took the papers from her.

"Thanks." She whispered, and I nodded. I could see Jeonghan discreetly trying to look at the papers, so I held them to my chest. She waved at Jeonghan, and he snapped his attention back to her to wave while I shut the door behind her.

"What's that?" Jeonghan asked, still trying to see the papers, and I playfully pushed him away.

"It's boring adult stuff." Jeonghan wrinkled his nose, and suddenly lost interest in what I had, along with everyone else who had heard what I explained it as.

"Help!" Jihoon exclaimed from the kitchen and I threw the packet on the table before running to my child. The twelve year old was for some reason standing on the kitchen counter, and he looked too scared to come down. I shook my head with a smile as I lifted his light body off of the counter and put him on the floor.

"What were you doing up there?" I asked, and Jihoon was about to answer when Joshua piped up from over by the table.

"I think a more important question is, why are we adopting Samuel?"