Divorced // bang yongguk (#26)

이십 일

Yiyeong

I feel weird standing here, this place is not the place that I should be when I am not married or had any children who enrolled in here, the parents of the child should be here waiting for their child to come out of the doors and not me, a regular 25-year-old who now have a temporary job as a babysitter to take care of 3 children but mainly the youngest child of my employer.

It has been 2 to 3 days since I have taken up the job offer as a babysitter and it still feels foreign of me to be taking care of one child most of the time and focusing on that one child's needs until I get off work, before that I have never encountered working with any children and I didn't have the opportunity either. Although I have taken up early childhood education when I was in university for a degree and I was one of the best students in the class, I didn't really want to end up in a career where I would spend my entire life taking care of toddlers who can't control their emotions very easily but they are still very adorable.

I wanted to do something that isn't really related to the field of early childhood education but focusing more on selling children's books to other children instead and more marketing than fieldwork, but I guess that it is not the right job for me and plus, it is not a good time to be in the same job now that I have broken up with my longtime boyfriend who is a jerk and works in the same department as me. I figured out that I needed to try something new, something that I have some interest in trying but never had the chance to ever try it and so I decided to quit my job.

It was a great life decision though until I realized that it is not that easy to apply for a job to a childcare teacher, the job positions are all full and there isn't a lot of childcare centres in the town that I am living right now, there isn't any demand at all even though I have a degree in early childhood education from one of the most prestigious universities in South Korea. It is because that I started late in this job and all of my classmates that pursued the same degree have all got a job in one of the childcare centres around the nation, I am basically lost the competition to get a job because I was a little too late for it and my age is also an issue although I am not that old, to begin with.

I am only 25 years old but to the interviewers, I am 5 years too late to get a chance to getting hired compared to a fresh graduate who is just barely 20 years old. I am not that old but yet it makes me think that I should've chosen this pathway the moment I graduated that year and not now, it feels that I have wasted my time doing something that I should've quitted a long time ago.

I blindly followed that jerk through all of my university days, after falling in love with him, I have failed in seeing the good in myself and only thought that I should always follow what my boyfriend wants to do, that was clearly a mistake and I knew that perfectly but at the same time, I was only focused on making him happy and seeing the smile light in his face is what matters the most to me. But in the end, he wasn't seeking for a perfect marriage life after a perfect relationship, he wanted things to remain the same and I should still be giving in to him for every single thing.

I let out a sigh, I am glad that I have finally broken up with me and started a new chapter in my life, my journey to get a job that I have always wanted and I would do whatever it takes just to make my dream come true. And I hope that I would get as much hands-on experience as possible for this part-time job and I would be near as experienced and seasoned as all the other childcare teachers in the nation.

The school bell rang and it was time for the children to go back home to their parents and their comfortable homes, it is also the time for me to go from a regular 25 years old to the Bang's one and only babysitter, the only thing that I have to do for the next one month.

Sehyun comes out carrying a huge bag of stuff in it that I can't really identify what it is exactly. "Yiyeong Omma! This is for you!"

I got it and I looked into it, it is a huge batch of chocolate cookies baked in the shape of stars and moons. It is extremely adorable and I am sure that it would taste wonderful as well. "That is adorable, who did you get it from?"

"DoMin gave it to me in class, his mother baked a little too much for him to eat and it is very delicious. I left some for you because I want you to eat it as well."

"Thanks, Sehyun, I appreciate it a lot." I held his hand and we started walking. "Shall we go home now? Or do you want to stop somewhere nearby to have lunch? Your older siblings are not going to be home for lunch today."

"Sehyun's Omma!" A voice called for someone and I ignored it but it seems like she is calling for me even though I am technically not his mother, he treats me a lot like his own mother. I turned around and it was one of the childcare teachers if I could remember correctly. "Sehyun's Omma! I need to talk to you for a second and it is rather urgent, I don't know if you have the time or not."

I looked at Sehyun and he only shrugged his shoulders, he still doesn't know the concept of time and he is now hungry for lunch. "How long would it take?" I asked his teacher.

"It wouldn't take too long for your information and it involves you and your husband." Is she referring to Mr Bang? I waited for her to continue and she handed me a form. "It is for the parent's race with the child and I am wondering if you and your husband are available for that day? It will be a whole day of family bonding and it would be good to get off work once in a while to have fun with your family."