6 Years - Hoseok x Reader (COMPLETED)

Chapter 21 - What Have You Been Saying?

Disclaimer: This chapter contains subjects of violence, such as physical and verbal abuse. Please do not read this chapter of the story if these topics are triggering to you. Stay safe and healthy, and know that I and many others are here for you!

The walk through the halls wasn't long, but it sure felt it with how silent everyone was on the walk. A few students were seen straggling in the halls, only for Mrs. Song to encourage them to hurry and head home. As the walk finally came to an end, Mrs. Song turned to you.

"Right in here, please." She said happily, opening the door. Weong-Bin was quick to slide over, holding the door open for her. Mrs. Song offered a kind smile, and a thank you, while you simply turned up your nose and walked inside. It looked like a teacher's office, sectioned off for more than one teacher to occupy at a time. There only seemed to be a few other teachers' insides at the moment, scattered through the room and doing some various forms of paperwork. Mrs. Song led you to what seemed to be her spot, where there were three chairs awaiting you. As the three of you sat, Mrs. Song let out a deep sigh. "Well, let me just start by saying Min Ja is an absolute joy in class. She's very, very helpful and incredibly smart."

"Thank you." You said softly.

"I don't want any of you to get the wrong idea, I didn't call you in here because I wanted to discuss negative behavior. Min Ja is one of our better-behaved students. I wanted to bring you in because I'm starting to get concerned with some things."

"...Such as?"

"Well..." she sighed. "Min Ja seems to be struggling with making connections with the other kids in class. She's sociable, and she gets along with most of the kids, but there are a lot of elements that cause her to withdraw from her peers." When she saw both you and Weong-Bin share a glance, she hummed. "Min Ja is the only child in class whose parents are divorced." She said simply. "All the other students live with both of their parents. We only have one student whose father passed away, but his mother remarried when the child was barely one, so he identifies that man as his father. Min Ja is the only one who is in a familial situation such as yours." She saw your face flush, eyes quickly cast down onto your lap in embarrassment, even slight shame. Mrs. Song quickly noticed. "I'm not trying to judge you for what has happened, I don't know the whole story and I'm merely trying to share statistics with you. Please, forgive me."

"Don't worry about it." Weong-Bin said simply. Mrs. Song sighed.

"Anyway, I have tried to do different things in class to teach about different family lives, and maybe give Min Ja an opportunity to share her stories with the class. I thought that might help her talk out her own anxieties as well and start to help her. She wouldn't participate in any of them, she just kept her head down. I talked about single-parent homes and San-Ha actually, bless her soul, called out that Min Ja only lived with her Mom, but saw her Dad a few days a week. When I asked her to share, she burst into tears." You sighed, running a hand through your hair. "When I asked her why, she said she couldn't talk about it to me, because she needed her Dad to trust her." Your heart began to race.

"I...see..." you said softly.

"As you know, I try to encourage the kids to share their emotions and feelings through drawings, especially because they're still learning how to write and they can express their emotions clearer when they draw it out, they've been drawing since they could hold stuff." Reaching over, she grabbed a small stack of papers from her desk. "When I see children acting unusually anxious, or scared, or sad, or any other negative emotion and they can't or won't verbally share it, I try and ask them to draw it out for me." She handed you and Weong-Bin about 3 papers. You rolled them open and took a look at them. As you skim through, the pictures were concerning. There was a copy of the family portrait she had done for a homework assignment. Another was of what looked like Min Ja, standing with scribbles all around her. There was almost no color in this picture, just black. The only color came from her attempt at coloring her school uniform in with a blue crayon.