Jung Hoseok's POV

I glanced up at the clock on the wall. 9am. The boss had asked to see me today, and I can take a pretty good guess why. I rubbed my eyes hastily before placing my hand on the door handle to the main office, pushing down and making my way inside.

"Mr. Jung, you're here." The man gestured for me to take a seat in front of him, and I did so, my head low. "I am sure you are aware as of why I asked you to come here today?"
"Yes sir." I mumbled, head low with guilt. I felt like a child back in school again. Infantilised.

"Now, I know you're good at your job." He began. "You're amazing with the kids; you form some kind of bond with them which makes them love you, but-" he took a small breath. "I've already given you a chance to sort yourself out, but you haven't." He then leant forward in his seat, as I looked up to meet his eye. "There's not much more I can do Mr. Jung."

"I understand." I replied. "I guess I'm still coming to terms with... everything that happened. Every time I try to stop it just calls me back. I suppose it's like my coping method."
"Hmm," He sighed in understanding. "A very bad one too considering where you work."

"I can try something else..." I suggested. "If I could have one more chance-"
"I really want to give you another chance." He butted in. "But you know I've already given you one. I have to draw the line somewhere."
"I just don't know where I'd go." I retorted, feeling more regretful than ever. "This job is my life. I live here, I live for these kids. I don't know what I'd do without them."

Mr. Han - my boss - sat in silence, contemplating what I'd said, before speaking up.
"Do you mind telling me how it all started?" He asked. "If you want, we can start right from the very beginning?" We made eye contact again for a second, and I nodded my head slowly.

"Okay then..." I mumbled. "Well..."

✧ ✧ ✧ ✧

Funnily enough, my story begins where it unsurprisingly ends - at the orphanage.

One day 13 years ago I was making my way through reception when Kyungja stopped me in my tracks.
"Hoseok, look over there." The middle aged woman discreetly pointed over towards one of the people sat on the waiting seats. It was a guy who looked about my age, and looked extremely rich.

"Who is that?" I asked her.
"His name his Park Jimin." She whispered. "His father is a multimillionaire."
"Him!?" I whisper-yelled. "Isn't he the kid that got sent to a mental asylum?"
"Yep." She sighed.
"What's a kid like that doing here?" I muttered, making sure I didn't look too suspicious.

"Who knows," Kyungja shrugged. "Maybe he's looking to adopt."
"I hope not." I replied. "He doesn't strike me as the fatherly type, and I wouldn't want to give one of my kids away to someone like him."
"Tch, 'my kids', you sound like a mother." Kyungja laughed, causing me to chuckle myself.

"Did you hear the rumours about why he was sent there?" She whispered to me, and I nodded my head.
"He left his ex-girlfriend to die in a burning building." I told her, and she nodded. "Do you know if she ever got out?"
"I think she did." She replied. "But I'm not too sure."

"Mr. Park, can you please come in?" Miss. Kim called from one of the interview rooms. He looked up at her, standing from his seat and making his way in.
"Do you have anywhere you need to be?" Kyungja asked me.
"Not right now." I replied. "All the kids are at school."
"Stick around and see what happens." She asked, but sounded more like an order, to which I complied.

It's not everyday a rich kid like him comes here.

It was quiet for a while, and in the meantime me and Kyungja bitched about the milkman being late on his deliveries and the kids we thought were mischievous. You know, stereotypical female gossip and such. Until we heard loud voices come from the room.

"You seem to be forgetting who that man is!" A female voice followed by what sounded like a hand slammed on a table came from behind the door - it wasn't Miss. Kim. I could take a guess at who she was talking about though, and me and Kyungja sent each other a knowing glance. "He's the reason I'm in this situation in the first place!"

"Who do you think it is?" Kyungja asked me.
"I have no idea." I replied. "But there must be a kid involved. Ex-lovers, maybe...?" Then it suddenly clicked. Me and Kyungja simultaneously turned to look at each other with wide eyes.
"Could it be-" Kyungja was interrupted.

"NO IT ISN'T!" The same girl from inside yelled again. "You see these!? They were caused by him. You think I'm a bad parent!? I was his girlfriend once. He would hurt me, hit me, if I went out without his permission. He cut me off from my family. And he-"
"Miss Jeon." Miss. Kim spoke, trying to calm her down.
"He did this to me." 'Miss Jeon' told them. "He left me in a burning building to die!"

* tw // mention of rape

Me and Kyungja stared at each other wide eyed. It is her.
"Do you think he..?" Kyungja stopped herself once she saw me nodding. I knew exactly what she was asking. He raped her. Because he can get away with it. He's rich. Because of that she got pregnant and had a baby. That's why they're here today.

* tw end

"I DON'T CARE!" She screamed again. "I want her to know how evil you are! I want her to never be able to trust you."
"W-why!?" A different voice stuttered, presumably Jimin's. "Why would you want to-" His sentence stopped short for some unknown reason, and me and Kyungja were filled with so much suspense it was unreal.

"D-don't!" The male voice cried out again.
"You see this man!?" 'Miss Jeon' called out. There was a long pause, and I swear everyone in the waiting room was listening; on edge. But there was nothing. No more yelling, no more screaming. It went quiet. Since the whole room was silent we would be able to hear normal talking, but we heard nothing.

Something happened in there.

Suddenly the red button above the door turned on, meaning that assistance inside the room was needed. I didn't know what kind of assistance, but before I could even think my legs were moving forwards and I ran over to the door.

I opened it, revealing Miss. Kim stood up out of her seat. On the other side of the desk was Jimin and another woman who had tears spilling from her eyes. On the floor next to her was a small girl - around the age of 5 - balling her eyes out.

"Mr. Jung." Miss. Kim spoke up amidst the lack of talking in the room. I scanned the faces of Jimin and 'Miss Jeon', before turning to the woman. "Can you take the child away please?"
"Take her away?" I mumbled.
"She's staying in the orphanage." Miss. Kim replied hastily. "There's been a change of plans after discovering new information. The girl has no relatives to stay with who will be able to look after her sufficiently."

I looked between the two stood on the other side of the desk. Jimin sank back into his seat with a guilt stricken face, almost that of acceptance. But the girl; her body was physically shaking as she stared at the wall blankly, tears still falling from her eyes and snot dripping from her nose. The cries of the small girl pierced my ears.

"Without letting them say goodbye?" I asked.
"Now is clearly not the time." She told me, and I nodded curtly, walking over towards the young girl.
"Please don't take my daughter away." The woman turned to face me suddenly. There was a pleading look in her eyes, and she reached up to place a weak and shaking hand on my shoulder.

I wanted to tell her that I wouldn't. I wanted to tell her that she can take her child back home. I could tell that this woman loved her daughter from the very bottom of her heart, but I could also tell from her thin frame and tatted hair that this woman was considerably poor, and could hardly afford to look after herself. It's no way to raise a child.

"I p-p-promise you that I'll r-raise her well." I managed to stutter out, glancing at her hand a couple times.

Suddenly Lee came in from the front door. He works on security and is an overall nice guy, but can be tough when he needs to. He placed his hand on the woman's shoulder, gesturing for her to leave.

That's when she started to kick off. The woman screamed 'no' , tears falling from her eyes as she shoved Lee away. He subsequently grabbed her arm, dragging her out of the room as she screamed and cried, begging to be with her daughter. All the while Jimin sat in his seat, his head in his hands with his eyes covered. He looked as if he was crying too.

"Please, just take her." Miss. Kim sighed in annoyance at me. "I can't stand the screams. I'll see Mr. Park out now." And with that I turned back to face the wailing girl, curled up on the floor.

I tapped the girl on the arm, and she stopped wailing and looked up at me in shock. She still had tears and snot smothered on her face, but the noise had stopped.
"Hello." I whispered, a small smile on my face. I waited for a reply, but got none. Only a sniffle. "What's your name?" I proceeded to ask.

"A-A-Are-um." She stuttered, taking another sniffle after she spoke.
"It's nice to meet you A-A-Are-um." I copied her, including the sniffle at the end, causing the girl to giggle slightly. "My name is Hoseok, but you can call me Hobi." The girl wiped her face on her sleeves, still sniffling but tears had stopped falling from her eyes. "Do you want to come with me?"

"Wh-ere are you g-going?" She stuttered.
"To the playroom." I smiled. "Where there's lots of toys to play with."
"Toys?" She asked.
"Like the dollhouse, and the music box, and the train set..." I kept listing toys until I caught her attention.

"T-train?" She questioned. "What's that?"
"You don't know?" I asked, and she shook her head. "I can show you, if you want?" The little girl nodded, and I held out my hand for her to hold. She did so, and used it to help her stand up.
"Do you want to walk or should I carry you?" I asked her.
"Ca- can carry me?" She sniffled, and I nodded, picking her up in my arms and setting off down the hall towards the playroom.

And that's how I met her. That's how I met Jeon Areum. I had so many questions about everything that happened that day, about her past, about her parents' past, all of it. But I didn't say anything. That's not what she needed right now. She needed to keep her mind off her mother and father to avoid getting upset about everything, so that's what I did.

I sat with her as we both played with the train set, and the joy in her eyes was like nothing I'd ever seen before. It's almost as if all her life this child had been deprived of the simplest things that makes a child happy, and the fact that I was finally allowing her to experience a happy childhood filled me with happiness.

When the elementary children came back from school the 5-7 year olds came in the playroom. The younger ones went for a nap and the older ones went outside to play. Four 5 year old boys; Renjun, Jeno, Haechan and Jaemin, all came and sat round the train set. I knew the boys - we all got along very well - and I knew that they were all best friends.

What I didn't know was that they'd met Areum before.

They clicked with her. The five of them sat on the mat with smiles on their faces as they pushed the trains round the wooden track, and in my heart I felt a sense of accomplishment. I'd helped another child find friends.

To this day - 13 years later - she's still friends with them, and three more. I develop a close bond with most of the kids here, a sense of mothership almost. But I knew from day one there was just something different about Areum.

No, not in a romantic way, that's disgusting. Get your head out the gutter.

There was just some kind of bond that was there from the start that felt like I had to look after her for the rest of my days- like a parental figure. She trusted me, so I had to live up to that. I had to give her reason to trust me so much.

Which is why I was so devastated when I found out.