Play Dates

Five

"Right," Hwanwoong says, clearing his throat. "Thank you both for coming." He gazes at the two men in front of him, on the other side of the desk. "I wouldn't have summoned you if I didn't have some concerns regarding your son."

"What's wrong with my son?" the long-haired man asks bitterly, almost interrupting the teacher.

"Nothing is 'wrong' with him, Mr. Son. I simply feel that he's been unwell lately."

"Are other children mean to him?"

"Please, let me explain the incident," Hwanwoong says patiently. "As a matter of fact, it's rather he who has been mean to other children. I'm not saying it was intentional." Mr. Son grabs a lock of his golden hair and starts to fiddle with it; his former partner is completely still on his chair, as far as possible from the other man.

"Sunyul has called one of his classmates a bad name. Just for the purpose of this meeting, I'll give you the exact quotation. He said, 'You stupid, irresponsible twerp.' Would you have any idea from where he could have picked that up?"

Mr. Kim throws a side glance at the leaner man, raising an eyebrow.  "Wow. Is that what you call me when I'm not here?"

Dongju rolls his eyes. "I don't know what you're talking about. Never said that in my life. If I really wanted to qualify you, I'd go for 'moron'."

Geonhak looks back at his son's teacher and bows slightly. "I'm sorry Sunyul's foul language put you in a difficult position. I'll talk to him." The teacher nods gratefully. "Did he apologise?" Geonhak adds.

"He did. The reason I asked you both to come is to talk about Sunyul's, uh, happiness," he asserts clumsily. The teacher scratches his pink hair and continues, looking at Geonhak more than Dongju, "Hum, I've noticed your boy was not fully there in class. Always daydreaming, always lonely. He doesn't really have or make friends. He rejects everyone, pretty much. Most of the time, he broods on his own or gets aggressive with others. I thought you had to know."

Dongju crosses his arms on his chest. "Well, that's his father's fault. He doesn't take enough care of Sunnie, just like he didn't take enough care of his husband." He slightly turns towards Geonhak to stare intently at him. "Couldn't pick him up because of work, forgets which week is his. You don't evolve. You don't learn. You twerp."

Mr. Kim remains silent and stoical and Mr. Yeo steps in gently, "I'm not here to judge or advise. It's not my part to play. But please, do what's necessary to make Sunyul more comfortable and happy. It seems that he feels like he's lost, like he has to choose between you two."

"And who are you exactly to tell me how I should love my son?" Dongju asks, quite shocked.

"Dongju-yah," Mr. Kim interrupts harshly, "let him. He knows what he's talking about. He's with Sunnie most of the week, he can see what's going on with him in a way we can't." He turns back to the teacher. "We'll do what we can not to, hum, antagonise each other."

Hwanwoong seems satisfied and nods with a bright smile in Geonhak's direction.

"Will that be all?" Mr. Son sighs, exasperated.

"Well, now that you mention it, it won't." Mr. Yeo looks down at his hands and joins them nervously. "As you know, the school will be celebrating Mother's Day very soon and, uh, as I figured, Sunyul does not have a mother."

"Very observant," one of the fathers mumbles. Geonhak shoots him a reproachful glare. Dongju is so used to his body language that he does not need words to understand what Geonhak wants to say, 'Show some respect.' This has him smirk.

"What I thought was," Hwanwoong continues, ignoring Mr. Son's intervention, "one of you could come for Mother's Day, and the other would be there at Father's Day? It's only a suggestion. It's important for your son not to be the only one without his parent on that special day. As I said, he's usually all by himself, but I don't want him to be further set aside by the other children."