Safe with you - Jikook

Interview

Saturday | 11 a.m.

"Hello, I am Park Jimin. I was scheduled for an interview for the babysitt-"

"Oh my! Yes, please come in. Here, let me help you with the coat"

A beautiful lady, probably in her late 30s, helps Jimin take off his coat and put it onto the coat rack and guides him through a short corridor towards an office, secluded from the big living area.

"I hope you don't mind waiting for few minutes. My husband just left for an important call but I will inform him that you are here"

"Please, take your time", Jimin politely replies.

The lady nods with a small smile and leaves after closing the door.

'Damn, no one would guess they have a kid' Jimin thought to himself as he looked around the house while entering and found not one item out of place. Almost too perfect.

-

The door opens and a middle aged man enters the room, with a welcoming aura around him.

"I apologise for my tardiness, it was indeed an important call"

"No, I really understand. I am Park Jimin, it is a pleasure to meet you"

"It is a pleasure meeting a young man like you, too. Now, let us begin the interview, shall we"

Jimin nods confidently, interviews never scared him, it was the easiest part of the job and he has never failed to impress any parents or kids. Most kids loved him because he looked approachable and since he grew up with a sibling, he was a good care taker as well.

-

The interview ended with a breeze but they seemed like they had more to say, and that slightly confused Jimin.

"Your resume is excellent and if it is okay with you, we could have you start right away" Nicholas added and his wife nodded in approval.

Nicholas Holmes works in a consultancy agency and his wife, Jane Holmes was an interior designer. Both of them work quite far away from their home, so it was about time they hired a serious employee instead of temporary babysitters.

"Now we would like to let you know beforehand, our kid has this- uhm he is actually extremely shy and has refused to interact with any nanny before you"

Nicholas seemed like he would rather not talk about this and Jane looked calm, unnaturally so.

"He was actually diagnosed with social anxiety disorder few years ago-"

Jimin couldn't hear anything after that, memories started resurfacing back to back, from a past that he is ashamed of, he wanted to puke out his guts but he can't.

"imin? Hello?"

"Oh- I am- I am sorry. Actually, I knew someone who had something similar to that.. so.."

"That's surprising. I almost thought they make those stuff up" Nicholas mumbles the last sentence to himself but Jimin clearly hears it and it surprises him how derisive it sounds.

Jane continues with a wistful smile, noticing the silence.

"I hope you keep that in mind while you work here"

Jimin smiles and nods understandingly, when something catches his eyes, he looks outside the window and he could see a kid peeking from the corner, with big doe eyes.

"Do you want to meet him before you leave?" Jane questions, bringing his attention back to her.

That took Jimin by surprise and it looked like Nicholas didn't expect that as well.

Jane scurried away, not looking back at nicholas and soon brought a kid, who was clearly playing in the mud, his knees and hands giving him away.

Jane ushers him to introduce himself and Jimin could see how extremely uncomfortable he was, with the situation.

Jimin slowly stands up and gets on his knees to be more on a eye level height with the kid and talks to him very softly.

"Hi, my name is Jimin and I am here to be your new friend, only if you allow me to"

Jimin waits for his reaction but the kid continues to look at the ground and hide his tiny existence as much as he could behind his mom.

"I like your t-shirt, will you let me be your friend if I wear a similar one?"

The kid looks at him weirdly but he seemed to be less tensed, so he asks again.

"Can I know your name?"

"...s ... jah"

"Pardon? Can you repeat it again?"

"Eli..ah.." said the boy before completely disappearing behind his mother.

"Thank you Elijah, I am Jimin"

Jimin smiles and gets up and accidentally catches Nicholas glaring at Jane but pretends not to.

Nicholas thanks Jimin for his time and interest and informs him that further details and their schedules will be e-mailed to him at the earliest.

With that, Jimin leaves the room and heads for the door when he finds little footprint going up the stairs and smiles to himself.

"Well now it looks like a kid's home"

◇─◇─♡─◇─◇

Thank you for
reading!

- RiRi