"jimin, get downstairs, now!" the fifteen year old boy jogged down the wooden stairs, meeting his mother in the foyer. she smiled weakly at him, and he gladly smiled back. though he knew it wasn't genuine, it was a rare occasion that his mother smiled at him.
"cps should be here any minute now. go get the boxes." the boy nodded without a word, and went immediately to the garage door to grab the boxes full of his scholar accomplishments and mother's day gifts.
without taking another order from his mother, he quickly unloads the boxes in the kitchen and begins placing the decorations around the house. he places report cards with multicolored magnets on the black fridge, put mother's day gifts on top of the mantle, and family pictures, though there were few, on any flat surface available.
the ring of the doorbell send a sudden jitter down jimin's mother's spine, and she hurriedly went to answer it. she smoothed out her pink blazer and brown skirt. she replaced her resting face, which was a scowl, with a plastered on grin that only jimin could tell was fake.
"hello, gentleman. please, come on in." the two men dressed in crisp black suits walked through the narrow doorway and examined the home with squinted eyes. they smiled at jimin and he nervously smiled back.
"well, why don't we talk to jimin alone for a bit." one of the men suggests as the other one nods.
"of course. would you like something to drink first?" his mother asks, raising an eyebrow. "we have water, milk, pineapple juice, and sprite."
and vodka. jimin thought to himself quietly as the men shook their heads.
"no thanks. let's go, jimin." they turned back to his mother. "this will only take a minute, ma'am."
they led jimin into the dining room and sat him down while his mother sat outside and played on her phone nervously.
"so, jimin. we're going to ask you some questions today, and we want you to answer them honestly." the boy apprehensively nodded. though he had hear this several times before, he was still worried.
the realization came abrupt that his mother was abusing him, and was going to unless he did something about it. the cps officers would ask him the same questions over and over again unless he spoke out.
"does your mother ever hit you?"
without much thought as to what he was doing, he abruptly stood up and raced out the front door, not taking one glance back.
the men quickly caught up with him, though, and restrained him by placing his arms behind his back. his mother walked out the front door with a fake, worried expression on her face.
"oh, jimin, baby. what's wrong?" she came closer to him and put one hand on his right cheek while stroking his hair with the other. it made him sick that she only treated him like this in front of the officers.
"come on, baby. tell your mother."
and that's when jimin spit directly on his mother's face.
and that's when his world fell apart. when he ran down the street with static filled ears and foggy eyesight, not turning back to hear his mother cursing out his name or the officers pursuing him.
one of them happened to be officer kim namjoon, who took him into custody that night and admitted him to oak rehab where his husband seokjin worked.
it was the day when his world fell apart, and the day when it was placed carefully back together.
all by min yoongi.
