I was supposed to be meeting with my potential employer. After moving to Seoul I was looking having trouble finding work.
I had bills to pay and food was kind of a necessity. The point is, I needed money.
While I was walking through the city, looking for a new favorite coffee shop, I noticed the flyer for a babysitting job posted on a telephone pole. It seemed to pay well and I fit the requirements, so I figured I might as well try it out.
We planned to meet at a cafe that was near his house. It was a nice place on the outskirts of the city. The area seemed like a nice place to raise a child.
The man I was meeting with was named Park Jimin. He described himself to me over the phone so I would be able to find him easier.
I entered the cafe and saw a man that fit the description sitting at a table near the center of the room. "Jimin?"
He turned around at the sound of his own name. "Oh! You must be Min Yoongi." He stood up to shake my hand. "You have no idea how happy I am to get a response for this job."
Was I really the only one to contact him?
I sat with him and prepared myself for any questions he might ask me. "First, let me tell you about my son." He pulled him phone out of his pocket and showed me a picture.
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"This is Seyoon. He's four years old." I looked from the picture then back to Jimin. There was no doubting that this was his child.
"He looks like a tiny version of you! He's adorable... you must be so proud." This was one of the cutest kids I had seen in a long time. If I got this job, I'd be more than happy to take care of him whenever Jimin needed my help.
"I am. He's my pride and joy." He smiled at the picture one last time before putting his phone away. "He's a good kid most of the time, but he has his days when he decides to give me hell."
"Seriously? He look like an angel." I didn't think I would be this excited for this job. Once I had actually sat down with Jimin things seemed to change in me.
"He likes to think he is, but don't let that fool you." He ran his fingers through his hair a couple times. I could tell he was thinking really hard. "Seyoon is potty trained so you don't have to worry about diapers or anything like that, but he will probably want you to be in the bathroom with him... and don't let him use the iPad while he goes because he will just play games and sit on the toilet forever."
I nodded along to show that I was listening. I began thinking that I probably should've been taking notes so I would remember all of his tules and advice.
"Make sure he takes a nap at some point during the day. He will try to tell you he's not tired so you might have to lay down with him." As he was saying all of these things he was so focused. I could tell he was a good dad and he was sad to be away from his son.
He went through many more rules that I should follow before I finally stopped him. "You're saying all of these things as if I've already got the job. Should I ask when I start or am I getting my hopes up?"
"Well, I don't want to make any final decisions without seeing how you are with Seyoon first. If it's alright with you I was hoping you could come by our house tomorrow so I can show you around and see if Seyoon approves of you." That was reasonable. If I had a child I would probably do the same thing.
"Yeah. I can be there around 10am. Does that work for you?"
He looked so happy to get some help. "That's perfect! Seyoon should be fed and dressed by then. He'll be really excited to have someone new to play with."
