Precious Things || Jensoo

Chapter 53

Chapter Fifty-Three

Child Services responds to these things fast.

They arrive in the morning, and I think they look scary. Jennie won't leave my side, so at least I'm not alone, but still.

We're back in the white soulless sitting room and, in a way, that's good. I don't like this room and now I associate it with discussions that I don't want to have, so at least I haven't ruined the nicer rooms of the Kim mansion.

There are two people, a man in a suit and a lady in pinstriped trousers. Mentally, I've already dubbed them Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum.

Hyorin must have filled them in on a lot of the particulars, because they ask me a bunch of questions. They start with simple stuff – name, date of birth, stuff like that -and then they move on to more particular things, like how long I've lived with my grandfather and how long he's been hitting me.

I go red when they ask me that.

How do I explain? How do I make them understand?

"He... this is the first time it's been like this," I stutter.

"He's never hit you before?"

I go even redder, if that's possible. "He... not like this."

"But has he hit you before?"

"He's -. Look, when he grew up, this was how you got punished. He doesn't know that it's wrong."

Jennie is under strict instructions from both her step-mother and me to keep her mouth shut. I can see her struggling with this now.

"Jisoo, you have a right to be protected from physical violence."

Tweedle Dee, the lady in the pinstripes, is playing nice cop. Her partner is just asking questions and filling out the forms.

"I know, but this... this is the first time he's done it out of anger," I move to explain.

The conversation stumbles on, because they don't really care about why my grandfather does things. The particulars are gone over, and I hate it. Hyorin has to fill out some medical report.

Then comes the discussion about what to do with me.

"She can stay here," Hyorin says firmly.

"I think that's appropriate," Tweedle Dum says, speaking up for the first time. He nods at Tweedle Dee and I realise for the first time that, despite his general silence, he's the boss here.

"We can grant a temporary injunction today," Tweedle Dee says, picking up where her leader left off. "Jisoo can stay here."

"I don't want my Grandfather charged," I say firmly.

"Well..."

"I don't," I reiterate.

"Can she stay here indefinitely?" Hyorin asks. Jennie squeezes my hand and nods.

"Well, technically, she has to go into the system," Tweedle Dee says. I think she's in training.

Tweedle Dum looks at a piece of paper in front of him and frowns. "Well... wait one minute."

We all look at him expectantly. He looks up at me. "I think we could delay the processing of this paperwork for three weeks. After all, Jisoo is somewhere safe now, and the department does have a backlog."

I'm the first one to catch on. "Thank you," I say.

"Huh?" Jennie gives up and speaks.

Hyorin looks similarly confused. "What happens in three weeks?"