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It was the next day, Ara waited for the pair to come to school, but neither of them showed up. She was beginning to think Jimin was going to run away from this problem. And all she wanted to do was talk to him. But she had decided to give him some time and space so that he could think everything over and process what had happened.
She couldn't help but feel her heart ache every time she thought back to what he'd said to her, however. He knew he was hurting when he'd learnt about Eunji's mistreatment. But did he need to lash out at her like that?
It just didn't seem right.
In the meantime, however, Ara made it her responsibility to educate and remind every child at the preschool that bullying and name calling is not okay just through her way of interacting with them, and after talking with Eunji's friend she found out who it was that made her feel that way. She made sure to speak to the child responsible and ask them why they said what they did, and she gave him a long talk about why what he did was wrong. She knew he was only a kid and that he didn't see the weight behind his words, but she needed him to learn so he wouldn't carry this on for any longer.
That night was the same as the one before, and the one before that. She would sit by her window and watch the lights turn off one by one at the house across the street. He hurt her, but she still needed to know he was okay.
He still needed more time.
But she needed more.
--
Jimin walked back into the room where he had tucked Eunji into bed, sitting down next to her. He bit his lip as he watched her beautiful form rise up and down as she quietly breathed, wondering why did she have to go through that? Sure it was just a few preschoolers spitting nonsense without thinking, but he couldn't help but think, if she had her mom would it be different? If he tried to make it work if he had begged and begged her to stay with him and raise Eunji together, would none of this have happened?
He lifted his hand and started to stroke her head, tears slowly falling, one by one, and he couldn't stop them. It was his fault. Not Eunji's. She didn't deserve to be feeling like she didn't have people who loved her; just being Jimin didn't do enough to make Seolhyun stay.
He paused when Eunji twitched then, scrunching her nose a little and snuggling closer to the pillow. That's when Jimin burst into a louder cry, and couldn't contain the noise he made, which caused Eunji's eyes to shoot open and gasp at her father.
"Dad!"
"Hey baby," he hiccuped, eyebrows furrowed as he reached forward and pulled his daughter into a hug. He thought back to when she was born, and Seolhyun gave her to him, when he promised himself he was going to give her four times the love she would have had otherwise with two parents.
"Daddy, what's wrong?" her voice was full of worry, and he wondered how such a small four year old could have that much maturity packed inside of her. This made him sob harder; why did she have to experience so many characters of a dysfunctional family at the age of just four? He wanted to give her the whole world, but he could only ever do so much.
