Forever And Ever (BTS)

Chapter 16

The boys had been walking a long time now, and the effects of staying up through the night were starting to show. All seven of them were yawning as they trudged along the pavement, but they didn't complain. They forced their eyes to remain open, keeping a lookout for the house. Soon enough, Jungkook saw it. "There, there!" he shouted in excitement. The six others followed his gaze. Seeing the big house they missed for so long, they immediately perked up, forgetting about their fatigue in their joy. They walked faster and faster, almost running to the door. Jin rang the doorbell, hoping it would be loud enough to wake their father up. The boys waited nervously, gripping each other's hands. A minute later, the door swung open. There stood their father, just as they remembered. Unfortunately, he was obviously still drinking, but his sons couldn't care less, they were just happy to see him again. Mr Kim stumbled back in shock, "Boys? Why are you here?" He slurred quite a bit, but the sight of the boys seemed to have sobered him up a bit. Jin softly replied, "We want to live here again, with you. We don't like living in the other house. Can we stay here?" Mr Kim was taken aback, "Don't you know though? Your mother called earlier to say she was taking custody of you." The boys' eyes widened. "No... we didn't know..." Yoongi said. The rest were speechless. They had walked so far and long to get out of that house, and now they might have to go back. Was all their planning and hope for nothing? Mr Kim sighed, "Why don't you stay here tonight, we'll decide what to do in the morning." The boys agreed. They wanted to stay there permanently again, but they knew they couldn't have an answer yet, not with the issue of custody being brought up. As they walked through the door, they each gave their father a hug. Mr Kim froze up as he felt his sons wrap their arms around him one by one. It had been so long since there had been other people in the house, since he had seen the seven kids. He wasn't used to the displays of affection they were now showing. He slowly brought his arms up to embrace his boys. "My boys are back," he thought with a small smile.

Earlier that night, Mrs Kim had been in the kitchen with Jim, cooking dinner. He was once again ranting about her marriage that she had refused to end. "You don't have plans to move back in with him, you've been saying that you don't want to see him again. Why do you still want to be married to him? Don't you want to be completely free from him?" Mrs Kim didn't want to admit it, but she thought Jim was right, and she had been getting closer to caving in over the past few months. Other than the fact that she still cared for her husband, she couldn't find any other reason why she wouldn't divorce him. So, she said, "...Okay. I'll do it. I'll get a divorce. And I'll make sure I get full custody of the kids, he's not getting to them again." That's how she ended up calling up Mr Kim to tell him she was divorcing him and keeping their children with her, away from him. 

The boys had unpacked what they needed for the night. They were pleased to find that their beds were still in their old room, exactly as they were. They were ready for bed, laying in their respective beds, which felt multiple times more comfortable than the ones in Jim's house. "I hope Mum doesn't actually get to take custody with us. I want to stay here, with Dad." Hobi said. They mulled over what their father had revealed to them, trying to figure out a way to get out of it. Namjoon, having read things about law before, spoke up, "I know that when two parents fight for custody, the judge has to ask the children who they want to live with and take their reference into consideration. If we insist on living with Dad, we might have a better chance." "We'll do that then," Yoongi said, "Mum always tries to give us what we want, she should be willing to let us make our choice if she cares for us." The seven kids started to feel a weight lift off of them. Things were starting to look up. They had a plan, they just had to hope it would work. And they had a good feeling about it. With that decided, they closed their eyes, and slept more peacefully than they had in the past few months.