Family Project || Kim Seokjin | PREVIEW

Chapter 1: Messy Life | PREVIEW

'When someone thinks about a family, one would think of a mother and father by default. In addition, their blood-related children. In other circumstances, there is only a mother or a father and their child/children. Perhaps, an adopted child or children and their parents.

There are many ways to think of the term family. Different ways to form a family. Some not labeled or bound by blood-relations. Now there is this question: Can a family be designated?

The answer is unclear and can become a controversial topic. If you already have an answer, then answer this question:

Would you believe that there was a project that created families from scratch? One parent and a predetermined number of children were put together after careful selection based on compatibility and consideration. The parents would be selected from several of volunteers and a handful of prisoners.'

"Yes, prisoners." A man formally dressed in a black suit -- buttoned closed in a perfectly unwrinkled blazer -- confirmed. All eyes in the room turned to the man; their mouths agape and furrowed eyebrows causing irks on their foreheads. 

They were in disbelief -- speechless and flabbergasted for some. Not only that, but disapproving glares directed at the man showed that they found the upcoming proposal to be a madman's idea. 

However, the man's professional facade never failed to conquer as he slowly sauntered down the room, passing each person that sat in their seat, and reached his where his secretary stood. "Prisoners who have minor crimes on their names and earned 'good time credit'; prisoners who will benefit from this experience one way or another. Those are the types that will be chosen -- handpicked for this project," he explained and paused to clasp his hands together. "There is a ridiculous number of orphans in South Korea -- no -- around the world. Do you not think those children will benefit from this too?"

"Family Project." He gestured towards the projection screen. His secretary pressed the remote button, so the words stood boldly in white. He observed the people present and as expected, majority broke eye contact when theirs met the man's glassy onyx ones. 

Typical. He thought, internally scoffing.

"Any questions? Objections? Any flaws you can think of? I'll be happy to answer and ease your worries." He stood up, adjusting his cuffs. "But know this, the plan is already in motion."

None of them said a word.

He took the opportunity to proceed with a cold smile. "Right, our first few chosen ones can be seen on the screen." He gestured again towards the said projection that had moved to the next slide without their knowledge. 

Pictures of people were displayed onto the screen as promised and it revealed a generous amount of personal information. There was a pause when a slide appeared with a young man with black hair. The information popped up; his name revealed to be Kim Seokjin. 

And that, was the start of Seokjin's new life.

 ➵

Three years after the project launched in South Korea, a young man found himself rocking side-to-side with a crying baby in his arms. 

"Jungkook," Seokjin mumbled exasperatingly and huffed. His eyes trailed off to the couch where he spotted an eight-year-old boy taking a nap. Ironically, the older boy slept with four younger kids energetically messing around him.

"Hey, hey!" He yelled, when he noticed one of those said toddlers had ran off into the kitchen. 

"The stoves on," he mumbled before it sank in. His eyes widened and abruptly stood up from the single couch.  

"The stoves on!" He repeated in panic. 

Seokjin looked around frantically, trying to figure out what he was going to do with the child in his arms. Thankfully -- but at the expense of his guilt -- the eight-year-old shifted at his exclamation and slowly got up. 

"Why's dad so loud?" He groggily said and his drooped down eyes trailed off to his father. He soon regretted getting up once he saw his father's pleading eyes and his baby brother in his arms. He saw the pink apron he wore and instantly knew what would happen next.

"Yoongi-yah! I need you to hold your brother, 'kay?" He didn't have much choice in the matter, he decided, when Seokjin gently put the sobbing three-year-old baby onto his lap. Yoongi instinctively hugged Jungkook to keep the child from falling. The baby should have been able to sit by now, but he was still having trouble. 

The boy watched with dazed eyes as the only adult in the room left in a sprint, shouting: "Hoseok-yah!"

The child blinked at the odd scene, but he knew better that it was a regular occurrence. Laughter sounded in the living room, which made Yoongi tilt his head downwards only to see his younger brother laughing. Just seconds ago, he cried to his hearts content.

Yoongi thought babies were weird.

Though, for another's laughter came another's sadness. Yet another child had started bawling their eyes out. Seokjin felt like crying too, he had to admit. 

He lifted Hoseok up and had none of it. The seven-year-old crossed his arms and pouted. He was quite upset with his father disturbing his exploration. That huge magic tray had been inches away from his grasps. It always had something nice in it every time his dad brought it to them.

"Magic goodie tray!"

"It's not done yet. Please wait with your brothers like a good boy." Seokjin tried to hold back his chuckle at the mention of the name the younger ones called the it. He had to hold strong with them and not give in to their cuteness. It was one of the hardest things to master throughout his three years of taking care of six children.

He was able to get to know all of them but had a long way to go either way.

Jungkook was easily entertained but had his mood swings. Admittedly, he had been difficult to raise, especially as a mere one year old. The three-year-old made a lot of noise too.

Taehyung and Jimin were practically twins with different mother's and dates of birth. They stuck together quite a bit and got along enough to keep each other busy. They weren't a bother until the dreaded fighting over toys part. 

Jimin was sweet and a bit sensitive. Taehyung sometimes scared Seokjin with his 'Blank Tae Period'. He just stared blankly at everyone and sat like a stature for hours.

That worried him.

Namjoon was quiet and easy to get along with -- an intelligent boy Though, he had the tendency to break his toys often. That was the most noted problem.

Then there was Hoseok.

"Okay," he said with tearful eyes and a meek, no doubt sulking, voice. Seokjin put the boy down gently and offered his hand. "Yay, let's tell your brother's that the goodies are almost done!"

Hoseok returned the smile Seokjin gave him with a grin. "Yay!"

The boy was just a happy-go-lucky kid who made people melt with his smile. A pretty normal child, all things considered, with a few quirks. 

He had been the cause of Seokjin's phone being low on storage. He downloaded so many songs for a random dance party every so often. Whatever, it made him happy to dance around like that anyway.

Seokjin watched the boy walk and smiled in all his messed-up tired state glory.