Chansung

Chansung was talking with a patron about whether he thought George R. R. Martin would live long enough to finish writing the Song of Ice and Fire series before he died when his phone rang. He dug it out of his pocket and excused himself from the library patron when he saw the call was from Kim Minjun "Yoboseyo?" Chansung could feel his stomach tossing and turning.

"Hi, Hwang-ssi. We've got a situation going on here that I need to make you aware of..."

Chansung didn't like the tone in the principal's voice. He had a bad feeling about this call "Is Jay hurt? Was he hurt at recess?"

"Yes, Hwang-ssi, Jay is hurt, but it wasn't at recess."

"I-I don't understand. What do you mean he's hurt, but it wasn't at recess?" Chansung's head was spinning. Was this the reason Jay had been so quiet last night and this morning? 

"Lee-sunsengnim noticed him moving around gingerly as if he were in pain. At one point this afternoon, Jay moved to grab a book and his shirt rode up revealing..."

"Revealing what?" Sweet Jesus, what was the principal trying to tell him?

"I'm not going to pull any punches here, Hwang-ssi. Jay is bruised from his lower back to the top of his thighs."

"What?" Chansung roared, his voice echoing off the vaulted ceiling of the library "Who did this? Who hurt my son?"

"We don't know. Jay isn't saying a word about that."

"What is he saying a word about?"

"He's been screaming for Lee Junho-ssi since the police got here."

"Police? What police?"

"It's mandatory in cases of suspected child abuse that we report our findings to the police."

"Child abuse?" Chansung's voice was just above a whisper "Who did this to my boy?" 

"We don't know, Hwang-ssi. Jay is being taken by ambulance to the Seoul General hospital. You can meet him there."

"Hospital? I-I..." Chansung was at a loss for words. It was like he was in the middle of a nightmare only this was real. Someone had hurt Jay.

"Listen, Chansung." the tone of the principal's voice changed "I called Jongup. He's going to meet you the hospital. You need to take a deep breath and get a hold of yourself. Jay needs you. My next call is to your ex-wife, but I can stall that for a few minutes."

"Thank you, Kim-ssi." Chansung took a deep breath, trying to pull his scattered thoughts together "Where is Junho now?"

"He's back in class with the other kids. He wanted to go with Jay in the ambulance, but he has a responsibility to the other kids in his class."

"Of course he does. Who is with Tucker?"

"No one from the school, just the police and the EMTs who are transporting him."

"Christ, he's alone? I'm on my way."

"Please let me know if there's anything else we can do for Jay." Minjun's voice was harsh with emotion "We all love him so much." 

"Pray for him, Kim-ssi and pray I don't get my hands on the son of a who hurt my son." Chansung hit the end button on his phone disconnecting the call. As he ran for the front door of the library, he dialed his parents' number.

Ten minutes later, Chansung burst through the doors of the emergency room, running toward the front desk "I'm looking for my son, Hwang Jaebeom. I'm his father, Hwang Chansung." he could feel his hands shaking.

"Just one minute, Hwang-ssi. Why don't you take a seat in the waiting room?"

"I don't want to sit in the waiting room. I want to see my son!" Chansung was yelling. He took a deep breath "I'm sorry for yelling but I got a call that my son is hurt and I need to see him."

"I understand, sir. Just have a seat and we'll be with you in a moment." the nurse pointed to the rows of seats in the waiting room.

Chansung nodded and headed toward an empty chair. He pulled his phone out, checking to see if there were any messages from Junho or from Jongup. There were no messages, but the principal had said his brother was on his way to the hospital to meet him. He hoped Jongup got here soon.

When the door leading into the ER swung open, Chansung turned to see not a nurse, but a large, armed police officer step through the door and head toward him. 

"Hwang-ssi?"

"Yes, I'm Hwang Chansung. Where's my son? I need to see my son." he was on the verge of tears again and didn't care if this burly cop saw him cry.

The cop narrowed his eyes at Chansung, seeming to study him "Come with me." the cop headed away from the entrance to the emergency room.

"Thank Christ.  No one will tell me anything about my son. I'm worried sick." looking around, Chansung realized they weren't heading toward Jay "Wait! Where are we going? I need to see my son!"

"Your son is in good hands. We're going somewhere to talk privately about the events leading up to the bruises being discovered on your son at school."

Chansung's lunch rebelled, threatening to come back up "Wait, am I suspect? You think I did this to Jay?" Chansung was yelling again, his hands balled into fists.

"Chansung!" Jongup's voice echoed down the hall.

Turning, he saw his attorney sprinting down the hall toward him and the police officer who was standing with his hands on his hips "Jongup, thank God. They won't let me see Jay and they think I'm the one who did this to him." 

"Is Hwang-ssi under arrest?" Jongup appeared to be in full attorney mode.

"No, Kim-ssi, he is not under arrest, but we need to speak with him before we can allow him to see the minor child."

"Jay!" Chansung wailed "His name is Jay. He might be some 'minor child' to you, but he's my son!" Chansung looked the cop square in the eye. The man did not look moved. He heard running footsteps behind him and turned to see his parents and Junho running toward them. He'd never been so happy to see them in his life.

"Where's Jay?" Narsha asked.

"They won't let me see him." Chansung hooked a thumb over his shoulder at the police officer.

"Why not?" Hwang Kwanghee looked confused.

"Who are all of you?" The cop's eyes narrowed again as he looked over the group of people.

Junho stepped forward "I'm Lee Junho. Jay is my student and Chansung is my boyfriend. These are Chansung's parents, Hwang Kwanghee-ssi and Hwang Narsha-ssi."

"Officer, can we please see my grandson?" there was a pleading tone in Narsha's voice. 

"No one is seeing the minor-" the cop sighed "No one is seeing Jay until I get statements from all of you."

"Jay!" Jea's scream startled them all. She ran toward Chansung with fury in her eyes "What have you done to my son?"

Chansung took a step back "I didn't do anything to him. He was with you all weekend."

"Bull!" Jea screamed "He wasn't bruised and tortured when I sent him back to you last night!"

"Let's move this somewhere more private." the cop pointed to an empty family waiting room and ushered them all inside.

Chansung walked into the room and sank into a chair. His mother sat on one side of him and Junho sat on the other. Jea sat across from Chansung while Jongup paced at the back of the room.

"Hwang-ssi, tell me where your son spent the weekend."

"His mother picked him up around 6:30pm on Friday night and he was dropped off to me around 5pm on Sunday."

"Hwang-ssi, is that correct?"

"I took my son from those two flamers." Jea's eyes were blazing with anger. 

"Hwang-ssi, did you pick your son up at the times your ex-husband listed?"

She nodded curtly, not making eye contact with the police officer.

"Hwang-ssi, how did you and Jay spend last night?"

"Wait a minute! Why aren't you asking what Jea and Jongkook did with my son over the weekend?"

"I'm asking the questions, sir. What happened after Jay was dropped back off with you?"

Chansung looked over at Jongup with pleading eyes.

"Just answer the question, Chansung. It's going to be okay."

As far as Chansung was concerned nothing was going to be okay.

"He was quiet and withdrawn. Jay didn't even hug me. He went to bed and didn't want to eat."

"You didn't feed him dinner?" Jea screeched.

"He didn't want to eat. I offered him all of his favorites and he didn't want to come out of his room."

"What happened after he wouldn't eat?" 

"He went to bed."

The cop narrowed his eyes at Chansung "So, what you're telling me, Hwang-ssi is that you had Jay in your custody for fourteen hours and never noticed the bruises on him?"

"What bruises?" Chansung looked back and forth between Junho and the police officer "There were no bruises."

"You never saw these bruises?" the cop fiddled with his phone before turning the screen to face Chansung.

What Chansung saw took his breath away. Lying face down on a hospital bed was his son. His lower back and upper thighs were covered in purplish-black bruises "Oh my, God!" Chansung charged out of his seat toward Jea. The cop caught him and managed to hold on as Chansung struggled "You did this to our son! You hurt my baby!" Chansung shouted until his voice cracked.

Junho and Jongup rushed to Chansung's side, pulling him away from the cop. Jongup took the cop's phone and started thumbing through the pictures of the boy "How do we know those are pictures of Jay?"

"The birthmark on his bottom." Chansung croaked.

Narsha got up and took the phone from Jongup. She gasped and started crying. Kwanghee wrapped her in his arms and held her tight. 

"Getting back to my earlier question, Hwang-ssi, are you saying you never saw those bruises?"

Chansung shook his head.

"Not even when you gave the boy a bath?"

"I didn't give him a bath last night. He just wanted to go to bed."

"You didn't give Jay a bath?" Jea shouted "What the is wrong with you? Do you ever bathe him?"

"He was sad and upset when he came home from your house. I didn't want to push him after the stunt you pulled on Friday night, screaming that I'd never see my son again and yelling your homophobic bull."

"You were a husband and you're a father. Oh well, at least this little incident guarantees that I'll get full custody of Jay now."

"Full custody!" Chansung charged out of his chair again. The cop grabbed Chansung and tried to push him back to his seat "Our son is lying in a hospital bed bruised and battered and all you care about is your damn custody hearing? You did this, Jea! You or that boyfriend of yours! You beat my son just to get revenge on me. I'll kill you for hurting him. You ing !"

"That's it!" the cop drove Chansung to the floor "You're under arrest. You have the right to remain silent."

Chansung heard the jingle of the handcuffs a second before the cold metal slapped around his wrists "Jay!" Chansung screamed "I need to see my son."

"Don't say another word, Chansung. I'll be right behind you on the way to the police station."

The cop yanked Chansung roughly up to his feet.

"Junho! Tell them! Tell them I would never hurt Jay."

Junho made eye contact with Chansung but didn't say a word.

"Junho!" Chansung shouted as he was hauled out of the hospital waiting room. As the cop frog-marched him down the hall of the hospital and out into the chilly October night, the cold hard reality of what was going on slapped him in the face like a brick.

Jay was hurt and he hadn't noticed. Jay was in the hospital and he couldn't be there to comfort his son because he was on his way to jail.

Junho

Junho stood next to Jongup, crying softly as Chansung was taken out of the waiting room. He watched with a heavy heart as his lover was escorted out of the hospital by the armed police officer. 

Jongup's hand on Junho's shoulder brought him back to the present. He looked up at the lawyer who was wearing a serious look on his face "Don't leave Chansung alone with that er."

"I'm on my way, but I need to ask you a question first." Jongup set his briefcase on a nearby chair and pulled out a manila folder. 

"Anything." whatever it was Jongup needed to know, Junho hoped he could answer. One this was crystal clear in his mind, there was no way in hell Chansung did this to Jay.

"Jay is going to need a Guardian ad Litem. Are you available to do that for him?" Jongup shook the folder in his hand. 

Junho nodded. In a day full of surprises, it shouldn't shock Junho there would be one more "Absolutely." he would do anything to protect Jay.

"What's a Guardian ad Litem? And why can't it be me or Kwanghee?" Hwang Narsha was dabbing her eyes with a wrinkled Kleenex.

Jongup turned to Chansung's parents "It's a person who represents the legal interests of a child. It can be a family member, but the court prefers it be a neutral third party so that the best interests of the child are followed, rather than the best interests of that family member. I know Junho will do what is right for Jay." 

"We do too." Kwanghee clapped a hand on Junho's shoulder.

It meant the world to him to hear the faith Chansung's parents had in him "Can we see Jay? He was crying for me not to leave him and I don't plan to leave his side again."

"Now hold on just one god-damned minute!" Jea shouted from her seat "Jay is my son. I'll be his guardian whatever, not this bandit."

Junho gasped, still unable to believe that all Jea cared about was insulting him when her son was lying beaten in a hospital bed.

"I'd knock off the homophobic rhetoric, Jea, you're not afraid of gay people, you're an . Your repeated attacks on your ex-husband and Lee-ssi, who is a respected member of the teaching community, constitutes a hate crime. If you like, I can go grab Robocop and let him or one of his buddies take you to jail along with Chansung, who we both know didn't do this to Jay."

Jea's mouth dropped open, but no sound came out. 

Jongup's lips quirked up into a brief smile "Here's a little free legal advice for you. If you did this, hire a good criminal defense attorney."

"I didn't hurt my son." Jea stomped her foot, sounding like a petulant five year old. 

 "If you didn't, then your fiancé did. If that's the case, the same free advice goes for him. Neither Chansung nor I will rest until whoever hurt Jay is behind bars." Jongup handed Junho the manila folder and snapped his briefcase closed. 

"That goes double for me." Junho found the courage to say. He was done letting Jea push him around and hurt his feelings. 

"Us too." Narsha and Kwanghee said together. 

"I want to see my son!" Jea demanded.

"That's not going to happen. Another police officer will be here soon to take your statement and then you all will need to decide who's keeping Jay until we figure out who hurt him. He won't be able to live with you or Chansung." Jongup looked exhausted.

"We'll keep him. He has his own room at our house. We have a spare bedroom too, Junho, if you'd like to stay with us." Narsha reached out to take Junho's hand. 

"I'd like that a lot. Thank you both." he turned back to Jongup "Can we see Jay now?"

I'll go talk to the intake nurse and then I'm off to get Chansung out of jail. Be strong, okay?"

Junho pulled Jongup to the side "Chansung didn't do this, you know."

Jongup leveled his gaze at Junho "I know he didn't, but not noticing the bruise last night doesn't help his case. I'll be in touch."

As much as he didn't want to admit it, Junho had been thinking the same thing. How on earth did Chansung not notice how much pain Jay was in? If he looked at the situation more closely, he never thought to check Jay for an injury either until he saw the mark with his own eyes. All of them had failed Jay.

"Don't be so hard on yourself, son." Kwanghee pulled Junho in for a hug "What matters now is that Jay is safe and no one is ever going to hurt him again."

Junho nodded, fighting back tears. The little boy never should have been put in a situation where he could have been hurt in the first place. 

"I'm looking for Lee Junho-ssi and Hwang Kwanghee-ssi and Hwang Narsha-ssi." a tired-looking nurse said from the open waiting room door.

Junho stepped forward pointing to his chest "I'm Lee Junho and these are the Hwang-ssi."

The nurse nodded "If you'll follow me, I'll take you to Jaebeom. He's been asking for you."

"What about me?" Jea practically shouted.

"Who are you, ma'am?" the nurse flipped a page on her clipboard and looked up at Jea. 

"Hwang Jea. Jay is my little boy." she added an obviously fake wail to the end of her statement.

The nurse flipped the back on her clipboard back down "I can't allow you to see your son until you've been cleared by the police and social services."

"I'm his mother!" Jea thundered. 

The nurse ignored Jea completely "Lee-ssi, if you'll all come with me."

"You can't do this, I'm his mother! I'll sue. I swear to ing God! I'll sue all of you!" Rage burned deep in Jea's eyes. Her arms flailed wildly as she continued to threaten to sue everyone in the room.

"Knock it off, Jea." Kwanghee rolled his eyes and took his wife's elbow "For once in your selfish life put your son first." Kwanghee turned away from her to follow the nurse out of the room.

Junho couldn't have said it better himself. He didn't have time to deal with her petty bull. What mattered now was making sure Jay knew he was safe and knew he was loved.