Chapter Twenty

Jimin sighed as he stepped out of the cubicle, Taehyung joining him. They both hated to see children in any type of pain, and the cries from the nine-year-old were heartbreaking to the two. It was a large cut on the leg after a fall from a tree. The two knew that it could have been a lot worse from what they had been able to gather from the terrified mother. They headed towards reception to find out who was next on the waiting list when Jimin’s phone started to ring. It wasn’t often that it would ring. The last time had been when his father had been in a car accident.


Jimin and Taehyung shared a look as he pulled it out and went out a side door, Taehyung following him. Both of them were pale, “Hello?” Jimin answered.

“Kim-Park Jimin-sis?” came a cautious voice on the other end.

“Yes this is he,” he replied, waiting for them to carry on.

“Ah, good, we’re from the adoption agency,” she said softly, “I’ve been told that you are looking for a child under the age of two to adopt. There is one, but there are some problems with this one. The child was born early, and it is unknown if they will develop any problems because of it, at this moment in time,” she started to explain.

“Most of the time that would be a yes, there is usually some form of problem, it's could come in the form of more allergies or other things like that, to the more serious health problems,” Jimin began and then cut himself off, “Sorry, I doubt you want the lecture,” he gave a nervous laugh.

“It’s okay, at least you’ll have a better idea of what could be going on,” she told him, “A baby boy was born four days ago, the mother is giving him up for adoption and we have called around a number of families that are on the waiting list for a newborn, but they’ve all turned him down due to the fact that he was born almost two months early. Now, the mother is very ill and doesn’t believe that she will live much longer. The father has already signed away his parental rights towards the child. So we are asking if you would like to adopt the baby?” she asked him.

“I will need to talk it over with my husband, will it be all right if I call you back in a couple of hours at the most?” Jimin asked, seeing Taehyung’s questioning look.

“Of course, the sooner I know the better. I’ll need to find other families if you’re not interested,” she told him.

“I understand, and thank you for giving us some time,” he said adding, “Goodbye and talk to you later with our decision,” he ended the call putting the phone away as he looked at his husband. 

“So, what's going on?” Taehyung asked, sounding a little worried as well as curious, “And why were you saying all that?”

“There’s a baby boy that needs a family, less than a week old. Father not around and the mother is dying from what they said,” he answered softly.

“What else?” he asked, “I know we’re a little low on the list, so we wouldn’t be the first ones to be offered a newborn.” There had to be something else.

Jimin nodded, “he was born almost two months early,” he answered softly.

“Ah,” Taehyung nodded, “And they want to know soon I take it,” getting a nod in answer, “RIght. Well you know there could be all kinds of problems that could come up.”

“I know that we both do, but… many families have already turned him down because of it. I-”

“You don't want to be another one. I think we should talk to Jin-hyung, he might have some advice for us. It's a big thing, this isn’t a child that is also a little older, we thought we would have a toddler don't forget, this is a newborn baby,” Taehyung said softly, reaching out and taking Jimin’s hands.

Jimin smiled and the two of them made their way inside and looked for Jin. They found him coming out of the trauma room along with Namjoon. They two looked a little tired as Jimin called out to them.

“What is it?” Jin asked, a soft smile on his face, though there was a sadness in his eyes. Jimin knew that meant that they had lost a patient that had come in.

“There’s a baby that needs adopting,” Jimin said, “And Taehyung and I would like to talk to you about it before we make our decision.”

“Okay, is it all right if Namjoon comes with us?” he asked.

“Sure,” Taehyung said.

“Let’s go to my office,” Jin smiled as he led the way towards the back staircase that leads to the second floor. It didn’t take long for them to be sat down. “So, what's going on with this baby?”

“The agency just got in touch with us. A baby boy, less than a week old is up for adoption. Father wants nothing to do with them and the mother is dying. But,” Jimin began to answer, “The little boy was born almost two months early. And we all know that can lead to complications later in life and health problems. Now we’re the best ones to take care of a child in such a case. I know that, and I wanted to say yes straight away.”

“But we thought we should talk to you first about it, we…” Taehyung said as he reached out for Jimin's hand and held it tightly, “We wanted to see what you thought?”

Namjoon was the one to answer then, “First, decide if you can put up with the heartache of seeing a child being ill all the time if the worst case scenario happens,” he told them softly.

The two looked at each other, “It would hurt so much,” Jimin said, Taehyung nodded along with him.

“It really worlds,” he agreed quietly.

“Could you still love the child even though they’re always ill and needing your constant care and attention?” Namjoon continued.

“Yeah,” Taehyung nods, Jimin doing the said, “We wouldn’t stop just because they’re ill. It’s not like they asked for it.”

“Would you be able to stop work forever to be there for the baby?” Namjoon asked one last question.

Taehyung and Jimin were silent for a moment before they looked to each other and then to Namjoon, “I would do so in a heartbeat,” Taehyung was the first to answer, “I don't care how long I worked for this, they would come first.”

“Agreed,” Jimin nodded, “They have to take priority.”

Jin smiled, “That is what being a parent is all about, putting everything aside to be there for your child. Yes, continue your life and don't put it on hold. But if there is something seriously wrong, you will drop everything to be there for them.”

Namjoon smiled, “Does that help at all?” he asked them both.

“It, it does,” Taehyung said as he smiled to Jimin, “We want to have him but thinking about it like that, well yeah, we know we need to. He’ll have a better chance with us as we’ll know what is really going on,” he added as Jimin nodded in agreement.

“I have no doubt that what you’ll be facing will be hard, but don't forget that you have all of us around you as well,” Jin reminded the two of them, “We would love to be uncles to your little boy, and to any other child you adopt,” he added softly.

“Thank you, and we’ll remember that,” Jimin said as the two of them got up, “Well, I should call them back so they know they don't have to look any further.”

“Why don’t you do that here,” Jin suggested, “We can leave you to it,” he added.

“You, you don’t have to go, I shouldn't be long,” Jimin told him softly.

“Okay,” Jin smiled back as the two of them watched Jimin pull out his phone, one hand clasped tightly in Taehyung as he rang the number of the adoption agency they belonged to.

“Hello,” came the voice from earlier.

“Hello it's Kim-Park Jimin here,” he said a smile starting to form on his face.

“Ah, good to hear from you, though I expected to wait a little longer for an answer, that is why you are calling isn’t it?” she asked him.

“It is, and we’re going to say yes if that is still okay?” he asked her, sounding a little unsure.

“Really?” she said, almost sounding relieved. She had gone through almost three dozen couples in the last two days, not counting the ones before that another colleague had been doing before she returned to work after a few days off.

“Yes, we’ll adopt him if that is possible. We’re aware of all the things that could come up while taking on such a child,” he said, sounding a little surer now that he knew that they could still adopt him. She quickly went through some more questions with him answering them quickly and concisely.

“Okay, everything's in order, we will have paperwork sent out to you soon. We want to make sure that the little boy has a family as soon as possible, I will be calling them up as soon as I get off the phone to make sure that you are both added to the list of visitors for the baby,” she said a little more brightly as she then gave them the last bit of information they needed. The location of where their new son was staying while he became stronger.

“Thank you,” Jimin said as he finally ended the call, “He… he’s here.” he said as he looked up at the others.

“Here?” Taehyung asked blinking.

Jimin nodded, “Yes, in the neonatal unit of this very hospital,” he said smiled, “I… can we… should we go and see him now?” he asked, “I know where he is.”

“Go on, we can cope without you for a little while. But try not to take too long, your going to need the time off more when he’s to come home to make sure he’s settled,” Jin told them, shooing them out of his office.

Jimin and Taehyung quickly thanked him and headed towards the neonatal unit of the hospital. It was on the other side of the grounds, a little out of the way, in a quiet part of them. They walked inside and gave their names, having been added to the list when they had agreed to adopt him. The two were somewhat surprised at how quickly the social worker had added them. They were shown through and walked into the quiet unit. They were shown where the little baby boy was.

The looked at the young woman that was standing there, talking softly with the baby boy. “Eomma loves you so much, so so so much,” she said softly, tears in her eyes as she carried on.

“Hello,” Jimin said as he walked forwards.

“Oh, do you need to examine him again?” she asked as she stood straight, a hand still inside the incubator, a tiny hand clasping around her small pinkie finger.

“No, we’re… we were told that the little baby was up for adoption, we were asked to become parents,” he said a little awkwardly. He had never had to talk to a parent, most of the time he had nothing to do with them when they went to see a child.

“Ah,” she said with a smile on her face. She looked gaunt and tired, “I was told that a couple had been chosen, but that was only five minutes ago. I don’t know how you got here so fast.”

“We work at the hospital here, in A&E,” Taehyung said as he walked over to her, “My name is Taehyung, and this is my husband Jimin,” he introduced them to her.

“Nice to meet you, I’m Tae-Hee,” she said, smiling happily, “This is my son Tae-Seok,” she said as she looked to the tiny child.

“Nice to meet you both,” Jimin said as he walked to her side, “You look really tired, you should have asked for a chair to sit in while visiting.”

“I’m all right,” she told him, “I wanted to talk to him, and getting a little closer means I have to stand, and that's fine with me,” she added softly, “How about I explain a few things, as you can see I’m not in the best of health, to be blunt I might have another month before I die,” she said, her eyes sad as she looked to her son, “I knew that his father wouldn’t want anything to do with him. Made sure he wouldn't be able to stop me if I put Tae-Seok up for adoption. I wanted for him to be adopted before I pass, so I know that he’ll be okay and loved.”

“He’ll be fine with us. We know he might have a few health problems in the future,” Jimin said, reassuring her, “But we’ll be there for him to love him, protect him and take care of him. So you don't have anything to worry about.”

“Thank you,” she said, tears beginning to fall.

“Come on, let's get you into bed for a bit, you look like you could do with a little rest,” Taehyung said as he went over to her and supported her as he walked her out of the room.

“Thank you, but you should spend some time with him,” she told him.

“And I will, but I’d like to get to know you, so when he is older, I can tell him about his mother,” he said, Jimin nodding as the two of them walked her to the room she was staying in. They remained with her for the next half hour, until they were called back to A&E, learning what they could and advising her to write letters to her son for him to get and receive for birthdays and special days. To tell him things that they knew her son would like to know, and little stories about herself and family. They left her with a notepad and a number of envelopes sad smiles on their face as they knew that Tae-Hee loved her son and wouldn’t have the chance to see him grow.