This is another one of those one-shots where I had every intension of it going one way and as I was writing it decided all on it’s own to take another turn.  I usually let this whims play out and wait to see what happens, and most of the time it ends up being better than what I had originally been planning anyway.  This is another one of those cases.  Also – this particular whim made this story soooo much longer than it was supposed to be.  So be grateful for the additional story!

#93 – Missing

Kibum was frantic.  Two seconds!  That was it!  He looked away for two seconds to double check the price of something and she was gone. 

The man craned his neck, looking over shelves before crouching to peer under racks.

"Jinae!" He called, his heart starting to pound in his chest.

Kibum lurched to his feet and began to run through the aisle of the department store, wrenching his neck from left to right and calling out Jinae’s name. 

He round around a corner and almost screamed in relief when he saw a customer service desk.

He ran up to the hapless attendant, ignoring the other people waiting in line, and their jeers, which were quickly silence when he shouted, "My child’s lost in the store." 

The attendant looked shocked and afraid for a moment before she reached for the phone sitting on the desk in front of her.

"What is the child’s name?"

"Jinae!" Kibum gasped, fishing a photo of her out of his wallet and practically shoving it in the poor woman’s face.  "She’s 4 years old; she must have wandered away…” Kibum trialed off, his thoughts, like any parents’, running off to all of the horrible things that could possibly, though unlikely, being happening to his child right now. 

"Last name?"  She asked.

"Kim." Kibum answered without thinking.  "Wait!" he shouted, smacking his hand against the desk, "Wait!  Lee.  Her name is Lee Jinae.  My name is Kim."

The woman’s eyes furrowed, along with the eyes of some of the women standing in line. 

"How does your daughter have a different last name from you sir?" The woman asked, an accusatory look entering her eye. 

!  Kibum thought.  He couldn’t deal with this now.  "She’s my husband’s biological daughter, but I’m her Appa.  The adoption is still pending…"  He whispered, hoping to keep the rest of the women standing around from hearing him, but his voice did always seem to carry, no matter how softly he tried to speak and he heard the whispers starting and felt the envisioned daggers starting to dart into his back. 

But he couldn’t worry about that right now, he had to find Jinae.

A manager had been standing nearby and walked over as the store employee paged the little girl, alerting the store to a wandering child. 

"Code blue.  Code blue.  Lee Jinae.  Lee Jinae.  Please find a store worker as soon as possible."

"Mr. Kim," the man said coldly.  "You do realize that there is no way that we can release the child," and he inserted an eye roll here, "if she really is yours, back to you without proof of parentage or guardianship?"  The man sneered at Kibum, letting his personal view be known and the worried father felt his control snap.

"Listen," he hissed, striding up to the man and pointing a slim finger into the other man’s jowly face. "I don’t give a rat’s what you think about me or my marriage.  My daughter is lost in your store.  There is an unaccompanied child running about the place – shouldn’t you be concerned about that?!"  Kibum’s chest heaved as he practically spit out his words at the manager. 

"We called a code blue sir," he shoved Kibum’s hand out of the way.  "But as there is no parent or guardian here, I am afraid that we shall have to call child services once the girl is found."

Kibum’s eyes flew wide, nostrils flaring as the bottom dropped out of his stomach.  “But she’s my daughter...” he choked out, feeling his knees start to shake, his breath starting to freeze his lungs in his chest.  

“You yourself have already admitted that you are not her parent.”

“But I’m married to her biological father that makes me a step-parent!” Kibum argued back, practically shoving his hand into the obtuse man’s face, showing off his ring, ignoring the startled looks of the people in the rapidly gathering crowd who seemed to have not made that intuitive leap without Kibum pointing it out.  And they didn’t seem to know what to do with that information either which was making them uncomfortable, murmuring to themselves and shifting from foot to foot.

Kibum however, felt his anger surging back.  “Just help me find my daughter…please?” He begged.  He pulled a photo from his wallet – a family photo.  Jinae was balanced against Kibum’s hip, with Taemin on her other side, sliding his arms around the both of them.

It had been taken on their wedding day.

“Here, this is her picture…just…find her.” 

The manager watched Kibum patronizingly, “Of course we will find the girl.  But, I will not risk the child’s safety or the reputation of this store by releasing her once we’ve found her to anyone but her proven guardian.”

Kibum ground his teeth, but after a moment he wrenched his jaw apart, hands still clenched tightly at his side.  “Just find her!” He hissed, putting this fight on a backburner until Jinae had been found. 

About ten minutes later a sniffling Jinae was brought up to the service counter by not an employee, but a customer who had found the little girl crying amongst the stands of clothing one level down from where Kibum had lost track of her. 

“Jinae!” Kibum called, his voice cracking with emotion. 

“Appa!” Jinae screamed, pulling herself free and launching her at the man, quickly becoming enveloped in his long arms and her sniffles turned into sobs as she buried her face into his shoulder.

“Ap-ap-appa…” She stuttered, “I was s-s-s-scared…”

“It’s okay now sweetie,” Kibum petted the back of her head, trying to commit the feel of her in his arms to memory, suddenly terrified of her being missing again.  “It’s okay, you’re safe.  I promise, you’re alright.”

But his reassurances were for naught, because the manager had returned, store security in tow.  It made Kibum feel only marginally better when the two security personnel looking mildly queasy at the order to take Jinae, who was still crying into her father’s chest, and await the arrival of social services.

“Appa!” Jinae shrieked as one of the guards lifted her gently from Kibum, who was in such shock that they were actually taking her, that this was actually happening, that he couldn’t even bring his arms to tighten their hold. 

“Baby, it’s okay.  It’s going to be okay.  Appa will figure this out!”  He called after her as the other guard half-heartedly placed a hand against Kibum’s shoulder when the father took a step towards his daughter.  “You just be a good girl for Appa alright?”

The designer turned suddenly on his heel, rage filling his face and he rounded on the manager who looked smugly proud of himself at the fact that he had succeeded in taking a scared child away from her father.

“This is discrimination.”  Kibum said, his voice steely and loud, making sure that people could and would hear what he was accusing the man, and by proxy the store, of.  “I will walk out of here with my daughter and you will be hearing from my lawyer.”

The man rolled his eyes, thinking himself having the moral high ground.  “Try, no court would ever…”

“Do you know who I am?!”  Kibum interrupted, mentally cringing at the words that just flew from his mouth, but not letting the other man see how uncomfortable he was right now.  “I’m Kim Kibum, married to reporter Lee Taemin.  The President of South Korea officiated my wedding just three months ago.  In legal terms, you are discriminating against me because I am a gay man, which is now wholly and one hundred percent illegal.  I have informed you that she is my husband’s biological daughter, making me her step-father…but you will not release her to me.  You saw her reaction upon seeing me, calling me Appa…but you will not release her to me.  I’ve seen attendants in this store, return missing children to babysitters and Aunts and Uncles who have no parental rights over the children…but you will not release my daughter to me.”

Kibum’s eyes were slits and he felt a sense of grim satisfaction as the man before him paled as Kibum continued on. 

“I hope you have a damn good attorney, because I sure as hell do.”

Kibum stormed off to the security office where he knew Jinae would be, mildly amused by the small smattering of applause that followed his dramatic exit from the scene.

He whipped out his phone as he raced through the labyrinth of aisles, praying that Taemin wasn’t in a meeting and would pick up his phone.

“Yeah Bummie…”

“I’m having an emergency here Tae.” He said, just as he rounded the corner to the sad looking hallway that housed the security office.  The guards would not let him in, but he could see Jinae sitting forlornly in a chair, silent tears running down her cheeks as she continued to cry.

“Is Jinae okay?” Taemin’s alarmed voice responded.

“No.  She got lost in the store,” Kibum could sense Taemin about to interrupt so he rushed a, “Don’t worry!  We’ve found her!  But now they won’t release her to me since I’m not her biological father…”

“What?!” Taemin shouted and Kibum could hear clattering in the background and knew that Taemin had knocked something over in the office in his shock.  “They can’t do that!”

“That’s what I said, but they are trying anyway.”  Kibum sighed, suddenly feeling incredibly exhausted, his eyes still trained on Jinae who had spotted him through the door and tried to get up and run for him but was stopped by the same guard who had taken her from Kibum earlier, who glanced over his shoulder at the dejected father with a pitying glance.  Her wails echoed off the walls and Kibum felt his heart drop down to his feet.

“Listen Tae, you need to go home.  Grab Jinae’s birth certificate and our marriage license and bring them down here now.  Speed like a bat out of hell!  They’re calling child protective services and I can’t let them take her away Tae…” Kibum’s voice cracked and his mouth kept moving though no sound came out.

A heart wrenching, “APPA!” tore through the store, stopping customers in the section just outside the security hall who saw Kibum being blocked by personnel and figured out the situation much on their own. 

“Hurry Tae…” Kibum whispered.

“I’m already gone Bummie, just…stall them if they show up alright?”

Kibum nodded before remembering he was on the phone, “Alright…”

The call dropped and Kibum wanted to scream, but all there was to do was wait and hope that Taemin got there in time.

***** 

When a red face Taemin came barreling down the hallway Kibum shot up from his crouch against the wall in shock.  He didn’t want to contemplate how many traffic laws the younger man had broken to get to their apartment and then to the store so damn fast.  Child services had just arrived only a few minutes before.

Kibum just pointed mutely at the door and Taemin glared down the guard who stepped aside and allowed both men to enter, muttering, “They don’t pay me enough for this…”

“Papa! Appa!” Jinae called, roughly shoving the social worker away and barreling into her fathers’ arms.

Taemin lifted her up, holding her close, while Kibum kissed her head, running his hands across her back as though to convince himself that she was really there. 

Not letting go, Taemin turned to glare down everyone in the room.  “Just what the hell do you people think you are doing?”

“And who are you?”  The social worker asked tepidly, eyes darting about to try and take in the scene as quickly as possible to assess any danger for the girl.

“This is my daughter.”  Taemin growled.

At the same time Jinae released a pitiful, “Papa…I wanna go home…”

“Oh baby…” Kibum murmured as Taemin passed her over into Kibum’s awaiting arms.  The older man wrapped his arms around the girl in a hug that was almost too tight but neither of them said anything, desperate for the comfort at the moment. 

Taemin a folder in the social worker’s face.  “That’s Jinae’s birth certificate naming me as her father and my marriage license proving that Kibum is in fact her step-father.  In addition, there are copies of the adoption proceedings and paperwork showing that Kibum is in the process of legally adopting Jinae.”

Taemin’s stance was wide and firm, and his eyes were narrowed as he watched the social worker go through the records. 

“Everything seems to be in order here.”  The woman smiled up at Taemin and noted absently that Jinae had fell into an exhausted sleep against Kibum’s shoulder and the man was rocking back and forth on his feet trying to calm himself as much as he did the child. 

She rounded to the security team with a confused expression, “Why were we called?”

The man who had taken Jinae earlier stepped forward, “We were just following the manager’s orders ma’am.  The child was lost in the store, and this man,” he indicated Kibum, “informed the store that his little girl was lost in the store.  Once the manager realized that…well…” He looked distinctly uncomfortable, and kicked his shoe on the ground, “Once he…found out that he was not the biological father he refused to release the girl to him.”

“But wouldn’t standard operating procedure be to call her parents and alert them before calling child protective services?”  Taemin inquired, looking pointedly at the man. 

The woman from said agency nodded, “Indeed, you should have contacted her family if you knew them – and she’s old enough to have memorized her phone number.”

“She’s has our home phone and both of our cell phone numbers memorized.”  Kibum pointed out softly, laying a kiss to her temple as she shifted a bit in her sleep. 

The man looked miserable and Kibum felt bad for him.  He had been very gentle with Jinae and had taken good care of her, Kibum had watched. 

“I know that you are just doing your job, and doing what your boss ordered you to.  It’s your boss that was wrong.  I hold no grudge against you.”  He spoke softly once again, giving the man a small nod which seemed to help release tension from the man’s stiff shoulders. 

Taemin nodded at Kibum, trusting the man’s judgment, especially when it came to their daughter. 

“We will however hold the store and that manager responsible.”  The reporter added.  “It should not be necessary for me to have to bring records like this for my husband to collect our daughter.  This is ridiculous.”

Just then, the man in question burst into the room.

“What is he doing with her?!” He hissed, flinging an arm towards Kibum, who shrunk back with their daughter instinctively. 

Taemin turned slowly and took in the man.  A slightly portly belly and thinning and graying hair…he was forgettable to the extreme. 

“So you’re the idiot who refused my husband from picking up our daughter.”  Taemin very deliberately used the word ‘our’ and got some vindication as the man clearly squirmed under his gaze.  Taemin dragged his eyes up and down, studying the man carefully.  He took note of the name emblazoned on the pin attached to his shirt pocket and took out the little steno book that he always carried with him. 

“Moon Jaehyun.”  Taemin carefully closed the spiral, slipping it back into his pocket with deliberate motions.  “You’ll be hearing from us again.”  Was all Taemin said with a rather twisted smile gracing his face.

He turned and recollected his paperwork from the social worker who offered to walk out with the small family. 

When Taemin finally slipped into his car, Kibum sitting in the back with Jinae laid out over his lap, it finally hit. 

He had never really experienced the bigotry in regards to their daughter before.  Sure people had looked, but Taemin had grown up with people looking and watching and cataloging every movement and word so he couldn’t let the looks get to him too much.  But to have someone actually threaten to turn his daughter over…Taemin shuddered.  His hands tightened almost painfully on the steering wheel before he felt cool fingers brushing against his neck.

Kibum had leaned forward, careful to not wake Jinae and allow his fingertips to glide over Taemin’s heated skin. 

“She’s alright.  She’s right here.  No one is taking her from us.”

Taemin nodded stiffly, swiping away and the lone tear that slid down his face and hoping Kibum didn’t catch it. 

“I know.” 

I see Taemin as kind of bad- in this one.  I’m mentioned on occasion that Taemin is sort of a “gay warrior” in the media, but never really showed that side of his personality too much, but I thought this would be a perfect place for it to come out. 

And If anyone has an idea for ‘Full Moon’ please share, because I have nothing…and I’m so close to the end now that it’s driving me crazy to think that I can’t come up with anything.

Oh and the name Jaehyun wasn’t picked because of its meaning (I don’t know what it means).  It’s just one of my students’ names – a particularly badly behaved one...

Comments give me inspiration! (And seriously – it’s the only payment I get for writing these so please?  Pretty please with sugar on top?  And sprinkles?)