February 20th 2015

Family was a funny thing.

For some people, family was the most important thing in the world. They’d be there for each other no matter what, the most important thing being protecting those who shared your blood. Families that accepted each others’ little quirks and interests, families that would always be there to make you smile when the sun just didn’t shine.

Other families were different. Some held nothing but sadness and despair. Families that constantly shoved and pushed you to be better, but were negative and unsupportive with everything you did. Families that mocked and barated your interests. Families that rolled their eyes whenever you spoke and tried to mold you into what they wanted you to be, not to your own person.

Some people were lucky and had the first type of family, a forever giving support system to hold them through life. Some people were unlucky and had the second type of family, often sinking in a self loathing that never really went away with the drive to meet the impossible expectations.

Other people had a mix of both. Maybe a supportive mother and a father who hates you, or pushy parents who got angry over anything less than perfect but a sister who loved you for who you were and would sneak you chocolate in the middle of the night when you were sad.

Jin had a mix of the two family types.

On one hand, he had his mother, grandparents and sister, the four people in his life that he would never replace for the world. Losing his grandparents had been terrible for the boy, but his mother and sister had grouped with him, supporting each other to make it through. They were always there for each other, even while Jin was chasing his dream in a different country. They never made him feel guilty for his decision, only love and support being sent his way no matter where Ace Entertainment sent them.

His father on the other had was one person that Jin could never respect.

He’d looked up to his father as a boy. The wealthy business owner who did all he could to provide for his family. He remembered his father being his favourite person in the world, the person he would always turn to despite the glares the father often gave his son. He wasn’t happy unless Jin came home with a large A+ painted onto a report card, and even then, Jin would only receive a small smile. Back then, he’d wondered why his father hated him so, why he wasn’t as strict with his sister, yet respected him completely and loved him with his entire heart.

That changed when one day his father came home drunk, his suit ruffled and dishevelled, eyes alight with the fire of anger. Jin and Mei had not long gotten home from school, his father wasn’t due home for hours yet, and of course, young Jin had been ecstatic to be able to play with his father for the day… but that wasn’t how it had played out at all. The man had stormed over to Jin’s mother, the adorable small woman who could never hurt a fly and had slapped her in the face. Mei had grabbed Jin, pulling him from the room as the man began screaming at his wife.

That had gone on for several hours, Jin cowering into his older sister’s arms as the shouts and screamed filled their small house, tearing each other apart with harmful words. It was mainly his father shouting, Jin seemed to remember, but his mom had tried to stand up for herself.

After a few hours of arguing, Jin and Mei had heard the front door of their house slam and their mother burst into tears. Jin vaguely remembered going down the stairs, clinging to his older sister’s arm. He couldn’t have been older than 6 or 7 at the time, the two siblings giving their mother hugs and cuddles while she cried.

He remember being told that Daddy had left and they didn’t know when he was going to come back.

That was pretty much the last time Jin had seen his father.

The estranged man had tried to get in contact several times, only to be shot down almost instantly by the siblings. The black eye his mother had gained by their father’s hand was enough to make it so they never wanted to see him again, the bruising and swelling enough to stick in their mind forever.

So when Jin had a call from his father a few weeks previous, demanding that he go and visit as soon as he can, Jin didn’t really know how to take it.

He certainly wasn’t expecting his father to get impatient and come and take him either way.

-----

Jin was sat in the kitchen, picking at his rice and Kimchi as Hanni rushed around the kitchen, cooking food for the entire group while baking a cake. After all, baking was what the eomma of the group did best.

Most of the group were lounged in the main room, watching some sort of action movie on the television. Action movies weren’t really Jin’s thing, so he decided to keep Hanni company instead.

However, a loud bang tugged at his curiousity, pulling him from the kitchen to see what exactly was going on.

“Who are you?” He heard Ae-Cha exclaim while he rushed into the main room, turning to the front door that was practically hanging from its hinges.

Standing in the doorway was the father he hadn’t seen in years, the father who was very obviously heavily intoxicated.

“Dad..?” He asked, frowning slightly and swallowing around the lump of fear in his throat. “What’re you doing here?”

“You’re coming with me.” His father told him simply, before storming towards him, chest puffed out to make himself look bigger as he approached the boy.

“W-what?!” Jin asked, stepping back as his father continued coming closer. “I’m not going anywhere with you!”

“Don’t act like that, you’re my son, you’ll do as I say!” He growled, making that final jump and grabbing hold of Jin’s upper arm.

“Hey!” Cho exclaimed, getting up from where she’d been sat on the couch. “Get off him! You’re not allowed to be in here!” She hurried over to where Jin was struggling to get out of his father’s grip, beginning to yank at the hand that had hold of Jin’s arm.

“Get off me! How dare you, stupid little girl!” The man exclaimed, turning suddenly and backhanding Cho to the floor. “You can come back to get your stuff another time, Jin, we’re leaving.”

Despite the other members shouting, trying to get hold of Jin’s father and stop him, the man pulled Jin out of the dorm, down the stairs and onto the street.

Jin had tears flowing down his face at this point, scrambling and struggling to get away from the large man who had just hit one of his close friends, a girl who was almost like a sister to him. “Get off me!” He cried, hitting the man some more before he was thrown into the back seat of a car. “Let me go!”

“No,” His father told him simply, while getting into the front seat and calmly clicking his seat belt into place. “You’re my son and you’ll do as I say.”

“I stopped being your son when you abandoned us for no reason!”

The man scoffed, turning to look at him. His eyes were unfocused, blurred from the alcohol he’d ingested, while he was covered in a thin layer of clammy sweat. From the stink that Jin could detect even from the back of the car, the suit he was wearing had probably be slept in, and he probably hadn’t showered for a few days either. “No reason?” He challenged with a fake smile. “You know, this will bring yet another scandal for your group, won’t it? Poor Jin being kidnapped by his own father. How people will be angry at me… but I don’t care. It’s time for my son to come home and take over the business that I can’t run anymore. I’m done watching you dance around on stage, it’s not practical or right. Your role is back in China with me at the company. A proper job, none of this fake singing and dancing.”

“I love what I do!”

“I do not, and what you love doesn’t matter! You live for your family, and your family wants you to join the business. So that is what you’ll do. You can’t rebel from me all the time, I know where your dorm is. I’ll just keep coming back. Over and over again I’ll be here, pulling you from your friends until you finally get the idea into your thick pretty head that you can’t escape your fate. You’ll be joining the company and leaving this stupid little group behind you.” The man turned with finality, turning the key in the ignition and beginning to drive away down the road. Jin quickly looked around the street in which their dorm was held. It was quite a run down area, Ace had chosen it on purpose since it wasn’t very busy a lot of the time. They didn’t want people to know where their dorm was, and a backend street that was run down and practically trashed most of the time wasn’t where they’d expect a dorm to be.

However, this probably hadn’t worked in Jin’s favour this time, since there had been no-one around when his father had dragged him out. No-one had seen him be thrown into the car of be driven away.

“You know,” his father hiccupped, giggling slightly as he drove the car. “Your mother was such a .” Jin flinched slightly, not enjoy his mother being spoken about in such a sense. “She never loved me, our parents set us up. The son of a company owner and a pretty, rich girl. Didn’t stay rich for very long though did she? She decided she wanted kids, two of you stupid little things. When she had a girl first, she was so happy. But that wasn’t enough, was it? Having to provide for one kid was bad enough, but then she wanted another and you came along. The stupid bastard child.”

Jin flinched, looking up at his father. “Bastard child? You two were married…”

The man scoffed, before bursting into giggles. “I’m not convinced your mine! You could never be my son. Your dear sweet sister went straight into business, just like her father. But you… you decided you wanted to wear pretty clothes and dance around on a stage, such a selfish boy. After all I did for you while you were a child, this is how you repay me, by throwing all my hard work back in my face.”

“But…”

“No!” The man screamed, cutting him off. “You’re not to talk! Don’t talk to me, ever, you useless waste of space!” Jin flinched, before sinking back into his chair, rubbing at his eyes. His heart pounded wildly in his chest, and all he wanted to do was to go back to the dorm… his phone. Jin quickly checked his pockets, relieved when his phone came into contact with his hand.

Sneakily dialing the familiar number, Jin placed the phone to his ear and waited.

‘Jin?’ Came his manager’s voice. ‘Don’t worry, I’m on my way over to the dorm now to pick you up for training, I’m running a little late…’

“Namjoon-hyung,” Jin hissed into the receiver. “You have to send help, the others will tell you what happened. Please, just hurry, I don’t want him to get too far away.”

‘Far away? What happened?’ Namjoon questioned. ‘Wait… is that an engine I hear? Are you in a car?!’

“Hey, boy, who the hell are you on the phone to?!” His father screamed, quickly turning towards his son  with fire in his eyes.

“Dad, no, pay attention to the road!” Jin screamed in response, but it was too late as the car spun, slamming front first into a wall, his father’s drunk instincts too slow to prevent the crash.

------

When Jin slowly awoke, he could smell smoke. Quickly lifting his head up, the boy realised he hadn’t been out too long, his back and neck aching wildly. Thankful for the seatbelt wrapped around him having stopped him flying out of the windscreen, Jin slowly unclipped himself, leaning forwards and trying to see through the fallen glass and smoke.

“Dad?” He choked out, looking for his father in the front seat. His father was slumped over, blood pouring steadily from his temple, but a quick press of Jin’s fingertips to the man’s throat reassured him that he was alive.

Convinced that his father wasn’t going to die any time soon, Jin quickly climbed out of the car, backing away from the smoking vehicle.

Frantically pulling at his phone, Jin checked the screen. His call with Namjoon had been ended in the crash, most likely as Jin had jolted, and the screen had been smashed. But a quick test confirmed that the phone still worked… Jin called 119.

‘Hello, emergency services. How may I help?’

“There’s been a car crash,” Jin shakily told the woman on the phone, before quickly listing off the street that he was on. “Please, send someone quick. I think he was drunk driving and lost control, but I don’t know for certain.”

‘I understand. Help is on the way now. Were you in the car when it crashed or as you a bystander?’

“I…I was just walking by and I saw the car hit the wall, I didn’t see much else.” Jin lied, pulling his free hand up to touch at the shallow but bloody wound on his forehead. “Thank you for your help,” Jin quickly told the operator, before hanging up.

Taking  a deep breath, Jin gave his unconscious father one final look, before hurrying down the street and calling Namjoon back. Tears were beginning to fall down his face, but Jin was numb, still in shock from his father’s words then the crash.

‘Jin?’ Namjoon’s worried voice asked, the manager picking up instantly. ‘Are you alright? What happened?’

Jin took a shaking breath. “My father took me from the dorm against my will, he was drunk… he crashed the car.”

‘Are you alright?!’ The manager exclaimed.

“I’m fine… I’m fine… I think an ambulance and the police are on their way now to make sure my father’s okay because he’s unconscious… I don’t doubt he’ll be arrested for driving while intoxicated.”

Namjoon sighed. ‘As long as you’re alright.’ He confirmed. ‘The others were really worried, Vann had to stop Myung running after the two of you.’

Jin smiled a little at the thought. “Let them know I’m okay… how’s Cho-ah?”

‘Shaken but she’s alright, it’ll definitely bruise though. Don’t worry about it.’

“Alright, manager-hyung… if… if it’s not too much to ask…”

‘Yes?’

“Could you come pick me up? I’m not 100% sure where I am, but I can give you the street…”

‘Of course. I’ll leave now. See you soon, Jin.’

“Thank you, Namjoon-hyung.”

-------

Less than an hour later, Jin was back in the dorm, lying on the couch while Hanni cleaned the wound on his forehead with alcohol and cotton, frowning in concentration. Cho was holding a bag of frozen peas to her face, but otherwise everyone was standing around, watching Hanni and Jin.

Jin was understandably feeling a little on edge with everyone watching him so closely.

“Guys, I’m fine…” He tried, only to get Hanni smacking his upper arm.

“Don’t talk. You move when you talk. Just lie there and stay silent.”

Jin didn’t miss Yuuki’s scoff at Jin being ordered around. He was sure to give the younger boy a glare before turning slightly to Hanni, receiving a glare of his own.

“Okay okay, I’ll stop moving!”

“You’re doing it again.”

“Okay, I’m sorry!”

“Jin-hyung, just shut up!” Hanni laughed slightly, before standing and sitting himself on Jin’s stomach to hold him still, then going back to dab the medical alcohol over the wound. “There…” Hanni sighed, putting the cotton into the bin. “Bandages?” He asked, smiling when Vann handed the younger two little butterfly bandages and a roll. “Thanks, hyung.” He sat back down on Jin, leaning over and pulling the wound closed with the butterfly bandages, securing it tightly, then forcing Jin to sit up and beginning to wrap the usual crepe bandage around his head to protect the wound. “There,” he confirmed, getting off Jin and stepping back to admire his handy work. “Perfect!”

Jin grinned over at the other boy. “Thanks,” he bowed slightly in respect, causing Hanni  to blush.

“I-I was just doing my job!” Hanni insisted, before hurrying to the kitchen where he felt more secure as he always did.

Jin laughed slightly at the other’s actions, before sighing and lying back on the cushions, his head pounding. He hadn’t really felt it at the time due to the shock of the crash, but now his adrenaline was going down, the his collarbone ached where the seat belt had cut into it, his head periodically throbbing with the beat of his heart.

Myung suddenly lifted Jin’s legs up before placing himself below them, putting Jin’s legs down back on his lap before grabbing the remote control, switching the television on. Namjoon had decided to cancel the practice for the day following Jin’s exciting adventure after all. “Don’t take all of the couch, hyung,” Myung grinned over at him. “We have to sit too.”

Jin grinned back. “Sorry,” he commented, before turning to the TV. Myung had put a news channel on, the pictures flashing ahead of him showing the car that he had just narrowly escaped. The reporter mentioned that the unnamed driver was going to be treated at the hospital before being taken for questioning at the police station, but it was entirely possible that the driver would be arrested and sentenced for driving under the influence.

Myung turned slightly to Jin. “You alright?” He questioned, frowning slightly at the still shaken and injured boy.

“I’ll be fine,” Jin convinced. “If he does to jail, at least he can’t try to take me away again. I belong here with you all, not with him in China.”

Myung smiled over at him. “I’m glad you feel that way, hyung.”