1959
Dorothy sat at her table, tapping her pen on the notepad, staring at the register for a minute before sighing.
It was a cold summer today and there was nothing more than a lemonade coupled with an Elvis Presley song that she wanted.
Yet here she was, staring at the list of names of the children she managed in her husband's children's home. His absence was loud but it wasn't something she wasn't used to.
The entrance door of the orphanage creaked open and Dorothy straightened in her chair.
"Hello?" A woman called, her voice finned with anticipation and nervousness.
"Yes, ma'am?" Dorothy jumped out her office and walked to the entrance.
The woman at the door was dressed quite...fashionably with work pants, a blouse and a coat. Dorothy would've lied if she said she wasn't just a tad conscious about how she looked at the moment.
"How...could I help you?"
"Uhm," she cleared her throat. "What are the procedures to...give up a two year old for adoption?"
"Oh," Dorothy was taken aback. It had been a while since anyone had come for that. Probably because Glasgow was strange to such a practice. "Well...you have to fill a couple of forms, hand me the required documentation and," she looked at the woman up and down, wondering why someone looking as financially stable as her would need to do such a thing. "...a reason of practical relevance."
"Is it a problem if the boy is...not British?"
"Well, we do have American-"
"The two year old is Korean."
"Korean??" Dorothy repeated, blinking. "No....no we don't have...Koreans."
"He has citizenship." She said, sounding a bit of in a hurry.
"He?? The...kid?"
"Yes. His name's Jin."
Dorothy sighed, closing her eyes and rubbing her temples before looking back at the woman. "Ma'am, could we please talk this through? I'm so sorry to sound rude, but this sounds hasty."
"Alright then," she nodded. "Let's...talk about why this isn't hasty."
"This way," Dorothy stepped aside, accompanying her to her office.
Dorothy couldn't pin point whether this woman was extremely confident with her decision or if she was making this out of the intensity of her present state. It was even more confusing with the way she carried herself and Dorothy wasn't stupid enough to know that this was going to take all day long and probably make her forget her husband.
_
1969
Well, shake it up, baby, now
Twist and shout
Come on, come on, come, come on, baby, now
Come on and work it on out
Well, work it on out, honey
You know you look so good
You know you got me goin' now
Just like I know you would
Well, shake it up, baby, now
Twist and shou- the gramophone scratched
"Hey!" Seokjin turned around furiously, meeting eyes with Matron.
"That's enough music, Jin." Dorothy said, picking out the black disc.
"Come on! Just one more? Please, matron? Pretty please?" Jin tilted his head. "I got a C this test instead of an E like you asked."
Dorothy looked at him before smiling. "Alright. How about a Cliff Richard?"
Seokjin smiled at her. "You're a pie, matron."
She laughed. "I sure am, lad. Now get dressed for school and leave with the others or else no more songs for you."
"Oof," Seokjin raised both his eyebrows. "I really would rather die than not hear songs."
"That's what I thought." She smiled, placing another disc into the gramophone as the music faded in.
The young ones
Darling, we're the young ones
And young ones
Shouldn't be afraid
To live, love
While the flame is strong
'Cause we may not be the young ones
Very long
Tomorrow
Why wait until tomorrow?
'Cause tomorrow
Sometimes never comes...
_
Kim Seokjin was probably one of the oldest boys in the orphanage that, as years passed, kept shrinking since Dorothy had to sell most of it to...well, sustain it after her husband died.
And at some point, she was indeed finally off debt. Except, everything had stretched to the point where one purchase done without considering the money she'd get would drop her back into the pit of debt.
Just when everything seemed to be as fragile as a wet tissue, Nick Feynman; the young fifteen year old hero walked in with his grand mother who wanted to put him up for adoption.
Funny to call him superhero, but that was sort of what the boy was. Nick turned out to be Seokjin's first ever friend, despite being three years older. The boy was enthusiastic and had a nice humor that was hard to catch due to his very local accent.
Seokjin had star-shaped eyes for Nick, realising he could indeed make friends. But his guards rose when he saw Nick getting along with the actual fifteen year olds. Oh, they were bad. Let's just say Seokjin hated them. From head to toe.
Now, what did Nick do to wear the hero's cape? It wasn't that big of a secret except for the fact that only the Matron- Dorothy didn't know the secret.
And...maybe that was good. Because what it was about to do, wasn't small in any sense. It just needed two years of waiting.
BẠN ĐANG ĐỌC
Bad Dreams
Fanfiction[Edited] This story follows Jin, a young boy from a dysfunctional background, as he struggles with the challenges of living in a juvenile prison in Britain. While at first the prison feels like an exciting escape from the norm, Jin soon discovers th...
