It was like a hurricane hit our apartment. The oldest was violently lashing out at anyone he could get in arms reach. The second oldest boy looked terrified with the biggest eyes I'd ever seen. The baby girl rounded out the mayhem, screaming in her 'captors' arms, wiggling to be set down. It was a lot.
It only took a few minutes for the managers and security to wish us well, scurrying out the door and closing it tight behind them. The rest of us stared at each other, trying to figure out where to go from here while chaos reigned. Were we parents now? Did we even know how to be parents? Were these even the right children? I suddenly was struck with the realization that we obviously had no idea what we were doing.
I called each of the children by name but none of them responded. Could they even hear me? Eventually I grabbed the oldest by the back of his collar, holding him far enough away that his tiny fist couldn't punch me in the gut.
"Hey, calm down for just a minute. We aren't going to hurt you. Your mother lives with us, she'll be back soon. She just wanted to see you."
"We don't have a mother!" He screamed in response.
"Ok, we can talk about it. In the meantime could you please quiet down a bit and stop punching and kicking? It's scaring your brother and sister."
The boy stopped and putting his hands on his hips glared at me, huffing breaths through his nostrils.
While I was trying to negotiate with the oldest, the middle boy ran further into the apartment, Jimin chasing after him. "Where are you going?" I heard a crashing sound from one of the bedrooms and then silence.
Taehyung had picked up the little girl and was trying to distract her with funny faces which was partially working. At least she wasn't screaming, but she had transitioned to soul wrenching weeping, face buried into Tae's neck while he snuggled her close. "It's ok little angel, I promise, it will be ok." He rocked her back and forth while shushing her, attempting to calm her anxiety.
"Give...me...back...my...brother...and...sister." The oldest gritted out through clenched teeth.
Giving Jin a nod I grabbed the boy, pulling him to the couch where I was ready to force him to sit between the two of us until he calmed down. He really couldn't be running around the house like this. Immediately the boy started by kicking wildly, throwing punches, and scratching with all his might. We were trying to be gentle in an effort to calm him down, but he was making it very very difficult. By the time he'd finally calmed Jin had a bloody nose and I had several large scratches on my face and arms. I was pretty sure I was also going to have some nasty bruising on my stomach and sides too.
Eventually he calmed down and transitioned to glaring at us, refusing to say anything else even as we asked him basic questions about his age, name, and interests. He absolutely was not having it. Finally abandoning getting anything else out of the boy, Jin grabbed the remote and turned on some cartoons.
About ten minutes later Namjoon came in with a small snack and a cup of water for the boy. The water was angrily tossed on the carpet but he thought better of throwing the snack, beginning to munch on the apples but keeping a deep scowl on his face.
I patted him on the head, smoothing down his hair and praised him. "Good job Jinyun, you can have more if you want ok?"
The boy turned to glare at me again. "My name isn't Jinyun, stop calling me that."
I was sure Yoona told me that the oldest boy was named Jinyun. Did I mishear? I looked at Jin but he looked just as confused as I was. Did Yoona not know the children's real names? She said she didn't spend much time with them, but had Hyunjin lied to her even about their names?
"Ok, I won't call you that anymore. What do you want me to call you instead?" I asked.
"Don't call me anything. I'm not talking to you. My dad will be here soon and he's going to take us home. He's smart and strong and you guys are going to regret it."
With that he turned back to the television, totally ignoring Jin and I for the rest of the evening.
Well, this wasn't really going great. It could only look up from here, right?