❁ CHAPTER 10 ❁
UNWED
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THREE YEARS LATER...
"...I'm sorry, can you repeat that?" you asked the School Principal, astonished.
The Principal - who was sat across the heavy oak desk and looking entirely awkward - simply coughed lightly. "Unfortunately, on the basis of the reasons I have just given... we cannot offer your daughter a place here next year."
You could barely believe what you had been hearing.
For the last three years, you had committed yourself to being the best possible mother to your daughter. Kim Nari, approaching the age of three, was already becoming a law unto herself. She was a beautiful child, as she had been the day she was born; and yet there was something else to her, a layer that shifted beneath her burning amber irises, as though she were constantly assessing and reassessing the world as she lived each day.
Namjoon often said that her eyes were Taehyung's, but everything else was yours - including her brain.
To support yourself and Nari, you had taken a job at a prestigious private school in the city, one that paid enough for you to save up for an apartment for yourself and Nari to live in. When Nari was 18 months old, you had finally had enough to move, and had left Mrs. Kim's house to much crying and hugging. Although you were sad to leave Mrs. Kim's house, knowing you wouldn't see her, Mr. Kim and Namjoon as much, you felt proud to have your own space once more. Mrs. Kim had cried a lot, but you still dropped Nari off every day at her house when you went to work - so really, it wasn't too big of a change.
And it wasn't just the apartment that had changed for you. You had quickly risen within the literature department, and had just accepted a job as the new Head of Literature, beginning in the upcoming school year. It was so exciting, that you'd already begun to plan events that were months away.
For three years, you had felt like you were merely surviving, one day to the next. If you could feed, clothe, bathe and entertain Nari from the moment she awoke to the moment she went to sleep, you considered it a successful day. But now, here was something else in your life. A sense of new purpose. You were still a mother, but you wanted to prove that you could excel in your career, too. That life was going somewhere.
And yet in this office, today, you had been delivered a killer blow. Because Nari was coming up to pre-school age, and she had just been refused a place at your school.
"Correct me if I'm wrong," you began slowly, trying not to get on the wrong side of the Principal although you were becoming quietly furious. "But it sounds like you're turning my daughter down from joining the School because I'm a single mother, even though I work here."
The Principal's eyes darted around the room, up to the ceiling and then down to the ground, but never at you. He looked highly uncomfortable.
"Unfortunately, this is not my decision," he said now, holding his hands up as if to say he had no control. "It is the School Governors who determine these rules, and they value the reputation of this school very highly. They want to ensure that the... values, of the school and its school body remain intact."
"Oh, so it's okay for a single mother to teach their children, but not to send her children here?" you spat now, unable to contain their anger. "My daughter is brighter than most of the seven year olds in this school. She is three. And you still don't want her here? What kind of classist hypocrisy is this?"
Again, the Principal simply glanced around, saying nothing.
You could only gaze at him in horrified anger.
You knew that your school was a prestigious one - the best in the city, most likely. But you were a teacher there. Not only that - a soon-to-be Head of Department. And now, you were being told that because of something beyond your control, Nari could not go to school here.
It was devastating.
"Think about it," the Principal was rising up out of his seat now, as if gesturing that it was time for you to leave. "And let me know what you propose to do. I can recommend many good schools in the city for your daughter."
You were too stunned and irate to respond, so you simply left the office, slamming the door shut behind you.
You spent the rest of the day in an angry daze, willing it to get to 4pm so you could go home. Nari was still at Mrs. Kim's, but she was staying there this evening, too; you were going out for dinner with your friends, so Mrs. Kim had offered to babysit.
After ringing Mrs. Kim to check on Nari and blow her a million kisses over the phone, you went home and changed quickly before hightailing it to the restaurant, walking in at the same time as Jimin and Jin. Jimin gave you a huge crescent-mooned smile and drew you into a hug.
"You looked like you needed that," he grimaced, running a hand through his hair, which he had dyed bright orange. "Rough day?"
You nodded, sighing, and spilled everything to Jimin and Jin as you waited to be seated.
"I mean, I'm a fucking teacher there!" you cried, for what felt like the thousandth time. "It's bullshit."
"It is," Jin hummed, his arm wrapped lightly around Jimin's waist. "It's also discrimination. Did you consider taking legal action?"
"No," you replied dejectedly. "Honestly, Jin - I'm just so tired, and so busy. I don't think I have the time for it."
Jimin began to reply, but then the server was walking you through the restaurant, indicating you to a table across the room where Namjoon, Jungkook and Yoongi were already sat. The three of them waved cheerfully at you and you waved back, noting how big Namjoon's beaming, dimpled smile was tonight.
Of course, the dinner was for him, after all - he had just been made Junior Editor at Page7, and you were here to celebrate.
"Look, don't mention this tonight, okay?" you murmured to Jimin before you reached the table. "It's Namjoon's night. And you know what he's like, he'll just..."
"Stress about you being upset until he's found some way to make you happy?" Jimin smirked, as if he knew something you didn't. "Don't worry. My lips are sealed."
You squeezed Jimin's arm to thank him, and then greeted your three friends, sitting down opposite Namjoon at the table. For the first hour or so, you forgot the school altogether, losing yourself in catching up on your friends' lives. It was only as dessert was being brought out that Jin let it slip.
"So what will you do?" he said from the seat next to you. "About Nari, I mean?"
You glanced at Namjoon, hoping he hadn't heard. No such luck.
"Nari?" his eyebrows went up. "What's wrong with her?"
You sighed internally.
Nari and Namjoon were thick as thieves. Having spent the first 18 months of her life in the same house as him, Nari was attached to her Namoonie, and often wanted to see him when he came in from work. Now that you lived apart, if she couldn't call him and say goodnight, she was morose and sorrowful until he called her the next day to apologise.
Of course, Namjoon was smitten with her, too. She had him wrapped around her little finger, reading her bedtime stories, taking her to the park, and buying her ice creams or snacks when you weren't looking. The amount of times that she had fallen asleep in his arms, and had to be carried up to bed, was almost countless. Namjoon just couldn't say no to her.
Sometimes, absurdly, you felt jealous of their relationship - and then had to remind yourself how ridiculous you were being. You were lucky to have Namjoon in your life. You both were.
But the side effects of this closeness meant that Namjoon was extremely protective of your daughter. If she was mentioned in conversation, he wanted to be in on it.
Like now, for example.
"Don't worry," you dismissed his concern immediately. "Just... some trouble at school. Nothing I can't handle."
"Trouble?" Namjoon pressed. His tongue was poking into his cheek a little, his jaw clenched. You knew that when he was like this, he wouldn't let it go.
It was better to just tell him the truth.
"The school won't let her in because I'm not... because I'm a single mother," you explained, sighing. "Apparently it's against school values."
Namjoon looked outraged, but before you could answer, Jin was piping up again. "Could you send her somewhere else?"
"Well, yes - maybe, but... look, guys, can we please not talk about this now?" you laughed lightly, trying to ease the mood. You pointed at Namjoon, who was eyeing you in concern. "It's Joonie's night, I don't wanna ruin it. I'll sort something out, I promise. You know I always do."
The table seemed reluctant to move on, but they did so anyway, prodding and poking at Jungkook and Yoongi, for whom engagement rumours had been swirling now for the past year. As Yoongi grumpily defended himself for not proposing yet, you let your stomach unclench, telling yourself to relax. You could deal with the school issue tomorrow.
Namjoon, however, was not prepared to let it go.
It was later, when Jungkook, Yoongi, Jimin and Jin had all risen and gone home, leaving just you and Namjoon having one final drink, that he brought it up again.
"Are you going to figure it out?" he asked in a low voice, sipping whiskey. "Do you have a plan?"
You tried to wave him off. "Joonie, seriously, we don't have to-"
"No," he said, leaning forward, his hand wrapped around the whiskey glass as he gazed at you intently. "I think we do. Because this is big. Bigger than my promotion. What are you going to do if Nari has to go to another school? Will you make it there in time to pick her up?"
You opened your mouth to reply, but realised you had nothing to say. Namjoon gazed at you sympathetically.
It was times like these - rare, but they existed - that you really wished Taehyung hadn't walked away that day in the maternity ward.
As a single parent, it was all on you. Every decision you made had to be made with Nari in mind. And you didn't mind that - she was everything to you. But even just having one other person who was legally responsible for your child, who could be relied upon to pick her up or take her to school when you had to be somewhere else, would make such a difference.
And yet Taehyung's presence was more of a non-contact role. He sent money - lots of it, considering his newfound fame in a popular drama series - but that was it. Clearly, he didn't want to be involved.
A look of realisation dawned on Namjoon's face all of a sudden - but it died just as quickly.
You furrowed your brow in confusion. "What? What are you thinking about?"
But Namjoon was shaking his head. "I just had... a crazy idea," he said.
You grinned sadly. "Joonie. I'm desperate here. Crazy might be exactly what I need."
Namjoon studied you for a moment, and you took the opportunity to study him too. He had changed little in the last three years, and yet the signs of his maturity were there; he had filled out nicely, and his dark hair had grown out a little to sit prettily at the nape of his neck. You admired the tiny details; the glinting silver ring on his little finger, maching the one in his ear. The way his skin glowed, olive and smooth, in the dim lights.
He was more handsome now at 26 than he had ever been.
You were so caught up in this trivial thought, that you almost missed it when he uttered two words you never, ever thought he would say.
"Marry me."
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