Symptoms (1/1)

SYMPTOMSWhen Taemin tucked Jaemin into bed that night, he expected his son to ask him to read his favorite book about trains. But, when Jaemin was fully settled into bed, with his covers all the way up to his chin, and Taemin had one arm around his son and his body half lying on the kids bed, Jaemin pulled the book away from his father and put it down on the bed. “What is it, buddy? You want me to read you another book?” The little boy shook his head. “Appa, can you tell me about a fairytale?” Taemin cocked his head to the side and looked carefully at his son, checking to see if he was serious. The last time that he had left Jaemin with his aunts by himself, they watched ‘Frozen’ together, and Jaemin had gratefully ran into his father’s arms, talking about how he needed to go home and play with his cars to get the “do you want to build a snowman?” song out of his head. The next time Jaemin was going to be babysat by Namjoo and Hayoung, he came armed with ‘Cars’, ‘Cars 2’, and ‘Monsters Inc.’Taemin began to think about a fairytale that Jaemin would like and he decided to tell him about the ‘Three Little Pigs’, but Jaemin insisted on another story. “Appa…tell me one about princesses…”------///////------Taemin and Naeun were at work doing some mentoring for upcoming groups for their respective companies and had entrusted their little boy in the hands of Uncle Minho. Jaemin had been excited as he talked to his samchon over the phone detailing his plans for their day out together. They were going to eat ice-cream, go to the playground to go on the swings and on the slide and then make a last stop at the toy store “where samchon is going to buy me all the toys that I want.” When Jaemin handed the phone back to his mother, Naeun gave a warning to Minho not to over spoil her son, and that a maximum of three toys were to be taken home.So, the next day, when Minho carried a sleeping Jaemin back to Taemin and Naeun’s house, the couple were shocked when he had handed over a small plastic bag from the toy store. When Taemin saw the contents, he lightly punched Minho’s arm. “Yah! Hyung! Why did you buy my son a tiara?” Minho shrugged, as Naeun went to check on Jaemin upstairs in his room. “I was going to be the one to ask you why your son insisted that he buy one…”“Didn’t you take him over to the boys toy section or did you completely skip over that?”“That was the first place I took him. He just looked the aisle up and down and then ran off and brought this back and said he wanted to go home…”------///////------Naeun was usually the first to wake up on weekdays to prepare breakfast, while her husband and son slept in. However, when she got into the kitchen, Jaemin was struggling to climb up on the stool to reach the counter. Naeun picked him up and placed him down on the seat. “Morning, baby…did you sleep well?” The boy nodded while rubbing his eyes and yawning. “Why are you up so early? Omma hasn’t made breakfast yet…”“I’ll help Omma this morning…” Naeun was going to let him, but Jaemin kept yawning and seemed like he wanted to go back to sleep, so she picked him up and began to carry him back to his bed. “Omma…put me down…” She kissed him on the forehead. “You’re still tired. I’ll make breakfast myself…” As Naeun tucked him back into bed, he grabbed her hand and called for her. “Omma, when you make my lunch, can you give me extra servings?”------///////------The girls were having a lunch over at Naeun’s house. Each had brought over a different dish, and had laid it all out on the table, but they couldn’t start because they were still missing Eunji. Bomi and Chorong began to pout and whine, even stealthily picking up their chopsticks and trying to get a slice of samgyupsal, but Namjoo swatted both their hands away. When the doorbell finally rang, Naeun sprang to her feet and welcomed Eunji in, taking the plate out of her hands and putting it onto the leftover space on the table. “Let’s eat!” A chorus of “finally!” echoed around the room.“Unnie, why are you so late?”“Sorry, Kibum and I had a little argument…”“About?”“Mianhae, Naeun-ah…”“Wae?”“Remember a few weeks ago when you had Oppa take care of Jaemin?”“Ne.”“Well, I think Kibum taught him a few things that he shouldn’t have…”“Like what?”“Dating…”------///////------Naeun was taking an afternoon nap with Jaemin and Taemin decided to help with the housework by doing some cleaning up. He had finished in the lounge room, and had moved on to clean Jaemin’s room. He picked up all the toys that were strewn around the room, made his bed and put away some of the laundry back into his drawers. When he got to Jaemin’s table in the corner of the room, all of his crayons were scattered on the table and a stack of paper located on the side of the desk, and he also saw a small pile of scrunched up paper.He unfolded a few and smiled at Jaemin’s attempts at drawing flowers and butterflies. When he picked up the last one, it made him smile, and he decided to pocket it, to show Naeun later.------///////------When Naeun had picked up Jaemin from kindergarten, she noticed that her son was exceptionally happy, but as she drove, she was surprised to find that Jaemin was quiet in the back seat. She looked at the rearview mirror to see if he had fallen asleep, but he was just staring intently out the window.“Jae…what’s wrong?” He smiled at his mother, and said that he was just tired, but a few minutes after they had arrived home, Jaemin hugged Naeun and pulled her along so they could cuddle on the sofa. Naeun began to stroke his hair and Jaemin put his ear against her chest, listening to his mother’s heartbeat. “Omma?”“Hmmm…” Naeun began to tickle behind his ear. “Why do you love Appa?” Naeun lay her head on top of her son’s and closed her eyes. “I love your Appa because he makes me smile, and he takes care of me and you, and he can also make me laugh…” Jaemin interjected. “Yeah…Appa’s really cool! He has really funny jokes…” Naeun hugged her son tighter, and then they both looked up when they heard a voice.“And Appa loves Omma and Jaemin too because they make him happy everyday…”------///////------Naeun and Taemin were going to their first parent-teacher meeting. They greeted the teacher and she showed them some of Jaemin’s work and complimented their son because of his willingness to participate in class and also because he was smart.“Your son is doing very well. He’s also very popular with amongst his classmates, especially the girls.”“Ne…”“But, he’s especially close with Jia. I see them sharing their lunch together, and I think he gave her a letter and a tiara once. Jaemin also holds her hand a lot…”Taemin and Naeun blushed, and Taemin made a mental note to talk to his son about skinship. The teacher brought out Jaemin’s workbook and flipped to a page. “We asked the children to draw what they think love was, and most of them drew a heart and just decorated the page, but Jaemin drew this. Naeun traced over the drawings as Taemin just smiled proudly. “I asked him what he drew and why he drew it, and he explained it in great detail.”“What did he say?”“He said that he drew his uncles because they spoil him a lot and play with him and buy him toys, even though sometimes he doesn’t listen to them. He drew his aunts because they give him really tight hugs and a lot of kisses whenever they see him. He drew his grandparents because he says that even though he doesn’t see them often, they send him gifts and always call to ask if he’s eating well.”Taemin pointed to the last four figures in the picture. “Who are these?”“The two taller ones are you and Naeun-ssi. He said that he might have gotten the answer wrong by drawing his uncles and aunts and grandparents, but he said he was sure that his Omma and Appa were love because whenever you two see each other, you smile. And the two little ones are him and Jia. When I aksed why he drew Jia, he said he didn’t know, and then raw away, but he came back to me later and said that he liked making her smile because she was pretty when she smiles…”When Taemin and Naeun arrived home, they give Jaemin a big kiss on each of his cheeks. “We love you, buddy…” Jaemin wrapped an arm around each of his parents necks and gave them a kiss. “I love Omma and Appa too…”