Seokjin and the Heirs of the Korean Miracle - BOOK 1 ✔

Chapter 16 : The good fairy of Seokjin - Memories (part 4)

"I will help you."

Yoko quickly spread her hands from her eyes on hearing that familiar voice, wondering if those words were really addressed to her.

"N-namjoon, what are you doing here, sweetheart?"

The little boy had picked her up to guide her to the car which had been moved to another parking lot by Baek since the day before, with the security guard staying with Seokjin and Taehyung in the car to make sure everything went smoothly between them. And now Namjoon had caught Yoko crying.

"I know you don't like me and pretend to be nice to me," Namjoon announced in a quiet voice, "I heard you badmouthing my family last night."

"You were awake?!" Yoko exclaimed placing a hand over her mouth, horrified, "I-I'm sorry, that's not what I meant, I wouldn't allow myself to-"

"I didn't say you were wrong," Namjoon said shaking his head, "my parents don't even pretend to be nice to you and Taehyung had hurt Jinnie. But I'm not like them, so you can be nice to me without pretending."

Yoko was mute with amazement. In addition to her work as a maid and at the request of the Kims, she taught Japanese to the two Kims in addition to her son, and even if it was true that Namjoon was a year older than the other two, she had always found particularly clever and mature for his age.

He understood everything very quickly, was interested in everything, was very polite to everyone and obedient to his parents, unlike his younger brother. He had received a stricter education than Taehyung, because he was the eldest, the first heir of the Kims, the one who would succeed his father at the head of the family business.

The only thing you could blame him for was never having had the candor of children. Namjoon laughed little and had so little fun that he seemed very cold on the surface for a child and so far Yoko had less trouble bonding with Taehyung than with Namjoon. 

The only displays of affection he had was for Seokjin and so far, for Taehyung, and Yoko had never seen him hug his parents or be kissed by them. This child seemed sorely lacking in love and the Japanese woman had always found it sad, knowing that he did everything to please his parents unlike Taehyung who was capricious and disrespectful towards  them but received all the love and all the maternal affection.

Seeing Namjoon receiving such a strict upbringing made her fear that the boy was becoming as cold, insensitive and dictator towards his son as his father was to her and it was because she was more on the lookout for the eldest Kim's behavior that she hadn't realized that the danger to his son could come from the youngest.

"I know you want to leave today with Jinnie and grandpa, but you don't have to," Namjoon continued, pulling Yoko out of her stupor.

"Namjoon, it's an adult decision, you can't understand," she stopped him in a firm voice. She didn't want Namjoon, like his parents, to dictate her behavior. Especially not when he was only eight years old.

"If you're a responsible adult and want Jinnie to be okay, you can't leave, you have to stay!" Namjoon declared in a moralizing tone that he usually had with other children, not with adults because he was too respectful for that.

But at the moment, he seemed to have somewhat lost his temper over Seokjin's mother's decision and the woman was stunned. 

"Namjoon-"

"I've been thinking about it all night," he cut her off, "it's a not the good thing to do."

"Excuse-me?" Yoko was indignant. "Namjoon, no matter how smart you are, you can't know everything about adult life outside your home."