HISTORY

fate

in a span of  ten days, daehan already adjusted to his new environment. however, the sadness in his eyes are still evident whenever his dad drops him off to school. they always come in two cars. one for him and wonwoo while Sec. Lee on the other one. wonwoo always leave first while Sec. Lee's the one walking him all the way to his classroom. daehan doesn't talk much but Sec. Lee could sense it all. He could do nothing but sigh.

"what's with the heavy sigh Mr. Lee?"

myung caught him as daehan greeted her with a wide smile.

"good morning teacher~"

myung melted instantly and ruffled the kid's hair who's already clung into her waist.

"ah it's nothing, Miss J. i'm really glad daehan is comfortable in school now. thank you for taking care of him."

"of course Mr. lee. daehan here is a really good kid and a smart one too. i bet he got the good genes from you."

Sec. Lee let out a chuckle.

"but i hope if you don't mind, may i ask sir why is his last name different from yours?"

"ahh that's because.. he took up his mother's last name. uh, we came to an agreement. yes, you know, family preferences."

"and her mom?" myung gave a where-is-she-look which Sec. Lee easily understood.

"uh s-she left."

myung squinted her eyes again at him and tapped her chin. Sec. Lee gave a nervous laugh. she knew something is off starting from day 1.

"hmm, okay. don't worry Sec. Lee. daehan's surname secret is safe with me."

she smiled and held daehan's small hand.

the first few hours of class are spent with myung guiding the kids in counting and numbers. next is story telling time. myung set a good start in reading the story. they scooted closer to her as the excitement builds up. but to her surprise, daehan suddenly cried when she re-enacted the gorilla getting angry in the story.

"oh my god. did i look so ugly?"

myung regretted doing that and walked daehan outside to calm him. they sat on a nearby bench as she wiped the boy's tears.

"daehan ah. teacher is so sorry. didn't know you get flustered easily." she patted his back slowly, getting him in her embrace.

she let out a chuckle realizing what she did. most of her students would laugh at how she looks whenever she acts that part of the story. however, daehan's not having it. he's a softhearted baby.

"daehan ah, are you scared of teacher getting angry?" she asked when the boy's sobs died down.

he shook his head in response.

"what are you scared of then? did i look so ugly?"

he shook his head again, making her let out a chuckle.

myung slowly broke the hug and took out a piece of paper and a pen in her pink apron's pocket. she scribbled some numbers while daehan focused at her. she handed it to him.

"e-eightt, ttwoo, one..."

she watched the kid read the numbers in an adorable way.

"igeo mwoya?" ("what is this"?)

"this is teacher's precious number. whenever you see a gorilla getting angry at you or some bad guys out there, call teacher thru this number. okay?"

she fished out her phone and showed him how to do it. daehan's interest sparkled just by him trying to click the nos. on her phone's emergency section. myung smiled at how fast he catches up. normally kids his age are still distracted but he's not. soon, he kept the paper in his jumper's front pocket.