Thank U | ATEEZ FF

Ch-8: A Day at Kindergarten

Note: Dialogues in bold are in English. Normal dialogues are in Korean.

"Let's get going Seonghwa, we don't wanna be late."

"Yes, papa, I'm just wearing my shoes."

"Good boy" you said as he waddled to the door.

The fact that Seonghwa would have stars in his eyes whenever he went out never failed to amaze you. He was full of good things. You wanted to protect him. You would protect him from anything and everything in this world.

You took the metro today and just like the day you went to meet Mingi, he was observing his surroundings with sparkles in his eyes. The big towers and red flags of ESS on display never failed to amaze Seonghwa. 

"Haven't you already seen these before?" you asked him.

"Yes, papa but it is still so pretty and fascinating!"

"My lil' blob of flesh is learning new words?"

"San taught me a few words too!"

"What do you know till now?"

"Colours like Blue, Red, Orange, Pink, Purple, Yellow, Black, White, Green and numbers 1, 2, 3 ,4, 5, 6, 7,...."

"Lil' blob of flesh is learning fast" you clapped in tiny and which all Seonghwa could respond with was a proud smile.

We got off the metro and crossed the road. 

"I work here on Tuesdays and Thursdays regularly." I told Seonghwa as I got in the institute. I gave my attendance at the entrance and then led Seonghwa to the class I was to teach.

"So many more humans!" he looked in awe. "They're all so small... like me!"

"Yes Seonghwa, they're all like you. Small, growing, still learning and full of energy."

He excitedly sat on one of the chairs as the seats were filling up. Many new faces, some kind looking some scary, it was a whole new world for Seonghwa. He peeked at the seat next to his to find a boy looking no older than him. His book had pictures of a crow along with a bowl full of water and stones. Another page with lion next to a well. When the boy turned a page he could see the large expanse of green with blue water and the grass was drawn in such a way that he could feel the cool breeze. He wanted to see more but the boy slammed his book shut.

"Teacher, there's a boy intruding our class."
"Joel, he's not intruding the class. I brought him here."

The students boo-ed at the kid named Joel in response. He hid his face behind the book in embarrassment.

"Don't boo him. He just did what he felt he would do seeing a new boy but Joel that is not the right way. What have I told you about interacting with new students?"

"Say hello, ask their name, be polite."
"And did you do any of those?"
"No sir- but he looked into my book-"
"And?"
"And-and- He didn't ask permission!"

You facepalmed. You didn't want Seonghwa to be treated on his first day like this. You felt bad. Your heart was breaking. You wanted to lash out, scream, console yourself that Seonghwa would like going to kindergarten but you couldn't. You were a teacher right now. You couldn't scream out. They were just kids. Why did he have to do that when you brought Seonghwa..... out of all the days.

"I'm sorry" Seonghwa spoke.

"Why are you apologising? You did nothing wrong." you asked him. He didn't need to apologise, he didn't do anything wrong. He didn't have to-

"Maybe I should've asked his permission." he simply said and sat down. He raised his arm forward asking for a handshake. 
"Park Seonghwa, what is yours?"
"Joel Smith."
"Nice to meet you."
"Ni-nice to meet you." he got flustered as the sudden kindness. "How could someone you've just complained about be so nice to you." he whispered to himself.

Seonghwa having sharper senses heard it and smiled. "It's not that hard." he said and turned out to look at you. He smiled with his teeth. His eyes screamed 'I did well, didn't I?' You nodded your head and proceeded to take a chalk and write on the board.

'The Foolosh Lion and the Clever Rabbit' you wrote on the board

"Class, today's story is 'The Foolish Lion and the Clever Rabbit'. We will read about how a small animal like a rabbit is able to escape from a Lion which is a predator. New word of the day- Predator. It means the hunting one or the one that hunts on another thing. One more new word- Prey. It means the one being hunted...." and so you proceeded with the class.

"The lion thought too much of himself. He wanted to be the only predator and that ended with him jumping in the well. The rabbit used its brain to overcome its problem."

Seonghwa payed attention to every word you were saying. You had come up to the moral of the story. He clapped once you finished and everyone joined in. Your 20 minutes time slot was over. You had to move to the next class after a 10 minute break. You waved at him and were on your way to the staff room.

"Wait-" Seonghwa said while you were in the corridor.

"Don't go" he said with pleading eyes. 

"I'll be doing the same thing two more times. You'll get bored."

"But I want to be around you. What if someone hurts me?"

"Seonghwa, you're not going to get hurt. This is kindergarten. Everyone is here to learn."

"What if I get bitten?"

You remembered Wooyoung when he asked this.

"It won't hurt." you soullessly answered. You wanted to slap yourself at this point. He was just a kid, how could you even expect to have a high pain tolerance. 

You gave a sad look then kneeled down to hug him. "Papa is sorry but this is how it is. Do you want to learn math? Do you wanna play with numbers? Do you want to learn history of the world?"

"I wanna learn it all from you."
"Don't you wanna meet new people?"
"They're too old for me!" He pouted.

"Shh! Not so loud. Someone might get offended."
"Offended?"
"It's when people feel bad or get hurt. It could be emotionally or physically. " you explained.

"I'm pretty sure you'll meet nice people, like uncle Woo and San!"
"But-but you're nicer!"
"Oh I'm telling bragging that to Wooyoung and San-"
"What's bragging?"
"Bragging means to umm... flex?"
"Flex?"
"Like umm.."

"Mr. Kim" came another voice calling for you.
"Sorry Seonghwa, just a minute-" you said as you motioned for Seonghwa to go back to the class.

"Yes sir" you responded to your supervisor.
"We needed to talk about your job next job. I need you to come to my cabin in your free slot."
"Yes sir" you responded.

Word count: 1079