The long-awaited meeting

I've been waiting to meet you again for so long. (ONLY PART)

Seoul, Korea, 20XX

"Kids, stay in one line and remember to keep your trip partner near you. When we get inside, you have to stay quiet and listen to your teachers Heena and Nakyum."

The tall man told the small group of a dozen kindergarteners as they were getting off the bus in front of the National Museum of Korea. Nakyum started counting heads to make sure none of his students were left behind in the bus, and when he finally counted twelve, he smiled softly to himself. It took forever to convince principal Inhun to take the kids to a museum, as he believed that exposing kids to a variety of art would help them explore their own abilities and reach the potential within them. Sure, Inhun didn't thought the same, but was convinced when Nakyum promised to work extra hours cleaning the kindergarten bus during the afternoon once the kids left to their houses and whatever was necessary to do in the school grounds. A little unfair, but Baek Nakyum was willing to go through it in the name of the next generation of artists.

"... Nine, ten, eleven, twelve." Nakyum counted again as the kids were walking through the museum doors where their bags were checked by the museum guards. Nakyum didn't thought too much about it, helping his young students to keep calm as they were getting fussy over their backpacks being taken away for a couple of seconds, but forgetting all about it as soon as they had them back with them.

He was grateful his coworker and childhood friend, Heena, was able to come and help him out with his students, as sometimes a large group of five and four year olds were a little complicated to manage in a non-controlled environment such as a museum. They had talked with them before they left the school regarding how they were supposed to act in a museum: they had to stay together with their trip partner, they couldn't scream and if they needed to go to the restroom, they had to tell a teacher. Sure, one thing is them bobbling their heads and telling you "yes sir", "yes ma'am" in the classroom but a whole different thing was that it actually happened in the place you need it, being this case the museum.

The first few minutes inside of the museum went great: the little ones were following instructions, keeping their trip buddy close, being silent when the museum guide spoke about different paintings and teacher Nakyum asked them to name different colors used there. Sometimes Nakyum would ask one of the children to tell him what he saw in the painting, or try to guess what was happening there, and if he was lucky they would be cooperative. Others couldn't care less, but Nakyum was happy: even if there was only one student invested in what was going on he would give his best effort to make it worth it. As the group started to walk towards another colorful exhibition the kids would enjoy, something caught up with Nakyum's attention.

"Mr. Kyum..." a young dark-haired boy called for his teacher as his eyes filled with tears, pulling his hyung's shirt for a moment looking for his attention as they were moving through the long hallways, where the walls were filled with different art pieces and your occasional sculpture. Nakyum looked at his student, concerned by the tears that flowed vividly down those chubby cheeks.

"What's wrong, Kwang-Su?" The young teacher kneeled next to the boy, looking at his big hazel eyes as he cleaned his tears with a napkin.

"The scary man was looking at you!"

The scary man? Nakyum frowned quickly, but softened his face just as fast to not alter his student's mood even more. He looked around, but all he saw was Inhun talking with some guards and the rest of his students being helped by the other teacher. Assuming his student meant one of the guards he softly smiled and fixed his hair.

"Don't worry Kwang-Su. They're just guards doing their job to keep you safe. Here, why don't you grab my hand as we walk to your friends? Would you like to do that?"