Teddy • 2jae

08

sorry for the late update!

~

"Teddy!"

I called the little boy who was busy folding clay in his hands. The sounds of his little feet rose when he got closer.

"Look who's here!", I said.

He smiled widely and squealed when he saw Wonho waving at him from the bottom of the staircase. He grabbed onto the handle and took his time on the way down.

Wonho playfully jogged halfway up the stairs before picking Teo up.

"Hey, bud.", he chuckled as Teo laughed hysterically in his arms. I smiled at the sight.

"You guys ready to go?", I asked, picking up Teddy's Paw Patrol backpack.

"Yep. Ready?", Wonho playfully asked the little boy before he carefully slung him on his shoulder. They both walked out of the apartment with Teddy's little laughs evident.

"Teddy, don't give samcheon a hard time!", I called.

I picked up my phone before leaving but as if on cue, it dinged.

pepi_jy_ just shared a photo.

That's odd, I thought. Jinyoung hardly posts. I slid through the notification and unlocked my phone, only to be greeted by a face I haven't seen in so long.

Jinyoung and Jaebum in suits, both smiling at the camera in what looked like a sophisticated, proper hallway.

Congrats on another case win, hyung! , the caption read.

I smiled and examined his bright smile.
He actually did it. He became devoted and look where it got him. It was nice to see that he was happy.

~

Wonho and Teddy laughed as they sat on the hammock. Teddy's little hands played with Wonho's and their fingers intertwined. Though it was a fun day, my mind always wandered back to Jaebum. I wondered how he was doing, what he was up to now, and if he missed me.

If I even crossed his mind, anymore.

Even though my illness went away, I couldn't bring myself to face Jaebum. That was the reason why I left in the first place -- I didn't want to hurt him. I've left everything behind and I was even starting to lose my friends because of it. It was best that I stayed away.

~

3 months later

I walked into the school building with my music folders in my arms. I was immediately greeted with other teachers and even some students talking overtop of each other.

"What's going on?", I approached the English teacher Mrs. Lee.

Her eyes were still focused on the ruckus in front of us but she spoke nonetheless.

"A bunch of guys came by saying that our time here's done.", she spoke cautiously.

I furrowed my brows.
"What do you mean?"

"Well, our school isn't exactly the owner of this property. We just sort of borrowed it. Now, the ones who had it before, are trying to get it back."

"Wait wait. So you mean to say that we've been 'borrowing' this building for the past what, 12 years?"

She nodded hesitantly.

"Well, what're we gonna do now?", I asked.

"This all started on Thursday night but it got pretty serious. We're trying to pretty much get custody over it. To rightfully own this building and the land."

"What're they doing right now?"

Ms. Lee pointed to a bunch of men speaking to other teachers.

"The principle called a friend who happened to be a lawyer. We're not suing them yet but I think that's her plan."

I was a little confused. Not just because this all happened too quickly, but because it didn't seem right that it was us trying to sue them. I mean, we're not the actual owners.

"Youngjae!", a voice called out grabbing both my and Ms. Lee's attention.

"This is Mr. Oh. He's a friend of mine.", our principle told me, gesturing to an older man on her right.

He smiled warmly and shook my hand.

"I'm sure you guys will work well together."

Wait what? What'd I have to do with this?

"Youngjae, I hope you'll help me out while we try getting through this. We'll make sure everything goes to plan."

~

Mr. Oh and I sat at a table with a few other teachers. I guess I'm missing my class for this, I thought. They discussed ways to get back their rights over the school and different people who could help them.

Half my attention was active but a name suddenly took all of it.

"Mr. Im is a great person. I'm sure he'll help us out. Plus you'll win this case for sure."

Im? No way, it couldn't be. We're hours apart -- they wouldn't send him anywhere far.