the firsts || p.cy

her first surprise

"Woori, you're back!"

I laugh clearly as Zhang Yixing, my coworker at the prep, comes over to hug me excitedly.

"It's good to be back," I respond as I return the hug. "It was hard not receiving a paycheck."

That first date with Chanyeol nearly a month ago had not been the last; we had spent the following days getting to know each other more and more. Turns out, my boyfriend really is allergic to Toben. He also owns a cat, is two years older than me, and plays piano for a children's choir.

"So, how was the place without me?" I ask.

Yixing sighs heavily. "None of the kids want to learn Chinese these days. Their parents only want them to focus on English."

I pretend to check out my coworker. "Hm, you should see if any college or high school girls would want private tutoring. I bet they would agree to it."

"Huh? Why?" Yixing makes that confused innocent expression which makes me smile every time.

Well, not as much as Chanyeol's does. According to Sehun, I've not only gotten to know him better, but I was also able to "go back to normal faster, which isn't necessarily a good thing."

"Ms. Jung, is that you?"

"You finally came back!"

"You're smiling so much! Did you get a boyfriend?"

Three students poke their heads out of the classrooms with excited grins.

I laugh as I wave them off. "Whether I found a boyfriend is none of your twelve year-old concerns," I say before turning to Yixing. "Well, I'm off. There are people waiting to welcome me back, you see."

Yixing shakes his head. "We missed that egoistic personality of yours," he says as I walk into the classroom.

Once I set down my materials on the teacher's desk, the three boys who greeted me before run up to me.

"It's good to have you back, teacher," the youngest of them says. "I missed you."

"He missed you the most when there was a cockroach in the classroom," the one next to him laughs. "He was trying to act cool by showing off what he learned in his martial arts classes, but he ran away when he saw the little bug."

"Well, what about you?" the oldest of them retorts. "You tried to copy him, but you ended up looking stupid."

"Hmph, I don't need to do martial arts to look cool. I'm learning basketball, and I have a handsome face."

"I'm learning basketball, too!"

"I also have a handsome face!"

"Hey, all three of you are cool, whether you can or can't do martial arts or basketball," I interrupt playfully before the argument goes out of hand. "And all three of you have very handsome faces. I promise, you all will be breaking girls' hearts when you're older."

The bell rings, signalling the start of prep classes and the end of this conversation. The three boys run to their seats as the other students also trickle in.

"Hello, everyone," I say with a bright smile as I clap my hands together to catch everyone's attention.

***

"So, how was was it, being back in the classroom after so long?" Yixing asks as we prepare to leave.

I sling my bag over my shoulder. "It was nice," I say truthfully. 

Yixing nods as we walk downstairs. "It was good to see you again, smiling," he says. "You were so sad, before, to the point where I didn't think you would ever smile again."

"Yeah," I say softly. "Me too. But, I slowly began to move on, and then I met -- Chanyeol!"

I think he's frowning when I first see him, but he flashes a bright smile in less than a second. "Woori! I wanted to surprise you today." He steps toward me and smiles at Yixing. "Hi, are you Zhang Yixing?"

Yixing narrows his eyes. "How do you know me?"

I slap Yixing's shoulder. "I told him about you, obviously." I smile, showing my teeth. "How are you here?" I ask Chanyeol.

"I wanted to surprise you," he says as he looks back at Yixing. "Is it alright if I, um . . ."

Yixing blinks. "If you want to what?"

I pat Yixing's shoulder. "This is where we say goodbye, friend. Chanyeol wants to take me somewhere."

"Why didn't he just say so?"

"I have no idea," I say as I link arms with Chanyeol. "See you tomorrow, though. Bye!"

"Yeah, bye," Chanyeol also says, waving awkwardly.

Yixing nods at us before leaving.

"So, what's up?"

I don't know if I'm imagining things, but I feel like his smile looks forced. "I want to play the piano for you."