Let Me Dream || Victon

Chapter Seven: The Kids

Seungsik took her hand, leading her into another, larger room, where kids were already playing, being supervised by an older woman behind a desk. 

"You must be Gayoung?" the women said. "Call me Mrs.Choi. It's a pleasure to meet you." 

Gayoung smiled, "it's nice to meet you too," she said softly. 

"Seungsik will show you around, and just follow his lead," Mrs.Choi explained. "You'll be just fine." 

Gayoung nodded, and Seungsik led her to the center of the room. 

"Kids!" he said loudly, drawing all the attention to the two of them. "I'd like you to meet a new friend, Gayoung." 

Some of the kids slowly started leaving their toys and walking over. One of the boys looked up at them, a slightly confused expression on his face. He tilted his head, studying them. "Is she your girlfriend?" the boy asked. 

Seungsik coughed awkwardly. "No, this is my friend," he said brightly, shooting her a small smile. 

"Then why are you holding her hand?" the boy asked.

Gayoung looked down at their hands. She hadn't even realized that they'd still been holding hands. Seungsik looked down at their hands too, but he didn't let go. That would probably seem awkward and suspicious. 

She mentally facepalmed. These kids were so little. Why were they asking questions like this? 

It was actually kind of funny. She could laugh... if she hadn't felt so awkward.

"Well, I hold all of your hands," Seungsik told the kids with a laugh. 

"That's because we're your babies," one of the little girls said, sucking on a piece of her hair. "Is she your baby too?" 

Gayoung giggled, "yes," she told them, deciding to roll with it as to get this conversation over with faster. "I'm new here, so that makes me a baby too, doesn't it?" 

"I guess so," the girl agreed. 

Seungsik finally let go of her hand and reached forward, pulling the strands of hair out of the girl's mouth. "Don't do that, you'll mess up your pretty hair," he scolded lightly. 

The rest of the children started to wander off again, off to play with their toys again, but the little girl stayed lingering in front of Seungsik. 

"You said you'd bring me a present today," she asked him. "Did you?" 

Seungsik laughed, patting her head. "Of course I did. I promised, didn't I? But first I want you to introduce yourself to Gayoung." 

"I'm Jieun," the little girl said shyly, half hiding behind Seungsik's legs. 

Gayoung smiled, sitting down on the floor so that she was closer to the girl's eye level. "It's nice to meet you Jieun." 

"Nice to meet you too," Jieun said softly. She tugged on Seungsik's sleeve. "I said hello." 

"I see that you did," he told her proudly, moving to sit on the floor beside Gayoung. Jieun sat in front of them, waiting eagerly. 

"What was it you said you'd wanted?" Seungsik asked, pretending to try and remember it. "Was it a toy car? A toy boat? A doll?" 

"No," Jieun pouted, shaking her head. 

"Or was it this?" Seungsik asked, taking out a pretty red bow. He leaned forward, clipping it into her hair. "You look very pretty," he complimented. 

Jieun got up and jumped into his arms. "You remembered!" she said happily. 

"Of course I remembered," he laughed, patting her back. "I also remembered this," he said, taking a small box out his pocket and handing it to her. "Put this safely in your bookbag and give it to your mom on her birthday, okay? You'd said she likes earrings, right?" 

"Why does this say 'From Jieun'?" the little girl asked. "You got it." 

"But I couldn't have without your help," Seungsik said, ruffling her hair. "Plus, your mommy would like it better if it's from you, so let's keep this our secret, okay?" he whispered, raising a finger to his lips. 

Jieun gave him the biggest smile and nodded. "Yes!" she said, running to put the gift in her book bag. 

"That was very sweet of you," Gayoung commented, looking at him curiously. "Do you do this often? Like, for the other kids too?" 

"I guess you could say that," Seungsik said bashfully. 

"That's really sweet," she said again, kind of in awe of him. He seemed like an angel, really. It was obvious that the kids loved him, and that he loved the kids right back. 

"Want to go read the kids a book with me?" he asked, getting up and offering her his hand. 

"Let's go!" she said happily, accepting.