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Jongdae assumed interning at his local elementary school would be a new experience for him since he had the opportunity to work with third graders, but he stood incorrect. The majority of his students in the class all admired and loved Jongdae for his kind personality and ability to communicate well with the kids. However, there was one scornful and problematic child in the class that always pricked at his nerves. That demon child went by the name Byun Baekhyun.

“Hey, Jongdoodoo head!” Baekhyun called Jongdae by. The small child ran circles around Jongdae and repeated the same nickname over and over, “Jongdoodoo head! Jongdoodoo head!”

It was recess, time for the students to roam around the playfield and to re-energize themselves from hours of lecture. Recess time was also Jongdae’s duty to supervise the children on the field, and to signal when the students should return to class.

Jongdae glared at the rascal still running laps around him. He felt a headache forming in the back of his head and had to come up with something to stop this child from annoying him even more. An idea came across Jongdae’s mind, “Let’s play tag. I’ll be it.”

Almost instantly, the child ran away from Jongdae and hollered, “Nah nah nah, you can’t catch me~!” Baekhyun stuck his tongue out at Jongdae and sped off across the yard. He kept running until his tiny body was all the way across the green field.

Jongdae remained fixed at the same spot and sighed in relief. Finally, that tiny spawn of a demon was long gone out of his sight. He checked the time on his watch, and blew the whistle to indicate the kids that it was time to gather in a single file line.

As always, Do Kyungsoo, one of Jongdae’s favorite students, lined up first. Jongdae liked Kyungsoo since he was a quiet, obedient, and an intelligent kid. He smiled down at Kyungsoo, “Always on time, line leader.”

“It’s my job.” The small boy replied and stood tall with pride in his place. The other students filed behind Kyungsoo in an organized manner until Baekhyun stomped towards the line and cutted right in front of Kyungsoo.

“Hey! You didn’t chase me!” Baekhyun pouted and crossed his arms at Jongdae.

Jongdae took notice of the hurt look on Kyungsoo’s face, and gently said, “Baekhyun, you have to get back in the line. You’re cutting the line leader.”

Baekhyun did not budge from his spot and loudly cried, “No fair, I wanna be the line leader!”

Jongdae calmly said, “You’ll eventually have your turn as line leader, that is...if you don’t receive any warnings or red cards for the entire week.”

“Fine.” Baekhyun reluctantly obliged and moved his place back in the line.

Well, that was easy. Jongdae unlocked the door to the classroom and held the door open for the students to gather inside. Baekhyun, being the last person to enter the classroom, stopped right in front of Jongdae.

He stared at his teacher with an intense glare, “You didn’t chase after me.” Baekhyun huffed in annoyance. Jongdae didn’t like being an asshole, especially towards kids, but Jongdae felt no pity for the kid whatsoever. Every day Baekhyun would go out of his own way to annoy him, but whenever his supervisor, Junmyeon took over class; he displayed good behavior and was not as disruptive in the class when Jongdae was teaching.

“Don’t you have other friends to play with?” Jongdae queried and crossed his arms, “You have Minseok to go play tag with.”

“Minseok is boring!” Baekhyun insulted his friend, “All he ever does is make lame pun jokes and gush about his cat.” The little boy ranted.

“Well,” Jongdae didn’t approve of Baekhyun’s opinion about Minseok so he defended Minseok, “I don’t know why you would want to play tag with me since I’m actually more boring than Minseok is.” It’s true though, Jongdae’s life was painfully boring. The reason why he decided to intern for an elementary school was so that he could at least spend more time outdoors and perhaps gain some teaching experience, instead of stressing about his thesis statement that was invading his life.

“You’re lame.” Baekhyun poked fun at Jongdae and brushed past him. Jongdae hated to admit the truth, but that kid was awfully right.

————

“Class is dismissed. Have a safe and good weekend!” Jongdae ended the class. He individually high-fived every single student out the door, even Baekhyun as well.

All of the children dispersed and went to go find their parents who were waiting at the front of the school.

“Great work today, Jongdae.” Junmyeon smiled while collecting his belongings. He huffed at the large stack of ungraded assignments that were left on his desk, “Being a teacher is fun and all, but grading papers are a big no for me.”

Jongdae offered, “I don’t mind grading the papers for you.” It’s not like Jongdae had anything better to do.

“Trust me,” Junmyeon sighed, “You don’t want to spend your Friday nights grading these papers.”

“I insist.” Jongdae firmly placed his hand directly on top of the stack in order to prevent Junmyeon from collecting them.

Junmyeon sighed in defeat, “Okay, sport.” He handed the answer key to Jongdae and briefly explained to him the proper instructions of grading.

“Thanks for helping me.” Junmyeon patted Jongdae on the shoulder, “I should’ve had graded those papers weeks ago, but my baby at home has been keeping me occupied.”

“No worries.” Jongdae reassured, “I think I can finish grading these within two to three hours.”

Jongdae let out a disbelieving laugh, “Good luck with that.” There was no absolute way Jongdae could grade those papers within that short amount of time since Junmyeon tended to assign a ton of homework for his students. “Well..I have to take off now. See you on Monday.” Junmyeon bidded Jongdae goodbye.

“Have a good weekend, Mr. Kim.” Jongdae politely smiled. He plopped down the seat in front of the desk and scanned the entire stack of papers. This shouldn’t be that bad.

————

Six hours were spent grading papers and recording the scores into the grading book. Jongdae checked the time on his phone and it was half past eight in the evening. Jongdae stretched his arms and let out a yawn. What a productive way to end his day. He gathered his bag and left a note: “You’re welcome :-)” on top of the graded assignments. He promptly left the classroom and locked the door.

Jongdae was about to walk to the nearest bus stop, until he heard a familiar voice calling him from a far distance.

“Hey, Jongdoodoo Head!”

Jongdae turned his head back at the belonged voice and saw a small figure running towards him. Jongdae squinted his eyes so he could better identify the child. His eyes widened as he recognized Baekhyun running towards him with his yellow backpack.

“What are you still doing here this late?” Jongdae looked at Baekhyun with such concern. It was completely dark and the school was closed after eight.

“I’m still...waiting for my brother to pick me up.” Baekhyun panted. A billion questions were running around Jongdae’s head. Why didn’t he wait in the office? What was he doing for the past six hours?

“This late? Does he even remember that he has to pick you up.” Jongdae’s tone was not happy. He couldn’t believe someone would irresponsibly leave a child at school without any notice.

“I don’t know...I don’t have a phone to call him.” Baekhyun pouted while he shamefully looked down at the ground.

Jongdae sighed and pulled out his own phone from his pocket, “Do you know his phone number?”

“No…” Baekhyun muttered underneath his breath, and gave Jongdae an apologetic look. For once, Jongdae felt an ounce of guilt for his not-so-favorite student.

Jongdae remembered that Junmyeon had ordered him to alphabetize and organize the emergency contact forms for the thirty students in the file cabinet. Hopefully, Baekhyun’s file was in the cabinet so he could contact Baekhyun’s parents or brother. Without any second to spare, Jongdae motioned Baekhyun to follow him, “Let’s head back to the classroom.”

While walking back to the classroom, Jongdae heard a low grumble from the child next to him. Baekhyun sheepishly smiled “I haven’t ate anything at all today.”

“I’m sure Junmyeon—I mean, Mr. Kim has some snacks hiding somewhere in the classroom,” Jongdae did a double stance, “But don’t tell him I told you that piece of info.”

Jongdae quickly unlocked the classroom’s door and scurried over to Junmyeon’s desk. Jongdae rummaged through Junmyeon’s desk and found a bag of chips and a chocolate bar in his bottom drawer. This drawer was specifically reserved for students who scored an A on a test. Jongdae learned the reason why Junmyeon had these snacks was because the act of rewarding a student was a positive reinforcer for students to continue to achieve good grades which would then motivate them to study and earn good grades for their own benefit.

Jongdae then handed the bag of chips and chocolate bar to Baekhyun, which Baekhyun remembered to use his manners and wholesomely thanked him.

“What were you doing for the past six hours?” Jongdae asked out of curiosity, while searching for Baekhyun’s emergency contact form in the cabinet.

“I was catching up on Charlotte’s Web and practicing my arithmetics.” Baekhyun answered while chewing with his mouth open. Jongdae stared at Baekhyun with slight disgust and mentally noted that he has to remind Baekhyun of proper etiquette once again.

“Well, I’m glad you used your time wisely and did some productive work,” Jongdae complimented Baekhyun. He finally found Baekhyun’s form and scanned the paper for any phone numbers. Thankfully, he found his brother’s phone number listed at the guardian’s section and immediately dialed the same number onto his phone.

“Hi, this is Exolementary School’s teacher assistant, Jongdae speaking. Your younger brother, Baekhyun, is currently with me at the moment. He informed me that you’d be picking him up after school, but he’s been waiting for six hours now.”

“Oh shit...I totally forgot…” Jongdae heard the sound of a bed creak and rushed movements, “I’ll be there in fifteen minutes.” A groggy voice drawled over the phone line.

“Alright, we’ll be waiting at the front of the school then.” Jongdae informed. How can someone forget to pick up their younger brother? Not to mention, six hours past. Jongdae was annoyed with how irresponsible Baekhyun’s brother was.

“Okay, I’ll be there,” the voice on the other line responded. There was an awkward pause in the phone call for a while since Jongdae didn’t know to say next.

“See you soon.” Both Jongdae and the anonymous voiced at the same time. Jongdae then hung up the call, and glanced towards Baekhyun, who fell asleep on the carpet.

Poor child. Jongdae stepped closer to the sleeping child and observed how peaceful he looked. If only he was this quiet during class.

Jongdae was conflicted whether he should wake up Baekhyun or not, but he was sound asleep. Jongdae didn’t want to disturb Baekhyun so he decided to just carry Baekhyun to the front of the school. He threw Baekhyun’s backpack over one shoulder and gently lifted Baekhyun into his arms.

As Jongdae carried Baekhyun to the front of the school, he saw a black sedan parked from the distance. The car must belong to Baekhyun’s brother. The driver’s door of the car opened, and a tall figure stepped out of the car. Jongdae noticed him wearing black from head to toe. His dark attire alluded a mysterious vibe which slightly enticed Jongdae. The older brother jogged towards Jongdae and Jongdae had a closer view of the man’s face, and he’d be damned to admit that Baekhyun’s brother was really attractive up close.

“I am so sorry,” The man panted, “I was exhausted after my classes and I seemed to have overslept.” The man had an apologetic look across his face, but Jongdae was captivated by the man’s handsomeness under the dimly lit streetlamp.

“Uhh—” Jongdae stammered, “It’s no biggie.”

“I feel so bad…” The man frowned and glanced at Baekhyun sound of sleep in Jongdae’s arms. Jongdae was holding himself back from squealing because how can a handsome man manage to cutely pout?

Pull yourself together! Jongdae snapped out of his daze, and had to placate the worried man. “No worries. It’s a relief that I was still on campus and found him.”

“Thank you so much for calling me and for also staying with him.” The man said with gratitude and opened his arms wide, “I can carry him now.”

“Oh yeah—” Jongdae momentarily had forgotten the sleeping child in his arms, and carefully handed Baekhyun into the man’s arms. Baekhyun sleepily wrapped his arms around the man’s neck and continued to snooze.

“Again, thank you.” The man protectively held Baekhyun’s waist with one arm. Jongdae was fascinated by how the older brother held Baekhyun so naturally because most often older brothers wouldn’t even bother or know how to properly hold their little siblings.

“Aah, it’s no biggie.” Jongdae waved his hand in reassurance.

“Is there anyway I can repay you?” The man genuinely asked.

Jongdae was surprised by the man’s sudden question. He was somewhat interested in this man and he wanted to get to know him. He had to take an advantage of this one time opportunity because it’s rare to get asked out from a handsome guy.

“Maybe you can take me out for a lunch da–” Jongdae cut off his word “date” because it’s too soon to initiate a date. “Lunch. Just lunch.”

“Sounds good to me.” The man nodded in agreement.

“I’m Jongdae, by the way.” Jongdae introduced himself and held out his hand.

“I’m Sehun. Nice to meet you.” Sehun firmly squeezed Jongdae’s hand.

Jongdae smiled, “Sehun. That’s a pretty name for a pretty boy like you.”

————

Throughout the weekend, Jongdae initiated the text conversation with Sehun. Asking him questions about his availability during the week and when they can schedule a planned lunch—or date.

It’s been quite awhile since Jongdae had talked to any cute guys, and this was the first time since forever he was interested in someone new. He wasn’t desperate to date Sehun, but he wanted to get to know Sehun first.

Between their long text messages, Sehun shared that he was a third year computer engineering student in university, which explains why he overslept that day.

So far, Jongdae can infer that Sehun seemed like a caring older brother to Baekhyun. He would often ask about how Baekhyun was doing in school, and Jongdae would honestly answer that Baekhyun had some behavioral issues and difficulty of concentrating in class. Sehun would then respond, “I’ll talk to him about it.”

Jongdae was smiling at his phone and was scrolling through the past text messages between him and Sehun.

“Who are you talking to this time?” His roommate, Yixing, peeked over from Jongdae’s shoulder. Jongdae jumped out of his seat from the couch and clutched his beating heart. He hated it when Yixing would randomly just peep out of nowhere. He honestly thinks his roommate is a secret alien who teleports.

“Can you stop doing that!” Jongdae exclaimed.

“Doing what?” Yixing confusedly crooked his head to the side.

“Popping out of nowhere and invading other people’s privacy.” Jongdae locked his phone screen before Yixing could get a glimpse of his messages with Sehun.

Yixing gave Jongdae an offended look, “I’m just curious.”

Jongdae didn’t feel comfortable telling any of his friends about his potential love interests since he prefered to keep it on the down low. He would rather introduce his potential love interest to his friends when there was an established relationship.

“We are just friends.” Jongdae flatly answered.

Yixing raised a brow at the vague answer, “Is he handsome?”

“Very.”

“Can I see a picture of him?” Yixing sheepishly grinned in hopes of seeing a picture.

“No.” Jongdae crossed his arms.

Yixing sighed, “Fine then…” He dejectedly walked away and entered his room.

Yixing is a good and trustworthy friend of Jongdae, but he didn’t want to show Yixing a picture of Sehun because Jongdae and Sehun aren’t even official yet. Jongdae safely looked around to make sure Yixing was in his room and not hiding behind the couch. After the coast was clear, Jongdae unlocked his phone to send Sehun another text.

Hey do you want to grab a late lunch this Friday?

His phone’s ringtone went off in the next few minutes.

Sehun: Yeah sure but would you mind if Baekhyun tagged along?

Jongdae frustratedly sighed at Sehun’s response. If Baekhyun joined them on their “date” then he would ruin the atmosphere. That annoying child should only be dealt with at school, not off campus.

For the sake of good manners, Jongdae dreadfully responded back:

Yeah sure

Although it was considerate of Sehun to include Baekhyun, Jongdae wished that loudmouthed child wouldn’t join them. He was hoping for a peaceful atmosphere where it would just be him and Sehun only. Jongdae can imagine his date with Sehun being ruined by a small child screaming “Jongdoodoo head” repeatedly at the table. He was beginning to get the shivers from his small imagination, and wrapped himself up in the couch’s blanket.

“The apartment’s not that cold.” Yixing appeared behind him and was checking out the wall’s thermostat.

“I swear to God, if you don’t stop—”

————

“Can I get uhh…” Baekhyun contemplated while looking at the menu. Sehun helped flipped through the pages of the menu and landed on the kid’s menu for Baekhyun.

“I want chicken tenders, fries, alfredo pasta, cheese hamburger, and pepperoni pizza!” Baekhyun pointed at almost every single item on the kid’s menu.

Sehun laughed, “Pick one item, I know you won’t be able to finish all of that food.”

“But I can eat all of it.” Baekhyun pouted.

“You won’t have room for dessert if you eat that large sum of food.” Sehun gave Baekhyun a knowing look.

“You’re right.” Baekhyun agreed to his brother’s word and scanned the menu again. He finally decided on alfredo pasta.

Meanwhile Jongdae felt neglected since Sehun was directing all of his attention to Baekhyun and not him. He distracted his loneliness by observing the menu while drumming his fingers on the table.

The waiter came by the table and asked, “Are you guys ready to order yet?”

Sehun peered over at Jongdae and mouthed, “Ready?” Jongdae nodded his head and closed the menu.

Sehun relayed his and Baekhyun’s order to the waiter. Jongdae followed after Sehun, and told the waiter his order. The waiter wrote down all of the orders and promptly left.

This supposed date was so awkward for Jongdae since Baekhyun was the main focus at the table. Baekhyun wouldn’t stop complaining about how all of his friends play League of Legends and that Sehun and his parents won’t allow him to play because that game was strictly for thirteen year olds and up. Baekhyun was frustrated that he would have to wait three more years in order to play the game.

“So Jongdae…” Sehun finally directed his attention on Jongdae, “How do you like your internship at Exolementary so far?”

“Oh it’s going swell,” Jongdae perked up from his seat, “I enjoy working with the kids and they are all very cooperative—especially Baekhyun.” Jongdae had a tinge of sarcasm in his voice when he mentioned Baekhyun’s name.

Sehun detected the sarcasm and goofily smiled. He lightly nudged Baekhyun on the shoulder, “Hey, you better listen to Mr. Kim.”

Baekhyun punched Sehun on the shoulder in which Sehun pretended to hunch over in pain, “I do listen to Mr. Kim!”

The waiter came back with the food and placed the dishes respectfully on the table. Baekhyun couldn’t wait and dived right into his pasta.

“Woah there, slow down you hungry wolf.” Sehun said while patting Baekhyun’s back, “No need to rush.”

“Iwm swooo hwungwy” Baekhyun said with his mouth full. Sehun and Jongdae both made a disgusted face at the child’s lack of table manners.

“Chew with your mouth closed.” Sehun and Jongdae simultaneously said. They both made eye contact with each other, and Sehun bursted out laughing. Jongdae looked at the way Sehun’s eyes crinkled and how wide his mouth opened when he laughed. Jongdae didn’t think he’d lose himself in someone else’s smile, but watching Sehun turn into a laughing mess made Jongdae grin.

“What’s so funny?” Baekhyun glanced at his older brother. Sehun smiled at his younger brother, and gently cupped Baekhyun’s mouth closed.

“You’ll never learn how to chew with your mouth closed, huh?” Sehun jokingly said. Baekhyun brushed his brother’s hands away from his face, and swallowed his food before opening his mouth.

“Food doesn’t taste good when you chew with your mouth closed.” Baekhyun said with a eyebrows furrowed.

“Okay, I get it.” Sehun smiled and ruffled his younger brother’s hair. Jongdae quizzically raised his eyebrows because Sehun was way too forgiving towards Baekhyun’s lack of table manners, and it bothered Jongdae because when he was younger, his parents would go on a long lecture whenever he was caught chewing with his mouth open. Sehun had a easy going personality and never argued with Baekhyun, in fact, he’s spoiling Baekhyun too much. Not that Jongdae had a problem with it, but he couldn’t help but admire how Sehun was such a caring older brother, and it’s so rare to find older brothers taking a good care of their younger siblings. Jongdae’s older brother never gave him the same treatment like the way Sehun treated Baekhyun.

“Jongdae,” Sehun snapped him out of his boredom Jongdae turned his head upwards to Sehun smiling.

“He’s sleeping on his plate.” Sehun snickered and pointed at Baekhyun lying his head down on top of his empty plate as if it was a pillow. Jongdae softly chuckled at the image of Baekhyun softly snoring with his face pressed against the plate.

“Well, I guess I have to take him home now.” Sehun called the waiter for the bill.

“Thanks for having me today.” Jongdae smiled at Sehun.

“My pleasure.” Sehun carried Baekhyun over his shoulder, “We should hangout again sometime.”

Just not with Baekhyun. Jongdae grinned, “Yeah, definitely.”

Jongdae and Sehun both said their goodbyes and headed to their own separate paths. Jongdae was heading to the nearest bus stop, when the familiar black sedan pulled over to the curb right in front of Jongdae. The passenger’s window rolled down, revealing Sehun wearing black shades. There was just something attractive about Sehun wearing dark frames.

“Do you need a ride home?” Sehun asked Jongdae. Jongdae surprisingly widened his eyes at the sudden offer. Why not? At least he could spend more time with Sehun.

“Sure.” Jongdae gratefully smiled. Sehun returned a smile and unlocked the passenger’s door. Jongdae hopped into the car, and noticed Baekhyun still sleeping peacefully in the backseat. Jongdae gave Sehun his address, and Sehun entered his apartment’s address onto the navigation.

“He’s quite the heavy sleeper.” Jongdae commented, while buckling his seatbelt. Sehun smirked at Jongdae’s comment.

“Yeah,” Sehun sighed, “He’s pretty stubborn to wake up in the mornings for school.”

“Explains why he’s almost tardy every other day.”

“I’m guessing he’s not improving his behavior at school.” Sehun frowned.

“He’s doing well in terms of grades,” Jongdae said, “but in class he’s very talkative to his classmates and can’t distinguish his outdoor voice and indoor voice.”

“Aaah, I know what you mean.” Sehun agreeably nodded his head. The car ride became silent after the small conversation, until there was a loud fart from the backseat. Jongdae turned his head back at the belonged sound, and saw that Baekhyun had woken up from his slumber.

“I need to poo.” Baekhyun grumbly said.

“Shit.” Sehun muttered under his breath. Jongdae glanced at Sehun, and noticed that the car was speeding up.

“We’ll have to go to my house since it’s almost on the way from here.” Sehun said while exiting the freeway.

“Can’t he hold it in?” Jongdae concerningly asked.

“No he cannot,” Sehun said, “He’ll probably poop his pants any minute now and it’s not fun cleaning up a mess in the car.”

“Oh…okay.” Jongdae wasn’t in a rush to go home, but was amazed at how Sehun didn’t tell Baekhyun to hold it in, rather he was actually listening to his younger brother’s request.

After two minutes, the car parked on a house’s driveway and Sehun immediately exited out the car to open the backseat doors for Baekhyun and carried Baekhyun out the car. He sprinted to the entrance of the house and unlocked the door of the house. Jongdae quietly followed along and entered their home.

Sehun settled Baekhyun in front of the bathroom, and Baekhyun just stood there in the same place.

“Why aren’t you going in?” Sehun opened the bathroom door, and it was unoccupied so it was free for Baekhyun to use.

“I have to ask for Teacher Jongdae’s permission if I want to use the bathroom.” Baekhyun stated. Sehun gave his younger brother a long look because why would he ask his teacher to use the bathroom in his own house? The classroom’s rules doesn’t apply at home. Although he could understand since Jongdae was at their home so it might be difficult to explain it to Baekhyun.

Sehun didn’t want to argue with Baekhyun and just sighed, “Okay. Let me go get him.” Sehun paced away from the bathroom and found Jongdae sitting comfortably in the living room’s couch.

“Hey…ummm” Sehun called, “Can you go see Baekhyun really quick?”

“Sure,” Jongdae stood up and had a concerned look on his face, “What’s the problem?”

“Nothing,” Sehun warily smiled, “He just needs to ask you something.”

Jongdae was curious as to why Baekhyun needed him, and not Sehun. He didn’t ask anymore questions and obediently followed Sehun down the hallway.

Baekhyun looked up at Jongdae and raised his hand. Jongdae was even more confused by Baekhyun’s odd action of raising his hand in front of him.

“Y-yes?” Jongdae raised his brow at Baekhyun.

“Can I please go to the bathroom?” Baekhyun politely asked.

“Sure?” Jongdae obliged. Why was he even asking?

“Thank you!” Baekhyun cheerfully said and entered the bathroom. Jongdae and Sehun awkwardly exchanged a look between each other.

“Why did he—”

“I guess it’s because you’re here and he assumes the classroom’s rules also applies at home.”

“That makes sense.” Jongdae laughed out loud. Sehun mentally noted to later explain to Baekhyun that it wasn’t necessary to ask Mr. Kim for his permission to use the bathroom at home.

“At least he’s aware of the classroom’s policy about restroom usages.” Jongdae lightly joked.
Baekhyun stepped out of the bathroom and had a huge grin upon his face, “Can we go get milk tea?”

Sehun smiled and answered without any hesitation in his voice, “Sure.” There he goes again spoiling Baekhyun, and slowly capturing Jongdae’s heart for how genuinely kind Sehun was towards his younger brother.

“Do you want to join us, Jongdae?” Sehun had a hopeful look on his face.

“Yeah, I’ll pay for the drinks.” Jongdae winked at Sehun.

Baekhyun’s jaw dropped, “Wow, I never thought Teacher Jongdae would treat me for dessert.”

Jongdae sneered at Baekhyun, “I’m only rewarding you this one time since you asked for my permission to use the bathroom in your own home.”

————

“Alright class, please make sure you to turn in your permission slips for the field trip by this Friday.” Junmyeon announced and the kids all shouted, “Yes, Mr. Kim!” Jongdae distinctively heard Baekhyun’s loud voice amongst the rest of the students’ voices.

“Make good choices, and have a great evening!” Junmyeon brightly announced and headed to the exit of the classroom where he could individually high five all of his students.

Jongdae sat back at his desk and collected the stack of the student’s homeworks and book bags. Junmyeon high fived the last student leaving the class, and headed to Jongdae’s desk.

“Hey, Jongdae.” Junmyeon had an uptight smile on his face, and he didn’t look so well which was unusual since Junmyeon was usually all smiles and laughs.

“Hey, is there something wrong?” Jongdae asked with a worried look since the teacher didn’t look so well.

“I know I ask you to do so much for the classroom, but I was wondering if you could perhaps take my place for the children’s field trip for me?”

“Yeah, I was planning on going anyways,” Jongdae questioned, “But how come you can’t make it?”

“My dear wife has an emergency family meeting and I can’t find anyone who’s trustworthy to look after the baby on Monday so I’ll have to stay home and take care of the baby.” Junmyeon explained.

Jongdae didn’t feel an ounce of burden, rather he was understanding about Junmyeon’s situation, “Oh, don’t worry about it.” Jongdae said reassuringly with a smile, “Just take care of your newborn baby, I can handle the rest.”

“There will also be parents chaperoning the field trip as well so you won’t be the only one supervising the kids.” Junmyeon added.

“Shouldn’t be that bad.” Jongdae was confident that leading the field trip at the farm wouldn’t be that difficult to manage.

————

Stress was running in Jongdae’s veins. Leave it to Byun Baekhyun, who showed up 15 minutes late and held up everyone waiting in the bus.

Jongdae sighed and checked Baekhyun’s name off the attendance sheet, “Please be on time next time.” He said with a stern voice.

Baekhyun had an apologetic look on his face, “Sorry, Jongdae.”

“Teacher Jongdae.” Jongdae corrected Baekhyun. Baekhyun nodded and hoarded on the bus. Jongdae double checked the attendance list to confirm that all the students were on the bus, until he felt someone tapping on his shoulder.

“Yes?” Jongdae looked up from the sheet and was staring directly straight into Sehun’s eyes. He jittered, “S-Sehun?”

“Hi, I’m the chaperone.” Sehun waved at Jongdae with a huge grin. Jongdae was surprised because he didn’t see Sehun’s name on the list. He probably skipped Baekhyun’s chaperone’s name since he was too immersed by Baekhyun’s unchecked name earlier.

Jongdae finally found the name next to Baekhyun’s name and it didn’t match Sehun’s name, “I’m guessing you’re substituting in your mom’s place?”

“Yep.” Sehun smiled in a charming way and shot a finger gun at him, and it almost made Jongdae fall to his knees.

“U-uh...Welcome on board?” Jongdae nervously laughed and scratched the back of his head. He extended his arm out in a welcoming manner for Sehun to enter the bus.

Sehun winked at Jongdae’s small gesture, “Nice to see you again, Jongdae.” He saluted Jongdae and climbed up the stairs of the bus. Sehun found his way down the bus and promptly sat right next to Baekhyun.

Jongdae had to keep a careful watch on Sehun because this man had a charm that could do dangerous harm to his heart. He felt his ears reddening because he was so flabbergasted at the way Sehun foolishly saluted him and he even winked at him! Jongdae smacked himself on the upside of his head, “Pull yourself together.” He grumbled to himself.

————

“And onto your left side, we have the chickens currently hatching their babies.” One of the farming assistants, Chanyeol, gave the kids a tour guide in the chicken coop.

“Yah! Don’t chase the chickens away!” Chanyeol yelled out loud. The farmer frustratedly pulled his hair, “Trust me folks, you don’t want to chase after the chickens. Those chicken nuggets can run for miles.”

The entire tour group turned their heads back at the perpetrator. Not to Jongdae’s surprise, Baekhyun was chasing after one of the chickens around the barn. Jongdae sighed at the troublemaker making the raucous. He was maneuvering his way through the crowd to apprehend Baekhyun, but Sehun had already beaten him to it.

Sehun grabbed his younger brother by the arm in order to stop him, “Don’t scare the chickens.” Sehun calmly told Baekhyun.

Baekhyun frowned at his older brother, “But I wanted to take one home as a pet.”

“Next time, I’ll buy you a chicken.” Sehun comforted Baekhyun, “Don’t steal other people’s pets.”

“You promise?” Baekhyun held out his pinky towards Sehun. Sehun bent down to Baekhyun’s eye level and meaningly stared into his little brother’s eye— as a silent way to reassure his promise.

Sehun firmly grasped Baekhyun’s pinky with his, “Promise.” Sehun locked hands with his brother and lead him back to the tour group. Baekhyun quietly followed behind Sehun, and looked around for Jongdae amongst the crowd. Jongdae and Baekhyun briefly made eye contact with each other, and Jongdae shot him a thumbs up sign as a way to praise Baekhyun for his obedience.

Onwards with the farm tour, Chanyeol showed the children some edible flowers for them to try. He also taught the kids a special way to eat the edible flowers, and that was to wrap the flowers and sliced apples into a lettuce wrap. Jongdae was amused by the kids’ mixed reactions of eating an unusual lettuce wrap. Some of the students enjoyed eating the edible flowers, while others were grossed by the thought of eating flowers.

However, Chanyeol thought it was a good idea to scare the kids that the farm produced milkshakes that were from cow manure. Jongdae silently detected that Chanyeol was in fact lying to the kids because he was trying to promote a healthier eating lifestyle by scaring the kids into thinking that milkshakes were made from cow manure. Jongdae had to admit that the look on the kids’ faces were priceless since they were all petrified and made claims of “I’m never drinking a milkshake ever again.”

“I wanna try your milkshake!” Baekhyun hollered from the back of the crowd. The other students all looked at Baekhyun in disgust, while some others laughed at Baekhyun’s remark.

“Sorry kiddo, we ran out of our milkshakes.” Chanyeol had an amused look on his face. Baekhyun groaned since he really was curious to try the cow manure milkshake. Sehun looked at his younger brother and bit back his smile because his little brother was so gullible to believe Chanyeol’s made up milkshake.

“Alright, parents, guardians, and kids!” Jongdae called out to everyone in the group and brought their attention, “We will now have our lunch break here.” Jongdae lead them to an area where there were tables and benches for them to rest.

Jongdae sat on one of the benches by himself, and then checked his phone for any emails or messages. Junmyeon sent him a text asking how the trip was going, and Jongdae answered that everything was going well. Jongdae felt a body sat right next to him. To Jongdae’s surprise, it was Sehun.

“Mind if I joined you?”

“Oh sure.” Jongdae observed Sehun’s forehead sheened with sweat and he emitted a glow. Jongdae wasn’t over exaggerating himself, but he felt as if he was staring directly at a human eclipse due to how intense his face was glowing.

“Where’s Baekhyun?” Jongdae inquired.

“He’s sitting with his friends over there.” Sehun pointed to where Baekhyun was laughing happily with Minseok and his new friend, Kyungsoo, at a table.

Sehun slid right next to Jongdae on the bench, and took a sip out of his water bottle. Jongdae was so distracted, yet fascinated by how Sehun’s adam's apple bobbed up and down. Jongdae swallowed his saliva forming in his mouth. He couldn’t distinguish whether he was thirsty for some water or for the male next to him.

“What do you think of the farm so far?” Sehun perched his left arm on the backrest of the bench—as if he was indirectly touching Jongdae’s back.

“It’s been quite an interesting experience. Chanyeol has a good sense of humor.” Jongdae grabbed his backpack and pulled out a packaged sweet bread from the convenience store. He broke the bread in half and offered the other half to Sehun, in which Sehun accepted with a smile.

“I can’t believe Baekhyun actually wanted to try that cow poop milkshake,” Sehun scrunched his brows, “I remember I had the same field trip here, and a different farmer told us that milkshakes came from cow poop.”

Jongdae laughed, “Did you actually believe the farmer?”

“I actually did. It took me a few years to overcome my fear of milkshakes.” Sehun reminisced the time he had his first chocolate milkshake back in high school. His friend, Jongin, thankfully snapped some sense and logic into him.

“Who knows? Maybe milkshakes are in fact made from cow manure.” Jongdae teased.

“You want to go grab a milkshake some time then?” Sehun randomly brought up. Jongdae wasn’t sure whether Sehun was going with the flow of the joke or if he was seriously asking him out on an official date.

“Yes,” Jongdae replied, “I would love to.” He said with a serious tone while looking deep into Sehun’s eyes.

————

“Why do you keep staring at the bartender?” Sehun asked as Jongdae kept his eyes locked at the bartender busily blend their milkshakes.

“Why are you jealous?” Jongdae raised his brows in a teasing manner.

“No…” Sehun bashfully said and crossed his arms.

“Don’t worry, I only have my eyes on you, pretty boy.” Jongdae winked.

Sehun lightly smiled, “Seriously though, are you checking out the bartender?” He deadpanned.

“I’m not checking out the bartender,” Jongdae denied, “I’m making sure that they don’t put in any of that funny stuff in our milkshakes, duh.” Jongdae snorted.

Sehun chuckled and handsomely pointed his index finger at him, “Good eye.”

The waitress came by and respectfully handed them their milkshakes. They both happily drank their milkshakes without any worries. This was nice. Jongdae thought to himself. It was just between him and Sehun. No Baekhyun interfering their shared moment, which was a relief.

“Can I ask you why you decided to intern at an elementary school?” Sehun asked in a curious voice.

“Well, I want to at least gain some teaching experience since I plan on becoming a teacher.” Jongdae nervously said. He felt uncomfortable sharing that he wanted to become a teacher since he’s come across some people who would tell him to change his career choice. Of course, Jongdae doesn’t bother listen to them since it’s his life and his choice.

Sehun had a surprised look on his face, “You want to become a teacher?”

“Well...I’ve always wanted to become teacher ever since I was a kid, and I couldn’t imagine myself sitting in a cubicle from nine to five. Plus, I think being a teacher is the most rewarding experience ever since I consider it as a life’s mission to extend a child’s intellectual growth.”

Sehun was stunned by the passion that was delivered in Jongdae’s answer. He always thought that most teachers hated their jobs, therefore he thought it was kind of strange how Baekhyun would relentlessly talk about how great of a teacher Jongdae was.

“You know, I wish there were more teachers like you who wake up every morning and have that kind of mindset and drive like you.” Sehun praised while directly looking into Jongdae’s eyes,” I wish I had the gift of teaching, but unfortunately I’m not very energetic to work with kids.”

Jongdae frowned, “I honestly think you’re a good older brother to Baekhyun.”

Sehun shook his head, “A responsible older brother wouldn’t leave their brother waiting after school for nearly six hours.” He still felt guilty for the mistake of oversleeping and for forgetting to pick up Baekhyun.

“That was only one time.” Jongdae comforted Sehun, “At least I was still on campus and found him so don’t feel bad for oversleeping this one time.”

Sehun had that gleaming look in his eyes, “Thank you for looking after Baekhyun—despite how irresponsible I am, I really do appreciate you for always being there for him.”

————

“Thanks for dropping me off” Jondgae awkwardly stood in front of his apartment’s door. Well this is awkward… This moment felt like a cliche movie scene where the couple exchanged a few words of “I had a great time” and usually the next scene would progress into something heated. Jongdae coughed because he wasn’t the type to sleep on the first date.

Sehun took a step closer to Jongdae, and Jongdae widened his eyes in surprise. He accidentally looked up and saw Sehun emotionlessly stared directly at him. Why was he looking at him like that?

“You know what?” Sehun drew in a deep breath, “Lately, I’ve been thinking…” Sehun avoided Jongdae’s eyes and looked down at the ground.

“Thinking of what…” Jongdae has never seen Sehun’s serious side before. Jongdae was slightly afraid to hear what was about come at him next because he was not sure whether it was good or bad.

“I think I’m starting to like you.” Sehun straightforwardly said.

Please tell me this is a dream. Jongdae dumbfoundedly stared at Sehun for a few minutes because he didn’t expect Sehun to suddenly confess so soon. Heck, Jongdae was happy that his crush likes him back, but Jongdae felt something was off by the sudden confession.

“But…” Sehun briefly paused himself. Jongdae was right. There was something off about Sehun’s confession. Jongdae knew what Sehun was about to tell him was going to be bad.

“But what?” Jongdae whispered.

Sehun looked at Jongdae with a bittersweet smile, “It hurts me to know that I can’t ever be with you since I don’t think Baekhyun wouldn’t approve of us dating.”

Jongdae was confused for a minute, but he understood Sehun’s words. It would be strange for a teacher assitant be dating one his student’s older brother. Jongdae was upset, of course, but he had to agree with Sehun. This might hurt his teaching internship and others would accuse of him displaying favoritism towards Baekhyun at school, which would then leave Baekhyun to be bullied at school. Jongdae thought it was amazing how Sehun cared so much about Baekhyun and that he didn’t want his brother to get bullied at school.

“I understand.” Jongdae weakfully said. Not that Jongdae was looking for a relationship, but it did hurt to know that Jongdae can never openly be with Sehun.

“I hope we can continue to be friends?”

“Sure.” Jongdae simply nodded his head. He felt as if he was going through a breakup, but worse.

“I’m gonna go now.” Sehun gently patted Jongdae on the shoulder, “Goodbye, Jongdae.”

Jongdae hated goodbyes. He wanted to see Sehun again. Please don’t let this be the last time he’d see him. Jongdae deeply sighed, and unlocked his apartment door.

As soon as Jongdae entered the apartment, he caught Yixing peeking through the window’s blinds.

“Were you spying on us?!” Jongdae yelled at Yixing, which surprised Yixing and made him slouched down against the wall.

“It’s for human behavioral research!” Yixing stammered an excuse.

“What does human behavior have to do with your music major?” Jongdae scoffed and crossed his arms. At this instant, Jongdae was so fed up with his extremely nosy roommate.

Yixing nervously laughed, “Sorry, I didn’t mean to spy on your date.” Yixing stood up and dusted himself off, “I thought someone was trying to rob our apartment because I saw a man dressed in all black and it made me suspicious.”

“Anyways,” Yixing grasped Jongdae by the shoulders, “He seems alright.”

Jongdae rolled his eyes at Yixing’s comment and shuffled away from him because he only saw Sehun from afar, and Jongdae thought that Sehun was more than alright looking— he was fine as hell.

Jongdae entered his room and sprawled across his bed. How did such a positive date turn into something sad. At least Jongdae knew that Sehun also liked him, but the fact that they can’t be with each other was truly devastating. Even though they’ve been talking in such a short amount of time, Jongdae knew Sehun was someone special and rare to find. He had never met anyone who had a huge heart for kids like Jongdae does. Jongdae appreciated the way Sehun was so endearing towards Baekhyun, despite how annoying that child is, Jongdae highly respected Sehun for that.

Jongdae drawled out a long sigh and didn’t bother to change out his clothes or wash himself since he knew he was going to cry himself to sleep anyways. Jongdae never imagined he would cry over a boy, but Sehun wasn’t a boy who thrived off of broken hearts—he was a sweet boy that had the biggest and purest heart.

One would quote: “There’s plenty of fishes in the sea,” but Jongdae thinks that’s utter bullshit because there’s no one out there that could be nearly as perfect as Sehun.

————

The past five months were dreadful for Jongdae. Junmyeon’s wife was off from her maternity leave and had to go back to her job. No one was able to take care of the baby during the morning and afternoons, and Junmyeon had trust issues with babysitters so he decided to temporarily leave the school in order to take care his baby during the daytime. Jongdae was promoted as a substitute teacher since the staff all agreed that Jongdae was the most qualified to teach and the students were comfortable with him. Ever since he was promoted as a substitute teacher, Jongdae felt more overwhelmed with more work. Even though he enjoyed the presence of working at school, he was more stressed out from making teaching plans, assigning homework, attending the weekly teacher conferences, and grading a mountain load of papers, which were Jongdae’s least favorite task to do as a teacher.

Jongdae had also noticed that Baekhyun’s behavior has been improving lately. He doesn’t talk out loud in class as much nor does he call Jongdae “Jongdoodoo head” anymore. Jongdae figured that maybe Sehun helped him. Baekhyun was especially very engaging during class discussions and learned how to raise his hand whenever he wanted to speak up. Jongdae was very impressed and proud of Baekhyun.

However, Jongdae was more concerned about Baekhyun since he’s been absent for the past four days. He went ahead and asked Minseok during break time if he knew about Baekhyun’s whereabouts.

“He told me he had the stomach flu.” Minseok responded, “He accidentally ate raw chicken and now he has chickenella.”

“I’m sorry, what?” Jongdae scrunched his brows, “Chickenella?”

“Yeah,” Minseok had a serious look on his face, “Chickenella.” This kid wasn’t even joking, and Minseok was notoriously known for being the pun master in the classroom.

“I think you mean salmonella.” Jongdae corrected.

“He ate chicken, not salmon.” Minseok pointedly argued. Jongdae held back his laugh. This is why he loves his job, kids were so entertaining to listen to and to be around with.

“Okay, you’re right.” Jongdae said with a smile, “He has chickenella.”

“I’m always right.”

————

Jongdae neatly organized all of the classwork and assignments on the days that Baekhyun had missed into an envelope. He walked to Minseok’s desk during independent reading time.

“Do you think you can hand this over to Baekhyun by today?” Jongdae asked. He wanted Baekhyun to have at least the weekend to catch up on the missing work.

“Oh..I can’t come to his house today because I have a soccer tournament and the coach promised us that if we win, he would treat us to pizza afterwards.”

“Wow,” Jongdae marveled at Minseok’s confidence and his determination for him and his team to win the soccer tournament, “Good luck on your soccer tournament!” He encouragingly patted Minseok’s head.

Minseok smiled in return, “Thanks!”

Great. Now Jongdae had no choice but to deliver the homework himself, and he honestly didn’t want to face Sehun himself since it’s been months since he last saw Sehun. Their text conversations became less responsive and less initiative, which inevitably lead their friendship to fall apart due to how busy they were. He wasn’t intentionally ignoring Sehun, and neither was Sehun ignoring him. They both became too carried up with their lives that they couldn’t maintain their friendship. Jongdae did miss Sehun and would always wonder about Sehun. Was Sehun taking care of himself? How are his studies? Was he sleeping enough? Was he still looking after Baekhyun? A million questions about Sehun’s well being clouded his mind.

Jongdae released a loud, frustrated sigh that disturbed the class from their silent reading. All of their students turned their heads up and stared at Jongdae with a worried look across their faces.

“Sorry.” Jongdae voiced out with his ears reddening in embarrassment.

————

It felt all too familiar as Jongdae stood right in front of Baekhyun and Sehun’s residence. He recalled the memory of Sehun rushing home due to Baekhyun’s urgency to take a number two. Those were the good times…

Jongdae turned himself away from the front door, “Hi, I’m Baekhyun’s teacher, and I came by to drop off all of the work and assignments that Baekhyun had missed out on.” He recited. He had practiced this one line repeatedly on the bus ride here.

Hopefully, Baekhyun’s mother or father would answer the door, and not Sehun. Jongdae took a deep breath and calmly stepped forward to the front door. His index finger shakingly hovered over the doorbell. After a few minutes of struggling to ring the doorbell, Jongdae finally pressed the doorbell and stood straight with a nervous smile.

Please, please, please let it be the mom or dad who answers the door.

The door slowly opened and Jongdae saw a man opened the door. Oh, it must be the father. Jongdae worked up a smile, but his smile faltered when Sehun’s face appeared right in front of him.

Sehun… Why must the world be so cruel and go against Jongdae’s words.

“Oh, Jongdae.” Sehun mused, “What brings you here?”

Jongdae awkwardly stood there and observed how Sehun looked pale, sick, and skinny. He wanted to cry because Sehun looked so weak and he didn’t look as healthy from before.

Jongddae snapped out of his state, ““Hi, I’m Baekhyun’s t—” He quickly corrected himself and cleared his throat, “I came by to drop off all of the work and assignments that Baekhyun had missed out on.”

Way to make himself look like a fool. Jongdae wasn’t thinking straight and he wasn’t being his usual self around Sehun.

“Thank you for dropping by.” Sehun weakly smiled. Jongdae handed the envelope to Sehun, and Sehun took them. Jongdae slightly frowned because Sehun didn’t look too well from up close.

“How have you been?” Jongdae concerningly asked.

Sehun raised his brow at the sudden question. It felt like months since they both had an actual conversation in person.

“I’m doing fine.” Sehun shortly answered and scratched the back of his head. Jongdae figured that Sehun didn’t want to talk to him since they both lost that personal connection so decided to just leave it there and didn’t want to press anymore questions onto Sehun.

“It was nice seeing you, again.” Jongdae longingly stared at Sehun, and walked away with a broken heart. Of course, they can’t just be bounce back to their once lost friendship. There was no possible way they could have what they once had. He was so close to tears, but he had to stay strong. He had to hold in his tears until he reached the bus.

“Wait.”

Jongdae snapped his head around. Sehun was looking down at the ground, “Can you perhaps help me make chicken porridge?” He slowly stammered.

“Of course.” Jongdae grinned.

————

The kitchen was a complete mess. Jongdae couldn’t imagine what Minseok’s reaction would be like since he was considered to be the cleaning fairy in the classroom. There were several pots filled with runny rice, burnt along the edges, and some had the consistency of glue. The pots were all scattered around the kitchen counter due to Sehun’s failed attempt of cooking porridge.

“Sorry about the mess.” Sehun placed all the pots in the sink and emptied the runny congee into the waste bin. Sehun rinsed the pots and stacked them onto the drying rack.

Jongdae bit his lip, “Don’t worry about it.” He grabbed a pot and dried it clean with a towel.
“How about you go rest and I’ll take over from here.” Jongdae began to pour the chicken broth into the pot while on medium heat. He waited for the the broth to boil, which he estimated would take twenty minutes.

“No, it’s okay. I need to learn how to make porridge anyways.” Sehun stood at a safe distance and observed Jongdae from afar.

“Okay, if you insist...” Jongdae added the cooked rice into the pot, and carefully stirred.

Jongdae didn’t like the distance between him and Sehun so he invited Sehun to stand closer to him so he can at least have a better view to observe. He showed Sehun how the heat temperature was the most important factor while cooking porridge.

“I think you set the temperature to high heat which burnt the porridge. It’s best if you cook it between low to medium heat since the porridge has a thick consistency and could easily be scorched.” Jongdae explained to Sehun.

“If you like the thick consistency, you simply have to let it simmer for a longer time.” Jongdae continued, his eyes were fixated onto the pot. However, Sehun’s eyes were deeply drawn by concentrated look on Jongdae’s face.

“Got it?” Jongdae glanced upwards to Sehun’s direction and he gulped at the close proximity between him and Sehun. He also noticed how Sehun was intently staring at him.

Jongdae paused his stirring in the pot and turned off the heat of the stove, “The porridge is done now.” He said while avoiding Sehun’s gaze.

“I missed you.” Sehun whispers, his eyes locked on Jongdae’s lips.

“Oh.”

Jongdae mentally slapped himself because what kind of lackluster response was that? He deeply missed Sehun too. There hasn’t been a single day when the thought of Sehun hadn’t cross Jongdae’s mind. Almost every single passing day without Sehun was a struggle.

Sehun brought his face closer to Jongdae, mouth hovering his, but he doesn’t press Jongdae’s lips. Jongdae noticed that Sehun was hesitating whether or not to kiss him or not.

“I know this is a mistake, but I can’t help it.” Sehun rasped, his warm breath slightly fanning Jongdae’s face and his lips dangerously hovering over Jongdae’s, “May I?”

Jongdae didn’t think Sehun would miss him, and he assumed that Sehun didn’t care about Jongdae anymore. However, now that Sehun has confessed that he missed Jongdae, he can surely confirm that the feelings between them were still mutual despite the time they took a break from each other.

Jongdae has always imagined what Sehun’s lips felt like and how irresistibly kissable they looked. Jongdae locked eyes with Sehun and finally answered, “Yes.” He lurched forward and melted into Sehun’s lips.

The first kiss they shared with each other expressed the longingness they missed each other. The sweet passionate kiss intensified as Sehun deepened the kiss by tugging Jongdae closer into his arms. Sehun’s strong pair of arms lifted Jongdae up on the kitchen counter, which made Jongdae gasped. Sehun took this opportunity to slowly insert his tongue into Jongdae’s mouth, while firmly holding Jongdae’s waist. Although Jongdae has had his fair share of kisses with others in his past experience, he had never felt such urgency and heated intensity until now. Jongdae dreamily sighed into the kiss, and parted his lips from Sehun’s lips so he could lather kisses down Sehun’s neck. Sehun contently leaned his neck back for Jongdae to easily access his neck, and released a groan. Jongdae peppered light kisses down Sehun’s neck while he featherly touched Sehun’s collarbones.

Sehun knew he had to end this before things further escalated so he abruptly halted Jongdae by gently shoving him, “We need to talk.”

Jongdae widened his eyes in concern, “What is it?” His eyes scanned Sehun’s face.

“I w-want,” Sehun hesitated while grabbing Jongdae’s face, “to take things slow from now on.”

“What do you mean?” Jongdae raised a brow.

“I want to start over with you.”

Jongdae was silent because he was willing to start new with Sehun, but he wasn’t so sure. Yes, he liked Sehun, but Sehun’s words from before were still imbedded in the back of his mind. He wasn’t fully convinced.

“Sehun,” Jongdae called his name, “You know our relationship wouldn’t work out. Baekhyun wouldn’t want us to be together, and I think it would be selfish to date behind his back.” He calmly reminded.

“Then why did you kiss me?” Sehun indignantly questioned.

Jongdae wasn’t so sure how to exactly respond to that. Why did he kiss Sehun? That kiss they just shared just proved that they still like each other, and that there was no denying to that.

“Look,” Sehun had a glum look on his face, “I want to start over again with you because the past few months without you felt like a waste.” His head leaned forward into Jongdae’s shoulder and wrapped his arms around Jongdae’s back.

“Baekhyun is important to me, but you’re important to me as well. I know I’m being selfish, but it shouldn’t hurt to have two important people in my life, right?” Sehun mumbled.

Jongdae couldn’t help but form a smile at how adorable Sehun’s clinginess was.

Jongdae saw a small head emerge from behind the kitchen island table, and noticed that the head belonged to Baekhyun. Jongdae scrambled away from Sehun’s embrace, and jumped off the counter. Sehun grumbled at the loss of comfort and scrunched his brows at Jongdae’s surprised expression. He glanced behind at what Jongdae was looking at, and saw Baekhyun casually stare at them.

“Uhh…” Jongdae didn’t know how to explain the situation since Jongdae and Sehun were both caught in such a intimate position.

“It’s not what it looks like.” Jongdae tried to explain, but he knew that it wasn’t a reasonable excuse. Sehun avoided eye contact with Baekhyun, which wasn’t helping to placate the situation.

Baekhyun just walked towards the water dispenser and filled himself a cup of water without saying anything. Jongdae guessed that Baekhyun was upset judging by how quiet he was.

“Baekhyun,” Jongdae called out, “I can explain.”

“Explain what?” Baekhyun tilted his head to the side with a quirked brow.

“I understand that you must be upset, and you have the right to be upset with me because a teacher like me shouldn’t be with your brother.”

“What’s wrong with that?” Baekhyun had a confused look on his face.

“What?”

“I don’t see what’s wrong with your guys’ relationship. You should’ve seen the way Sehun moped around the house for the past few months.” Baekhyun sighed, “Whenever Sehun was sad, I was sad too. I figured the reason was because you guys stopped talking because of me.” He elaborated.

Jongdae and Sehun both stared at Baekhyun with lost expressions. Since when did a third grader learn to develop such a mature mindset? Jongdae couldn’t believe what his ears were hearing and did those exact same words came exactly from Baekhyun? He always perceived Baekhyun to be some annoying child in his class, but the way he spoke sounded like an adult and that left Jongdae speechless.

“Sehun,” Baekhyun called his brother, “Please don’t worry about me. I don’t want to get in the way of your happiness. If you want to be with Teacher Jongdae, that’s fine by me anyways.”

Sehun sniffled at his brother’s earnest words and trudged to where Baekhyun was standing and hugged him, “When did you grow up so quick?” He cried out while embracing Baekhyun.

“I’m a grown up man.” Baekhyun knocked Sehun on the head in which Sehun chuckled in response.

“You’re still ten.” Sehun said matter of factly.

Baekhyun rolled his eyes and broke off Sehun’s hug, “Anyways…” Baekhyun faced Jongdae and crossed his arms. Jongdae didn’t think he would feel intimidated by a third grader, but he definitely was.

Baekhyun had a deadly look in his eyes, “Now that you guys can date,” Baekhyun had a voice as similar as to a parent that was about to scold their children, “I want something from you.” He pointed his finger at Jongdae.

Jongdae gulped, “What is it you want?” Jongdae was expecting Baekhyun to run down a list of do’s and don’ts of dating Sehun like a protective brother.

“I want to have my turn as a line leader for next week.” Baekhyun blurted, but broke into a pleading mess the next second, “Please, oh, please!” He childishly begged.

Relief washed over Jongdae’s face because there was the annoying brat he was used to, he broke into a smile and laughed, “I don’t see why not? You’ve been a good kid in class.”

“Yes! Finally! My chance to show who’s the true boss at line leading!” Baekhyun pumped his fist in victory.

“Also one more thing.” Baekhyun included, “You better make Sehun happy, alright?”

“Of course,” Jongdae promised, "If I can make Sehun happy, then you should be happy as well, right?”

Baekhyun then motioned Jongdae to come closer to him, and Jongdae followed the child’s order and squatted down to Baekhyun’s eye level. The child grabbed Jongdae forcibly by the ear, in which Jongdae scrunched in immense pain.

“Ouch!” Jongdae yelped, “What was that for?” He rubbed his reddened ear.

“That’s for that one time you didn’t play tag with me.” Baekhyun cheekily said.