Chapter Text
Replacing Mrs.Lee for her maternity leave, Jeonghan was more excited than ever to start his new journey in Pledis kindergarten.
Arriving with a big smile drawn on his lips and excitement shimmering in his eyes, he was warmly welcomed by the director and introduced to his future colleagues who all seem really kindhearted and amiable. The director then assigned Sooyeon, a young woman slightly older than him whose classroom is right next to his as his guide helping him to get the hang of the things. She then leads him to what appear to be his place for the next upcoming years and called upon by the fifteen some children who rapidly grouped around them and stared at the new teacher with big curious eyes. Though a little worried and nervous about whether they'll like him, he amicably introduced himself with a wide grin before asking each kid individually their names.
To his relief, the children seem to genuinely like him as well and took a particular fascination for his long golden locks. Some brave ones even carefully asked whether they can touch it to which he light heartedly agreed as the children softly patted it or brushed their fingers through it with an awestruck expression engraved on their small faces.
Even though the kids seem to accept him warmly because of his caring behaviours and easy going nature of letting them call him hyung instead of Mr.Yoon, it still took him almost a week week to fully adapt comfortably to the new environment and is still in progress of learning the best ways to treat each student.
The morning usually began at 8AM with him greeting the children at the door and Seokmin would always be the first to arrive and shines the start of his day with his bright smile showcasing all his white teeth.
Then came simple lessons which mostly consisted of learning different everyday words and numbers and in which Jun turns out to be especially smart and exceed among all. Then, they would have art, music or PE class around 10 depending on the day of the week. It was the period that he enjoyed the most in which he got a chance to learn more about some of the incredible hidden talents like Seungkwan and Seokmin's (loud) angelic singing voices and their extended knowledge of all the nursery songs (which some are even unfamiliar to Jeonghan himself) and Minghao's artistic and colourful drawing skills.
Yet it also soon became his biggest headache since it can become quite chaotic with a class of fifteen kids that never seem to be low on energy. Even though all of the kids are kind by nature, the discipline can be hard to keep at times, from keeping on eye on Minhyuk trying to convince Pinky to eat play doe with him during art to chasing after children running a little bit too fast and dangerously close to the front gate in PE. Fortunately, lunch at noon always saved Jeonghan from his dried out throat.
After the school meal, Jeonghan would let the kids chose a book together and everyone would sit in a circle. One of the kids would have the chance to sit on his lap (he had to set a rotating schedule due to high demand and the fact he only has two legs with the rule of no hair touching) then proceed to read them out loud with his clear and soothing voice.
A short nap follows the story time involving lots of persuasion since it can be difficult sometimes to convince such a hyperactive class to choose boring sleep over toys and games, except Hyungwon who will usually be the first to lay down and close his eyes without him even asking.
Once all the children asleep, Jeonghan are left with some free time do some quick cleaning (especially necessary after any kind of activities involving paint or DIY) inside the now messy classroom. It was the only complete silent moment of the day when Jeonghan can finally hear himself thinking and a well deserved break for his sore feet from running behind those tiny legs.
Though he hates to wake up those peacefully and adorable sleeping faces, at 3PM he had to and there are usually some rather grumpy sleepers (mostly Vernon). And once everyone is up, cheese sticks or veggies with juice are usually served as a small afternoon snack. The kids are then free to play in the playground in the courtyard or in the classrooms until their parents came to whom the new teacher bid goodbye one by one feeling complete and satisfied of another great day.
Little by little he learnt more of each children's virtues and flaws, likes and dislikes and he grew even fonder of them. There were some kids that he could easily pinpoint their characters since day one like the way too sassy for his age's Seungkwan who never seems to run out of things to say with his partner in crime, an as loud Seokmin. There was also the clingy Pinky who asked to be hold all the time and likes to follow behind Nayoung with the most sweet personality he has ever met (among kids and adults), Jun and Minghao, the adorable pair of Chinese twins with polar opposite personalities, and the playful duo of Jooheon and Minhyuk who have the most creative mind when it comes to pranks. It can be little tiresome at times taking care of a group of five year olds, but at the end of the day, Jeonghan still adored his job and the children of his class whom he won't change for all the gold of the world.
Among all the lively and sometimes too energetic children was one in particular that caught his attention. Jeonghan won't exactly put him as an outsider since the other never really bothered or picked on him and all treat him very nicely, yet compared to the rest of the kids, that little one seemed awfully quiet and shy among such a blaring class making the young teacher keep an extra eye on him and trying to think every night of new ways of open him up more. His shy nature wasn't the only thing that made him worried. Indeed, Jeonghan also noticed that Chan was always the last one to be picked up, not only among his classmates, but of the whole kindergarten. When his parent finally did come, it was always a short male with bright pink hair that could be passed for a teenager who Chan called uncle Jihoon. It is not that Jeonghan didn't try to ask the uncle the reason behind the late arrival, yet the latter's intimidating looks always made him swallow his words back (don't judge him, Jeonghan might be much taller, but that man really is scary). Instead, he has learnt from the staff that Chan is living with his single father who is often busy at work to pick his son up himself.
With the sense of responsibility and motivation of his freshly new teaching position, he tried to call the father in question several times to only receive answers more or less similar to the fact that "Mr.Choi isn't available to talk to him (that him was disagreeably emphasized) at the moment." and that "if there is no emergency, they'll have to hang up."
Frustration grew in Jeonghan gradually realizing how little Chan's parent seem to care about him, yet there was little he could do to change it, angering him even more.
"I can't believe he won't even bother to listen to me!" Standing in the middle of the courtyard, supervising the kids playing around at the end of the day, Jeonghan whined to Wonwoo, another rare specie of male teachers in the kindergarten. The latter was slightly younger than him but quite tall and slim. He can look a little distant at first with his heavily lined eyes and the deepness of his voice when he didn't smile, but soon Jeonghan realized his true goofy and friendly self and they grew much closer.
The blond male continued without waiting for his colleague's response:
"How rude of him to hang up on people if there is no emergency!"
Wonwoo wished nothing more than to finish that on going conversation they were having for the past two weeks, sighed before repeating for the endless time of the day: "You never really talked to him directly so technically it is not his fault, and that Mr.Choi that you have been complaining about for the past two hours works as the head chief of the Seoul central police and investigation department, it is quite obvious from the title that he is probably busier than most."
Yet the blonde pouted at those words and argued back:
"It doesn't change the fact that he should take his role of father more seriously!"
The taller male opened his hands in defeating manners and exclaimed:
"You don't live with them how do you know he is not a caring father at home!"
"You can just sense it from his attitude towards Chan's education!"
Wonwoo crooked an eyebrow at his response and then concluded with at smirk:
"Ok mom, go sue him for child negligence and then adopt that poor kid and call him your son."
The shorter male rolled his eyes and sarcastically laughed: "Haha, funny"
Wonwoo's lips curled into a faint smile and replied:
"I know I am"
"I swear to God if I ever get a chance to see that Mr. Choi I am going to tell him face to face two words of my thought on his attitude! How could such lovely Chan deserve such a careless father!"
Yet Wonwoo's gaze seem to be drew upon at something behind him and laughed nervously while making small x signs with his hands
signalling him to.... stop?
Before Jeonghan could fully process the reason behind his colleague's strange behaviour, an awkward cough resonated behind him.
Turning back to the sound, the young male saw a tall and lean man with well toned body who looked sinfully good in that uniform of his. He was staring at the prettiest eyes with the longest eyelashes he has ever seen added a touch of cuteness to his overall mainly and handsome features and his straight nose and sharp jawline made Jeonghan absent-mindedly bite his lower lips.
Sooyeon approached them and greeted the newcomer joyfully:
"Oh! Mr.Choi, it is nice to see you again!" before yelling towards a small group of children playing in the sandbox: "Chan your dad is here!"
It is funny how expectation is different from reality, in his scenario, he should be scolding and demanding an apology for his rude behaviour from the that stranger that he hasn't met but has already disliked. Yet there he was, in the middle of running and screaming children, mouth slightly parted, dumbfounded, unable to even formulate a single word on the tip of his tongue. The speech he has mentally prepared by himself days prior seem to have sublimated out of his mind. They stood there in silence with the younger staring down at his shoes, too overwhelmed to look up.
A loud "Daddy!" broke through the air, and Chan, most excited Jeonghan has even seen, jumped into the man's arms as the man lovingly hugged back. The pair of father and son quickly waved goodbye before crossing the gate with the blonde male's gaze still fixated on them as he felt a consolingly pat on his shoulder from his colleague in the back.
Meeting that "irresponsible", "rude" and "insensitive" Mr.Choi was not going the way he imagined, and most of all, the man he hold a small grudge against was definitely not as hot as Jeonghan ever excepted.
----------------------------------------------------
"I was such a fool!" Jeonghan still cringed to the memory of that scene.
"Calm yourself, he probably didn't even hear you." Replied the voice on the other end trying hard to hide his laugh from the story he just heard.
"He was not even 5ft away from me! How could he not hear what I said?" The blonde male groaned in embarrassment.
"Why are you so flustered over such a small thing anyway?" Minhyun chuckled teasingly on the other side: "Was he that handsome?"
"No!" growled Jeonghan back, yet the blush on his face said otherwise.
"If you are that concerned just apologize to him next time" Minhyun concluded wisely and then added "if there is a next time since he seems so busy."
"By the way, me and Jr and the other seniors you are familiar with are planning to grab a drink or something tomorrow night, wanna join us?"
"As much as I'd love to, I can't... I just applied to be part time babysitter and it will be my first day tomorrow." Jeonghan let out a small sigh.
"Dude, I felt like crying of tiredness for taking care of my own son for a day and you want to babysit in your free time as well on top of your work? Aren't you tired of those tiny little monsters sometimes?"
"Hyung, they are called children." Jeonghan let out a small laugh through the speaker "And they are not that bad."
"Whatever makes you sleep at night." The blonde male chuckled at those words knowing the latter was probably rolling this eyes.
"Plus I have to pay the bills somehow, and that job offered a pretty impressive pay."
"You won't have to if you chose to become a pediatrician instead of-" The latter soon cut his words short once he realized what just came out of his mouth and there was a short moment of silence lingering among them.
"Jeonghan I am sorry." Minhyun started slowly.
"It's fine." Jeonghan reassured him softly "Just don't mention it again."
Then he added playfully with a teasing curl on his lips: "Or I won't come to watch after your baby next time you try to sneak out when Minki leave for a business trip." Making the latter whine in response.
They chattered about news of family members and other random stuff, before the younger had to leave as Minhyun wished him a good luck for the next day.
Once the phone hung up, Jeonghan let out a small sigh before let his slim body sink into the large sofa, lost in his thoughts.
Hopefully what Minhyun said was true, that he'll never have to meet that Mr.Choi ever again.