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Sunghoon let out a huff in annoyance. He was supposed to accompany Jake somewhere else today, but unfortunately, he couldn't. He already agreed to the older ages ago, but to his absolute dismay, his mother just called him yesterday to ask him to take care of his five-year-old cousin for the day. And although Sunghoon adored him, he really did, he couldn’t help but get frustrated at the short notice.
"But Sunghoon-ah, your aunt had an emergency! Please understand," his mother said, and who was he to refuse?
He begrudgingly texted Jake about his change of plans, and although Jake said he didn’t mind, Sunghoon felt disappointed with himself. Of course, he’s going to say that, he was Jake after all. Kind and oh so sweet Jake.
He grumbled, shaking the thought off his head. The two of them were currently headed for the local library, with Sunghoon’s frown in stark contrast to that of his cousin’s enthusiastic demeanor. Luckily, they both lived in the same neighborhood so Sunghoon didn’t have any problems accompanying him to where he needed to go. It was a Saturday and his cousin—Sungjae was his name—claimed that there was something important coming up in the library. It turns out, there was this storytelling session that happens every week, and Sunghoon couldn’t be any more excited.
No, he was definitely not excited.
He sighed for the nth time that day. Might as well try to make the most of it.
Upon entering the library, Sungjae immediately ran to the children’s section to greet his friends. The said part of the room was made to look like a small tent, with yellowish-white lights strung above cardboard letters that spelled ‘storytelling’. This seemed effective in inciting excitement from the children as they talked animatedly within themselves, waiting for the storytelling to begin. Sunghoon almost crooned at the sight, if not for the thought of missing a possible date with Jake crossing his mind at that very moment. He shook his thoughts away and decided to settle on reading some books to pass the time.
He mindlessly walked to a random aisle, making sure that he could still keep watch over his cousin from afar. When he was sure enough that everything was just fine, he went to get a book, but was startled when another hand reached for it at the same time.
“I’m sorry, you can take it,” he said, but was even more surprised when he saw the embodiment of Jake himself standing in front of him. He was wearing a jumper and an obnoxiously bright-colored set of clothes, which Sunghoon thought only looked breathtaking on him.
“Sunghoon! I thought you weren't free?”
“Actually… I came to watch over my cousin today. He’s right there.” Sunghoon pointed at his cousin, who was chatting away with his friends. Jake followed his sight to where he pointed, then oohed at what he discovered.
“You’re Sungjae’s cousin! I knew he looked familiar.”
“Mm-hmm. So, is he as good looking then?” Sunghoon smirked, raising his brows playfully. Jake lightly hit his shoulder and chuckled.
“I’m glad you’re here by the way. I was actually supposed to bring you here today.”
“Really?”
“Yeah! You can watch us if you want.”
Before Sunghoon could even ask, Jake already rushed out from their aisle. He was mildly surprised when the boy determinedly sat in front of the children, who all expressed their delight when they recognized who just arrived. Some jumped up and down, while others yelled who knows what, and Sunghoon would be lying if he said he’s not looking forward to how things will unfold today.
“Jakey hyung, Jakey hyung! What’s the story for today?” Sunghoon heard Sungjae ask.
“First of all, let’s sit down, okay?” Jake, who apparently was the storyteller, called the children’s attention. “What did I say about staying in the library?”
“Always keep quiet!” The children chorused. Sunghoon felt his face form a smile when the storyteller nodded in satisfaction. When everyone settled down, Jake finally started his story.
“Here it goes. Once upon a time, there lived a girl named Cinderella. What was her name?” he asked, and as the children enthusiastically repeated after him, Sunghoon found himself answering back as well. The story went on just like that, with Sunghoon gradually getting as engrossed with the story as the children listening in front. Every animated movement and cheerful voice Jake did to express the story did not fail to take Sunghoon’s full attention.
So this is why kids love listening to stories, he thought. It’s been a long time since he listened to storytelling—perhaps it’s okay to listen to them every once in a while.
When the story ended, one by one the children stood up with their own questions—some even protesting at the behavior of some of the characters. Jake only gave a helpless grin as he tried to round them all up, but before he did, Sunghoon stepped up to help.
“Hey guys, let’s all sit down, yes? We don’t want Jakey hyung to be upset,” he said, escorting the children back to their seats. He looked up to see the boy looking at anywhere but him, fixing his round glasses. After they had all sat down, Sunghoon continued, gesturing from side to side. “How about we do this in turns? Let’s start from here until we get up to there, is that fine?”
He was met with a collective ‘yes’ from the children, and so Jake rolled with his idea. One by one, they expressed their sentiments; mostly just trivial questions, but some with rather astonishing ones— ‘Is that what they call ‘domestic abuse?’ ‘They should've just cut their toes off to make the shoe fit' and Sunghoon tried his best not to laugh at Jake’s horrified expression every time.
By the time they reached the last one, Sunghoon focused on listening again.
“Will I also find my Prince Charming?” the girl shyly asked. Jake smiled at her before replying.
“Of course you will! You’re still young though, so it may take a while. But when the time comes, you may not even notice that you’re already falling in love,” he explained, earning oohs and aahs of wonder.
“Say, Jakey hyung,” one of the children spoke, “Do you already like someone too?”
“Well...” Sunghoon watched as Jake scratched his neck, his gaze flitting across the room. “I guess not yet. But when that time comes, I’ll make sure to tell you,” he said, eyes unconsciously meeting Sunghoon’s, but he immediately averted his gaze when he realized. Sunghoon quietly smiled to himself.
They were all getting ready to wrap up the storytelling session when Sungjae bounded over to Jake and pulled on his arm. He reached up and cupped his hands over Jake’s ear, whispering something Sunghoon couldn’t quite catch. But considering the now reddening ears of the older, he knew it had to be something embarrassing. He saw Jake glance at him briefly before bending over to answer Sungjae, who nodded, looking overly satisfied with the answer he got.
Soon enough, goodbyes filled the room and the children filed out towards the exit where their parents were already waiting to fetch them. Others stayed as they waited for their parents and continued to read, while Sunghoon and Sungjae helped Jake tidy up the place.
“I had fun today!” Sungjae let out a huff after putting the mats away.
“I can see why,” Sunghoon chuckled, sitting down on a nearby stool. “Do you do this often?”
“Yes, hyung. It started like, two months ago.”
“Really?” That was just about a couple of weeks after Jake moved into the neighborhood!
“Yep! It started when my friend told me that Jakey hyung told him a story here in the library, so I came with him. Then I told my other friends, and now we’re already so many here!”
“That’s true. You guys are a bit too many for me.” Jake sighed, walking towards them. He sat on another stool beside Sunghoon. “But that’s okay,” he continued, “You are all sweethearts.”
Pleased with what he heard, Sungjae ran towards their direction and threw himself on Jake. Sunghoon smiled and silently watched as the two swayed from side to side while they hugged. When they pulled away, Sunghoon cleared his throat.
“That reminds me, you have a dentist appointment today. We need to go,” he said, earning him a pout from the five-year-old who clung to Jake once more.
“But I wanna stay with hyung longer!”
“Sungjae,” Jake poked the youngster’s cheek, “Do you want to be like Jack?”
“No!”
“Who’s Jack?”
Jake laughed. “A character from one of our stories. He didn’t want to see the dentist, so his teeth fell out,” he said, moving his brows as if to prove that he convinced his cousin enough. Sunghoon raised a brow at that then settled on shaking his head in amusement. When Sungjae approached him, Sunghoon took a hold of his tiny hand before turning to Jake once again.
“Maybe next time?”
Jake replied with a nod, smiling.
“I’ll be counting on that.”