Chapter Text
Amber eyes, ones with the ability to pierce through the heart and look at the contents within. They dance, and stand unique above the rest. They are so captivating that looking away is difficult. God help the soul who is enraptured by their beauty and elegance.
BEEP BEEP BEEP
“….ugh.”
Chongyun’s head was deep in his pillow when he awoke. Slowly, he raised his arm and felt around his bedside table. As soon as he felt the top of his alarm clock, he slammed his hand on the top of it, hoping he’d hit the snooze button. Well, apparently he did because the beeping stopped immediately. He groaned and shoved his head into pillow as he laid facedown in his bed.
‘Time for the day to start already?’ Chongyun thought.
Chongyun turned onto his side to look at the alarm.
6:30 am. Yeah, yes it was time. After putting off getting up and contemplating about whether or not Ningguang would sack him if he was late again, he finally sat up after about ten minutes, grumbling as he did so.
He trudged through his small apartment. The solitude and monotony did not do much to help his sleepiness. He took a shower, making sure to wear his blue button up shirt and jeans, and then checked to see if his lesson plans and documents were packed. He also checked his bedside table to make sure his..uh… more personal books were still there. Of course they were, but, his paranoia still got the best of him nearly every morning. Finally, he walked to the kitchen area, opened the freezer, and took out a blueberry popsicle. He nibbled on it while he scrolled through his phone, looking at what was up with the world today.
Honestly it wasn’t much, to his surprise. He sighed and went to his audiobooks instead, playing one he was really into at the moment. It was a romance novel about a girl and a guy who had a forbidden love. Right now, he was at the climax, where the guy proposes to the girl and they try to run away together. He sighed, a proposal, huh? Despite the happiness he felt for the couple, he also couldn’t help but feel the slightest bit bitter when he saw those proposals. Yet, he trucked through it as he continued to listen to the book for another fifteen minutes.
He looked at the clock, it was 7:10. Also known to Chongyun as: “get out of your apartment if you still want your job” time. So, he did. After one last check of all his bags, he grabbed them and carried them down the hall long and carpeted hall. After passing a few doors he got to the elevator and descended to the parking garage, finding his small, gray car amidst all the others. He took a deep breath as he entered his car, time for another day.
He looked out the window as he drove through the suburban streets, taking in some of the beauty of the surrounding area.
At 7:25 he arrived at a small, rectangular building made of bricks. Outside was a small playground area with three slides, a set of swings, and a section for children to climb onto, hide under, etc. whatever they wanted really. Beside the playground were some sandpits, toys, other areas to climb onto reminiscent of bouldering walls, etc. Essentially, it was the paradise of a child.
He walked into the brick building, making his way past the entrance. He looked towards a long hallway plastered in “today’s going to be a great day” posters, pictures of cartoon animals, and stick figures. He walked down it, smiling slightly at each and every one of the drawings he passed. He took his keys and put them in the third door to the right. The door had two parts to it, a top portion and a bottom portion. He unlocked both doors with a click and swung them open. Inside the classroom where a bunch of tiny blue chairs, small wooden tables, and toys galore. There was a small kitchen near the front, a colorful drawing center with a lot of crayons and paper in the right corner of the
room, a dress-up area in the area next to it filled with the clothes of princesses, mermaids, football players, firefighters, anything a kid could dream of, and directly to the left of it was the place where the nap time mats were. There were two bathrooms as well, an area for circle time in the left corner, and lastly, a door that connected to a shared room between him and his co-teachers. It was no staff room, but it was cozy. He sighed, this was nice, His domain, his workspace.
He glanced up at the clock. It was shaped like a monkey. The monkey was brown and had a tail swinging back and fourth. The time read 7:30, he made it. With another small sigh of relief, he began to take out materials from the case he brought with him. As if on cue, the top half of the door opened and a girl leaned in. She had long brown hair, a white blouse and black slacks. Although, most noticeably, she had a black eyepatch on.
After leaning in and turning her head, she saw Chongyun.
“Seems like you got here on time, great job. It’s sad I can’t say the same for Xiangling or Hutao though.”
“I’m sure they’ll be here soon Beidou.”, he replied with a wave of his hand. “I just hope it’s before the kids arrive.”
“I know they will , but still, they can’t expect their co-teacher to get everything ready all the time, can they ?”, she asked, putting her arms on the bottom door and leaning against the doorframe .
“I suppose that’s true, but I don’t mind.”, he said. It wasn’t like he had anything else going on.
“Well if you say so,”, Beidou said, taking her head off of the doorframe. “But it wouldn’t kill you to force them to take the plunge every once in a while.”, she said.
“Well, I was actually late yesterday”, said Chongyun. “So maybe that’s a start.”
“Hmmm, really?”, she asked. She looked up at the ceiling and scratched her chin. After a couple seconds the light of recognition entered her eyes.
“Oh yeah, I think I did hear Ningguang complaining about that.”, said Beidou. She laughed a bit. “Well I think everyone is too reliant on you. Being late one day in three years is a number nobody working here has.”
“Oh really? Not even Ningguang?”, asked Chongyun.
“Oh absolutely not.”, Beidou chuckled. “Honestly we need to do a better job of making sure people get here on time.” Beidou turned her head to look at the monkey clock on the wall.
“Speaking of jobs, I better go check to make sure everyone else is here too. I’ll see you later Chongyun.” She looked at him one more time before heading on her way. “Have a good day with the little monsters.”, she added on with a smile, turning around and walking further down the hall.
Chongyun sighed, everyday, huh?, “They’re not monsters Beidou!”, he called out.
For the next thirty minutes, Chongyun put together the coloring stations with crayons and colored pencils of all the colors of the rainbow, cleaned the circle time rug, got out the games he wanted the kids to play, set up his own little table, went over his plans for the day, and placed lunch/snack orders for the kids and sent them to the kitchen staff, of which, came almost immediately, all in a blue bin. He had gotten animal crackers and milk to start the day. He sighed as he sat down at his teacher’s “desk”, which was really just a chair at a table all the kids would also be at. He took out his phone, ready to read something before the day started. As he started to read, he heard the clop of footsteps in the hallway.
A dark blue haired girl sprinted into the classroom, she was panting as if she had never sprinted faster in her life. Another figure followed her, one with brown ponytails, wearing all black. Both were carrying dark brown bags with them. He stared at them for a minute before recognition set in.
“Xiangling , Hutao, where have you been?”, Chongyun asked. He stood up from his desk and crossed his arms. “And why you aren’t in uniform?”
Hutao looked at him with a forced smile on her face.
“Oh you know what happened”, she pointed at Xiangling. “This one slept in too long despite me trying to drag her out of bed for a while.”
“Hey she’s lying!”, Xiangling said, pointing right back at her. “You were right by me when we BOTH slept in.”
“Who says it was both of us? What if I just gave up on my fourth attempt to get you out of the bed?”
“I’d say you’re a liar and-“
Chongyun sighed again, probably for the fifth time this morning. A sigh, but there was contentment in it nonetheless.
“Alright you two.” Chongyun said. “Save the lover’s quarrel for later.”
The two turned to look at him.
“The kids are going to start coming any minute now. Let’s just get a quick snack for them. Xiangling, you get the snacks ready, Hutao, get the daily question ready, and I will occupy the coloring station for when they come in.”
“Hey are you just going to sit there?”, asked Hutao.
“Why yes I am.”, Chongyun replied, “ it’s only fair as I got everything ready.
“He has a point Tao.”, Xiangling said, making her way to the snacks.
Hutao sighed, throwing her hands up in the air.
“Aiya, But the daily question is so boring.”, she said. “All we ask about are their favorite whatevers.”
“Well if you came earlier I would be happy to give you another job.”, he said.
Hutao stuck out her tongue at Chongyun. He stuck it out right back. He went back down to look at his phone but suddenly had a feeling of uneasiness. Wait. He had just let Hutao write the question of the day. So, instead of relaxing, he watched her carefully.
Hutao made her way to a large dry erase board near the front of the classroom. She took the expo marker and put it up to her chin, contemplating what to write. After a few seconds her face lit up. She put her hand up against the board and scribbled down,
“What do you think lies beyond death?”
“No.”, Chongyun said from where he sat. He stood up and walked over to her. He took the marker from her.
“Absolutely not.”, he said. He took an eraser off of the bottom section of the board and erased the question.
“Hey, that question helps to invoke their imaginations.”, said Hutao. She reached her hand towards him and tried to take the marker back.
“They’re four.”, Chongyun said, keeping the marker out of her reach.
“You’re never too young to learn about the great beyond.”, Hutao said excitedly.
Chongyun just stared at her, a deadpan expression on his face. He put his face in his hands with the marker still in it.
“This is why Ningguang is always two steps away from firing you.”, he said.
“Oh Ningguang just doesn’t know the way I help children come into themselves and grow.”, Hutao said, a smile on her face.
“You told a child that their parents were going to die when she asked if she would be with her parents forever.”, said Chongyun, his expression unchanging.
“Ah someday, I said someday.”, Hutao replied.
“Is there really any difference for a four year old?”, Chongyun asked.
Once again, he stared at her. Where her question used to be he wrote,
“What is your favorite animal?”
She pouted at him.
“You’re so boring.”; she said.
“Well if that’s how it is, that’s how it is.”
They heard stifled laughter and looked up to see Xiangling trying to stop herself from absolutely loosing it as she set up milk and animal crackers for the kids.
She smiled at them. “I love you two so much.”, she said.
Chongyun couldn’t help but smile at that, and looking at Hutao, it seemed like she felt the same.
“Oh! Speaking of love.”, Hutao began, looking at Chongyun. . “Chongyun how did that date I set you up on go?”
Chongyun’s mind went blank…date? He had…OH. That. He had tried so hard to block that out of his mind.
“I uh- well..”, he started, words not quite forming correctly.
He heard the rushing of footsteps and looked up to find that Xiangling had run over to them and hugged Hutao’s waist.
“Sweetie now might not be the time to ask him that”, Xiangling said.
“Why not?”, asked Hutao.
“Well I mean children are going to be here soon.”, said Xiangling, gesturing to the door with her hand.
“Hi Ms. Hutao, mr. Chongyun, and Ms. Xiangling.” A small and monotone voice crept up on the three teachers.
Chongyun looked down to pinpoint the the noise to reveal a small girl with purple hair and pink eyes.
“Good morning.”, she said as Chongyun looked at her.
“Oh, Qiqi,”, Chongyun said. He bent down, sitting on his heels to be at her eye level. “How are you today?”, he asked.
Qiqi smiled just a bit. “Qiqi is very good today.”
Out from behind Qiqi came a tall man with green hair, golden eyes, and a business suit. He was smiling and carrying a briefcase.
“Hello all of you.”, he said.
“Ah, Baizhu.”, Hutao said. “Good morning.”
“Good morning.”, said Chongyun.
“Good morning.”, said Xiangling.
“Good morning to all of you as well”, Baizhu said, waving at all of them.
“Qiqi seems quite happy today.”, Hutao said, who also got down to her knees to greet Qiqi.
Qiqi stuck her tongue out at Hutao.
“…Aiya.”, Hutao sighed.
“Well yes, someone very important is coming to see her today, isn’t that right Qiqi?”, he asked, patting Qiqi’s head.
Qiqi nodded her head.
Oh, who is it Baizhu?”, Hutao asked, getting back up to her feet.
“I think you know.”, Baizhu said. His lips pursed and his eyes looked as if they sloped downward for just a moment.
Hutao mouthed “oh” in response, and went quiet.
“Ah, well we’ll be sure to take extra good care of her today in that case.”, said Xiangling.
“I have no doubt about it.”, Baizhu said. He smiled, his face returning to normal as quickly as it had changed. He nudged Qiqi into the classroom, putting his hand on her shoulder and lightly pushing her back. “Farewell you three,”, he said.
“Goodbye Baizhu.”, Xiangling said.
“Bye”, said Hutao
“Goodbye.”, said Chongyun.
As soon as Baizhu left, another little girl came running up to the three. She had her hair in the shape of a bow on her head and pigtails coming out of her head as well.
“Qiqi!”, she yelled, hugging the other girl.
Hutao turned to look at Xiangling and Chongyun.
“Hey can you guys greet the kids? I’ll work on helping them with their drawings…”, she said. She looked and sounded tired all of a sudden.
“Oh, uh, yeah.”, said Chongyun.
“Of course, I’ll join you in a minute if that’s okay Chongyun.”, said Xiangling.
“Yeah, I can greet today”, he said.
He looked back at Hutao.
“Thanks you two she said.”, the smile on her face was small and looked somewhat forced, but not the playful kind of forced that she had on her face when she first came in.
She walked off to the drawing corner and began to get out colorful paper.
Xiangling and Chongyun just looked at each other and shrugged.
Soon enough, all the kids began to fill in and Chongyun and his co-teachers began the day. It was a day of messes, learning, and fun all at the same time. It left smiles on nearly all of their faces as they all faced the joy that was their class of preschoolers.