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It’s 7AM on Monday morning, and Mark Tuan already wants to turn around and head home. While pulling into his designated parking spot, Mark thinks about excuses he could give Principal Park on why he has to go home right now and not come back to school until Monday. Knowing that nothing he says will be enough to convince his superior with such short notice, Mark takes the last sip of coffee from his old Starbucks mug, and shuts off his car. He grabs his briefcase from the passenger seat, and makes his way into the building.
Outside the door, Jinyoung, who teaches math and science to the seventh and eighth graders, is waiting for Mark with another coffee in hand. Mark smiles gratefully, before taking the drink from the younger man. “You ready for today?” Jinyoung asks, and grins when Mark lets out a groan.
“The only thing keeping me going is knowing tomorrow is Tuesday, and Tuesday is one day closer to Friday.” Mark had now been teaching kindergarten for two years. He graduated teachers college, and was lucky enough to find a job at private school a few months after. He loved teaching, and he loved how smart and fascinating kids were, so the job was perfect for him. But Mark got hired on as the afternoon kindergarten class teacher, so he never had to experience getting up early and dealing with cranky parents and overly sleepy children. But the morning teacher, Lee Seoyoung, was on maternity leave. And Mark, being the newest and least experienced teacher at their school, offered to teach both classes (he also really needed the extra money). No one else volunteered, and it was easier letting Mark teach both classes than hire a substitute, so the Principal agreed. Four months later, Mark was very tired and very over worked, but was able to have bigger dinners and buy himself a new couch, so he wasn’t too upset.
Most of his morning students were great; the kids were always tired and a bit slow first thing, but by 9:30, his students were all very attentive and excited to learn and have fun until they got picked up at 11:30. There was only one student that ever caused Mark issues in the morning, and his name was Jackson Wang.
Jackson was a very cute kid; he had lots of energy and always wanted to help out. He also adored Mr. Tuan, and followed him around all morning. The only word Mark could think of to describe Jackson was tiring. Jackson would go out of his way to make a mess (on Friday during arts and crafts, Jackson glued his shoes under the table, and dumped three containers of glitter on other students). Today the class would be finishing their crafts from Friday, and Mark became exhausted just thinking about what trouble Jackson would cause today.
Jinyoung and Mark greeted Principal Park and a few of the other teachers, before the two went their separate ways and headed towards their classes.
Too soon for Marks liking, parents started arriving with their children. Mark greeted them all, and did his best to smile and be polite while they complained to him about their children and how much they didn’t want to be there. At five minutes to eight, Jackson and Mrs. Wang arrived. She hurried into the classroom, dragging Jackson along with her.
“Sorry we’re late, I had to finish packing for my trip this morning.” Mrs. Wang said, while helping Jackson out of his coat.
“You’re not late, it’s no problem at all.” Mark said with a smile, before going over to Jackson’s cubby and grabbing his indoor shoes. Mrs. Wang smiled thankfully to the teacher, before beginning her struggle of changing Jackson’s shoes. Mark smiled at the two, before continuing. “I almost forgot you and Mr. Wang are leaving for China for the week! You must be super excited.”
Mrs. Wang nodded, “We’re very excited to relax and see family, it’s been too long.” Once Jackson’s shoes were changed, he gave his mom a big hug and a sloppy kiss on the cheek. Mark knew how much Jackson loved his mom, so he was expecting the young boy to tear up and ask his mom not to leave, so he was surprised when Jackson ran into the classroom, and started playing with his best friend, Kunpimook. Mark gave Mrs. Wang a questioning look, and the older woman laughed.
“He’s going to be staying at his Uncle’s house for the week, so he’s too excited to be sad that we’re leaving. He told me this morning that he’s going on vacation, too.”
Mark smiled, “So should I expect his Uncle to pick him up after school?” Mrs. Wang nodded.
“I told him to be here for 11:30, but he’s terrible with directions so he might get lost and be late. He’ll introduce himself as Jackson’s uncle, but I’m assuming Jackson will let you know that when he sees him.” Mark laughed, before thanking Mrs. Wang for telling him this in advance, and then he wished her a fun and safe trip, and walked her out to the door.
“Mr. Tuan, Jackson is trying to glue me to the wall!” Mark took a deep breath, and prepared himself for a long day.
--
Three and a half hours later, Mark is covered in glitter and glue, and is very excited for the 10-minute break he will get before the afternoon class arrives. Mark has gotten most of the kids cleaned up and ready to go home, and parents and babysitters are already arriving. Mark has almost forgotten that Jackson’s uncle is coming to get him, until it’s just Mark and Jackson left in the classroom. Mark looks down at his watch, and sees that it is noon. Soon, parents and children from the afternoon class will be arriving, and Jackson’s uncle still isn’t here. Mark is about to ask Jackson if he should call his uncle, when the door to the classroom swings open.
“Sorry I’m late! I got a little lost looking for the classroom, this school is huge!” an unfamiliar man says happily, and Mark just stares. The man smiles like he’s the happiest person in the world, and Mark thinks he’s never seen something quite as beautiful.
“Uncle Jae!” Jackson yells, before climbing down from the bench and running over to his uncle. He wraps his small arms around his uncle's leg, and with a laugh that sounds like the greatest song Mark has ever heard, he sweeps the young boy into his arms and hugs him, “Uncle Jae, are we gonna get ice cream now? Let’s get ice cream!!” Jackson yells happily, and the man, Uncle Jae, laughs some more, and Mark is aware he’s only been in the presence of the man for a few minutes, but he already wants to learn everything about him.
“Let’s say goodbye to mister…Sorry, I don’t think we introduced ourselves yet!” the man said with a laugh, before shuffling Jackson over so he could extend his hand to Mark, “I’m Choi Youngjae, Jackson’s uncle.”
Mark shakes the man's hand, and feels his face heat up, “Mark, um, Mark Tuan. Mr. Tuan.” Mark stammers out, and internally chastises himself. Youngjae just smiles and giggles, he freaking giggles, before shaking Mark’s hand.
“Well, Mr. Tuan, I hope Jackson wasn’t too much of a handful for you today!” Mark thought back to how Jackson glued Kunpimook to the wall, spilled juice all over a student’s new white dress, and ripped out the vegetables from his sandwich and threw them around the room. The older man shook his head.
“No, Jackson was great today! No problems at all,” Mark lied, and Youngjae grinned and gave Jackson a squeeze. Jackson smiled happily at his teacher and uncle, before narrowing his eyes and making little fists with his hand.
“Ice cream, ice cream, ice cream!” Youngjae laughed some more, and Mark tried to think about a joke he could tell, so he could hear Youngjae laugh more.
“Alright, alright, I hear you! Say goodbye to Mr. Tuan!” Jackson turned to his teacher, and gave him a toothy grin.
“See you tomorrow Mr. Tuan!” Mark gave them a small smile, before waving.
“See you tomorrow, Jackson. Don’t forget you have math homework tonight!”
“I won't let him forget!” Youngjae says with a grin, and Mark blushes even more. “We’ll see you tomorrow morning.” Youngjae waves goodbye to Mark, and when the teacher sees the door shut, he sits on the bench. Jinyoung had entered the room sometime while all this was happening, and he gave his friend a curious look, before reminding Mark that he had his next class arriving in a few minutes.
Mark quickly ate his lunch, and got ready for his next class, thinking about the man with sunshine in his eyes the entire time.
--
Everyday for the rest of the week, Mark is a blushing and stammering mess when Youngjae drops off Jackson, and when he picks up his nephew at the end of the day, Mark sugar coats all the bad things Jackson did that day. Mark knows he should be telling Youngjae the truth, but he’s too smitten for the younger man, and doesn’t want to give him any reasons to dislike Mark.
By Thursday, Mark has grown accustomed to Youngjae, and has even started initiating small talk. Jinyoung watches in amusement as Mark asks Youngjae basic questions about the weather and how his day was, and laughs to himself when Mark falls against the wall, clutching his chest when Youngjae leaves.
“He’s just so cute? I’ve never seen someone who laughs so much or who smiles so much. He could kick me in the stomach and I’d just thank him.” Mark says, and Jinyoung rolls his eyes.
“You, my friend, are a disaster. A shy, embarrassing disaster.”
--
Later that night, Mark was at the grocery store. He was filling his cart with bowls of instant ramen, when he heard a familiar voice.
“Uncle Jae, I want the chicken kind!”
“You know your mom doesn’t like you eating that kind, there’s too much salt.”
Youngjae turned the corner into the noodle aisle, with an excited Jackson sitting in the cart. Quickly, Mark turned around and went to leave the aisle, but the older man wasn’t fast enough.
“Mr. Tuan! Oh my gosh Mr. Tuan, what are you doing out of school!!” Jackson asked, sounding very shocked.
Mark turned around, and could already feel the blush creeping up his neck and face. “I’m getting groceries, just like you!”
Jackson gasped, “Are teachers allowed to leave school? I thought you lived there?!” Mark laughed, and grinned fondly at the boy.
“Yes, we’re allowed to leave school. And I have my own apartment and everything.”
“Whoa…” Jackson said, while staring at his teacher in awe. After a moment, Jackson grinned, and grabbed a box of fruit snacks from beside him, “Look what Uncle Jae is getting me!” Mark pushed his cart over to Jackson and Youngjae, and Youngjae quietly said hello to Mark. Mark wanted to say something, but Jackson wouldn’t stop showing Mark all the different snacks Youngjae was buying him. Youngjae was clearly flustered, but Mark was used to kids, so he nodded enthusiastically and acted excited to see everything Jackson was showing him.
“I wanted to get the chocolate pop tarts, but Uncle Jae says they make me too hyper, whatever that means. And we’re having pasketti for dinner! I wanted cream sauce but we can't have it because it makes Uncle Jae fart-“
“I think that’s enough bothering Mr. Tuan for one day!” Youngjae said quickly, while covering Jackson’s mouth with his hand. Jackson’s eyes crinkled as he smiled behind his uncle’s hand. He pulled his hand back, and pat Jackson’s hair, “Say goodbye to Mr. Tuan!”
“Bye Mr. Tuan, have a good dinner!” Mark laughed and said bye to the two, and watched them walk away. With a small smile, he turned back towards his own cart, and headed to the cash registers.
--
On Friday, the school planned a trip for students to go see a musical, so most of Mark’s morning students were away. A few students stayed back, including Jackson. Mark decided to play a movie for the kids, and he brought a few snacks as well. Once he had the kids settled on the carpet in front of the TV, he started the movie, and sat at his desk at the back of the classroom. He was going through the homework from the night before, when he felt a tug on his pant leg. He looked down, and saw Jackson smiling up at him.
“Mr. Tuan, the movie is really boring. I want to hang out with you instead.” Mark laughed quietly, and nodded.
“Okay, you can sit here. But you can’t talk too loudly, okay? We don’t want to disturb the other students.” Jackson nodded, before sitting down by Mark’s feet. Mark grabbed a colouring book and some crayons, and handed them down to Jackson. Jackson eagerly took them, and began scribbling in the book.
“Last night Uncle Jae made too much pasketti, so we fed some of it to Coco. But Coco is a really messy eater and her face got all orange because of the sauce.”
“Who’s Coco?” Mark asked, wondering if Youngjae had a child of his own.
“It’s Uncle Jae’s dog! She’s like the size of my hand, she’s so small.” Mark smiled; Youngjae was totally a dog person, so this didn’t surprise the older man.
“Coco sounds really cute.” Mark said, and Jackson nodded enthusiastically.
“She’s the coolest! When Uncle Jae isn’t looking, I always give her my vegetables. Uncle Jae only buys carrots. He doesn’t like cumbers so I don’t like cumbers too!” Jackson said proudly, and Mark grinned.
Mark continued to check the student’s work, while Jackson happily rambled on about Youngjae. Mark learned that Youngjae was a music teacher (“Uncle Jae teaches music to big kids at big kid school!”) and that Youngjae wrote his own songs, and was teaching Jackson how to play piano. Everything that Jackson was telling Mark about his uncle made the younger man sound so endearing, so interesting, and made Mark want to learn more and more about him. Mark also knew that Jackson’s family returned to Korea on Sunday, so when Youngjae picked up Jackson today, it would potentially be the last time he saw him. Mark knew he had to do something about it, so when Jackson was done telling Mark about the time Youngjae took him to the zoo, he asked Jackson about Youngjae’s love life.
“So, is your Uncle Jae married? You haven’t mentioned if you have another aunt or uncle.”
Jackson shrugged his shoulders, and then shook his head, “I used to have an Uncle JB, but mommy told me he cheated on one of Uncle Jae’s tests, so he had to move out.”
It took Mark a few seconds to understand the meaning behind the words, and when he did, Mark blushed a deep crimson, “Okay, you should go back and watch the end of the movie. It stops being boring, I promise.”
Jackson pouted and let out a big sigh, but nodded. Mark watched him waddle over towards his classmates, and flop himself down beside Kunpimook.
Mark ran his hands through his hair, before shaking his head. He couldn’t help the surge of annoyance and anger that ran through him. How could anyone cheat on Youngjae? Now Mark was really curious about the younger man. While he finished going through the homework, he made a promise to himself that he would ask out Youngjae tonight, when he came to pick up Jackson. He’ll take the man aside, and ask him out to dinner, just like any other adult would. Mark looked at himself in the reflection of his laptop screen, and blushed. He hadn’t felt so nervous about a guy in a long time. Usually Mark was all swagger, all confidence, but something about Youngjae made Mark nervous; he had only known Jackson’s uncle for under a week, but Mark already knew there was something really special about Youngjae, and the teacher didn’t want to screw it up.
When it was time for everyone to go home, Mark stood near the door, and was nervously playing with the sleeves of his blazer. Every time the door would open, he would look up, hoping it was Youngjae. But like every other day of the week, Youngjae was the last to show up. Mark smiled really big, and opened up his mouth to say hello, but stopped when he saw the hurried expression on Youngjae’s face.
“Hey Mr. Tuan! C’mon Jackson, do you have everything? We’re already late for your dentist appointment, we gotta go.”
“But Uncle Youngjae, I don’t wanna go-“
“You can complain in the car.” Youngjae grabbed Jackson’s backpack, and he easily lifted up the child, before hurriedly saying goodbye to Mark, and running out the door.
Feeling defeated, Mark sat down on the bench. “Well, there goes that plan.” He said to himself, before looking around the empty room. He checked his watch. He still have about 15 minutes before the next class started arrive, so with a heavy heart, and went into his office.
--
When Mrs. Wang brings Jackson to class on Monday, Mark knows it’s time to get over the younger man. He was Jackson’s teacher, after all. He couldn’t ask Jackson’s mother for Youngjae’s number, and it was pretty silly for a teacher to be pining after someone that was related to their students. But to Mark’s surprise, Youngjae picked up Jackson that day. As always, Youngjae was the last person to show up. Mark gave him a curious smile.
“I’m surprised to see you here. Is Mrs. Wang busy?” Mark asked, while helping Jackson put on his coat. The youngest didn’t expect to see his uncle, so he was too excited to put on his stuff himself.
“Uncle Jae, why are you here!” Youngjae blushed a pretty pink, and Mark tried not to let out a coo.
“I um, actually wanted to talk to Mr. Tuan. Jackson, do you want to just go wait by the door? I’ll be done in a minute, promise.” Jackson eyed the two curiously, before nodding.
When he was out of ear shot, Youngjae looked up at Mark with a small smirk, “Jackson couldn’t stop talking about how much fun school was on Friday, and how much more fun he had telling you about my cucumber allergy and dating history".
Mark could feel his face quickly getting hot; "I might be to blame for some of that. I wanted to figure out if you were seeing anyone or not, so I tried to sneakily ask about your marital status. It wasn’t my best move asking one of my students though, so I apologize for that.” Mark was internally dying; Youngjae probably thought he was weird and came here to yell at him. To Mark’s surprise, Youngjae let out a loud laugh.
“Honestly? I would have done the same thing. I actually told Jackson to ask you if you were seeing anyone, but he probably forgot by the time we left the house.”
Mark’s eyes widened, “Really?” Youngjae laughed again, and winked. Before he could say anything, Jackson impatiently huffed.
“I’m hungry, I need a snack! C’mon Uncle Jae, let's get ice cream!”
Youngjae turned to Jackson and laughed, “Okay, okay. Let’s go.” Jackson cheered, and a smiling Youngjae turned back towards Mark.
“It was nice to meet you, Mr. Tuan.” Youngjae said, while holding out his hand. Mark wanted to say something else; he wanted to ask Youngjae to hang out, ask him to be friends, ask him to be more, but Jackson was jumping up and down and yelling about ice cream, so Mark knew it wasn’t the right time. Reluctantly, Mark shook Youngjae’s hand. With a cheeky grin, Youngjae slipped a piece of paper into the older man's hand, before quickly pulling away and running to the door.
“Bye Mr. Tuan!” Youngjae and Jackson yelled at the same time, before running out the door and towards the front of the school. Mark watched them, with a big smile on his face, before looking down in his hand. He unfolded the note, and his smile became impossibly bigger. On the note, Youngjae had written his phone number, along with a short message.
If you want to learn more about me, call me sometime. I’d love to know more about you, too.
Youngjae
Mark slipped the note into his pocket, and prepared for his next class, with a new bounce in his step that he hadn’t felt in awhile.
--
“Do I have to call Mr. Tuan, Uncle Tuan now?” Jackson huffed as he flopped on the couch bought from all the extra morning shifts Mark worked.
Youngjae laughed, before sitting down beside his nephew. He looked up at Mark happily, and pat the seat beside him. Grinning, Mark sat down, and leaned over Youngjae to bop Jackson on the nose.
“I have a first name, you know.”
Jackson huffed again, before reaching for the remote, “Whatever, Mr. Uncle Tuan.”