Sorry for the long wait! But as promised here it is~ :^D

Beep beep beep
Beep beep beep
Beep bee-

"ugh..." Jaehyun groans as he smacks the snooze button sluggishly. He gives himself a minute before groggily getting up with eyes still shut. He rubs his face with a palm and cracks an eye open to a blurry red saying 06:34. Realizing the time, he finally gets up from his bed and drags himself to the washroom.
 

Jaehyun checks himself once more in the mirror before heading out. Hair? Check. Clothes? Check. Ready for work and adulthood? ...Check..?

The newly graduated degree-holder chuckles to himself nervously. He shakes it off and faces the mirror once again, "Let's do this!" he cheers, fist pumped in motivation. He tucks his dress shirt for the nth time and dusts off the non-existential specs off his grey cardigan before heading out with a backpack in hand.

On the way to the elevator, his phone buzzes. He searches his pockets for the buzzing source as he presses the button heading down. He manages to find and pull the gadget out of his pocket before the elevator dings. Jaehyun looks up from swiping his lock screen and instantly had his first eye contact of the day with the complex mate. He quickly greets the resident with his signature dimples and a smiley 'good morning'. The man in suit simply mumbled a ‘g’mornin’, eyes never leaving his flip phone. Jaehyun brushes it off with a smile and looks back to his screen.
 

[5 unread texts from Youngho Hyung]

Youngho Hyung: jay i dont think i can wait for u at the gates
Youngho Hyung: i gotta round up the kids for morning assembly :''-)
Youngho Hyung: go meet Mr. Lee once u get here, shouldn't be hard to find his office
Youngho Hyung: or u can just go meet the other kindergarten teachers in class first
Youngho Hyung: theyre probably prepping up
 

The elevator dings their arrival and Jaehyun politely bids the man in suit farewell as they both step out of the elevator and head their separate ways. Jaehyun replies back the senior with a ‘its fine, thanks and don't worry hyung!’ as he walks up to the bus stop.

When the bus arrives, he greets the driver and sits at his seat by the window as per usual. Eyes gazing out the window, his heart beats slightly faster after passing the usual route to his university. Further up ahead, he gradually recollected all the turns the bus took to his old elementary; nostalgia and excitement filling up his heart to his destination.

He unconsciously does a little skip as he gets off the bus and wishes the security guard a good morning when he passes the school gates. He stops in his tracks for a moment, hands clutching the straps of his bag as he reminisces a few memories whilst taking a long look at his old elementary school. It's been more than a decade since he last stepped into this school; cracked walls filled, new fresh coats of colourful paint replacing the previously chipped, dull walls.

Apart from a few changes and renovations made here and there, it was still the playground where the graduate had spent his joyful early youth. He watches the older elementary students heading the same direction, some goofing around their little group of friends, pairs of locked hands swinging as they giggle their way, and others walking with their noses buried in their books.

It's a wonder how Johnny had managed to land a teaching spot at their old playground, even more so when he had introduced Jaehyun to the kindergarten's teaching opening soon after his graduation.

"Are you looking for someone?” Jaehyun hears from behind.

He turns away from his small moment of nostalgia to the person away staring at him for who knows how long.

The tall man was dressed in a cream coloured sweater with a satchel hanging by his side. Curiosity sparks within Jaehyun as he notices the person to be quite young-looking, looking even younger than Jaehyun himself, he thinks.

He lets his eyes wander lower and sees the large 'Class Reg' print on the booklet stuck between the thin files the doe-eyed stranger was holding. He had an idea on who this person was at that moment.

"Your little sister or something...?" the person asks once more. A generous dollop of scrutiny in his tone that was directed towards the mute who had only given him a silent stare with furrowed brows and a short-lived look of 'eureka!' as an answer to his first question.

"Ah, no," Jaehyun finally makes use of his voice and replies back, waving his hands and taking a few steps towards his scrutinizer. He noticed the stranger flinching from his actions and attempts to recover impression in a form of failed babbles.

Ultimately, he shuts up for a second to compose his awkward self, then gives the stranger a 90-degree bow, "Hello, I'm Jung Jaehyun, the new kindergarten teacher here"

The stranger that had been sending Jaehyun weird looks untwisted itself to a look of revelation. "Oh!" the stranger exclaims a little too loudly, making Jaehyun jolt in surprise. The man returns a polite bow, "Hello Jaehyun-ssi, I’m Kim Doyoung, also the kindergarten teacher here"

Jaehyun releases a small 'oh' and a courteous smile before offering his hand to shake with the fellow co-worker. "Have you met with Principal Lee yet?" the teacher asks as they shake hands.

"No, not yet," Jaehyun replies, letting go of the other’s hand.

"Oh,” Doyoung utters, adjusting the strap of his satchel. “Would you like me to take you to his office?" he asks.

"Oh no, it’s fine,” Jaehyun beamed, thankful for the kind offer. If the school hadn’t changed as much as he assumed, it should still be the same room where he and his cheeky old pals frequently went to. “It’s the room next to the sick bay right?", Jaehyun asks, just to be sure.

"Yeap, if you go straight ahead and turn ri-" the teacher begins to explain, only to be cut off mid-sentence

"DOYOUNG SEONSAENGNIM!!!!!!", they both hear from behind in a distance.

Jaehyun sees an incoming yellow speed racer running towards them. In a split second, he witnesses his newly met co-worker getting rammed in the side by the small yellow blur.

"OOFGH--" the teacher yelps in pain as the toddler suddenly wraps himself around the teacher’s hips.

"Good morning seonsaengnim!!!" the small child beams happily with his wide adorable grin and chubby cheeks. The teacher's pained and befuddled face quickly changes into a soft-forgiving one upon recognizing his adorable early morning attacker.

“Aishh you rude child! Who runs after people and attacks them early morning like this!” the teacher kiddingly scolds as he lightly ruffles the toddler’s soft black locks. His face instantly lights up from his angry guise in the next moment and fondly greets back his delayed "Good morning Mark".

The child giggles with eyes shut as Doyoung turns around in-place to fix the mess of a hairstyle he had created and gives the happy kindergartener a few pats on the head as a finishing touch.

Finally noticing the unknown person with them, Mark slowly scuffles to hide behind the teacher's long legs. "Seonsaengnim, who is he?" he whispers, tugging the hem of the teacher's sweater while accidently meeting eyes with the said stranger.

Jaehyun smiles after catching the child quickly looking away before crouching down to face the shy kid at eye-level, "Hello Mark, I’m the new teacher here," he offers his hand towards the smaller, arms tucked between legs and chest. "Nice to meet you", the teacher says, assured by the friendly dimples forming on his cheeks.

The child looks up to his teacher, as if looking for some kind of affirmation from the elder. The teacher notices and gives a small nod and a tightly sealed line of a smile, "Greet Jaehyun-seonsaengnim Mark"

The child faces back the crouching teacher before him and fits his tiny palm onto the larger’s, "Good morning Jaehyun-songsaenim" he shyly greets before retracting his hand quietly and retreating behind the teacher’s legs.

“Ah” the owner of the legs Mark was hugging chirped. “Where’s your mom Mark?” the teacher pointed out, realizing the lack of parental guidance over the child.

The child lets go of the elder’s leg and bounces off confidently with hands by his hips, “I'm a big boy now! I told omma that I could go to class myself!” he huffs out proudly.

“Oho~” the teacher awed, impressed. “Our Mark is growing so fast~” Doyoung says as he pretends to wipe a tear in an exaggerated proud-mother voice, causing Jaehyun to laugh at the ridiculous small skit. Doyoung takes note of Jaehyun’s uninvited small bubbles of laughter and mouths a ‘what?’, accompanied with a lopsided grin directed to him.

“So,” the raven haired teacher glances at his watch before asking the toddler once more, “Do u think our Big Boy Mark can head to class himself?”

“I-” the toddler pauses, hands dropping off his sides. He takes a good second to think before waddling and latching himself back onto the teacher’s lanky legs, “Can we go together Doyoung seonsaengnim? Please?” the child bashfully asks, looking up to his beloved teacher with rosy cheeks and wide eyes, causing both teachers to burst out into fond chuckles.

“Hahaha… ok Mark” Doyoung quickly calms his chuckles before facing the other teacher getting up and trying to do the same. “You know the way to Principal Lee’s office right?” the teacher asks, once faced with the other.

“Yeap,” Jaehyun replies as he brushes the dusts off his trousers. After spending his brazen elementary years here, he probably even remembers all the ‘secret’ passages around the school at the back of his head. “Go ahead with Mark Doyoung-Seonsaengnim, I’ll come soon,” the co-worker gestures as he speaks.

“Alright,” the teacher says, finally moulding hands with the toddler’s tiny plump one after realizing the small fellow was quietly reaching for his. “I’ll see you in class then”, he leaves with a smile.
“Bye bye Jaehyun-seonsaengnim!” the bright ball of joy happily wishes.

Jaehyun takes one last time to tease the adorable kid, “Why do you sound so happy saying goodbye? Is it because you’ll finally have Doyoung-seonsaengnim all to yourself?” Jaehyun jested in a false heartbroken voice.

He easily makes his co-worker and himself chuckle once more looking at the previously all-smiles but now flustered and abashed child that looked at Jaehyun as if he had called him out on his biggest secret.

Jaehyun cuts his chuckles short, “I’m just kidding, see you later Mark” he pats the smaller’s head. The child still being confused only babbled a panicked and an unsure ‘oh, ok’ with a why-did-you-say-that-and-what-did-I-do-to-deserve-this face to Jaehyun.

Jaehyun watches the pair walking off, staring at the adorable height difference and seeing the tall teacher bend to comfort the child and hear whatever the child was embarrassingly mumbling. Mark pips out an audible squealing ‘Ah!’ before suddenly stopping to turn around, causing Doyoung to stumble over his steps.

Mark yells out his late 'See you later Jaehyun-seonsaengnim!' while excitingly waving his free hand. Jaehyun waves back with concerned brows, signalling the co-worker if he was okay; relieved when Doyoung sends back an assuring thumbs up.
 

“Hooooo~” Jaehyun hears.

The familiar voice continues in a sing-song tone, “flirting with the teachers already~? Wow, You go Jung!”

“Johnny hyung!” he smiles brightly as he sees the taller elder heading his way.
 

“Just kidding, Welcome Jae!” he proceeds to high-five the younger, reverting back to his fraternity-like years.

“So I see that you’ve already met Doyoung huh” eyebrows wiggling teasingly, only to be responded by the other with an eye roll. The elementary teacher rests his brows and asks, “Principal Lee?”

“I’m just about to head there actually”, the junior answered.

“Alright!” the English teacher hangs an arm around his junior “I don't have class for first period, lets gooooooo”. The aloof teacher garners the attention of passing students as they head to their boss’ office.

Hi hello sorry for the delay hah a //sweats

I actually have part II of first chapt prepared,, it was originally supposed to be uploaded as one whole chunk of a chapter but i felt like it would be better off separated haha

Im currently proofreading it rn so expect it to be up in a few hours or at most tomorrow ! ;^)

Thank you for reading! Leave comments and do subscribe ♡♡

p.s since im finally on holiday i'll also update Low-key Into You, start up a new dotae series and a oneshot soon~

(college has made me too busy to proofread the mountain of docs i have in my phone ;;v;;)