“Oh, right. Before I finish the class today, we have something to discuss.”

Eight pairs of eyes immediately look up from their writing exercise, cornering their gaze toward their Literature’s teacher, Kim Joonmyun. Teaching at an international school that is reserved for rich students, Joonmyun is glad that he only has eight first grade’s students to teach this time. He has been working extra hours these days, need to teach the second and third grade as well due to insufficient teachers. Fortunately, his assistant, Kim Minseok, has been such a great person overall, helping him to run out errands for all of his classes while he mainly focus on polishing the students to be a better person.

He glances to his assistant and nods his head slightly, signaling Minseok to start walking around to distribute a flyer that contains information about Seoul International Book Fair that will be organized around 14th June 2017.

“Since we are nearing the end of our school’s year, I have decided to make a class trip to this event,” Joonmyun holds up his own copy while gesturing the students to look at their own, “Go home today and ask your parents if they are okay with this, okay?”

He looks around the classroom, watching all of his students one by one to ensure that they understand the information and his gaze lands on Chanyeol, a quiet tall kid that currently has a frown over his forehead.

“Yes, Chanyeol?” Joonmyun speaks gently, slowly making his way to the said student.

The said child tilts his head sideways while staring at Joonmyun in curiosity, “Can you explain to me what a Book Fair is?”

“Of course,” Joonmyun smiles before resting himself down on the floor, all eight students immediately make a circle around the teacher.

This situation has been a norm inside the classroom, Joonmyun always want to be close with the students, does not want any of them to feel that learning is a boring process. Whenever he is teaching something new that does not require him to use the projector and laptop, they will always form a circle at the back of the classroom. He will bring all of his teaching materials with him and they will conduct a productive learning experience together.

“Okay, now look at the paper that Minseok passed to you earlier,” Joonmyun points to the flyer that all of them are currently holding, “Book Fair is basically the event where they want to connect all of you with books so you can embrace the joy of reading.”

“Oh, oh, will there be any fairytale book?” Baekhyun voices out, his right hand extending upward signaling he wants to ask something.

“Of course,” Joonmyun answers, earning a happy ‘yay’ from all of his students.

“What else is there, teacher?” Sehun asks while he draws shape onto Jongin’s pants with his fingers, watching his best friend slowly getting sleepy as it is almost noon.

In ten minutes, the kids’ next schedule is an afternoon nap. Therefore, Joonmyun decides to cut the explanation short so that they can follow the schedule smoothly.

He looks at his flyer before holding them forward for the kids to see, pointing at the ‘At The Fair’ section as he explains, “Well, there is International Hall where they will be people from other countries promoting their books, Books and Art Zone where you can sit down and enjoy the activities that are provided and of course, Children’s Book area where there are your fairytale’s book, Baekhyun.”

Baekhyun grins in delight, bumping his small shoulder against Chanyeol’s back, announcing his happiness.

Joonmyun looks at Minseok through the corner of his eyes, mentally asking what time it is. By looking at Minseok’s curt nod, he knows that it is time to usher the students to their own respective beds inside the classroom.

“Okay, that is all for now,” Joonmyun nods and gently pats Jongin’s lap, asking the little kid to stay awake momentarily as their class is ending.

Luhan claps his hand twice to alert everyone before they sing-song the words together, “Thank you, Joonmyun teacher!”

All of the students get up on their feet and bow their bodies slightly in respect, earning a proud smile from Joonmyun before he waves them goodbye as they walk to their beds to get their afternoon nap.

“Come, Minseok, let’s go grab our lunch,” Joonmyun nudges his assistant’s side, leading them both to walk out from the classroom.

♡

“Good morning, teacher,” Jongin says as he walks to his table, realizing that Joonmyun is already sitting behind his desk even though the class will only start approximately 30 minutes from now.

Kim Jongin is one of his students that is kind of reserved, only let his voice out when it is necessary. The only person that manage to make him talk more than usual is Oh Sehun and Joonmyun assumes that both of them are one another’s best friend even though their personalities are polar opposite.

Oh Sehun is the noisiest one out of them all, sometimes being even louder than Byun Baekhyun and Park Chanyeol. He rarely stay in one place, always move from one desk to another to bug his friends with his non-stop talks about everything while Kim Jongin is the quite one, always stay behind his desk while he waits for Sehun to come and annoy him with his rambles. How does those two become close is such a mystery to him but Joonmyun hopes one day Jongin will open up himself like Sehun does.

“Good morning, teacher!” Sehun shouts as he enters the classroom, basically announcing his usual arrival before he smiles gleefully at the said teacher.

Joonmyun gives his student a short smile, gesturing Sehun to walk to his own seat and prepare stuffs for their first lesson for today. However, once Sehun realizes that Jongin is already there, he hops around like a bunny before reaching his friend’s seat.

“Good morning, Jonginnie,” Sehun ruffles his friend’s brown hair affectionately, placing his bag on top of Jongin’s desk before settling himself down on the floor, looking at his childhood friend expectantly.

Jongin soon joins him on the floor, facing his body toward Sehun’s with a small yawn. He rubs his eyes lightly with the back of his hand, holding the urge to just lay down on the floor and take a nap.

“I watched this one amazing movie yesterday,” Sehun says softly as if it is a big secret, glancing once in a while at Joonmyun. He knows adult is not interested in kid’s story therefore he tries to keep his voice low, not wanting to annoy Joonmyun.

Jongin looks at his best friend curiously, right fingers gently tapping Sehun’s legs out of boredom, “Hm? What is it about?”

“Well, it is about this one baby need to be a spy. He is a baby but he is really smart, Jonginnie! He is already working, like a grown up but he is so small. Even smaller than us!”

“Spy?” Jongin hums lowly, nodding his head as an approval signal for Sehun to continue his story.

“Yes, spy. He went to this one house and pretend to be their kids because his company asked him to do so. There are puppies in the story and they are so cute, just like yours! I can’t tell much since you need to watch this story by yourself,” Sehun grins mischievously, always leave his story hanging as a cliffhanger so that he can arrange a movie date with Jongin at his house.

Jongin whines and gently rocking his friend’s small figure back and forth in frustration, “Just tell me!”

“No,” Sehun singsongs, patting Jongin’s cheek lightly before he lays his head down onto Jongin’s lap before he sings softly,

“Blackbird singing in the dead of night,

Take these broken wings and learn to fly,

All your life,

You were only waiting for this moment to arise.”

Jongin hums a soft tune as he plays with Sehun’s hair, enjoying his friend’s voice even though they are not as great as his favorite’s singer but it is still good nevertheless.

“What song is that, Hunnie?”

“It’s a song from that movie,” Sehun tilts his head up so he can look at Jongin’s face, smiling happily at his classmate, “We have to watch that movie together soon, okay?”

Jongin nods in response and Sehun claps his hands together in excitement, moving his head away from Jongin’s lap to sit properly as he hears footsteps approaching from Jongin’s behind.

“Luhan!” Sehun shrieks happily once he sees the figure behind Jongin, kissing Jongin’s cheek goodbye before he moves to Luhan’s desk to talk with the class’s leader.

Jongin watches Sehun goes away from his desk with a short smile, partly relieve that he can finally get his morning nap. However, his dream is cut short when more of their classmates enter the class and in result, noisy surrounding forces him to stay awake and face the reality instead.

Joonmyun watches his students come in, placing their bags at their respective desks before they walk around to greet their classmates. He glances at his wrist, eyebrows furrowing together as he is two minutes late from starting the class at the usual 9:00 a.m. He gets up from his seat, moving to the front of his desk before clearing his throat slightly, signaling the students to settle down at their own places.

He rests his back against his desk as he looks over the eight desks in front him, the seats are fully occupied by their respective owner. He places his both hands behind him as he walks around, “Have everyone get their guardian to sign the approval letter?”

Eight heads move up and down a few times, signaling their answers to his question. All of them take out a piece of paper from their bag, placing the approval letter on top of their desks as Minseok moves around to collect it.

“Remember, we will gather in front of the school tomorrow and we will go to the venue by cars, okay? Mr. Zitao will be joining us tomorrow as Minseok-hyung will not be around.”

Yifan juts his lower lip out, feeling a little bit sad because Minseok will not be around. Among eight of them, Yifan is the closest one with Minseok since the older male used to be his babysitter when he was around 3 to 4 years old. He is the one who suggested Minseok to join the school and become one of teacher’s assistant since his parents stop hiring the guy to become his nanny. He absentmindedly raises him right hand up to wave goodbye to Minseok, earning a soft laughter from his deskmate, Luhan.

“Luhan, you will be in charge of everyone’s arrival tomorrow, okay?” Joonmyun reminds the class leader, earning a determined nod from the said person.

Turning his body back to the direction of the whiteboard, Joonmyun takes a black marker from on top of his desk, “Okay, that’s it for now. Take out your Short Poem’s textbook, we will continue with the poem that we learnt yesterday.”

He takes three deep breaths, his usual daily activity before he starts the class, and he begins to write an excerpt of the poem they are currently learning, He Had Such Quiet Eyes.

♡

Sehun bids his parents goodbye, taking his bag with him when he steps out from the car. He waits for Jongin to come out as well before shutting the door close, gripping on Jongin’s left hand firmly as they walk into the school’s compound side by side. Since their houses are close with one another, they sometimes share the ride to school together. Often, Jongin is the one who joins him as Jongin’s parents are doctors and from what his father tells him, doctors do not have a fixed schedule. Their working times are beyond the usual 9-5 working hours.

“Good morning, Baekhyun,” Sehun greets his classmate, smiling a little bit before dragging Jongin with him to meet Baekhyun.

His classmate is currently sitting on a swing, pushing himself back and forth with his legs. It is quite a funny sight to see since Baekhyun is one of the shortest between eight of them and sometimes, his legs barely reach the ground to help him push himself. Chanyeol who just arrive to the said place immediately situate himself beside Baekhyun, gently helping his close friend to push the swing.

This is their morning’s ritual, Baekhyun will be on the swing and Chanyeol will help in moving the said swing. They do switch sometimes, Baekhyun tries his best to push a slight heavy Chanyeol forward even though that action makes him move forward too, losing his own balance most of the times.

“Where is Luhan?” Jongin asks, looking around the playground as he could not find their class leader.

Baekhyun raises his head upward, lightly pointing his chin to his left, “He accompanies Jongdae to the bathroom.”

Sehun nods a few times before gently swaying his intertwined hand with Jongin’s out of habit. He smiles softly when he sees Zitao and Joonmyun walk together to their vehicles. The two adults get inside their car and drives out from the parking lot, parking their cars temporarily beside the playground.

“Is everyone around?” Joonmyun asks, looking all over the playground and mentally counting the number of heads he is seeing.

He nods his head a few times, feeling relieved that every students of his are ready to go. He takes out his phone, tapping here and there before settling on his Notes’ application, “Alright, we will divide each of you into two groups and one person will have their own partner. Make sure to stay close with your partner and don’t lose one another once we reach there, okay? Stay close to me too.”

“I will call out your partner’s name and yours, so pay attention,” Joonmyun scrolls the name list, carefully pairing his students with the one they are close with.

“Luhan and Yifan, Jongdae and Yixing, Jongin and Sehun, Baekhyun and Chanyeol,” Joonmyun lists, earning a happy yay from everyone as they get their close friends as their partner.

Sehun smiles happily, nudging Jongin’s side gently as they join Baekhyun and Chanyeol, walking to Zitao’s car to go the venue. The rest of their classmates are entering Joonmyun’s car and they are expected to gather again at the said place. Chanyeol offers himself to seat in front, leaving Jongin, Sehun and Baekhyun to be with themselves at the back seats. Jongin decides to sit in between Baekhyun and Sehun, shifting a little bit closer to Sehun. He rests his head against Sehun’s small shoulder, ready to take a nap while Sehun sings him a lullaby, the song that Sehun is addicted to nowadays.

“Blackbird singing in the dead of night,

Take these broken wings and learn to fly,

All your life,

You were only waiting for this moment to arise.”

Jongin can feel Baekhyun’s head resting against his side, signaling that the smaller male has slowly fall asleep. Jongin’s dream is full of puppies, his own self and Sehun’s bright smile, unconsciously making he smiles as he sleeps.

♡

Sehun pokes his friend’s cheek repeatedly with a hushed whisper, “Jonginnie.”

They have arrived at the venue a few minutes ago and everyone is already awake from their sleep, excluding Jongin. Sehun smiles fondly when Jongin slowly open his eyes, giving his friend’s a wet tissue to dab the said item over his sleepy face. Jongin smiles gratefully and wipes the sleepiness away from his face, taking his bag with him as he joins Sehun to get out from Zitao’s vehicle.

They stay close to one another, following Baekhyun and Chanyeol from behind as they walk to the entrance of the World Trade Center. There are a lot of people, from kids to adult, from kindergarten students to college’s and Jongin feels a little bit afraid since he is not used to crowd. He does not like to stay in public that much but Sehun is different. He likes to be around people, he likes to watch people walk here and there to finish their errands.

“This is your tickets, walk side by side with your partners and don’t wander around, okay? We will move everywhere together,” Joonmyun says while he hands Zitao’s five wrist tickets, asking the other teacher to help his students wearing their access tickets.

Yixing and Jongdae nods them head together, trying to be in sync while cackling in amusement. All eight of them follow behind Joonmyun and Zitao closely, moving inside the halls carefully without bumping with strangers or lose one another into the crowd. They stare at the interior design with awe, gasping once in a while when they see a huge books’ exhibition and grinning in delight at the sight of foreigners walking around. Even though they are studying at an international school, they do not have any foreigner inside their class. However, they do see a few seniors from Canada and Germany walking around the school’s hall during assembly.

Sehun gets bored easily, that is the fact that Jongin knows by heart already. So, when Sehun keeps on poking his side to gain his attention, Jongin has no choice but to give his friend one. He stares at Sehun curiously, lower lip jutting out, “What is it, Hunnie?”

“I am bored,” Sehun whines, swinging their hands together a little bit hardly and he mutters an apology when he accidentally hits an adult’s leg behind them. They walk closer to Joonmyun, trying to focus as their teacher is currently explaining about the booth them currently at.

“I want to find a fairytale’s book, all these adults look boring,” Sehun mumbles, scrunching his nose at the same time.

“We will reach the area soon, Sehun.”

“I want to go there now!”

“I know but we must follow teacher Joonmyun’s words, we have to follow him.”

Sehun points his index finger to his temple, grinning mischievously as he hushes his words to Jongin, “He won’t know if he doesn’t realize.”

Jongin groans lowly before he reluctantly backs away from their group, following Sehun who is currently holding a Seoul International’s Book Fair's brochure proudly. They try their best to understand the map, squinting their eyes as they tries to find the direction to Child Book’s area. Thankfully, there are a lot of volunteers around, gladly asking anyone’s questions.

Being a quiet person, Jongin allows Sehun to drag him all over the place. He can hear Sehun humming the melody to his favorite song and not that Jongin want to admit it openly to his childhood friend, he slowly likes the said song too. When they watched the movie a few days ago, he quietly lip sync the lyrics when the main character’s parents sing their son the lullaby. He feels Sehun tugging his shirt, asking him to follow his quick pace so they can arrive at the Child Book’s area quick.

Sehun gasps lowly once they arrive there, shrieking loudly when he sees a standee of his favorite Disney’s character, Aurora. He absentmindedly let go of Jongin’s hand, running to Aurora and eagerly looking up. Sighing in disappointment once he realizes that it is just a plain board, he kicks Aurora’s legs gently, whining lowly to Jongin who is not around.

Sehun screams out loud once he realizes Jongin is not by his side, fully aware that he is currently surrounded by strangers. He can feel the anxiety creeping slowly inside him but he tries to take three deep breaths, a shaky one indeed, but he manages to do it anyway. But, it is not working. He is still afraid. He still feel like crying. Sehun sits himself down beside the standee, tries his best not to cry as he hugs his legs close to his chest, silently praying Jongin will find him.

♡

Jongin looks around nervously, gritting his teeth together as he could not find his best friend. He is sure that Sehun is beside him just now but now, he is not so sure anymore. He wants to walk around to search for his short and small friend but he is afraid that Sehun might come to him instead. He fights with his internal voice for approximately around two minutes before he decides to give up. Walking to the nearest volunteer that he sees (Joonmyun explains to them earlier that people with light blue t-shirt that has ‘SIBF’ at the back of their t-shirt is the people who can help them if they need anything) and he gently tugs the guy’s pants to earn his attention. He smiles nervously when the said male crouches down so they can be at the same height level.

“Yes, little one? How can I help you?”

“I lose my friends, he is slightly shorter than me. Can you find him?”

Kyungsoo rubs his temple lightly, clearly having no idea how does this little guy’s friend look like. He signals to his friend that he will be away to bring the kid to Lost and Found’s area, extending his hand out for Jongin to hold.

“Alright, hold onto my hand and don’t let go, okay?”

Jongin nods his head and he places his hand over the stranger’s palm, slightly relief now that there is an honest person that will help him to find Sehun. He is really afraid just now, he knows Sehun is a brave little guy but when they are among such a huge crowd like this, anything can happen. They walk past a lot of booths and Jongin’s anxiety grows even more as Sehun is nowhere around. After like ten minutes, his tiny steps are put into a halt as Kyungsoo crouches down once again to talk to him.

“What is your friend’s name?”

“Oh Sehun. But he answers to Sehunnie most of time!”

Kyungsoo emits a soft chuckle, nodding his head a bit before taking a microphone from the Lost and Found’s booth to make an announcement, “Good afternoon, ladies and gentleman. We have lost a child somewhere near to Child Book’s area. His name is Oh Sehun and he wears a black t-shirt that has Asia Pacific International School’s logo at the back of the t-shirt. If you found this little child, please bring him to Lost and Found area at Level 2, near to International’s Hall. Thank you,” Kyungsoo finishes his announcement after getting enough information from Jongin.

Jongin tugs on Kyungsoo pants once again, earning a curious look from the adult as he points his index finger to the microphone, “Can I have that and talk too? Maybe Sehunnie will listen to me?”

As absurd as it sounds, Kyungsoo willingly give Jongin the microphone, hoping that this better be good.

Jongin clears his throat before shakily placing the microphone over his mouth, feeling a little foreign when he hears the speakers amplify his voice, “Sehunnie, this is Jonginnie. Please come here soon, I miss you and I want to see you.”

“I know you are afraid so please have someone to bring you here, Sehunnie,” Jongin says, hoping that somewhere, Sehun is listening to this message, “Don’t be afraid, I am here waiting for you.”

Jongin quietly sings in attempt of making Sehun feels less afraid but who is he kidding, he sings the song to make himself feel at ease too.

“Blackbird singing in the dead of night,

Take these broken wings and learn to fly,

All your life,

You were only waiting for this moment to arise.”

♡

“Don’t do that anymore, okay?” Joonmyun sighs lowly, looking at both Sehun and Jongin who looks smaller than they already is.

He is mad, not at them, but at his own carelessness. When he hears Jongin’s voice through the speakers, he rushes all of his remaining students and Zitao to go to the Lost and Found area. He thanks Kyungsoo and Ilhoon respectively, for bringing both of his students to the area and take care of them until he arrives there.

Sehun wipes his tears lightly with the back of his t-shirt, nodding his head repeatedly while muttering strings of apology to his teachers and classmates. He knows that all of this is his fault for getting too excited to see Aurora. Joonmyun ruffles his student’s hair fondly, reminding him once again to not do that again. This time, he asks both of them to stand in front of him as they walk to the cafeteria to enjoy the lunch that is provided by the organizer.

“I am sorry, Jonginnie,” Sehun mumbles as he scoots closer to Jongin, gripping on his best friend’s t-shirt firmly, afraid of losing the said kid.

Jongin shakes his head slightly, kissing Sehun’s cheek as he whispers, “Stay close to me, okay? I am here to take care of you, Hunnie. Hold me close to you!"