Chapter 01 : Pilot

 

“You need to get married, Jongin.”

 

“Mom,” The tanned male inhales sharply, his fingers pinching the bridge of his nose in frustration. “We’ve talked about this.”

 

“We did, but why haven’t I seen any progress?” The woman on the other line stresses, and Jongin could feel the frown on her face over the phone, and guilt eats him up in the inside. “Kim Jongin, I will not let my grandchildren grow up with only one parent by their side. You know how hard it is –”

 

And there she goes again, Jongin would roll his eyes to the ends of the earth if he could. What was so wrong growing up with one parent? He never experienced it before but he knows his boys would be able to handle it well. They’re his children, his boys, they would be able to cope well with everything. If things get hard, Jongin would always be there for them. Attend their school meetings, their games, their recitals and everything. Jongin vows to be the greatest father they could ever wished for, the greatest father that was enough for the both of them. But of course, his mother thinks differently.

 

“Kim Jongin, are you listening to me right now?”

 

“Yes, mom.” Jongin snaps himself out of his own thoughts and continued to listen to his mother nagging.

 

“It’s been 5 years since Eunbi died, Jongin.” Jongin’s heart restricts at the mention of his late wife, and his fingers that were drumming on the surface of his table stopped. “How do you think she’s going to feel when she realizes you’re raising the kids alone?”

 

“She’d be proud of me.”

 

“It’s not easy, Jongin.” His mother says softly, her voice suddenly weakening. “Raising a child alone isn’t easy. To raise two? That’s another story.”

 

“I’m doing a great job, mom. I’m doing fine.” Jongin stresses, but his mother won’t have it.

 

“That’s what you say now, but things are going to get harder, Nini,” His mother calls out his old nickname, and shivers ran down his spine a he cringed. Anything other nickname he has received from his friends, his siblings were better than Nini. “Please just consider the person I ask you to meet.”

 

“Oh my god, mom – ”

 

“Just a cup of coffee! Just a friendly meet-up, nothing beyond that. I promise.”

 

Jongin stays silent at the sound his mother’s desperate voice, and he falters.

 

“Jongin-ah.”

 

“Who?”

 

“What?”

 

“Who is it? I need to know who this person is first so I can–”

 

“Really! Oh my god!”

Jongin pushes his phone away from his ear at the sound of his mother shrieking, his face scrunched up in discomfort by the sound. He feels a sense of pride building up in him though, happy to know that he could still make his mother happy even when all he does is disappoint her.

 

“Her name is Nayeon. Im Nayeon. Her mother owns a spa around Gangnam.”

 

“Okay. This is only for a day, right?”

 

“Only a day. Whether you two hit it off or not, that’s up to you guys.”

 

“Okay. I’ll go.” Jongin sighs, and before he could let his mother bombard him with tons of questions, he ends the call politely. “I need to pick up the kids, mom.”

 

“Okay, take care, say hi to my grand children!”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Bubble . . Bubbly wubbly .”

 

“Hunnie, stop touching my !” 5-year-old Jaehyun screams at the top of his lungs, his color pencils spilling over the table and onto the floor as he gets up on his feet, stomping them on the surface of the chair he was sitting on.

 

“Jae, you have a bubble !” His 5-year-old twin brother, Jonghun, defends himself as he looks up to his brother with wide puppy eyes from the floor, and starts singing to tick his brother off. “Bubble ! Bubbly wubbly, Jae has a bubble wobble bub !”

 

“Be quiet!” Jaehyun yells at the top of his lungs once more, jumping down from the chair and chasing after his brother, who ran as fast as lightning to avoid the heavy punches and hits from his younger of 2 minutes brother.

 

“I said, be quiet!” Jonghun mocks his brother, and Jaehyun shrieks in anger. “Jonghun, don’t let me catch you!”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Kyungsoo-ya,” A blonde male calls out, and Kyungsoo looks up from his cubicle, where he was marking a few papers with tons of colors running across the surface of the paper, courtesy of the kids having wild-like artistic skills. He doesn't mind, he loves it, but it's hard for him to mark sometimes with their colors hiding the answers underneath.

 

“Oh, Luhan-hyung!” Kyungsoo places his red pen down on the table and cranes his neck upwards to get a better look on his senior, Luhan, who smiled sheepishly towards him. “The Kim brothers, they–”

 

“I’m on it.” Kyungsoo nods his head in understanding, and stands up from his seat, knowing what he has to do.

 

He hears Luhan sighing with relief, and his shoulders relaxing almost immediately as he watched Kyungsoo marching towards him. “I don’t know how you do it, Kyungsoo-ya. It’s like you have some magic over them.”

 

“It’s not that hard, hyung,” Kyungsoo smiles reassuringly, and he could feel the stares of disbelief he was receiving from almost everyone in the staffroom. It has been almost 2 months, and working in the kindergarten had taught Kyungsoo a lot of things. He also notices that kids listen to him really well than other teachers. “You just need to talk to them, softly.”

 

Kyungsoo uses the same excuse over and over again, and he knows Luhan doesn’t believe him one bit. But he does know that Luhan is a very understanding person. He knows how Kyungsoo is very good with children, having them being comfortable with him easily as well as listen to him in classes very well. It was like he compelled them to do so, but Luhan knows Kyungsoo isn’t capable of such things. Heck, even Kyungsoo knows he isn’t capable in doing that either.

 

He makes his way out of the staffroom after bidding Luhan a soft goodbye, and could see a few parents picking up their children from their respective classes, bowing to them out of respect every chance he gets. He stops by a familiar blue butterfly door, and he could already hear the two loud voices that he has already grown accustomed to over the weeks.

 

Kim Jonghun’s and Kim Jaehyun’s.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Mr. Kim!”

 

“Oh, Taehyung-ah,” Jongin smiles widely, his hands opening up, gesturing over Taehyung as he waits for the usual daily routine. He sees the frown on Taehyung’s face, and he too, frowned as if knowing what he was going to say. “Are they in class?”

 

“Yes, Mr. Kim.” The younger male nods, puffing his cheeks out as he was about to step out of his registration table, only to have Jongin stop him. “It’s okay, Taehyung. Butterfly, right?”

 

“Yes, but I should probably – ”

 

“It’s fine, I’ll make my way towards the class myself. I’ll be back soon.”

 

Jongin walks away from Taehyung before the younger could even say anything, and Jongin sighs heavily as he walked through the clean corridors, and he could see teachers and parents talking to each other outside of their children’s classrooms. He smiled politely and bowed his head, he may be one of the most known CEO’s in the whole world, but he would never show his superiority than he already has with his title. He stops when he hears a few smashes and thumps, and he stops in front of the blue butterfly room and prepares himself for what he is about to see with a soft inhale.

 

Jongin enters the classroom and he could see the commotion his sons were creating, pushing past every other kid away just to catch each other. His shoulders slumped in exasperation, shutting his eyes briefly to hide the tiredness mentally spilling out of his eyes and soul. He takes a few steps closer and was ready to capture Jonghun in his hands, when the smaller male makes a turn and Jongin misses him by the light, and managed to capture only Jaehyun in his arms who tosses and screams wildly.

 

Jongin falls down onto his and tries to calm his younger son down, but he was failing as he knew the subject of Jaehyun’s anger and frustration was still running around free and yelling about Jaehyun’s ‘bubble ’.

 

“Shh, Jaehyun-ah, it’s appa.” Jongin tries to soothe the younger boy down, only to regret as his wails were getting louder and he was given dirty looks from several other parents and kids. “Jae, Jae-ah, talk to me. No need to cry, alright? What’s wrong, pup?”

 

Jaehyun started sobbing as he tries to sputter out the words, but failed to do so as he started hiccupping.

 

“Ap...p..pa, Hun–Hunnie i-is bein–g m–m-mean! H-He–”

 

He cries harder into Jongin’s chest, his fists clutching tightly onto his dress shirt that was damp from the tears.

 

“Kim Jonghun, get here right now and apologize to your brother–” Jongin calls out for his older son, hoping that he would cooperate today, at least, today. He watches as Jonghun deliberately ignores his calls for him, and continued running around as he sang another verse of bubble .

 

“Bubbly wubbly…! ! Jaehyun has a bubbly– !”

 

“Hunnie–”

 

“Bubble bubble bubble~”

 

“Kim Jonghun.” No matter how loud Jongin projected his voice, Jonghun raised his voice in a much loder tone, burying Jongin’s voice.

 

Jaehyun’s cries were getting louder and Jongin was at his peak.

 

“Kim–”

 

“Jonghun-ah.”

 

Jongin stops as he hears a delicate voice behind him, followed by a small figure running towards Jonghun to capture the running boy in his arms, laughing with the little boy who giggled in his embrace. “Look who’s being naughty again, hm?”

 

“Kyungsoo-ssem!” Jonghun flails his arms as he gets enveloped into a hug by the doe-eyed male, and Jongin watches intently as the male showed no signs of struggle as he calmly handles the little ball of mischief in his arms, oblivious to the fact how Jaehyun had already stopped crying the moment he heard his teacher’s voice.

 

“Did you make your brother cry, Jonghun?” Kyungsoo asks softly as he made his way towards Jongin, who had his mouth slightly apart at the scene. Jongin could barely get a good look at him, as his wild son thrashed wildly in the male’s arms, who whispered a few things to Jonghun, which made him calm down a bit.

 

As he least expects it, Jongin sees his eldest son running towards him, pulling Jaehyun away from Jongin, who reluctantly let go of his balled fist to his dress shirt. Jongin blinks, and sees Jonghun embracing his brother in a hug, patting Jaehyun’s back before pulling away, squatting every now and then to get a good look at Jaehyun who still had tears spilling out of his eyes.

 

“Jae.” Jonghun pouts, and Jaehyun takes a peek at him from his lashes. “Do you hate me?”

 

Jaehyun nods.

 

“You…hate Hunnie?”

 

Jaehyun hesitates, but he shakes his head.

 

“If you don’t hate Hunnie, then Jae can play with Hunnie, right?”

 

“But Hunnie was mean to Jae!” Jaehyun scolds while folding his arms over his chest, and Jonghun frowns before turning around to look at the doe-eyed male, who encouragingly nodded towards him. “Hunnie shouldn’t be mean to Jae. That’s not what brothers do.”

 

“And what do brothers do then, Jaehyunnie?” Kyungsoo asks, in a very soft voice that Jaehyun finally looks up with his watery eyes. “Hmn?”

 

“Brothers play with each other and don’t call each other mean names!” Jaehyun starts, but his voice falters when he sees the remorseful look on his brother’s face. “A…and brothers love each other. Do you love Jae, Hunnie?”

 

“Of course I do! Jae is my best friend!”

 

Jongin silently watches the interaction, feeling slightly awkward and left out, which makes him step up into the conversation, finally making his presence into their attention. Including the doe-eyed male’s. He sits on his knees and holds onto Jaehyun’s back, who looked at Jongin immediately.

 

“Why don’t you hug Jonghun, Jae? Hm? Be friends again. Be brothers!”

 

“But appa!”

 

“Jonghunnie looks sorry, forgive him, hm?”

 

Jonghun opens his arms wide and bats his eyelashes, waiting for his brother to finally like him again. “Jae~! Hunnie was only kidding, don’t be mad, pleaaase?”

 

Jaehyun couldn’t resist, Jongin knew that. Jaehyun always had the softest heart, just like his late mother’s. That’s why Jaehyun was a little sensitive, and couldn’t take a joke involving him. Jongin was still working on it, making Jaehyun know that kids tend to joke around, so he shouldn’t be too sensitive. He envelops his brother in a hug, and Jongin felt a surge of warmth overflow in him as he stands up on his feet, contented just by looking at his sons. How happier could he possibly be?

 

“Sir?”

 

Jongin whips his head around and his breath hitches slightly, because right in front of him, just a few inches shorter, was the doe-eyed male. His hair was of auburn colour, slightly curled attractively matching his perfect white skin, his eyes flowing with sincerity and kindness as he blinks up at him innocently, his plumped heart-shaped lips stretching widely into a friendly smile and Jongin felt a zap inside of him when he realizes that smile was directed towards him.

 

He was beautiful. No doubt.

 

“Their bags.” He hands Jongin their bags, and Jongin snaps himself out of it before taking the bags into his hands, their hands an inch away from brushing against each other while doing so. “You must be their father?”

 

“U…uh. Yeah. I’m he.”

 

“He?”

 

“Oh… I’m Jongin. Kim Jongin.”

 

He hears a short hearty laugh from the male, his eyes shaped as moon crescents for a short moment and his teeth was aligned neatly. “That’s a much better name than ‘he’.”

 

Jongin found himself boyishly brushing his hand against the back of his neck, and he quickly stops himself when he realizes how he might have seemed like a dork doing so. “Sorry. I just had a long day at work. Are you new? I’ve never seen you.”

 

“Oh, yes. Hello! I’m Do Kyungsoo, Jonghun’s and Jaehyun’s English teacher. I just started two months ago, and I barely get out of my office. Which maybe explains why you’ve never seen me for the past weeks.” Kyungsoo introduces himself, and eyes the two children who were still hugging each other, staring at them intently.

 

“I see.” Jongin holds out his hands for his kids to hold, their bags hunched over his shoulders. Jonghun grabbed his right hand and Jaehyun on his left. “Time to go home, pups.”

 

Jongin turns back to Kyungsoo who blinks his wide eyes up to him. “Thank you for calming my sons down, they must be a handful for you in class.”

 

“Not at all.”

 

Kyungsoo crouches down on his knees, and looks at the two boys as he ruffled their hair. “Remember what I told you guys, right? Always–”

 

“Always be good to appa!” They chorused, proud smiles on their faces as the both of them nuzzles their noses over Jongin’s thighs. Jongin smiles oh-so-widely, he was scared his lips might fall off. He had the most cutest children ever, and a warmth fills him up as he feels so much love for his sons.

 

“Thank you, Mr. Do.”

 

“Oh, call me Kyungsoo. It’s fine.”

 

Jongin smiles. “Thank you, Kyungsoo. It’s nice to meet you.” He turns on his heels and rushes over towards the door, his smile stretches wider when he hears a soft ‘it’s nice to meet you too, Mr. Kim.’

 

Kyungsoo.

 

Do Kyungsoo.

---

 

i just love exo and kids :( and i can't unsee jongin from being a father of two playful sons like sakdjkdf anyways hi welcome to LAYKI! this is the pilot chapter so [gabriel voice] like and subscribe ;))))