“Here daddy, I picked it myself,” Chen grinned cheekily and placed a handful of pink tulip flowers on the island table. The giddy 5 year old skipped towards the dining table and hopped onto his favorite chair. He arranged his favorite Transformer plate and mug on the table while singing the new song that he learned in class yesterday. Soon, he started to get bored after waiting for his father’s reaction to his lovely gift. The boy pouted and furrowed his eyebrows when Luhan didn’t seem to appreciate his effort for picking him the flowers. “Daddy! Look at the pretty flowers!”

 

Chen’s sudden outburst startled Luhan whose concentration was on flipping the pancakes. He wanted his pancake to be perfect for his baby because Chen said that his pancake was “The tastiest pancake in the whole wide world”.

 

Smiling at the memory of his baby saying that for the first time, Luhan snapped back and saw a bunch of pink tulips on the table. He picked it up and laughed when he saw his baby still pouting, he then playfully brushed the flowers on those fluffy cheeks. “Daddy! It tickles!” Chen screamed and giggled.

 

Luhan’s heart swelled at his little boy. “This is beautiful, thanks ChenChen.”

 

“You’re welcome handsome daddy Lulu!” Chen chirped happily.

 

“What a sweet talker,” Luhan grinned. He placed the tulips back on the table and both father and son began to eat their breakfast.

 

‘Wait a minute, I’ve seen these flowers before,’ he thought as he kept on eyeing at the tulips while chewing his food. He then slowly scanned down Chen’s kindergarten uniform and noticed his dirty shoe. ‘Dirty shoe?’ Gasping, Luhan squinted toward his son’s shoes again and realized that Chen’s shoes were soiled with mud. ‘Oh no!’ Luhan got up from his chair and rushed to peek at his neighbor’s garden through their kitchen window.

 

His eyes widened when he saw the damaged that his son made to their neighbor’s beautiful tulip garden. ‘Kill me now,’ he mentally facepalmed. The garden looked like it was run down by a wild boar. To be precise, his little wild boar. Closing his eyes, Luhan inhaled and exhaled deeply. “Chen…,”

 

“Yes, daddy?” Chen grinned, playfully swinging his legs while staring innocently at his daddy’s face.

 

Luhan bit his bottom lip to prevent him from unleashing his anger at his precious son. Chen’s long eyelashes and innocent kitten smile made him look so innocent. He inherited those traits from his mother Mina, who was Luhan’s high school lover. Chen was born out of their passionate young love when both of them were only 18 years old. They never married because Mina had a bright future ahead of her and she didn’t want to be tied down with a kid. Both of them had a mutual agreement that Luhan would take care their son and they never kept in touch again after Chen was born.

 

Luhan was so grateful that he had his parents to support him and to help him raise Chen. His baby boy was so blessed to have many people that loved him so dearly. Raising Chen at such a young age made Luhan mature faster than his peers. He realized that he loved kids and decided to further his tertiary studies in early childhood education. Upon graduating from his course, he worked as a kindergarten teacher to gain experience and planned to open his own nursery and kindergarten one day.

 

“Daddy? You look angry, I did something wrong again right?” Chen murmured with his head bent. He didn’t want to make his father upset, he just wanted to make him happy. He stopped asking questions about his mother because every time it would make his father look so sad.

 

Determined to make his father happy, Chen stood up from his chair. He wrapped his arms around Luhan's neck and pulled him into a tight hug. “Channie said that a warm hug could make daddy smile again,”

 

“I’m not angry ChenChen,” Luhan smiled and kissed on top of Chen’s head. “I’m just shocked. Thank you for these flowers, but did you realize what you just did to our neighbour, Grandpa Kim’s garden?” Luhan sighed when Chen shook his head and stared back at him with wide blinking eyes. “You plucked almost all the beautiful tulips in Grandpa Kim’s garden. It takes a lot of hard work to grow those beautiful flowers, Chen. Grandpa Kim would be so sad right now,”

 

“I-I made Grandpa K-kim..s-sad?” Chen stammered with tears pooling in his eyes.

 

“Finish your breakfast first. We are going to properly apologize to Grandpa Kim later,” Luhan said and wiped the tears in his son’s eyes.

 

“Daddy?”

 

“Yes, baby?”

 

“Is Grandpa Kim going to put me in a time-out? Like how daddy punishes me when I’m naughty?” The boy asked with his mouth full of half-chewed pancake. He didn’t like it when his daddy put him in a time-out, he would be sitting on a chair while staring at the blank wall for half an hour.

 

“Don’t talk with your mouth full” The father nagged and wiped the stain of strawberry jam on his son's chin with his thumb. “Finish up your breakfast and we will apologize to Grandpa Kim.”

 

“I’m sorry, Grandpa Kim,” The boy said meekly with his head bent down. Grandpa Kim looked so dumbfounded at the whole ordeal, scratching the back of his head while staring at his once beautiful garden which now is the picture of destruction.

 

He soon found his tongue. “It’s alright, boy. But now I have to replant my tulips all over again so I would need a helper. Can you help me?” Grandpa Kim smiled fondly at the boy who still had his head bent low in guilt.

 

“You’re not mad at me, Grandpa Kim?” Chen slowly lifted his head up with glistening eyes.

 

“If you agree to help me, I promise I won’t be mad at you.”

 

“Really?” Chen asked with enthusiasm at the prospect of no punishment for his misdeed.

 

Grandpa Kim then nodded his head. “Yes, but only if you promise to help me with my garden.”

 

“Of course Grandpa Kim! I promise!” Chen screamed. He felt so relieved that he didn’t have to do time-outs. He jumped towards Grandpa Kim to give him a nice big warm hug. He released the wobbling old man. “Bye, Grandpa Kim! I am late for school now.” He half yelled and half ran towards his father’s car.

 

“Quick Teacher Lu! We are going to be late!”

 

“Stop jumping and screaming so early in the morning, you’ll wake up our neighbors,” Luhan chided and shook his head at his son’s energetic outburst.

 

He then turned towards the old man. “I’m sorry Mr. Kim,”

 

“It’s alright, I’m not angry. He will help me replant my tulips, and next time when the tulips regrow, he will learn to appreciate it more,” Mr. Kim smiled and patted Luhan’s shoulder, signaling that it was all right.

 

Luhan heaved a sigh of relief and walked towards his car.

 

---

 

Luhan was arranging some of the toys that he used for his class story telling session when one of his 5 years old student’s loud voices echoed throughout the classroom.

 

“Teacher Lu! Baekhyun bit my ear!” Chanyeol yelled with tears streaming down his face. He ran towards the blond haired man, slamming his tear stained face on Luhan’s stomach.

 

“Oof!”

 

“It wasn’t me, Teacher Lu! It wasn’t me!” The accused boy yelled while vigorously shaking his head. He stuck his tongue out towards Chanyeol and quickly hid behind his Umin Hyung.

 

Luhan gave Baekhyun a hard stare for being rude in class. “Shh shh, it’s alright Channie. Let me check your ear.” He spoke softly to the sobbing boy and placed him to sit on his lap. As he was carefully inspecting Chanyeol’s red ear, Luhan let out an exaggerated gasp. “There is a very big bite mark on Chanyeol’s ear!”

 

Chanyeol started wailing again when he heard his teacher’s remark. “I’m going to lose my pretty ear!”

 

The little boy’s sudden outburst startled Luhan. Luhan didn’t mean to scare Chanyeol. Cooing, he wrapped Chanyeol into his embrace and used his thumb to rub his little red ear.

 

Xiumin was tired of Baekhyun using him as a shield. “Baek, just go to Channie already.”

 

“B-but Umin Hyung, Channie hates me now.” Baekhyun was on the verge of tears.

 

“He’s your best friend. Just say ‘I’m sorry’ and Channie will forgive you.”

 

“Really, Umin Hyung?”

 

“Yes, Baekkie. Now, go.” Xiumin grabbed Baekhyun’s arm and pushed him forward across the room to where Luhan was sitting with Chanyeol still sobbing on his lap.

 

“Is…Is Yeollie going to be alright?” Baekhyun whispered while caressing Chanyeol’s trembling back with his small palm. “I’m sorry Yeollie, I’m so sorry,” he sniffled, tears started streaming out from his small eyes. The smaller boy felt so sad when Chanyeol refused to look at his face. Still sobbing, Baekhyun climbed onto teacher Luhan’s lap and wrapped his small arms around Chanyeol’s body and pressed his face to his friend’s back.

 

Luhan grumbled while trying to balance two sobbing 5 year olds on his lap. Both of them were in a sobbing mess and one by one, other kids started to gather around their teacher with their curious eyes peering at their sobbing friends. Luhan sighed when he heard Jongin’s soft whine while tugging Baekhyun’s school uniform. Jongin was the most sensitive kid in his class as he had a very tender heart.

 

“Teacher Lu, are they okay?” Xiumin puffed his cheeks as he saw the two usually bubbly boys bubbling with tears.

 

“Yes Minnie, they will be okay. Can you gather all your friends and wait for me at the music corner? We are going to start singing our new song today,” Luhan smiled as he patted Xiumin’s head.

 

“Sure!” The bun cheeked boy beamed and started pulling all other kids to their singing corner. He also dragged a whiny Jongin along with him and pushed him to sit on one of the chairs.

 

Luhan was blessed that all the 5 years olds in his class, including his son, were so well behaved. They were a riot most of the time but they could also easily follow his instructions.

 

Luhan wiped the two toddlers tear-stained faces, fixed their messy hair and said “Let’s start to discuss your problems,” then gently placed both Baekhyun and Chanyeol down.

 

“Yeollie forced me to drink milk! I hate milk! He said that a bogeyman would come and eat me if I don’t drink milk, I knew that he was telling a lie and I bit him for trying to scare me,” Baekhyun pouted and couldn’t stop scowling at his soon to be the ex-best friend.

 

“I just wanted him to grow taller,” Chanyeol whined while rubbing his throbbing ear.

 

“Chanyeol is your best friend right?” Luhan asked while slowly caressed Baekhyun’s puffed cheek with his palm.

 

Baekhyun nodded with pouted lips and arms crossed over his chest.

 

“Baekhyun is your best buddy too right Chanyeol?” Luhan chuckled when Chanyeol grinned and pulled the grumpy looking Baekhyun into his hug.

 

“Best friends don’t tell lies or hit each other,” Luhan shook his head and ruffled Chanyeol’s and Baekhyun’s hair. He smiled when both of the kids started pinching each other cheeks and they began to laugh together again.

 

“Teacher Lu! There is a very tall man approaching our class,” Chen howled while pressing his forehead at their class window. “Yeollie, come here! I can’t tiptoe any longer,” whined Chen.

 

Chanyeol walked to the window and saw a very interesting man with a little girl clutching his leg. Chanyeol was the tallest among other kids in his class so he was the informer for teacher Lu at what happened outside their class. Chanyeol could be telling them about the weather or any animal that he saw outside the window. The kids called him reporter Park Chanyeol or sometimes Park Nosey Chanyeol. “That man is so tall, I think he loves to drink milk!”

 

“I wanna see him too!” Baekhyun beamed and lifted both of his hands up in the air. “Pick me up!”

 

“Urgh, this is why you need to drink more milk! You’re getting heavier Baek,” Chanyeol grumbled while lifting his friend.

 

“I’m sorry, Yeollie,” Baekhyun said.

 

Chanyeol groaned when he accidentally smacked Baekhyun’s cheek on the glass window.

 

Baekhyun cried in pain but stopped when he heard the little girl started to weep while hugging her father’s leg. “Teacher Lu, the girl is crying!” Baekhyun yelled and waved his tiny hands toward the little girl’s father. “Don’t worry tall man, Teacher Lu will help you!”

 

“Chanbaek, stop yelling and go to your desks.”

 

“Yes, Teacher Lu,” both the boys trudged back to their desks.

 

“Today is Sera’s first day, so be nice to her alright?” Luhan smiled and looked expectedly at his class.

 

“Yes, Teacher Lu,” the kids chorused back.

 

Mr. Kim Junmyeon, the school headmaster already informed him that he would be receiving a new student today, a little girl named Oh Sera. She was a daughter of Mr. Oh Sehun, the famous expensive suit maker in Gangnam.

 

Luhan snorted, all of the kid’s parents were rich. Seoul International School is an exclusive institution made to cater to rich parents, the children of the elites in Seoul. They have a pre-school, middle school and high school all within the same compound. Even though the school fees are very expensive. Luhan was glad that Chen got the privilege to study here because he was working as one of the teachers.

 

Luhan walked outside to the hallway to greet Mr. Oh Sehun and his sobbing daughter. He couldn’t stop staring at Mr. Oh’s good-looking face. Sera’s father wore a gray color suit that perfectly tailored to his well-built body. His perfectly styled short black hair started to get messy when he tried to pull Sera from off from clutching his leg. ‘His long legs,’ Luhan gulped while shaking his head, hoping to destroy his naughty thoughts from messing up with his mind. Luhan’s curious eyes darted to Mr. Oh’s long arms, there were a few colorful hair bands on his wrist. Luhan couldn’t help to chuckle when he saw Mr. Oh’s fingernails were painted with shocking pink color nail polish.

 

“Welcome to the school Mr. Oh Sehun, I’m Luhan, Sera’s teacher,” Luhan bowed and stretched out his hand to Sera’s father. He smiled when Mr. Oh seemed reluctant to grab his hand but kept on staring at Luhan with a flustered face.

 

“Just call me Sehun,” Sehun murmured and finally grabbed Luhan’s hand. He blushed when the color of his fingernails could be seen clearly by Luhan. Sera loud cried startled both of them and Sehun continued to calm his wailing daughter. “I’m sorry, she was not in a good mood this morning, she usually is a sweet girl, right Sera?” Sehun cooed and caressed his daughter's long hair.

 

Sera was a very beautiful girl with a long silky black hair that flowed down her waist. She had long eyelashes with a pair of watery big eyes. She inherited her father’s good looks. “Don’t cry Sera-ssi. Don’t you want to show your pretty smile to all of your new friends? They can’t wait to meet you,” Luhan whispered and gestured to his classroom window.

 

Sera sniffled and peeked at the said window. The little girl could see a very tall boy with big elfish ears grinning at her while other kids were busy jumping to peek at her through their classroom window.

 

“I want papa to tie my hair!” Sera whined and pressed her watery face onto Sehun’s pants again.

 

“Alright, anything for you Sera-ya. What color do you want today?” Sehun smiled and placed his wrist in front of his daughter.

 

“Pink and red,” Sera whispered.

 

“Those are pretty colours! Sera-ssi, would you like to come inside our class? Your papa can tie your hair there with the pretty hairbands. You have such beautiful hair Sera-ssi,” Luhan caressed Sera hair and smiled when the little girl finally released her tiny fists clutching her papa's leg.

 

“Come on in,” Luhan ushered the shy Sera and the tall man to enter the classroom. “It’s their break time, I hope you don’t mind if the kids start to hover around you. Kids are always curious when there are new things in their surroundings.”

 

“It’s fine, Mr. Lu” Sehun looked down at Sera who was now scanning the classroom.

 

“Call me Luhan,” The honey blond teacher corrected him.

 

“Sure, Luhan.”

 

The teacher smiled, liking how his name rolled off from the attractive man’s tongue.

 

Luhan left Sehun and Sera at the front right corner of his classroom, right beside the teacher’s desk. He walked to his desk and began jotting down some notes on his teaching journal while eyeing his students that hilariously started to act like a group of Meerkats, shamelessly peering at the father-daughter duo.

 

He smiled fondly when he looked at how gentle Sehun was with his daughter. The well-dressed man sat on the carpeted floor with crossed legs with Sera on his lap. He couldn’t stop staring at Sehun’s face in full concentration, his pink lips pursed into a thin line while his long nimble fingers brushed through his daughter’s long smooth hair, combing it with a hot pink colored comb that he kept inside his suit pocket. He kept on talking and humming to Sera while tying her hair into a neat ponytail.

 

Chen’s whiny voice snapped Luhan from ogling at Sera’s extremely good looking dad. “Daddy? Why do you keep staring at the new girl’s father?”

 

“No, I’m not staring at him,” Luhan blushed. There was something about Sehun that drew Luhan’s attention. His long legs, broad shoulders, massive height, pink kissable lips and his facial features that could rival a Greek god. He liked the way Sehun treats his little princess. It made him wonder how well could he pamper his lover, cue for daydreams.

 

“Daddy? Daddyy~” Luhan’s daydream was interrupted by his own little one.

 

“Daddy your face is so red like a tomato. Are you okay?” Chen frowned while placing his small palms on Luhan’s cheeks.

 

Chen’s cold hand slapped Luhan into reality. ‘Why am I like this? I can’t fall in love with some stranger so easily like this right?’ Quickly shaking his head, he ruffled his son’s hair. “Daddy is fine, go to your friends,” he forced a smile while closing his journal and kept it back in his drawer.

 

Puffing his cheeks, Luhan stood up and started fixing his hair before walking towards Sehun’s sitting spot. Sera looked much calmer with her big eyes glancing warily at her new friends that were eagerly waving their hands to her from their singing corner.

 

“Sera, we are going to learn a new song today. Would you like to join us? It will be fun,” Luhan smiled at Sera.

 

“No! I don’t want to go!” Sera burst out, silence filled the class.

 

“Papa why can’t you stay with me?” Sera sobbed and clung to her father’s neck, pulling him into a tight hug that Sehun’s face started to get red because the lack of oxygen pumping through his head. He struggled to balance himself from falling on his back because of Sera’s clingy attitude.

 

“Sera, you papa has to go work. You can see him again soon, come meet with your friends first, they are waiting for you,” Luhan smiled and patted Sera’s head.

 

“Meera! Meera!” Chen screeched while running across the classroom to where Sera was seated, holding an unidentified object in his hands.

 

“My name is Se.Ra. Sera, not Meera” Sera pouted, grumpily correcting Chen’s wrong pronunciation while crossing her arms over her chest.

 

“Oh…sorry, Sera,” Chen sheepishly smiled. “Sera…Look at this!” he beamed, excitedly shoving a half-dead bullfrog right in front of Sera’s face.

 

Luhan’s eyes widened as soon as he saw the slimy frog in Chen’s hand. About to launch into a panic attack, he expected loud screaming to escape from Sera’s mouth. Luhan’s hair stood up on his arms and at the back of his neck. He hated slimy animals, he detested bugs too. Chen was the brave one who would bravely swat the bugs away and he was also the one who would hold a slipper to smack cockroaches while calming his screaming daddy.

 

“Cool! Where do get it?” Sera laughed and scrambled off from her Papa’s lap, stepping closer to Chen to get a closer look at the frog.

 

‘Wait, what?’ That wasn’t what Luhan expected Sera’s reaction to be.

 

Chen smirked. “I named him Bob the Frog. Teacher Yifan lets us play near the school pond during playtime, and he lets us pick up bi~g snails too.” the boy used his tiny hands to demonstrate how big the snails were.

 

“I caught Bob yesterday and kept him inside Teacher’ Lu’s closet,” he giggled while pointing towards Teacher’s Lu closet just right beside the students’ shoe cabinet by the classroom door.

 

Luhan couldn’t stop his body from squirming when he imagined the slimy and disgusting frog hiding in his closet for the entire time. He just stared at the frog’s eyes, too frozen to even swat it away from Chen’s hand.

 

“Bob is so adorable!” Sera cooed while gently tapping the frog’s head with her small hand.

 

“Can I go with them, papa? I want to catch grasshoppers!” said Sera excitedly.

 

“Sure, have fun dear,” Sehun smiled and nodded encouragingly to Sera.

 

She walked with Chen towards the other kids that were jumping around, so eager to get their hands at the nearly dead frog in Chen’s hand. Puffing his cheeks, Sehun stood up and started fixing his messy hair and wrinkled suit.

 

“Chen…I let you and your friends play with Bob for a while alright?” Luhan said while looking at the children that were clapping excitedly with their eyes intensely glued to Bob.

 

He then turned to the man in suit.

 

“Sehun, may I know who’s going to fetch Sera this evening? Would it be Mrs. Oh or you?” Luhan asked while grabbing Sera’s bag pack from Sehun’s hand.

 

“I-I’m a single father,” Sehun sheepishly smiled.

 

“Oh…me too…,” Luhan murmured.

 

There was a sudden thick air of silence between them that made Luhan realize how awkward he made things for the both of them. He couldn’t stop blinking his eyes, bewilderedly staring at Sehun’s not amused face. He could feel his face getting hotter by the second, especially when his eyes met Sehun’s. He would much rather kiss Bob the frog’s mouth than be in this embarrassing situation with Sehun right now.

 

“Gosh…I-I mean…I…can you please ignore my stupid remark? Please?” Luhan whined while rubbing his face with his palm.

 

Sehun chuckled as he hung Sera’s pink color water bottle strap on Luhan’s shoulder. “That’s good to know,”

 

“Teacher Lu! Bob ran away!”

 

Luhan gasped in horror when he heard Xiumin’s voice booming throughout their classroom. The kids were cheering and laughing so loud while running all over the classroom. The serene atmosphere in the classroom turned into total chaos in a matter of seconds.

 

“Move away! Move away! Don’t step on Bob!” Sera and Chen screamed while trying to push their friends that were trying to kick Bob with their tiny legs. Bob looked so lost, hopping wildly all over the floor. Baekhyun and Chanyeol were bouncing along beside the clueless frog; happily copying Bob’s every move.

 

‘Oh God, how do I stop this madness?’ Luhan shuddered at the thought of touching the cold and slimy frog.

 

His mind was so busy thinking ways to stop the commotion without ruining his image as the school teacher and an adult. He shouldn't be screaming along with the kids while trying to push the frog out from the classroom using a broom, right? How the hell was he going end this madness?

 

Sehun laughed looking at the children’s funny reactions especially their teacher Lu’s priceless pale face. Sera’s cute giggles also made him smile. It was the first time Sera genuinely laughed after being separated from her mother last month.

 

“Teacher Lu? Let me help.”

 

“H-huh?” Luhan stuttered while looking at Sehun’s handsome face. “That’s alright, you can go now Sehun, you’re probably late for work,” He looked down at his shoes, hiding his flushed face.

 

“You’re scared of the frog right?” Sehun snickered while shaking his head. He still remembered Luhan’s grimacing face when the teacher looked at Bob in Chen’s hand.

 

“No!” Luhan scowled. He would never admit that he was a coward in front of the children’s parents, especially this tall and handsome man. Teachers should always look brave and be someone that the kids could depend on.

 

“Lu, I can help, find me Bob’s container and uhm...can you let me go?” Sehun gave a pointed look towards Luhan’s hand that was clutching tightly onto the sleeve of his now crumpled suit.

 

Luhan shuddered at Sehun’s deep voice. He couldn’t stop blushing when he saw his hand was gripping on Sehun’s suit while his other arm tightly hugging Sera’s bag pack. He was acting just like Sera's clingy attitude towards her father that morning. He quickly released Sehun’s suit and rushed to get Bob’s container inside his closet. He ran back to Sehun and passed the container to him. He was holding his breath the entire time when Sehun peeled off his suit and rolled up the sleeves of his shirt to his elbows.

 

The tall man headed towards the kids that didn’t stop giggling together at the singing corner, squealing every time Bob jumped in the air.

 

Luhan sighed in relief when Sehun managed to catch Bob with his bare hands and the frog was finally back inside his transparent container. Luhan almost cursed when Sehun teasingly tried to shove the container toward him.

 

“I-I’m going to keep Bob inside the closet alright? You can play with him in your P.E lesson with teacher Yifan,” Luhan diligently explained the situation to the kids that were staring at him with watery eyes. ‘Great, now I look like I murdered their precious Bob.’

 

“Go and take a seat at the singing corner again, I’ll be back soon,” Luhan muttered to the kids with his eyes following Sehun’s every move. He started to panic when he saw Sehun walking towards his closet. Luhan struggled to keep his closet clean and neat when Chen always used the space to store his toys and other mysterious things that he found around the school compound. Until this day, he didn’t even know that Bob’s lived inside his closet. Who knew other weird things that could pop out from his cluttered closet? ‘Oh god…no…stop!’ he rushed over to stop Sehun from opening his closet.

 

“There, he’s back inside the batman cave,” Sehun singsong while shoving Bob's container in between Luhan's messy belonging inside the closet.

 

“I…You…,” Luhan deadpanned, it was too late, Sehun already saw how wrecked hi