Chapter 11: Blocks and Girls

“And this is where I play,” Woohyun finished his mini tour of the classroom. He has pointed out each child to Sunggyu – telling him which ones he could play with and which ones he couldn’t play with -, where all the toys were kept, where all the blankets and pillows were kept, and all the books that the young teacher had already read to them.

“Oppa, aren’t you going to play with us?” Some girls came up to the pair, slightly pushing Sunggyu out of the way.

“No, I’m going to play with my princess,” Woohyun shoved the girls away before sitting down where the blocks were.

“Oppa—“

“Pik-sook unnie! Sunggyu is hogging Woohyun-oppa all to himself! He’s not sharing with us,” the girls complained to the young teacher. The teacher looked up from another child’s desk before walking over to the group.

“What’s going on, Woohyun-ah?”

“I want to play with Gyu, but these girls won’t let me,” Woohyun pouted as he started pulling blocks into the area in front of him and Sunggyu. “I want to play with blocks and girls are icky, they only want to play with dolls.”

“But Woohyun-ah, Noona is a girl too, does that make Noona icky?” She asked as she sat down in front of the two boys.

“No, Noona isn’t icky. That’s cause Noona is a woman. My mommy said that womans—“

“Women, oppa,” Sunggyu corrected without looking up from the blocks.

“—Women aren’t icky,” Woohyun continued. “And those girls are liars, my daddy said that we fire liars. And I want to play with Gyu, not those icky girls.” Woohyun concluded as he began to coordinate with Sunggyu on building a big castle.

“Oh, and what are you two making?” Pik-sook looked up at the clock before turning her attention to the room, “Remember that story time is in a little bit.” The children cheered and her attention was back with to the two boys in front of her.

“We’re going to make a castle, for Prince Woohyun and Princess Sunggyu.”

“Why do you call Sunggyu a princess, Woohyun-ah?”

“Because he is my princess and my mommy calls me her prince, so that makes her and daddy, queen and king. What do you want to be Noona?”

“Can I just be your friend?”

“Of course, you can,” Woohyun nodded. “Gyu, story time is coming up soon, do you want to pick the story?” Sunggyu head popped up at the sound of story.

“Can I? Don’t you take turns?”

“Yes, Sunggyu, we do, but he was taken out of school, so you can take his spot in story picking,” she nodded.

“Can I go pick now, Noona?” With another nod from the teacher, he got up, hamster in hand, and walked over to the bookshelf. Without anyone noticing, a group of girls had decided they would follow the boy.

“Why do you wear girls’ clothes?” Sunggyu spun around to see the same group of girls that wanted to play with Woohyun earlier. “Are you a weirdo? Why does Woohyun-oppa want to play with you? You’re jus a ugly boy that dresses up like a girl.”

Sunggyu stood there, staring at the girls as they ganged up on him, saying mean things about him. His eyes began to water and soon quiet stifles could be heard. Woohyun looked up from the castle he was building with the teacher to see the back of a group of girls, near the bookshelves, before his concentration faded and he went back to his castle.