It had been three weeks since Minki and Minhyun moved in with Dongho. All the adoption papers had been taken care of the first few days after the twins moved in, and Minhyun and Minki were behaving like such angels. Dongho thought for a split second that everything was going to be smooth sailing. Sadly, he was wrong.

“Minhyun, what did I tell you about stealing your brother’s crayons?” Dongho frowned.

Minhyun looked down guiltily, putting his hands behind his back and shifting his feet. Minki, who was in tears just a few short seconds ago, was looking smugly at Minhyun and sticking out his tongue from the safety of Dongho’s legs.

“It’s not nice and I shouldn’t do it again?” Minhyun murmured, still not meeting Dongho’s gaze.

“Yes, and what should you do now?”

“Apologize to Minki and promise not to do it again…”

“So what do you say?”

“Sorry Minki…I won’t do it again…”

“Minki,” Dongho turned to the younger twin, “What do you do after he apologizes?”

Minki paused for a second, before padding over towards Minhyun and giving the older twin a big hug, “I forgive you, Minhyun.”

Dongho counted to three before Minhyun yelped in pain and Minki ran off towards their room cackling. “Minki that really hurt!” Minhyun yelled, running off to catch Minki.

Dongho sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose as squeals and shrill laughter erupted from their room. Really, those kids were going to give him grey hair if they keep it up. At first, those kids acted like angels, they even looked like angels with their cute faces! But Dongho soon learned the very important life lesson that appearances can be deceiving.

To say they were hyper would be the greatest understatement of the year. They can never keep still even for a small fraction of a second. It’s good that those kids were active, but Dongho was starting to feel like an old man trying to get them to calm down. Dongho just had to wonder when did they start acting so hyper around him.

His doorbell rang, interrupting his thoughts. The twins’ room went silent, and out of the corner of Dongho’s eyes, he saw the two peeking their heads out of their bedroom door.

Dongho opened the door and was greeted by the sight of his smiling friend and next-door neighbor. “Jongup!” Dongho said, smiling brightly, “Come in, make yourself at home! I’m sure the twins would like to see their favorite uncle.”

Jongup smiled, “Thanks Dongho, now where are the little twins?”

“Uncle Jongup!”

The twins ran past Dongho and flung themselves onto Jongup, nearly knocking him down. Jongup laughed as he scooped the twins up in his arms. The twins squealed and threw their arms around Jongup’s neck. “And how are my favorite pair of twins doing today?” Jongup asked with a smile to the both of them.

“Minhyun stole my crayons!” Minki frowned.

“Oh? Minhyun, that’s not a nice thing to do to your brother.”

“I already apologized to Minki!” Minhyun said, sticking out his tongue at Minki.

Minki puffed up his cheeks in response.

Jongup laughed, making his way to the living room with Dongho following close behind. He settled the twins down on the couch and flopped down beside them, Dongho doing the same. The twins then excused themselves and went to their bedroom to continue playing.

“Wow,” Jongup said after a moment of silence, “I don’t think I’ve seen the place this clean in months.”

Dongho chuckled, “If I left it as it was Minki would have tried to clean it up for me while Minhyun would scold me until I clean it all up. It’s better for the three of us if I kept it clean.”

“I guess taking care of the twins is good for you after all,” Jongup said with a smile.

“And what is that supposed to mean?”

“Well, you’re actually awake when I visit this early in the morning for a start.”

“I have to!” Dongho frowned, “What if they hurt themselves when I’m still asleep? And they get really cranky when they’re hungry.”

Jongup laughed. It was true that the arrival of the twins brought some good for Dongho. He hadn’t been sleeping the day away like a sloth anymore. He learned to keep his place neat and tidy. And he stopped living off of instant noodles and take-out because he was too lazy to cook. It was good to see Dongho taking his responsibility seriously. But there was still one thing that was bothering Jongup…

“Hey Dongho,” Jongup said, “What are you going to do when the new term starts?”

Dongho frowned. To be completely honest, Dongho completely forgot about college. Minhyun and Minki had invaded his mind so much for the past three weeks that he didn’t have time to think about anything else.

“Honestly, I haven’t thought of that…”

“Well you really need to start thinking about it,” Jongup scratched his neck, “You can’t exactly drop-out just to take care of those two. Your parents will definitely take them away if they intervene with your college.”

“I know that Jongup, but I can’t just leave them here while I got to school…”

“Not to mention you haven’t been coming to work lately, Himchan-hyung understands that you need to take care of those two, but we’ve been a little understaffed these past few weeks.”

Dongho felt a little guilty about missing work, but what could he do? He had to make sure Minhyun and Minki were settled in completely. Himchan was generous enough to give him a long leave even though they were a little understaffed from the start. He knew he should get back to work as quickly as possible. But he couldn’t exactly go back to work if he still constantly worried about the twins’ well being.

“Jongup,” Dongho said exasperated, “I can’t just leave them at home when I go to classes and work.”

Jongup shook his head, “You’re too paranoid, Dongho. It’s not like they’ll kill themselves when you’re gone. You already childproofed every inch of this apartment. What more do you need to do?”

“I just don’t feel comfortable not having anyone to watch them.”

“And that’s exactly why I’m here,” Jongup said.

“What?”

“Have you ever thought of getting them to go to Kindergarten?”

Dongho couldn’t exactly say he hadn’t, the thought had crossed his mind once or twice in the past few week. Especially when he found out Minhyun and Minki had problems with counting and reading the children books Dongho had gotten for them.

Jongup shoved a pamphlet in Dongho’s face. Dongho snatched the pamphlet from Jongup’s hand and read it. “Jongup,” he said, “What’s this?”

“It’s a pamphlet,” Jongup replied, “I got it from our landlord when I saw him in the reception area.”

“A pamphlet…for a kindergarten?”

“Yep!” Jongup smiled, “I heard the owner is a good friend of the landlord. And since the landlord knows about your situation, I’m pretty sure he can put in a good word with the owner and give you a discount for the school fees.”

Dongho looked over the pamphlet, reading it thoroughly. It did look like a promising school, and it was in the same direction as his college. It would be easy for Dongho to walk them to school and pick them up. But Dongho needed to see the school for himself.

“It looks like a nice school, but I want to see it for myself first before deciding to register the two.”

“Okay then,” Jongup smiled, “We can go see the school now.”

“Wait, now?” Dongho frowned.

“Why not now? I don’t have anything to do since Junhong’s going to be busy all day,” Jongup shrugged, “And it’ll be fun to spend some quality time with the twins. I’ll go down to the reception area and tell our landlord to call his friend. You get the twins ready. Okay? See you downstairs!” Jongup said as he got off from the couch and ran outside in lightning speed.

Dongho stared at the door as the twins popped their heads out from their bedroom. “Uncle,” Minki spoke up, “Are we going somewhere?”

Dongho turned his stare towards them and sighed. “Yeah, we’re going somewhere,” Dongho got off from the couch and ushered them back inside their bedroom, “Come on, let’s get you two ready.”

---Page Break---

The walk to the Kindergarten was short, and Minhyun and Minki were giddy the entire journey. They were asking Jongup and Dongho all sorts of questions about the Kindergarten, like: “What’s a Kindergarten?” “What do we do in a Kindergarten?” “Are there going to be kids like us?” and so on. Dongho could see they were excited about finally being able to get out of the house and play instead of being cooped up inside all day. Dongho felt guilty realizing that he didn’t take them out often.

“And here we are,” Jongup said as soon as they stopped in front of the gate, “I wonder if the owner’s here yet.”

Just then, an older man slid the gate open, motioning for the group to come inside. He didn’t look very old, but he was still older than Dongho. He smiled at them as they stepped inside the school grounds.

“Welcome!” He said cheerily, “I already got a call telling me you were coming. Which one of you is Kang Dongho?” Dongho stepped forward and the older man bowed, “It’s a pleasure to meet you,” Dongho returned the gesture. “And these must be the twins,” the man bent down to the twins’ eye-level, “What’re your names, kids?”

The twins looked up at Dongho—who was encouraging them to introduce themselves—before looking back to the man. “I’m Minhyun,” Minhyun pointed to himself, “And this is Minki,” he pointed to Minki, “Minki’s younger than me.”

“Nice to meet you two,” the man ruffled their hairs. “Oh I forgot to introduce myself,” the man stood back up, “My name’s Park Choongjae. I’m the owner as well as a teacher for one of the classes. And I wasn’t told beforehand you were going to bring a friend.”

Jongup smiled, “I’m just here to make sure Dongho doesn’t nitpick at everything. My name is Jongup, it’s a pleasure to meet you Mr. Park.”

Choongjae laughed heartily, “A little bit on the protective side, eh? Well sir, you’ll find that there is absolutely nothing to worry about here. The twins will be safe from harm and will be supervised the entire time they are in school grounds. Let’s start the tour, shall we?”

They followed the older man as he showed them everything there was to the school and at the same time patiently answering Dongho’s numerous questions. Minhyun and Minki looked at everything in awe, always running off to see something that caught their eye. And by the end of the tour, they had pleaded Dongho to let them go to Kindergarten.

“Please, uncle?” The twins said in unison, giving Dongho their best puppy dog eyes.

“Well I guess you don’t have much of a choice now, Dongho,” Jongup joked.

Dongho gave him a glare before turning to the twins. He smiled down at them, “If you two really want to, I don’t really see why you can’t.” They looked like they really wanted to go to school, and who was Dongho to deny them of their education just because he was a little paranoid? Sure he still had his worries, but he would have to keep to himself for the twins’ sake.

The twins cheered and hugged Dongho’s legs, yelling “Thank you” at the top of their lungs. They soon detached themselves and excitedly chatted about what Kindergarten would be like for them. Dongho let them be for a while and turned to Choongjae, “When can I register them?”

“You can come back tomorrow and register them, we can also discuss about their school fees then.”

“Thank you, Mr. Park,” Dongho bowed, “I’ll see you tomorrow then.”

“Oh, before I forget, here,” Choongjae handed Dongho a small slip of paper, “This is my telephone number, if you still have any questions, don’t be shy and ask me. Also, I’ll be grateful if you call before you come visit the school.”

Dongho took the slip of paper and pocketed it, “Thank you, we’ll be going now. Minhyun, Minki, come on, we’re going home!”

Choongjae waved at them as the group made their way home. Minhyun and Minki were still giddy, walking ahead of Dongho and Jongup as they recounted what they saw in the Kindergarten. “I’m proud of you, Dongho,” Jongup gave him a pat in the back, “You overcome your paranoia for their sake.”

“I’m not paranoid,” Dongho mumbled, “And they really looked like they want to go to Kindergarten, so I couldn’t really say no.”

Jongup laughed, “You really can’t say no to them, can you?”