Ms. Kwon wrote her name on the board for the eighth time but it still didn’t exude as much “fun” as she hoped. Everything had to be perfect. After all, you only have one first day as a 3rd grade teacher and she was determined to have everything go perfectly as planned. Her desk was impeccably organized, her skirt was straight and of modest length, the desks were situated in pairs, all equally spaced apart, and the bookshelves were stacked alphabetically and color coordinated. All that were missing were her students, and they were arriving any minute.

    “Good morning class, my name is Ms. Kwon.” The young teacher cleared as she practiced her introduction. The butterflies were swarming in her stomach and she couldn’t tell if she was nervous, or excited. Being a third grade teacher had been her dream for all of… 2 months. Until that point, her dream had always been what her parents had in mind for her. College, law school, marriage, family. But that all changed when she decided to make her own future, starting by dumping her douche-bag of a boyfriend and dropping out of law school after only 2 weeks.

Ms. Kwon glanced at the clock, 10 to 9, they should be arriving any minute now. She forced herself to take a deep breath as the first of her students appeared at the door.

    “Bow, Bing! Introduce yourself!” A man said to his son in slightly accented Korean as a father with two kids entered the room. The boy’s uniform was clean and pressed, not even a thread out of place and he had big, sweet eyes with an almost forgetful looking gaze. His father had a little girl balanced on his hip with her head buried into his shoulder, either shy or asleep. He himself was dressed casually in a pair of slacks and a v-neck. Ms. Kwon smiled a little too enthusiastically as she ran over to the door to greet the family.

“Hello! Welcome! Good morning! You can call me, Ms. Kwon.” She beamed at her first student. “What’s your name?”

“Zhang Bing.” The little boy said politely as he smiled shyly. “Uhh, this is my lunchbox!” He

added as he held up the blue Spiderman cooler he was holding in his hands. Ms. Kwon let out a giggle.

    “That’s so cool!” She said. “Why don’t you go find your cubby to put that in, and then find your nametag on one of the desks?”

    “Ok!” The little boy said with an endearing smile as he went over to put his things away.

    His father adjusted the girl in his arms as he extended his arm out to shake Ms. Kwon’s hand.

    “Hello, Ms. Kwon. I’m Zhang Yixing, Bing’s father. He’s so excited to start 3rd grade.” He said with a dimpled smile.

    “I’m so excited to have him in my class!” She replied.

    “I know you’re probably going to have a lot of anxious parents briefing you on their children today, but I just wanted to let you know about a couple things.” Yixing continued as the little girl in his arms started fidgeting and asked to be let down. Yixing put her down and she ran over to her brother before he continued. “As you can probably tell, Bing isn’t Korean. He was born here and his step-mom, my wife is Korean, so he’s pretty good at the language, but he still struggles sometimes. I’m not expecting you to know any Mandarin, but if he seems flustered that’s probably why. He has a couple friends he knows in class with him, so that’s a plus, and the two of them can usually decipher what he wants when he can’t remember the right words.” Yixing concluded his mini-rant with a sheepish smile. “Sorry if that was a lot. Oh! And one more thing, I won’t be here to pick him up after class. A friend of mine is coming instead to pick up him and a couple of his friends because I’ll be at work.”

    Ms. Kwon tried her best to wrap her head around the flood of information she had just heard. As she made a mental plea hoping every parent wasn’t going to be so thorough, she smiled at the Dad.

    “That’s fine!” She replied, forgetting to ask for the friend’s name. “And I know a little Mandarin, so that should be fine. Don’t worry about your son, he will do great here I’m sure!” Ms. Kwon continued with a smile permanently glued to her face to hide her fear and worry. The father, thankfully, didn’t seem to notice the panicked look in her eyes.

    “Awesome!” He replied, as more students suddenly began to file into the classroom. “Umm, I’ll be going now. Just need to gather my daughter and bring her to her pre-K classroom.”

    Ms. Kwon nodded as she watched about a dozen more students suddenly fill her room, followed by anxious parents all lining up to introduce themselves to her. As the anxious young teacher fielded questions about snack time and the curriculum, Yixing tried to negotiate with his daughter that she couldn’t stay with Bing because she had her own class to go to. As the clock ticked to 9 am, signalling the beginning of school, the little girl began to cry.

    “Miling-ah!” Her father started to fret. “Don’t cry, don’t cry! You’ll see Bing when school is over, and then you can play together all you want, how does that sound?”

    “Want… play now!!!!” The little girl wailed. And Yixing looked over at Ms. Kwon with a sorry look.

    “I apologize so much, I know class is starting… just one moment please!” He begged her.

    Ms. Kwon glanced at the rest of her confused students, who had filled all the rest of the seats except for one pair in the back row, and back at the father, not quite sure what to do. This had not been part of her plan.

    “Umm, it’s ok, umm…” She began.

    “I’ll talk to her.” Bing suddenly said from his seat in the front row as he got up and went over to the door to comfort his baby sister.

    “Miling-ah.” The young boy began, taking her hands and looking her straight in the eyes. “Donttcry, please? For Gege? School will be over reallllly quick! And then I will play with you all afternoon, how does that sound?”

    The little girl stifled another sob as she nodded her head. “But don’t want be alone.” she whimpered.

    “You won’t be alone!” Bing continued. “You’ll have a whole class full of new friends, and a teacher! it’ll be so much fun!”

    “Really?” Miling asked, wiping tears from her eyes.

    “I promise!” Bing replied. “Now, go with Appa to class, and I’ll see you really soon. Ok?”

    “Ok Gege.” Miling replied softly, attacking her brother in a big hug before asking for her Dad’s hand.

    “I’m so sorry about that.” Yixing said again to Ms. Kwon as he grabbed his daughter’s hand.

    “It’s ok!” Ms. Kwon replied. “Just a little bump in the road, first days can be hard for everybody.” Boy oh boy is that true, she thought to herself.

    “Have a good day! Bye Bing!” Yixing said with a wave as he turned around with his daughter and left the classroom.

    “Sorry about that.” Bing turned to his teacher and said with an apologetic grin.

    “It’s fine.” Ms. Kwon replied. At least the hiccup came early in the day. Now to start class… “Let’s start with attendance!” Ms. Kwon announced as she heard hurried footsteps down the hall.

    “Aish, hurry up boys, we’re soo late!” She heard a worried voice announce from what appeared to be just outside her classroom.

    “Appa stop pulling!” Another voice replied.

    “Stop complaining! If you hadn’t hidden your brother’s uniform this morning we wouldn’t be late in the first place.”

    A giggle followed. “But it was so funny!”

    Ms. Kwon quickly looked down at her list of students to try to determine which ones they could be. She noticed a pair of boys that shared a surname and whose names were very similar,  could it be…?

    “Hello!” A man’s voice startled her from the door to her classroom. “The Kim brothers are here, I’m so sorry we are late.”

    The girl’s head shot up at the sound of the voice and looked over at the door. There stood a grown man (though he didn’t appear to be too much older than herself) standing in between two little boys that appeared to be his clones. They all had long, dark ruffled hair, high cheekbones and impish smirks. The father wore a pair of sweatpants and a shirt that appeared to be inside-out and the boys’ uniforms were haphazardously thrown together, as if they had gotten dressed blindfolded. In the dark. During a tornado.

    “Kim… Kim brothers?” Was all Ms. Kwon could manage at the sight of the motley group.

    “Introduce yourselves!” the father scolded as he simultaneously knocked the backsides of both his sons’ heads.

    The boys rubbed the backs of their heads and scowled, but introduced themselves in grumbled unison as Kim Daehyuk and Kim Daehyun. Thank god they have nametags, Ms. Kwon thought, or I would never be able to tell them apart…

    “Hello boys.” Ms. Kwon replied, regaining her composure. “You may call me Ms. Kwon. As it is the first day of school, I will excuse you from being late, but don’t make this a common occurrence, understand?” The boys and their father nodded vigorously. “Alright, now go find your seats and I will continue taking role.” Ms. Kwon finished, pleased with how professional she thought she sounded.

    The twins ran to the back row where their seats were next to each other, but not before passing by Bing’s desk and giving him a greeting. So those two must be his friends… Ms. Kwon thought as the boys’ young father came over to her desk.

    “Hello, I’m sorry for interrupting you again. I know class is starting, but I just wanted to introduce myself to you.” He started. “My name is Kim Jongdae, I’m their father. You can probably tell, but they are identical so it’s a bit hard for people to tell them apart at first, I wanted them to be in separate classes but it didn’t work out, but I’m sure after a couple of weeks you’ll figure it out.”

    “I’m sure it will be fine.” Ms. Kwon replied politely.

    “And just one more thing.” Jongdae added, his voice dropping down to a whisper. “Please, keep close eye on them… They can be a bit of a handful. Nothing you can’t handle, I’m sure, but don’t be afraid to punish them. In fact, I encourage it. Punish them all class. You won’t hurt their feelings, I promise.” The father finished, giving Ms. Kwon a small smirk before turning to head towards the door.

    “Oh, and one more thing.” He turned around to face her right before leaving. “I won’t be here to pick them up later. My friend Byun Baekhyun will come by to get them and their friend Bing. Hi Bing!” He added to the small boy and gave him a wave. Right before he left, he turned to the back of the room where his sons were sitting a bit too innocently at their shared desk.

    “And boys- no fooling around, got it? Remember, I’m always watching…” He pointed his fingers at his eyes then flashed them at his sons, who replied with mischievous giggles.

    “Of course, Dad!” One replied (Daehyun?).

    “We won’t do anything, promise!” The other added with a smirk (Daehyuk?).

    Their dad sighed before turning to Ms. Kwon one last time. “Good luck.” Was all he said before turning around and leaving the room.

~~

    “Alrighty class!” Ms. Kwon clapped her hands and addressed her students. “Let’s get on with roll call. After I say your name, please raise your hand and say “here!”. Then, since it’s the first day, I would like you all to give your age and favorite color.”

    “Favorite color is boring!” A voice called from the back of the room. The teacher looked up to see two smirking faces staring back at her, as if taunting her to guess whose voice had made the call.

    “Let’s all raise our hands and wait to be called on before we speak, ok?” Ms. Kwon scolded, not taking her gaze of the obvious trouble-makers. “If you don’t want to do favorite color, we will say our favorite animals. Sounds good?”

    The class mumbled a yes and nodded their heads in unison.

    “Yi Sooji?” Ms. Kwon began saying the list of names and listened to her students raise their hands and proclaim their favorite animals. For the most part, there were a lot of ‘cats’ and ‘puppies’ along with the occasional ‘giraffe’ or ‘ring tailed lemur’. She also checked to make sure the kids who responded to their names were sitting in the correctly assigned seats. Everything went smoothly until she came to the end of the list, and noticed two similar looking names.

    “Kim Daehyuk?” Ms. Kwon called.

    “Here!” Came two voices. She looked up and saw that sitting in the seat labeled ‘Kim Daehyuk’ was the boy with the ‘Kim Daehyun’ tag.

    “Are you in the correct seat?” Ms. Kwon asked, not wanting the little kids to get the better of her.

    “Yes.” ‘Daehyun’ replied with a smug grin.

    Ms. Kwon sighed. “Then why does your name tag say Daehyun?”

    “Oh oh! Silly me, we must have switched by accident this morning!” The boy replied as he took off his nametag and flipped with his brother.

    “At least… I think we did.” His brother added with a sly look on his face.

    “What do you think, Dae?” The other brother asked.

    “I can’t seem to remember, Hyung.” Came the reply.

    “So, you’re Daehyuk?” Ms. Kwon asked, utterly confused.

    “Yes.” They both answered and the rest of the class broke into giggles.

    “That’s not funny.” Ms. Kwon scolded, beads of sweat forming on her brow as she wondered what the consequences were for teachers who assigned the wrong work and grades to the wrong students because they couldn’t tell them apart. It’s probably terrible, who does this ever happen to?? She thought.

    “I need you to tell me who is who, truthfully.” Ms. Kwon said again, raising the tone of her voice in an attempt to sound more authoritative.

    “I’m Daehyun.” They both replied before looking at each other in fake shock and adding, “No, I’M DAEHYUN!” Which was followed by even more laughs from their classmates.

    “I’m serious!” Ms. Kwon yelled, trying hard not to sound whiny but failing miserably at it. “If you don’t tell me who is who, I’m sending you both the the principal!”

    “But you’ll need to know who you are sending to the principal!” One of the twins .

    “Then I’ll call your father!” Ms. Kwon threatened.

    “He’s working, he won’t be able to come back just to answer such a silly question.” One said.

    “Yea, and he’ll probably just be upset that he put his two precious children in the trusting care of a teacher who can’t even tell them apart…” The other added with a perfect pout.

    “But!” Ms. Kwon looked for words as worry filled her chest. As her students were laughing at the show, all she could think about was how horrible a decision this had all been. She never should’ve given up her career to teach. She never should’ve left her boyfriend for a life of figuring things out on her own. This had all be one huge, terrible mistake.

    “Stop it, guys!” A voice interrupted the laughter of the class. Ms. Kwon’s attention went to the desk on the front row where the quiet Chinese boy had raised his voice.

    Bing stood up from his desk and walked to the back of the classroom where the twins were sitting next to each other. He glanced at one, then at the other, then back at the first and studied their grinning faces.

    “How’s it going, Bing?” One asked.

    “Pretty good.” Bing replied. “How’ve you been?”

    “Just swell.” One answered. “How’s Miling-ah?”

    “She’s doing good. It’s hard being an older brother though, am I right?” Bing asked.

    “Totally.” The boy on the left replied before covering his mouth, realizing his mistake.

    Bing turning around to face his teacher and pointed to the boy on the left.

    “That’s Daehyuk.” He announced with certainty.

    “Bing!!” Both boys whined. “You weren’t supposed to tell her! You’re no fun!”

    “I did what I had to do!” Bing replied. “Besides, your Dad would’ve been reaaallly mad if he had to come all the way over here just to tell you guys apart.”

    The twins continued to complain as Bing went up to the front of the desk and gestured for Ms. Kwon to come down to his level so he could whisper something into her ear.

    “Daehyuk is older and gets mad if Daehyun doesn’t call him hyung, so that’s how most people tell them apart. I can tell them apart besides that, but it’s just kind of a feeling. I can’t explain really how. You’ll figure it out eventually but in the mean time, keep them sitting next to each other and just scold them both at the same time if anything happens. Odds are, they were both a part of the trouble so it doesn’t really matter.” Bing informed his teacher before promptly turning around and heading back to his seat. Ms. Kwon mouthed him a “thank you” before turning her attention back to the class.

    “Alright, now that that is all settled, I expect no more outbursts from the back of the classroom!” Ms. Kwon announced. “Now, lets start the morning with history…”

    Ms. Kwon taught for the rest of the morning with (thankfully) few interruptions. The twins continued to make indistinct noises from the back of the classroom, but whenever she turned to give them a death glare, they were both sitting in the correct seats, smiling back to her like perfect angels. They mostly just wanted to snicker with each other and Ms. Kwon was thankful this didn’t disrupt most of the students (though some were caught giggling with the twins from time to time). She was a bit concerned when throughout the morning, more than one of her students suddenly announced that they didn’t have a sock on anymore, but she let it slide. All socks were eventually found in the student’s respective cubbies, but the question remaining was just - how the hell did they get there?

    “Alright class! It’s been a very productive morning, don’t you think?” Ms. Kwon asked cheerily as she closed the science book. “It’s time now for recess and then lunch. A different teacher will watch you while you are outside, and in 20 minutes you must all be back in the classroom. Ok?”

    “Yes!” The anxious class replied, eager to get out and stretch.

    “Oh!” Ms. Kwon added last minute as the kids were filing out. “Twins!” She called for and the Kim brothers annoyingly turned around.

    “What?” They whined.

    “No switching nametags outside, got it?” Ms. Kwon asked as sternly as possible. “Or else I really will call your father.”

    “Yea yea.” Daehyun replied with a flip of his hand.

    “Yea, Teacher Kwon, that prank was sooo 3 hours ago. Cut us some slack! We’re better than that!” Daehyuk added with a cheeky smirk before the pair ran out of the room.

    Ms. Kwon got up and shut the door to the classroom and looked around at the empty room. She breathed a sigh of relief as she relished in the peace and quiet. It had been a busy morning, but nothing had come up that she couldn’t handle on her own, which made the young teacher beam with pride. As she started to unpack her lunch, she checked her cellphone for any new messages. She noticed she had a missed call. It was her ex.

    “Hey… it’s me.” He started. “You must be teaching or something… it’s your first day, right? I’ve just been thinking a lot lately about you, about us. I realize I had been stupid. Please, just give me a call, ok? I want to talk to you. I miss you.”

    Ms. Kwon couldn’t believe her ears. She hadn’t heard from him in months. Possible scenarios started to fly through her head as she debated calling him right then and there. Maybe he really had changed! She had been happy with him at one point, but she never completely got over the fact that he had been “selected” for her by her parents or the fact that he tried to control every little aspect of her life.

    But he sounded so truthful…

    Ahh screw it. She thought as she re-dialed the phone while picking at her salad, suddenly too nervous to eat it.

    “Hello?” A woman’s voice answered the phone.

    “Hello? Umm who is this?” Ms. Kwon asked in shock.

    “Who is this?” The girl spit back before starting to talk further away from the phone. “Honey, who is Kwon…”

She couldn’t make out the next part, that is until she heard a yell, a lot of shuffling, then finally the voice of her spoiled, stubborn, controlling ex-boyfriend pick up the phone.

“Hello? I’m so sorry about that, I’m so glad you called!” He said, seemingly unfazed.

“Who the hell was that?” Ms. Kwon shouted into the mic, forgetting all about how hopeful she was a minute ago. “Are you seeing someone? Even when you left me that message??”

“Ok, you’re angry.” He belittled her. “But I will be honest with you. Yes, I am seeing her, but I’ve still been thinking a lot about us lately and I will gladly leave her if you will take me back!”

“I can’t believe what I’m hearing.”

“Why not? Listen, our fighting was stupid. You leaving was stupid. I’ll be better to you, I’ll marry you, just come back to me, please!”

“How could you possibly think I would do that?”

“C’mon.” He laughed. “You can’t honestly be happy, living how you are? All alone in that tiny apartment, working at that public school with a bunch of smelly kids. This isn’t what you were raised to do.”

“Oh, so what was I raised to do?” Ms. Kwon started to scream into her phone. “RAISED TO FOLLOW MY PARENTS’ EVERY WISH FOR THE REST OF MY LIFE? RAISED TO SERVE YOU LIKE A DOG AND NOT MAKE ANY DECISIONS FOR MYSELF?”

“Stop yelling, this isn’t like you!”

“YOU’RE RIGHT! But maybe it SHOULD BE!” Ms. Kwon yelled again, feeling blood rush to her face.

“What?”

“I’m HAPPY. Don’t you get it? I may not live in a big fancy apartment or have some big shot job. But these kids, my work, I love all of it. And I don’t even care that I’m single. So go ahead and date that girl you’re with. I hope you two are very happy together.” Ms. Kwon finally spit as she furiously hung up the phone. She opened the draw to her desk and threw her phone in, ignoring the giant clunk in made when it hit the wood and angrily pressed her hands to her face and screamed into them. How could I have been so stupid?

She sat there with her face in her hands scolding herself until a small knock at her door got her attention. She slowly looked up and saw the terrified looks of her students standing outside in the hallway.

.

She gave a little cough and stood up, smoothed out her hair and then went to go open the door.

“Hello class.” She said a bit too enthusiastically. “Umm, please come in and get your lunches from your cubbies.”

Humiliated, Ms. Kwon went back to sit at her desk and begin picking at her salad.

“Umm, Teacher Kwon?” A small voice sounded from her side and she turned to see Bing standing next to her desk. “Are you alright?”

“Yes, uh yes, Bing. I’m alright.” She sputtered.

“You were yelling a lot… we were all worried.” Bing added.

Ms. Kwon smiled and patted his head affectionately. “Thank you so much for saying that, Bing. I promise, I’m ok though. Ok?”

“Ok!” He gave her a grin and then went back to his seat.

That kid is really something… She thought as she noticed something odd about the back row of her students. Unlike all the other desks, which had two students sitting in them, one desk had three people squeezed into i, but none of the other desks were empty.

“Daehyun! Daehyuk!” Ms. Kwon yelled at the back of the room. “What are you doing? Who is that?”

“What do you mean, ‘who is that’?” Daehyuk replied. “This is Ace, he’s in our class!”

“No, he’s not!” Ms. Kwon shot back with surprise. Did they really think I wouldn’t remember who is in my class? God, how bad at my job am I??

“Teacher Kwon!” The new kid played along. “I’m hurt! How could you not remember I’m in this class! I even told you my favorite animal this morning! The alpaca!”

Ms. Kwon couldn’t believe her ears. “Don’t be ridiculous. You’re not on the roster for this class, and you were not here this morning! Twins, I know you think these little pranks are funny but this is serious. Your friend is going to get in big trouble when his real teacher realizes he’s missing from class.”

“But this is his class!” Daehyun whined.

“No, it’s not.” Ms. Kwon scolded, getting up from her desk and storming to the back of the room. “Come with me. I’m bringing you to your correct classroom, personally, if I must.”

“But Ms. Kwon!!” Daehyuk whined. “He’s our best friend! We want him in class with us!”

“You can’t always get what you want though, now can you?” Ms. Kwon spit back, suddenly a lot angrier than she was a minute ago. She grabbed Ace’s hand and dragged him out of the classroom. “Now, who is your real teacher?”

Once out of earshot of the classroom, Ace piped up with an answer.

“I’m in Ms. Jung’s class.” He replied, before turning to her with a sorry look on his face. “Sorry about that…” he mumbled. “I didn’t think you would get that angry about it. The twins just like to play a lot of jokes.”

“Well, they need to learn that their are consequences for their actions. I mean, didn’t anyone ever teach them about manners? I mean, what are parents for?” Ms. Kwon rambled on in frustration.

“Well, they only got a Dad.” Ace replied, a bit embarrassed. “Their mom gave ‘em up when they were babies.”

Ms. Kwon stopped in the hall. “Oh.” She said quietly. “I… I didn’t know. I’m sorry.”

“You don’t need to say sorry.” The little boy replied. “I just mean, maybe, go easy on them a bit? Their dad’s always working and stuff and so they like to pull pranks and be funny to get attention, but they mean well honest!”

“I see.” Ms. Kwon replied. “Ah here’s Ms. Jung’s classroom. Do you want me to come in with you and explain what happened?”

“It’s ok.” Ace replied. “I’ll just tell her I got lost.”

“Ok. Have a good day, Ace.”

“You too!” The boy replied before going into the class.

As Ms. Kwon walked back to her own classroom, a small spot in her heart began to soften for the devilish twins. I can feel bad for them all I want, but they still need to learn some manners. And I will do that if it’s the last thing I do. She thought, suddenly with newfound vigor and motivation. When she got back to her class, it was thankfully still all in one piece and her students were just finishing up their lunches.

“Ok guys, five more minutes and then we will move on to our last topic of the day! Math!” She announced.

“Ahhh!” A squeal pierced through the room.

“What is it, Jihee-ah???” Ms. Kwon shouted back, turning to a female student sitting in the middle of the room.

“I lost my sock again!” The little girl replied, almost in tears.

“How does this keep happening to you all?” Ms. Kwon said in exasperation. “How do you lose socks??” Her annoyed response, however, didn’t elicit an answer to her question but only more sobs coming from the little girl with cold toes.

“IT’S - sniff - NOT - sniff - MY FAULT!” She wailed.

“Go check your cubby, Jihee-ah.” Ms. Kwon ordered, as that was were all the other missing socks had been found. “Who is responsible for this?”

Ms. Kwon glared at each and every one  of her students, waiting for the culprit to come forward. Though if she had one guess as to who was responsible…

“Daehyun! Daehyuk!” Ms. Kwon scolded. “Stop stealing your classmates’ socks!”

“Hey no fair!!” Daehyun whined. “It wasn’t me!”

“Well, Daehyuk?” Ms. Kwon stared down the boy. He giggled.

“Daehyuk!!!!”

“A good prankster never reveals his secrets!!” The boy exclaimed before beginning to laugh maniacally.

“Kim Daehyuk, if you pull this prank again, I will see to it that you don’t get to go out for recess for the rest of the week.” Maybe that’ll scare him?

“But I can’t help it!” Daehyuk pleaded. “It’s my calling! It’s my passion! It’s what I was born to do!”

“What are you even talking about?” His brother muttered at him, punching him in the arm.

“Daehyuk, this is serious, you can’t just steal other people’s clothing!”

“Just be glad it wasn’t your pants…” Ms. Kwon heard Daehyun mutter again.

“What?”

“Nothing!”

“No, we are getting back to that topic…”

“Ahh, Teacher Kwon, relax!” Daehyuk whined. “It’s no big deal, ok? I’ll stop.”

“Really?”

“If I must. I will not give in to my urges.” Daehyuk said tragically.

“...Ok.” Ms. Kwon replied skeptically.

“Ok.” Daehyuk confirmed with a signature smirk.

“...Ok.” Ms. Kwon said again, not completely believing the incredibly smooth 8 year old.

“On to our last topic of the day.” She continued. “Math! I’m handing out a pre-test for you all to complete. It will not be graded, it’s just to see what level each of you are at. Don’t worry if you don’t know the answers to some of the questions, I put some material we are going to learn this year on it as well.”

Ms. Kwon gave her students twenty minutes to complete the worksheet before she called time and begin to read out the answers, asking each student to grade their own paper. When that was done, she collected the tests and went over them quickly, seeing what grades her students had gotten. When she got to the bottom of her pile, she noticed two perfect tests.

“I hope you were all taking this exam seriously.” Ms. Kwon announced. “This was used to assess your skills, it would be a shame if someone just copied all the answers and gave themselves a perfect score.” She glanced at the twins.

“Hey, we didn’t cheat!” They both defended. “We just knew the answers, honest!”

“If that’s true, then why don’t you both come up to the board and show me? Daehyun solve number 14 and Daehyuk, number 15.” Ms. Kwon ordered, giving them each the two hardest questions on the exam.

The boys begrudgingly came up to the front of the classroom and began solving the problems on the board. However, as Ms. Kwon watched them fill the board with numbers and equations, she realized they had been telling the truth the whole time. They both showed their work neatly and came up with the correct answers at the end.

“Why didn’t you both show your work on the test?” She asked.

“We can do it in our head!” Daehyuk defended. “This is so easy!”

“Our Dad taught us how to do this forever ago!” Daehyun added. “He’s really good at math.”

“I see.” Ms. Kwon said, remembering their disheveled looking father from that morning. “Well, thank you for working out these problems. Math this year should come pretty easy for you both, so then you must not mind if the other students come to you for help, right?”

“I guess…” They mumbled as they went back to their seats.

“Good. Hear that class? Daehyun and Daehyuk will be more than happy to assist any of you with math this year. Just go to them with all your questions, think of them as the class tutors!” Ms. Kwon exclaimed. Maybe a bit of responsibility is what they need…

Ms. Kwon flew through the rest of the lesson and before she knew it, the clock hit 3 and her first day of teaching was over. Parents began to file into the classroom and retrieve their kids, giving hugs and kisses around as each student began to colorfully describe their first days of school to eager moms and dads. Quite a few parents even came up to her and the end of the day to say hello again and ask how everything went. As students bragged about how much fun class had been to their parents, she couldn’t help but keep a big foolish grin on her face.

Before she knew it, almost every kid in the class had been picked up and only 3 little boys remained.

“Who did you say was coming to pick up up?” Ms. Kwon asked Bing, glancing at the clock that was nearly at 3:30.

“Our uncle Baekhyun.” Bing replied. “Sorry he’s so late...”

“I’M HERE!” A man’s voice announced just as Bing was apologizing. Ms. Kwon turned to see two adult men walk into the classroom. The one who had spoken had a little girl in his arms who she recognized as Bing’s little sister from this morning as well as another little girl as his side. The other man followed his friend into the classroom and was holding the hand of a little boy that looked just like him. Ms. Kwon couldn’t help but stare for a moment at both of their enormous, round eyes.

“I’m so sorry we are late.” The man with the girls apologized in a loud, clear voice. “We practically had to drag Bing’s little sister out of her classroom, she didn’t want to leave all her new best friends.” He added with a what can you do? grin before putting Miling down and extending his hand to shake the teacher’s.

Ms. Kwon immediately forgot their half-hour tardiness and extended her hand to introduce herself. There was something about the airiness in his voice and the way he managed to seem apologetic but still confident at the same time that made him seem so familiar.

“Byun Baekhyun.” The man said before gesturing to his friend. “And this is Do Kyungsoo. We’re here to get Bing, Daehyuk and Daehyun.”

“Byun Baekhyun?” Ms. Kwon asked. Suddenly remembering why the man seemed to familiar.

“The one and only.” The mad replied with a cocky grin.

“Oh!” She practically squealed. “You probably don’t remember me at all, but I was a freshmen when you were in grad school. You were the music major that sang around campus and at events a lot. I was a, uh, huge fan.” She ended with a guilty giggle. She cleared and extended her arm. “Kwon Cheonsa.”

“Kwon Cheonsa…” Baekhyun shook her hand and said her name slowly as if trying to remember. “Ah I remember! You came up to me after almost every show and told me how much you loved it, I remember your name!”

“It’s hard to forget.” Cheonsa gave a half-hearted laugh, accustomed to the shocked looks people often gave her when she introduced herself as ‘angel’.

“Yea yea!” Baekhyun exclaimed, getting more and more excited. “And you were always with that boy, kinda tall, good looking… are you two still dating?”

“Um, no.” Cheonsa replied with a grimace. “We broke up a couple months ago.”

“Ouch, I know that look.” Baekhyun remarked, seeing her face contort at the memory. “Good riddance?”

“You have no idea.” Cheonsa replied as they two shared a look of relief.

“Baekhyun Samchun!! I’m hungry!” Daehyuk called from his seat behind the man.

“We’ll leave soon, Hyukkie!” Baekhyun replied, not even turning around.

“Woah how did you do that!!?” Cheonsa burst, unable to hide her surprise. “You didn’t even have to turn around and you knew who had said that!”

Baekhyun chuckled. “Call it years of experience. Want to know a hint?” He whispered, leaning into the teacher.

“Do I ever.” She replied, leaning in as well.

“For starters, Daehyuk’s voice is always a bit whinier than his brother’s and he’s also about a half an inch taller. But I think the biggest difference you’ll find is how they dress.”

“What do you mean?”

“Daehyuk is a bit sloppier than his brother.” Baekhyun pointed at the boys discreetly. “See? Daehyun’s shirt is tucked in all around while Daehyuk lets the back end of his shirt hang out. Hyukkie’s tie is also a bit too loose and his shoelaces are untied. Daehyun tries to keep himself looking a bit more student and a bit less homeless, while Daehyuk could wear a garbage bag for the rest of his life and not care one bit.”

There was a moment of silence as Cheonsa slowly began to realize the miniscule differences between the two boys.

“Wow, you’re right! Thanks a lot-” Cheonsa started to say before being cut off by a frantic Kyungsoo.

“Kyungbin-ah! Stop kissing Baekha!” Kyungsoo scolded before running over to the two kids to separate them as they were taking turns pecking each other on the cheek.

“But Appa, she’s my girlllfriend!” The little boy, who Cheonsa assumed to be Kyungsoo’s son, complained to his father.

“Yah yah yah Baekha!” Baekhyun joined in. “Don’t let Kyungbin kiss you like that! You’re way too young to be doing those things!!”

Cheonsa couldn’t help but laugh and she was joined by Bing and the twins. As Kyungsoo kept trying to separate the two lovebirds, Cheonsa turned to the man she had had a huge crush on all those years ago.

“Is Baekha your…?” She started to ask.

“Daughter?” Baekhyun replied, finishing her sentence. “Yeah, I don’t know if you remember my girlfriend in school? She’s her mother.”

“Oh…” Cheonsa replied, trying to hide her disappointment, but Baekhyun caught on.

“We were never married or anything, though.” He said with a grin, seeming to try and reassure her. “In fact, I haven’t seen her in years. Baekha is all mine.”

“I see.” Cheonsa perked up at his response. “Say, are you still singing?”

“Ugh don’t get him started…” Kyungsoo piped up as he fought Daehyuk for control of his sock.

“I do actually!” Baekhyun said excitedly, ignoring his friend. “I sing professionally now, and I compose music too.”

“That’s incredible! You must be living the dream.” Cheonsa replied.

“It’s great. I’m starting to teach too, Baekha was my first student.” Baekhyun gave a proud smile.

“I would love to hear you sing again sometime.” Cheonsa said, hoping she didn’t sound too creepy.

“Of course! Anything for a fan, or an old friend.” He gave her a smile that made her heart give a flip.

“Baek, we really should be going. we’re already late for babysitting.” Kyungsoo suddenly announced.

“Babysitting?” Cheonsa said questioningly, wondering why a couple of adult men were worried about a job she usually associated with preteen girls.

“It’s a long story.” Kyungsoo replied sheepishly, as if guessing her exact thoughts.

“Oh well, I don’t want to be keeping you guys.” Cheonsa replied.

“You’ll see us again soon, I’m sure.” Baekhyun said. “But usually it’ll just be me picking them up. Kyungsoo only tagged along today because Kyungbin was begging him to let him and Baekha spend more time together.” He rolled his eyes at the thought of his seven year old daughter and her “boyfriend”.

“Ah, I see.” Cheonsa replied.

“I’ll bring some of my music for you to listen to next time!” Baekhyun added as he looked around to make sure he had all his kids. “In fact, give me your phone. I’ll text you some links to videos of me singing and my latest album.”

“Seriously? I would love that!” Cheonsa replied as she eagerly handed him her phone and watched as he punched his number in and sent himself a text.

“I’ll send you some links tonight. See you tomorrow!” Baekhyun said goodbye as he and Kyungsoo left the room. As soon as the two men and the kids were a little ways down the hall, Kyungsoo turned to his friend and gave him a ridiculous stare.

“Dude.” Kyungsoo said as he shifted Miling in his arms.

“What?” came Baekhyun’s delayed response as he was trying to focus on holding Bing’s hand in his right hand, Baekha’s in his left, watching Kyungbin hold Baekha’s other hand, and watching the twins race down the hall to see who could get to the door first.

“What was all that? You were flirting with her.” Kyungsoo said as though stating the obvious.

“I was not!” Baekhyun guffawed. “I was just reminiscing with an old friend and fan. Besides, I told you, I’m taking an indefinite break from women.”

“I know.” Kyungsoo replied. “You should ask her out.”

“Did you not listen to a word I just said?”

“Oh, did you say something?”

Baekhyun stared his friend who gave him a cheeky smirk.

“I’m serious.” Kyungsoo continued. “You guys were clicking, I haven’t seen you talk to a person of the female gender that happily in well… a really freaking long time.”

“So?” Baekhyun huffed.

“So you didn’t think she was cute or nice or anything?”

“I didn’t say that.”

“Then you should ask her out.” Kyungsoo stated again. “You have her number, don’t you?”

 

Meanwhile, Kwon Cheonsa was finishing packing up her bag and preparing to go home. She felt surprisingly light and energetic even after what was possibly the longest day of her life.

It had been years since she had seen Baekhyun, but the feeling was still there. That little fluttering in her heart that happened everytime he heard his voice. She couldn’t believe he remembered her, but her mind quickly went back to the girl she remembered him dating in school. The one that rumor stated had “Queen ” tattooed on her lower back... He had always seemed to have a sad look in his eyes whenever he was around her. The type of look Cheonsa often pitied people for having until she realized she had the same look herself when she was with her ex-boyfriend.

No more thinking about him. She ordered herself as she turned the light off and left her classroom. As she left the school, she felt her phone buzz in her pocket.

 

From: Byun Baekhyun, Singing Extraordinaire

To: Kwon Cheonsa

Hi, it’s Baekhyun! This isn’t about music, but I was just wondering if maybe you would like to get a cup of coffee with me sometime? We can discuss all of our favorite mutual interests that may or may not include: music, singing, crazy demon twin children… :P

 

    “Do Kyungsoo give me back my phone!!!”

    “You’ll thank me for this later!”

 

    Cheonsa read the text 4 times before responding, her heart doing high flying acrobatics in her chest.

 

From: Kwon Cheonsa

To: Byun Baekhyun, Singing Extraordinaire

Sure I’d love to! Btw, I like how you saved yourself in my phone :)

 

    “Ha ha! She replied!” Kyungsoo beamed, proud of his hard work.

    “Give it to me! What did she say??”

    “I thought you weren’t interested in her?”

    “Kyungsoo I swear--”

    “Hey stop kicking me! Fine fine take your precious phone and talk to the girl you have absolutely no interest it.”

    “I will, thank you very much.” Baekhyun whisked his cell out of his friend’s hands and tried to hide his grin as he typed in his reply.

 

To: Kwon Cheonsa

From: Byun Baekhyun, Singing Extraordinaire

I’m glad... so, how’s this friday? :)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hooray for the twins at school! Hooray for Baekhyun finding a girl! Hooray for adorable Bing and random appearances by Ace! This drabble became way longer than it was intended to be but I hope you all like it even though it's more kids centered than exo centered >.<

All in all though, this update is meant to be a big thank you to you guys because this story just passed a 100 upvotes. Seriously, thank you all so much for reading, commenting and giving your support :)

I'm heading back to school soon, so I'm not sure when the next update will be.... but I just want to wish any others who are starting school soon a big good luck!!