Paris, 11:24 AM, Charles-de-Gaulle Airport. Mr. and Mrs. Kwon's flight to Moscow has just arrived. 

People were passing one by one through the security sector. Innocent people were checked for the last time, only to make sure that they were as friendly as they looked like. So far, everything went well. There was no alarm sound. Mrs. Kwon watched as her husband arranged their passports und papers. It would be a long business trip. Four weeks in Russia, far away from France but at least a tiny bit closer to Korea. She knew it was not the right time but she could not help but feel homesick all of a sudden. 

"Umma."  Jiyong's eyes were glassy as he watched his mother  becoming equally teary-eyed. She was glad. At least her son still called her 'Umma' after all. Not 'Maman' , like the French do, or 'Mum', like the Americans do. 

Mrs. Kwon spread her arms and made a motion for her child to come over to her. "Will you give me a hug?" 

"Umma!" For a moment, Jiyong let go of Youngbae's hand, throwing himself into his mother's arms. Her comforting touches and kisses felt so good, he would miss them. Even though the Kwons went to business trips quite often, they usually came back a week later. This would be the first time for him to be apart from his parents for such a long time. "Umma, I will miss you. Come back quick." 

"And what about Appa?" Mr. Kwon pretended to be sad, putting his hand on his son's small shoulder to indicate his presence. 

"Appa!" Immediately, Jiyong repeated the same action from before, now hugging his father tightly. "Appa, you too!" The Kwons could not help but chuckle at their child's cuteness. And a few feet further away, someone else did the same thing. 

Youngbae smiled warmly at the scene in front of him. What a small and yet beautiful family. He was so lucky, he thought. Years ago, when he came to study in France, he would not have thought that he would end up working for such kind people. He was thankful to God. He really was. And he knew what he was talking about, since many of his friends were not even half as lucky as him at that point. 

From the corner of his eyes, Youngbae noticed people throwing weird glances at the three. And if his ears did not fool him, he even heard a faint laugh. It made him sad that these kind of reactions had become 'normal' in his every day life with Jiyong. People did not know anything after all, did they? What they saw was a young man who was behaving like a mama's boy, a wuss, a weirdo. But they were not cruel. They were just clueless and a bit too judgemental, weren't they? 

"Monsieurs et Madames, the flight from Paris, Charles-de-Gaulles Airport to Moscow, Domodedovo Airport will take off very soon. We want to appeal to all the passenger of flight MP012 to make their way to the respective section. Merci beaucoup!"

"I guess it is is time now." , Mr. Kwon said exhaling and patting Jiyong's back, so that he would pull alway. "You will listen to Youngbae and be good, alright?" 

"Yes." 

"Promise?"

"Yes." Jiyong smiled, sniffing. 

"Youngbae-ah, we are counting on you.", Mrs. Kwon said, acting strict but in reality, she was smiling at him. "Please contact us if anything should happen. Take care of yourselves, will you?" 

"Don't worry. auntie.", Youngbae reassured, putting his arm around Jiyong's shoulder. "I will take care of Jiyongie to the best of my ability. We will have a lot of fun, right?" He winked at the younger boy, who turned shy and smiled. 

"Thank you. See you in four weeks!" 

"See you!" 

In the end, only the two of them were left. Jiyong had insisted on staying at the airport until the airplane actually took off. Youngbae hugged him from behind as they watched from the big glass window how it left far away to Russia. 

Youngbae whistled to the song on the radio as he and his pouting protégé drove home. The usually so talkative boy was quiet during the whole ride, glancing out of the window and his educator noticed that his eyes were focused on the beautiful blue sky. It hurt Youngbae to see him like this. He knew too well how it felt like to be missing your parents. He hadn't seen his own for ages. It felt bitter. 

"Hey Ji, wanna grab something to eat? My stomach is growling." 

"No, I don't want to eat now." 

"But we did not even have breakfast this morning!"

"My stomach is fine." 

Youngbae sighed. "Is it because of your parents?" 

He knew he was right when he did not receive an answer from the brunette boy. The educator stopped at a red light and put his palm on the younger boy's knee. "Hey, I know I am not as great as auntie and uncle. But I am a nice guy, too, am I not?", Youngbae joked, glancing at Jiyong. Seeing him smiling at him made him smile, too. "I will take care of you, don't worry. We will do many things together and, believe me, in no time, your parents will be back from Moscow! I promise." The green light was on again and Youngbae had to tear his eyes away from the passenger seat. 

Jiyong glanced at the man beside him and saw him glowing beautifully under the newly born spring sun. He blushed slightly when he noticed that the warmness on his knee was still there. A small smile tugged on his lips. Four weeks. He would spend a month with Youngbae. Only with Youngbae and no one else. He hoped he would not die from the constant strong beating of his heart whenever the educator would do things like this. Stupid heart! Why did it hurt him so much? 

The younger boy took the warm hand on his knee into his own. "Bae, I think I want to eat now." 

"That's cool! What would you like? Mexican food? Chinese food? Or do you want me to order something at McDonalds maybe?" 

The younger boy shook his head. "I want your fried rice. The one you made when you first cooked for me." 

"Oh Ji!", Youngbae chuckled, "You could have chosen so much more tasty food. But alright, if you want rice, you will get rice." 

"Yay!" The brunette jumped from his seat, hugging the now stunned driver's muscular arm.

"Woah! Careful! I am driving."

Cutting, stirring, boiling, frying. Youngbae used his forearm to wipe the sweat from his forehead. It was such a simple dish to prepare and yet the educator had to concentrate. If he added a spoonfull too much of any of the spices, the rice would be ruined and he would end up eating everything on his own. Jiyong was really picky when it came to food. He absolutely hated sweet pepper and the mushrooms had to be cut into very, very small bites. Youngbae added the ridicilously fine chopped vegetables into the pan with oil. No matter how picky he was, he did not mind preparing food for Jiyong with extra care. 

"This smells sooo good!", the brunette exlaimed while hovering above the pan, watching curiously at how the colorful content became glassy. 

"Don't stand too close, the pan is - "

"Ouch!" 

Immediately, Youngbae dropped his things into the sink and rushed over to Jiyong, who was holding one of his fingers with a pained expression. The educator wiped his hands on a dishtowel and took the younger boy's hand into his, examining his injured finger. "Clumsy. I told you not to stand to close to the pan, right?" 

"Ouch, ouch! Bae it hurts, make it stop!", the brunette whined. 

"O-okay, don't cry. I will handle this!" Quickly, Youngbae turned off the stove and led his protégé to the sink, turning on the cold water. He held the injured finger under the faucet for a while before turning the water off, grabbing the dishtowel and drying Jiyong's hand carefully. 

"Has it gotten better?"  

"A little tiny bit." Jiyong pouted. This boy was really pouting non-stop!

Youngbae watched his protégé's pained and yet immensely sweet expressions.  He smiled when an idea came to his mind. 

"How about now?" 

Gently, very gently, he pressed his lips on that small, now reddish finger. 

Jiyong watched fascinatedly at how the handsome educator closed his eyes in the process, his black eyelashes standing out in his vision,  those full lips caressing his finger softly, almost feather-like before parting from his skin. 

Youngbae opened his eyes. The sight of Jiyong's red face, making him chuckle. "Better now?" 

"No, you have to do it again." 

This time, the educator laughed loudly, his melodic voice tainting the younger boy.  However, he still obliged, bringing the thin finger against his mouth again, repeating his previous act. "Now?" 

"No, still not." 

Youngbae shifted his mouth to another finger, kissing each of them very softly, which made Jiyong giggle. 

He looked so beautiful when he was happy like this, when those brown eyes became cute crescents, when those soft cheeks became pink. At times like this, Youngbae could not help but secretely swoon over his protégé's pretty face. He would often watch Jiyong's visage when the latter was asleep, his fluffy hair that always smelled like apples. He loved the scent of it. He loved hearing Jiyong laugh. He wanted him to laugh all the time. 

Youngbae cupped that red face and smiled warmly. "I will get some ointment and a plaster and then we'll eat. By then it should not hurt anymore." He his cheeks affectionately. 

"I think the pain is gone already."

The educator laughed again. Strange, It seemed like, whenever he was with the brunette, he was always laughing. 

"Ok, how is it? Spicy?" He thought that he may had exaggerated a little bit with the chilly powder. However, judging from the sight of Jiyong eating happily, it seemed like everything was alright. 

The brunette held his thumb up in the air, still munching "Itsh delishiush!" Well, if Jiyong said it was delicious, then it must be so. Mission accomplished!

"Slowly, Ji.", Youngbae snickered. "But thank you." Youngbae placed his plate on the table and went to grab two cups for the both of them. He filled the younger boy's with apple juice and his own with water. "Here you go." 

"Bae, can I get another portion? Can I ?" 

"Sure. Just make sure you eat this up first, alright?" 

"Okay!" 

Youngbae ruffled the brunette's brown hair and was about to sit down when his phone rang.  His stomach and he both groaned in frustration. He wanted to eat, dammit! Huffing, he walked over to the counter where his phone was placed on. 

"Hello?" 

"Bonjour Youngbae!" 

"Madleine?" 

"Yeah, it's me. Say Youngbae, did you move?" 

"Move? Uh, no, I am still living in the same apartment as before." 

"Oh, well, I am asking because I am standing in front of your door and your neighbours are looking at me weirdly because no one opens it." 

Youngbae chuckled. "Ah, I am sorry, but I am not at home right now. I will be staying at the Kwon's residence for a month." 

"Kwon? Oh! That's your protégé's family name, right? " 

"Yes, exactly." 

"Hm, now that's a pity. I dragged all those heavy books I borrowed from you up tp the 5th floor and you are not even there to give me a glass of water." 

"I am sorry for that. I will make it up to you someday!" 

"Yeah, you owe me lunch for that!"

Youngbae chuckled. "Alright, alright. But hey, how about you bring those books to the residence? I will give you the address." 

"Hm, sounds good. But don't expect me to come today! I will come tomorrow. You better prepare something nice!" 

A/N: Guys, it's up! :') I am sorry for the delay! Thank you for subscribing and commenting even before I uploaded anything. You are amazing! 

The first chapters are always the hardest, I think you will notice my struggles while reading this chap. I regard it as a failure to be honest, but I promise I will try to improve! I haven't written anything for such a long time, forgive me ._. 

Anyway, try to have fun with this chapter and please, please comment and tell me what you think. I want to know about your first impressions, about what you like and what you don't like. That way, I will know what I should work on more precisely. Thank you in advance, my dear readers!

Love,

Hatsumomo.