3 year old eunhae

After a long morning of running after his mother at the shopping mall, Donghae is absolutely exhausted, his little legs almost aching to the point where he asks his mother to pick him up, though he holds himself back because he’s trying to be a big boy. He is three after all.

The elevator has always amazed him. The silvery metal walls with the big mirrors decorating the top half, and the fancy glowing buttons on the side by the door, have always intrigued him, wanting to be able to push the buttons himself, he already knows that he lives on the seventh floor. And seven is the half triangle looking number that only he can count to out of all of the children in his kindergarten class so far.

He likes to think that he’s a smart child, or a big boy according to his doting parents. So when his mother steps out of the elevator while holding his tiny hand, Donghae is also intrigued by the large boxes littering the whole space of the seventh floor that stands between the two apartments. “Mummy, what are all of the boxes for? And why does it say ‘Hyukjae’? Who is Hyukjae?” Donghae asks, peering up at his mother with wide eyes filled with curiosity.

“Some nice people are moving in next door, darling. And I’m pretty sure that Hyukjae is their little boy, just like you are mine,” The woman smiles gently at her son before weaving their way through the makeshift maze on their floor. “I’m not a little boy, mummy! I’m a big boy because I can count and read while everyone else are just dummies!” Donghae responds furiously, pouting at his mother’s laughter and remembering just how much he dislikes the other children at kindergarten, he never lets them share his books, they can’t read them anyway.

“Come on, honey. You need to have your lunch and then nap, otherwise you’ll be my grumpy big boy soon,” His mother reasons, swinging him into the air before kissing his forehead, causing him to giggle gleefully as they step into the apartment, leaving the mess of boxes behind.

A large yawn is what causes Donghae to wake up fully, knowing that another attempt at going to sleep is no use; he’ll stay awake until his proper bedtime now. Climbing out of his bed, he smiles as he touches the ground with his feet instead of almost falling out like he usually does when he wants to get up. His mother’s voice almost frightens him, but he soon realises that she’s talking on the phone to someone, probably auntie Seohyun, before he decides to sneak out and investigate those boxes outside.

As he suspected, his mother is wandering around aimlessly with the phone pressed to the side of her face, he’s never liked talking on the phone because his face and hands are too small for him to have enough coordination for the task. Waiting until her back is turned, Donghae quickly runs across to the door, opening it silently after jumping to reach the doorknob a few times.

Almost collapsing onto the floor of the crowded space, Donghae shuts the door again, not caring if it makes any noise because the sight in front of him is far more interesting. “Hello, are you Hyukjae?” Donghae asks the decidedly cute boy in front of him that is poking around a few of the boxes