Class Dismissed

Minseok wakes up about three minutes before the alarm goes off. He stretches on the large bed and instantly misses Luhan’s warm presence. The doctor had had a night shift and was returning home around noon.

Getting up, he puts on his slippers and heads to Jinri’s room to wake her up. Christmas break being officially over for both Jinri and Minseok means starting the routine all over again but with the addition of one special little boy.

Minseok’s heart warms as he remembers all the smiles on his boy’s face as he opened all his Christmas presents. He had remained quiet all through the holidays– especially when there were other people around– but Minseok is confident Jongin will find his voice soon. However, when he thinks about the well disguised anxiety attacks whenever someone Jongin doesn’t know approaches him and how he still has nightmares more often than not, Minseok’s blood boils and he wishes he could find those who have hurt Jongin and make them pay.

Shaking his head from ill thoughts, he goes into Jongin’s room to wake the boy up. Luhan and Minseok had signed him up at the local pre-school and today was the first day. He is not entirely sure if it’s a good idea but the child psychiatrist they’ve been consulting with said that they needed to start from somewhere.

When they are all done with breakfast and ready to go, Minseok buckles them up inside the car and drops off Jinri first.

“Good luck on your first day, Jonginnie,” Jinri wishes the little boy before running to her friends and going inside.

Having already discussed the proceedings with the little boy days ahead of this morning, Minseok still feels Jongin tensing up at the thought of going to pre-school.

He parks in front of the small building housing the school and helps Jongin out of the car. The boy starts crying silently as the approach the door and Minseok’s heart tightens inside his chest.

“It’ll be alright, buddy,” he assures Jongin. “Everyone is super nice and I’ll be back real soon to pick you up.”

The encouraging words don’t really work and the silent tears turn to sniffling.

“Welcome!” A woman greets at the entrance. “You must be Jongin.”

Jongin wraps his arms around Minseok’s leg and refuses to let go.

“Jongin, sweetheart, c’mon. I need to go to work, baby,” Minseok tells him to no avail.

Jongin starts wailing and it’s the first time Minseok has ever heard him do such a thing. He’s usually so quiet, so afraid to make noise but now he’s just going all out.

“Maybe we should try again tomorrow,” Minseok tells the nice lady. She had been the one who had given them a spot on the school and she knows about Jongin’s history.

“I think that would be a good idea. Some children just need a little more time,” she says with a kind smile. “I’ll expect you back tomorrow, Jongin. Maybe your Daddy can stick around for an hour or two so you can get settled?”

Minseok smiles as he looks at Jongin and lifts him up to his hip. “Would you like that buddy? We can come together tomorrow.” Jongin buries his tears streaked face on Minseok’s shoulder and refuses to answer. “Jongin, please use your words,” he says kindly as he caresses Jongin’s back.

The boy groans as the woman hides a smile.

“We’ll come back tomorrow. Thanks for everything,” Minseok says as he returns to the car.

The boy’s tears don’t stop the entire ride to the university while Minseok tries to figure out what he’s going to do with a four-year-old for the duration of the three classes he has to teach this morning.

He’s still thinking about it as he parks near the faculty building and helps Jongin out.

“Happy Christmas!” Someone shouts as he enters the building.

“Chanyeol, Christmas is over,” Minseok reminds him as Jongin tightens his hold on Minseok’s neck after the loud noise.

“Sorry,” Chanyeol smiles sheepishly after seeing the effect of his voice on the little boy. “Hello, mate. I heard you got quite a few toys for Christmas.”

Jongin slowly lifts his head until he’s eye to eye with Chanyeol.

“Do you want to tell him about your favorite ones?” Minseok asks.

Jongin nods as he attempts to pull out a Captain America figurine from his backpack with a little help from Minseok. “…I liked this one,” he whispers.

“This is brilliant! I love superheroes.”

Jongin smiles shyly and buries his head on Minseok’s shoulder.

Laughing, Minseok shakes his head and continues on his way to the classroom, Chanyeol in tow.

“How was Christmas?” The tall man asks Minseok.

“It was nice. We had a lot of fun and ate a lot of food, didn’t we Jongin?”

Jongin nods before whispering a quiet, “yes.”

As they get to the classroom, Chanyeol says goodbye to head to his own while Jongin looks awed at the sheer size of the room.

Made to fit around 200 hundreds, Minseok is thankful he doesn’t get more than 50 by university policy. Still, grading 50 papers every month does not get easier with time.

Minseok suddenly feels Jongin’s hands grabbing his face. “Will there be lots of people?” The boy asks.

“I don’t think so. First period is always less than half full so no more than 20.”

“Ok.”

Minseok puts Jongin on the floor, pulls out a coloring book with crayons for Jongin to entertain himself and sits Jongin on his desk chair with his coloring. “I want you to listen to me, buddy. Even if there aren’t a lot of people, I need you to stay in this chair and color or draw all you want, ok? I will be teaching the class right here next to you but I need to pay attention to the other big kids, ok?”

“You won’t leave, right?” Jongin asks as he grabs on to a crayon with more strength than he needs to.

Realizing this, Minseok loosens the hold on the crayon and stretches his hand carefully. “I will not leave your sight,” he says as he kisses the little knuckles.

Jongin takes a deep breathe as if preparing himself for everything and utters a semi confident, “ok.”

Minseok smiles tenderly at the boy until the first students start to arrive.

If he had done this only two weeks ago, Minseok thinks Jongin would not have made it through the class without having some sort of anxiety attack. It would have involved shivering and hiding and silent tears. But, as the class comes to an end, Minseok sees just how far along Jongin has gotten. He even smiled whenever Minseok made a joke that the whole class laughed at.

“Ok, class dismissed!” Minseok says. “Don’t forget to read at least 10 chapters of our current book for next class. Those who haven’t will not be allowed to enter the class.”

Minseok hears a few sounds of agreement as the students file out.

Jongin watches attentively as the room empties.

“You did so good, kiddo!” Minseok congratulates the boy once they’re alone. “Now we have two more classes to get through and then we can get some lunch, ok?”

“But–“ Jongin starts saying but stops himself for some reason.

Minseok, kneeling down next to the desk chair, encourages him to continue.

“I– uhm– I ran out of…” He lifts the white sheets Minseok had left on the desk and sees them all full of colors and shapes.

“You need more paper?”

Jongin bites his lower lip before he whispers, “no, I’m ok.”

“Sweetheart, it’s not a problem. I can get you lots more if you want me to.”

The boy thinks about it as if he has a limited choice of what to ask for but Minseok tries to convey his willingness through a smile and hopes Jongin doesn’t keep anything bottled up anymore.

“If it’s really ok, I… uhm… Can I get some paper?”

Minseok beams as he open up one if his drawers and pulls out a few sheets. “Anything you need, kiddo. I mean it.”

“Thank you.”

---

a/n: I'ts been a while! Real life has kept me too busy to even remember I had this story unfinished :(. Hopefully I can get back to writing more regularly now. Enjoy!