ATIMY // 3

"Wow! You little ones did very well, great job everyone! Do you want to count with me?" Wonwoo praised the children after filling their respective baskets with cherry tomatoes.

"One, two, four, nine..." Sunghoon and Chan chorused, not exactly saying the same thing.

The young teacher smiled, "Lets count together, yeah? Its going to be more fun!" he suggested and lifted Junhui up the platform bench.

"But I wanna be the counting leader today!" Seungkwan stomped his short foot on the ground.

"Seungkwannie was leader before! Jun hyung is so so so quiet so lets give him chance to speak up this time!" Hansol argued.

"Lets leave the counting to Jun hyung today Seungkwannie. Please?" Wonwoo convinced the child somehow and pat his head.

"One.."

"Two.."

"Seventeen, twenty-four, five hundred.." a deep voice echoed. The young teacher knew who it was and got annoyed. Kim Mingyu.

"Oh! Its the city boy hyung!" Myungho pointed at Mingyu.

Ugh! Where were Seokmin and Soonyoung when he needed them? They suddenly had an emergency simultaniously, which by the ways happened all the time and left Wonwoo all alone to take care and attend to the kids by himself.

"What do you think you're doing?" Wonwoo held his voice back and talked normally instead of screaming at Mingyu's face.

"Well, I'm here to observe your class. SEON-SAENG-NIM." Mingyu smirked.

Wonwoo thanked the heavens at that moment for the childrens' presence because if they weren't there, he  could've punched the smirk off of the younger's arrogant face.

"Can we save this for later? I'm working and I'm starting to think you're actually blind." the children looked back and forth the adults' faces ehile exchanging words.

"How about we let City boy hyung join us, teacher?" Sunghoon blinked as he thought of the idea and went down the platform and pulled Mingyu's hand.

"Yeah! We are going to make juice too! The other teachers are gone so City boy hyung can be like a one day teacher and then he can help us!"Chan mumbled. Mingyu kind of had to fill in the blanks because he couldn't understand the younger's babbling completely.

"Yeah! Yeah!" the others agreed including Jun who normally would've stayed quiet.

Wonwoo pouted. He knew he'd already lost because who wouldn't get convinced by cute kids happilly cheering together? He sighed in defeat and nodded his head in agreement. The kids liked the jerk and one day teacher doesn't  sound that bad.

"Alright. One day teacher. One day!" he pointed a finger towards Mingyu.

Kim Mingyu: 1

Jeon Wonwoo: 0

They decided not to count tomatoes anymore. The kids got really excited about Mingyu joining them and one sidedly confirmed that they were gonna make tomato juice right away. They excitedly walked inside the house while holding each other's hand in between the two adults.

Pitter-patters of little feet and light giggles filled the small kitchen. Sungcheol, being his curious self decided to leave the comfortable sofa and check out what was happening.

"Sunghoonie?"

"Ah! Its Sungcheol hyung!" Sunghoon ran towards him and lifted his little hands, asking to be picked up.

"Hyung! You know our little Sunghoonie?" Wonwoo asked and smiled as the older approached them, little Sunghoon now in his arms.

"Yep! Long story short, his mother and I were.. uh... friends. Yeah."

"Its another hyung!" Hansol pointed to the oldest.

"Hyung, hyung. Are you gonna be another one day teacher too?" Sunghoon asked and pat his his hyung's face.

"Yeah hyung, help us. We're making tomato juice." Wonwoo smiled and then, there were three teachers.

The three adults assisted the kids in putting in tomatoes to the blender, measuring salt and other spices which they found very interesting and enjoyable.

The city boys, not knowing what to do, watched Wonwoo and copied him shaamelessly. They even copied his little praises to the kids like very good, wow! great job! and you're so good. The kids didn't really mind though as long as they get praised for something, they're back to being happy.

Wonwoo on the other hand actually felt proud. Not only proud of the kids but also proud of the other guys. They're better at helping him than Seokmin and Soonyoung. The teacher thought he could trust the cousins to look after the kids and so he stood up and took some home made rice cakes to eat with the juice they made.

Wonwoo came back to a beatboxing Mingyu but what had him really surprised was that Hansol was rapping and Myungho was dancing.

"Teacher! Today is so fun!" Sunghoon beamed happily.

After finishing their mini concert, they ate rice cakes and of course drank the juice. When all of them ate everything, Wonwoo noticed the littleuns were getting quiet and so he announced nap time for everybody. Everyone lied down the fluffy blanket they had spread on the floor and Wonwoo read the kids a story book with some background noises courtesy of Mingyu. Sungcheol was beat and napped with the kids.

After everyone fell asleep, Wonwoo closed the book and stretched his arms, accidentally hitting Mingyu's face.

"Oops, sorry."

The younger of the two let out a low chuckle, "You're so weak, that didn't even hurt."

"You fuc-fish face!" the older fired back whispering because if he screamed, the kids would have been woken up. After a few seconds though, he let out a small smile, "Thank you though... for today. I think you're... you're not that bad."

The younger nodded in appreciation, a little bit confused at Wonwoo's sudden change, "Thanks. I mean, you're not that bad yourself."

Mingyu thought he heard a thump thump when Wonwoo smiled. But where did it came from?

-

It was Sunday so the kids get picked up early at six o'clock.

"Bye bye! Myungho waved. He was the last to be picked up , excluding Sunghoon.

"Bye bye hyung!" Sunghoon waved back.

"Sunghoonie, do you mind waiting with us for a bit? Jihoon hyung is gonna be late today." Wonwoo asked when Myungho disappeared from their sight.

"Eung! Its okay. Umma has to work for Hoonie so I understand. Besides, Cheol hyung is here so I want to stay here." the young one clung happily to Sungcheol's neck.

"That's right! I'm Hoonie's favourite hyung after all! We're going to my room first."

"Wah~" Sunghoon gaped in amusement when he saw Sungcheol's collection if small lego robots.

"Do you like robots?" the adult asked and put him down the bed. Sunghoon crawled near the dest to see the robots closer.

Sungcheol made the kid pick which lego-robot he liked best so he will give it to him.  Sunghoon picked the smallest of them all and said he liked it because it looked like him in which the adult agreed to. Of course, the kid didn't forget to say thank you and hugged the older.

"Sunghoonie?" Sungcheol interrupted the boy a moment and then the younger glanced at him, "Where's your appa?"

"Hmm... Soo appa went somewhere but he will be back soon. I want to see appa everyday but he works far far away so I miss him everyday."

Sungcheol's face fell. So Jihoon really had moved on and found someone else already. Although he was hurt himself, he couldn't help but feel sad when the kid's face turned gloomy. Sungcheol grew up with busy parents but his mom and dad showered him with love and spent time with him whenever they could. All of a sudden, he hugged the small figure, hoping it would lessen Sunghoon's longing.

"So you want to call hyung appa when while you wait for you Soo appa?"

"Really? Can I, can I?" Sunghoon broke into a wide smile and nodded. "Yay! I have an appa now!"

Without noticing the time, the two stayed there cuddling each other. Sungcheol pat the younger's back steadily until he fell asleep. Sungcheol was about to ebeter dream land as well but his door suddenly opened.

Jihoon entered the room, eyes focused on the sleeping figure of his son and walked towards him. Sungcheol's instinct was to stand up and so he stood up.

"Jihoon..."

"Hoonie... baby? Umma's here. Let's go home." Jihoon shook his son's hand slightly, ignoring Sungcheol's presecence in the process.

The toddler stirred in his sleep and asked to be picked up. Jihoon took his son in his arms and headed towards the door but Sungcheol beat him to it.

"When are you goona talk to me, Jihoon?"

"We have nothing to talk about, Sungcheol." Jihoon replied firmly and looked away.

"You know we have so much to talk about but you're running  away. I still love you after all these years, Jihoon! You left me with no explanation. You disappeared completely when I tried to find you. I wanted to forget you but for the sake of God, I can't Jihoon." Sungcheol's voice remained calm but his gaze spoke loneliness and accusation. "I want answers. I NEED answers."

Jihoon knew. He knew he should talk to the other already but he wasn't ready yet. "We will talk Sungcheol. But not today please."

Sungcheol sighed and decided to let the other run away for now because Sunghoon needed to bathe, to eat and sleep. "Promise me."

Seeing Sungcheol'spinky finger in front of him reminded Jihoon of the past, their past. Maybe... just maybe he would hurry up and be ready to face the older male as soon as possible. He stayed rooted in his place.

"Promise me." Sungcheol repeated once more.

This time, Jihoon looked at him straight in the eyes, hooking his finger with the other. When their fingers interlocked, they felt familiarity even after three years long of being away from each other. Is it really too late?

"I promise."

"Sunghoonie promise too." the almost forgotten presence brought the two back to reality, making Jihoon pull his hands away immediately.

Sungcheol smiled at the toddler's innocence. "Let's see each other again soon, little baby."

"Say bye now, baby." the mother whispered in his son's ear and pecked the child's temple.

"Bye bye appa! I love you!" Sunghoon put both his handson his head, trying to make a heart.

Jihoon froze. "A-appa..?"

"Hyung is an appa now. He said he likes a son like Hoonie!" the child grinned at his mother.

"I'm sorry. I kind of decided alone. I told him he can call me appa until your.. uh... husband? or... well, until his real appa is back." Sungcheol scratched the back of his neck.

"Oh, okay. Okay, I get it. We have to go. Bye!" Jihoon walked out and sped up without even waiting for Sungcheol's reply.

-

A/N: Hello, hello! Back with another update. Thank you for continuing on reading! Remember to comment and tell me what you think about the story. If you gave something you want to read about, let me know and maybe I could add it in. ^^

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Comment What are tomatoes? if you read until here.

SEE YOU NEXT TIME!

- ellemoonbin