Compliment
KindergartenJoy sometimes wondered if she was too cruel to Seulgi.
Sure, the things she said about Seulgi's fashion sense were true, but she could have been less blunt and worded them better. Furthermore, rather than making fun of her, she could have provided advices and helped her improve.
Joy sighed. She blamed herself for having sudden shower thoughts.
Being nice was not her forte. Fortunately, she knew someone that could teach her the ways.
"Dear mentors, please teach me how to be nice."
The teacher bowed to her students.
Yes, the two children, even if they were barely five years old (surprisingly), were experts at being nice. Of course, the fact that they were practically in love with each other helped, but still, they were generally nice.
Except when they were not.
Anyway, Irene seemed to have some idea.
"Go run around the school fifty times and I'll tell you the secret."
Irene attacked Joy.
"Irene, that's not very nice." Wendy scolded.
Wendy used reflect on Joy.
Irene suffered critical hit!
Irene needed to think of a way to justify her actions to Wendy; her brain was working fast.
"I was joking. That was lesson one, teaching you about things not to say."
"What do you suggest I say?"
"Ms. Park, your outfit looks awesome today!"
"I always look fabulous."
"But unfortunately we can't say the same about Ms. Kang."
"So that means I have to lie."
Irene and Wendy shook their heads so hard that they almost detached from their bodies. Teaching Joy to be nice was such a difficult task, one that they should not have even dabbled with.
Reading their reaction, Joy sensed that it was not the correct answer. She felt helpless.
"Don't worry. We prepared a skit."
*=
Irene entered the classroom and headed straight for where Wendy was seated.
Strangely enough, Wendy was wearing an ugly hat. It made Joy's eyes squint, but Irene seemed to pay it no mind.
"Good morning!"
"Hi!"
"The weather is good."
Wendy looked out the window; Irene was right.
"It is."
"I think we should go on a date."
"Like we usually do."
*=
"Uh, you guys didn't talk about that ugly hat."
The skit was puzzling. They did not demonstrate what was appropriate to say in that situation.
"Exactly."
Joy now understood.
"I ignore what I don't like, and talk about something else."
She was a genius; Irene and Wendy could almost cry from relief.
"I can talk about my beauty."
Whatever she preferred, right?
*=
With knowledge acquired from her students, Joy greeted Seulgi as she came into the classroom.
"Good morning, Seulgi unnie!"
Seulgi was going to take a seat, but she hesitated and took a step back.
Joy was weirdly energetic. Usually Seulgi had to bribe her with a donut to get a word out of her.
"I like what you did with your hair. It looks neat."
A compliment given by Joy?
There was something very wrong with that.
"Who are you, and what did you do with Joy!" Seulgi questioned.
"What do you mean?"
Joy rarely got confused, and this was the second time in the same day.
"She would never speak like this. Not to me. Oh no. You're possessed. Did you touch the goo?"
Joy was not amused. This was one of the few times she went out of her way to be nice to Seulgi, and her reaction was rather disappointing.
However, she decided to not let it affect her. Seulgi was simply not used to being spoken to like this by her.
"I just feel like complimenting you."
"Huh. Alright. How is my dress?"
DANGER! Seulgi wanted to talk about the only thing Joy was trying to avoid mentioning!
Irene interrupted before Joy could revert to her old ways.
"Ms. Kang! Look at what I've drawn!" Irene showed her a blob of purple paint on a piece of drawing paper.
Danger averted.
Now the danger landed on Seulgi caused by the painting.
"That looks very purple!"
"What an awesome observation."
"Thanks!"
Joy was trying to be sarcastic, but if Seulgi took it as a compliment, she would go along with it. After all, she wanted to be nicer to her.
*=
"This lesson plan looks neat."
Huh.
"This meal tastes delicious."
Double huh.
"This drawing is beautiful."
Triple h--wait, Joy actually had complimented Seulgi's drawing skills before.
Still, she could not figure out why Joy was being so weird. It felt good to be complimented, but Joy seemed uncomfortable and forced.
It was time to seek the help from the fountain of knowledge.
"Please, tell me what is wrong with Joy."
Seulgi kneeled before Irene and Wendy.
"The next time we're charging money from you and Ms. Park."
Irene took out a notebook. She opened to a page titled wedding fund and wrote down the teachers' names. They were two of the many names on it.
Seulgi would not dare to ask how they helped--blackmailed--so many people.
"So what did you teach Joy?"
"Why do you think we taught her anything?"
"You said you're charging us both."
Seulgi was super quick when it caned to matter concerning her girlfriend.
"She want to be nicer."
"Why?"
They shrugged.
"Alright. At least she's not possessed."
They would not even bother asking why Seulgi thought it would be a valid reason for Joy's behaviour .
Surely, they were curious, but they knew the explanation would take a whole season and would definitely end with a cliffhanger.
Seulgi had decided to talk to Joy about her strange behavior. She was curious about the reason behind Joy's decision of acting kinder towards her.
"Joy?"
"Hmm?"
"They--Irene and Wendy--told me what happened."
Talking about the matter directly would make Joy unable to dodge the question, because she was easy to read, as she hardly hid her reactions.
Joy sighed, for the thousandth time today.
"Did someone say anything to you?"
Seulgi could not think of why, unless someone had inserted a thought in Joy's head.
"You know, my parents really like you."
So it was Joy's parents who made her aware of her behavior.
"But that's how we've interacted since forever."
"They are very convincing."
"Tell me about it."
Joy looked embarrassed.
What a good day it was; Seulgi had witnessed so many lesser seen sides of Joy.
"I promise I won't make fun of you."
Joy actually could not imagine Seulgi doing that. She was too kind.
"They said, 'Seulgi is going to get tired of your attitude.' What if you don't like me anymore because of this?"
Joy, oh, Joy. How adorable she was.
"You're adorable."
"I'm not."
"I like you no matter how you are."
"Stop talking."
"Alright."
So she stared at Joy lovingly instead.
Joy could not stand it.
"You!"
"What about me?"
"That look is disgusting."
"I can't help it. I'm disgustingly in love with you."
Joy bashed her head on the teacher's desk maybe one too many times.
"I think I'm gonna pass out."
She regretted her decision. It should have been Seulgi's head that collided with the desk rather than hers.
"Oh no."
"But I have something to tell you."
Joy was pretty much slurring her words at this point.
"I'm in love with you, too."
Then she fainted.
"Aww. I'm glad I recorded this."
Then she woke up.
"You didn't."
Seulgi did.
*=
YAY! A Kindergarten chapter! This is a miracle. /clap
I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, even if it was Joygi focused (the fic has their tag so I hope you weren't surprised.)
I haven't been able to fit Wenrene moments in Kindergarten, so I hope you understand.
I don't think I'll update Kindergarten anytime soon, but be on the lookout for PTA, because I kinda have some idea for it.
Thanks for reading!
Question of the chapter: Who do you think is the principal of the kindergarten? (I actually chose someone when I started this fic. I'll give you hints about mine! Or PM/Twitter me.)
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