“Woohyun, Woohyun!”

“You know you should call me Teacher Woohyun.” Woohyun turns around to greet the five-year-old at his feet. “Is anything troubling you?”

“Nope!” Seyoon s a folded piece of paper at Woohyun and scampers off. “I just wanted to give you this!”

Curious, Woohyun opens the piece of sky blue paper. ‘Techer Wohyun,’ the note reads in sloppy, misspelled red crayon. ‘U ar my favrit techer! I luv u!’

Oh, kids. Woohyun can’t stand kindergarteners sometimes, but kids like Seyoon almost make his job worth it. Almost.

He carefully pockets the note and tugs his apron back over his pants, meaning to go back to the bathroom, but a voice calls him back.

“Don’t forget the parent-teacher conferences tonight.” The voice belongs to his superior, a squinty-eyed man called Sunggyu. Woohyun stares at Sunggyu as he starts tidying up for naptime.

“What?” he finally manages to get out. “Wait, what?”

Sunggyu turns and gives him a death glare. “We’ve been talking about this for the past two weeks, Teacher Nam.” He turns back to the plastic chairs he’s picking up. “Better find some of your kids’ artwork to show the parents. They love that kind of sh-- stuff.”

There goes his bathroom break. Woohyun wants to scream, but he manages to keep it together, only tearing out a few chunks of hair. Well, okay, strands, but whatever. The point is, Woohyun is stressed, and he has to act like he’s not.

Thankfully, it’s time to put the kids to sleep, so Woohyun will have at least twenty minutes to dig through his student portfolios for some decent artwork to show the parents…

***

“Yes, thank you so much!” Woohyun’s face is twitching from having to hold a smile all night. “No, he’s been great! Yep! Definitely! Ahaha, yep, I understand! Thanks again!”

Woohyun waves the parent off, and as soon as they leave, he whips around and drops his smile into a scowl, making sure that he doesn’t forget how to be mean.

He picks up the roster on the table, noticing that there’s only one student who hasn’t come in yet: Jang Seyoon. Woohyun furrows his eyebrows. It’s already five o’clock, and the parent visits are ending soon. If Seyoon and his parents come any later, Woohyun won’t be able to receive them.

“Daddy, this way!” Speak of the devil. Woohyun sighs and mentally facepalms, slapping his smile back on and turning around to face Seyoon and his--

Extremely hot dad.

“Hi, I’m so sorry I’m late!” Hot-Dad spews in apology, doubling over to catch his breath. “I couldn’t make it through the traffic, and I’m so sorry that I’m late, Seyoon’s been talking about you since he started school, about how you’re his favorite teacher and everything, and I just couldn’t wait to meet you, and… yeah. I’m sorry.”

Woohyun takes all this in with an incredulous yet amused feeling in his heart. Hot-Dad seems to be more of a child than his son is, and Woohyun just finds that insanely adorable. “It’s okay,” he says, trying to stifle his laughter. “Please, sit down here.”

“Go play with the toys,” Hot-Dad urges Seyoon, who obeys unwillingly, casting glances back at Woohyun. Hot-Dad smiles, running a hand through his disheveled hair, and Woohyun notices his sharp jawline.

“Seyoon’s been doing very well in school,” Woohyun says, because he doesn’t know what to say. He pulls out a drawing of a lopsided apple and shows it to Hot-Dad. Oh wait, that reminds him. “I’m sorry, I never got your name.”

“Oh!” Hot-Dad perks up, throwing out a hand. “I’m Jang Dongwoo.” He flashes a brilliant white grin. “You’re Woohyun, of course.”

Woohyun laughs, taking the hand. Dongwoo’s fingers are soft, and Woohyun says, “Of course, I’m his favorite teacher.”

***

Woohyun and Dongwoo grow closer, almost too close to be a professional relationship, but thankfully, Seyoon graduates kindergarten at the end of the school year, and Dongwoo begins to court Woohyun.

“I mean,” Dongwoo murmurs into Woohyun’s neck, pressing a not-so-chaste kiss to the soft skin, “I wouldn’t marry anyone but my son’s favorite teacher, would I?”

Woohyun lets out an amused gasp. “Well, I’m glad you decided to do just that.”