“We have five babies today,” Soonyoung said as he eyed the group of men still in the staff room, “we need two in the infant room.” “Me!” Seungcheol said brightly as he packed his lunch away. “Any other takers?” Soonyoung eyed the room and fixated on Jihoon. “Your turn,” he said and the blond haired man looked around. “I wanted to do music today in the toddler room. Where’s Junhui? He’s good with the babies.” “Junhui’s busy today. We have a new kid and he’s Chinese so Junhui is going to be in charge of helping him settle in.” “Fine,” Jihoon swallowed down the last of his coffee and dropped the mug in the sink. “I guess I’m on babies.”

“Did you see them?” Hansol laughed and Seungkwan blushed. “Who?’ “You know who I’m talking about!” He grabbed a huge bottle filled with an unidentifiable green juice and began to sip it. “The Daddies. The ones that were here last week.” “The tall one is gorgeous….” Soonyoung smiled wistfully, “but they’re gone. So get to work.”

He sent Seungcheol and Jihoon to the infant room where Chan was waiting. “Here,” he handed an armful of baby over to Seungcheol. “The others haven’t arrived yet. I’m doing sand play this morning.” He walked out leaving Seungcheol and Jihoon to get the room ready for a day of feeding, rocking, playing and hopefully long quiet naps. The infant room was a special skill set and Seungcheol was the expert.

Jihoon preferred the toddler room, his specialty was the piano and the guitar, songs and stories set to music. Sometimes he would play the piano and Junhui would lead the dance to whatever Jihoon came up with on the spot. Junhui was better in the infant room than he was, he had a naturally sweet aura that charmed the babies instantly, but he was busy today. Jihoon would just have to fill in.

“How is the sensory garden project coming along?” Soonyoung asked as he herded Seungkwan and Hansol outside. “It’s going well, we had some families donate items this week, Seungkwan emailed a letter to them about it.” Seungkwan blushed again and Soonyoung patted him on the back. “Well done. There’s twelve in kindergarten group today so I’ve got Chan on sand play to give you a hand. “What about you?” Hansol asked as they waited for the children to start arriving, Soonyoung with his clipboard and attendance sheets in hand. “We’ve only got six booked in for toddler so Junhui and I can handle it just fine.”

Junhui chose that moment to appear with the new kid clinging to his hand. “Good morning Yun,” Soonyoung crouched down to speak to the child. “Are you feeling happy to be here today?” He watched the little boy nod with uncertainty and smiled gently at him. “It’s okay to feel a little scared. Junhui is going to be your special helper today and we’re going to play lots of fun games.”

Yun’s face brightened up at the prospect of games. The schedule for today was toddlers inside for the morning while kindergarten was outside, staggered lunchtimes and naptimes, then toddlers outside for the afternoon with the kindergarten group inside.

They would get through it fine. They always did.

Junhui watched as the children played happily with a wooden kitchen. Free play was always fun, loved just watching them and their funny little games they would make up, dressing up in the costume box costumes and building towers of heavy wooden blocks.

He sat in the toy room with Yun plastered to his side. The little boy was reluctant to join in with the other children but Junhui wasn’t surprised. It was his first day and Junhui had quickly formed a picture of the little boy’s life. He was adorable, well dressed and intelligent, articulate in two languages. He was obviously well loved and well looked after.

Nevertheless, he was shy with the other children and Junhui could always tell when kids were mostly around adults. He would have to really encourage him slowly. The encouragement could wait until tomorrow. He was going to be at the centre three days a week so it wasn’t necessary to push him on the first day.

“Would you like to play with the blocks Yun?” he asked and the little boy looked over at the two other toddlers building a castle. He shook his head and buried his face into Junhui’s side. “Okay. You don’t have to. We can just watch from here,” he put an arm around the little boy and rubbed his back soothingly.

After free play, they moved the little group into the story room. “Soonyoung is going to read stories Yun,” Junhui said as he carried the boy in his arms. Stories really were Soonyoung’s area of expertise. He was so expressive and had a way of bringing books to life that always had the children enthralled. Soonyoung sat on the chair and Junhui settled himself on the floor with the children surrounding him on cushions and he wasn’t surprised when Yun crawled into his lap. He let him curl up and listen to the story Soonyoung was reading and smiled to himself at the sound of the little boy’s giggles.

Lunchtime was over quickly and the toddlers were ushered into the nap room. The lights were dimmed and while the others were all used to the routine Yun was not. He tossed and his unfamiliar nap mat until Junhui lay down beside him. “I’ll sing to you if you like,” Junhui said and Yun nodded and clutched at his hand. The song was sung softly, it was an old lullaby Junhui’s mother used to sing when he was little, and the soothing sounds of Mandarin lulled Yun into a steady sleep.

“Good job,” Soonyoung clapped him on the back when the whole room was silent. “You almost knocked me out with that song.” Junhui blushed and smiled at the Director. He was a little uneasy about accepting compliments at the best of times but he was just doing what felt right at the time.

After lunch, the toddlers were turned outside into the warm sun. Covered in hats and sunscreen they squealed with delight when they saw the sand play table Chan had set up earlier for the kindergarten group. “We’re under strict instruction not to let them touch the sensory garden yet,” Soonyoung whispered conspiratorially to Junhui who laughed loudly. Hansol was so precious about his sensory garden project and obviously didn’t want the toddlers digging up his sunflower seeds again.

Yun had resumed clinging to Junhui until his face brightened. “Paint?” he asked when he saw the row of easels set up and Junhui took him over. “Of course Yun, you can paint, you don’t have to ask.” “I have to ask at home,” he said as Junhui pulled a smock over his clothes. “Daddy has this but I have to ask.” “Is your Daddy an artist?” Junhui asked and Yun nodded as he picked up the paintbrush. “Purple,” he said as he scooped the red paint up on the end of the brush and dumped it into the pot of blue, swirling it around, smiling proudly at Junhui. “Well done Yun! Why don’t you make Daddy a painting and we can give it to him when he comes back.”

Yun quickly became engrossed in his project and Junhui went over to the sand table. “One of the Daddies is an artist,” he whispered and Soonyoung nodded. That made sense. Yun looked uncomfortable with the other children but perfectly at ease with the paintbrush in his hand. “I wonder which one,” Soonyoung mused and Junhui remembered noticing a pair of paint splattered boots a few days before when they’d come for a visit.

“The Chinese one. Not the tall one,” he said with conviction. He knew he was right. “I wonder what the other one does,” “Obviously some kind of model or actor,” Junhui sighed. The tall Daddy was so good looking he had to be making money off that face. He seemed open and enthusiastic, full of laughter and relaxed in his own skin, his smile bright and easy. The other one, the artist, seemed different.

Junhui’s wonderful natural empathy made him ideal for working with small children. He had an innate ability to read people’s faces and body language, to unserstand the intricacies of inflection and tone, and had a wonderful sense of response to the feelings of others. He was the best one to sooth a hurt child, the one to go to when a baby just woulndt settle, the master at drawing a shy child out of their shell or dealing with a difficult parent.

His instinct told him the man he’d met that morning, the one witih the expensive outfit and the old paint splattered shoes, was deeply unhappy. He oculnd’t help but wonder why.