The Guardian

Junmyeon loves it when children called him Suho because he feels important in their midst, truly like a guardian as they dupe him to be. Today was Saturday although usually he volunteers to come here on a Thursday because he only got a single late noon class.

These days with so many events, their club has been approached almost every week and so it had been almost four to five months since he had come here on a Saturday.

“BIKER MAN IS HERE! SUHO!” A scream is heard the moment he stepped his foot inside the orphanage home and he shakes his head in disbelief. Children were really the only innocent left of the world.

“Biker man is here indeed!” He laughs as he crouched down so that the children could climb all over him.

He loved children. He really adored them. He loved the fact that being with children makes him happy and makes him feel like a human. Their innocence and their outlook in life make him positive unlike the negativity of the adult world around him all the time so he makes sure that his Thursdays were never booked to have that slice of positivity he needed each week.

If he was free on a Saturday that was always a bonus.

“Uncle! What’s that on your neck?” A boy, Hoseok who was hugging his neck suddenly asks, “You have rashes?”

His eyes grew wide in alarm knowing exactly what those rashes were and he laughs awkwardly while swinging him down and covering up his neck by pulling up his collars.

“Yes. Uncle has some rashes from… uh… last night. Allergies… you know.”

Crap. The girl he hooked up with last night really seems to like giving marks. So annoying.

He leads the children inside their playroom making all the children scream with delight upon seeing him, rushing to get some of his hugs.

This orphanage had 38 children at the moment and there was news that three children were coming in by this month. He knew all of them by name and their birthdays.

“No spikey-spikey today?” An adorable Soodam asks him with a huge pout pointing towards his jacket making him laugh again. On Thursday he had donned the spikiest jacket he had on his wardrobe making every kid in there stare at him with awe. He can never have enough of their pure fascination towards his fashion and bikes.

“No spikey-spikey.” Suho confirms her with a shake of his head and a pout as well.

A lot of children hung by his legs or hands or asked to be carried as he made his way to the staff’s lounge.

“Hello,” He greeted the two female teachers in there as was usually present on Saturdays. “I was free today and decided to hop by. I hope I am not being too much of a nuisance.”

Of course, that would make Aunt Jisoo laugh out loud. Han Jisoo was the head of this orphanage acting as the patron as well as the director. She was in her 50s most likely, with a plump body and an equally plump personality filled with laughter and the best cookies in the whole of Korea.

“You silly boy, I wouldn’t mind if you stay here all the dang time!”

Usually, his work involves playing with the children and giving them tuitions, as well as anything he can do that, would add to the happiness or knowledge of the children. Being one of the most eccentric, most scarily glad volunteers he gets most of the attention of the children making the other volunteers give him the stink eye. But does he care? Nope. As long as the children are laughing and learning and having a good time.

He does his usual work and by the naptime, he was tired as tired can be. While children were incredible to be around, they were also massively draining. Teaching is hard.

On Thursdays, he would return to college for his classes when the children are napping but on a Saturday when there’s nothing on his schedule, he might as well visit this place properly.

This orphanage was in the middle of the city but surprisingly it gave off the impression of a countryside dwelling. This patch of land had been donated to the orphanage by a rich woman who had been raised by Aunt Jisoo which prompted Aunt Jisoo to take up taking care of children full time.

Suho smiles and sits down beneath a tree taking in the peaceful atmosphere and the fresh air. Ah. Children certainly give him so much positive energy.

He almost dozes of if not for the girl that suddenly appeared out of nowhere from behind the bushes with a rack in her hand.

“What on- Isn’t that Chanyeol’s girlfriend?”

Suho rolls her eyes at her retreating figure into the barn shed just a few paces from where he sat. What on earth was she doing here? She doesn’t seem the type to… volunteer. From what he had seen about her, she seems to like drama and hang out with popular boys most probably to get attention.

It was working well.

So what would a girl like her be here?

“Kwan!” Aunt Jisoo’s voice floods the backyard making him flinch a little. Right. Aunt Jisoo has the loudest voice too. “ARE YOU DONE WITH GARDENING NOW?”

The girl nearly trips as she rushes out of the shed, most probably to answer the woman.

“Yes, ma’am.”

Ma’am? What the actual ? Ma’am? No one here calls her that. She just has to be oh-so-different to gain all those attention, does she not?

“SUHO? WHERE IS THAT LAD OFF TOO? DON’T TELL ME HE RAN AWAY AGAIN. ALL I WANT IS TO FEED HIM BUT HE DOESN’T EVEN WANT TO EAT. DUMB BOY!” The woman screeches again making him groan and cover his face with his hands. “KWAN! DO YOU SEE ANY STUPID-LOOKING, LEATHER JACKET-WEARING BOY AROUND YOU? IF YOU DO, BRING HIM IN.”

Still, with his hands on his face, silence fills the garden and he could literally feel Kwan looking at him.

“Calling. Come.” The girl informs him in two words and by the time Suho looked up, she was already gone.

From his previous experience of coming here, the staff and the volunteers usually have their lunch or late lunch by the time the kids sleep. So he finds a bunch of young people who he knew to be volunteers but the only one that caught his attention was the girl in the corner. Kwan.

He settles down and quietly watches the girl who wouldn’t even lift her head off from her empty plate and bowed to the person who bought her food by half standing. She quietly eats her food and nods once or twice whenever Aunt Jisoo mentions her name.

He squints his eyes as he drank his soup. This was suspicious. Why was she acting like such a quiet, wallpaper of a person? Or is this also a front to gain attention?

He turns to look at others and sure enough, people were giving her curious glances every now and then confirming his suspicions. Of course, every person would give their attention to the person who’s incredibly off or aloof.

A young girl seated next to her whispers something to her and she smiles a little and whispers back something as though they have known each other for a while. Suho has seen that teenage girl around a lot already so does that mean Kwan has come here even before?

Suspicious.

Hmm… Is she trying to get to him then? Now that her relationship with Chanyeol wasn’t working, was she trying to come to him?

Tsk. He knew he was handsome and whatnot but she did not have to resort to this sort of trickery to get his attention. Being with Chanyeol alone was enough to get his attention- Wait a minute. Did she originally get together with Chanyeol to get his attention?

But dang. The first time they met… he was certain that she did not know him. However, looking at her now… he could assume that she was a good actress because look, they clearly at least know each other’s faces so she’s still pretending as though she doesn’t know him. Although to be honest, the whole time he was looking at her, she did not even lift up her face even once to look at him or anyone.

Suho blinks and stops his thought when Kwan suddenly raises her arms.

“Second helpings, darling?” Aunt Jisoo calls out making Kwan give a silly but the happiest smile he’s ever seen on her with rapid nodding. Did she really like soup that much?

Aunt Jisoo comes to her and she lifts her bowl like she was lifting some trophy watching with sparkling eyes as she filled her bowl.

“Good. Good. Young people should eat a lot.”

At that, slowly others began to lift their hands to get some more while Kwan, as Suho watched with his hands raised, she had gone back to drinking her soup like it was something divine.

Also, why did he not notice before that the teenage girl next to her kept on passing bread to her like some vending machine? Were they whispering on that before?

Anyhow, now that he knew she was here to get his attention, he gets up with his bowl to go after her when she sat up to clean her bowl.

He purposefully walked in front of her and stood right next to her as they both washed their bowls so that she had the opportunity to talk to him however, she simply washes the bowl with her normal straight face.

What is she playing at?

He opens his mouth to say something but she suddenly turns away and Suho realized that she was already done while he was still standing there just letting the water run.

Tsk.

So he hurries and finishes his, trying to chase after her. Yet, when he arrived at the dining hall, she was nowhere to be found.

“Aunt Jisoo!” He hurries towards the patron. “Isn’t that new girl from our university as well? How is it that I’m seeing her for the first time?”

Aunt Jisoo looks puzzled for a while before bursting out into loud laughter. “Kwan? That dear sweetheart… she works for us.”

“Working? Not volunteering?”

“Oh… Yes. Volunteering but she does so much for us so it feels like she’s working with us rather than just a volunteer. Poor little girl. She always refuses money even though she needs it and deserves it for her work every time.”

“What sort of work does she do?” Suho frowned. She looked like some stupid bloke. What work can she possibly do?

Aunt Jisoo sighs at that as though recalling. “Hmm… what was it? Hmm… I bought her here from the market to fix our light for us.”

Suho legit tilted his head at the surprise that the sentence bought. “Fix the light? Market?”

Oh, he has lots of questions.

“Well, you see.” Aunt Jisoo began explaining, “She works with a close friend of mine who has a stall in the market, and Kwan goes there every Saturday to run errands and earn through that. She is the handiest girl I’ve ever met and she’s such a sweetheart. So I was telling my friend about the problem and she automatically calls Kwan up and tells me to take her and so I did and I was a darn surprised to find