sooyoung is late. again. 

she was supposed to pick jiwoo almost an hour ago, a useless meeting called by her overbearing boss had dragged on for too long, they always do.

she reaches the school’s doors, the wheels of her car making a screeching sound when she makes an abrupt stop at the front of the building, quickly getting out and running as fast as her high heels would allow her.

her rushed footsteps are the only thing that is heard on the hallways of the elementary school, the rest of its population long gone, she turns right at the first door that reads administration on the surface, snatching the door open. 

as always she expects to find her five year old daughter sitting on one of the waiting chairs, next to her teacher miss son, or chatting up the secretary.  

instead, she finds her daughter sitting next to an unknown woman, both looking at a sheet of paper with high interest.

her abrupt entrance makes the occupants in the room startle, the secretary throwing a slight glare her way, looking mildly annoyed. sooyoung isn’t sure if it was because of her frequent tardiness or if it was just her resting face. 

“eomma!” she hears jiwoo say, the girl running up to her just in time for sooyoung to pick her up in a hug.

“hi, baby, i’m sorry i took too long” she her hair before putting her down.

it felt good to have her daughter next to her again, even if they just parted for a few hours, sooyoung still felt like she was incomplete whenever she didn’t have the little girl with her.

“it’s okay, i was with miss kang” the girl gives her a toothy smile before turning to the woman behind her. 

right. miss kang.

now that she is no longer on her rushed haze of getting to jiwoo, she takes the time to look at the other woman, miss kang, she makes the connection that this is probably jiwoo’s new teacher, the little girl telling her all about how miss son had left to go see snow in canada and miss kang is her new drawing friend. 

she thinks it’s good to finally put a face to the name.

and a face that is. 

“it’s nice meeting you, ms. park” miss kang says, bowing in greeting.

“likewise, miss kang” she bowes too, “and just miss it’s okay” she adds. 

the other woman smiles apologetic, before nodding.

“i’ve been meaning to meet you for a while” the teacher continues when sooyoung raises a curious eyebrow at her, “i like to meet all the kids parents, i think it’s important, even more now that the school year has started already and the teacher took a leave”

sooyoung nods. “right, jiwoo told me something about miss son going to canada?” she tilts her head in question, taking that as an excuse to sweep her eyes over the woman in front of her. 

she is shorter than her, perhaps an inch or two, with a lean body that even with clothing looks toned. she could be older than her, she isn’t sure, her features look calm, and she is wearing minimal make-up. 

a beige button up shirt and khaki trousers complemented her skin tone, sooyoung realizes that this woman overall just looks soft. 

maybe a bit too attractive to be a kindergarten teacher.

she takes one more second to take her in, just putting away those little facts in the back of her mind, and takes her eyes away before she gets too in her head and does something stupid.

“yeah, i’m filling her absence for the meantime, at least until the end of the school year” the teacher says. 

“i’m really sorry about this, i’m usually not this late to pick her up” sooyoung says instead, feeling embarrassed that this happened to be how she meets her daughter’s teacher. “work held me up”

“it’s okay, miss” the other woman smiles at her, “it was no problem at all, jiwoo is a very sweet girl”

at the mention of her name the girl appears on her side, pulling at her hand.

“eomma, look at the drawing miss kang made for me” she says showing what sooyoung assumes was the sheet they were looking at before she arrived.

it’s a drawing of a cat, coloured green. despite the odd color choice, the drawing is well done. if you didn’t pay attention to the slightly crooked lines of the edges, one could think it was a printed drawing.

“it’s really pretty, baby, did you color it?” sooyoung kneels to her height. 

“yes!” her daughter says with excitement, “i made the cat green, because it’s our favorite color”

sooyoung chuckles, feeling endeared by the little girl in front of her.

when she looks up she is surprised to find the other woman staring at them with a smile on her face. for a moment she feels her face heat up at the attention, not used to people seeing her that intently when she is interacting with jiwoo.

she stands up to be eye level with the teacher and decides that it is time to leave. she still needs to go pick their dinner, tuesdays are pizza night.

“well, i hope i didn’t cause much inconvenience for you, miss kang” 

the woman quickly shakes her head. “not at all, miss park”

for a moment she thinks she sees the othe