Lunch and the rest of the afternoon
Kids, Date, and a Game.Lunch went by pretty quick but busy, as every kid from all the grades, every volunteer, and every parent volunteer gathered in the cafeteria, where they had the general assembly that morning, to help themselves. Joonmyeon and Yifan reunited with Kyungsoo, Jongin, Sunyoung, and Soojung; their groups of kids were mixed around in the cafeteria, as some had met new friends and some had met up with their siblings or friends.
As Joonmyeon and Yifan had been chatting with Kyungsoo and the others, they heard a squeal near Joonmyeon. It turned out to belong to Sehun’s voice, in which Luhan was tickling his younger brother.
“Sehun seems like an endearing kid,” Kyungsoo commented after the group watched the Oh brothers for a few moments. “He took a liking to you guys, hyungs…especially you, Joonmyeon-hyung.” He smiled as he recalled earlier in the beginning of lunch when Sehun was sticking to Joonmyeon like glue as the two of them walked by the table that was serving up their lunches. Sehun had gotten excited when he saw small cups of homemade bubble tea; he had grabbed Joonmyeon’s hand by the finger and pulled Joonmyeon to the cups, but Joonmyeon chuckled and told him to wait his turn as they were in line. Sehun had quickly obeyed and waited, keeping a watchful eye on one of the cups, until they finally got their turns, and Sehun was overjoyed at having bubble tea in his hands.
“Yeah, although, he’s been kind of distant with you, Yifan-hyung… This morning, he was like sticking to you as if you were some magnet, but now, it’s not the same. Did something happen within the workshops?”
Yifan paled as an answer, while Joonmyeon nodded gently with a soft chuckle.
“Let’s not talk about it. What I did was immature. He forgave me for that. End of story.”
“O-oh…” Kyungsoo sounded like he was still curious about it, but he dropped the subject.
“Ah! Yifan-hyung, were you gonna show me that kid who broke the instrument?” Joonmyeon asked between the chewing of his tempura sushi.
“Oh yeah,” Yifan straightened up and scanned the tables. “There he is, Zhang Yixing. The one with the dimples.”
Joonmyeon looked over to where Yifan was pointing. The kid was spacing out, his lunch halfway eaten. Then, all of a sudden, his body does a little jerk and Yixing looked to his right, looking at some kid before he grinned and replied back to something the kid must have said.
“Ahem, may I have your attention, please?”
Joonmyeon, Yifan, the group leaders, the parent volunteers and some of the kids heard the voice of Linda booming through the cafeteria with an aid of the microphone. The kids were still rowdy and chatting, not quite registering the request. Within seconds, the whole cafeteria became quiet and focused on the woman onstage.
“Lunch will be done in a few minutes, and I would like to ask for the Pre-Kindergarteners and Kindergarteners to stay here in the cafeteria, but gather closer to the stage in the open space. The rest of you children will go on to the rest of your workshop schedules. The little ones will be going home early, so we would like to hold a small assembly for them before they go, okay?” Joonmyeon and Yifan heard their group cheering in response and they smiled. Linda chuckled. “Okay, we have five more minutes and then I’m gonna ask the leaders of the 1st to 12th grade students to go to their workshops.
“Remember, Pre-Kindergarteners and Kindergarteners, stay here when lunch is done. Mr. Joonmyeon and Mr. Yifan,” Joonmyeon and Yifan were quick to receive Linda’s authoritative stare when their names were called, “please make sure they know they are not going home yet; we still have a small assembly for them. Thank you.”
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In the small break that was given for the older kids to go to their workshops, Joonmyeon took roll call of the kids in his group to make sure everyone was here. Yifan meanwhile had returned some of the artworks to the kids. When he had given Zitao’s present and Sehun’s own artwork to Sehun, Sehun quietly accepted them, not quite meeting the tall male’s eyes. Yifan had supposed Sehun might still be a little hurt from the incident in the painting workshop, so he just ruffled Sehun’s head gently. Zitao, on the other hand, had thanked Yifan when he received his work and gave him a hug before he pulled away, and sat down with Sehun, placing an arm around his friend’s shoulders.
The assembly was really short, as it was just a few songs to sing along and some announcements for the parents to take note. The moment the assembly started, the parents that were not volunteering at the workshop, including Sehun’s mother, had entered without the kids knowing. Yifan and Joonmyeon watched with knowing smirks while the kids were engrossed with singing songs.
When it was time for the announcements, most of the kids became restless and some were still unaware that their parents were standing in the back of the cafeteria. Even Zitao and Sehun were not aware, for they were lost in their own world, giggling and playing some hand games.
“And now we have some of your mommies and daddies here in the cafeteria, ready and happy to take you home! Come on closer, mommies and daddies! Children, go to your parents!”
There was a sudden loud burst of gleeful yelling as the parents faced a stampede of children with their artworks in hand.
Joonmyeon and Yifan laughed at the sight, unable to resist the smiles on their faces. Soon afterwards, they were met with parents and their kids as they received “thank you”s and “see you tomorrow”s.
“Mama, Shoonmyeon! Shoonmyeon!”
Joonmyeon and Yifan turned to where they heard Sehun calling out Joonmyeon’s name. They saw him leading his mother over to them, with Zitao and his mom trailing behind. After some introductions and conversations were made between the mothers and the two leaders, Linda came over to the boys, the seven of them being the only remaining ones in the cafeteria.
“Children, I hope your first day went well. This goes out to both you fine young men and you adorable little kids.”
Zitao exclaimed happily with a bright smile, “Yeah, it was lotsa fun!!” Sehun nodded in agreement.
Linda chuckled. “Y’all seemed like a happy bunch. Joonmyeon and Yifan, I never thought you two would make excellent leaders. At first I was a bit iffy with having you two together as leaders for this group since we didn’t have any more female volunteers, but your chemistry,” she gave a knowing look to Joonmyeon and Yifan, “is remarkable. Seems like you guys had it all under control, from what I’ve heard from the other parents volunteering in your group.”
Joonmyeon heard Yifan chuckle when he
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