All my love to zaboomafoo76 for having beta'ed these first three chapters. She's such a sweetheart~

We had arrived at our destination, the ice-cream parlour. ‘Heladería’, if you said it in spanish, ‘Sweet Wishes’ — as the big sign above the entrance read — and so many other words related to the place that in my head only had a negative connotation.

Yep. We had arrived already and were sitting at a table with a view of the playground connected to the place. All three of us sat in complete silence because SunJi was looking at the other kids playing out the window, Sungmin was looking through the menu, and I was trying to figure out how to end the outing as soon as possible.

“Are you sure that my coming along with you was no problem?” he said shyly, uncertainty clear on his face and, for the first time since I’d met him, without his smile gracing his face. This fact tugged at something inside of me and I was once again flooded with mixed emotions: I wanted to see that smile, and at the same time, I didn’t. Was I going insane? Most probably.

“Of course,” I answered. “Besides, I had to make it up to you somehow for staying behind to keep SunJi company.”

Luckily I had made up that excuse. It wouldn’t have been too kind of me to just tell him I had been left with no other option.

And there it was again. His trade-mark smile. It was one of those that reach the eyes and, at the same time, touches the hearts of those who glance upon it. Now that I had all my attention focused on that smile, I could say that it was pretty similar to SunJi’s - it had a childish air to it.

“To be honest,” he interrupted my thoughts, “I love ice-cream,” he confessed, looking like a kid and going back to reading the menu. At that moment, I found myself examining him thoroughly for the first time.

He had short, black hair — part of his fringe covered his left eye —, deep brown eyes, and really fair skin. He appeared to be no more than eighteen years old, and thus, younger than me. He was wearing a pink t-shirt and faded jeans.

I, on the other hand, was more on the neutral colors side — I would never wear pink for that matter — and that was proven through the grey, checkered shirt over the white t-shirt and black jeans I was wearing.

While I was scanning him, the waitress arrived to take our orders. SunJi ordered her usual and prompted — forced — Sungmin to order the same as her, because according to her, it was the best there was. I simply ordered my usual, black coffee.

Luckily, we only had to wait just a few minutes until the waitress came back with our orders.

It bothered me a little (and only a tiny little bit) that the waitress enhanced her smile the moment she gave Sungmin his ice-cream. Sungmin didn’t even take notice of the fact. I didn’t even know anymore if he was clueless, naïve, or a little of both.

SunJi attacked her ice-cream the moment it was in front of her and, in just a few minutes, she had finished it. That tiny monster really did eat fast.

Right after finishing her treat, she asked if she could go outside to play. So that’s why she rushed I thought to myself. After hearing my affirmative answer, she ran to the playground… and it was only then I realized my mistake.

Sungmin and I had been left alone.

Once more, silence made its way between us. I didn’t like it, but I couldn’t come up with something to say. It seemed Sungmin didn’t have the same problem, because he was the first one to talk.

“I don’t know if you know, but next Friday is the kindergarten’s gym festival. There’ll be all kind of activities for the kids and they have to come accompanied by an adult.  Will you be the one to come with her, or will it be SunJi’s mom?” he asked and smiled, as if the silence before hadn’t made him uncomfortable at all.

“I’m pretty sure it’ll be my sister. I don’t think she’ll want to miss it,” I answered. She’d better make some time to go because there was no way in hell I was going.

“I figured,” he continued. “I know we’re going to have a great time and it’ll all go smoothly, but there’s still so much to do…” he sighed and added, “Being a teacher is exhausting.”

At his words, I choked on the sip of coffee I had taken, and it required quite an effort not to spit it in his face. Had he said ‘teacher’? Had I heard wrong? Most probably not.

He looked at me, visibly worried, and asked if I was alright. I just nodded, even though I was not really alright, and after I had completely recovered, I tried to continue where we’d left off.

“A lot to do?” I voiced as clearly as I could.

“Quite a lot, but I love my work. I really like children; that’s why I’ve always wanted to be a teacher.”

This could not be. It was practically impossible. And here I was thinking that he was just a mere assistant!

“Then… you’re my hyung?” was my question, just to make sure.

“Your hyung?” he asked, and his confused expression made me feel kind of relieved that I was not the only one that hadn’t noticed the . “How old are you?”

“I’m twenty-two. I’m a college student,” I said, and I could tell he was surprised too. Then, he smiled again.

“You’re right; you are my dongsaeng. I’m twenty-four.”

He had just confirmed it and, for the second time, I almost choke on my coffee. I mean, he could not be older than me! He barely looked legal!

“What’s your major?” he suddenly asked, taking me out of my reverie. “I know SunJi mentioned it once but I can’t seem to remember.

“Engineering,” I answered while playing with the handle of my cup. I always had a liking for numbers and I was good at formulas so it wasn’t hard making my choice.

“Wow! You must be really smart then!” he told me with a little bit of amazement and admiration filling his tone.

I felt heat rising to my face. It may sound self-centered, but I was used to receiving compliments, be it for my looks or because I did well in my studies (ok, that did sound self-centered). Still, it had been quite a while since I had last blushed, so it caught me completely off guard. 

The words were stuck in my throat and, even though I tried, I couldn’t get them out. I must have looked like a fish with my mouth opening and closing without making any sound.

“I’m back!” SunJi practically shouted while running towards our table, and I’d have to say that never in my life had I been so grateful to her. I threw a side glance in Sungmin’s direction to see if he had noticed the effect his words had on me, but his expression revealed otherwise.

I took my chance then and got up to pay the bill, and tried to regain some of my sanity while at it. Of course, Sungmin wanted to pay for his share but I told him that if I let him, it wouldn’t count as a way of thanking him for staying with SunJi, so he ended up smiling and bowing.

I paid the bill and the three of us went out. It was finally over.

“Thank you so much for inviting me,” he repeated once we were outside. It was time to go our separate ways.

Good.

“It was nothing,” I answered while holding SunJi’s hand. “It was the least I could do.”

At that very moment, SunJi opened her moth, which was never something good.

“Next Friday… can we come eat ice-cream once again? The three of us?” she asked with her best pleading voice while blinking cutely.

Just as I had imagined. How come she could not keep her pretty little mouth shut? She really was gonna get it once in my apartment.

Sungmin knelt before her so he could look at her in the eye.

“I don’t think I can. Next Friday is the festival, and I’ll have to stay late in the kindergarten to help out. Besides I think you should make the most of the time you spend with your uncle; I know you don’t get to be with him very often,” he said before shooting her a warm smile and a loving glance.

SunJi wasn’t that happy about it, but she understood nonetheless; she was a smart girl — sometimes too smart for my liking — so she nodded and hugged him, presenting him with her best smile, and said her goodbyes.

Sungmin and I followed her lead and bid the other goodbye as well.

Even though I was forever waiting for the moment of farewells, when I saw Sungmin turn around and start walking away, I didn’t feel relieved. And I’d have to admit that deep inside my heart — truly, truly deep — a little part of me — a tiny, tiny part— wished for a second outing.

Once that thought entered my mind, I dismissed it right away. The thing that wouldn’t be easy to dismiss were the feelings that teacher aroused in me.