“Pardon?”
When did he notice my condition? I was flustered by Baek Woojin’s suggestion as he drove. I really wondered if he had eyes in the back of his head.
“Oh, no, I’m really fine…!”
I shouted with an exaggerated laugh. Since I had insisted on coming along, I couldn’t cause trouble for everyone just because of me. Then Baek Woojin silently turned up the heater. After quietly thanking him, I pulled my clothes tighter. Although the size was a bit large, it was the thickest coat from the closet, so it felt cozy.
“…Hm?”
That’s when Hyeol, who was sitting next to me, grabbed my arm.
“Look here.”
“Hyeol, Dad is fine…”
“Put your head down and stay still.”
“…?”
Wondering what he was doing, I stayed still obediently, and Hyeol’s face gradually came closer. Then our foreheads bumped together with a soft thunk.
“…You’re really hot.”
Before I knew it, Hyeol’s small hand was stroking my forehead. At the soft touch, laughter naturally escaped me.
“Ah, Hyeol, that tickles…”
When I chuckled, making my throat rumble, Hyeol suddenly removed his hand that had been touching my forehead. Then he opened the kids’ phone hanging around his neck. His movements seemed somewhat urgent.
“Hyeol…?”
Hyeol turned on the phone’s camera function and focused it on me.
“…Ah.”
But soon he sighed with a clearly disappointed expression.
“Hyeol? What’s wrong?”
When I asked, wondering what was happening, Hyeol avoided my gaze and fiddled with his kids’ phone.
“Like before…”
“Hm? What did you say?”
Since I couldn’t hear his quiet mumbling well, I leaned down, but Hyeol completely closed his mouth. Even so, he kept fiddling with the kids’ phone in his hand. His disappointment was obvious.
“Then shall we take a picture together with Dad?”
“……”
That was my guess. From turning on the camera function, it seemed like he wanted to take a picture. But despite my question, Hyeol just stared at me silently without saying anything.
Doesn’t he like it…?
I decided to quietly back down.
“Still, thank you for worrying about Dad, Hyeol.”
I smiled faintly and gently patted the back of Hyeol’s hand as if to say he did well.
“Take it.”
Having apparently changed his mind, Hyeol handed me the kids’ phone he was holding. I received the kids’ phone with a somewhat bewildered feeling. I posed for the camera screen and smiled saying “kimchi,” but Hyeol didn’t smile at all.
“Hyeol, say ‘kimchi’ and smile. That way it’ll come out pretty.”
Despite my request, Hyeol just rested his head on my shoulder and remained indifferent.
“That’s fake smiling.”
“Huh?”
Is that so? I’d never thought that the smiles we make when taking pictures were fake smiles… It made me think differently about it.
“Huh? Why did the car stop?”
But when I came to my senses, the car wasn’t moving. Startled, I put away the kids’ phone, and in front of me were Baek Woojin and Kkotsu sitting in the front seats, staring at us intently.
“Woojin-ssi, have we arrived at the kindergarten? When did we…”
“Just now. …It was interesting.”
“Yes, it was inte-resting…”
Baek Woojin answered indifferently, and Kkotsu, chattering along after his dad, immediately prepared to get out of the car. Meanwhile, Hyeol took back the kids’ phone from my hand.
“I’ll take Kkotsu in and come back. I’ll be quick, so please stay inside.”
Click.
Baek Woojin, holding Kkotsu in his arms, got out of the car and walked briskly toward the kindergarten entrance. When Kkotsu, hugging his dad’s neck as they moved away, waved at me, I waved back.
“Is this really a kindergarten?”
That’s when Hyeol, who was looking out the car window, asked. He was glancing at the gravel parking lot and examining the white fence at the kindergarten entrance and the colorfully decorated two-story building that looked like something from a fairy tale.
“Yes, it’s a kindergarten. Wow… they really decorated it well…”
Following Hyeol, I pressed against the car window and saw that the kindergarten was much larger than I thought and looked like a new building that hadn’t been built long ago. In the center of the kindergarten with real grass laid out, kindergarten teachers wearing aprons were warmly welcoming the children.
“……”
I felt strange somehow. If I hadn’t entered this novel, I would probably be welcoming children at the kindergarten I was assigned to right about now…
‘Teacher!’
Suddenly, the last scene from my memory came to mind. The truck rushing toward me menacingly, and the sound of someone shouting something at me…
“Ugh…”
As soon as I thought that far, my head hurt.
“Dad…?”
Hyeol examined me, apparently startled by my reaction. Seeing the child’s round eyes filled with anxiety made my heart ache.
“Dad is fine, Hyeol…”
I was stroking his head to comfort the worried Hyeol when Baek Woojin got into the driver’s seat at that moment.
“Are you feeling alright?”
“Yes, I’m fine. Did Kkotsu go in well?”
“Yes, unlike other days, he didn’t want to separate today. I think it’s probably because of Chae Seungyeon-ssi.”
“Haha, is that so? He probably felt sorry because he made a friend.”
At my words, Baek Woojin silently stared intently at Hyeol. Hyeol also received that gaze and looked at me. Naturally, both of their gazes turned toward me.
I had just said one thing… Somehow I felt like I could tell what they were saying just from those looks.
Right, you don’t agree, is that it? I know, I understand.
“It should take about 10 more minutes to get to Hyeol’s kindergarten.”
Baek Woojin, who had set the navigation, immediately started driving. As the car left the parking lot, I whispered quietly to Baek Woojin.
“Woojin-ssi, sorry, but do you happen to have a mask? I think I have a cold… I’m worried about spreading it…”
“There should be one in the first aid kit under the seat.”
“A first aid kit?”
I guess it’s because he’s a doctor. I think this was the first time I’d seen someone who carries a first aid kit in their car.
“Thank you…”
I took out a disposable mask from the first aid kit and put it on. Was it just my imagination? Once I put on the mask, my throat seemed to sting. It wasn’t just signs of a cold—I really had caught a cold. I coughed quietly inside the mask and then buttoned my coat up to my neck.
That’s when Hyeol looked at my complexion with worried eyes. I held his hand tightly so the child could feel at ease.
*
“We’ve arrived.”
“…!”
When the car quietly stopped and I heard Baek Woojin’s calm voice, I realized that I had dozed off during that short time. Meanwhile, Hyeol had unbuckled his seatbelt himself and opened the door. His attitude seemed to say that he didn’t need his dad’s escort or anything.
“Wait, Hyeol, just a moment…!”
I quickly opened the car door, got out, and followed Hyeol.
“I can go by myself.”
Hyeol stopped and said to me.
“I know, Hyeol can go by himself bravely… Dad just has something to say to the teacher briefly.”
“To the kindergarten teacher?”
“Yeah.”
I held Hyeol’s hand tightly and only then looked around at our surroundings.
Whiiiiing.
“Huh…?”
But something was strange. A cold wind blew over my head and a huge, pitch-black barrier filled my entire field of vision.
“This… is really… a kindergarten…?”
“Yes.”
My heart sank at Hyeol’s confident answer. I think I understood why Hyeol had asked if it was really a kindergarten when he saw Kkotsu’s kindergarten.
Instead of the familiar white fence of kindergartens I knew, there was a massive wall like obsidian, intimidating golden iron gates instead of friendly colors, the kindergarten name and emblem written in English that I could barely read… Even inside the kindergarten, there were many huge decorative objects, but it wasn’t a playground where children could touch and run around.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
