a whole week had passed, meaning the six kids had survived five days of preschool, and were now completing their sixth, on that next monday. they weren't having too much fun, as the same kid who'd stolen yeosang's drone had been bothering them all week, but they didn't tell their parents, mainly because they didn't want to worry them.
"mr. kim?" "hi, yes?" "this is the principle of incheon academy, we're calling to inform you that three of your children are in trouble, wooyoung, mingi, and yeosang."
hongjoong almost sighed loudly into the phone.
"please come pick them up from our office, they've been suspended for the rest of the school day, and will have to serve detention tomorrow. we're sorry to i convenience you." "no, it's alright. i'll be there soon. thanks, bye."
the father then let out the frustrated sigh he'd been holding in, then walking out to tell seonghwa.
"hey, wooyoung, mingi, and yeosang got in trouble, i've gotta go pick them up. stay here, i'll be home soon." "why are they in trouble?" "i don't know."
after driving for a few minutes, he arrived, and walked into the office, finding yeosang sitting in angry silence, mingi on the verge of tears, and wooyoung seeming happy and proud, almost to the point of laughing.
"alright, start explaining." he said quickly.
"well," wooyoung started instantly, "remember that boy that bullied yeosang? he was bothering us, he kept teasing san because he brought shiber to school, and he called mingi a coward and said jongho was fat, and i was getting so angry! and when he was asked to stop, he hit mingi's arm! so i had to get him back, he hurt my brother! all i did was hit him, it was a light hit, and he turned around and tried to punch me! we started fighting, and he kept yelling mean words at us, so mingi joined in the fight out of anger, and then, when yeosang was trying to stop us, the kid pushed him to the floor! yeosang was so mad, he beat up the kid! and then we were caught." "yeosang beated him up good." mingi added, and wooyoung agreed.
hongjoong then glanced over at yeosang, finding the child giving him the scariest death glare he'd even seen, so he immediately turned away.
"well, you're all in trouble. come on, we're going home." hongjoong said sternly, and they all got in the car.
"alright, since, obviously, i'm grounding all three of you, that means wooyoung and mingi are missing dance class, because you lost my trust, so i can't let you go there for a little bit. and yeosang, you lost your drone, at least until saturday." the parent explained.
when he said yeosang's punishment, the toddler started to scream and cry, and kick around.
he threw a giant fit the whole way home, as he didn't want his drone to be taken away, and his screaming caused mingi to cry, and caused wooyoung to plug his ears and scream as well.
hongjoong was seriously going crazy.
seonghwa watched hongjoong haul three screaming children into the house. mingi ran and hugged seonghwa, while wooyoung angrily stormed to the kids' room. yeosang sat on the ground and hit hongjoong away every time the parent would try to pick him up and take him to the room.
the child kept crying and whining gibberish, while seonghwa asked what this fit was about.
"i grounded them because they got into a fight with that bully, yeosang, especially, because he beat up the poor kid. i told him he couldn't have his drone, and he just instantly threw this tantrum. please calm him down while i talk to the other two."
seonghwa agreed, and slowly approached the still-crying yeosang, while hongjoong took mingi to their room so they could talk.
"hey... i just want to say, i am a tiny bit proud, because i know you were defending each other, which is great, that's what you should do, protect your brothers. but, that doesn't mean figuring was the answer. there are plenty of other ways you could've dealt with it, but you chose to fight and hurt the kid, so you two and yeosang are still grounded. you are to sit here for ten minutes and think about what you did. i'll send yeosang to timeout in just one second." hongjoong explained.
he the left to get yeosang, and when he walked out, he found yeosang still sitting against the wall, with seonghwa still trying to comfort him.
"come on, hon. you know the consequences. timeout for ten minutes." hongjoong said simply, and the child (who was a lot calmer, but still angry) finally stood up and walked silently to the room.
"phew, at least that's over." hongjoong said.
"yeah. hey, when are we supposed to pick the other three up? isn't that soon?" seonghwa then asked.
"let me check.." hongjoong looked at his phone.
"SHIT, WE'RE LATE!" he screamed, and dashed out the door, leaving seonghwa shocked and wanting to go with, but knowing he had to watch the kids.
hongjoong rushed so fast to the school, he could've easily gotten a speeding ticket if caught.
once he got there, almost every single kid was gone, except for the other three waiting patiently, and hongjoong thought it was only them, until he got closer to see that there was an older kid with them.
he watched them while he pulled into the parking lot and tried to find a parking spot. surprisingly, even though there weren't any kids, the parking lot was full. there must've been a big event, hongjoong thought.
while he watched, he noticed the kid take something from san, which was obviously shiber, prompting the father to start getting angry.
and then, he tried to rip the doll's head off.
hongjoong parked somewhere and practically jumped out of the car, running over as fast as possible.
he heard the kids yelling at him to stop, but, since they were younger, they were smaller than this kid, and so they couldn't reach the doll he was holding up.
"hey, what is going on here?"
"daddy!" san cried. "he has shiber! he's hurting shiber! what if he kills shiber, daddy help us!"
hongjoong sighed. he approached the kid and held out his hand. "hey, these are my kids, i know i can't do much, but i think it's a good idea to give me that doll. i don't want to be rude, because you're young, but i think you should stop messing with them, it's really hurting them, and i think, as an older kid, you shouldn't be doing this to kids this young. understand?"
the kid, who was pretty much frozen in fear, nodded quickly and shoved the doll into hongjoong's hands.
"and what's your name?" "o-oh sehun, sir."
"alright, sehun, go home and don't bother them, alright? then everyone will be happy." "a-a-alright!"
and with that, the family left.
