Come Be My Teacher

2

daphne watched as her dog ran around with other dogs and sighed. she continued watching her dog carefully until she heard someone cry and after working with children for a year, she knew it was the cry of a child in distress. she turned her head to the sound of the voice and saw a child seated in the grass, wailing. she frowned at the sight and turned back to her dog.

"taeyang! doggie, let's go!" she called out to her dog who ran to her immediately. she stood up and the two beings walked up to the wailing child.

"hey, sweetie, why are you crying?" daphne asked the child as she tapped his shoulder. the child turned his head and locked eyes and as he did so, a flood of emotions rushed into her body.

she was worried, sad and angry that someone would push poor ryuki to tears.

"miss summers?" ryuki said as his glassy eyes met hers.

"ryuki, why are you crying?" she asked him, crouching next to him.

"i can't find my appa!" he wailed.

"shh. don't cry, ryuki. how about we get you some ice cream and then we'll look for your dad, hmm?" she said trying to comfort the wailing  child. he nodded his head in agreement and smiled at her. she pulled out a tissue from her pocket and wiped his face before kissing his forehead.

she stood ryuki up and they began making thir way to the ice cream truck while daphne kept thinking of who could let her favorite student cry.

"is that your dog?" ryuki asked as three of them walked to the ice cream truck.

"yup. say hi to ryuki, taeyang" daphne said to her dog. taeyang barked at the infant who seemed amused at the sound.

"can i pet him?" he asked.

"of course! what flavor do you want, ryuki?" she asked the boy.

"vanilla, please!" he said as he played with the dog.

daphne immediately bought him a vanilla ice cream cone and handed it over to him.

"thank you, miss summers!" he said, licking the ice cream. she smiled and held his hand in her right hand the dog's leash in her left hand as they started looking for the boy's father.

"miss summers, if we can't find my appa, can you be my parent?" the boy asked with wide eyes and pouting lips.

"what about your mom?" she asked, smiling.

"appa said mom is in a very deep sleep. what does it mean for someone to be dead, miss summers?" the boy asked, looking up at her.

daphne felt herself freeze at the sudden question, but quickly recovered and answered his question.

"well, it's when someone stops breathing and can't do anything. it's like sleeping, but you can't wake up." she said.

"i think my mom's dead."