❝please know that it is never your fault as long as you've tried.❞  

(3 months later)

THE FAMILIAR weight of books lie balanced on his left arm as he opens the classroom door. a brand new class, a brand new batch of pre-schoolers. as the buzz made by the excited students gradually quietens down, jeongguk casts a quick glance around the classroom as names that he has memorized the previous night surface in his mind.

this is something he had never done before. it has taken him months to realize what he was doing wrong — he had never bothered to find out the personalities of each child, hence resulting in him disliking the job whenever he faced problems communicating with the students. 

setting the books down, he looked up when a girl called out. 

"teacher! it's really hot and stuffy here. can we go out and play?"

he recognizes her as lee yuju, the student who has been diagnosed with the attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. crouching down in front of her, he places his arms on the small table and crosses them, resting his head on top. "yuju, right?"

she nods eagerly, a spark of joy flashing in her eyes upon hearing her name. for some reason, jeongguk feels a spark of happiness in his chest as well.  

"it feels really cramped, doesn't it? you want to walk around, huh?" he smiles. "because lessons are starting soon, we can only go to the playroom during noon. if you really feel like standing up, you can go to the back of the classroom and read the storybooks there quietly, okay?"

yuju's eyes widened and she swings her legs back and forth excitedly. "can i find goldilocks and the 3 bears over there?"

"of course." jeongguk ruffles her hair and grins. 

and so he spends the entire day tending to the students' needs and trying his best to understand them. a tad harder than what he used to do — basically just teach whatever's on the textbooks — but at least he's sure of something.

he does feel happier this way.