Come Be My Teacher

teen mum

"no, no, you gotta hold the leash like this. you need to have a tight grip or else he'll be able to run off, got it?"

for the past ten minutes, katy had been trying to teach ryuki how to hold onto the dog leash when trying to walk tae but the poor boy just wasn't getting the hang of it.

"i am holding it tight." he sulked, the leash still in his tiny fist.

katy shook her head and crouched beside him, "look at my hand and watch what i do." she instructed as she took the leash from him and slipped her hand into the loop and held onto it firmly. "do you think you can do this?"

ryuki nodded and let katy hold his hand and slip it through the loop.

"now hold on tight." she told him as she let go. he tightened his grip and looked up at katy to see if he was doing it correctly.

"you got it! great job!"she exclaimed, giving him a high-five on his other hand.

jin and daphne watched from behind them as they walked down the road.

"he warmed up to her fast." daphne noted after a moment of silence.

"what can i say, he's quite the social butterfly. gets it from me." seokjin replied, looking over at daphne and smiling, "by the way, how old is katy?"

"she's... fifteen. turning sixteen in the summer." she answered, not thinking much of the question.

"and you're..?"

"twenty-four going on twenty-five."

that's 9 years. how is that possible?... she must have been an early bloomer or something- maybe she was assaulted-

"is everything okay, mister kim? you seem a little...off." daphne told him, stopping in her tracks.

"everything's fine, it's just... you're so young. how do you do it?"

daphne tilted her head to the side as she listened to him. 'young in what sense?'. most kindergarten to third grade teachers in her school were about the same age, so what on earth is he on about?' she thought to herself.

"i graduated from university when i was 22 and started teaching a little after that. i'm really not that young to be doing this."

"yeah, but what about katy? how does that work out?"

"katy? well, she doesn't live with me if that's what your asking."

"does that affect your relationship with her?"

"huh?" she responded, her confusion now written all over her face.

"i mean, i know i wouldn't want to not live with my son in these prime years of his life, so i'm just trying to get another parent's perspective on it. maybe i'm just too attached to my son."

"another parent? mister kim, what on earth are you talking about?"

"your daughter, katy."

daphne's eyes widened in realisation of what jin had been talking about all this time, "my daughter?! mister kim, katy isn't my daughter, i don't have any kids!" she whisper-shouted "is that what this is all about?"

"wait, she's not? then why does she look so much like you?"

"because she's my sister!"

seokjin's eyes widened in pure disbelief. what on earth was he hearing?, "your sister?!'

"yes! katy's my 'half-sister'. we have the same dad."

seokjin and daphne stared at each other, daphne waiting for him to respond and seokjin unable to find words for this more-than-shocking revelation.