𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒈𝒆 | 𝒆𝒏𝒉𝒚𝒑𝒆𝒏 (𝘦𝘥𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨)

43

I'll dance and play as I cast a spell
On your body in a nightmare

IRENE & SEULGI - Monster

Chaerin never knew that her children could experience jealousy over their peers. It started when she strapped into the iconic yellow apron of the daycare that the trio had begun to fawn over their mother. At first, they were latching on to the hems of her apron and holding her hands as she let them sit on the vacant colorful table. Chaerin watched as Jay held her hand again and led her to the boisterous children at the other table.

He huffed his chest in pride and coughed to get their attention. And when the other children turned around, Jay smiled and introduced her. "This is my mother. She's the prettiest in the world, and she works all day to make money," he said as she held in an amused smile.

"Yeah," Jake chimed in as Sunghoon nodded as he raised his arms to motion that he wants to be carried. "Now, now. What do you all want to play with before the foods arrive?" Chaerin received all sorts of games that children enjoyed before she picked hide and seek while holding Sunghoon in her arms.

Everyone started to hide except for one person. Chaerin sighed as she placed Sunghoon on the ground and arranged his hair into anything but a bird's nest. "Why don't you want to play, Hoonie?" Chaerin asked as she observed Sunghoon fiddling with his fingers. It took a while before the youngest looked up to her and started opening up.

"I want to stay with you," he mumbled as Chaerin kissed his forehead before twirling him in her arms. "It's okay. We can look for them together," she said and received a cheerful laugh from the child.

They started walking on their tiptoes, huddled up, and laughs escaped from both as they spotted a child hiding underneath the table. "I wonder who was hiding under the table," she asks and prolonged the question as she patted the child's back. "Found you!" She exclaimed as she hugged the giggling child, not noticing the surprised look of her youngest child.

"Where are the others?" And she turned around to meet a small tuft of black hair tied into cute small space buns beside the small bookshelf. "Maybe Hoonie could find it out," she said as her child giggled before sprinting over to the other side of the bookshelf, grabbing the other child's arms with a grin on his face.

"Eomma! I found her!" Sunghoon shouted as the other child pouted and stomped her feet with tears threatening to flow down her chubby cheeks. "You know the rules, Gaon-ah," she said as she patted the young girl's head while wiping away the stray tears.

"Why don't you wait with your friends at your table? Maybe give me hints of the others too?" Chaerin asked and watched as the child sprinted to the other kids as she continued her search to find the remaining kids.

As she stepped into the other side of the room, she felt small changes in the layout of the toys. One was placed in a diagonal position while the others were messily on the floor as if covering their tracks. "I think I found another one," she sang out as she kept her footing as quiet as possible. The rustling of the toys kept growing louder as soon as she touched one of the small stuffed toys.

And as she removed the small pile of toy blocks and blankets, she came across the small tuft of brown hair giggling amongst themselves. A mischievous smile graced her lips, she started tickling his sides and raised him up in the air. "I found you, Jay!"

"How did you know?" Jay asked as he made an adorable frown on his face. Chaerin could guess what he was thinking. Maybe it was on the lines of he had thought of everything, yet why did it fail? "Easy. Don't you know that I have a magic power?"

"Really?" Mysterious as it was, Jay really did believe somehow her statement as if he knew somehow. He hid a smile as he kept his hands inside his pocket, covering the fact that his hands had a black watch - he didn't own a watch.

Chaerin freaked out a little at the trust Jay had in her before calming down her nerves. Maybe it was just a gust of wind that must be the way she just had a slight feeling of nervousness in her spine. "Oh- Just sit down next to your friends, okay? And ask your other teachers if it's time for lunch."

The way Jay ran off with hesitance on his steps were peculiar. It was like someone was watching and monitoring his every move, trying to let him notice that the time is over. That must be him- What is she talking about? It makes no sense that she was suspecting her son.

Something was making her head hurt. Something was blocking her head like pounding a heavy wall built inside her head. Or how she sometimes would be staring straight at nowhere, muttering about the way someone would be late for a couple of minutes. What makes the matter worse, she would always know how exact someone would take their time on.

"Three minutes," she muttered, making the other helpers look at her way with curiosity on written on their eyes. "I mean, we have three minutes left until the kids need to eat lunch." Chaerin chuckled nervously, fiddling her fingers as the stares got intense.

She ran hot on her heels to find the remaining children on the playground area of the daycare. "Where are you?" She sang out as she looked inside the slide to find a small child who looked as surprised at her. The child sprang out of his place, crawling to the upper part of the slide and failing miserably as he slid down to her arms. "Did you miss me that much, Jake?"

"How did you find me?" He asked as Chaerin saw the small sign the other helpers made that indicated that it was lunch. She began fixing his clothes, wiping his sweat with the apron, and led him to the faucet in the small corner of the room along with the other children. "I'm your mother, Jake."