Those days - txtzy

part 2: 五

"What do you guys want to do today?" Ryujin asked the small crowd of children, who gasped and waved their little arms madly in the air.

"I want to fly to the moon!" One girl proudly announced.

"We have a budget constraint, but I'm sure we'll get to do that someday," Ryujin smiled at that little girl.

"Ooh, I want to make a cake!" Another boy yelled, which his friend quickly shot down with, "No silly, you can't do that. You need a fairy to make cakes, that's what my mommy told me!"

The child, offended beyond compare, retorted, "That's stupid! How would you explain the bakery, then?"

Helpfully, another child flung a random cushion over, and thus a small pillow fight broke out.

As chaos ensued, and Ryujin tried her best to quell the energised rascals, a little boy came up to Beomgyu and tugged at his sleeve. "Could..." He sniffled shyly, "Could you read us a story?"

That made every single kid freeze, their bewildered faces exactly the same as if thinking "how could we have forgotten about that?" Immediately, the children abandoned their desire for cakes and pillow fights and moon flights, instead begging for a fairy tale.

Ryujin could not help but smile at the innocent pure children, and said, "Alright, alright, what story do you want?"

A tiny fist shot up, "One with a happy ending!"

That elicited giggles from the audience, the little kids exchanging looks unreadable to the two volunteers. "Okay then," Ryujin laughed, "I'll pick one."

Soon, a thick volume was selected, and Ryujin sat down, requesting for everyone to be comfortable before she started to read aloud.

"A long time ago, in a faraway land..."

The children were surprisingly compliant, some pulling invisible zippers across their lips to remind one another to stay silent, others giggling at some parts of the story where Ryujin exaggerated her tone or mimicked a character to make the children even more engaged.

Beomgyu simply sat at the side and watched the children's faces full of wonder and amazement, absolutely enthralled by the interesting tale.

Time flew by, and Ryujin barely needed to finish off the seventh story before all the children had either dozed off or were having trouble staying awake.

"-and they lived happily ever after. The end," Ryujin ended nonetheless, despite Beomgyu being the only fully conscious member of the audience.

Ryujin looked at the sleeping children with the serene gaze of a mother, and the lovely moment was ruined by Beomgyu's snicker.

"Why are you laughing?" Ryujin asked, mildly confused. Beomgyu shrugged slightly, "I don't know, I kinda saw a fairy tale parallel when you were reading with all those kids around you. Kind of like a really pretty princess surrounded by animals."

When Beomgyu realised he had said that aloud, he immediately flushed, unable to maintain eye contact.

That sent Ryujin in a fit of laughter, and she took some time before she straightened and said, "Well...thanks."

"No problem?" Beomgyu managed a smile, and, feeling rather daring suddenly, added, "Let's go now, princess."