Big Boy (1/1)

For koala_pandaBIG BOY

When Jaemin turned five years old, a lot of people commented on how big he had gotten, and praised Taemin and Naeun for raising such a delightful little boy. Jaemin was bright and outgoing, very much like his father, but he was also very observant and reserved like his mother, at times. He was well loved by his grandparents, uncles, aunts, and especially his parents, who doted on him on every little thing.

When it was time for Jaemin to blow out his candles, he puffed out his cheeks and sang the chorus of 'growl', clasped his hands together while closing his eyes and then extinguished the flames. Everyone clapped as Jaemin gave each of his parents a kiss.

Kai spoke up. "Hey buddy, why did you sing samchon's song before blowing out your candles?"

"It's ‘cause I wanna be strong like the wolf in ‘the three little pigs’..."

"But that was a bad wolf, baby..."

Jaemin pouted and then crossed his arms.

"But I'm a good boy..."

Naeun picked him up and rested him on her hip before bouncing him up and down.

"So what did you wish for?"

"I wished for everyone to be happy"

"Aigoo...neomu kyeopta uri Jaemin-ie"

Everyone pinched his cheeks as they walked by to get a slice of cake.

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The other important event that year was Jaemin starting school. When Jaemin had initially visited the school, he was very excited but in the two weeks leading up to his first day, he became very anxious and scared. He would hold on to Naeun more often, and ask to sleep in between her and Taemin every night. He went back to being their baby, who depended on them for everything.One time, when Taemin and Naeun were taking him shopping for school supplies he completely broke down crying in the middle of the store. Nothing could console the little boy until his parents bought him some ice-cream and then took him home. On the car ride back, he fell asleep and his parents carried him to bed. Jaemin went back to his old habit of sucking on his thumb, and he had a death grip on his teddy bear. Taemin and Naeun placed a kiss on his forehead before walking out unto the lounge and sitting on the sofa. Naeun went into her quiet mode so Taemin sat behind her and pulled her on his lap so that he could give her a back hug. She turned to face him and buried her face in his neck.“Oppa…what are we going to do about him?”“What do you mean?”“How are we going to get him to go to school when he won’t even go shopping for school supplies even though they were located directly in front of the toy store?”And for whatever reason, a bright idea struck in Taemin’s mind.“Naeun-ah…”“Ne?”“Wasn’t it your dream to become a teacher?”--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Surprisingly, Jaemin had slept through till the next morning. To keep their surprise a secret, Naeun brought Jaemin his breakfast in bed.“Omma, what are we going to do today?”“Baby, do you want to play a game?”Jaemin nodded enthusiastically before taking a big bite of his pancakes.“After you finish, Omma will give you a bath and then we’ll get dressed and we’ll go play a game downstairs…”Jaemin quickly finished his breakfast in three large mouthfuls before hosing it down with a cup of orange juice and then taking off the clothes he slept in and dragging Naeun to the bathroom. Half an hour later, Jaemin was all dressed and ready to play the game. He took Naeun’s hand and followed her to the living room where Taemin was waiting.“Appa!”“Good morning, buddy!”“Are we going to play a game?”“Yup.”“What game?”“School…”Jaemin scowled and then turned to Naeun and hugged her legs before raising his arms like he wanted to be carried.“Omma…”“Jaemin-ah…it’s going to be fun…”He shook his head violently and hugged her tighter.“But don’t you want to see who else is going to play with us? They’re all waiting for you…”“Shiroyo…”“Then why don’t we just say ‘hello’ to them, and if you still don’t want to play then we don’t have to…”“Promise?”Jaemin held out his pinky and Naeun hooked her with it.“Promise.”Taemin picked Jaemin up and carried him to the living room, which he had set up to look like a classroom. They had a whiteboard set up with encouraging messages for Jaemin, some tables and chairs set up, paper, crayons and some buildings blocks. Key, Minho, Kai, and Eunji were also there pretending to play hand games together. Jaemin’s face brightened when he saw his favourite aunts and uncles there and he jumped from Taemin’s arms into Eunji’s awaiting ones.“Imo, are you coming to play too?”“Of course!”Minho ruffled his hair and then took him away from Eunji.“We’re gonna paint stuff and build really tall towers like we do in kindergarten!”“And then we can knock them over so they make a really loud noise?”Key began to tickle Jaemin.“Yeah! It’s going to be like ‘BOOM!’”All of a sudden they heard a tapping against the whiteboard.“Omma, what are you doing there?”“Jaemin-ah…I’m not your Omma now. I’m going to be your teacher…and they are your classmates.”’Jaemin’s mouth formed an ‘O’ shape clearly getting into the whole act. Naeun began to teach basic counting to five and then some letters in the alphabet before ‘assigning’ the class to do some painting. Jaemin was so immersed in the whole thing, even putting his hand up to answer questions when Naeun asked them. When Naeun asked what number had come after five, Kai shot his hand up and answered that it was four. Jaemin laughed and then walked over to sit on Kai’s lap.“You’re being silly…Omma! I mean, seonsaengnim…isn’t it six?”“Good boy, Jaemin!”Kai gave him a high five.“Wahhh….Jaemin’s smarter than me!”“It’s okay, samchon…you’ll get there eventually…”Kai pretended to lock heads with Jaemin and they engaged in a playful fight.Like Minho had promised, all of them worked together to build a really tall tower using Jaemin’s blocks, and then Key put Jaemin into a superman position before they knocked over the building. Jaemin was laughing the entire time.A few hours later, it was time for them to ‘go home’. Jaemin gave each of his aunts and uncles a kiss before they left and then went to give his parents a kiss.“Did you have fun?”“Ne!”“Are you still scared of school?”“Aniyo…”--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------When Jaemin’s first day finally rolled around, he had gotten up very early, even attempting to put on his uniform by himself, but in the end, needing Naeun to help him put on his socks and tie his shoes. The family ate a special breakfast, and then they all drove to Jaemin’s school. Not even after five minutes of setting foot there, Jaemin had already made a friend, and the parents were about to leave when they felt someone hugging their legs.“Omma! Appa!”“Yes?”“I love you and I’ll miss you…”Taemin picked him up and gave him a kiss before getting him to lean over and give Naeun a kiss.“We love you too…go on…go play with your new friends…”When the school day ended, Taemin and Naeun were both there to pick him up. They decided that he needed a special treat for going to school so bravely. Jaemin was in between them holding their hands as they swung him back and forth.“Did you have a good?”“Ne! It was like when we played at home! Except…”Jaemin had a really confused look on his face that made his parents chuckle.“Except?”“Except the teacher wasn’t as pretty as Omma…”“Jinjja?”“Ne. I don’t think anyone is as pretty as Omma…”“I agree with you, son!”The father and son duo gave each other a high five as Naeun blushed.“Did anything else happen today?”Jaemin nodded his head.“I have a new best friend…”“What’s her name?”“Jia…she’s really pretty and is good a drawings and she’s smart too…I think I like her…”Jaemin said this with a blush and Naeun and Taemin became wide-eyed. As Jaemin ran off, Naeun nudged Taemin.“He’s just like you, Oppa…Geumsappa…falls in love too quickly…”“Don’t worry, Naeun-ah…if he’s like me…he’s an ohsappa…man who loves only one girl forever…”