On the first day after school starts,
As I opened the classroom door, these little rascals are still full of energy, running around since morning.
“Ugh…”
I walked to my seat and buried my head on the desk. While lying down, trying to block out the noise, someone keeps poking my head…
It’s the first day back, so I’m already irritated, and these boys just want to cause trouble since the morning.
I snapped my head up and shouted loudly.
“Ah, seriously, Park Young-jun, you again…”
It’s Su-jin.
With my finger pinching her, Su-jin seemed startled and had tears welling up in her eyes.
“Oh, it’s you, Su-jin?”
“Uh-huh… It’s me… I’m sorry…”
As she finished speaking, a single tear dropped.
Even though I suddenly yelled, it doesn’t seem like a reason to cry…
These eight-year-olds are pretty delicate, but Su-jin seems even ten times more fragile.
Her tears are on the verge of spilling over any second.
I decided to change the subject.
“No, so how was your vacation, Su-jin?”
“Yeah…”
“Oh, really? What did you do during the break?”
“I went to Phuket with Mom and Dad…”
“Phuket? Thailand?”
“What’s Thailand?”
“You said you went to Phuket.”
“Yeah!”
As we talked, Su-jin’s tears stopped.
Phew. I don’t know if I’m a student or a daycare teacher comforting kids.
“Phuket is in Thailand.”
“Huh? I went to Phuket, not Thailand!”
“Exactly… Anyway, was it fun?”
“Yeah!”
When it was time for class, the teacher came in.
“Did everyone have a good vacation?”
“”” Yes~ “””
I really wish life could just be a never-ending vacation.
“So, everyone brought their vacation homework, right?”
“”” Yes~ “””
In the chorus of answers, some kids didn’t respond.
It was homework that could be done in just ten minutes, yet they didn’t do it.
“Then, the friend in the back row, please stand up and collect the homework~”
The person in the back stands up and starts collecting the homework.
We’re seated by height, so the back row kids are taller.
By the way, I’m in the third seat from the front.
I wonder when I’ll grow taller.
But since Dad is 181.5 cm and Mom is 167.4 cm, my estimated height is 168 cm. Maybe I can even surpass 170 cm if I’m lucky.
After collecting all the homework, the teacher continues the lesson.
“So, what did you all do during the break?”
“I went to the amusement park!”
“I played computer games!”
“I went to a learning center…”
“I went on a boat!”
When the teacher asked, the kids scrambled to shout out what they did.
“Phuket! Phuket! Phuket!”
Su-jin, you too…? Is this your personality?
In the heated atmosphere, the teacher calms them down and says,
“It sounds like everyone had fun~ Now, during today’s class, we’re going to share what we did over the vacation, one at a time. Let’s start with Jin-su from the front row!”
“Looks like we had fun! So today in class, we’re going to have each person present what they did during the vacation, starting with Jin-su in the front row.”
“Yes!”
As the kids took turns presenting, it quickly became my turn.
Group activities in elementary school are such a hassle.
“Okay, how about Do-hee? What did you do?”
What did I do again? I feel like I just studied.
“I only studied.”
“Come on, didn’t you do anything else?”
“Well, I studied all day, exercised a bit, and maybe slept in bed?”
The teacher’s expression stiffened at my answer. Uh-oh, this isn’t going to end well. I can already sense a call to my mom coming.
During break time, the teacher called me forward.
“Do-hee.”
“Yes?”
“Homework…”
Another shadow cast across the teacher’s face.
“Oh, the homework? I did it well, right?”
“The diary said Do-ah is cute, it’s hot, I ate eggs, and I watched YouTube. Ha… this isn’t a diary at all.”
Looking at the teacher’s mood, it seemed that I might have to redo my homework.
I tried to look as sad as possible and said, “But… I can only study at home, so I don’t have time for anything else…”
“Did your mother make you do it…?”
“No… I want to do it myself.”
And I tried to force a bright expression.
“But she gets mad if I don’t study.”
My mom actually prefers it when I don’t study.
“But I don’t hate mom! She loves me, you know?”
The teacher’s expression turned serious.
“Can you tell me what you study in a day?”
“Um… math, English, Korean, science prep, studying Japanese, and then I play the piano and exercise with the remaining time…”
“Sigh… Alright, I won’t tell you to redo your homework.”
Wow. My acting skills are on point. The teacher looks serious, but who cares.
After school, I returned home.
“I’m back~”
As I came in and started unpacking, mom hugged me from behind.
“Sweetheart~”
“Huh?”
“Did you have a good day at school?”
“No, I want to quit as soon as possible.”
“By the way, don’t you have anything you want to tell mom?”
I guess the teacher called her again.
“Did the teacher make me sound like someone who pushes you to study?”
“What are you talking about? I never said that to the teacher.”
“She said you look overwhelmed because you only study at home. She mentioned you should be given a little freedom to grow properly!”
“I just said I didn’t have enough time to do it properly because I was busy studying for my vacation homework!”
Then mom started shaking me back and forth.
“That’s because you didn’t do your homework properly!”
As my body wobbled, I felt something strange…
My body feels strange as it shakes back and forth…
“Mom! Mom! Wait a minute.”
“Why? Try making an excuse.”
“It’s not that, I’m shaking!”
I shoved my finger into my mouth and gently touched my wobbly tooth as I spoke.
“This tooth is wobbling!”
My front tooth swayed with my gestures.
“Oh my, it’s real. They say kids lose their teeth around this age, so I guess our daughter is about to lose hers too.”
Now that I was conscious of my shaking tooth, I couldn’t help but keep poking it with my tongue.
“Shouldn’t we pull this out?”
“Yep, baby teeth have to come out so permanent teeth can grow nicely. Should we go to the dentist today?”
“Which dentist? No way, it’s a waste of money.”
Mom looked at me with a sly expression and laughed.
“Don’t tell me you’re afraid of the dentist?”
“What’s with that face? Why would I be scared of the dentist?”
“Then let’s go to the dentist.”
“I said no!”
“See, you’re scared!”
“No, I’m not!”
“Oh? Getting angry, are we? Strong denial equals strong affirmation.”
“Well then, let’s go! To the dentist!”
“Forget it. I’m not wasting money on something like this. When Dad gets home, I’ll ask him to pull it out.”
“Sigh…”
Actually, I was a bit scared.
Even adults fear the dentist.
Dad arrived home after work.
Do-ah ran up and hugged Dad.
“Oh my, did our princess miss Daddy?”
“Yep!”
Since Do-ah was born, Dad has been less clingy to me, which is nice.
“Can’t you see me?”
Only then did Dad turn to look at me.
“Nope! Didn’t our Do-hee miss Daddy?”
“Well, not really,”
“Aww…”
I didn’t get why he asked even though he knew the answer would hurt.
“My tooth is shaking, I need to get it pulled out.”
“Really? Let’s take a look!”
I opened my mouth to show Dad my wobbly tooth.
“Look, it’s shaking!”
“True, let’s pull it out right now! Honey, bring me some string.”
“Okay~”
“Are we really doing this now?”
“Yep, these things need to be pulled quickly.”
I was getting a bit jittery.
Mom brought the string.
“Okay, Do-hee, open your mouth.”
As I opened it, Dad tried to hook the string onto my tooth.
“It’s not working well.”
“Tie the knot better!”
Finally, the knot was tied, and we were ready to pull it out.
I was getting oddly tense.
It’s like feeling nervous to ride the same ride again at an amusement park.
“Dad, we need to count one, two, three before pulling, okay?”
“Got it! One, two!”
Before Dad could shout three, he pulled out the tooth.
Instead of pulling the string, he pushed my head, and I fell backwards onto the sofa!
I pushed, and I fell back onto the sofa behind me.
“Ah!”
Mom, who was filming the video, laughs.
“Haha, Do-hee lost a tooth? Your brother pulls them out well~”
“I was nervous since it was my first time, but it came out easier than I thought.”
There’s some blood coming from the spot where the tooth was pulled, but it doesn’t hurt.
But my head feels tingly.
“No, you should pull the thread, why are you pushing my head?!”
“Oh, is that so? Dad was confused since it’s his first time too.”
“What do you mean by that! I thought your head was coming off.”
“Does your head come off, sister?”
“Hey! Lee Do-hee, didn’t Mom tell you to speak nicely in front of Do-ah?”
Why does Do-ah always just watch quietly and use rough words when no one’s paying attention?
At this point, isn’t she doing it on purpose?
“I mean, it’s Dad’s fault for not pulling the thread and just pushing my head.”
“These days, because Dad is so lenient, is everything Dad’s fault now?”
Dad gets up and comes over to me.
“Thinking about it, I also think it’s partly my fault.”
Dad hugs me.
“Okay. I messed up, my bad!”
Dad’s face comes closer.
“Ah.”
.
.
.
Now, with my teeth falling out one by one, I feel like my body is maturing.
Maybe I should check my height.
“Mom, come measure my height.”
“Sure, let’s see how much our daughter has grown.”
I stepped on the measuring tape Mom brought and leaned against the wall.
After measuring my height, Mom says,
“Oh, Do-hee has grown a lot! For sure, babies grow quickly.”
“How many centimeters?”
“125.1 cm.”
“Okay. From 50 cm as a newborn, 125 cm at 7 years old, if this continues, I’ll hit 2 meters by 14, right?”
Mom gives me a playful slap on the head for my light joke.
“Ow.”
“Make sense with your words.”
“This is child abuse!”
“Child abuse? Don’t use that term. This is Mom’s love.”
“No, lately, Mom’s violent actions towards me have been way too frequent.”
“You’ve been doing things that deserve it more often.”
“I haven’t been doing that bad! I’m going to report you for child abuse to my teacher tomorrow.”
“Then Mom will hit you twice as hard.”
Mom humorously responds.
“Ugh, fine. Now go play with Do-ah, I’m too tired to play with you.”
“Aren’t you already planning to play with Do-ah?”
“Why are you being so childish? Aren’t you embarrassed in front of your daughter?”
“Nope, not embarrassed at all.”
“Sigh. Mom and Do-ah match perfectly in mental age.”
“No, they don’t?”
“Ugh, get out! I need to study.”
These days, it seems like she’s become quite the tease.
Sigh.
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