My Hero
meixingvs:
(...)
In a last fit of desperation, she does a round around the whole pool area, scanning for anything that looks even remotely close to her little boy. Her search turns up to nothing, and she’s about to give up when she hears something in the distance. A giggle, reminiscent of the twinkling of bells, a collection of pure joy and a sound she vows to never forget.
Turning her head sharply to the right she sees him, little Zhiming, being held in the arms of a man with puppy eyes and a bright smile, wearing a bright red shirt with the words “instructor” written over them in big, white letters.
it has been a while since he has dismissed the class. all the children are now making their way out of the swimming pool, tiny hands in their parents’ as they are being led towards their cars. they don’t forget to bid him good byes, which he returns with a slight bow as well. however, a sole lone boy remains. he sits on the edge of the kiddie pool, his feet dipping into the water. he splashes it about, possibly trying to distract himself from the fear of his mother not being there yet. his fear is warranted. it’s a public pool, after all, he might be scared of the people bustling around the area.
joonki knows it’s his responsibility to keep the boy company. he’s his teacher and joonki takes his job very seriously (probably because he likes imparting his knowledge of swimming onto the children –– watching them mastering the skill is always heart warming to him). joonki walks over to the boy, asking permission to sit. once he has it, he plops himself down and mirrors the young man’s pose. for half an hour, they sit there as joonki tries to engage zhiming in a conversation so time would fly by for the two.
after a while, joonki realises how his fingers begin to wrinkle from the extensive contact with the water (how funny it is that even him, the god of the sea, could be subjected to one of the peculiarities of the human body). he takes one of zhiming’s hand and examines his fingers. as he jokes about their reaction to prolonged exposure to the water, joonki pulls zhiming into his arms and brought him out of the water. he sits down on one of the benches and begins drying the boy with one of the towels joonki had prepared for the children.
the young boy giggles as joonki makes fun of his messy hair, his arms punching joonki lightly asking him to stop, although joonki doesn’t have any intention to. zhiming lets out one particular laugh that is so loud joonki swears all the attention turns to them.
and just like that –– he feels her gaze on him. cold and piercing.
she’s scrutinising him as always.
“well, well,” he mockingly taunts. “look who’s here.” zhiming is already squirming in joonki’s hold. he hears him faintly calling out for his mother and who’s joonki to keep him away? he sets zhiming to the ground and watches as the young boy waddles towards his mother. “you’re an hour late.”
