One benefit of the bitterly cold weather is that a man is content to go down the lane while wearing boots that dig into the snow. His lovely lips exhaled a warm, soft breath. His dark eyebrows are hidden by his ebony hair, and his brown eyes are fixed on his sole prey. He yanks his long, black coat up close to his chest.
Kids' world schools
"Teacher Dream." The teacher kneels in the snow and hugs a kindergarten student as the little boy giggles.
"Gold morning." The soft voice reaches his ears. The little boy smiled brightly while closing his eyes.
His blue uniform was neatly ironed, and a few bangs hid his forehead as he wore a blue hat too. His yellow bag hanging over his shoulder and neatly polished black shoes
"It's a good, good morning." Teacher Dream corrected while playfully pinching the snow-white cheeks, which turned red immediately.
"Good Morning," The boy smiles again, showing his milky teeth. The teacher smiled, picking up the student in his arms.
"Did you do the homework?" The teacher asked while walking inside the school, which is constructed in a T shape with only one floor. Since it's only a kindergarten school, that was sufficient.
"Yesh, Ayan did it." The teacher smiled as he stepped inside the classroom.
The walls were decorated with little crafts done by the students and painted as fairy tale characters. There were toys arranged on a table and a green board on the left. There was a portable rack on the right for students to keep their belongings during any activity.
"Take your seat, Ayan." The teacher smiled while carefully placing the child on the marble floor. The student smiled, quickly skipping his way to his seat and carefully placing his bag on the table.
The teacher placed his bag on the table, removed his overcoat, and kept it on his chair.
"We'll start our class with a prayer." The teacher stood behind his table as the kids did the same while joining their hands.
The teacher slowly recited the prayer as the students repeated the words in a chorus. Some kids were peeking at their friends, trying to know whether their friends were also praying with them.
"Alright, take your seat." The teacher gestures for them to sit as he leans on the table, looking at each one of them.
"We'll learn numbers today from 101-125." The teacher smiled. "Does anyone remember from 1-100?"
"I know." A girl had two ponytails as she raised her hand. "Please help us remember." The teacher asked in a soft voice.
"1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10...98,99,100." She counts with her little fingers and smiles at the last number. Meanwhile, the teacher wrote the new numbers on the board.
"Wonderful." Everyone clapped their hands.
"Let's continue." "One hundred and one." The teacher points at student 101 and glances at his students. "Repeat after me." "One hundred and one."
"One hundred and one." The chorus replies.
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Not so far from the school is a company that works on perfumes. The perfumes may not be known worldwide. But it's popular in the local market. The structure was not huge or small. It has five floors with different departments.
"Sir, this is our plan." The presenter ends the slides with his words as his black iris reflects the lights of the projector. He turns his head because he can't see the people properly, and the ladies stare at him because of his sharp jawline.
The lights of the meeting room turned on as he sat on his chair while crossing his arms. "The presentation was good, Romano." The boss, whose handful of hairs have turned gray, quickly bowed his head.
"What do you say, Mr. Chen?" The boss gives his attention to the investor sitting next to him.
Chen glanced at the boss and then at everyone present as he got up. "It'll be my pleasure to invest in this project." He stretched his arms for a handshake with the boss, who smiled while standing next to Chen. "We are grateful." The boss replied, lightly bowing his head.
"You'll get my check by tomorrow." Chen smiled at the people and walked out with his secretary.
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Teacher Dream smiled at the students as he walked towards the department. The kids giggle as they walk hand in hand. The students played tag and laughed while running around. The teacher had a soft smile lingering on his lips.
"Good morning," Teacher Dream said to the other teachers as he approached his table. The teachers present in the cabin smiled and bowed back.
One teacher was correcting the homework of lower kindergarten students in section A. The teacher next to him was sipping coffee and sighing to herself. The teacher sitting next to Kookie had a wide smile while texting on his phone.
Teacher Dream looks at the principal and says, "Dean, how are you feeling now?" The principal leans back on the chair as he looks at Dean. "Are you able to adjust here?" The principal asked again with a small smile.
"Yes, sir. I'm fine, and the kids here are amazing. They make me happy with their angelic smiles," Dean explained while smiling widely.
They make me feel less guilty. They give me more reason to live.
The principal nodded his head. Dean takes his bag and fumbles for his afternoon medicine. He gulps the anti-rejection pill with water and sighs while taking his lunch box, which contains pieces of different fruits such as apples, kiwis, and pineapples.
The anti-rejection pill must be taken for the rest of his life. so that his body never rejects his heart or the other way around.
Dean stood up, taking the tiffin with him. Dean smiles as he shows Daniel the tiffin.
Daniel is the teacher for lower kindergarten. He always smiles brightly, and his students follow suit, smiling brightly. He was correcting the homework while drawing stars along with his signature and a smiley face too.
"Please take one." Dean requested. "Thank you, Teacher Dream." Daniel chuckled as he bit into an apple.
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"Alright, team. We got the project." The leader looked around at everyone who was standing up from their seats and staring at Romano. Everyone cheered, fist-bumping each other.
"We have to work harder," Romano continued, keeping his hands inside his pocket. Everybody nodded their heads with wide smiles.
"We can start working at 5 p.m.," Romano instructs, glancing at the wall clock that read 1 p.m. "You guys can relax until then." He continued and turned around, walking towards his cabin.
He did say for them to start working at 5. but for himself? He can't relax. not even for a second. If he closes his eyes, the sleeping figure of his love floats in his vision. The dreadful event occurred three years ago.
He spent almost all his days in front of the grave of his love. He didn't want to go anywhere. It was because of his son—the only possession of his love—that he pulled himself up and started to live again.
Years spent alone in his own mental space But he always took care of his son, from feeding him to helping the infant in the bath to patting his back while roaming around the hall room while humming a tune that always brought tears to his eyes. He tries to hum the same way his wife did, as his throat would clog up while trying to hold back a sob.
He clenched his fists as the memories made him jitter when his eyes fell on the picture of his family. He didn't remove the picture, no matter how much his family told him to remarry and settle again in the name of giving a motherly figure to his son.
How can he marry someone else when he still loves his wife? How can he just forget those happy days? How will he close his heart to his wife and marry someone else? He can't imagine anyone else in his wife's shoes. He can't do it!
He sighed deeply and gave his attention to the computer screen. He needs to make a SWOT analysis for the project before the end of the day. This is the aim—to distract from the images of his wife.
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"Hanja, be careful." Dean held the student from falling because of his clumsiness in climbing the stairs of the slide.
Dean's class is playing on the ground. The place is equipped with slides, a see-saw, swings, different types of balls, obstacles to overcome, etc.
Little Hanja gave his toothy smile and said, "Thank you, Teacher Dream." The boy then carefully climbs the stairs. Dean smiled as he moved to the other side to protect the boy.
Hanja showed a little hesitation as he sat over the edge. "Hanja," Dean calls, sitting at the other end. Hanja smiled and nodded, fisting his palm and closing his eyes as he slid, trusting in his teacher's dream.
"I got you," Dean said as he slipped away, catching Hanja in his arms. Hanja laughs, hugging Dean's shoulder.
"You did it," Dean whispered, moving aside for other students to play. "Yesh, Hanja did it." Hanja nodded his head with happiness and giggled as Dean placed him back on the ground. He ran back to the slide, and this time he didn't hesitate to slide off while laughing.
Dean smiled and walked away to observe other students. "Be careful," Dean warns when he sees kids running around at full speed to catch their friends. The strength of the class is 23 students, and they are full of energy; sometimes Dean has a hard time handling everyone together.
Especially since he was a new teacher with far-flung students. They would talk with another teacher. But you feel rather shy or awkward with a new teacher. Dean very patiently made a soft space in the hearts of his students, leading them to call him Teacher Dream. The children's cheerful smiles brighten his day and make his life worthwhile again.
"Alright, time to go back to class." Dean blew his whistle to get their attention. "Make a line in roll order, with no pushing." Dean opens the glass door and counts the students in his mind as they walk inside the class.
Dean takes the A4 sheets from the table that he had prepared beforehand. "Get out your crayons," Dean says, handing out papers to each student who took them while drinking water. Some are taking their crayons from their bags and keeping them on the rack.
Dean cleared the board and looked at each student. "Everyone ready?"
"Yesh," The chorus' reply brought a smile to Dean, who raised his chalk and scribbled on the board, making circles, bigger ones on the outside, smaller ones inside.
"Teacher?" The curious voice made Dean chuckle. "See the paper in front of you?" Dean asked as the students nodded their heads. "Take your crayons and scribble as you wish." However, make sure not to scribble all over the paper.
The students nodded their heads. "Later, bring it to me," Dean said, turning around and drawing limbs and eyes for the scribble on the board. "I'll do something like this to them." "Or, you can do it yourself," Dean explained keeping the chalk in its place.
The students, with full happiness, started to draw different shapes on the paper. Some drew triangles with rainbow colors; others drew circles over each other; and some made steps out of circles of different colors. Dean looks out for each of them.
"Teacher?" A small boy holding a purple crayon calls as his small eyes close with a wide smile. Dean walks towards the boy and kneels next to him.
"Yes, Ayan." Dean looks at the art by the child. The paper had colorful circles, one after the other, and in the pattern of a rainbow. "Teacher, do that for me." Ayan pointed at the scribble, and Dean understood.
"Of course, dear." Dean took his marker from the pocket and drew hands, legs, and eyes with a wide, 32-teeth smile on the doodle.
"Is this OK?" Dean asked, showing the paper. "Yes, it's nice." Ayan smiled while closing his eyes. "Alright, continue if you want to add anything extra." Dean patted his head and stood up to look at the other kids. Ayan nods his head and looks at the crayon to choose the next color.
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While rapidly packing his things, Romano took a quick look at his watch. Shortly after leaving the cabin, he nearly rushed toward his bike. He puts on his helmet and fires up the engine rapidly. He engaged a different gear and backed out of the parking lot.
He came to a stop in front of a bakery before rushing inside to buy his son a pineapple cake. He rushed back, accelerated briefly, and then slowed down as the school gradually came into view.
Kids World School
Since he refused to let his son ride the school bus, he waited outside the gate with other parents. He can personally pick up and drop off his child. "Good day, Mr. Carter." A parent greeted him. As the bell rang and the parents waited in front of the gate, they carried on their conversation. Gradually, students started to leave the school and run to their parents, who embraced them.
Romano waited patiently while peeking to see his son. "Papa!" He heard the familiar voice and a boy running towards him as the backpack jumped with each step.
"Ayan." Romano kneels in front of him and embraces the only reason he can breathe. "I missed you," Romano whispered, pressing a soft kiss on Ayan's cheek. The boy laughs as he holds up a piece of paper. "I drew this, Papa." He showed the paper as Romano chuckled.
This is routine; the boy cannot wait until he reaches home to tell about his day. He'll start talking as soon as he sees his father until Romano takes a storybook.
"So, nice." Romano offers compliments as he carries his son toward his bike. "The shame," Teacher Dream said.
"Shame?" Romano stops his steps. "Do you mean the same, dear?" Romano asked how long he had remembered his son's amazing drawing.
"Yesh, shame." Romano laughed as he tickled the boy. "It's the same, baby." Romano puts the boy on his bike.
"I would have scolded your teacher now," Romano said, helping him wear a helmet.
"No, no scolding teacher dream." Ayan pouts as Romano smiles. He sat behind the boy and ignited the engine.