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First day back at school,

As soon as I opened the classroom door, these kids were already running around like crazy, full of energy from the start of the day.

“Sigh…”

I went to my seat and buried my head on the desk.
As I lay there covering my ears and resting, someone kept poking my head.
On the first day back at school, I was already annoyed, and the boys wanted to mess around in the morning.

I grabbed the finger tightly and raised my head, shouting loudly.

“Ah, you’re seriously annoying! Park Youngjun, is it you again…”

It was Sujin.
Sujin’s eyes welled up with tears, startled by my loud voice while her finger was still caught in my grip.

“Oh, it’s Sujin?”

“Uh-huh… it’s me… I’m sorry…”

As she finished speaking, a tear dropped from Sujin’s eye.

I yelled out of nowhere, but it didn’t seem like something to cry about…
Even though kids are delicate at eight years old, Sujin seemed ten times more delicate.
Sujin’s tears welled up, ready to burst at any moment.
I first decided to change the subject.

“No, it’s fine. So, Sujin, did you have a good vacation?”

“Yeah…”

“Really? What did you do during the vacation?”

“I went to Phuket and played there with my mom and dad…”

“Phuket? Thailand?”

“What’s Thailand?”

“You said you went to Phuket.”

“Yes!”

As we talked, Sujin’s tears stopped.
Phew. I don’t know if I’m a student or a daycare teacher soothing kids.

“Phuket is in Thailand.”

“Yes? I went to Phuket, not Thailand?”

“Right… never mind. So, did you have fun?”

“Yeah!”

When the class started, the teacher came in.

“Did everyone have a good vacation?”

“””Yes~”””

I really wished that vacation would last my whole lifetime.

“So I guess everyone did their vacation homework?”

“”“Yes~”””

Some kids didn’t respond among the voices of the children.
It was homework that could’ve been done in just ten minutes, but they didn’t do it.

“Then, the student in the last seat, please stand up and collect the homework.”

The person in the back stood up and started collecting the homework.
The seats are arranged in order of height with seats in the back for taller students.
By the way, I’m the third from the front.
I wonder when I’ll grow taller.
Considering that Dad is 181.5 cm tall and Mom is 167.4 cm, my estimated height is 168 cm. So, if I’m lucky, I think I could surpass 170 cm.

After collecting the homework, the teacher started the lesson.

“So, what did everyone do during the vacation?”

“I went to an amusement park!”
“I played computer games!”
“I went to an academy…”
“I went on a boat!”

In response to the teacher’s question, the children stood up one by one, shouting what they did during their vacation.

“Phuket! Phuket! Phuket!”

Sujin, you too…? You had this kind of personality?
As the atmosphere heated up, the teacher calms them down and said,

“You all had fun~ Now for today’s class, each of you will present what you did during the vacation. Let’s start with Jinsu in the front.”

“Yes!”

As the kids presented one by one, it was soon my turn.
Elementary school lower grades have many participatory activities, which are very annoying.

“Now, Dohee, why don’t you present next? Dohee, what did you do?”

What did I do?
I think I just studied.

“I just studied.”

“Oh come on, didn’t you do anything else other than studying?”

“Yes, I just studied all day, exercised for the remaining time, and went to sleep on the bed?”

The teacher’s face hardened again at my answer.
Oh no, I hope she doesn’t call my mom again.

During break time,
The teacher called me and I went up.

“Dohee.”

“Yes?”

“Your homework…”

A shadow falls on my teacher’s face again.

“Ah, my homework? IDid I do it well?”

“Your diary says ‘Doa is cute,’ ‘It’s hot,’ ‘I ate an egg,’ ‘I watched YouTube.’ Sigh… This isn’t a diary.”

Judging from the teacher’s tone, it seemed I might have to redo the homework.
I put on my saddest face and said,

“But… I only study at home, so I didn’t have time to do anything else…”

“Is it because your mother makes you do it…?”

“No… I do it because I want to.”

Then, trying to appear as cheerful as possible, I said,

“Though she scolds me if I don’t study.”

Mom says that she actually prefers it when I don’t study.

“But I don’t hate my mom! She loves me, doesn’t she?”

The teacher made a serious expression.

“Could you tell the teacher what Dohee studies every day?”

“Um… I do math, English, Korean, science review, and study Japanese. In the remaining time, I will play the piano and exercise…”

“Sigh… Okay, Teacher won’t make you redo the homework.”

Phew. My acting is flawless.
The teacher looked serious, but who cares.

After finishing school, I came back home.

“I’m back~”

As I entered my room and unpacked, Mom hugged me from behind.

“Sweetie~”

“Huh?”

“Did you have a good day at school?”

“No, I want to quit as soon as possible.”

“But sweetie, isn’t there something you want to tell Mommy?”

Looks like the teacher called my mom again.

“You made your Mom seem like a monster who forces you to study all the time?”

“What are you talking about? I didn’t say that to the teacher.”

“The teacher said that Dohee seems to be overworked and doesn’t have much time to spare because she only studies at home all day. She says that in order for a child to grow up properly you need to loosen it up a little!”

“I just said that I didn’t have enough time to do it properly because I was busy studying, when they commented on my summer homework, okay?”

Then, Mom started shaking my body back and forth.

“You didn’t do the homework properly, that’s why!”

As my body was shaken back and forth, I felt something strange in my mouth.

“Mom! Mom! Wait a moment.”

“What. Trying to make excuses now?”

“That’s not it, I mean my tooth is loose.”

I put my fingers in my mouth and gently touched the wobbly tooth.

“Awhhh, it’s loose”

My front tooth wobbled as I touched it with my hand.

“Oh my, it really is. They say everyone loses their teeth around this age. And it looks like it’s my daughter’s turn now too.”

Once I became aware of my loose tooth, I kept touching it with my tongue.

“Shouldn’t we pull it out?”

“Yeah, baby teeth need to fall out for the adult teeth to grow nicely. Shall we go to the dentist today?”

“What dentist? It’s a waste of money.”

Mom gave me a witty expression and laughed at me.

“You’re not scared of the dentist, are you?”

“What’s with that look? Why would I be scared of the dentist?”

“Then let’s go to the dentist.”

“I said no.”

“See, you are scared.”

“No, I’m not!”

“Oh? You’re getting defensive. Strong denial means strong affirmation.”

“Fine, let’s go. Let’s go to the dentist!”

“No need. It’s a waste of money to go to the dentist for this. Let’s ask Dad to pull it out when he gets home later.”

“Sigh.”

Actually, I was a bit nervous.
Dentists are scary even for adults.

Dad came home from work.
Doa ran over to him and hugged him.

“Ayu, did my princess miss Daddy?”

“Yeah.”

Since Doa was born, Dad has been less clingy with me, which makes me feel more comfortable.

“Can’t you see me?”

That’s when Dad looked at me.

“No, did Dohee miss her Daddy as well?”

“Well, not really,”

“Sob…”

I don’t understand why he bothers to ask only to get hurt even when he knows the answer.

“My tooth is loose and needs to be pulled out.”

“Oh really? Can I see?”

I opened my mouth and showed Dad that my tooth was loose.

“Look is loos.”

“Okay, let’s do it right away. Honey, get the thread.”

“Alright~”

“Are we doing it now?”

“Yeah, something like this should be pulled out quickly.”

I’m a bit nervous.

Mom brought the thread.

“Okay, Dohee, open your mouth.”

As I opened my mouth, Dad started tying the thread around my tooth.

“It’s not working.”

“Try tying the knot better.”

Finally, the knot was tied, and we were ready to pull it out.
I felt quite anxious.
It felt like riding a familiar ride at an amusement park; even though I had been on it before, it still made me nervous.

“Dad, you have to pull it out on ‘one, two, three,’ okay?”

“Got it. Ready? One, two!”

Dad pulled the tooth out before even saying “three.”
He didn’t pull on the thread but pushed my head, causing me to fall onto the sofa behind me.

“Ack!”

Mom, who was filming, laughs.

“Haha, did Dohee’s tooth come out? Oppa good job pulling it out~”

“I was nervous too since it was my first time, but it came out easier than I expected.”

Even though there was some bleeding from where the tooth came out, it didn’t hurt.
But my head felt dizzy.

“No, you’re supposed to pull on the thread, not push the head!”

“Oh, was I supposed to? I was confused since it was dad’s first time too.”

“What the **** do you mean ‘was I supposed to’? I thought my head was going to come off!”

“Is your head coming off?”

“Hey! Didn’t Dohee’s mom tell you to speak nicely in front of Doa?”

Why does Doa always watch quietly and then repeat the vulgar words I say when she hears them?
At this point, I wonder if Doa was doing it on purpose?

“It’s because Dad pushed my head instead of pulling the thread. This is also Dad’s fault.”

“Nowadays, everything has been Dad’s fault, is it because dad pampers you too much?”

Dad got up and came over to me.

“Thinking about it, I guess it’s partly my fault too.”

Dad hugged me.

“Okay. I was wrong, it’s my fault!”

Dad’s face came closer.

“Ah.”

.
.
.

Now, as teeth fall out one by one, it feels like my body is maturing.
Should I measure my height?

“Mom, come measure my height.”

“Sure, let’s see how much my daughter has grown.”

I stood against the wall with the measuring tape Mom brought, which I stepped on with my foot.
Mom measured and said,

“Oh, Dohee has grown a lot! Since you are still a baby you’re definitely growing up fast.”

“How tall am I?”

“125.1 cm.”

“Okay. At birth, I was 50 cm, and now at 7 years old, I’m 125 cm. At this rate, I’ll be 2 meters tall by 14 years old, right?”

Mom hit me on the head again for my light joke.

“Ouch.”

“Say something that makes sense.”

“This is child abuse!”

“Child abuse? Don’t use such words. This is a mother’s love.”

“No, lately, Mom’s violent actions have become too frequent these days.”

“You’re doing things that deserve to be beaten more often.”

“I haven’t been doing anything that deserves punishment! I’m going to report it to the teacher as child abuse tomorrow.”

“If you do that, Mom will hit you twice as hard.”

Mom is acting childish.

“Sigh. Forget it. Go play with Doa. I’m tired of playing with you.”

“But Mom was going to play with Doa anyway?”

“Seriously, why are you so childish? Aren’t you embarrassed in front of your daughter?”

“No, why would I be embarrassed?”

“Ugh. Mom and Doa are on the same mental level.”

“No?”

“Ah, just get out! I’m going to study.”

It seems like Mom has taken a liking to teasing me lately.

Ugh.