My heart felt heavy like someone just dropped a whole boulder on me when I looked at the sight in front of me. My 16-year-old kids were flocking around me, wanting to bid me farewell despite my constant reminders since a week ago that I didn't want any farewell, and gifts, and especially tears. But knowing my kids, they definitely would do the opposite, like always.

As expected, they did the opposite.

My sight was blurry with tears that I was holding back from falling. But as soon as I turned my head trying to avoid their teary gazes, the tears that I tried to so hard to hold back betrayed me. I quickly looked up to the sky, hoping the tears would evaporate into the air after being exposed with sunlight. But all it did was make my eyes burnt for looking into the sun directly, and that made my eyes produce more tears instead, giving me an opposite reaction to what I intended to be.

"She's gone, out of my life, I was wrong, I'm to blame"

I suddenly heard a voice singing She's Gone by Steelheart. The sound of the fake-husky voice that sounded like Steelheart with a really bad cold made me chuckled and my tears got instantly gone upon looking at Skylar who was singing wearing his usual heartbroken expressions he often had when he sang the song. He knew I hated the song because when he sang during my class, I could never get mad at him despite disturbing his classmates with his falsetto because of his ridiculous expression that he tried to portrayed- a heartbroken man, except, in his case, it almost looked like as if he was holding his pee. I never told him that, because I knew he would make it worse with his naughty antics that I wouldn't even dare to imagine.

I took a deep breath and looked at the kids in front of me. I forced myself to smile, trying to make this farewell into a cool farewell, like I'd always wanted. Sad farewell was nice, but I wanted to leave the place feeling upbeat and then moved forward with my life with more energy, and probably to remind my kids for the last time that this teacher in front of them was always the cool and awesome Teacher Linda.

Two months ago.

Congratulations. You are hired as a contract teacher in New City Secondary School. You are required to report to the school's office at 7 am on this Monday.

I looked at the message on my phone. Did my eyes play a trick on me? Hired. Did I just read that right? I got hired? I put down my phone on the table and then I closed my eyes. This must be a dream, isn't it? Then I opened my eyes again and read the text again. You are hired. 

I couldn't believe it. I was hired as a contract teacher! 

Two weeks ago, I received a text from a friend asking if I was interested to be a contract teacher at this one school near my place. Being the impulsive me, I thought why not? I had nothing to do anyway- well, 'nothing' was a far-fetched. I was actually counting my days to register as a PhD student, and right now I had nothing to do except wasting money and rice at home. So I sent out my application.

After not receiving anything for the next few days, I gave up at the thought of getting the job since the school session had already started and probably wasn't qualified since I had no background in Education. 

Then, surprisingly the text came. I actually got hired! I was going to be a teacher!

I lied on the bed. It was already 10 pm. Usually I went to bed at 12 am but I had to sleep early since I had to wake up at 5.00 am. Earlier, when I made an estimate with the route I had to take to go to the school, it would take me around thirty to forty minutes from my place to reach the school. Considering my ability to take the wrong direction despite using the GPS, I had to add a few more minutes or ten, just in case I really did have a 'detour'. At least, whatever happened, I could still reach the school on time. Dad always said we must make a good first impression, and being late on my first day at work because I got lost was definitely not a good impression, regardless of my excuses.

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___

Oh God. You really are something, aren't you Linda? Luckily you arrived on time, I grumbled, as soon as I saw the entrance of the school on my right. I turned my signal to the right and then I took the right turn. I slowed down my car as I was driving past the school gate.

"Um, excuse me, where should I park the car?" I asked towards the security guard that was standing at the entrance gate.

"You are?"

"Oh, I am new teacher, reporting today"

"You can park anywhere around the school compound"

"I see. Thank you"

I took a deep breath. As soon as I parked my car, a sense of dread washed over me. I hate this feeling, like something bad was going to happen, even worse than my usual I-just-got-lost-despite-using-GPS. You're probably too nervous, that's why your emotions get hay-wired with negativity. I quickly dismissed the thought, not wanting to dwell further.

I got out of my car. I looked at a white painted four-storeys building in front of me. Since it was still early, and the school would only start in forty-five minutes, I hardly saw any teachers, let alone the students.

I walked towards the building and an empty short hallway welcomed me as I stepped into the compound. I looked at a small signboard that was hung above me. It showed the direction of the office. Following the direction, I walked slowly to the office. After a few short steps, I reached the office. I felt my heart was about to burst as I stood in front of the office. I took a deep breath and then I wiped my sweaty palms. My throat felt dry but I felt it wasn't the right timing to drink water. I held the door's handle and as I swung open the glass door, I could feel the cold air from inside the air-conditioned office brushing my skin.

I was greeted with a smile from a middle-age woman that was standing behind the reception desk as I was stepping carefully into the room. Being in an unfamiliar place made me nervous and slower, as my brain was trying to input as much information as it could. I looked at the woman in front of me. She was wearing a name-tag, but I couldn't figure out the person that was standing in front of me, so I opted for the 'stay silent and smile' approach.

"Hello, my name is Janice. You can call me Teacher Janice. I am the head of the Department of Science and Mathematics. You must be the new teacher" she greeted with a smile, while holding out her hand for a handshake. I returned the gesture.

"Hello. My name is Linda Yuan. You can call me Linda. Yes, I am the new teacher reporting today"

"Okay, Linda. First, you will be having a meeting with Madam Principal, along with three new teachers. Afterwards, you will be assigned to the classes that you will teach. I was told that you will be teaching Science, so as your head of department, you can find me if you have any problems"

"Okay, I will keep that in mind"

"Now, let's go to the meeting room to meet with the other new teachers. Madam Principal will arrive soon" she said and then led me to the meeting room that was in a deeper part of the office. Somehow, the nervousness that kept bugging me was getting stronger, that I felt like my heart was about to jump out from my body. I shifted my focus on Teacher Janice who had been leading me to the meeting room and walking behind her silently.

"Are you ready?" She asked as we were standing in front of a door. I looked at the acrylic name plate plastered on the door. Meeting Room. I nodded and smiled, although I could feel the muscles around my mouth were tensed and stiff. I took a deep breath as soon as I watched the brown wooden flush door swing open. Then I followed her walking into the meeting room.

___

I knew it. My gut feeling was never wrong. I had been feeling uneasy for the past couple of days, and I thought that's because I was nervous. I'd rather had that than this! I knew very well that the dreadful feeling was never because I was nervous. That's because my gut feeling was telling me that something bad was going to happen, and that 'something bad' was in the form of him- Alan Yu. Of all places in this world, why do I have to see you here?

-To be continued-