Thinking back six months ago...that just might have been the time when it all began...
Ana smiled at the sight of a group of young students messing around with each other in the university courtyard. It was a beautiful sunny day and the weather was just starting to cool down, after a very, very hot Summer. One of her own students passed by her running throwing her an incomplete “안녕하세요 선생님” (Hello teacher) that she returned in a loud voice. An older teacher on her right side gave a disapproving look. Ups! She had forgotten again that being an adult and a teacher meant that she needed to have a flawless image, whatever that meant. Ana was still getting acquainted and getting used to the cultural differences between her country and South Korea. Sometimes she made mistakes. Who was she kidding she was always making mistakes, huge mistakes. Blushing a little she bowed her head in a greeting to the older teacher and walked inside the building as fast as her legs could go without running. Her class was at 11:00 that morning so she still had some time to relax and hang out with the other teachers, at the teacher's lounge.
“Good morning”
Christopher Grey, the English teacher, was standing in the hallway and gave her one of his most beautiful smiles, that she returned.
“ Hi, Chris. How are you today?”
Without any concern, he shoved one arm on top of her shoulders making the students around giggle and whisper.
“You are going to get us fired one of these days.”
He laughed at her remark “Anything for you my little, cute Portuguese friend.”
The fact that he was making fun of her height made me elbow his stomach and he let go of my shoulders laughing even harder. Christopher was 1.80mt, thin, white skin, blue eyes, and very blond hair that shone like gold every time the sunlight hit it. All the females, students, and teachers were in love with him. He had a lovely sense of humor and the manners of a gentleman and was not Ana’s type of man at all. “Maybe I should change my preferences regarding man.” she kept saying to herself.
The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.
After classes, Ana went to dinner with some of the teachers like it was common in Korea and ended up drinking one too many glasses of wine, which for her meant 3 or 4. So, she said her goodnight and went home.
Catching a taxi at night was not always easy and after a few ignored her completely she realized she was actually a little drunker than she thought. Ana tried to keep her head as straight as possible but that did not stop her head from spinning and she closed her eyes for a moment.
A presence in front of her made her eyes pop open. Ana looked up at the hazel eyes that faced her and blinked a couple of times.
“Ji-Hyung?”
Ji-Hyung was one of her students at the university. A tall, dark-haired nice kid that always had a kind of enigmatic expression in his eyes and rarely fully smiled. The shame of being drunk in front of one of her students made her let out a frustrated moan. Trying to speak as normally as she could and yet fearing that her words would drag she gave him a shy smile
“Hello! What a coincidence! What are you doing here?”
He kept his enigmatic expression just staring at her “Out for a walk.”
Ana smiled again in accordance “I see.”
Anxious to get out of there, she tilted her head to the right and spotted a taxi coming. At the same time, she raised her right arm to call the taxi the world went all crazy on her and she would have ended up smashing her face in the pavement if Ji-Hyung had not grabbed her arm and pulled her. Ana covered her eyes with one hand and shook her head slightly, this would probably cost her reputation with the kids. “Fu…” she thought to herself.
“Ji-Hyung…” she faced him with begging eyes “Could we pretend this never happened? Please?”
A strange atmosphere was making the hair at the back of her head raise. He was way too close, looking at her funny, was still holding her arm and had a hand in her back. Ana went instantly sober and stepped back.
“I’m sorry you had to see this Ji-Hyung. And thank you for your help.”
Miraculously a taxi appeared at that time and she was out of there in a second. Giving herself all sorts of reprimands for being responsible for the weird situation with a student, she arrived at her apartment safe and sober. After the warm bath, she was ready for bed. Giving one last look at her phone to check the time she discovered a non-read text message. “You shouldn’t drink so much. Glad you got home safe.”