CHAPTER 10

[Minhee, do you have about ten minutes to discuss the email you sent me yesterday?]

[Of course! I’ll ask for permission from the teachers and join you shortly.]

Looking at the classroom clock, Minhee saw that there were still about fifteen minutes left of the break. Glancing over to Rose, who was engrossed in playing games with her friends, Minhee asked for permission from the teachers and followed the principal out.

Minhee had sent an email to the school principal last night, informing him that she would be Rose’s live-in-home tutor for the semester. Ben was the one who asked her to be Rose’s tutor even though she didn’t have to inform others.

Ben Anderson held a special place in Minhee’s heart. She first met him at the Soup Kitchen, a free meal service she volunteered at every third Sunday of the month. She became friends with the twin sisters she worked with at the serving station, and every time she saw them, she would greet them and hang out with them. Ben was their father.

After getting to know them well, Minhee exchanged contacts and began to see them once a month as they went to serve together. Around six months after getting to know them, Ben casually asked her.

[Minhee, Aster School is urgently looking for a part-time assistant teacher. Are you interested?]

Ben knew that Minhee was majoring in education and working as a tutor. On the other hand, Minhee had only heard vaguely that he worked in some education-related field but didn’t know exactly what he did.

[Sure!]

[Great. Please send your resume to this email. They plan to hire through a referral without formal announcements.]

After Minhee sent her resume, things progressed rapidly. After going through several interview stages, when she went for the final interview at the principal’s office, she was so surprised to see Ben sitting behind the desk that she couldn’t say anything for a while and just stared at him blankly.

[Welcome to Aster School, Minhee.]

[Mr. Anderson!]

Ben smiled playfully, his eyes gleaming with mischief.

[You must have been surprised. I knew from the beginning that you were the right person for the job, but since the opinions of the teachers who will work with you are more important than mine, please forgive me for not telling you who I am beforehand.]

The process of selecting teachers at prestigious private schools was a league of its own, and Minhee later learned that they preferred candidates with connections, such as those introduced through personal networks or alumni.

For Minhee, who had no connection in New York, meeting Ben was a stroke of luck.

Working at the school, Ben turned out to be a young, rational, and smart leader, earning solid support and respect from both staff and faculty. It was said that among the top-tier private school principals in Manhattan, it was rare to find one as beloved as Ben.

After initially idolizing Ben as a rite of passage, a few of her closest staff members caught on and teased her unkindly. Thanks to their playful banter, Ben seemed to be aware that Minhee regarded him with a gaze of admiration.

[Minhee, how’s Rose?]

[She’s much better. Her attitude in class has improved, and she hasn’t had any accidents. She’s getting along well with her friends too.]

[I got an email from Mr. Baek saying that he offered you a job as a live-in tutor and you accepted].

[Yes. I started last week. It’s only until the end of this semester, and I accepted because this semester is all about Rose anyway, so I didn’t think it would be a problem,…… I wanted to help her through something she’s had to deal with at such a young age. Is that against school policy?]

[No, I really appreciate your empathy, Minhee. Since you’re still an assistant teacher, the dual employment prohibition doesn’t apply. I just wanted to check if it wasn’t too burdensome. Educating and caring for a child who has experienced the tragedy of losing parents, especially for an adult with no parenting experience, is never an easy task.]

Ben’s expression became more serious.

[Minhee, you’re a teacher I care about, and since I asked you to take Rose under your wing, I feel even more concerned and responsible for you, and I want you to know that if you ever feel overwhelmed or worried about anything in your job, you can always talk to me about it instead of trying to handle it on your own, and we at Aster School, as an educational institution, will do everything we can for Rose. Do you understand what I mean?]

As Ben smiled warmly at Minhee, a youthful glint remained in his face, his hazel eyes crinkling along the laugh lines. Her heart warmed at Ben’s thoughtful words, and respect for him filled her heart.

[Thank you, it’s true…… I was a little afraid I wouldn’t be able to handle this].

[This experience will be a good opportunity for you to grow as a teacher. Finding the right balance as an educator in a situation where there are realistic limits to how much we can help them when facing the reality of handling these children who have experienced such difficulties is not easy. But I think it’s helpful to maintain a certain amount of objective distance for their sake as well as your own].

[I’ll keep that in mind. Thank you very much.]

[No, I should be the one thanking you. I’m lucky to have a teacher like you, Minhee, at Aster School].

Minhee’s face brightened at the undeserved praise that followed the advice. Ben’s smile deepened as he watched her.

* * *

The commuting time at the company was adjusted to match Rose’s school time and Taejun’s early departure time which was brought forward to 5:30 pm, causing a commotion at the company.

For Taejun, a phenomenon occurred. As the end of the workday approached, he became more anxious, his mouth became dry, and numbers refused to register in his mind. After 5 o’clock, he checked the time every five minutes.

In desperation, he heard Rose’s voice calling ‘Santon!’ and Minhee’s voice asking if he could come home before dinner, echoing alternately in his mind, pushing him to a point where he couldn’t endure any longer. It was a phenomenon that went beyond his will, a truly inexplicable situation.

As he picked up the phone to summon a driver, he saw Park Avenue outside the large window congested with traffic due to the Friday rush hour.

‘Walking might be better.’

If he walked a little faster than usual, he hoped to arrive in fifteen minutes. Ignoring the buzzing employees and Junhee’s curious looks, Taejun quickened his pace, constantly glancing at his wristwatch. He himself didn’t understand why he was putting in so much effort.

As Taejun stepped out from the penthouse-exclusive elevator and checked his wristwatch, exactly fifteen minutes had passed. When he arrived at the apartment just moments ago with brisk steps, his regular breathing became chaotic at the sound that echoed the moment he inserted the key into the front door.

[Baby Shark! Doo-doo-doo-doo, Mommy Shark! Doo-doo-doo-doo, Daddy Shark! Doo-doo-doo-doo.]

As soon as he opened the door, he saw two pairs of heads bouncing on the sofa. Making shark teeth with their hands, both were unmistakably singing the Baby Shark song.

‘Wait, is that a song with weird pitch repetition? Could that actually be a song?’

 ‘高聲放歌(Chant loudly).’

One of the thousands of Chinese idioms he memorized as a child before he went on the talent show popped into his head.

[Santon Shark! Doo-doo-doo-doo―]

The two people, who were giggling and making large teeth with their fingers as they faced each other, were startled by the heavy sound of the front door closing and turned in unison to the direction of the sound.

A mixture of surprise and delight appeared on their faces. A mischievous smile appeared on Minhee’s lips as she looked at Taejun.

[It’s a shark! Jaws is here! Rose, hide quickly!]

[Kya! Santon Shark! Jaws!!]

‘Did they just call me Jaws…? And they’re hiding. Are they expecting me to find them and bite them?’

Taejun smirked and gritted his teeth.

‘Somehow, my molars feel a bit itchy.’

He took off his coat and tossed it on the bench by the front door. He stalked toward the two huddled behind the back of the couch, his footsteps a little grumpy, not realizing that he was sneaking up on them for no reason.

Stopping behind the back of the couch, he curled up in a ball and looked down at the giggling pair for a moment before tapping his index finger against Rose’s side.

With a sound that was a mix of giggles and screams, Rose lifted her head and clutched at his fingers tickling her side.

At that moment, Minhee’s heart skipped a beat.

‘Oh…! Baek Taejun is smiling!’

His piercing eyes softened and crinkled, and a well-shaped dimple that she didn’t know existed appeared shallowly. The perfectly shaped lips, which had been tightly closed, formed a long and round curve, revealing neat teeth.

In an instant, the radiant smile surrounded him, and the hard and thick wall that surrounded him seemed to disappear for a moment, and it was as if she had seen something dazzling hidden within.

The late afternoon sunlight descending low over the Hudson River cast a warm shade on his face.

Although she had seen a faint smile that raised the corners of his mouth for a moment before, it was always followed by a frown, and he looked like someone who had decided never to smile. But…….

‘Holy macaroni! His smiling face is so… so beautiful?!’

Minhee sighed in defeat, feeling her heart thumping like it was about to burst through her thin skin.

‘Ha… I’ve started another one-sided love again. I really tried not to fall this time! But this kind of guy is probably the worst for my heart! Since it’s come to this, I just have to do my best not to get caught.’

To avoid getting caught, she should have stopped staring at him, but Minhee couldn’t take her eyes off Taejun’s smiling face.