CHAPTER 2

‘This kid, who looks like a teenager, is a teacher?’

Taejun’s surprised eyes took in Minhee’s face as he stumbled out of his chair.

Without a flaw on her snow-white skin, a rosy hue similar to Rose’s blushing cheeks adorned her plump cheeks. Her bluish-black hair swayed down from her shoulders. Her large eyes fluttered in embarrassment at the harsh stare, and her glossy, transparent red lips parted slightly.

[Miss Minnie looks like Snow White].

Rose’s words made sense now. This was exactly what a young, innocent Snow White must have looked like when she was lured into the woods by a hunter.

It was hard to believe she was older than a high school student. Even an assistant teacher should have the necessary qualifications, which means she must have graduated from college. So, is she twenty-two, twenty-three?

[……Pardon me, I’m Baek Taejun].

[No! It’s okay! When I’m mingling with the kids, sometimes I’m mistaken for a student. Besides, I’m wearing something that looks like a high school uniform skirt today…….]

Taejun watched in fascination as those cherry-colored lips moved nonstop. The sweet cotton candy-like voice tickled his ears. For no apparent reason, he swallowed hard, and his hand involuntarily reached towards his ear.

[Oh, in case you didn’t know, there’s a tradition at Aster School that every Valentine’s Day, students and teachers dress up in Valentine’s Day themes].

Minhee stuck out one leg as if to show off. On the smooth thigh, covered by heart-patterned socks reaching up to her knees, there was a purple bruise the size of a quarter.

[…….]

Glancing at Taejun, who remained silent, Minhee moved the book to her side and slyly covered the T-shirt pattern.

[Oh, um……, this is for the kindergarten kids, they love rainbows and unicorns, so I made a special promise to them……, Oops!]

The book wedged against Minhee’s side fell to the floor with a loud noise. Taejun leaned over, reaching for the book that had fallen at his feet.

[Oh, I’m……!]

Minhee, who had unconsciously knelt on the floor, also reached for the fallen book near Taejun’s feet, bowing her head. In that moment, the elastic band attached to a glittering heart snapped against Taejun’s forehead.

Due to the elasticity, the heart bumped into Taejun’s forehead a few more times. Close enough to feel their breath, he met a pair of large eyes that fluttered like butterfly wings.

[Oops… I’m sorry! I forgot I was wearing this…]

Minhee, with a flushed face, reached for the heart pinned to her head.

[Ouch!]

Minhee touched the place where she had torn the heart with her hand. Taejun couldn’t help but chuckle as she furrowed her brow and slightly pouted lips.

Suddenly, feeling the unfamiliar relaxation of the muscles on his face, Taejun was startled and quickly closed his mouth. When one of the pair of hearts that protruded like horns from her head disappeared, the remaining one twinkled lonely.

[One more].

[Huh?]

Taejun pointed to the remaining heart with his finger. Minhee, blushing up to her ears, carefully removed the heart decoration from her hair this time.

[I bought it last summer, when I went to an amusement park in Korea. I was ambitiously preparing it for today, but I never thought it would be such a dangerous weapon…….]

This eccentric ‘Miss Minnie’ seemed not much different from Rose in her way of speaking, dressing, appearance, and perhaps that’s why Rose likes her so much.

Even the throbbing headache that threatened to split Taejunn’s head in two dispersed like a fog the moment a flashing heart struck him in the forehead, and as he realized it, a ray of bright light suddenly shone above Minhee’s head.

The one person who could save him from this chaos of helplessness might be Miss Minnie, cowering on her knees in front of him.

Taejun gathered the scattered books and placed them on the table. Minhee’s distracted gaze followed him as she stood up.

The initially light pink cheeks gradually deepened through the successive events. Now, they were as red as a ripe apple. Having the crazy idea that he wanted to hold it in his hand and smell it to see if it smelled like an apple, Taejun reached out his hand involuntarily. It was purely impulsive.

Minhee’s gaze dropped to Taejun’s hands. Just as he was about to withdraw his hand, thinking he’d done something he shouldn’t have, a pale, skinny arm slowly came up and took hold of his hand.

Carefully holding it, afraid it might break if held too tightly, he gently pulled her up. The small hand in his calloused palm felt so moist and soft that it almost seemed boneless.

The large irises of her eyes, looking up at Taejun from his chest, were a deep shade of gray.  Suddenly, a strange sensation in his spine made him break eye contact.

[Please sit down.]

He let go of Minhee’s hand and pulled out a nearby chair for her, she awkwardly walked over with stiff steps and sat down. She averted her gaze as Taejun sat down across from her, pulling the books on the table and piling them high in front of her as if in defense.

It was like a small animal building a fence to ward off a predator.

‘Am I intimidating?’

Leaning back in his chair, Taejun gazed at Minhee with a quizzical expression.

[T-thank you for picking up the books.]

[I heard from Mr. Anderson that you’ll be Rose’s tutor this semester].

At his words, Minhee’s stern expression softened a bit, and her lips curved upward.

[Yes. That’s right. I have a few things to show you and discuss. Could you spare about ten minutes?]       

[Sure].

Minhee pulled out alphabet cards, math materials, a sketchbook, and a picture diary notebook from the stack of books and laid them out in front of Taejun.

[This is the stuff we show at parent-teacher conferences. We had our regular parent-teacher conference last week, and Rose was……. Since you are here, I thought showing the notes from last semester might be helpful.]

As Taejun flipped through the notebook, examining Rose’s crooked writing and colorful drawings. Minhee cautiously observed the man sitting in front of her.

‘For brothers, they don’t look much alike.’

Rose’s father had a gentle impression with smiling eyes that lingered in Minhee’s memory. When she first opened the door and made eye contact with Taejun at the table, her instinctive survival response screamed.

‘Close the door and run!’

Surrounded by cute little girls in her daily life, the presence of a large, rough-looking man brought not only unfamiliarity but also a hint of fear to Minhee.

Despite being neatly dressed in a perfectly tailored suit with a tie, with every page he turned, his broad shoulders stretched at right angles and his muscles bulged as the jacket stretched taut around his forearms.

The scar that started above his thick eyebrows and ran diagonally to the corner of his eyes made him look like a movie villain. But when he looked down at the notes, his long, dark lashes were somehow delicate, and his high, sharp nose and full lips were perfectly symmetrical.

‘Holy Macaroni, he is so handsome!’

Minhee stared at him blankly for a moment, flustered.

‘Why was I so scared just now? Was it because he’s too big?’

Now that she thought about it, he seemed to be about 6’3″ tall. She remembered standing about that height when she was in high school and facing the quarterback of her football team. Minhee shook her head lightly to clear the sudden reminder of her first love.

It seemed that he was about 6 feet 3 inches tall. She remembered that when she stood face to face with the quarterback of the football team she had a crush on in high school, he was just about that tall. Minhee shook her head to dismiss the memory and the recurring face.

Yesterday morning, as soon as she arrived at work, news spread at lightning speed among the faculty that Rose’s uncle had donated a lump sum of $1 million.

In the afternoon, Minhee suddenly received a call from the principal and was asked to take full care of Rose during this semester.

There was no reason to refuse because becoming a part time teacher would allow her to work full-time, and it would also serve as a good resume for formal employment after graduating from master school.

Minhee’s heart aches when she thinks of Rose.

‘I know what it means to lose a parent at a young age’.

Rose lost both her parents suddenly when she was just six years old. At the age of six, the sky of that small world must have fallen.

The tip of her nose wrinkled as she thought of Rose sitting alone in the wreckage.

And this morning, before she even had time to sit down, she received instructions from the principal to briefly say hello to Rose’s uncle. In her haste to check the materials, she forgot about her appearance.

As soon as they met, she showed all kinds of obscene behavior, including spilling out books and hitting Taejun’s face with the heart on her head. When her face flushed because of her unusually white skin, the other person also noticed that she was embarrassed, which made her blush even more, repeating the vicious cycle.

‘Am I that untrustworthy?’

Minhee knew all too well about the first impression her youthful appearance gave. Children felt a sense of familiarity in her, but she often felt uncomfortable in her daily life.

‘Rose’s uncle thought I was a student as soon as he saw me and tried to kick me out.’

Now she needs to stop fussing and act like a teacher. Seeing that his gaze had stopped on the last page of the picture diary, she cautiously asked a question.

[Does Rose know exactly what happened to her parents?]

[…]

Taejun raised his head and stared at Minhee. She seemed to know why Minhee wanted to run away as soon as she saw him.

‘It’s because of my eyes.’

The look in his eyes was so intense that it was difficult to look at him for a long time. It felt somehow empty, sad, and angry, but also strangely hot and pathetic.

His eyes, like bright blue sparks on frozen ice, combined with the scar across his eyebrow, gave the impression of a sharpened double-edged sword.

Minhee could not bear to look any longer and lowered her gaze to the last page of the picture diary. A heavy silence pressed down between the two for a moment.

[The other day, Rose bit Emily’s arm. I asked her why she did that and after a while she told me that her mom and dad haven’t returned from Hawaii yet. She drew a picture of her mom and dad in Hawaii in her picture diary, and Emily told Rose that her parents are dead and will never come back. So they got into a fight and she bit Emily.]

Taejun lowered his gaze and stared at the picture Rose had drawn.

[Even though we went to the funeral process together. She was never told anything about her parents’ deaths.]

[Mr. Baek, Rose is only six years old, and she’s just at the age where she’s starting to grasp abstract concepts. Even if she verbally understands the concept of her parents’ death, she may not fully comprehend that they are no longer in this world.]

Minhee pushed a few picture books that she had stacked in front of her chest towards Taejun.

[They’re books about death and loss from a child’s perspective, and I think it would help if you read them to Rose].

Taejun looked at the stack of books for a moment, then raised his head and held Minhee’s gaze. Minhee blinked a few times, her face a little pale, but she didn’t avoid his gaze.

[Miss Minnie? Miss Seol?]

[Oh, you can call me Miss Minnie, that’s what everyone calls me here].

[Miss Minnie. Does Aster School allow teachers to hold additional jobs?]

Minhee, momentarily stunned by the sudden change of topic, stared blankly at Taejun.

[……Uh, from what I know, if you’re on a part-time contract, you can have other jobs like tutoring.]

[Do you currently have a job outside of school?]

[……No, not this semester, I’m studying for my master’s in education, so I have classes two days a week].

[That’s fortunate.]

‘What’s fortunate about it?’

Minhee blinked and looked at Taejun with a puzzled expression. Taejun, who had been silently observing Minhee with the predatory gaze of a bird circling its prey, suddenly tilted his upper body and leaned in close. Minhee flinched, pressing against the back of her chair.

[Would you be willing to be Rose’s live-in tutor until the end of this semester?]