He was about to answer her when four loud knocks on the door froze their hands on his shirt.

“Mrs. Liana!” a squeaky voice was herd together with the following knocks.

“Mrs. Teacher!” a second screechy voice joined in.

“Oh, God! …The kids…?!” Liana barely whispered looking for the clock on the wall.

“The… WHAT?” Seunghyun whispered back looking for her eyes.

“Kids! The kids!!” she replied in a hurry.

“Aish! Jinjja, noona!” Seunghyun whined when she buttoned up his shirt with the speed of light.

“Shush!” she cut him off making him even to quickly put his arm inside the coat also.

“Ouch… noona…” he tried again to say when she forced the coat up his shoulders.

“Mian! Mian!” she groomed his hair too and then did a quick last check-up on his posture.

Without any other word she jumped  to the door and opened it with a wide smile.

“ ‘Teach!” little Mark hugged her when she kneeled before him.

Little Luisa did the same but quickly regained her posture when she discovered the smiling, still astonished, Seunghyun.

“Ah! Mr. officer!” she waved her hands to him.

“Hello!...” Seunghyun quickly replied taking a short bow… Actually he wanted to kneel also but he didn’t know if he should.

“Mr. officer?” Mark also let go of Liana and waved.

He waved back smiling.

“What are you little rascals up too now?” Liana asked in their language avoiding Seunghyun’s eyes.

“Mrs. Michaela sent us.”

“Why?”

“She wants you to come downstairs…”

“But why? I’m not late… am I?” she quickly checked the clock on the wall – it was 10.45, still about an hour until her schedule. “Ok… then!” she suddenly said in English. “Mianhaeyo, we have to go…”          

“I like your pronunciation” Seunghyun whispered robbing a new blush from her.

“Huh?... Oh…” she looked at his with big eyes then a smile flourished on her lips.

Seunghyun smiled too but her voice widened his eyes:

“May you watch over them please?” she said almost laughing.

“Oh?... oh… sure…” he answered protecting his hair, but she still managed to ruffle it. “Aish! We’ll be right here…” he continued rearranging it.

“I’ll be back really soon!” she said in both English and her language, then disappeared behind the bathroom’s white door., but not before she quickly grabbed something from the wardrobe.

Indeed, in less than two minutes she was back, dressed into a tight pair of jeans, high heel boots and a loose sweater.

“Thank you… umm… gomawo! We’ll be leaving now” she said grabbing the two kids’ hands. 

“May I come too?” Seunghyun suddenly asked.

“Huh?... umm.. I guess…” she mostly whispered.

“Nae! Gaja eoseo!” he said happily lending his hand to Luiza. “Let’s go…” he translated when none of them moved.

Liana shook her head smiling and repeated what he said, just that in their language.

“They don’t speak English, no?” Seunghyun asked climbing down the stairs, but he did it mostly because he had to keep his mind away from that day when they used the elevator instead. ‘Maybe she DID really wanted to…’ he almost started smiling on his own when her voice meddled in.

“No, they are not fluent yet but even so I am sure they understood you, they just didn’t know what they had to do” she explained. “Can you wait for me here?” she stopped at the reception down stairs. It was easy to some kids questions, but she wasn’t sure she’ll find a proper explanation for the grownups too.

“Sure!” Seunghyun answered. “I’ll take good care of them”.

“I’ll be right over!” she said running towards a table from the hotel’s restaurant.

Eleven “Rock, paper, scissors” she came back throwing herself on the armchair in front of them.

“Aish…” she sighed without realizing she used his word, but he did and smiled proudly.

“What’s wrong?” he asked.

“Nothing. Just that I have to stay all by myself  with the kids today… all day…” she pouted.

“And why’s that bad? If you want I’ll stay with you…”

“Would you?!?” she jumped up.

“Umm… nae…” he smiled doubtingly.

“Aish! Gomawo!!” she suddenly hugged him but not even for a half of second. She pushed herself away and ruffled his hair to chase away that way too confident smile on his face.

“Yah, halmeoni!” Seunghyun protested rearranging his hair and hurried to follow her as she was now leading the 2 kids to the restaurant.

‘What kind of a teacher whines for spending a day with a couple of kids?...’he thought focusing on her behind and blushed realizing what he was doing. He suddenly stopped when he almost bumped into Liana who clapped her hands.

“OK, you noisy sparrows!...” she shouted clapping three times.

Seunghyun raised his eyes just to meet a full mess hall staring at him.

“We are on our own today” she announced in their language.

The entire room became a sea of applauses and shouts making Seunghyun to take a step back.

“You really thought it was just the 2 of them?” Liana grabbed his arm while Mark and Luisa ran to the only 2 empty seats.

“Ok, ok, now quiet, please!” she shouted so she could be heard.

Off all the words, Seunghyun understood only the “ok” part.

“Please, keep quiet!” she said putting her both hands around Seunghyun’s arm, making him to step forward. “I want you to meet someone! He is the officer who saved Mark and Luisa that day…”

The kids started applauding.

“Are those for me…?” he whispered to her ear.

“Nae!” she unaware used his language again.

“W… wae?...” he got a little anxious thinking only at how did she discovered everything about him.

Their voice interrupted his inner talk again.

“Well kids, since he doesn’t speak our language and you can’t really understand English, Mr. officer agreed that instead of a ‘how to behave on the street’ speech, to teach us a few words in Korean. What do you say?” she asked them and again 80 eyes stared at him, some looking overly happy while others not very pleased.

Seunghyun looked for her eyes but he was taken by surprise when he actually found them closer than he would have expected – she was also staring at him with a soft smile on her lips.

“What’s going on? He managed to ask after he gulped.

“I just told them that mr. officer is here to teach us a few Korean words.

“Ooh!!...” he felt he could breathe again, but his answered failed to come. He was still trying to understand why did she kept on calling him a police officer.

Liana mistook his silence as a fearsome so she grabbed the collar of his coat to groom it a little, widening his eyes. She arranged his hair too, just like a mother will do with her son.

“It’s ok, they won’t bite if you don’t allow them “ she whispered smiling.

“Nae?” he came back from dreamland when she slowly pushed him forward.

“Ok, quiet!” she said in English to let him understand. “Now, what do we say when you first meet a person?” she went back to their language.

Seunghyun tried to eye-follow every kid that got up saying short words. Again, her voice drew everybody’s attention towards her:

“Yah!” she started making him to smile again. “You are in a foreign country where you can’t speak its language! What language must we use in this situation?” she asked again in their mother-tongue.

“Hello!” a fair-haired boy raised his hand and stood up.

“Good job, Vlad!” Liana said in English.

“Good afternoon!” another child got up from his chair.

“Very good, Nina!” she smiled at Seunghyun.

“Aah!” he used his powerful voice. “You were trying to salute me?” he asked and all the kids shouted a really noisy “Yes!”

“Can you understand me if I use the little English I have?” he asked again and again they all yelled “Yes!”

“Ommo! But you are all very clever, aren’t you?” he smiled and stepped forward on his own, leaving Liana behind with a proud look on her face.