“Annyeong haseyo!” she greeted them with a smile when she entered the library. This is where they are going to have their official classes. By official classes, it means that she’s going to teach them as a whole group, with all the members. But aside from that, she’s also going to give solo tutorial sessions so that she can focus on everyone’s skills. Her work is not easy to begin with. Teaching anyone a foreign language requires a lot of patience not only from the teacher but also to the students. Much more, she’s going to teach a bunch of guys who are always on the go and rarely stay in one place. She needs to be more flexible, more patient, and more understanding.

“Annyeong!” they gave her a warm welcome when they saw her. She hoped that their warm attitude towards her now will not change until the day is over. She thought all night of how she would start her first class with them and how she can make it as enjoyable as possible.

“It’s such a beautiful day, isn’t it?” she’s still speaking with them in Korean so they are still comfortable with her.

“But not as beautiful as you,” she heard someone spoke. It was Kangin. She smiled at him.

“Jeongmalyo?”

“Ne, jeongmal.”

“Ya!” she heard another person said before she could even say ‘thank you’ to Kangin. It was Heechul. He was looking at Kangin. “Are you trying to score?” he asked him even though he was smiling.

“Aniyo. I’m just welcoming our teacher,” he said although the look on his eyes is mischievous. She understood exactly what was happening. Kangin seems to have this attitude of trying to impress every girl he meets. Actually, most of them are like that. She knew that from watching videos and shows where Super Junior appeared on the internet.

“Ya!” it was Leeteuk. He punched Kangin playfully on his arm. “She’s our teacher.” He was also smiling though.

“Hey guys,” she caught their attention. “It’s okay. I welcome any compliment coming from you,” then she grinned. “Kidding aside, hmmm… what should I say? Welcome to my class! But before we start, I will introduce myself again to all of you. Only this time, I prefer to do it in English. Listen up carefully because later on, I will have to ask you to do the same,” she said in Korean. She let her gaze wander to all of them for a moment before continuing. “My name is Melody Rivera. As you all know, I’m only 23 years old so there’s really no need to be formal with me. You can call me Melody or Melo for short. There’s no need to call me Teacher or Miss. I hope you can be comfortable with me as much as possible. You can even treat me as one of the boys if you like,” she paused then smiled brightly.

“One of the boys, huh?” she heard Henry said. He was looking at her from head to foot and she was starting to get conscious. But he was smiling when he said, “Isn’t that a little impossible?”

“Why not?” she asked. They were talking in English. With these bunch of guys, Henry is probably the only one to whom she could talk in English as comfortably as this.

“Because you look a girl to me no matter how I look at you. A beautiful girl. Not unless you—“

She cut him, “Why, thank you. But no, I’m not a lesbian.”

“Are you a psychic or something?” he asked her. He looked incredulous. The other boys are just staring at the two of them. She smiled at them then looked back at Henry.

“I’m not that either. I just guessed that’s what you’re about to say. I can be a little boyish sometimes. That’s because I grew up with my cousins who are also a bunch of guys like you. That’s why I said you can treat me as one of the boys.”

“Hmmm…” Henry said.

“Anyway,” she turned her gaze to all of them again then continued talking. “I hope you understood our exchange of words. We are going to focus with English first because it’s the universal language. At one point or another, I know you’ve studied it in the past so there’s nothing to be uncomfortable about. I’d have to say that you have to get used to it as early as now because you are going to speak the language starting today. There’s no need to be nervous, is there?” she looked at Siwon.

“No, there isn’t,” he answered with an almost perfect pronunciation. He is probably one of the best English speakers in the group, excluding Henry. And he can speak Chinese too.

“Learning a language requires a lot of patience and discipline. I’m sure Henry here knows about that. It’s okay if you make mistakes. That’s part of the learning process. You don’t really learn when you’re always right. So don’t be afraid when you are trying new things.

“So to start our day, I’d like to ask each of you to introduce yourself. This is still part of our getting-to-know-each-other stage. Only this time you have to do it in English because I have to know your level. So… who wants to start?” she looked at all of them. Nobody answered. “No one? Okay, let’s see, should we start from the eldest?” She looked at Leeteuk. But before he could say anything, they heard Heechul said, “No!”

“No?” she asked him.

“No. No… no…” he seemed lost for words. “Fair.” She almost laughed at his expression but she couldn’t do that. Until she heard the other members also laughing and she couldn’t help herself anymore. She burst out laughing. She knew the reason why Heechul was complaining. It’s because he’s second to the oldest yet his English is not that good. She cleared when her laughter subsided. “I’m sorry… Okay, to be fair, why don’t we have a little game?” She took out a small bottle from her body bag. “We’re going to play ‘Spin the Bottle’ and the person to whom this bottle points will have to introduce himself. Sounds fair enough?”

“Yes.”

“Okay.”

“That’s better.”

“It—it’s good,” it was Heechul again.

“You’re prepared, huh?” Henry said.

“Uh-huh,” she nodded with a smile. She asked them to form a circle and then she started explaining the rules of the game. “If you have any question to who this bottle points at, you can ask him but only in English. You are out of game once you are finished introducing yourself but you can still ask questions.” When they are all settled on their seats, she started spinning the bottle. The looks on their faces are like to those who are going to receive a death sentence. They waited… and waited. And the lucky first person turned out to be…

“I am angel without wings. The leader of Super Junior, Leeteuk.” It started with him after all. He looked enthusiastic and confident though – the characteristics a leader should have. And then she realized this is her chance – a chance to get to know him better.

“My real name is Park Jungsu and… and I’m the youngest person in this room.” They all laughed. He can still joke after all. “Hmmm…” he seemed to be thinking what else to say.

“You can tell us about your family,” she suggested.

“Oh, my mother and father live in Seoul. I have old sister.”

“You mean, an older sister,” she corrected him.

“Ah, yes, an older sister. She’s busy acting. I don’t see them a lot because of busy schedule. But… but I meet them if we have free time.” I’d like to meet them also, she almost said.

“Is that all?”

“Yes.”

“How about your hobbies?” she’s still pushing him to talk.

“Hobbies?”

“Yes. How do you spend your time if you’re not busy with your work?”

“Ah… I play piano or guitar. Or sometimes, I go online in the internet. But because of busy schedule, I always tired. So I just sleep,” he answered.

“Hmmm… nice hobbies. How about your dream?”

“My dream is to be taller. That’s why I like to sleeping.” They all laughed again. This guy is just funny.

“That’s why you like to sleep, or you like sleeping,” she corrected him again. “You know we have the same dream,” she told them although she still couldn’t help her laughter.

“You want to be taller like me?” Leeteuk asked her.

“Yes, I want to be taller ‘too’,” she emphasized the word ‘too.’

“How tall are you?”

“163 centimeters.”

“Really? Wow!” he looked really pleased. “That’s okay. You’re a girl. You don’t need to be very tall.”

“But I couldn’t join the beauty pageant because I’m not tall enough,” she joked at them.

“You want to join the beauty pageant?” Leeteuk asked again.

“Once upon a time,” she answered although she was almost giggling.

“You’re joking,” he smiled at her and she once again saw his beautiful dimple. How come it seems that they have a world of their own now? Or is it just her imagination?

“I have a question,” and the spell was broken. It was Yesung. He was even raising his hand. “Isn’t 163 centimeters the height of your ideal girl?”

“Really?” She didn’t know that. She could be his ideal girl!

“Yes,” he answered.

“So, does that mean I could be your ideal girl?” she joked although deep inside, she was wishing it could really be true.

“Could be,” he said. And just then she could feel her cheeks starting to burn.

“Are you blushing?” Sungmin asked her. She doesn’t know how to hide her face so she just laughed instead.

“I’m not. Do you have anymore questions to him?” she asked them instead so that they won’t talk about her blushing cheeks anymore.

So basically, that’s how their classes started. The room was soon filled with so much laughter. They are a bunch of adorable and funny guys after all. They have so many jokes and tricks hidden under their sleeves. They didn’t have so much resistance in speaking English as the time passed by. It isn’t so hard teaching them, after all. Sure they still have a lot to learn when it comes to grammar, pronunciation, comprehension, vocabulary, etc. They still have a lot of kimchi to eat. But they seem to be enjoying studying with her and they seem patient enough. Teaching them became so easy because they were listening to whatever she’s saying and because she’s inspired. She probably wouldn’t trade this job for anything in the world.