Hi everyone! First of all, I want to thank you for your interest in my story. As you can see, I created this story waaaaay back in 2012. Now I'm back but sadly, my original ideas are gone. That being said, I'll try my best to remember and keep this story as good as possible for your enjoyment! Of course, I'm open to any constructive criticism and will appreciate the feedback to better my story. Please note: my vocabulary is very limited :( I also want to add that this first chapter might be a bit slow. I just wanted to introduce Gina and give some background to some characters before getting into the story so bear with me, I promise the second chapter will be better (or I hope it will be)! Here's the first chapter and enjoy :) 

Gina restlessly looked up to the clock, watching as the second hand ticked as each second went by. There was about an hour until classes started.

It was her first day of teaching her very own class at Seoul Elementary School. She had graduated two years ago but was unable to find a permanent job in the city. Instead, she had been a substitute a few times at Seoul Elementary but then became a temporary teacher for a first grade teacher last year who took a maternity leave. When the year was over, the school decided to hire Gina as a kindergarten teacher.

She should be excited and she kind of was. However, the only thing she wasn't looking forward to was facing the mothers of the grade 1 class that she taught last year. Reason being is they'll be wanting answers and details to something that never happened, something that Gina didn't want to recall. She knew that she had to face them eventually and tell them. The mothers and Gina got pretty close last year. Every morning she would join the mothers outside her classroom and listen to their stories. Sometimes, she would tell them stories about her and a guy named Yong Guk. They were left hanging with a story at the end of school year so of course, they would go see her to hear what happened during the summer. Luckily, her best friend Ailee was there for support.

"I'm surprised the mothers aren't here yet," said Ailee, who was looking at the small boxes of treats that she laid out on the table near the door.

"Do you think they'll come?" Ailee asked as she held up one of the boxes and taped her business card on top of the box.

Ailee had recently saved enough money to open a cake shop. After getting her business degree, she decided to chase her dream and open up her own shop, which tomorrow was the grand opening. She baked some cake and cake pop samples for Gina's students and their parents as advertisement for her shop.

"Of course. You know the mothers love you," ensured Gina.

"That's right, I'm lovable," joked Ailee. "So... about Yong Guk... are you o-"

"I'll just tell them... that we had our differences and realized it wasn't going to work out so we mutually decided that we should break up."

"But-"

"I know, but I don't want any bad rumors about him going around. It's best to keep it that way. He's still the nice guy that I-" Gina paused for a second and whispered 'love' under her breath.

"Correction: loved," Ailee emphasized the word 'loved'. Gina just nodded with a sigh.

The phone rang surprising the both of them. Gina picked up and after a few okays, she hung up.

"It was the office, they want me to go see them real quick. Can you watch the classroom?"

Ailee nodded. "I'm not busy."

Gina thanked Ailee and rushed out of the classroom. When she reached the staircase near one of the school's entrances, she ran into the group of mothers talking.

"Gina!" one of them called out to her. Gina bowed to greet them, apologizing as she told them she had to go see the principal. She quickly added that Ailee should be in the classroom and to wait for her there. She ran up the stairs and when she was out of their view, Gina took out her phone and quickly texted Ailee that the mothers were on their way.

As Gina made her way to the office, a scent stopped her in her tracks. It was the scent of the cologne she once bought for Yong Guk. She turned around, looking at the backside of the man that just walked passed and shook the thought of Yong Guk out of her head and entered the office.

When Gina returned to her classroom, it was crowded. Since it was almost time for class, some parents stuck around sitting with their child to wait to meet the teacher; some kids were already inside the class sitting, each eating one of Ailee's treat boxes and some at the sandbox playing; and at the door was Ailee and the mothers talking quite seriously. Ailee looked up from the conversation and when she saw Gina, Ailee yelled out "The person everyone has been waiting for," which caused everybody's eyes to turn toward her. Gina looked at Ailee and received a wink along with a smile, like she was assuring Gina that the situation about Yong Guk had been solved. She smiled back as a thanks and introduced herself and greeted the parents. The last group of people that Gina greeted were the mothers.

"We heard about Guk. I'm really, really sorry," said one of the mothers.

"Too bad, I really liked him," added another.

"It's okay. You'll meet another guy soon enough that'll make you happy."

All the mothers tried to comfort her, and she thanked them even though she didn't want to listen about Yong Guk anymore. She was glad that was over with and was ready to start her day as a kindergarten teacher.

When she got inside, all her students were gathered in front of the classroom sitting. Ailee was introducing herself as their teacher's helper and told them how she'll come see them often every week. Gina joined her and introduced herself then got them to individually introduce themselves as well. After that, she handed them name plates made of cardboard for them to decorate and place at their tables.

As the kids were decorating their name plates, Gina asked Ailee when she had to leave to check on her shop.

"I'll leave in... 10 minutes," answered Ailee after checking her watch. "So how are you feeling? Are you okay?"

"Yeah, thanks to you there wasn't much to be said. It wasn't so bad."

"Good. Surprisingly they didn't ask any questions after I told them. They were sad and a bit disappointed about there being no proposal but they just really wanted to see you. Well, now that the mothers all know you two aren't together anymore, you can really put that past behind you now. Time to start a new."

"Yeah," Gina replied with a forced smile. "Thanks again."

"What are friends for?" Ailee got up and embraced Gina in a hug. "Well I should get going. I'll be back once Hyungsik gets to the shop." Ailee turned around and bid goodbye to the kids. When she left, Gina walked around to look at the decorated name plates.

~ - ~

The day went by quickly. Gina didn't have much planned for the first day. It was a simple schedule: name plate decorating, free time until recess; after recess, teach the kids the first few letters of the alphabet and practice printing until lunch time. After lunch, she'll read them a book, have them draw about how they felt about today then let them play outside in the playground until home time.

It was near the end of lunch time when Ailee came back. Everyone gathered in the back of the room for reading time. Both Ailee and Gina read and acted out a picture book and had plently of fun with the kids. After, the kids were told to draw how they were feeling about their day and then as planned, Gina took them outside to play.

When Gina and Ailee sat down on a nearby bench, a little boy name Sang Woo joined them. He was tiny for his age compared to the other boys in the class and was very shy. All day, during class activities and recess, he was always alone. Gina would lead him to other groups of kids playing to which he does play with them but only for a short while and would return to Gina's side.

"Sang Woo-ah, why don't you join Tae Ho and Dong Min over there?" suggested Gina, pointing to the slide. Sang Woo shook his head, held Gina's hand and climbed onto the bench beside her. Gina fixed his uniform and backpack so that he would be more comfortable. Then she smelt the cologne scent that she smelt earlier that morning. She shook the thought of Yong Guk away, again, and smiled down at Sang Woo then looked at Ailee. "He's shy."

"He's adorable!" Ailee reached over and pinched his cheek. "Oh right, so what did the principal want to see you for?" Ailee asked.

"He welcomed me. Officially. He said he heard a lot of nice things about me, thanks to the mothers. The teachers wanted me to join them in the staffroom a bit so that's why it took awhile."

"Ahh, that's good getting to know the other teachers. I like Dong Woo, the teacher across from your room. You should get to know him better." Ailee winked at Gina.

"Mr. Jang? Wait... Dong Woo? You're calling each other by first name already? Actually my question is: when did you guys even talk?"

"When you left to go to the office. I got your text, went to stand at the door then I saw him. We greeted each other and introduced ourselves. I shook his hand then we had a moment where we looked into each other's eyes-"

"Stop!" Gina raised her hand up to interrupt Ailee. "As long as you don't bring him home, I'm fine with it because that would be very... awkward."

"Fine."

"Fine? So... you two really..."

"No! I'm just playing with you. After I introduced myself, the mothers came. He did mention how we should go for drinks some time. Including you."

Gina scrunched up her face. "We haven't had a proper conversation and he wants to go out for drinks. The three of us?" Gina turned and wrapped her arm around Ailee. "Should I be a good friend and say I have plans so that the two of you can hang out?"

"You know, that'll be very nice of you best friend." They both laughed but was interrupted when someone greeted them from behind.

"Hi, ladies," greeted the voice. When they both turned around, the man made his way to the front of the bench. Sang woo hopped off the bench and ran into the man's arms.

"Ah, this morning. You're Sang Woo's-" Ailee started to say but was interrupted again, this time by two little girls who came to get Ailee to join them at the monkey bars. They pulled her away and Gina was left with the man and Sang Woo.

"Hi, I'm Doo Joon," introduced the man, reaching out for a hand shake.

"Hi, I'm Gina. You must be Sang Woo's dad."

"I... guess you can say that. Who's mother are you to?" Doo Joon asks but before Gina can say anything, his attention was to Sang Woo, who tugged his arm and pointed to the duffle bag swung across his body. Doo Joon opened the bag and took out a small soccer ball.

"Ahh, so Sang Woo likes soccer?" Gina asked curiously.

"I'm a soccer coach for a kids team. Sang Woo here is a shy little boy so I thought being on a team of some sort would help him play with other kids."

"Ohh."

There was a silence that followed as Doo Joon watched Sang Woo play by himself in front of them.

"Mrs. Choi seems like a very bright person," Doo Joon observed.

"Huh?" Gina was taken aback by the statement.

"The way she plays with the kids. Probably because she's still young. I'd say, she's the youngest teacher I've seen." Gina looked at him and realized he was looking at Ailee. For some reason, she didn't want to correct him.

"Odd, this morning I heard the ahjummas talking about some marriage proposal but she has no ring on."

Doo Joon turned and faced Gina. Certainly, she didn't want to correct him this time. To tell him that she was in fact Miss. Choi, not Mrs. Her chest tightened a bit but she tried to keep her expression.

"What else did you hear from them?" she asked.

"From the ahjummas? Not much. I had an appointment so after I dropped off Sang Woo and greeted Mrs. Choi, I left. All I picked up from their conversation was 'marriage proposal.'" Gina nodded and sighed.

"Well, it's Miss. Choi, not Mrs. There was no marriage proposal. She's single, he's taken." She felt Doo Joon looking at her but she couldn't face him.

"They're... not together anymore?" he asked. "Wait, you know, this isn't my business. I shouldn't ask."

"They-" Gina started but stopped herself. For some reason, she just wanted to tell him the whole story. At the same time, she was thankful that he also didn't want to know.

"She must be hurting deeply inside. In such a situation, to being cheery even at work, that's what I call professionalism." He smiled and nodded toward Ailee in acknowledgement and then looked at Gina with the same smile.

She smiled back. Somewhat she felt like she was being acknowledged by him too. Even though she probably hasn't expressed brightness like Ailee, she felt like she did to some extent today. What Doo Joon said made her feel like she was one step further away from her past. Yes, she was heartbroken. She should be happy. She needed to move on, and stop thinking about Yong Guk. He was someone who could not return to her side.

Her thought was interrupted when Doo Joon asked if she knew when the kids are dismissed.

"Ah, right." She looked down at her watch. "In seven minutes. You can leave if you want."

"Thank you!"

"No, thank you. Nice meeting you by the way."

At the same time, Ailee yelled out for the kids to line up, to go inside and grab their bags for home time.

"I should get going."

"See you tomorrow. Maybe," says Doo Joon. Gina turned to him. "Meeting," he quickly added.

"Maybe," she repeated after him and walked toward the line up that was forming along the school's wall. At the wall, she glanced back at Doo Joon. He was carrying Sang Woo, walking away, his back side facing her. Just like in the morning.