Donghae was too stunned when he heard the unexpected remark from the red haired guy. There was no reason to be rude. It was truly and accident. Donghae told himself to snap out of it. He has a class to get to. With that thought, he picked up his stuffs and started walking briskly to his classroom. He was surrounded by students walking hurriedly to their classrooms too.

Even though he was assigned to teach only six graders English, he agreed to take in some of fifth graders who were failing badly in English. He had learned that there were students in fifth graders who are still unable to read and he was keen to help him. Back in Mokpo, he majored in teaching literacy and language too. He mostly worked with students with learning difficulties and students from dysfunctional families who have no home support.

Since he was not the traditional teacher, his classroom was much smaller than the typical classroom. His buddy teacher, Jihyo, who majored in teaching students who are weak in math, had a smaller classroom too which was why their classrooms were situated at the end of the hallway.

As the bell rang, a group of students started strolling in. As they walked in, each one of them started looking at Donghae from top to toe suspiciously. Most of them were pretty tall for 12 year olds. When all of them were seated in their own seats, Donghae straightened his shirt and pushed his glassed up his nose.

“I am Mr Lee and I will be your new English teacher.” Sitting across him were 12 students looking intensely at him.

“So how long will you be here?” the boy in a white shirt and jeans started to ask sarcastically. He was sitting with his legs wide apart and arms folded. His question sounded more like a demand.

“I will be here as long as you need me.” Donghae replied calmly. He looked at the boy in the white shirt and asked, “What is your name?”

“Yeah right. All the new teachers say that.” he sneered. All the other students started laughing and nodding their heads in agreement.

Donghae started to walk towards the boy. He pulled a chair nearby and placed it right next to the boy. He sat down and smiled at the boy.

“Well, I am not just a teacher. You can consider me a friend too. So, can I know the name of my new friend?”

“I am sorry, my mum told me not to talk to strangers who claim to be my friend.” He started to laugh and the rest of the class started to burst into laughter too. Some of them were giving each other high-fives as if they were celebrating a victory.

Donghae looked at all the boys laughing and stood up.  

“Ok! Well, your mum gave you good advice. You definitely should not talk to strangers.” His abrupt sentence somehow stopped the laughter which filled the classroom just a moment ago.

He started walking to the front of the classroom and switched off the lights. He then switched on the projector and on the screen, was a photo of a boy, barely 10 years old. He had straight hair, baby fats clearly reflected in his cheeks and big round eyes. He was carrying a story book in his hands. It was a cute photo of a boy except, he was in tears.

When Donghae captured the attention of all the boys sitting in front of him, he started to speak.

“This was me when I was 10 years old. I used to cry each time my parents made me read. It was so difficult to read and no one seemed to understand my difficulties. I used to see letter being jumbled and I misread simple words all the time. My classmates used to laugh at me, my family thought I was stupid and even I lost confidence in myself. However, deep down, I knew I was not stupid, I was just……………….different.”

There was silence. The boys’ eyes were fixed on Donghae and the screen. Everyone was listening attentively, surprised at the words that were just spoken and the visual shown before their eyes.

Donghae the lights and turned to face the boys.

“I KNOW you. I know most of you are just like me back then. You did not choose to be here, you did not choose to fail, you did not choose this path, but, you are here now.”

“I am sorry to disappoint you but I did not graduate as the top student, neither did I graduate from the best schools. I was not even the average student; I was at the bottomless pit of being the last in class.”

As Donghae spoke, he studied every boy’s face that was staring at him. Their hair, their outfits and their eyes usually tells a story. He is a firm believer of getting to know his students well before starting to teach them and today was going to be the day he starts to get to know them.

“The fact that I am standing right in front of you as a teacher, shows that nothing is impossible. Your life is not written yet, you shall write it yourself.”

He walked towards the teacher’s table and picked up a few pieces of paper and turned to face them again.

“Today, you need not speak to me. I want you to write to me, what you want your life to be in the future. Take this piece of paper; write all the things you hope to accomplish before you leave this world. You do not have to write your name on it if you do not want to. However, before you leave this classroom at the end of this hour, drop the written piece of paper into the brown box here.”

He pointed to a brown box which was place on a chair right in front of the screen.

“You may start now.”

Donghae walked back to his seat at the teacher’s table and started typing on his computer. As he pretended to be typing away and ignoring his students, he managed to steal glances at them to check whether they were really doing what he asked them to do. When he saw that everyone started to write, he smiled to himself and continued with his pretense.

The bell rang and upon hearing that, all of them started to pack their things. Before they walked out of the class, they kept turning back to look at their teacher, wondering if he was going to say anything else before they make their way out of the classroom. Donghae was still sitting on his chair ignoring the stares.

The boy with the white shirt and jeans was the last to get up. It was as if he was waiting for everyone to leave. He was tall and skinny when he walks; he looks as if he was floating in the air. He walked to Donghae and stood in front of him.

Seeing the boys shadow casted onto him, Donghae looked up to study at his face.

“Here is my paper.” He handed a piece of paper to Donghae.

“See you tomorrow.” He started to turn around to walk but Donghae was quick enough to grab the boy’s left arm.

“Wait.”

The boy looked surprised by Donghae’s action.

“Your mum……she is not around anymore is she?”

The boys eyes widened in shock. “How did you know!?” he shrieked.

Donghae stood up. The boy was as tall as Donghae. He rested his right hand on the boy’s right shoulders.

“Because the picture on the keychain that’s attached on your bag. You do not have a latest picture do you?”

Upon hearing that, the boy immediately touched the key chain on his bag and looked into Donghae’s eyes. He was too stunned to react but Donghae’s smile was full of warmth that he started to let out a huge sigh. He looked down to avoid eye contact and started to nod.

“Its ok. I understand how you feel. It must be tough for you going through this at such a young age. Go now. I will see you tomorrow.” Donghae spoke while patting the boy’s shoulders.

The boy turned and started to walk slowly away from Donghae. With his back facing Donghae, he was wiping his unexpected tears away. Before stepping out of the classroom, he turned around and found Donghae standing there watching him leave.

It was 4 pm and the school was starting to get quiet. Donghae has been hibernating in his classroom since the last class ended at 2 pm. He wanted to complete his work in school before heading home so that he need not do any more work at home.

“Knock knock!” his senior teacher started to walk into his classroom.

“Noona Jihyo!” Donghae sounded a little too excited. They have been busy the whole day and did not get a chance to talk at all.

“How was your first day of school my dear dongsaeng?” Jihyo asked cheerfully.

“It was ok. The six graders were pretty tough to handle but I think I can manage it.” He replied with an air of confidence before sheepishly laughing at himself.

“That’s good to hear. The boys may appear like a tough nut to crack but deep down all they need is attention and love. I think you will do well, you have that charming smile.” His buddy teacher was all smiles. She has a joyful aura around her and she somehow made Donghae’s lethargy disappear.

“I am going to go for a drink with Gary, another colleague of ours; do you want to come with us? He is the PE teacher here and I think you will be able to get along well with him!” Jihyo asked enthusiastically.

“No thanks Noona, I am exhausted. I think I just want to go home and crash on my bed.”

“Sure, have a good rest! I see you tomorrow! Don’t stay too late!” Jihyo waved goodbye and disappeared.

Donghae started to clear his desk and pack his things. He made sure all the lights in the classroom were switched off before closing the door. The empty hallway was too quiet that he could hear his own footsteps. As he continued walking, he could not help but hear music faintly in the background. It seemed that somewhere, someone was playing music. Donghae wondered who could be playing music at this hour. All the students and staffs have gone home.

Curious, he started to walk towards the direction of the music. It sounded like a hip hop song. The music seemed to be coming from the second floor. He walked up the stairs; he suspected the music may be coming from the dance studio. Perhaps there are students around practicing.

He finally arrived at the dance studio; he peeked in from the door and found an empty studio. The studio was twice the size of his classroom and had mirrors at the front. At a corner, the hi-fi set was blasting music at its loudest.

‘Someone forgot to switch it off?’ Donghae wondered.

He entered the empty studio and walked towards the sound of music. He squatted down and examined the hi-fi set and started looking for the ‘off’ button. When he spotted the ‘off’ button, he was about to press it when he heard a voice from behind.

“Don’t touch that!”

Startled, Donghae fell backwards and landed on his .

While groaning in pain, a tall, skinny red haired guy appeared before him. He was frowning and folding his arms staring down at Donghae who was on the floor.

“You again?!”