For being scary at first, you and your students quickly got into fun times as you found creative ways to keep them interested in English without overwhelming them too much. You immediately picked up on a few things as the first week went by in a blur:

Yongguk was the unspoken leader and peacekeeper of the group. You could see it in the way he moved and spoke to the younger ones, and even Jongup respected him. Himchan was the second in command, and where Yongguk was calm, he was passionate-he was kind but also stricter on the younger men when one got too far out of line.

Daehyun was a cheerful boy, and a moodmaker of his friends, but he occasionally slipped into a dark silence, making you wonder what happed to him in his past.......Youngjae was some sort of technological whiz, up to date with all of the latest thingies and whoozits and electronics the world had to offer.

Jongup was dangerous, but clever as well-he was also a talented dancer, as you found out randomly when you saw him dancing to hiphop one day during a break. Zelo was a jack-of-all-trade: he could do anything he set his mind to, and he loved anything that involved speed, such as skateboarding and underground rap.

As Zelo had the better English, he explained to you that they were businessmen wanting to 'move up', and English was their gate, which you could appreciate.

There were some tense moments where there was a disagreement and you knew that there was past drama as the men would look at each other before cooling down by some unspoken creed......That was until this day.....

"Okay, so for this grammar point, we must practice between basic present tense and past tense," you had your back to your pupils as you drew a rough chart on the board, writing 'present' on the top left side and 'past' on the top right hand side. The Matoki, as you had come to call them collectively, watched you closely as you brought up two pictures on the screen.

The first picture was a recent picture of you from Christmas, wearing nice formal clothing. Immediately there were calls and whistles of appreciation from Jongup and Zelo, and although you rolled your eyes, you still smiled in appreciation as you used your pointer, "Let's use our prior knowledge. What do you see here?"

"I see you, sunsengnim. It is Christmas time........a happy time."

"Thank you Yongguk," you put a star next to his name on the board. Although they were all men, it came as a surprise in the first week when they saw you awarding them for anytime they spoke English, but the flames of competition grew, and now they jumped at the chance to impress you with anything they learned and could repeat back to you. Who knew?

"There is a fire........erm.....fire pit!!!And other people!!!" Zelo supplied, and you laughed and placed a star next to his name as well. The tallest man leaned back, pleased as Himchan muttered what sounded suspiciously like teacher's pet in Korean from the back of the classroom. You him, smiling disarmingly, "Himchan? What do you have to say?"

The man slunk down in his chair some, but he cleared his throat, "Ummm........there is food. A lot of food. And drinks."

"There is 13 cakes!!!"

"There ARE 13 cakes, Daehyun-ah. Only you and food."

You laughed, adding stars to Himchan, Daehyun, and Youngjae's names,"But let's look at what I am wearing. What do I have on?"

There was a moment of silence, and surprisingly Jongup spoke up from the back-and to your dismay, he was cleaning off a bloody knife with a rag on his desk!!!

"You are wearing a dress. It no match you." Himchan quickly reached over from his desk and slapped away the knife, quickly mutttering something in Korean as Zelo looked at you with worried eyes. You quickly turn around and wrote a star next to Jongup's name, trying your best to not let them notice your shaking hand as you say, "That is correct. I am wearing a dress."

Clearing your throat and clicking to the next slide, which was you as a baby, you let out a pale smile as you try to push out thoughts of he'sgonnakillme and iwontsleepforweeksbecauseofthis and focused back on your lesson, "Now~am I wearing my dress?"

There were answering sounds of no's as you smile and write in the columns on the board, "Correct, so what we can say here is this: In present tense, I have a dress; in the past tense, I had a diaper."

The men quickly caught on, and soon you had everyone playing musical chairs. Using their competitiveness to your advantage, you divided them up into 2 teams: Yongguk,Jongup, and Youngjae vs Himchan,Zelo, and Daehyun Surprisingly, everyone had a soft spot for Disney songs, and as they moved around the chairs to Hercules "Zero to Hero" you had them sit down and make sentences with the new tenses they learned. The combinations were hilarious:

"Everyday I eat rice, but yesterday I ate souls!!!"

"One day I swam in the Nile, next I swim in the Amazon!!!"

"I sang soul once,I can sing country next."

As the chairs were eliminated one by one, you were busy being DJ, photographer, and points keeper as they kept going well:

"Today I run to Busan-before I ran to Seoul!!!"

"I can steal cars, yesterday I stole puppies!!!"

Finally, it was down to the last chair. Everyone was sweaty and breathless, but laughing and smiling, and you were pleased as Daehyun and Jongup stared each other down over the last chair. You played the song, and they went, but it was Jongup who got the chair at the last second. The knife temporarily forgotten, you high-fived both DH and JU as you said to Jongup, "Let's hear your sentence, please!!!"

Jongup looked at you slowly, then to Daehyun slowly, and then, with a smile, he said words that sent a chill through you:

"Yesterday Daehyun's girl was alive. Now, she is dead."

Everyone froze as the proverbial pin hit the floor, and before anyone could move a hand shot out past your face and Jongup was on the floor, giggling and now sporting a bloody lip as Daehyun pulled back to strike again. "Daehyun, NO!!"

Hell broke loose as Jongup stood up and Daehyun pounced on him-

-Zelo stepped in and tried to grab Jongup, as Youngjae did the same for Daehyun, but the former was now into the fray and the latter didn't care who he was hitting-

-Himchan put himself between you and the brawl as Yongguk took your arm and pulled you back to him as a chair went flying-

-and you stepped away from Yongguk and yelled to the top of your lungs, "EVERYBODY FREEZE THE UP!!!"

Everyone stopped as you slammed your heaviest science book to the floor, causing a good slam as you brought your point home. You don't know who you did it, but somewhere inside your teacher commandeer spirit came out, "Jongup-over there!!!!" You pointed, and Zelo shoved him towards that wall, while Youngjae led Daehyun to the other corner.

You quietly took in a deep breath, as Himchan looked at them both with murderous eyes and Yongguk quietly asked if you were alright. "I'm fine."

The eldest man looked to the floor,"We.......are out now, yes?No more class?"

You looked at him in surprise, "What are you talking about?"

Yongguk unfolded a piece of paper from his book and held it out to you. Reading it, you held back an insane urge to chuckle as you realize that you were holding the disciplinary creed that Mr Choi makes all of your kindergarten students-as in, your 4 and 5-year-old boys- sign at the beginning of the year. On on this paper, the men had signed their names.

Himchan came over and pointed to Rule 17, which stated that if there was a fight, both students would be removed from the class and ALL friendly parties to both students would be removed as well. As if on divine cue, two security officers came hustling to your classroom door, slightly out of breath, "Ah-noona sunsengnim, we heard your yell and figured you were in.......trouble....." The officers took a good look around the room at the overturned tables, broken chair, blood on Jongup's face, and of all things-

-The soundtrack was still going in the background, and Mulan's "I'll Make A Man Out Of You" was going in the background.

"........"

"........................."

-The younger security guard's hand itched for his taser on his hip-

-Himchan's eyes caught this small but firm movement and his own hand reached slowly for something in his own jacket that you didn't want to even THINK about-

-suddenly you laughed and stepped forward, "I am so sorry about that, officers. We were re-enacting a scene from Mulan and we got a little carried away in the spirit of things. We were having too much fun, you see."

Zelo's head whipped towards you in confusion; you knew that he was understanding what you were saying, but he didn't understand why you were saying it.

You came over to the door, smiling charmingly, "You know~that one war scene in the snow?It gets me everytime, and these guys are the same."

You held your breath as the guards looked at each other-

-and then the older one laughed as well, "Yeah-I know!!!That one with the cannons and fire arrows-the avalanche was the best part!!!" You made small chatter for a little while longer before bidding the guards a goodnight.

Turning back around, you were met by 4 unbelieving stares(Jongup was examining his jaw, and Daehyun was glaring death daggers his way), but Zelo quickly translated what you just did in Korean, and now the tallest boy looked at you, "Sunsengnim......why? Why did you lie?"

You shrugged, not sure of the answer yourself, "I don't know. I guess I am big on second chances." I also wanna know what the that was about, you shouted that last bit in your head, though.

You quickly straightened up, "Jongup, apologize." Jongup only looked at you, and you shook your head, "You hurt Daehyun, so apologize." You marched over to Daehyun and spun him around so that they were both facing each other, "You apologize too, for throwing the first punch." They glared at each other, until you said in your best Korean, "Do it, or I will make you kiss in front of the director."

This threat was so absurd that Youngjae actually laughed and Himchan broke out into a small smile, and finally they muttered half-assed apologies to each other. You clap your hands together, pleased, "Good. You," You handed a broom to Jongup, "Start sweeping over there, and you," you went to the mini-fridge by your desk and pulled out an ice pack, "Sit down here a moment." Wrapping it in a Ziploc bag, you pressed it gently to Daehyun's eye-you noticed a growing bruise from earlier. 

He hissed, but after awhile leaned into your touch, his breath warming your hand as Yongguk began flipping the chairs and things back into place while Zelo and Himchan wiped up blood. Youngjae fixed your papers neatly while Jongup did his duty well, under the smoldering eyes of both Himchan and Yongguk-both men's eyes promised something sinister for the blue-haired devil later, but not in front of you-you didn't know this...

"Okay, we have about 20 minutes left-let's complete this worksheet, then we are back at it tomorrow," you smile as everyone was now back in their seats and working diligently as though nothing happened, although Daehyun was now wearing the icepack on his face, courtesy of you taking off your blazer and tying it to his face like a Russian grandmother.

After checking everyone's work, you bowed as everyone walked out slowly-Himchan having a firm hand on Jongup's neck as he wished you goodnight, Yongguk thanked you quietly as Zelo and Youngjae offered to carry your things to your car.

"I will do it." Daehyun picked up your things as he hung back, letting everyone go, and you smiled at him as you locked up for the night and grabbed your keys, walking out to the parking lot, feeling unexplicably a lot safer as Daehyun walked next to you, quietly and in his own thoughts.

You open up the trunk and he laid everything down neatly, meticulously. He looked at his feet, and you waited patiently for him to gather his thoughts. Your patience was rewarded as he looked at you with pained eyes, "Why? Why you do this?Why......help me?I should......be gone."

You leaned against your driver's door and shrugged, "I think you're alright, and in your defense, he started it. It was a dishonorable thing to do and I don't like rude people-," Daehyun tilted his head to the side in cute confusion, and you laughed as you realize that THIS English was too much for him to follow, so you quickly tried to switch over, "Ahh, Jongup....hurt you......bad.Dishonor. You, honor maybe. Like Mulan.I believe in you.Teacher's here to help." 

Daehyun looked at you for all of 30 seconds-

-before throwing his head back and laughing into the purple evening sky. It was a bright, pleasant sound that you liked to hear. Taking your hand in his own, he said, "I.......get you. Thank you.I.........won't fall again!!!"

He stuck out his pinky, and you laughed as he made a pinky promise with you.

His stomach suddenly growled, and you laughed as he scratched the back of his head sheepishly, "I just watched you eat like 2 hours ago-how are you hungry now?"

Trying to find the right words, Daehyun gestured helplessly, "........Hmm, I......digest....quickly!!!I'm always hungry!!!!" You laughed as he patted his stomach vigorously at the end, and suddenly Daehyun smiled so wide, his eyes became crescent moons, "I have......an idea!!!I will treat you!!!!Follow me, please!!!"

You tried to wave him off, but he wouldn't have it, "I will drive first, you follow!!!"

You sighed, What the hell, I don't have anything to do this evening, and nodded-causing Daehyun to smile and run to his own car, a silver S-Class Ferrari.

He pulled out first, and you followed him out of the parking lot and onto the highway. After a while, the scenery changed, and you noticed that you were driving into one of the richer parts of the city-causing you to feel a little out of place as he pulled over and parked in front of a rich-looking restaurant, standing next to your car as you got out, "This way!!!"

You followed DH up a spiraling staircase to a set of double doors that were opened by two sharp looking men in blue and yellow suits, who bowed as you walked by, "Welcome back, Mr. Jung." You two walked past staff and even other patrons, who bowed deeply as you were escorted to a table with a stellar view of the whole city.

You definitely felt out of place as you said to Daehyun, "........You must come here a lot.Everyone knows you."

Daehyun laughed as the menu was set down in front of you both, along with juice, tea, and coffee, "Of course-I.......... sponsor this chain."

Your jaw dropped as you said, ".....Chain?" Daehyun smiled, "Yes.......there are....18 so far. They make great chicken here. Please, get anything.......... you'd like-I'll pay."

You closed the menu, laughing, "You know what, I'll let you take control here-surprise me."

The look Daehyun gave you was as if Christmas came early-

-and he waved over the waiter and said something in his Busan accent that you didn't catch-

-but there was no need, as within moments, platters upon platters of food appeared. There was chicken of about 5 different types, kimchi soup, gimbap, rice, salads, roasted peanuts and legumes, as well as wine, and Daehyun smiled at the look on your face,"I....have done right, yes?"

You could only nod as the smells were amazing, and Daehyun handed you spoon and chopsticks, "Please-let's get started!!!"

As you ate, Daehyun entertained you with stories of his childhood, making you smile a bit as he let you into a bit of his world-granted, there were moments where his accent came out and you had to ask him to say a particular bit in standard Korean-you didn't mean it offensively, you just couldn't keep up, "I'm sorry, Daehyun-I promise to learn enough Korean to be able to listen in any dialect!!"

You two pinky promised again, causing Daehyun to laugh as he said in standard Korean, "It's alright, noona sunsengnim-the others were the same when we met for the first time." You were surprised-this was the first time that any of the Matoki had mentioned when they met each other-

-swallowing as you remembered the statement that caused the fight, you asked gently, "How so?"

Daehyun chewed a bit before swallowing, "Well, Junhong-ah and I are from different provinces. We were brought in together by Yongguk hyung, who had heard of our talents and called us in for help on a....certain project he had in mind. When we first got here-our accents were so strong that Himchan hyung actually paid for a tutor to meet with us to re-learn standard Korean," you leaned back, a bit surprised that Himchan went that far, but Daehyun quickly understood your facial expression, "It wasn't that bad-we only met him for about 5 weeks, and then we were cleared for work."

You nodded, as you ate your food, thinking about what circumstance brought such men together, but you stored that away for another time as Daehyun stirred the conversation to music.......

As the meal ended, you and Daehyun stepped outside into the night, where you looked up at the stars and sighed before turning to him, smiling, "Thank you for that wonderful meal!!!"Daehyun bowed, "Thank you....for my second chance!!!" in such a cute English accent that you laughed hard.

Looking down the street, you sighed as you saw all of the boutiques, stores ,and cafes around you, "Gosh, this is really a rich area," your eyes fell upon a massive white bakery with a display of wondrous cakes, desserts, and other delicacies," Oh wow, even though I just ate, seeing those, I want to eat all over again!!"

You crossed the street and looked at the scrumptious pies, tarts, and sweets carefully arranged to perfection-Daehyun came over and stood next to you, and togehter,with your noses pressed against the glass, you oohed and aahed together before looking at each other and laughing, "Gosh-we're like children."

Coming around and looking at the door, you saw a sign in Hangul that you could barely read, "Hmmm... 'ring'........'set date'..'Free Samples'........" Daehyun came over and read the sign, then looked at you, "Noona-it says we........ can't go in, without, ummmmm," Daehyun pointed to his ring finger, and immediately you got it, "Oh- we've got to be engaged to go in?!Wow, not fair!!!"

Daehyun saw your face fall, then looked at the cakes, then to your face again. An glint appeared in his eyes as he said, "Noona........will you be my wife?In the name........... of cake?" You looked at him, and he knelt and took off a ring from his hand and slid it onto your finger-causing you to laugh hard as you said, "Aaah-of course I accept!!!!For cake!!!"

Linking your arms with him, you two walked proudly into the store whilst holding back the giggles as best you could; the chef there thought you guys were lovely together-

-she allowed you to not only sample what was out on display, but her own personal recipes-

-vanilla,chocolate,buttercream,angel's cake,devil's passion, marble, mint chocolate-

-your eyes literally rolled to the back of your head in sensory delight as Daehyun moaned, "These are sooooo good."

The chef and her staff were charmed by the Busan man and his foreign fiancee-

-you were asked to take pictures and pose cutely for advertisment, which you gladly did in exchange for more cake, of course-

-The chef laughed as you two waddled out the door an hour later, "Thank you for coming-congratulations on your engagement, and please call us for catering!!"

Daehyun called back, "Oh-we sure will!!!" Causing the both of you to laugh hard as you walked back to your cars. You handed Daehyun back his ring and leaned against your driver's door, "Oh my goodness, I don't even think my seatbelt can fit now," Daehyun smiled, "I think I'm........almost full now."

You gaped as he laughed at your face,"How.........? I'm so jealous!!!!" 

Daehyun smiled at you with warm as he said, "This was fun, noona-sunsengnim-or should I say.......yeobo?" You winked, "Aaaah~jagiya!!!"

You two laughed as you said your goodnights-

Seeing you get into your car, he waved as you drove away first.....

The next day in the morning, as you got ready for 5-year-old math, one of your students, a cutie named Arthur, came running in, "Sunsengnim-sunsengnim!!!!Come look!!!"

He tugs on one of your hands with his chubby ones, and, laughing ,you allow yourself to be pulled away to your room.

Entering the room you notice a small crowd of kids chattering excitedly as they surround your desk-

-and your eyes fall upon a double-stacked marble cake, complete with rich chocolate frosting and gold t. Your jaw dropped as you know that this cake came from the bakery you were at last night-and you knew that this brand was particularly expensive.

Next to the cake was a gray rose, and tied to it was a note. The kids 'oohed' and 'aahed' and whispers of 'teacher's got an angel' circled the room as you read the note:

_______________________

This is for you and your children, yeobo. Not the rose, I mean, you can try to eat that too, but it won't end well, trust me, I tried :)

Thank you. See you tonight.

Sincerely Yours,

Daehyun

P.S.-The chef called to ask what day is the wedding......what should I tell her?