Minah was convinced that Kim Jongin was going to be a plague in her life the moment he opened his mouth after his sudden return. She sat in her apartment with a mug of black coffee in hand, pajama clad legs dangling off the couch as she stared at the ceiling. All she remembered of the day was herself turning to Jongin and asking him to mind his own business.

“If you think that I am dating a new student’s father, you’re far stupider than I remember.” before storming off.  Now she lay on her couch, staring at the ceiling wondering what the hell she had done in some other life to deserve this. She could hear her phone ringing in the distance but chose to ignore it. Someone seemed to be knocking on the door as well and all Minah wanted to do was ignore the world.

“Damn it Kim Minah! Open the door!” she heard Dambi slam down on accursed piece of wood, her usually mellow voice now shrill and loud. Sighing, Minah rolled off the sofa and pulled the door open as Dambi stood outside, fuming “took you long enough. Why the hell is Kim Jongin teaching in your school? Haneul just...what happened to you?”

“Kim Jongin.” Minah replied, letting Dambi in as the latter dropped her stuff on the table by the door reserved for when Haneul and Dambi came over. Dambi dropped herself on her spot on the beaten up couch and looked at Minah.

“Tell me more.”

“He asked me to marry him.” Minah sighed, watching as Dambi’s eyes widened in horror.

“He said what?”

Minah sighed, watching her friend turn ballistic as she described what had happened in the teacher’s lounge. But all she could remember was the time when Dambi was in love with Jongin. Right back in college when Jongin had asked Dambi out at lunch, how they would walk around holding hands, and kiss in the blind spots all around the campus. Dambi didn’t know how much it hurt watching her friend date someone she liked, but Minah had always swallowed back the pain because she loved her friend and Jongin, they were both very important to her.

“So you asked him to leave you alone right?” Dambi asked, as Minah nodded, taking the last gulp of her coffee.

“Of course I did, but he turned up again and got jealous when I was speaking to an attractive man who happened to be my student’s father.” she said, as Dambi rolled her eyes.

“God, that was always his problem, he was always quick to assume. I thought he’d have grown up…yes Minah, don’t give me that look, it’s pretty obvious he hasn’t grown up. But who is this other man who made him so jealous?”

“New student’s dad, she came in from China, Zhang Shuang…” Minah paused when she heard someone else knock on the door she said, heading over to the door “his name is Zhang Yixing.” she said, pulling the door open.

The dimpled man’s eyebrows were furrowed, clothed in a tank top and sweat pants, he looked at her a little surprised and worried all the same.

“Mr Zhang!” Minah gaped “what are you doing here?”

“I happened to live next door and I heard screaming next door, I thought I’d come and check.” he asked, worried as Dambi peeked over Minah’s shoulder and waved.

“Sorry about that! Just had a moment.” she called out as Zhang Yixing looked physically relieved before turning back to Minah.

“I’m glad to see here Miss Kim, I’m sure Shuang will feel a lot more comfortable knowing you’re here.” he said smiling as Minah smiled back.

“Of course, I hope you’re comfortable here though, sorry to have worried you.” Minah apologized as Yixing waved it off.

“It’s perfectly fine. I will see you around, I’m sure of it.” he grinned waving before disappearing behind the door next to hers as Minah shut the door behind her to turn back to a grinning Dambi.

“Mr Zhang hmm?”

“I’m sure there is a Mrs Zhang, Dambi, don’t give me that look.” Minah rolled her eyes as Dambi chuckled before turning serious.

“Listen, I want to you not talk to Kim Jongin at all, you don’t need that crap in your life,” she sighed, heading towards the door “I know this is all sudden with my dropping by but I just came to check on you.”

Minah pulled Dambi into a hug “Don’t you worry about me, I’ll be fine. I’ll make sure I’m not swayed by Kim Jongin. He needs to figure his life and priorities out on his own and I’d rather not be involved.” she felt Dambi squeeze her back.

“Let me know if you ever need anything. You know you can always call.”

“Of course I do.” Minah grinned at her friend before waving as she left. There was no way Minah was going to have any interactions with Kim Jongin. She was certain that she would have to do the usual formalities of having him as a colleague. Throwing herself back on the couch, she stared at the ceiling and chuckled. This was so strange that it was hilarious. Closing her eyes, she sighed - she was determined to avoid him.

This proved to be impossible when she went to school the next day and Soojung nudged her.

“Apparently the class teachers need to accompany their class to the dance classes.”

Minah frowned when she looked at the time table and groaned. Her class had dance with Jongin as Soojung peeked into her time table and winked at her.

“Lucky you. Half the staff is infatuated with the man.” she chuckled, picking up her books and heading out of the lounge. Exhaling heavily, Minah looked up to spot Jongin entering, holding the door open for Soojung before meeting her eye and looking down. Apparently he was going through his own mental turmoil and Minah was glad that she had provoked some re-examining of his action. Shifting her faded red chair aside, she leaned down to pick up a set of activities stored in a box under her desk. Straightening up, she met his eyes again and was taken aback by the gaze filled with adoration directed to her.

Taking a few steps back, she pushed her chair back in place before hurrying out of the teachers’ lounge.

Apparently he hadn’t given up yet.