It was such an odd thing to happen right? I mean getting to teach a class that Taemin, SHINee’s maknae just happened to be in. Stuff like this just didn’t happen and I was surprised as hell that it was happening to me. It wasn’t… normal. Amazing stuff like this didn’t happen to me. I had like some sort of amazing-things-don’t-happen-to HyunMi-curse. I was excited, no point in denying that, but I was also nervous as hell. Actually I was so nervous I was having a hard time enjoying the fact that he would be in my class. That would be how I worked. Stress myself out until I can’t enjoy anything at all. Then there was bad news. Apparently because there was a lack of schools to help out at, the second placing you could get would be after school programs. Mika had been assigned an after school program and she wasn’t too happy about it. She had really wanted to work at a school in a classroom.

The only thing her assignment said was that she’d be helping out an after school program that consisted of people teaching English. There was a mixture of people, from ages 10 to 20. There were no names of who would be in the program. I felt so bad, and this also added to my not being able to enjoy being Taemin’s new teacher. I was happy despite my stress, Mika was happy for me but I wished she could have gotten her first choice .Three weeks had passed and the dorms became busier each day. We were waiting so eagerly for the school semester to start. Everyone was so busy preparing their schedules and I tried very hard to focus on the work at hand. It was hard though, because so many people were SHINee fans and the word had spread out that I was in his class.

“Omo, I love Taemin! Can you get me his autograph?”
“He’s really amazing! Can you give him this gift I made?”
“I’m such a big SHINee fan!”

It had been like that for weeks now. People standing outside our dorm door saying things like that. I was thankful there was hall security or those people would be outside all day and night.

“Wow, you’re like a celebrity HyunMi.” JinHye said quietly while giving me a sympathetic look. I gave her a small smile. She had been happy for me and she still was, but she understood how agitating the situation had become to me. I liked that she was so understanding and thoughtful. It helped me out because I wasn’t such a clearheaded person and got stressed out very easily. We were sitting in my room listening to music and reading magazines. There was a knock at the door and we froze. We couldn’t be sure if it was another SHINee fan.

“Who is it?!” I yelled.

“It’s me JiWoo and Yoojin’s with me, may we come in?” Jinhye and I relaxed. I went to the door and opened it. They came in quickly because every second counted; when that door opened it could mean only seconds before another fan came rushing to the door to talk about Taemin or something. Yoojin gave me a big hug when she entered and then sat at my desk. JiWoo gave me a box of chocolate.

“I don’t know… its like for support. Chocolate always helps me out when I’m having trouble with something.”

“Oh, thanks JiWoo.” I said smiling. She was such a friendly person and like JinHye she was another person I could talk to when I was confused. Yoojin was just such a mood maker. She could make everyone extremely happy with such small gestures. It was nice to have her around as well when in a bad mood. She was good at cheering people up. Pretty much all my friends were and I was happy I’d met such great people. A knock at the door made us turn our heads. I went to open it again.

“HI!!!! I’m a Taemin fan!!! Please give him my support ne?!” a girl said in a loud voice as soon as the door opened.

“Ok…thanks…I will.” I said quickly and quietly hoping no more people would come to the door because of the noise. She bowed and then left. I closed the door and leaned against it.

“Yah, you should ask Dongmin to be your bodyguard!” Yoojin said smiling. I had to laugh at that. The thought of my friends trying to protect me from SHINee fans was definitely a vision.

“Haha, I wouldn’t dare put Dongmin in that type of danger. These fans are seriously acting crazy.” I told her.

“So are you excited?” JiWoo asked me.

“You know what? I am actually. When I first found out I was scared out of my mind, but now I’m really happy and excited about it. I’m so nervous though! I’m not as confident as I wish, but I’m going to walk in that class tomorrow like I have all the confidence in the world. I’ve had three weeks to prepare. “

“Ah yes. That’s the only way to do it.” JinHye replied. “Maybe you and Taemin will become friends?” she added nudging me. I laughed. Being friends with Taemin would be nice, but even if that didn’t happen, at least I get to teach him.

“When he says something in English in the future, you can feel proud then!” JiWoo said while smiling. We all laughed and were still laughing about it when Mika came back from somewhere.

“What are you guys laughing at?” she asked as she shut the door and threw her coat on her desk chair before collapsing on her bed.

“We were talking about Taemin, Mika.” JinHye said. “Yah, you okay? “ Mika sat up slowly and stretched her arms.

“Yup, I’m bien. Just a little tired is all. The after school program I’m working with needs a lot of organization. I can see why they needed help. The coordinator sent me a list of things to do last week, before I show up on the first day. I somehow managed to get through the rest of it today, so now I’m all set for tomorrow... ¡Su increíble!” We laughed.

“Whoa! What are you guys wearing tomorrow?” Yoojin asked Mika and I. I cocked my head because that was honestly a good question. I hadn’t even thought about clothes.

“I have no idea. It’s my first day in class and I want all my students to like me. I have to make a great impression. “I replied while scrunching my face up.

“I have tons of clothes and you can both look through them if you want!”
“Thanks Yoojin.” Mika and I said in unison.

She got up. “No problem! Well, I’m starving, anyone want to get dinner with me?” JinHye nodded her head and also stood up.

“Sure, I’d love to come. I’ll go ask MinYeon if she wants to come too. “JiWoo added.

“You guys go ahead. I’m going to get ready for tomorrow.” I said smiling.

“I already ate dinner so I’m just gonna stay here.” Mika added.

“Ok, well, if I don’t see you guys later on tonight I wish you both the best of luck on your first day of teaching! Yah HyunMi, make a good impression on Taeminnie so we can meet him ne?” JiWoo said winking her eye over dramatically. I giggled.

“Ok…let’s go guys.” JinHye said also giggling, while steering JiWoo towards the door by her shoulders. YooJin gave us a quick wave and then they were out the door.

I sat back down on my bed snuggling under my blankets when there was another knock at the door.

“I’ll get it!” Mika said jumping from her bed. “Who is it?” she called through the door.

“Yah, it’s me Dongmin.” he said in a deep voice. Mika looked back at me and smiled.

“Dongmin? I’m sorry we don’t know a Dongmin. Have we met before?” She said trying to stifle her laughter.

“Aish, Mika!” he called through the door. She cracked up and then opened the door. He walked in with a smile on his face. “Very funny.” He said. She laughed again; I shook my head and smiled.

“Well, how are you?” I asked him as he took my swivel desk chair and pulled it up to face us.

“I’m alright. I see everyone has been very busy preparing for classes tomorrow. I was assigned to high school students and my first class is at 10:00am.” I nodded my head. “I heard you were put in a class with Taemin.” He added, narrowing his eyes. I sighed.

“Yeah, I’m sure you’ve also heard the ruckus fans are causing most days.” He nodded his head and leaned back into the chair.

“All of a sudden everyone knows about it and they are acting so wild!” Mika replied.

“I’m sorry you have to go through this. Maybe it will die down later on. “

“I really hope so, because this is torture! It has been a lot calmer then when everyone first found out though.” I said brushing my bangs out of my eyes. Dongmin gave me a sympathetic look.

“Well, I wanted to see how you guys were holding up. It looks like you might need a bodyguard. ” He said smiling. I cracked up and was still laughing five seconds later. He and Mika looked at me surprised.

“Was it that funny?” Mika said shaking her head with disbelief. Dongmin stood up from the chair looking at me with an amused face.

“Sorry guys, Dongmin reminded me of something YooJin said earlier.” Dongmin nodded his head and smiled.

“YooJin is a funny person. Well, I’m gonna go now. I’m off to play soccer. Good luck in Taemin’s class tomorrow.” He stood there and smiled and then looked at the ground shuffling his feet. “If you wanna…I don’t know… maybe… tell me how it goes, we coul-”

“Don’t worry,” I said cutting him off with a smile. “I’ll summon all my buddies up and tell you guys about it. “ He looked at me sort of startled, blinked and then cleared his throat.

“Summon the budd- oh right. Yeah…tell everyone together. That would be great.” He said. He backed towards the door.” I’ll see you guys later then. Goodnight.”

“Goodnight!” We told him in unison.

“And thanks for checking on us.” I told him. He smiled and then walked out the door, lightly shutting it behind him.
__________________________________

“Annyeonghaseyo.” I told him bowing. He nodded his head and gestured for me to sit, and so I did.

“Welcome to Korea HyunMi. I’m glad for this program your in. It teaches not only the participants but the students around Korea as well, how important things like this are, how it can better the community.” I nodded my head and smiled. “Well, I’m sure you’re very eager to get to your class which starts in five minutes. Would you like me to get someone to show you the way there?”

“Ne, I’d appreciate that.” He nodded his head and pushed a number on his desk phone.

“I hope you have fun here and also learn something valuable. If you have more questions or anything like that, please feel free to come see me anytime.” I nodded and bowed again.

“Kamsahamida.” I said to him before leaving his office. A woman was waiting for me in the main office, with a kind smile on her face.

“I’ll take you to your class.” she said in a sweet brisk voice.

“Oh. Thank you.” I told her as we strode out the door. We walked for awhile and I was in awe at how different everything looked from American schools.

“Are you nervous?” She asked me after awhile of silence.

“Ne, I am a little nervous.” We stopped next to a door and I noticed students were walking into the room and taking seats. When did the hallways become so crowded? I didn’t hear a bell ring… was I so enveloped in my thoughts I didn’t hear-

“Here we are then! I wish you the best of luck.” The woman said breaking me out of my thoughts.
“Kamsahamida” I told her bowing. She smiled at me one last time and then walked away. No, wait; please don’t leave me here! I stood outside the door, with my shoulder bag, and slowly began to become scared. More students walked into the room, more walking past me in the hallway, all of them wearing uniforms. I gulped slowly, shook my head and then walked into the classroom. You can do this, you can do this. Confidence! A woman was sitting at a desk up front and center of the room jotting something down on a paper pad. I walked over to her and she looked up.

“Oh Annyeonghaseyo HyunMi, welcome! Manna soban gapsumnida. I’m Cha GuSan.” She said in a cheerful voice. She was very pretty, long black hair, brown eyes, and a bright face.

“Annyeonghaseyo Seonsaengnim.” I said bowing.

“I’m so happy your becoming a part of our class. Your desk is over there. We will be having introductions as soon as everyone gets here from changing period. Today, I just want you to get a feel of how a normal class period goes for us and then tomorrow on, you’ll be helping out araso?” she said patting my shoulder.

“Ne. Thank you. I’m really looking forward to this.” She nodded her head and gave me another bright smile. I turned around and saw my desk. It looked pretty official, just like the teachers desk except a little smaller. It was to the left of her desk facing it, and in front of the wall of windows. I smiled, I loved it already. The whole classroom was pretty large and there were many desks. I sat my bag down and took out my notebook and a pen. I also took out my seating chart and looked at the names of people, matching the incoming students with their faces as they sat down. GuSan clapped her hands together and I felt my stomach tighten into a knot. I was even more nervous all of a sudden. There are so many students, what if I forget their names, what if they don’t like me?

“Annyeonghaseyo. Welcome to a new semester. My name is Cha GuSan.” GuSan said.
Everyone in the classroom stood up and bowed.

“Annyeonghaseyo seonsaengnim.” They said together in unison. She smiled at them.
“I’m going to take attendance but first I’d like to introduce all of you to someone. “ She smiled over at me and gestured for me to stand by her side. I walked over to her with shaky legs. I hated being in front of so many people I didn’t know, it was nerve-wracking! A short note about me...I have stage fright, which explains why I never dance in front of anyone. “This is our student teacher from the Exchange Program. She is from the States, her name is HyunMi. She will be here with us this semester aiding me in teaching English to you. Please give her a warm welcome. ”

“Annyeonghaseyo .” they said in unison again. I nodded and smiled at them.

“Welcome!” a random voice said in English. I was sort of startled by it. A laugh escaped some of the students. GuSan shook her head and gestured for a very handsome boy, with large eyes, full lips and a pretty smile to come to the front of the class.

“This is Eliot YiWan. He is our schools most exceptional English speaker. He studied in America for a few years.” She told me smiling at him.

“Hi, it’s nice to meet you HyunMi. Welcome to Korea.” He said with practically no accent, while lightly flipping his black hair out his eyes. He was really good looking, almost like he could be in a k-pop band and very tall, almost 6’2 maybe.

“Nice to meet you too YiWan and thank you.” I told him. He nodded and then went to sit back in his seat.

“Ok, I’ll take attendance now. HyunMi mark the names here when I call them off. A check means they are present and an X means they aren’t, ok?” she told me in English, while handing me a attendance book.

“Araso.” I told her. She smiled and began taking calling names as I checked them off. Everyone seemed nice enough in the class and I was glad I was taking attendance with her. This will help me learn their names faster. This isn’t so bad. Why was I so worried about this? I notice the longer I stand up here I don’t feel as nervous. My stage fright hasn’t killed me so much yet. I can relax no-

“Lee Taemin.” I nearly dropped the pen. I had forgotten Taemin was in the class because my nerves were so bad. I hadn’t even seen him when the class welcomed me. Was he even here?
“Lee Taemin?” GuSan called again. I dared to peak . I looked around, Taemin wasn’t in class. She moved on calling other names off until attendance was finally done, there were four kids absent in all.

“Thank you for helping me HyunMi. You can sit if you’d like. You might want to take notes of what goes on in here.” I nodded and sat at my desk and readied my pen for writing.

“Ok, class, today we are learning about English adjectives! “ She said walking to the chalkboard. Class was nice, I enjoyed it thoroughly. While I took notes, I wondered why Taemin didn’t show up. YiWan really was a great English speaker. He seemed like a native. I noticed whenever he answered a question correctly he looked at me to see if I was watching. But the looks he gave me started to make me uncomfortable half way through class. It was like he was trying to see what I was thinking or something like that. It got to a point where I tried to avoid his eyes all together, because once I looked at him, I couldn’t look away so easily, his gazes were so intense. He was a strong, intelligent person and he communicated that through everything he did. But I didn’t get why he was staring at me like that. Before I knew it class was over and everyone was packing their things up.

“Ok, everyone see you tomorrow. Have a nice day.” GuSan said to the class, leaving the room to get a broom to sweep the class up. Everyone filed out the door laughing and joking around. I waved goodbye to people as they left the classroom. I went back to my desk and began to pack things up.

“I miss the states a lot.” A voice said to me. Of course it was YiWan. I turned around and looked up at him. He smiled at me like he had a secret I wanted to know.

“You do? Why is that?” I asked him, turning back to pack my bag up to avoid his eyes again. A moment passed and he had still said nothing. I turned back around but he was gone. I felt my face frown into confusion. What the- that was really strange. Psh, and rude. I thought as I turned my back and began packing more stuff into my bag. I heard GuSan come back into the room with the broom.

“Here, let me do that for you.” I said as I walked over to her. She smiled and went to sit at her desk. I busied myself sweeping up towards the back of the classroom.

“Seonsaengnim, jwesong hamnida.” A voice said in the front of the classroom. I turned my head and saw a male student standing in front of GuSan, but his back was turned to me. I grabbed my water bottle I had placed near a desk I was sweeping by and took a drink and then went back to sweeping.

“Ah. Ok….ne, ne, ne. I understand. “I heard GuSan say to the boy who had such a soft voice I couldn’t really hear what he was saying. “HyunMi, please come here, I’d like to introduce you to someone.” I looked up at her and leaned the broom against the nearest wall, grabbed my water and walked towards her.

“This is student is in our class.” She said as I walked closer to them. I took another drink of water while I moved around a desk to stand next to GuSan but then the boy turned around and I choked. “Oh HyunMi, are you ok!?” GuSan said walking next to me and patting me on the pack. I nodded and slapped a smile on my face. “This is one of our absent students. He’s going to explain to us why he did not attend.” She said smiling. I kept my smile on, afraid if I stopped smiling my jaw would drop.

“Annyeonghaseyo. My name is Taemin.” I just kept grinning; I didn’t know what else to do. Omo, Taemin ah why are you so freaking cute. You’re killing me over here. GuSan looked at me confused and then I remembered.

“Oh! Ne, ne…uh, ne. Annyeong, my name is HyunMi. Nice to meet you Taemin.” I told him, still grinning. My cheeks were beginning to hurt. He smiled at me. Omo, seriously just too cute, too cute, that is such a cute and pretty smile.

“I’m sorry I wasn’t in class. Onew hyung-“ ONEW! What the-he’s talking about Onew?! “-usually sends me and Minho hyung- “Minho!! The flame?! “-off to school, but you see he woke up late because he was working on some stuff for our group last night. He didn’t even make me lunch like he usually does.” Taemin said looking a little pouty. Taemin ah. Please. Turn. The cuteness. Off. Omo, i don't even think he can! “But Key hyung-” KEY?! Omo umma camera !? ”- gave us some lunch money and we were leaving when we realized that we had forgot our school bags, so Jonghyun hyung-“ OMO Bling Bling?! ”- went quickly to our room and grabbed them for us. We finally left then and we stopped at meat shop to buy our lunch, and then we made it to school but we missed first period.”

GuSan smiled and nodded.
"Ah, I can understand this. Make sure you tell Onew that he has to set an alarm or give you an alarm if he's going to continue waking you for school. I don't want you late again." she said in a firm voice. Taemin nodded.

"Ne. I will tell him this." he looked like he wanted to laugh when he said this. GuSan's cell went and she smiled at us, motioning to us that she'd need one minute. She searched her bag for her phone and then walked out the door.

My legs felt shaky again. I did not want Taemin to know I was such a big SHINee fan. I wouldn't tell him that...yet.

"Your from the states?" Taemin asked me moving to sit at a desk. I smiled at him.

"Ne, I am. Have you ever been there before?" He shook his head no, still smiling.

"Key Hyung has been there before, but he doesn't talk much to us about it." he replied. I smiled again and nodded my head. He narrowed his eyes, and cocked his head. What? Why was he looking at me like that! I looked down and then looked back at him suspiciously. He continued to look at me with a mischievous smile and then finally I realized what he was doing. He was a cute kid, but a sneaky one.

"Yah! I'm a SHINee fan okay?" I blurted out. He burst out laughing.

"I'm sorry noona but I couldn't resist doing that. I could tell you were a fan the moment you looked at me." his eyes were bright.

"Aish, whats Jonghyun teaching you anyways?!" I said annoyed. Taemin laughed again.

"Actually I learned that from Key hyung." he gave me a huge smile. I could only look at him. How could someone so cute be so devious. Corruption...his hyungs were teaching him such sneaky things!

"Figures.." I muttered under my breath. Taemin laughed again.

"I can't wait to tell the hyungs about you noona." he said while standing up and putting his bag on his shoulder. "Your pretty funny....and your cute." he said walking towards the door. I was still annoyed with him and threw him a frown. "Haha, your even cute when you give frowning faces." he laughed and I sighed. "I have to go to class now...I'll see you tomorrow noona." I smiled at him and gave him a wave. I'd just met Taemin and I found him incredibly endearing, it was hard not to like him even if he was a little sneaky...or playful could be a better word.

"Yah! You better tell Onew to have you in school on time!" I said, trying to sound threatening, but it was hard because, I mean, it was Onew. The guy had a freakin condition for goodness sake. Taemin smiled at me again and waved goodbye. As he walked down the hall I heard him humming Noona Is Pretty.