Outside the dance hall, Yong Hwa kicked at a rock on the ground.  He frowned when it failed to launch.

It hadn’t been easy, but he was sure that he’d chosen the right thing.  Remaining by her side as her teacher for the next few years had seemed like the smarter thing to do...at least in theory.

Still, Jong Hyun’s suggestion to become closer to her had been easily tempting.  Sorely tempting.  He’d almost given in when Shin Hye had confronted him about his feelings in the stairwell.

If only she wasn’t so young.

He guessed love didn’t know what age was.

She had taken his decision better than he’d thought, accepting his choice without the usual tears and recriminations that would have come from a child in love.  Perhaps she had understood, perhaps not.

He couldn’t even remember the last time she had looked at him.

He blew out a breath and went to patrol the grounds on his own.  He had to get away from Jong Hyun.  The guy kept shaking his head at him as if he was a lost cause.

Maybe he was, but at least he could still look at himself in the mirror every morning.

She was a child, wasn’t she?

Yong Hwa paused under the darkness of a tree.  He spotted Shin Hye being held by Seung Gi, and he felt so confused.

Sometimes, looking at her face, it was easy for him to forget she was a student.

As he watched her, Yong Hwa stuffed his hands into his jacket pockets, and silently waited for the pangs of longing and jealousy to pass.  When the two pulled apart to say things that made the other laugh, he clenched his teeth.  He could only assume that they’d made up again.  Shin Hye was clutching a letter in her hand; probably a love letter from Seung Gi.

He shook his head.  No matter what he saw, he was certain that Shin Hye didn’t love Seung Gi anymore.  For the next few years, he just had to remember that, so that he could walk by her side during her time at St Blossoms.

He watched Seung Gi leave, and was about to go on his way too, when the smile faded from Shin Hye’s face like a dying star.

In growing alarm he watched her cry.  Even though no one was around, she was trying to keep her sobs quiet, holding her hand over to hide them.  Whatever had made her like that, it was serious enough to shake her up.

Even as he hurried forward to get to her, she was fast giving up.  Her eyes were fluttering shut.  Tears were streaming down her cheeks to her hand.

He covered the distance clumsily, but she didn’t seem to hear him.  She didn’t even startle when his hands reached out and held her head against his shoulder, hiding her tears from the world.

He tried whispering ideas in her ear about everything being okay; how things always seemed worse than they were, but it felt wrong saying them.  Before she’d nudged her way into his life, he couldn’t have claimed to have believed in them himself.

There were other ways he could have tried to snap her out of it, but the one he chose next was the most problematic.  It was like a reflex he didn’t know he had; he couldn’t have helped it now matter how hard he had tried to convince himself to wait.  Maybe he’d suppressed a will stronger than his own reasoning and it had finally won out.

He gently lifted her hand away from her face and kissed her across her blushing lips.

Shin Hye didn’t move.  Her hand remained stuck in the air from the shock, but she was as soft as a pillow against his mouth.  Soft, sweet and parting, like he'd always imagined.

He kissed her again, though he had already taken more than he should have.  And then, with all his might, he tamped down on his yearning long enough so that he could let go of her.

Even so, his hand brushed against her jaw before stepping back.  The act shamed him.

Shin Hye had stopped crying.  Well and truly.  Her brown eyes were wide open and watching his every move.  She didn’t seem angry.  And she didn't seem afraid.  More, she seemed torn about something.

“I have to go,” she announced abruptly.

He blinked.  “What?”

The hand that had been sticking up in the air came down to wipe one cheek.  “I-I have to go somewhere for a little while.”

He shook his head, confused.  “What are you talking about?  Where do you have to go?”

“I have to pack.”  She glanced down at the letter in her hand.  “There’s a family emergency that I have to see to first.”

“A family emergency?”

“Yes.”

His eyes narrowed.  “A family emergency crops up just when your teacher kisses you?”

Shin Hye’s face turned red.  “It’s completely u-unrelated.”

“Are you taking Min Hyuk with you?”

“Who?”  She looked distracted.

“Min Hyuk?  Are you taking her with you to this ‘family emergency’?”

“No.  H-She should stay here.”

“Then, do you have someone to be there with you?”

“Ah, yes...Seung Gi will be going with me.”

He jumped at the name, and Shin Hye gaped at him.  Her hand flew to .  The corners of curved upwards behind her elegant fingers.

“Teacher Jung,” she murmured.  Her eyes glittered with a new kind of intelligence.

“Don’t lie to me.  What student would go to a family emergency with Seung Gi rather than their family members?  I’m not letting you leave the school just because I...”  He cringed.  “Because of what I just did.  This can be fixed.  I can resign tomorrow.  D-don’t make up a family emergency.”

She shook her head.  “I’m the one that’s leaving the school, not you.  I’m leaving tomorrow.”

“No you’re not!”

“Yes I am.”  She hesitated.  “Do you wish that you could come with me instead of Seung Gi?”

“No I wish I could lock you up in your bedroom without having abuse charges pressed against me,” he threatened.

She watched him closely.  “What if I said that I would stay if you kissed me again? Would you?  Now?  Or would you kiss me when I came back to see you because you wished you had?”

He shifted uncomfortably.  “No-I wouldn’t do anything of the sort!”

She seemed undaunted by his answer.  “But you like me!  I’m not sure how much, but you like me enough to...”  She paused to touch her lips.

He stared at her, unsure of what to say.  He’d lost control of the situation from the moment he’d kissed her.  She’d never believe any sort of denial from him again.

Shin Hye was waiting for a response.

He sighed.  “Shin Hye.  The day you become an adult, I won’t be able to help falling in love with you.”

She blushed.  “You mean it?”

“Tch.  Of course I mean it.  I’ll force you to come and see me all the time, and tell you to bring me gifts because I was your teacher, and I’ll use Coach Lee’s words as an excuse to spend every moment with you.  I will move closer to you when other men look at you.  I will glare at you when you take other guy’s calls.  And then one day, when you look at me just as you are now, I will kiss you again.  Properly.  You’ll wish that you’d never looked my way at all.”

Shin Hye said nothing.

He blinked.  “Are you crying again?”

“No.”  She sniffed and wiped her cheek again.  “I will hold you to what you have just said.  You know that, right?”

He smiled and hoped that she would.  “Okay.   You'll hold me to it.”

“Then I will go tomorrow and come back as an adult.”

She gave him one final look, and then turned to cross the dark fields to St Blossoms.

“When you’re an adult,” he repeated to himself.

Inside, he was panicking.

Did she really plan on not coming back until she was an adult?  That would be several years.  And then, would she forget him?  He wouldn’t forget her, but she didn’t know that.  She wasn’t sure how he felt about her because he’d lied to her over and over again.

Where was she going?  How would he find her if she didn’t try to find him?  He hadn’t believed for an instant that the guardians listed on her school records were real.  So where would she end up?

“No,” he said to himself.  “I can’t let it end like this.”

Wandering around the grounds with nothing but the lanterns for guidance, five of the students had gone ghost hunting.

“Stop stepping on my feet,” complained one girl.

“I’m only trying to protect you,” the boy lied, scanning the darkness with frightened eyes.

“Omo!” gasped another girl.  “It’s the ghost!”

They all felt the hairs on their necks stand up as they spotted the white silhouette of girl gliding across the grounds.

The students clutched at each other.

“Let’s get out of here,” whispered one of the boys.

A girl jumped.  “Look!  Teacher Jung is chasing it!”

“Is he crazy?  He’ll get himself killed!”

“Omo...is he...”

“He’s hugging a ghost!”

“Is he dancing with her?”

“No, he’s kissing her!  He's kissing a ghost.”

“I knew he was a little strange, but that is insane.”

“The stories about him are true then.”

“Of course they’re true!  He’s making out with a creepy-creepy ghost!”

“Uh-oh!  He’s seen us.”

“Run before she curses us.”