"Here is the official letter saying that you may paint your classroom. There's also a number for a different classroom you can use while you paint." Mrs. Jang said cheerfully as they sat down for their lunch.

 

"Thank you Mrs. Jang, this means a lot to me." She said happily as she marveled at the letter.

 

There were a few rules, but nothing unreasonable.

 

1 ~ No inappropriate murals or depictions.

 

2 ~ No Holiday themed decorations, or painting all year 'round.

 

3 ~ No painting any of the school supplied furnishings.

 

4 ~ You are allowed to bring in your own furniture, But it must be approved before use.

 

And lastly.

 

5 ~ No political references.

 

Jae just beamed happily, because she didn't plan on doing any of those.

 

Except for maybe new furniture, the desk wasn't exactly to her liking, and the chair was NOT by any means comfortable.

 

Even with a pillow.

 

"Any idea on how you want to paint it?" Mrs. Jang asked before taking a long sip of her coffee.

 

"I have a couple of ideas, but I kinda want to paint them all, then see which I like best. They're only sketches right now, but I figure if I paint them, and hang up those paintings on the walls, I can figure out which I like more." Jae rambled on as she put the letter in her purse.

 

"Good idea. Hey, maybe you should let the students vote on them, see which they like more." The older woman suggested as she added another packet of sugar to her coffee.

 

"That's actually a really good idea, thanks." Jae cooed before began to eat.

 

"Oh, this is kinda weird to ask. But do you know Mr. Min's first name? He keeps forgetting to write it on the papers." A week had already passed since school begun, and she still didn't know his full name.

 

"Min Yoongi is his full name I think." Mrs. Jang grinned like Cheshire. "Why, do you fancy him?" 

 

"N-No... I j-just need to file h-his papers. That's all, I swear." Jae managed to stammer as Mrs. Jang erupted in a fit of giggles, just like a school girl might.

 

"Okay. Well, finish eating then head on over to your class." Mrs. Jang said with a chuckle as she collected her things and left Jae alone.

 

"Hey, mind if I bother you for a minute?" Hoseok asked from behind Jae, startling her a bit.

 

"Umm, I guess?" She said with a light shrug.

 

"Thanks." Then Hoseok slung his bag off, practically kicking it under the table as he sat down.

 

"So, whats the sudden interest in that Min kid?" Hoseok asked as Jae went to stuff with ramen.

 

"I made a bargain with one of the other teachers so I could paint the classroom, and he also keeps forgetting to sign his name." She sighed dully as shoved a hot heap of ramen into .

 

"Jeez, don't shove it in your face like that, it makes you look like Jimin." Hoseok chided as she swallowed the noodles.

 

She just stared down at her bento box.

 

"How is he? He's been out a lot, I haven't had the chance to talk to him." She said quietly as she took much smaller bites, her appetite actually seeming to slip away.

 

"As far as I know he's doing good, he's slacking off a bit in drama, but that's about it." Hoseok said happily as Jae prodded her noodles with her chopsticks.

 

"That's good to hear." She just felt like the depression train had arrived unscheduled after hitting a bus full of small children.

 

"I know you aren't on the best terms, and that he's not home often, but you should talk to him. He isn't taking the distance too well." Hoseok offered up as Jae passed him her bento box, letting him eat whatever he wanted out of it after she noticed he hadn't brought food.

 

"Thanks, Jae. Nice shirt by the way." He said as he continued to happily munch away on her noodles.

 

She looked down at her shirt, it was a simple black knitted sweater with a dress shirt underneath.

 

"Thanks?" She said as she sipped on her overly brewed earl grey, which left a surprisingly nice bitter flavor in .

 

"I've got to get to get to class, drop the bento box off when you get the chance, aight?" She said as she stood up, hastily grabbing her bag from the back of the chair.

 

"Uh, sure. See you later." He called out as she basically sprinted to her classroom, not caring about the way her high heels made an awkward click, click clack, click, clack, clack because of the unbalanced distribution of weight.

 

"Morning class." She said as she grabbed the papers off her desk, checked them, and then handed them out.

 

"Today I want to review what we've learned in, just in case you didn't quite grasp something the first time around. This also helps you to retain the information, if you use it more often." She boomed as she passed out the paper to the front, letting them pass it on to the next and so on.

 

"Are there any questions?" She asked as she went back to her desk.

 

"If we don't understand, or don't know the answer, do we just skip it?" Miss Song asked as she scanned over the paper.

 

"If you think you understand it in the slightest, then I would ask that you write it. But if you really just don't know or don't understand, then yes, you may skip to the next question." Jae said before sitting down at her desk, grading the last classes papers.

 

~~

 

Class had ended early, since most of the students already finished their work, which made Jae proud in a way.

 

"Miss Park, may I speak to you?" A tall and slender girl asked as she approached Jae's desk.

 

"Yes, Miss...?"

 

"Choi Nari." The girl spoke up.

 

"Okay, Miss Choi, what can I do for you?" Jae asked as she put all of her papers down, giving the student her full attention.

 

"It's not really class related, but I don't feel like it's appropriate for the others to be talking about it behind your back..." Nari bit at bottom lip, shifting her weight from the front to the back.

 

"What do you feel is inappropriate?" Jae asked as she straightened up in her chair.

 

"Well, for starters, everyone said you threatened Song Kyung. And that you and one of the other students are in a relationship." Nari rambled on a bit before stopping abruptly.

 

"And you don't have to tell me if any of that is true or not, but I just don't want you to get into trouble with no idea of what's going on."

 

"It's fine Miss Choi. I did have a little bit of an argument with Mr. Song about him harassing one of my students. But I am not dating any of my students, nor do I intend to. Weirder things have happened, but I hope that it doesn't." Jae said with her hands up in a sort of forgive-me-if-I'm-wrong kind of way.

 

"Well, at least you were honest. Thanks for letting me bug you for a minute about that. Bye, Miss Park." Nari bowed, and Jae tilted her head in a mutual way.

 

As soon as Nari was out of sight, Jae slumped back into her chair, dragging her hands down her face.

 

But by doing that she'd 'misplaced' one of her contacts.

 

"No. Please. Not Today." She whined as she looked around for it, knowing the only other option.