Chapter 12: Taking Her Advice   

{ Narrator }

 It was Tuesday. Ms. Kim Taeyeon whose about to left the classroom to go directly to her room was suddenly stopped by her student who remains seated on her chair in the middle of the room. 

Class is finished. What's up with her? The teacher thought to herself

"I hope I'm not bothering you or anything but can I ask you a simple question, Ma'am?" 

" Of course what is it?" Taeyeon asked as she sat in front of the girl. If there's something she can help with her student,  why not?  She knows the child needs someone to talk to. With her lack of social skills and friends, as a teacher, she also must help her develop herself in any way she can not just academically but socially as well. 

"Talk." She told her when she remained quiet for a minute. The girl is nervous. She can see how her hands keep covering the other as if she can't keep herself calm from whatever's bothering her. 

"I...I want someone-no! I mean I'm in love with someone but he already has somebody special in his life. I thought to myself, she was very lucky, I envy her, and every time I saw them together, I feel like tearing them away from each other. "

The teacher was surprised but concealed it with her interest in the girl's story. This is the opportunity she's waiting for, for them to have a serious talk as what she wanted from the very start.  

"But she's a cheater! I saw her with another boy and I swear to myself, that no matter what it takes, I have to get Kyungsoo away from her. I have to make him see that someone like me exists, a girl that will love him unconditionally." She noticed how Sohyun's fist hardened as she talks about the cheater girlfriend of her love interest. 

"How can you be so sure that she's cheating on him? Did you see it with your own eyes?"  

"Apparently… yes and I saw them together inside the coffee shop where I and my friend Yeri hang out. At first, I thought the man with her was Kyungsoo but it turns out that she's having an affair with another man, that !"

Taeyeon didn't give any reaction though it's her first time hearing the lady said something inappropriate in front of her.   "Kyungsoo was still clueless about this but I'm planning to say everything I know once I've had the chance." Taeyeon saw how serious the lady is as she talks and judging by her simple movements that weren't normal to every other girl her age, she could tell that the girl is dealing with something serious.

She’s not in the kind of profession to conclude that but she isn’t a fool to think the girl is normal that’s why she’s here in the first place. 

"To be honest, I want to ask you how can I win him over." She can sense the desperation in her voice. The girl is clearly obsessed with whoever that Kyungsoo is. Emotions like this are unhealthy to an individual especially to an emotionally unstable person like the girl in front of her. Situations like these usually lead to an even more difficult one. 

"It's not easy." Taeyeon sighed. This is a lot harder than teaching her the basics of algebra. "You really can't make a person respond the same feelings towards you Sohyun. Once in their life, people will have to experience what it’s like to be broken because it's inevitable for humans like us. We can't make everyone feels the same as what we feel for them because it's not just how everything works." 

"Then if you're me, will you just give up? You'll just let someone disappear in your life even how much you love that person? She is cheating him! They can't be together forever like that."  

Taeyeon shook her head before smiling at the now curious lady. She could tell the girl needs a better understanding of the real concept of love.

 "No, because I won't throw someone special away without a fight. Confessing your love to someone is not a bad thing but hurting someone for your own selfish reason, that is considered bad. If you like a person and you want to make them feel that then be more honest and express yourself to them clearly. It sometimes works and it sometimes didn't but whatever comes out, even if you end up hurting yourself in the process, the best way to recover is to accept the result. It might hurt from the beginning but later on, you'll find yourself slowly healing." 

The concerned woman pointed at Sohyun's chest. "Only love can heal a broken heart. And if you find the right person to love you and you also love the same in return, that's the kind of love you have to protect and fight for."

She looks deeper more on her student's eyes, wanting her to understand more of what she's trying to point out to her. "Always remember, a love that destroys others is not considered love at all, it's just being plain selfish. If you truly love a person with all your heart, prove to them your feelings by staying on their side whether it's you or another person he chose to be with. Give him a shoulder to lean on as a support when he feels down. Don't try to hurt his feelings just to prove you're better than another girl or he might think you’re happy that he is in pain and is just waiting for the chance to get in the picture. It will only give him a bad impression of you. That doesn’t sound good isn’t it?” 

Sohyun knows what her teacher is talking about but her stubbornness will never accept this. She said those words as if everything is so easy to do! She knew she can be honest to express her feelings more to Kyungsoo like what her teacher advised her but the part of accepting the result, it's so troublesome to think that she’d let something like that to happen. She knows she can’t easily give up in matters of love.

Once he finds out of Dohee's cheating, will he still keep her around? She wants him to leave that girl. What if he gets hurt!  It's better than being in a relationship full of lies.  

”I’ll think about it, Ma'am. Thanks for the advice.” She smiled with the teacher before walking out of the room to head to another room downstairs where their housemaid Mrs. Park is staying. The truth is she gets her point but that’s not how she thinks the game would end. 

The woman already in her mid-forties is still stunning even in her working uniform. Without the wrinkles and the excess fats for staying long in the kitchen, her beauty can still compete with the other girls of this generation. If only she didn’t date Chanyeol’s father while she was still in college, she could still be working as a nurse and have established a good life for her family but it’s too late to blame herself now.

Though she didn’t have the life she planned, there’s one thing she won’t ever regret doing in her life. It’s bringing up her son, Chanyeol into this world. The day he was born, she was still in a painful situation but seeing his son’s bright face change those meaningless sobs into heartwarming laughter. With her boyfriend leaving her to marry off the girl his parents wanted for him, she has to take care of him all by herself.

His father only took a glance at his son every time he gave them money to support them but that was it. He didn’t care for Chanyeol since he already has a new family to put his attention to. The moment he was married off to another girl, she knew he stopped loving her and after realizing what a jerk he is, Mrs. Park slowly loses her feelings until nothing was left. When Chanyeol came, she vowed to only love one man and that is her son.

One day, her aunt who works as a maid in Kim’s residence told her that she’s retiring from her work to rest from her old age and they need a replacement for her. Mrs. Park was so desperate to find a new job at that time because she needs to pay the bills and support her family’s needs so she told her that she will replace her as a maid instead.  Mr. and Mrs. Kim is too kind to her and she enjoyed working at her new job. She felt like she’s already part of the family. Years of working there, she realizes that there’s nothing more she wished but seeing her son grew up to be a good man with a nice job and a family to look up in his future. Just simple but great things.  knock knock knock

“Come in”

Mrs. Park isn’t still finished wearing off her earrings when Sohyun came inside with a bothered look on her pretty face. She hugged her. She only smiled before asking her what’s wrong. She can tell on the girl’s face that she’s bothered about something. Sohyun treated her like a mother and she feels