Chapter 9
Just Us in Our Own Time and Space9.1: Joohyun’s home
Seulgi watched with curiosity as Joohyun brought out an air-tight container filled with gel beads. Since she had completed the homework that Ten had brought her, Seulgi thought deserved a break. “Unnie, what are you doing?”
To answer Seulgi’s question, Joohyun dusted away the beads with a shovel to reveal a rose. “The flowers that we planted a few months ago in the school garden are in full bloom. Instead of letting them wither and die eventually, we dry them with silica gels to preserve their beauty while they are alive.”
Seulgi covered in awe as Joohyun exposed more flowers underneath the bed of silica gel: Yellow buttercup, orange daisies, purple violet, a colourful array of loose baby breath and cornflowers, contrasted by the green fern leaves. “This time around the harvest is particularly good, so I get to bring back some of the surpluses.”
“I have heard of drying flowers by pressing them in books. This is new to me but it makes a lot of sense. After all, we always find those silica gel packets in snacks to remove moisture for longer shelf life.”
Joohyun chuckled at Seulgi’s tendency to draw reference from food. “The pressing method is effective, but it can take as long as a month and the flowers lose some of the colours in the process. Silica gel works more quickly and retains the original vibrancy, which is crucial if we are using the flowers for art and craft.”
On hearing the word “art”, Seulgi’s eyes brightened. “You are right. The rose looks so realistic and the intensity of the redness is nicely preserved. Even if you don’t do anything with it, it can stand alone as an art.”
“I agree that they look beautiful on their own, but to be able to do additional work with them introduce more activities for our club and a chance for external collaboration. In this case, the Art and Craft Club initiated this project.”
“Mr Oh didn’t look like a maverick who would come up with such fun ideas.”
“That’s right. It was actually the brainchild of the Art and Craft Club president about ten-odd years ago.”
“Didn’t know the Gardening Club can be so happening! I thought you guys only grow vegetables for the school lunches,” Seulgi laughed at her own comments.
“Yah! What’s so funny about growing vegetables?!” Joohyun folded her arms in protest.
“It reminded me of how we first met,” Seulgi recalled nostalgically. “Time really flies. Who would have thought we would come to this point, where your home is starting to feel like a second home to me?”
Joohyun wondered if Seulgi’s comment about the second home was merely an innocent remark, or was she implying something more. “Seulgi-yah, have you finished your homework? Want to do something together?”
“Yes, I’m done. What do you have in mind?”
“Can you help to bring me the carton over there while I go to the kitchen to get some stuff?”
Seulgi opened the carton and removed from it a bottle of epoxy resin, complementary hardener, measuring cups, rubber moulds, spatulas, tweezers and dropper. Meanwhile, Joohyun returned with two pairs of gloves. With the flowers she had on hand, Joohyun was planning to make some resin jewellery with them. “Let’s make a pair of something to celebrate us being together for this long.”
“Like those couple… I mean friendship band kind of thing?”
Joohyun stifled a giggle on Seulgi’s slip of the tongue, or was it?
“Stop laughing…” Seugi brushed her hair forward to hide her blushing face. “Why do I always blurt out cheesy stuff in front of Unnie?”
“Well, I’m the ‘Original Visual’, so it’s not surprising that you fall for me.”
“How do you…” Seulgi covered in time to prevent herself from acknowledging the comment like an idiot. Apparently, Joohyun was only kidding. Right?
Indeed, her original intention was to tease Seulgi. However, the latter seemed to have taken it seriously, but Joohyun was not complaining.
“Perhaps we can make the bangle. It’s the closest thing to friendship bands,” Seulgi quickly switched topic by picking up the torus-shaped rubber mould.
With a width of only 9mm of the hollow area to work with, they decided to use smaller flowers like baby breath and cornflowers. Thankfully the chosen flowers were available in a diversity of colours. Joohyun and Seulgi carefully aligned them around the hollow ring with a tweezer according to the rainbow spectrum. Next, they mixed the epoxy resin and the hardener as per the instruction manual. Finally, they transferred the liquid mixture to the mould using the dropper until the hollow area was completely filled up.
“Now we can leave it to dry. Let’s check on them two days later.”
9.2 School Class 1-1
“Good morning Ms Son.”
“Good morning class. My name is Wendy Son. I’m your new homeroom teacher replacing Mr Oh who had unfortunately passed on. Apart from Art and Craft that was previously taught by him, I would also be taking over English from Ms Yoon, so that she can focus on the graduating classes.”
The class responded with “Ohs” and “Ahs” on hearing that they were also getting a new English teacher.
“Ms Yoon had shared with me her concerns about the results of your Term One quiz. Since it is my first day with you, I would like to find out about your struggles with English. Feel free to speak up during this sharing session.”
Wendy’s down to earth personality carried a hint of sincerity in wanting to reach out to help, thus the students did not hesitate to open up to her.
“Grammar rules are confusing and hard to remember.”
“For example, you add an ‘s’ to plural nouns, but for a verb, you add the ‘s’ when it is singular. Then there are many ways to add the ‘s’.”
“And if that’s not enough, it wants to make exceptions with ‘you’ and ‘I’.”
“Pronunciation does not match the spellings. Some sounds are impossible to pronounce.”
After hearing the students pouring their grievances, Wendy decided to share her experiences.
“After I finished elementary school in Korea, my family moved to Canada for my sister and me to study abroad. Like you guys, I had trouble making sense of the language initially. However, as the only Korean in my neighbourhood and class, I had to communicate in English in order to be understood. The more I use English in my daily life, the more fluent I get until its complex grammar becomes second nature to me.”
“Ms Son, Korea is not like Canada. Outside of school, there isn’t much chance to use English.”
“This is where I come in, to create opportunities to use the language. All I ask is for your active participation in my classes, just like how you had done just now when you shared your difficulties with the language.”
For the rest of the lessons, Wendy fielded questions from the students for them to learn more about herself. The questions ranged from generic ones about her life in Canada to personal ones like her ideal type, all of which Wendy managed to give a candid reply. Along the way, she helped to correct the errors they made.
“Now that you have learnt some tidbits about me, I would like to get to know more about all of you too. In order to do that, I need you to write a 500-word essay about your interest and hobbies and submit it during the next class.”
9.3: School staff room
Since there was an hour break before her next class, Wendy retired to the staff room. As soon as she reached there, Mdm Cho requested a short session in her disciplinary office.
“Hi Wendy, it’s been a while. It’s a delight to see our ex-student returning to serve the school. I hope the students didn’t give a hard time.”
“Not at all. Although there are a couple of mischievous ones, it is all in good fun and they are well-natured at heart.”
“That’s good to know. I’m worried about you meeting the nasty ones, not that there are a lot of them in this school. Regardless, don’t push yourself too hard when you encounter them, considering your underlying asthmatic condition.”
“Actually, I hardly get any attacks as an adult, but I will take your advice just to be on the safe side.”
“By the way, how’s your father doing? I heard that you return to Korea because of him.”
“He is getting on in years and wants to see me around more often. More importantly, Korea is my homeland. I have to return eventually.”
“Glad you mention that. Don’t let the past bother you too much. It’s not your fault.”
“Thank you for your concern, Mdm Cho. I would try my best.”
“You can call me Miyoung. We are equals now.”
“Haha. Ok,” Wendy laughed heartedly. “In front of you and the other teachers, I still felt like that student from ten odd years ago.”
“You will get used to it. Actually, the other reason that I wanted to see you is about Kang Seulgi, the student from your form class that was put under suspension for a police investigation.”
“Oh yes, Mrs Park did give me a heads up about Seulgi. Is everything ok with her?”
“Yes. The police had given Seulgi clearance, so from next week onwards, she can return to school. That brat must have enjoyed her vacation during this time. Anyway, I leave it to you to liaise with her.”
Brat… hmm… they sure made Seulgi out to look like a delinquent, Wendy thought to herself. Instead of asking Mdm Cho, she decided she would find out for herself. Back at her desk, Wendy called Seulgi’s mobile. On the phone, Seulgi sounded cheery to know that her case was cleared and that she could start attending school again. In addition, Seulgi expressed concern about catching up on the lessons she had missed. From the conversation, Wendy gathered that Seulgi was a well-behaved student and showed interest in academic pursuit. There was no hint of her being a “brat”. Out of curiosity, Wendy decided to read Seulgi’s student file. Single parent family… scholarship holder… kinda like someone she used to know…
FLASHBACK: ABOUT TEN ODD YEARS AGO...
Wendy’s grandfather had passed away, leaving her grandmother behind. As her father was the only child and her grandmother refused to leave Korea, the family had to return from Canada. While the girls were old enough to remain in Canada by themselves, they decided to move back as well to spend more time with her.
So here she was at her new school, one of the highest-ranking in South Korea. Upper-middle-class family background and good academic track record assured Wendy a vacancy in this school when she applied for a transfer. Wendy stepped into the new classroom anticipating a warm welcome. Instead, she was greeted by an empty milk carton aimed right in her face.
“What the…” Wendy protested as she bent down to pick up the projectile. Before she could finish her sentence, more empty milk cartons rained like hailstones in her direction but above her head. Wendy soon learnt the reason for that when she looked behind at the intended target of the malicious prank. The first milk carton that hit Wendy was merely an honest mistake for crossing the path of attack.
“What’s this mess?!” Before Wendy had a chance to comfort the classmate traumatised by the onslaught of cartons tossed at her, she was startled by a booming male voice. “Kwon Jihyun! Quit standing there like a Pabo! Clean up the mess around you.”
“Yes. Mr Oh,” Jihyun bowed meekly. Feeling sorry for Jihyun, Wendy decided to help her pick up the cartons.
“Wendy, is that you, the new transfer student? Jihyun can clean up by herself. Come forward and let me introduce you to the class.”
Jihyun thanked Wendy with a grateful smile and motioned her to go forward as instructed by Mr Oh. Mr Oh’s introduction focused on her father’s successful restaurant chain business thus allowing Wendy to afford the expensive overseas education, which was unnecessary information in Wendy’s humble opinion. Despite being on the receiving end of preferential treatment, Wendy felt uncomfortable by what seemed like a case of double standards. Why was Jihyun being “punished” when she was a victim of bullying? What disturbed Wendy the most was Mr Oh’s assumption that Jihyun was at fault without making any effort to investigate what really happened.
During recess, Wendy went for a restroom break. While inside her cubicle, she detected the faint smell of cigarette smoke. Unfortunately, Wendy and the smoking student in the neighbouring cubicle finished their business and came out at the same time.
“What are you looking at?”
Before Wendy could respond, the student took a puff and exhaled a cloud of smoke into her face. As her oversensitive airways became irritated, it triggered an asthma flare-up and threw Wendy into bouts of coughing fits. To a layman, Wendy was probably overreacting with the coughs, so the student brushed it off and left the restroom.
For Wendy, even the simple act of breathing was challenging, let alone walking. However, she knew she must return to her classroom immediately where her inhaler was. It was the only device that could relieve her agony. The more Wendy struggled to hang on to her dear life, the harder it was to move forward. Eventually, her legs gave way and she dropped to her knees. Just when she thought this was it, she felt two hands clutching her shoulders.
“Having trouble breathing? Is it asthma?”
Wendy looked up to find her classmate Jihyun. She nodded furiously and pointed in the direction of their classroom with her shaky finger.
“Don’t worry you can use mine first.”
With Jihyun’s help administering the medication, Wendy could feel her air passage clearing slowly, making it easier for her to breathe again. “Thank you Jihyun. For being here just in time.”
“Don’t mention it. I know exactly what it is like.”
On their way to the canteen after Wendy had recovered slightly, they could feel scornful eyes and snickers behind their back from the students passing by. Once they had settled down, Jihyun decided to be completely honest about her background with Wendy. Learning about Jihyun’s family, mostly her mother actually, made Wendy understood the behaviour of the students towards Jihyun earlier.
“So, you don’t have to feel obligated to stay by my side because I helped you just now. Once you start to make friends with the others, you may…”
“Please don’t say that,” Wendy held Jihyun’s hand sincerely. “Who you are has got nothing to do with what your mother is doing.”
“Thank you for not judging me,” Jihyun was touched. After enduring two years of being ostracised in school, it seemed like she had finally found a friend in her senior year.
“No matter how many friends I make in future, you will always be my number one bestie,” Wendy linked her pinkie with Jihyun’s as a sign of her promise to the latter.
Wendy would have held on to her promise if her own family was not affected by it.
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