Going through the classified ads in search of another job, you sighed and gave up, tossing the newspaper on the floor. “I give up” You said, resting your head on the kitchen counter top.

“Hmm” Your step brother Jongin who was a few months older than you picked it up and started scanning through the entries. Using a red marker, he encircled a certain entry.

“Jae, your English is pretty good right?” Looking at him with a puzzled expression on your face, you took the paper from his hands and scanned it once again. “An English tutor? Really?” You shook your head indicating that you weren’t interested in doing such.

“Why not?” He asked as he headed towards the fridge, taking out the carton of apple juice and pouring a small amount on his glass. “You would only meet up with this person for one day in a week and he would pay 111233.00 wons”

You blinked and studied the ad again. “111233.00 wons? I don’t want to become a tutor but I really need the money” You thought and sighed, taking your phone out of your pocket and dialled the number on the ad. It took 5 rings before someone answered your call.

“Ni Hao, Who is this?” The man said in Mandarin. You gulped and gave Jongin a “please help me” look. “How am I supposed to communicate with this man if my mandarin isn’t perfect?” You thought and shrugged, returning back to your phone call. “U-Um, Hello” You said, stuttering as you talked. “I saw your ad on the newspaper and I was wondering if I could apply as your tutor.”

“You are willing to teach me English?” You noticed that the man brightened up from the change in his tone.

“Yes.”

“Thank you” The man paused. “Can you start tomorrow?”

“T-Tomorrow?” this made you slightly nervous. “Sure.”

“Thank you again. Goodbye”

“Goodbye.”

Jongin tried to figure out how your conversation went by carefully analyzing the look on your face. “So?”

You shrugged and replied to him without any enthusiasm. “I got the job.”

-Next day-

Walking down the street where the Chinese man lived, you took deep breaths to be able to relax and to lower your anxiety. “I can do this” You thought, cheering yourself on and upon arriving at his doorstep, you took another deep breath before knocking on the door.

“Hey” The man greeted with a warm smile on his face. “Come in”

You were meeting this man for the first time so how was it even possible that upon looking into his eyes, it’s like you’ve known him for years. A thousand images which seemed to be memories of him bombarded your mind, sending you into a whirlwind of confusion.

Slightly losing your balance, you leaned on the wall to compose yourself and tried to clear your head. The man kept on talking but all you could hear were muffled noises. You couldn’t bring yourself to look him directly in the eye because you were terrified of what may happen if you did so.

“Are you alright miss?” He asked. You were finally able to understand what he was saying but you couldn’t find the right words to say. You were speechless. The man waved his hand in front of your face, checking if you were still conscious. You nodded in response to his question which made him sigh in relief. Heading inside of his home, your jaw dropped as you looked at every detail of its architecture and interior designing in awe. The man looked sophisticated which made you think that his home would be a reflection of his appearance but you were proven wrong. His home reminded you of your home in the province. Almost everything inside was made of wood which you truly adored but what definitely caught your eye was his fireplace.

“I didn’t know that these existed in the city” You said as you walked towards his fireplace, placing your hands a foot away from the fire.

The man smiled at your remark and said “It gets really cold during the winter.”

You nodded in agreement and continued warming yourself by the fire. The man headed towards a room at the corner of his apartment and after a few minutes, he came back carrying a tray containing two cups of tea and a plate of biscuits.

“So . . . Shall we start?” He asked as he handed you your cup of tea.

You nodded and took out a couple of books and activity sheets from your back pack. “I just wanted to say that I’m not really fluent in speaking mandarin.”  You slightly lowered your head, hiding your shame which made the man chuckle.

“Yeah . . . I noticed.” The man chuckled and added “We could teach each other then. You could teach me English and I could teach you Mandarin.” You smiled and opened your English grammar, flipping it to the first page and started teaching. An hour of teaching definitely made you exhausted since the man wasn’t really a fast learner but you tried your best to be patient. “Well, that’s it for today.” You said while gathering and placing all the study materials in your bag. The man extended a hand towards you and said. “Btw, I’m Kris.”

It was happening again. The constant flow of images in your mind was too much for you to handle and succeeded in making you collapse on the ground. The last thing you saw was a man carrying you in his arms with a worried expression painted on his face and you weren’t sure if this was really happening or if this was just one of those memories and before everything became pitch black, the last thing you heard was

“Jinae” 

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Who do you think's Jinae? :3

Post your answer on the comments area below.

I hope you guys enjoy this chapter. Lol, I made it while I was in a seminar =)) The talk was really boring.