Not for the first time I marked Pyo Ji Hoon absent. I worried my lip, then grabbed my class binder and found myself staring at his picture again, tapping his name and the contact information under it.

     “What are you look at?” I started and looked to my right and gave a smile to Mr. Park, one of my fellow teachers. He liked to talk to me to practice his English and I thought it was the most darling thing ever. Some of the other teachers would try and talk to me in English, but Mr. Park—or Hyun Ki as he wanted me to call him—tried constantly.

     “What are you looking at.” I corrected. He blushed and I just wanted to pinch his cheeks, but I restrained the urge. I held up the binder and pointed to the picture. “This student, he has been absent a lot. I haven’t seen him yet, actually.” I say worriedly, placing the binder back down on my desk.

     “Ah—Ji Hoon?”

     I blinked owlishly at him. “Yes, how did you know?”

     He shook his head. “Bad student. He start fights, doesn’t pay attention to teacher. Mind is somewhere else.” He made a twirly motion with his hands away from his head.

     “He’s still a student. He should be attending class.” Again my eyes are drawn to the contact information. “If he misses anymore, he won’t be able to graduate.”

     Hyun Ki shrugged. “His choice.”

     I could hear the defeat in Hyun Ki’s voice and it made me raise an eyebrow. “You . . . know him? You’ve taught him before?”

     Hyun Ki nodded. “He good student. Before. But . . . he was change. He not listen. I . . . give up.”

     We’re teachers. We never give up on students. But I didn’t voice my thoughts, instead I asked, “Then you tried contacting him? You tried going to his home? Calling?”

     “Yes. No one ever home, no one ever pick up.”

     Well, that had me worried. I tapped the contact a couple of more times with my finger before I pulled out my planner and jotted down his address. I didn’t know what I was thinking—why did I think I would succeed where other teachers had failed. Chalk it up to my stubbornness or maybe my pride.

     Pyo Ji Hoon, I’ll have you coming back to school in no time.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sorry that it was short, but I just wanted to give the story a kick start. I promise the rest of the chapters will have more in them :)

Bold = Korean

[Pyo Ji Hoon = P.O.]