The next morning, Saehee woke up then immediately went for her math textbook to solve a few problems before breakfast. She usually did this to help clear her mind. Around midnight she had woken up and heard her parents' voices speaking to her. They told her things like "are you feeling well" and "you don't have to do anything if you don't want to". Her parents loved her so much and wanted to protect her from the world. Ever since she was small, she usually never left the house due to her disorder of isolating herself from people. Her parents also feared that children her age would ostracize her in the classroom, so she was home schooled.  

She froze at an equation. I'm...not sure how to solve this one, she furrowed her brows. She shut her book, confused on why she didn't get it. Frustrated, she stood up to pace around the bedroom in thought. What if I'm getting rusty? Should I ask for help? Who do I ask? Uncle Jonguk? Her thoughts swirled in her head, this incident causing much more impact on her than expected. Her eyes became watery because of the stress. She patted her face to calm her down.

A few minutes passed of her getting herself together before heading downstairs to the dining room. When she arrived, her uncle was already there reading a book, while waiting for the home chef to bring out the meal. Saehee took a seat on the opposite side of the table. "Good morning. Did you sleep well?" He looked up from his book to ask her.

"Yes, thank you," she responded politely, yet with no emotion. The chef then came out carrying a dish in each hand. He placed one in front of Jonguk, and the other in front of Saehee. Saehee waited for her uncle to take a bite of food before asking her question.

"Uncle Jonguk would it be possible for me to receive a tutor?" she asked.

"Tutor? You're a smart girl," Jonguk questioned.

"I think a tutor would be good for me." Saehee said. Jonguk was surprised that Saehee had such a request. Especially since she didn't talk much, let alone ask for anything. He also knew that she avoided people as much people due to her condition. And because she was aware that she was schizophrenic since a young age, she would often stay away from things that had a possibly of making her uncomfortable. So asking for such a thing must’ve been important to her. He couldn't refuse. He didn’t want to refuse if this was so important.

"Alright, what subject?"

"Math." Jonguk became even more surprised since he very well knew that she was outstanding at math. But instead of throwing more questions at her he said, "I'll find you one in a few days."

"Thank you," she thanked with a small smile.

---

"Minseok," Jonguk called out his student's name as Minseok walked into the piano room for his lesson.

"Yes?"

"Are you available to tutor my niece in math after our lessons?"

Minseok thought for a second, "Your niece from yesterday?"

"Yes." Minseok immediately blushed at remembering the girl who caught his attention. "I'm available," he answered.

"Wonderful. You'll start tomorrow after our lesson."

"Tomorrow already?"

"Is there a problem?"

"No, there's no problem," he responded quickly to not lose this opportunity.

“Good, let’s begin,” Jonguk began picking out a few piano books from the shelf for Minseok to sight read.

“Um, can I ask you something?”

“What is it?”

“What happened to not getting close to her?”

“She asked me this morning for a math tutor. Honestly it surprised me and I wanted to say no, but didn’t. I trust you Minseok to not harm her in anyway. Just remember that all you are to her is her tutor. Nothing else,” Jonguk emphasized the word ‘nothing’.

---

Upon arriving home from his lesson, Minseok sat down at his desk to think. How do I talk to her tomorrow? His teacher’s words kept replaying in his mind. Though he heard what he told him, he still didn’t fully understand why his teacher said such things.

He opened his laptop and typed in ‘schizophrenia’ into the search box. He wanted to make sure that whatever he did wouldn’t offend anyone just for being ignorant. As he read through a few articles, the two things that stood out to him the most were ‘hallucinations’ and ‘social isolation’.

When he finished researching, he shut down his laptop. He hoped that tomorrow would go smoothly; and that somehow he and the-so-called Saehee could become friends.

(updates: 12-8-13)