“Yeah, I’m okay.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, SeoYoung, I’m fine.” Raelyn laughed, flopping over onto her stomach. “I swear.”

“You didn’t call or anything for four days.” The baby blue head scolded. “Natsuki and I were getting ready to call the police.”

“If you really thought I was being kidnapped, shouldn’t you have called the police already?”

“Anyways, who was that guy? He came out of nowhere. Do you know each other?”

The light-heartedness of the conversation left, and Raelyn’s grin faltered. After a moment, she flipped back onto her back and let out a sigh.

“He’s a friend of a friend.” She explained. “Well… a couple of friends.”

“What is that supposed to mean?”

“Look, I’m alright.” Raelyn forced a laugh into her voice to further prove her point. “Anyways, I haven’t showered in a couple of days.”

“Gorss…”

“Yeah, I know.” Raelyn said. “Which is why I’m going to let you go so I can take a shower.”

“Alright Raelyn… call if you need anything.”

“I will, don’t worry.”

From outside the door, Leo had been listening intently. Since he had basically plucked her off the streets, he had been hovering closely to make sure the woman didn’t mess anything up. He sat against the brick of the building, his head leaning against it, his eyes closed as he did the best he could to eavesdrop.

He heard her say her goodbyes, and the atmosphere suddenly went silent again. Leo sat outside, the warm breeze blowing through his hair as his ears strained to hear any sort of shuffling from inside the room. Suddenly, there was a sigh from inside the room, and the sound of her getting off the makeshift palette.

“I don’t have any extra clothes.” She said with another sigh. “Maybe I can just wear this again, and it’ll be fine….”

Leo’s eyes opened, his sight landing on the bright green grass that was now soaked with rain water. Because of the mud, he knew that there was no way he would be able to teach his class outside, which was a shame, because the weather was perfect.

He sat there for another moment, taking in the warm afternoon air before standing up and disappearing through on of the doors.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The steam escaped into the bathroom and seeped into the bedroom as the door slid open. Out she stepped from the almost suffocating heat and into the cooler atmosphere that was the room that she had been residing in.

She let out a sigh, running her fingers through her wet hair. In the corner of the room, she spotted the little dress and heels she had been wearing for the past couple of days and shuttered.

“I’m almost tempted to just wear this towel around.” She said. As soon as she did though, she spotted something by the door of the room. Looking over, she found that it was a tray of food, just as had been promised, but right next to it was folded object that she didn’t recognise.

Cocking an eyebrow, she moved over to it and crouched down to pick it up. Upon lifting it from its resting spot, the fabric unfolded and fell to the ground, revealing rii robes.

Blinking a couple of times, Raelyn stared at the fabric.

“What on earth…?”

On the other side of the wall, she could hear some rustling, as well as the light voice of TaekWoon. Even though he had taken her in and given her a place to stay, she still couldn’t shake her unease that came when she was anywhere near him.

Even so, she was grateful for everything he had been doing for her - making her meals periodically, and now even bringing her something to wear. After a moment, she let out a relieved sigh, dropped the towel from around her, and began to put on the robes.

“Well, I might not know exactly how to put these on, but at least it’s something to wear that doesn’t make me chafe.” She commented as she tied the belt into a little bulky bow on the side of her hip. Looking herself over, she immediately noticed that both the sleeves as well as the pant legs were a good two inches longer that her body length.

She sat and stared at it for a moment, but then shrugged.

“Whatever, I’ll just go with it.”

She took a step back towards the makeshift futon, but instead of going anywhere, she tripped over the fabric and face planted onto the hardwood floors. Laying there for a moment, she let out a sigh and grumbled.

“Maybe I should tell him that this is too big….”

Recovering herself with a bit of hesitancy, she moved over to the door on the side wall and let out a breath before sliding it open.

“TaeKwoon-ssi? This is a little too-”

Her words were caught in as she looked up to find an entire class of children in giis staring at her. They all sat on the ground, staring up at her with confusion. She blinked a couple times, then looked over at TaekWoon who was placed at the front of the group, now sending her a deep glare that pierced through her body.

“Who is that, sahbumnim?”

“Yeah, who is that?”

“Is she a new student?”

“She’s too old to be a student.”

TaeKwoon stared at Raelyn for a moment longer as everyone kept questioning him about who she was. Clearing his throat to gain his composure back from her just barging in, he walked past the kids and right up to Raelyn, a deep breath leaving him.

“You’re wearing this wrong.” He said quietly to her as he carefully untied the belt around her waist.

Strike one. He thought. Retying it with quick precision, he turned around and sent a small smile towards the class. “This is Raelyn, my new assistant, your jokyonim.” He introduced, thinking on the spot so that he didn’t have to explain what Raelyn was really doing there to his class. As all of the students started making sounds of understanding, he sent a small grimace Raelyn’s way, bumping her arm just barely with his elbow so that she would go along with him.

Picking up on what he was doing, Raelyn adjusted herself.

“Oh, um, yes! I am Raelyn! Your assistant director! I mean, instructor! Call me sahbumnim!”

“Jokyonim.”

“Jokyonim!” She giggled profusely, rubbing the back of her head and making Leo let out a large internal sigh.

Rolling his eyes and shaking his head a little, Leo forced a smile back onto his face as he looked over the class. “Alright, let’s finish stretching.” He waved his hand, walking back to the front of the class to look over everything that was happening.

All of the students went back to their stretches, making sure that their legs were well stretched. They all sat down on the ground, all trying their hardest to be as flexible as possible. When they were all stretching with their legs in front of them, Leo looked up towards Raelyn to find her standing awkwardly in  the back of the room.

Blinking, Leo waited until he had her attention, then nodded towards her before glancing towards the kids with his eyes.

She stared at him with a blank expression on her face before she finally caught on to what he was trying to tell her. When she did, her eyes widened and she quickly scanned the room for a place to sit down, eventually deciding to take a seat at the back of the group. On her way over, however, she tripped over the fabric again and face planted, making all of the class look behind them and sending a wave of laughter through the group.

Leo let out a sigh. “Continue with your stretches.” He ordered, getting up and moving around the group. When he reached her, he lifted her up off the ground and dragged her to the front of the room beside him.

She was all sorts of flustered. She began to pull her arm away, but instead he held onto it as he began to roll her sleeves up for her.

“I can do it myself, you know.” She whispered to him.

“There are none smaller than this one, so I’ll have to fix the lengths up a bit.” He said coldly to her as he kneeled down to begin working on her legs. “Just deal with this for now.”

When he was finished, he sat back down and continued with his stretches, to which Raelyn followed suit.

Leo reached out and grabbed the bottom of his foot, laying down to rest his forehead on his knee. He closed his eyes, focusing on his breathing. As he began to slip into the meditation of stretching, however, a very faint squeeling sound pulled him out of it.

Eyes shooting open, he sat up and looked over at Raelyn, who was using all the energy she had in her just to touch the bottom of her toes. He noticed that this was beginning to drag the attention of the students away from their stretching and caused them to start giggling. After a moment, Leo dropped his head again and let out a large sigh.

What did I just get myself into?

After the stretches had been finished, the group broke up into two sections, and Raelyn got placed to help one group practice, as TaekWoon took it upon himself to help teach the other a new move.

For once in her life, Raelyn actually felt tall towering over the group of small children that lay before her, and she found that she hated every minute of it.

“Well, aren’t we going to start?”

Raelyn let out a little chuckle and rubbed the back of her head. “Well, you see, I just got, uh, transferred over a few days ago, and TaekWoon- uh, sahbumnim, never got the chance to fill me in on what you guys have been working on.”

“Sahbumnim has been teaching us basic kicks.” The smallest one with a gap in between their teeth answered. “Usually he works with us one by one and uses his arms as an obect to see how high we can kick.”

“Oh…. okay. Let’s start there then.”

Raelyn assumed the position that she had seen in many movies before, holding her arms out in front of her as guards.

“Alright, Show me what you’ve got.”

This isn’t so bad. She thought, chuckling to herself internally.

She waited as the first student took their stance in front of her. She sent them a friendly smile as encouragement, beaming to herself over how lucky she got.

Her excitement was short lived, however, as the child let out a vicious battle cry, whirled around, and delivered a blow to Raelyn’s forearm that send pins and needles through her entire body.

“Ouch….” Her words were but a small squeak as she fought the urge to fall over onto the ground and cry.

“Good job TaeSik!”

“Yeah, good job!”

“Thank you!”

“Ready to go again, jokyonim?”

“Um, no thank you. You’re already really good!”

“But sahbumnim told us to practice many times.”

“Um….”

“Come on jokyonim.”

“Yeah, come on.”

Meanwhile, TaekWoon was on the other side of the room, his stance low and his hands held high in front of him as the students behind him did their best to mirror him.

“No, what you want to do is put all of your weight onto your right leg and-”

His words were suddenly interrupted as Raelyn came running over and grabbed him. She hid behind him, looking over his shoulder in panic. Confused, he looked over at what she had been running from, finding the whole group of students laughing and playing, all kicking at Raelyn as they ran around him to get to her. Raelyn clutched on to TaekWoon as she pivoted around him in her escape.

Her hands that ran around his torso sent shock waves through his body, causing him to push her away.

“Enough!”

The cold voice send a chill through the air, causing the room to halt in motion and go silent.

“Is this really what your parents are paying for? For you all to play and run around like this is a school yard?” He scolded, the children all looking down at the ground. “If that is what you wish to do, then you may go sit out on the porch until your parents come to pick you up. Go on.”

Nobody moved.

TaekWoon stared out over the silent room before glancing over at Raelyn, who was standing as still as stone and staring up at him with surprise in her eyes. After a moment, he looked back out over the class.

“My assistant is a foreigner, therefore she has not yet learned the accustoms of how we run things in this doujen.” He said. “It appears that it was foolish of me to have placed her in the classroom setting this soon.”

He sent a glare back over her way, making her immediately flush and look down at the ground.

“Raelyn, you are dismissed.”

She looked back up at him in question, seeing the thorough distaste and disappointment in his eyes that sent waves of guilt over her body. After a moment, she looked down at the ground again and gulped.

Turning to the class, she straightened her body and bowed deeply.

“Mianhaeyo. I have done wrong.”

Standing backup, she turned to TaekWoon, looking him in the eyes before bowing in apology to him as well. Standing backup, she swiftly left the room and disappeared through the door that she had come in through.

After she was gone, Leo let out his tension with a breath and turned back to the class. “Alright, Let’s resume our lesson.”

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Waving as one of the last few kids were picked up by their parents, Leo smiled lightly. Once Raelyn had left the lesson, it ran smoother than normal. Turning to see that there were only two kids left, Leo moved to stand by them, not wanting to go inside until everyone was picked up.

They were talking between each other, leaning close almost as though they didn’t want anyone else to hear them. Even though they were trying to be secretive, Leo couldn’t help but overhear them.

“That jokyonim sure was a wimp.”

“I know right? Where did she come from anyways?”

“I don’t know…. Maybe she’ll be better next time.”

The other kid only laughed, shaking his head in disbelief as he looked away from his friend. He looked down the street, seeing two women coming up and recognizing them as their mothers. “Umma!” He called out, jumping up from his spot.

Leo let out a slow breath, glad when their attention was drawn away from the topic of Raelyn. He had no idea what he was supposed to do with her, but he couldn’t let her make him look bad. He waved the kids goodbye, greeting their mothers with a friendly tone. Once the kids were walking away from the doujen, he let out a heavy sigh.

Turning to look at the building, he went to the room that he knew Raelyn was in. He knocked once before sliding the door open, looking in to try and find Raelyn. Not seeing her right away, he frowned, not wanting to find out that she was getting into trouble some other way. Walking in and shutting the door, he looked around for a moment before he finally heard the running water from the shower.

Is she in the shower again? He frowned as he walked over to the slightly ajar bathroom door. The closer he got, the more he heard though, realizing that he wasn’t just listening to the shower. Once he was in front of the door, he could distinctly hear sobs of sorrow, making him frown more. Swallowing, he stepped back, not wanting to interrupt her.

As he was stepping back, he caught sight of the phone that was laying on her makeshift pallet, unlocked and opened to a message from someone. Glancing at the door to the bathroom, Leo knew she wouldn’t be coming out any time soon as he leaned in to look at what was open on the phone he recognized as Raelyn’s.

I can’t believe this.

I trusted you.

How could you do this to me?

You’re no better than my brother.

Don’t try to make this up to me, because nothing will work.

I’m blocking you. Please don’t message me anymore.

Goodbye, have a nice life.

Blinking at the messages, Leo had no idea what he could say. Looking up, he saw that the messages were from none other than HongBin.

Setting the phone down, he stepped back, unsure of what he should make of the whole situation. The more he tried to think though, the more he found himself blocked by the sobs of Raelyn. Soon those sobs were all he could focus on. They became distorted beneath the sound of beating water, slowly morphing into what he recognized as wails. But the wails weren’t Raelyn’s - no, they were those of a much older woman.

He felt a warmth trickle down his face. Surprised, he reached up to touch it, his hand retreating with a small droplet upon his finger tip. He blinked a couple times at it before touching his face again finding that these droplets were falling from his eyes.

Louder and louder the wails became, until they were screaming in TaekWoon’s ears. He slapped his hands over his ears, but it didn’t help.

“Stop.” He pleaded.

The screaming circled around him, making him dizzy and distorting his vision, He opened his eyes, and suddenly the bathroom door became two separate ones. Eventually he fell to his knees.

“STOP IT!” He screamed, and suddenly they complied, He looked around the room, which was once again steady. It was then that he realized that the water to the shower had been shut off as well.

Panicked, he leaped to his feet and fled the room just as Raelyn slid open the door.