The sunlight streamed in through the windows of my classroom, lighting up the small glass prisms that I had hung from the ceilings. Flashes of colored light bounced from one end of the room to the other and as I watched the display, I felt an aching need to be outside. The day was warm and beautiful; as it had gone by the weather had only gotten better.

It was Tuesday afternoon and this was my last class. The time was almost four o'clock and I wondered what JaeHyun was doing and if he was outside with his friends. My mind wanted to wander, but I brought it back with a force of will, wanting to look as though I was paying attention.

There wasn't much to pay attention to though; I stood behind my podium in the front of the class, looking out over the bent heads of my students. They were all hunched over their papers, busy writing answers to the questions I'd made up for them. Today was the initial examination for my newest group of pupils, ones that would be following me to my new building.

The class size was good, with about thirty kids in attendance. My other classes for the college students had gained about forty new applicants in total and even my adult intensive classes had increased by about ten people. Because of the unprecedented enrollment, I was even happier that I had expanded into a larger building. I'd also had to hire another teacher to even out the class sizes; I was both excited and nervous about the new changes I had been making and the workload I was taking on.

At the moment, I had three separate classes going on at any one time, but I always liked to do the initial exams myself; I was determined to continue this no matter how big my center became. The students liked to get to know me since I was the owner and the only foreigner who actually worked here. Most of my other tutors were Korean and had either been raised in America or studied overseas.

Their English was as good as mine, but some kids and some parents as well, liked that there was a foreigner teaching their kids English first hand. I didn't mind giving them what they wanted and the kids seemed to enjoy my teaching style, one that was very different from the regular English classes that they'd taken in school.

Korean schools focused almost solely on grammar and spelling without realizing that language just isn't learned that way. While it was good to know the alphabet and how words sounded, that wasn't how we'd learned to speak as children. Since I found this out on my own when I started learning Korean, I realized pretty early on that knowing phrases and how to respond to things when asked was much better than knowing that hoarse and horse were spelled differently, at least for beginners.

For my advanced students, we would begin to delve further into the language, but these kids today were only looking to pass their high school exams. That meant grammar and spelling for them with some pronunciation practice added in for reinforcement. I wouldn't be teaching them directly after this class, since I worked with the intensive students much more directly.

As the kids finished their tests and began to trickle out in twos and threes, I greeted them in both English and Korean, letting them know that if they were having difficulties they could speak to me anytime and in their own language. I'd found out after my first few months of teaching that students were much more willing to tell you if they needed extra help if they knew you could communicate well with them. Since then I had made it a point to speak both Korean and English in my classes.

As I greeted the last student leaving the room, two different kids came in, ones that I had been teaching for almost two years. They were no longer directly my students, but were children I'd tutored personally, so I was much closer to them than the average pupil. JunHo was now in college and a Judo fanatic. He never missed a practice and as I said hello, I spied his ever-present gym bag slung familiarly over one shoulder.

SoonAe came in behind him, a bright girl with an even brighter smile who all the guys in the center seemed to fall for. SoonAe was a sweetheart and had learned English so quickly that she had moved into the adult classes. Two of my best students, they often came to see me, but JunHo wasn't his usual cheerful self and SoonAe was strangely subdued.

"You guys look down. What's wrong?"

"Sem, a man is outside in the hallway. He's been there since class started this afternoon," JunHo said angrily.

"A man, huh? Did he say who he was?"

"He stayed pretty quiet, but he said he was waiting for you. He kind of sounded like a stalker, he talked in this really quiet voice. And he looks like a gangster with all that blonde hair," SoonAe said in a stage whisper even though we were alone in the classroom.

"Do you need me to get rid of him, Imani Sem? I'm top level in my Judo classes," JunHo said, flexing his arms like he was about to do something dangerous. That got me a little worried; the boy was taking Judo... I stopped him from walking out the door with a quick grab to his arm.

"No! What are you talking about? Let me just to talk to him first ok? Then, if I need you to beat him up, I'll give you a signal alright?"

I patted JunHo on the back as I walked out the door, giving SoonAe a smile when she sent me a worried look from her place at the door.

As I walked down the hallway, I wondered just who was this guy that had my students so freaked out. I straightened my back as I reached the end of the hallway, determined to give him the scolding of his life when I got to him.

I saw him as I came to the end of the hallway; a tall guy dressed in a long white sweater that covered up his hands, dark blue jeans, and black sneakers. His back was to me so I couldn't see his face, but his hair was dyed blonde even though it showed black at the roots. He didn't look like a gangster, but who was I to judge what a gangster should look like? Even though I didn't know who he was, it didn't matter. If he didn't belong here, I was going to send him packing. With that mindset, I walked up to him and tapped him briskly on the shoulder.

"Chogiyo, sir, you can't just stand here; this is a private building. I'm the owner here, was there something you needed to speak with me about?" I said in a firm tone.

The man turned around and I was struck dumb with shock when I saw his face.

"TaekWoon-ssi, what are you doing here?" And why do you look so different? I questioned him in my head.

"Ah, I came for our date," he said in his quiet voice, the voice that had me melting all over again just like when we'd first met.

"Oh no, it's Tuesday already?! Ugh... Well..."

I started to panic, mainly because I had done absolutely no maintenance to myself over the last few days. As it was, my twist out was two days old and I'd hidden it underneath a bright pink beanie; only a few braids peeked out to make it look as though the rest of my hair was done too. I started to pat my head, silently cursing myself for being so lazy.

I looked down at my clothes, and realized that I had put in about as much effort into my wardrobe as I would've if I'd planned on spending the day on my couch. I had my favorite white Sailor Moon t-shirt on and over top of it a Harry Potter cardigan that I'd paid way too much money for. It made me feel like I was a wizard in training though, so I hadn't grumbled too much at the price. I was wearing black skinny jeans and some black and brown Sperry's.

I hated wearing business attire at work and since I owned the place I usually just wore what I wanted. But now I was fervently wishing that I'd dressed up for once in my life. How could I go on a date with 'Mr. I ooze sexiness' looking like I'd just rolled out of bed? But I couldn't explain that to TaekWoon though, who was looking hurt that I had forgotten our date. Not only that, but my students had thought he was a stalker. How was I going to disabuse them of that idea?

"Well, if you're busy... We don't have to go," he said taking a step down the hallway.

"No wait, I can go," I told him hurriedly. "Just let me get my things and then we can leave, ok?"

Saying all types of bad things in English under my breath so that he wouldn't understand, I ran back the classroom, told my students that TaekWoon was not a stalker but a friend, and then grabbed the test papers on my way out.

"Alright," I wheezed when I'd met him again, "let me just drop these off in the main office and then we can go." As we began to walk together, I made a mental note to start working out again. I had barely done any running, but I was almost out of breath.

"Mianhe, I should've called first. I didn't think you would be with a class this late."

"Oh, you saw me inside? Eottae?" I glanced up at him with a smile.

"You looked very cool," he said giving me back a smirk.

"No, I'm not, but it's good to make the kids think you are; then they actually want to pay attention," I chuckled. "But if you saw me teaching, how long have you been here?"

"Ah, oh... three hours?" he mumbled.

"Three hours! Why didn't you say anything?"

"You were really busy...and I still don't have your number." His voice trailed off and I resisted the urge to slap myself on the forehead. No wonder the kids thought he was a stalker and I must be an idiot to not have given him my number before our last date had ended. In my defense, things had ended on a really heated note, with an intense feeling between us that I hadn't experienced before. When I thought of the look that had been in his eyes then, it was almost as if he had been a different person.

I stole a glance at him, but his face was calm and almost expressionless as he took in the different classes that were still in session. I gave the test papers to my secretary and we walked out of the building together and into the sunshine. I sighed in relief, loving the feeling of the sun on my face, but TaekWoon squinted his eyes at the bright light, his nose scrunched up and I had to giggle at his cute expression.

"So where are we going?" I asked TaekWoon as we came up to his car.

"There's a coffee shop I really like close by. Is it ok if we go there?"

"Sure, that sounds good."

"Joah, you'll like this place, they have the best hot lattes in Seoul."

"And what about the best cold lattes?" I asked him jokingly.

"Oh, that's at another place," he said with serious face. "I don't really like the cold ones they make at the one we're going to. Too much ice."

I laughed even though I was sure he wasn't joking and made small talk as we drove along in the car. It was a beautiful day today, sunny and fairly warm, with only a slight cool breeze. Spring was in full effect and there were already people out wearing short skirts and t-shirts. When I'd first moved to Korea, it had taken some time to get used to seeing girls in the extremely short shorts and skirts. I never wore anything that revealing and I looked at TaekWoon's face, curious as to whether or not he noticed them. But TaekWoon was looking straight ahead and made only occasional glances at me. Despite the two of us not being anything at all, I was happy to know that he wasn't the type to look at other girls when I was around. I'd been there and done that; I definitely hadn't wanted to buy the t-shirt.

We arrived pretty quickly at a small coffee shop, and I'm glad to see it's not a Starbucks, but a family owned café. We walk in together and as I move towards the girl working at the counter, TaekWoon asks me for my drink order and tells me to pick out a table. I raise one eyebrow but tell him anyway and pick two seats over by the windows. TaekWoon walks over a few minutes later and hands me the tea I ordered. He's already sipping passionately at the latte in his own hands, his cheeks puffing up cutely each time he draws in more of his drink. I can tell he might not speak until his latte is gone, so I choose to break the silence.

"So why did you decide to ask me on a date anyways?" TaekWoon jumps a little at my question, but he answers quickly anyways.

"I saw you in the cafe and I wanted to get to know you."

"That's it?" I asked him with a surprised laugh.

"Mm... Well, I wanted to know what type of person you were. Whether you were nice or not, whether you laughed a lot or if it was just because you were always reading or watching something funny..." His voice was somewhat quieter than usual and I could tell he was embarrassed about it.

"So, you've noticed me for a long time huh," I said with pleasure coloring my tone. I placed my hand underneath my chin, and titled my head sideways as I looked at him. I wasn't weirded out that he'd watched me; I kind of liked the fact that he'd noticed me and hadn't just jumped on me at the first chance he got. He had waited and it was refreshing to have a guy genuinely be interested in me instead of trying to get in my pants.

"I guess I did... Ah, changpeiyo..." He ducked his head down, his cheeks flushing a nice pink color.

"It's ok, I'm not mad. And I am pretty cute," I said with a laugh.

"No, you're beautiful," he said with a whisper, still not looking at me. I pretended like I hadn't heard him as heat filled my own face and I mumbled something about how good my tea was instead. I got a good chance to admire the top of his head as he got his own embarrassment under control and decided that the view was a pretty nice one from here as well.

"You dyed your hair, right? How come?"

"It was for my job," he said while finally lifting his head.

"What kind of job makes you dye your hair blonde?"

"It wasn't a situation where I had to... More like I wanted to try something different. I'm a singer."

"Really," I said leaning forward in my seat. "Are you any good?" I thought he must be with a sweet and quiet voice like his.

"I'm ok," he said coloring again.

"I'd like to hear you one day," I told him sincerely.

"Then I'll sing for you," he said simply and sent me a smile, one of the first full ones that I'd seen him have. And the effect was staggering. He was dazzling and his face changed so completely that I almost couldn't believe he was the same person. And at the same time, I felt lucky to have witnessed it. I'd never wanted someone to smile more than I wanted him to and as it faded from his face, I was slightly relieved that he didn't smile like that all the time. I would've had to beat the girls off of him if he did. And for some reason I was feeling strangely possessive of a man that I hardly even knew.

And what was even more strange, TaekWoon's silence had a bizarre effect on me. Normally, I wasn't very talkative and most of the time kept my thoughts to myself. But with TaekWoon's quiet presence, I felt curiously compelled to talk, and not just to fill an awkward silence. Something about him made me feel that even if he wasn't talking, he was definitely listening. And more than that, when he did talk he always had something relevant to say. He didn't do unnecessary things and try to be overly cute or funny, a habit that I noticed with most guys. Instead he was just himself and I found his realness extremely appealing. He was so calm and seemed to not get bothered by anything I told him, whether it was my goals or about the difficult adoption process. It was refreshing to have someone to talk to, someone who didn't seem to judge me no matter what I complained about. It had been a long time since I'd had a person who was willing to hear me and I found that I enjoyed it. I enjoyed it so much that I was beginning to hope he'd ask me on another date.