Private tutoring
13: Tutoring the cheapskates
김민수
_"It's me, Kim Min-soo"
김여주
"Kim Min-soo..?"
My heart sank. Kim Min-soo should be in the States by now, so I don't know why he sent me a text, but the message filled me with a strange, uneasy feeling.
김민수
_"I'm back in Korea. You haven't forgotten me, have you?"
I laughed out loud at Kim Min-soo's brazen question, "Have you forgotten me?" "How could I forget you?"
He's my first love.
* * *
박지훈
"So what's going on?"
김여주
"The kids don't need to know."
박지훈
"I don't know, but I haven't been able to concentrate at all since earlier. Who am I, a teacher?"
I got caught. Park Ji-hoon always seemed to have a ghostly look in his eye whenever something happened to me. It felt like I'd lost my right to be a teacher, worrying my students about personal matters. It made me even sadder.
김여주
"..You're the first person to ask what's wrong with you. You did well on your exams, and I've been praising you a lot lately."
박지훈
"..That's basic knowledge."
김여주
"thank you"
I asked myself, "What on earth was I grateful for?" Perhaps it was Park Ji-hoon's sense of humor, noticing my awkwardness and not asking any more questions when I changed the subject.
* * *
Even as I was returning home after my tutoring session, this uneasy feeling wouldn't go away. That Kim Min-soo was texting me.
김여주
"It's not even funny anymore, what kind of face do you have to send a text message with?"
The really funny thing is that I'm so excited by a text like this. In fact, I thought this unpleasant feeling might be Kim Min-soo's disgust at me for still being excited.
김여주
"Wake up, Kim Yeo-ju. This guy is the most shunned person in my 21 years of life. Think about how you lived until two years ago because of this guy."
Kim Min-soo was my first love, my first boyfriend in high school. And
김민수
"Hey, Kim Yeo-ju, I accepted her because she likes me so much. Honestly, do you think I would like Kim Yeo-ju? A girl who only knows how to study?"
He was also the one who ruined my high school life.