"Should I pack lunch for you, Mr. Kwan?" Kristin asked, serving me a plate of omelette and sandwiches.
I took a bite of the sandwich. "No, it's fine. I can have it in the cafeteria."
"But your mother told me you can't handle outside food well."
I shook my head. "She is just worried. I have no problem eating outside."
She smiled hesitantly. "Okay..."
"Don't tell mother though." I smiled.
I looked at myself in the full length mirror and sighed. I arranged my tie and wore my blazer. I was definitely excited but also nervous. I had no idea what type of students I would be teaching. I put on my coat and left for work. I drove slowly as I was still very early. Also traffic was light. The day was still grey and sunless. It had already been a few weeks without the sun. Everything just seem colorless. A little bit of sun rays could definitely bring happiness. I enjoyed the grey weather in the beginning but as it continued, I grew tired of it, realizing that I liked colors better. I liked it when the sun would shine and everything would be bright and beautiful.
I parked my car in the parking lot and took a selfie to send it to my family. My younger sister immediately responded a 'ew', attaching an ugly selfie of herself. I laughed at it and prepared myself to go through the day. I managed to find my way to the staff room. The peon showed me my new temporary desk. I was to shift to the English department later. I arranged my things on the desk and the peon provided me with my schedule. I was impressed by their work as in my previous job, I had to figure out everything by myself.
I had only three classes that day and I realized I was taking classes for high schoolers. Trouble. I sighed and prepared the texts. Since I had lots of time with me, I decided to take a walk around to become familiar with the place. The place was nice and quiet. I walked around the corridors, noticing every little detail. I stopped outside a room labelled as the music room and peeped my head inside. A young man sat at a desk at the corner. He looked up at me.
"Hi." I entered and introduced my myself. "I am Kwan, the new English teacher."
"Ah, I see. So you are the new teacher everyone has been talking about."
I frowned in confusion.
He got out of his desk and approached me with a smile. "Nice to meet you. I am Noah, the music teacher here."
I smiled back and looked around. They had every type of instruments. And even had a recording room."Nice to meet you too, Mr. Noah."
"You are quite young as they said."
I looked at him, confused again. "What?"
He shook his head with a smile and walked back to his desk. "Nevermind. Just rumors about everyone new here. Anyway, are you interested in music?"
"Ah yeah, I play the piano and guitar." I smiled.
His eyes lit up. "Is it? Then come here often and feel free to use the instruments. I love listening to piano pieces."
I beamed. "Sure. If I get free time, I will definitely visit."
We proceeded to talk about ourselves, our hobbies and taste in music. At the end, I liked him as a person. We had same taste and same type of interest. He was quite young too, just three years older than me.
I clutched my texts tighter in my hand and took a deep breath before entering the noisy classroom. Suddenly, the class went silent as I set my texts on the teacher's desk. I turned to see the students giving me their full attention. I was nervous looking at unfamiliar faces but I smiled broadly and introduced myself. They seemed to be just staring at me blankly. It was weird but I went ahead, catching up with what their last teacher left at.
It felt weird having their full attention. Not like it was wrong but because they just seemed to be staring blankly at me and I couldn't make out if they were really paying attention or if they were understanding my lessons. By the end of class, I was glad it was over. Maybe because it was my first day, it felt kind of weird.
"Sir?" Somebody called just as I was about to leave the room.
I turned around to face a boy holding an envelop in his hand. "Our homeroom teacher asked me to hand this over to you. It's the list of students with their marks in the last English tests."
I smiled. "Thank you. What's your name?"
"Rian. I am the class president."
"Okay, Rian. See you in next class."
I sat on my desk and sighed. How could I get closer to the students? My previous students were notorious and friendly. The new ones felt distant. Maybe because I was new. I shook my thoughts away and took the envelope in hand to tear it up open.
"Ugh!" I flinched my hand away as the paper sliced my finger and a tiny drop of blood oozed out of the fresh wound. What was wrong with me? Seriously? A paper cut?
I wiped the blood with my hanker chief and opened up the envelop. I went through the marks of the students which seemed quite good. Many students were good in English. The wound was stinging as I tried to write. Maybe it was better to put on a band aid.
I looked around the empty staff room and sighed. I peeped outside and found the peon just making his way into a corridor. I asked him for the direction to the medical chamber. It was situated at the ground floor and it was quite easy to find. I entered the spacious chamber and found two nurses gossiping in the corner. one was young and the other one middle aged. They stood up hastily at the sight of me.
"Hi." I smiled. "Can I get a band aid?" I asked politely.
They both looked dazed for a while. "Y-yeah sure." One of them went to grab a band aid from a drawer. I looked around. There were three beds with curtains around them. The doctor's desk was placed at a corner with a huge cupboard at its side.
"Is the doctor not here yet?" I asked.
"Oh, he went to the washroom. He will be back soon. Is anything wrong?"
"Nah, just a paper cut. It stings when I try to write." I smiled.
"Here." The younger nurse handed me the band aid. "Are you new here? Never saw you here before."
"Oh yeah, I am the new English teacher." I smiled.
They both smiled back. "Welcome to the school."
"Thank you." I smiled and walked away.
The rest of the day went quickly. I quickly changed and jumped on the bed, getting comfortable. Kristen had left dinner for me but I was getting lonely. I called Jeremy.
"Yes Mr. Kwan?" He greeted. "How was your first day at work?"
I smiled. "It was fine. What are you doing?"
"Well, just doing some research. I am thinking of becoming a research scholar of political science."
"Ah, that would be nice."
"What are you doing?"
"Just lying down."
"Tired?"
"Yeah, a little."
There was a brief pause. "Should I come over?"
I chuckled. "Don't you have anything to do?"
"Nope. Let's hang out. Should I bring some drinks?"
"Beer for me."
"Sure. On my way. See you soon." He hanged up.
I laughed and shook my head.
He came over in no time with beer and chicken. He seemed to be in a good mood.
"Should we watch a movie? It would be like a movie date." He asked, setting the beer cans and chicken on the table.
I sat next to him on the floor. "I don't have any movies with me now."
He exhaled. "Me neither. Never mind. We can just talk. You say you don't talk much but..." He moved closer to whisper in my ear. "...you talk a lot. A lot."
My ears tingled as his warm breath brushed my skin. I could feel my cheeks burning. I smiled hesitantly. "I am talkative with particular people."
He leaned away and opened a can of beer. "Can I ask you a question?"
"Yeah." I grabbed a can and opened it.
"What would you do if your past lover suddenly stands in front of you and asks you to take him back?"
I choked on the beer.
.....................................................