ENTIRELY HIS (K.th ff)

The learner

Brian let go of my hands, "Please go and get ready, I'll wait for you outside in the car." I nodded my head as we both stood up. He made his way to the door before he stopped dead in his tracks. He turned to face me, he couldn't even stand, he was laughing so hard. I just stood there watching him, confused as hell. My eyes travelled to where he was pointing. A black converse pair, my shoes. What was so funny?
"What's your shoe size fam?" He asked in between laughter.
"Ummm 3," I answered honestly.
"I thought maybe you had a kid,"
"Hahaha! Funny," I said sarcastically. He raised his hands insurrender laughing as he left my apartment. I hurriedly went over and picked up my shoes smiling to myself, I was not going to tell him that they were actually a size bigger.

I got ready for work and grabbed an apple from the fridge and took a lift to the ground floor. I got into the passenger side and fastened my seatbelt. We got to know each other more, he was 28, about to get married, he liked to go skinny dipping, bungee jumping, scuba diving and camping. All of which I, being black, was not a fan of. He was a proud adrenaline junkie in the making.

I on the other hand was just Melanie Reed, 23, a nurse, loved being alone. Read a lot, slept a lot too. Me being wild was taking a walk in the park at sunset. Go ahead and call me chicken. I won't even deny it. We got to work, went separate ways as the day kicked off. I loved my work, it was the only place I felt a sense of belonging, in control and brave. I went about my day as usual only today, I had a friend who I constantly bumped into in the corridors and would stop for a word or two.

I checked out earlier since I had taken a day shift. Brian was working a double shift, he had a brain surgery to conduct. I, on the other hand, was not as busy. I went home first and soon as I got there, my phone's vibrates in my pocket. I fished it out and saw an email from Brian with the details he had promised. I read through the file, the learner's name was Kim Taehyung. I immediately guessed he was from Korea. 

I took a shower, changed into a baggy t-shirt and sweat pants. I sat on my study desk with a plate of chips and a can of soda right by my side. I Skyped the learner and the call connected pretty fine. I dropped a chip waiting for connection and bent down to pick it from the maple wood. I totally forgot about the desk bumping my head into it on my way back up.

"Oouu," I whined in pain rubbing the back of my head slowly. I looked at the chip in my hand and put it in my mouth chewing furiously. I was interrupted by someone clearing their throat. Who was that? I looked around then suddenly remembered I was on a Skype call. I mentally punched myself as I looked at the screen. What my eyes met with as beyond my expectation. The Kim Taehyung in question was so cute, his hair ruffled in messy curly blonde afro.

I cleared my throat nervously smiling at him. My own hair fell at the sides of my face, it wasn't bad, but I just started feeling defeated.
"Hello," I waved. The whole time, he was watching me being clumsy and stupid. He waved back smiling. He had a box smile that made his cheek bones protrude outwardly. He seemed unreal to me.

Melanie focus! I told myself just as he finished waving, still smiling.
"I'm Melanie Reed, but you can call me Mel for short" I introduced myself.
"I'm Kim Taehyung. Tae will do just fine," he said smiling.
"So how do we go about the time table? This whole week I'm on day shift so we'll have our lesson at 7 pm sharp. Next week when I start my night shift we'll have our lesson at 7 am sharp," I explained sounding so professional startling myself too.
"Sounds good to me," he said. We talked about a bunch of books I recommended him to read since he wanted to learn written English the most.
"How much?" He suddenly asked.
"Huh?" I asked confused.
"The lesson? It's not for free us it?"
"No, sorry. $20 per week," I smiled nervously thinking I had overcharged him.
"Okay $100 sounds fine,"
"That's too much money, trust me $20 is my price,"
"I insist,"
"I can't I'm sorry. I don't take stuff from strangers,"
"Okay as you wish," and that's how I lost $80 extra by being a complete angel.

How I badly wanted to slap myself at that moment.