° tied to you - haechan

° chapter twenty two

I like New Year's, I like Mondays, I like firsts of the month
Notebook paper, wet cement, the moment's never been touched
I like knowing that there's something that I haven't messed up
'Cause I will, and I do, and I'm supposed to

[09:34]

"Dohee! Welcome."

Teacher Nam invited her in, a little too cheery for her liking. She couldn't really look up at him, her eyes steady on the ground as she made her way to the desk at the front of the classroom, half answering the series of questions Teacher Nam was asking. With every word that left his mouth, a cohesive ramble, she just knew this was going to be much harder than it needed to be. She was too busy battling her nerves, only picking up on two of the thousand questions he happened to ask in the time she had taken five steps. It was really a series of light questions, 'How was your morning?', 'Did you get to school on time?'. All she could hear was the drumming of her heart in her ears, quite loud, drowning almost everything out. One on one meetings weren't really her thing, not to mention, this time, they happened to catch her in a moment of academic weakness. She watched as Teacher Nam searched for something on his computer, sitting back on her seat, getting comfortable, coming to terms with the fact that this was really going to happen. One leg over the other, her hands placed somewhat elegantly on her knees.

"Right, we have lots to discuss."
great.

Dohee didn't say anything in response, letting Teacher Nam take the lead on this conversation. The elegance had also slightly left her body the second it fully settled in that she was supposed to sit here and discuss major decisions. It was an odd time to have the compulsory tutor meeting and it was senior year, she couldn't really imagine it being topics she actually wanted to think about.
University, future plans, careers, grades, exams- no.

"Did you attend the assembly?" he asked, a finger running along the spines of a stack of paper files, presumably looking for hers, "Well, the first part of it anyway."

"Yeah, I've come straight from there."

It was a half truth, twisting the truth and following through with it was the only thing that she happened to be good at. Not that anyone had actually noticed. Speaking of assembly, she had actually attended, she got her name ticked off the list and in order to avoided unnecessary attention and embarrassment, she left the hall before 9am. Knowing the teachers of Sehwa High, if you looked like a good enough student, they wouldn't exactly go out of their way to see whether their students were telling the truth which is exactly how Dohee had managed to leave the hall half an hour before she actually needed to.

"What are we thinking about it?"
"About what"
"About the project?"
"I think it's highly unnecessary, in terms of stress for the kids."
She had no idea what she was talking about.
"Yes but they are necessary skills. These social and professional skills are actually going to help you."
"Okay, Sir, if you say so."
"Did they get to the topics whilst you were there?"
"No."
"I think you'll enjoy it," he looked up from his papers momentarily, "I've seen you do well in that area of topic."
"I don't think my main concern is the topics, Sir."
"Then?"
"I don't know, it all seems a little unnecessary. If you wanted us to learn social skills then mix the classes up a bit. Professional skills- you could have easily added a few more presentations and stuff to our school's curriculum."
"You raise a good point, Dohee, which is exactly why I think you'll do really well in this task. Just put your ideas out there and all will be fine."
Dohee's face held half of a sour expression, "Once you find the emails and my file, you'll find that one of the complaints you have is my lack of class participation."
Teacher Nam looked up from whatever it was he was looking down at, "Oh, you're cheeky. You're also right."