teacher • kth

17: jokes

"Alright, my lovely girl." Jae said, extending his hand towards me.

"So we're gonna start with the basics. You'll train for 3 hours with a small break in between every hour and a half. We'll train every morning and every night. Morning sessions start at 5:30 and-

"Wait. 5:30?" I repeated, making Jae chuckle softly.

"Don't worry. You'll get used to it. And Taehyung," He jerked his head towards the building I'd just came from.

"Makes a killer coffee." He finished, flashing me a smile.

-

"Jae. I cannot do this." I mumbled, looking up at the huge rock wall.

"You can." He reassured me, pulling my body closer to his as he tightened the ropes on my body, adjusting the rigs and buckles.

"I'm scared. When am I ever going to have to climb up a wall?" I continued to complain.

"It builds upper body strength and strengthens your core. Like I said, we're starting simple." He mumbled, distracted by the equipment.

"There, all done." He smiled up at me.

"All right. We'll start off with the easiest wall." He said, leading me to the wall on the far left side of the facility.

"Uh-uh. I'm not going." I pouted, planting my feet firmly on the ground, giving Jae the scariest, most intimidating glare I could muster.

"Adorable." He said monotonously.

With no other option, I followed Jae to the rock wall, my hands shaking as I did so.

I've never liked heights.

The idea of being so far away from the ground made me feel uneasy.

It gave me a weird feeling in my stomach.

"You got this, Everest. Just breathe." Jae said, hooking my gear up to the ropes connected to the rope wall.

"Whenever you're ready." He said, once he finished.

Stepping back from me, he gave me a thumbs up, smiling widely.

"I'm not gonna let go of this rope. So, just trust me. Trust yourself. It's not as bad as it looks."

I took a deep breath, looking up at the wall before looking back at Jae.

I could do this.

Easy as pie.

-

"How did you fall off the first rock?" Mr. Kim asked, pressing his lips together to prevent himself from bursting out into laughter.

"It's not funny." I sniffled, cradling my bruised knee.

He smiled to himself, shaking his head before sitting down in front of me.

"Let me see." He said, coaxing my knee out of my grasp.

"Gentle." I hissed, pouting as I looked down at him.

"Guess I can't train tomorrow." I mumbled, concealing a smile.

"Well, I know it hurts. But this is no excuse to skip out on training tomorrow." He said, leaning over to grab the frozen bag of peas.

"If I do anything on this knee, I'll die." I said seriously, a grim expression on my face.

"I can assure you, you won't." He replied, sarcasm dripping from his smug voice.

"I'm gonna take a shower. Yell if you need me." He said, before turning around and walking up the stairs.

I stayed silent, poking my knee gently, groaning softly when I poked a little too hard.

A loud knock came from the front door, and I frowned.

I really didn't feel like standing up and physically walking all the way to the door to open it.

Nevertheless, I stood up from my seat slowly, before limping over to the front door and squinting as I looked through the peephole.

Jae stood outside the door, holding up two ice cream cones with a smile.

I smiled widely as I opened the door to let him in.

"I brought a peace offering." He joked, handing me an ice cream cone as he entered.

"I think this is the start of a beautiful friendship." I replied.

-

"My tummy hurts." I whined, approaching the living room couch where my two parents sat, side by side.

"It was you who insisted on eating ice cream for breakfast." My dad said, smiling gently down at me, before standing up and bending over to pick me up.

Resting my tiny body on his hip, he faced his red-faced wife. My short, fat fingers played with my dad's ear as I leaned into his warm embrace.

"And it was you who agreed and fed the child ice cream for breakfast. Isn't that right Joon?" She questioned my dad accusingly, who'd formed a sheepish smile on his face.

A sharp pain continued in my stomach, and I began to tear up, burying my little face into my dad's collarbone, inhaling the smell of his favorite cologne.

"My tummy." I groaned again, bringing the attention of my parents back onto me.

"Hold on, let me check for stomach medicine." My mom sighed, setting down her book on the coffee table and standing up with a sigh.

After rummaging around for a few minutes, she returned with a grim expression on her face.

"We're gonna have to do it old school, Joon." She said, making my dad grimace.

"What that?" I questioned curiously, scrambling away from my father's grasp and climbing down his lanky body.

I waddled towards my mom, who picked me up, patted down my hair and gave me a kiss on my chubby cheek.

"Sweetie, it's 'what's that'. Not 'what that'." She gently corrected, before carrying me into the bathroom. My dad followed close behind.

She sat me down on the bathroom sink and rummaged through the cabinets, before pulling out rubbing alcohol, a needle, and a rubber band. (Traditional Korean remedy for stomach pain; belief that finger pricks will release bad blood and relieve pain)

My dad stabilized my small body onto the sink, so I wouldn't fall off.

"WHAT ARE DOING?" I shrieked, before kicking my dad in the stomach and sprinting away as fast as my little legs would carry me.

"My parents want kill me. They're mad I ate ice cream for breakfast." I thought to myself as I navigated my small body throughout the house, settling in my hiding spot, under my parent's bed.

"I'll get her." I heard my dad say to my mom, and I heard the door open.

Tears filled my eyes, and they ran down my chubby cheeks steadily as I heard my dad sit on the bed.

"Hmmm. I wonder where my little Everest is. She's too big to fit under the bed anymore. And I don't see her anywhere else." He spoke aloud, and my tears stopped momentarily, as I silently celebrated my feat.

"But that's too bad. We were going to take her to the playground, and stop by the store for some candy." He sighed aloud, and my smile quickly dropped, as I began to scramble out from under the bed.

"NO DADA! I WANT PLAYGROUND!" I shrieked, throwing my tiny body onto my dad, tackling him as I began to cry more.

He chuckled, before giving me a hug.

"My little crybaby." He murmured into my hair, making me cry even harder.

"Really Joon?" My mom sighed, entering the bedroom.

I jolted awake from my dream, tears in my eyes.

My parents.

My heart clenched as I let out a sob of sorrow.

I missed them so much.

I missed them so much that it physically hurt my heart.