For You

Chapter 29

Afternoon, before after school classes started.

"Excuse me, are you Ms Han Youra?" asked a voice behind Youra as she was preparing for the class at her desk.

Youra turned and saw a woman in her early 40s looking quite angry.

"Yes, I am Han Youra. How may I help you?" asked Youra politely. She had no idea who the woman was nor why she was angry at her.

Suddenly, the woman slapped Youra hard and all hell broke loose. Some of Youra's colleagues saw what happened and tried to stop the woman. Youra could see stars from the slap that she got.

"You should stop telling my daughter rubbish! She is going to be a doctor, just like her father and grandfather!" the woman yelled at her furiously. "Now all she does at home was drawing, wasting her time doing scribbles! She should be studying to get to the best high school, not drawing! You led her on!"

"Are you Min Minji's mother?" Youra asked, trying not to hold on to her stinging cheek.

"Of course I am! Who the hell do you think I am?" Minji's mom screamed again.

Youra was about to say something when the Vice Principal, Madam Yoo came barreling into the staffroom and the crowd. Another crowd was forming outside of the staffroom, due to Minji's mom's voice. Youra saw Minji at the door looking horrified.

"Madam Min, what a pleasant surprise," said Madam Yoo, the vice principal, trying to diffuse the situation. Not long after, Mr Goo the principal went in and told the students outside the room to disperse,

"You should tell your staff here not to poison the children's mind," spat Madam Min. "She's just a paid civil servant who should teach what she was supposed to teach," she continued degradingly.

Youra saw red. So did her colleagues. Other teachers in the staffroom started to object to what Madam Min said when Mr Goo hurriedly brought Madam Min to his office. Other teachers went back to their desks and a few stayed around Youra.

"Just a paid civil servant?!" Mr Nam's eyes bulged. "Is that what teachers are now? Paid civil servants?"

"What was she thinking? Youra, what did you do?" asked Madam Noh as she put a cold pack which she took from the staffroom refrigerator on Youra's cheek.

"I honestly have no idea. Minji is a gifted student. You know how good she is with her drawings," said Youra, still in daze.

"She is gifted. At that age, she could manipulate the lines and forms really well. That takes pure talent and she has plenty," agreed Mr Cha, the art teacher.

"If that is any indication, you should be slapped too Cha. You both led her on from being a doctor," joked Mr Nam.

"Nah, I don't think so. I am tall, Youra here is not. She's short, and Madam Min is shorter," Mr Cha joked back. At 6' 2", he towers everyone in the staffroom.

"Excuse me?" asked Youra, her eyes went to slits. "I am not that short," she protested.

"For God's sake, Minji is still a middle school student. She still has to go to high school to before anything is set," said Madam Noh.

"You know some parents like to have an early start. Some even started from kindergarten," said Mr Nam.

"I just hope she is okay. She looked miserable just now," Youra sighed, remembering Minji's face by the door.

"I hope she is too," joined in Madam Noh. "She's a good girl."

"Hey, it's time for class. Let's get going," said Mr Nam alerting everyone there.

Youra flexed her jaw. She can't plaster the ice pack the whole time she was teaching. Her cheek was going to bruise and she knew it.

And she had a Skype date with Jin that night.

Darn.