Author's Notes: After more than a week of a sudden, deep, and unexplainable depression, I thank the Lord for giving me the power to write again. I was so sad I couldn't even watch TV. I simply stared at nothing as the time went by slowly. Now that I think of it, how retarded is that? I didn't know what caused it, but if I were to spend everyday of my life like that, I think I'd die. Lonely and alone. It was complete, horrible, murderous torture. This episode builds up the drama a bit. Or so I think. Here's episode nine.
Episode 8
A Three Sided Polygon
The second day of school, March 3, 7:21 AM
Steam escaped from the bathroom as the door slid open. Natalie came out, her hair already shampooed, dried and fixed. She always wore the same hairstyle - her brown locks were curled in progression, side-swept to the left, and her fringes dangled around eye level. As she checked her hair in front of the mirror, she found her clothes spread on the bed, which was already made-up for her. She looked around for her classmate. Leon was missing; he had left to provide her with some needed privacy. Natalie proceeded with putting on her uniform, complete with her signature black and white checkered high-heeled shoes and black knee-length leggings. She slung her small bag across her shoulder as she headed toward the door. She turned the knob and stepped out of her room.
"What took you so long?"
Natalie jumped. Leon was waiting outside, leaning on the wall beside her door.
"Let's go," he stated flatly in his usual deep tone, grabbing her hand before he made an advanced toward the elevator.
"W-What about breakfast?" she asked as she stumbled about. When she realized that they were holding hands, she decided that breakfast could wait.
He answered anyway. "We don't have time for that."
Leon shoved Natalie inside the elevator and pressed the button with the letter 'G'. They ran to the school building in a hurry. Natalie and Leon sat down on their respective seats. The teacher had not arrived yet but Mi-Young and Yun-Hee were already there waiting for them. Yun-Hee approached Natalie and laid a hand on her shoulder.
"Are you alright?"
"Jaljinaeyo," Natalie muttered. "I'm fine."
"I'm really sorry about last night," Yun-Hee apologized remorsefully. "If I had been more careful, you wouldn't have-"
"I'm fine," Natalie repeated, shaking her head.
Yun-Hee went back to her chair with a seed of uncertain guilt. The bell rang and Sir Taiga came inside the classroom on cue, greeting them good morning as he made his way to the center. "Annyeong hashimnikka." He nodded at them and arranged his folders on the teacher's table. "Today is the start of your first lesson."
Natalie snapped her head up. Yun-Hee questioned, "Today?"
"What I taught you yesterday was only a refresher of everything you have studied during middle school. Now, sit straight!"
The slouching students jolted up their seats.
"Your first lesson is about Math," he said, eyeing them one by one. "The national exam will be a multiple choice type of test. One question, four choices. In the course of this program, I will teach you the various techniques to perfect the exam."
Yun-Hee had doubts. "Perfect the exam? That's impossible."
"If you're going to give up now, might as well get out of this room."
Yun-Hee regretted her words and just listened.
"You will be time-pressured when taking the test. All of you need to expect that, especially you, Leon."
The three girls nodded. Leon crossed his arms defensively. His teacher didn't need to point out his weakness to him, he thought in all sullenness.
"First, I have a question for you. If you know the answer but you're not sure, what do you do?" Sir Taiga glared at Natalie, which was his way of calling a student to answer.
"I...would...solve again?"
PACK!
Everyone winced. "Wrong!" Sir Taiga struck the board with his stick. "You are wasting time if you do that."
"Are you saying that we should guess?" Mi-Young inquired, eyebrow raised arrogantly.
"Did I say that?"
"No, but-"
"Then, no. Most of the time, your first answer is the right one. Trust your instincts. Doubting will only lessen your time for answering. Understood?" He had his eyes at Yun-Hee. She nodded and acknowledged what Sir Taiga was trying to point out to her.
"Yes sir."
"Louder!"
"YES SIR!"
Sir Taiga paced from left to right as he weighed the stick in his right hand. "The key to achieve a high score in the Math portion is speed and mastery." He stopped and turned. "Yun-Hee."
"Y-Yes?"
"One plus one."
"T-Two."
"That is mastery. You should have that kind of speed when taking the test. You no longer think of it. The answer comes out automatically." He walked to the right. "Let's first tackle fraction and decimal techniques." He turned. "Leon."
Leon glanced up at his teacher.
"What is 0.04 in fraction form?"
"..."
Five seconds passed.
"1/25."
Sir Taiga shook his head. "You wasted five seconds of my life."
Leon glared at him. The teacher took it as a compliment since he smirked at his student in return. "What you do is look for the number that you need to multiply to the decimal to make it one."
"What?" Natalie requested Taiga to repeat his words.
"What do you multiply 0.04 by to get one?"
"Twenty-five?"
"Right. So the answer is 1/25. That simple. Now, fraction form of 0.125."
Natalie bit her lip. "One over...eight."
"Note the time difference. Five seconds and one second."
The students nodded and took notes on the technique. It would come in handy in the national exams.
"Now that you know how to do that, you'll have no trouble dealing with numbers and small decimals. Example, 4 multiplied by 0.125. Instead of multiplying those two, change 0.125 into a fraction, which is 1/8. Multiply that by 4, simplify, and you get 1/2 which is also the same as 0.5. Easy, right?"
The four nodded again, though it was easier to multiply the two numbers without converting.
"Solve this as fast as you can. 0.08 multiplied by 0.125."
"One over one-hundred," Mi-Young answered before a second could pass.
"Good. Memorize the pairs of numbers that when multiplied with each other is equal to a hundred. Five a day."
Yun-Hee scratched the side of her head with a finger. "Five a day?"
"You want ten a day?"
"Never mind."
"Remember, speed and mastery."
After an hour of answering exercises, the three students at the back were already brain-dead. Mi-Young was handling the decimals and fractions like they were single-digit numbers.
"Four-fifths minus three-tenths is..."
Yun-Hee glanced at Natalie and started an eye-conversation.
"Can you still keep up?" Yun-Hee asked, glancing at their teacher.
"I guess so..." Natalie replied with a shrug.
Yun-Hee dropped her shoulders and sighed. "All I hear is 'bla bla bla'."
Sir Taiga noticed that the students were having mixed reactions. Two of them were staring at each other as if they were having a conversation through eye contact. One of two students looked outside the window afterwards while the other played with her pencil and paid no attention. The last two were listening, but they seemed to be bored.
Sir Taiga dropped his chalk and padded to the door, throwing it open. "Everyone, out!"
The students blinked at him. Now he had their attention.
"Out!"
They got out of their chairs and hurried out of the classroom. Sir Taiga brought them to the baseball field located at the western area of the campus. Grumbling, the students lined up before him. The temperature outside was an outstanding five degrees Celsius. The females were shivering due to their lack of proper clothing and longer skirts. The three girls looked at the only male of the class, their eyes filled with desire. Leon shrugged their gazes off. He only had one coat to offer and he didn't want to pick between the three of them.
"Since the normal way of teaching isn't serving as a good means of educating you, you will have to take this instead. As I said, the keys to answering Math problems are-"
"Speed and mastery," they all filled in.
"What are we going to do?" Yun-Hee asked impatiently.
"I'll pitch, you'll swing."
"I thought this was Mathematics," Mi-Young said matter-of-factly, folding her arms over her chest.
"Let me finish first. Listen, the bat will be on the ground-"
Yun-Hee interrupted. "How can we-"
"I said LISTEN first!"
Yun-Hee cringed and closed her mouth.
"The bat will be on the ground. I will give you a question and then throw the ball. You may only pick up the bat after you have answered. Clear?"
"Yes sir," they all said, forgetting the questions they still had in mind.
Sir Taiga threw Leon a look that gave him the idea that he was the first to try the unusual task. So, the male student walked to the first base. Leon took a deep breath and got ready. Sir Taiga shouted, "5 divided by 0.025!" He immediately pressed the button on the auto-pitching machine. The ball flew at Leon.
The three female students winced involuntarily as the baseball hit Leon's mid-section, the impact harder than they had expected. Leon couldn't think of the answer fast enough and paid the consequences. Worried, Natalie bit her lip, knowing full well that the ball struck Leon's wound. Using the bat to lever himself to his feet, Leon glared at Sir Taiga, challenging him.
The teacher inserted a ball inside the machine. "600 multiplied by 0.8!" He pressed the button. A ball rocketed forward.
"Four hundred eighty!" Leon picked the bat from the brown soil, stepped back and hit the ball, unbelievably sending it into a home run. His classmates applauded and cheered as he walked back to them.
Natalie shot him an anxious gaze and glanced at the area where the ball had afflicted him with a worse wound. "Are you okay?"
He nodded though his solid, solemn mask was cracked by pain.
Sir Taiga inserted a ball into the machine. "Next."
Both Yun-Hee and Natalie stepped forward. They looked at each other for a moment, judging who should be the better one to redeem Leon. Their staring had a one twentieth of a minute's duration.
"0.165 multiplied by 6!"
Startled, the two females turned their heads. The clever valedictorian had sneaked past Yun-Hee and Natalie while they were distracted.
"One."
Mi-Young threw the bat into the air with a lift from her foot. She grabbed it with one hand and spun around, swatting the ball with an elegant follow-through, her hip tilted on one side. She pushed her eyeglasses against the bridge of her nose and flicked her hair. Boys would swoon, yes, swoon, or froth, whichever you prefer, over seeing her do that.
"What do you think of that?" Mi-Young asked Leon's opinion as she walked to his side, sending a toying smile to him.
"You did great," Leon replied.
Yun-Hee's eye twitched. "Did Leon just flirt back to the flirt with a flirt?"
"Setting aside that your answer was shorter than mine, giving you ample time to get the bat and show off, that is."
Yun-Hee and Natalie smirked and stifled their laugher while Mi-Young's smile fell off her face.
"Hmph," she huffed, glaring at Leon. Proud of his remark, Leon, too, smirked. He approached Natalie and gave her a motivational push in the back. She glanced at him behind her shoulder and reluctantly went to the first base. Leon slightly crouched in a ready position after catching Sir Taiga's addressing eye contact.
"20/25, decimal form!" The button was pressed.
It all happened in a single blink. Natalie snapped her eyes shut as her mind failed to come up with an answer.
"0.8!" Someone else answered the question for her. Leon sprinted towards her and dove for the base, protecting her knees from getting hit by the fast projectile. She slowly opened her eyes to a peek and saw Leon kneeling in front of her.
"Again."
Leon stepped back. Sir Taiga shouted, "10/80, decimal form!"
"0.125!" Natalie swung the bat when the time was right.
The ball went straight to Sir Taiga's crotch. Straight. Into. His. Crotch.
Natalie slapped a hand on her mouth. "Sorry!"
Yun-Hee gasped. "Uh oh."
Mi-Young had an amused expression. "Home run."
Leon's left leg twitched.
Ball against balls. Sir Taiga continued on, as if he had felt nothing. "Next!" Knowing it was her turn, Yun-Hee marched to the assigned place. She couldn't focus well thanks to certain thoughts about balls. Baseballs. Basketballs. Volleyballs. All sorts of balls.
"0.125 multiplied by 6!"
"0.75!" The ball was too quick for her to bring up the bat and swing at it.
Finally, everyone was done; the students exhaled loudly in relief and started walking back to their classroom, alleviated of the torture.
"Where are you going?" Sir Taiga shouted. "Ten more rounds!"
The four whined. "Ten more?" Natalie frowned at the number. She started hating the number ten there onward.
"No complaining. The more you do, the less time your lunch break will have."
"Do you want to freeze to death?" Yun-Hee answered back.
Sir Taiga took off his coat and tossed it to her. Yun-Hee grumbled and put it on. Mi-Young and Natalie glanced at Leon, their eyes focused on his coat. He avoided their eyes and distanced himself from them. "My coat."
The students did another round, until it was Natalie's turn again.
A question. A button. A ball.
Another home run. Straight into Sir Taiga's crotch.
BRACK.
Leon was actually sure he heard that. It wasn't his imagination like last time. Now, Sir Taiga writhed on the ground in pain. The four stared, not knowing what to do.
"Er...let's just pretend that didn't happen..." Yun-Hee whistled to her classmates. They left the hopefully-not-sterile-after-this-incident teacher and went to the cafeteria for some lunch.
Later at the canteen, Yun-Hee tottered to her seat, fanning herself with a thin notebook. It was cold but their sweating made their body temperature rise tenfold. She threw her arms across the table and let her head fall by its own accord. "I think we're going to fail."
Natalie sat opposite to her and sighed tiredly before asking, "Why?"
Yun-Hee fixed her posture and continued fanning herself. "With all these extracurricular activities, we'll be long dead even before the exams. And I think we took away Sir Taiga's chances of having a family."
Natalie chuckled. Her eyes flickered to Leon, who was sitting far away from them. He occupied a table for six, sharing it with no one but himself. He wasn't eating either; he was just staring at the table, locked deep in thought. This she could deduce from his creased, wrinkled eyebrows. She was learning how to read him bit by bit and she was doing pretty well.
"Excuse me," Natalie uttered, grabbing her lunch box and quickly heading towards the lone male. Yun-Hee turned around in her chair and tried to find out where Natalie was going.
Natalie walked to Leon's table and observed him.
"May I?" Her deep yet clear voice pulled Leon back to reality. He shot his head up and looked at the disturbance with a glare. He had not noticed her come near.
Natalie, standing adjacent to him, raised her eyebrows. "May I?" She gestured to the chair.
After registering her question, Leon nodded and went back to his secluded world of solitude.
Natalie took the seat nearest to him. "Aren't you going to eat?"
"No."
"Why?"
He replied with silence.
"Leon?" She leaned forward and slightly tilted her head to the side, placing her head directly in his line of sight. "Leon?"
"What?" he snarled. Natalie jumped back to her seat, intimidated. He immediately regretted his outburst after seeing her pitiful, sulky pout. His expression quickly went back to normal.
"You're so emo," she muttered under her breath.
Leon felt a nerve pop out on his forehead. "What did you say?"
"Nothing." She smiled at him. He scowled. "...Aren't you going to eat?" she asked again.
"I've already answered that."
"Why not then?"
Leon sighed heavily and gave her a glare. "I don't have the money to buy food."
She blinked at him, choosing whether to believe him or laugh at his joke. He blinked idly back. He was tired and lacking sleep. Two and a half hours of rest was not enough after five hours of taking care of a sick girl during the wee hours of the day.
"You don't have money?"
"I don't."
"Don't your parents give you any?"
"No."
"How do you survive?"
"Being a lieutenant."
"They give you salary?"
"Yes."
"Do you pay for things by yourself?"
"I do."
"How about your tuition fee? You also paid for that?"
"I did."
"Why are you here if you're not going to have lunch?"
"You ask too many questions."
"I'm curious."
"Curious?"
"Interested."
"In what?"
"In you."
Leon turned his head fully at her direction. "What?"
Natalie breathed a soft sound of weariness. She unpacked her lunch box and positioned it in front of him. "If you don't take care of yourself, you'll get sick." She had her head tilted upwards and her eyebrow cocked with mocking confidence.
Leon pushed the trays of food away from him. "No, thank you."
"Eat." She pushed it back. She stuck her lower lip out in a cute pout, tempting him. Nevertheless, he schooled his expression.
"I said no." The plastic containers were stacked and returned.
"Eat."
"No."
"Eat."
"No."
"Eat."
"No."
"Eat?"
"...No."
"Please?"
Leon sighed.
A grin forced itself unto Natalie's lips. "Just one bite." She opened the lid, scooped a clump of rice using her silver spoon and leaned forward, raising it in front of Leon's mouth. "Say 'Aaahhh'..."
Her antics collected the attention of the students inside the spacious canteen. Many people from far and near were looking at them, making him feel utterly uncomfortable. If he was not mistaken, he saw some girls standing up from their seats. Not from curiosity, but from something else. Anger. Jealousy.
"Aaahhh," she demonstrated, opening her mouth. Leon opened his mouth a fraction of an inch.
"Bigger," she said. Leon closed his mouth and glared at the girl. Giggling, Natalie reached out for his jaw, opened it and gave him a spoonful.
"Isn't it good?"
After chewing, he struggled to force the food down his throat. "It tastes awful."
She pouted again. Her cheeks were puffed out, tickling his senses to pinch them. Unable to think of a rebuking statement, she just went with sticking her tongue out at him in all her childish glory.
Leon gave in to her endearing charm and smirked. "It's good."
Natalie smiled. Repeating the steps, she held another spoonful of Korea's staple food in front of him. Leon snatched the spoon from her hand and fed himself. Fortunately, the students went back to their usual chatting afterwards.
When lunch time was done, Leon accompanied Natalie back to her room.
"Bye," she said plainly with one last smile, her face returning to its customary dull and gloomy state. Leon nodded and waited for her to close the door. Hearing the door click close, he spun on his heel and walked past one door to the left.
"Finally. Sleep."
Someone tapped him on the back right before he could turn the knob of the door to his own room.
"God. Why?" He mentally sighed. His body was becoming heavy, so as his eyelids. He needed to rest.
"Can I talk to you for a second?" Yun-Hee requested.
Leon rubbed his temples to clear out his headache. "About what?"
Yun-Hee motioned to the elevator. He swiftly followed her up to the rooftop of the twenty-floor building. They stayed on the corner of the empty plane. They leaned forward on the railings as if reaching for the distant sky.
"I really don't want to talk about this," she began, shifting uncomfortably.
"You've brought me here already, and now you're telling me you don't want to talk about it?" Leon was already cranky. Yun-Hee just smiled at his state of being out-of-character. The smile faded away and was replaced with a serious look.
Yun-Hee drew her wind-blown hair behind her ear with the use of her fingers. "Don't you think you're letting her too close?"
"Who-"
"First, you lost your lieutenant position because of her. Where will you get money now?"
"I-"
"Second, you let her sit with you on your table. We've been friends for...what? Nine years? And you've never even let me come within a few feet of your table. You met her just a few days ago and you allow her to sit with you just like that? You even let her spoon-feed you, for crying out loud!"
"She was-"
"Tell me, am I just overreacting? Over-thinking? Over-caring? Or is what I'm thinking really happening? Tell me, Leon, 'cause I don't know what to think anymore," she finished her rant short of breath. She felt odd, ashamed, and angry all at the same time.
Leon poked her forehead.
She flailed her arms wildly. "What was that for?"
He smirked. "...You're jealous?"
"This is not a good time to be joking around. Be serious."
"Do these eyes not tell you I'm serious?"
One glance at his eyes sent a wave of nervousness crashing over her. His glare was piercing her, looking right into her very soul. Honesty spilled itself out.
"I'm...not jealous. I'm just worried."
Leon arched a brow. "Worried."
"Fine. Geez. I'm jealous."
He smirked again. Yun-Hee gave him a sulky glare. Then, she continued, "I know I'm not supposed to make assumptions and even bring a conversation like this up but I can't let this pass. You seem to be so at ease with her." Her eyes trailed off to the sky. The brief pause gave Leon time to think.
"I've never seen you smile like that before. You're acting too friendly to her. What ever happened to the old Leon who didn't even care if a two year-old was abandoned on the street on a rainy-"
"Do not mix the past with the present," he hissed, spiteful of the memory of that rainy day. "I have changed after all those years."
Yun-Hee sighed, seeing no point in pursuing with the foolish topic. "Never mind. I'm sorry about this. I was just-"
"I know," he said sternly, giving her an understanding pat on the shoulder.
Yun-Hee inhaled slowly then let all the air out in a loud sigh. She entered the elevator with him. As the lift carried them ten floors down, she savored every single moment being close to him. Something inside her knew it was the last chance she would ever have.