The Teacher's Bouquet
“Teacher. Is it really you?”
The situation where someone who had disappeared without a single message suddenly reappeared felt utterly unbelievable. Jung Dayeon stared blankly at the teacher, but the CEO standing in front of her suddenly roared in a rough voice.
“What the hell is this?!”
The CEO reflexively whipped his head around after his head was struck by the bouquet. What entered his line of sight was nothing but the opponent’s chest. He lifted his head higher to see the face and immediately showed a look of disgust.
His features were finely sculpted like a masterpiece, his eyes sharp enough to chill the surrounding temperature with a single glance, and his lips neatly pressed together.
A face without the slightest excess—sharp and almost inhuman rather than human—looked down at him with cold eyes.
The towering height that seemed to reach the ceiling and the overwhelming pressure radiating from his firm body made the CEO instinctively shrink back. He knew that rushing forward would be useless against this opponent.
Soon Cha Siheon’s smooth lips parted, and a heavy voice flowed out.
“You have no shame.”
“W-what?”
“Putting a girl who looks like a child on the chair and what kind of nonsense is this?”
The CEO bit his lip hard at the words. The people who had been glancing at him sideways since earlier now stared at Siheon with openly disgusted eyes. The CEO, whose nerves were already frayed, tried to defend himself.
“Shut up! Even if it looks like this, she’s an adult, an adult.”
“Already showing signs of old age?”
“W-what?”
The CEO, whose eyes had been dim lately, was visibly shaken.
“T-that…”
“Can’t you see that the clothes the kid is wearing is a school uniform?”
The CEO, who had been stumbling over his words, suddenly exploded.
“What do you have to do with this?!”
He jabbed Siheon’s chest with his finger as a warning. It was nothing more than bravado meant to be treated as a pervert.
“Are you her family or something?”
“Me?”
Despite the fierce poke, the man remained unmoved like a rock. Cha Siheon quickly grabbed the CEO’s hand.
“I’m her teacher.”
“T-teacher?”
Looking straight into the CEO’s shocked eyes, Siheon spoke with brazen confidence.
“Teachers have the duty to protect students. Or something like that.”
He flung the CEO’s hand away as if he had touched something filthy, then wiped it with the napkin on the table. Next, he extended his hand to the standing Dayeon.
“Let’s go.”
“Huh? Ah… yes!”
She answered without thinking and quickly grabbed Siheon’s hand.
“Don’t stand there!”
Cha Siheon’s rough curses trailed after them as Dayeon followed him out of the cafe.
However, Dayeon didn’t look back. In her eyes, there was only the teacher’s back as he led her away.
The two of them walked aimlessly for a long time after leaving the cafe. When they were far enough that the cafe was no longer visible, Siheon finally stopped and turned around.
“Long time no see. Peanut… hey, are you crying?”
But what he found was Dayeon sniffling with tears in her eyes.
“I… ugh. I’m not Peanut. Sniff. My height too—I was five centimeters taller.”
She had been holding back, but the tears that had filled her eyes eventually spilled down her cheeks. Dayeon sniffled and wiped them with her sleeve.
Cha Siheon, who had suddenly become the man who made a woman cry on the street, showed a rare expression of embarrassment.
He kept glancing at the passersby, wondering what was happening.
“Don’t cry. I don’t know what to do because you’re crying.”
Instead of calming her, the soothing voice only made her sobs grow louder.
Dayeon threw herself at Siheon with all her strength. A refreshing, clear scent filled his lungs. It was the familiar teacher’s scent.
“Teacher! I missed you so much.”
Siheon couldn’t push away the small body clinging to him or pull her into a hug. Helpless, his hands that had been floating in the air finally settled on her shoulders.
The teacher’s hand was large enough to cover her entire shoulder and warm enough to melt her heart. Under the gentle patting, Dayeon poured out her sorrowful tears without restraint.
The disappointment in her father and the fear that still bound her felt bearable for that moment.
Because the teacher was here, right in front of her.
* * *
“Are you calmed down now?”
Dayeon wiped her face alternately with the back of her hand and palm. Her eyes were red from how much she had cried.
“Where have you been all this time? Did you see the messages I sent?”
For the past two years, Dayeon had sent messages every single day without missing a single one.
There were no read receipts or replies, but she still sent them every day.
Even that morning, before graduation, she had left a message saying, “I want to be congratulated by the teacher.”
“I saw them. That’s why I came.”
Siheon smiled awkwardly and handed over the remnants of the bouquet he had swung at the CEO. A few remaining petals fell unattractively.
“Did you buy this bouquet for me?”
“Yeah. Even though you’re the only student, I thought I should give you a graduation greeting.”
He was the college student he had met through the welfare center when Dayeon was in her first year of high school, right after her mother passed away and her father’s business collapsed one after another.
Among the week he met her, it was the only time that felt like breathing in the hellish days.
“Teacher, I… even while you weren’t there, I studied hard and entered medical school.”
She wanted to tell him first when he returned.
To say that, Dayeon had sat in front of the desk for the past two years, not knowing her body was breaking.
“I’m amazing, right?”
“Yeah. So it is.”
“It’s all thanks to you, Teacher.”
A quiet, trembling voice found the credit for Siheon. The small effort he had abandoned years ago.
Pride and guilt came at the same time. Holding back the impulse to pat her head, he answered in a deliberately rough tone.
“Why is that my fault? You did it by working hard.”
“No. If you hadn’t held me back that day, I would have already given up.”
There was no exaggeration in that word.
The single phrase “you can do it” he gave her had kept her going.
“What about you? How have you been all this time? Why didn’t you contact me even once?”
Dayeon swallowed the words “I missed you” and looked at him with eyes mixed with resentment and joy.
“Um… studying abroad?”
“Studying abroad?”
There was a slight hesitation before answering, but Dayeon didn’t notice.
“Yeah. I did various things. Traveled and worked at a company.”
“Company? Ah, so… the clothes.”
Dayeon’s gaze turned to Siheon’s attire. Now that she looked, she realized he looked quite different from two years ago.
Unlike the time when he wore a hoodie and jeans as basic attire, today he was dressed in a perfectly fitted suit. The hairstyle with hair swept back to show his forehead and the slightly sharper jawline gave off a much more mature and cool atmosphere than before.
Even back then, the teacher had been handsome enough to be compared to an actor, but the working adult Siheon seemed far cooler than he had been then.
Dayeon said with a face that couldn’t hide her regret.
“Congratulations on your job. I didn’t prepare anything. You even brought a bouquet.”
“This is what it is.”
Siheon laughed and shook the remaining stem in his hand.
“It’s a shame. I wanted the bouquet.”
Dayeon murmured softly.
Today was the last day of school, but no one gave her even one flower.
The fact that her only bouquet had become like this was deeply regrettable.
Siheon watched Dayeon for a moment, then stood up from his seat.
“Let’s go.”
“Huh? Where?”
“You said you wanted the bouquet.”
Siheon smoothly lifted the corner of his mouth and said.
“Then let’s go buy it.”
The sunlight streaming through the window spread like a halo above his head.
Every time he smiled, his eyes dazzled.
For a moment, the long absence vanished without a trace.
Dayeon’s heart filled again with the teacher.
Like that time when she had breathed all day thinking of the teacher.
“What to do. I really… like the teacher too much.”
The moment she held the hand he offered, her heart thumped. The CEO who had scared her and her father were forgotten.
Even if she tried to calm down, that heartbeat refused to stop from traveling through her entire body.