"A secret's worth depends on the people from whom it must be kept."

about 3 years back

"You know what!? I am definitely not interested in tennis! I hate it there" Lisa shouted at the top of her lungs. "Lalisa Manoban! You are not quitting the tennis team! You need to stay in the team if you wanna live in my house," her mom shouted back and left the living room. Lisa massaged her forehead and then grabbed her bag and left her house for some air.

Through the trees, she could just make out the spire that belonged to the chapel at Yonsei University. On Yonsei's main street there was a bar, Bizzare. She sat up straighter and checked her watch. Two-thirty. It might be open. She could go have a beer or two and find her own fun.

Where many bars smelled like a freshly brewed lager, old wood, and French cigarettes, Bizzare smelled like a mixture of dead bodies, festering hot dogs, and sweat. And Bizzare, like everything else in Seoul, carried memories. This place was one of her favorites: One Friday night, Somi had dared Lisa to go into Bizzare and order a screaming orgasm. Lisa had waited in line behind a bunch of preppie college boys, and when the bouncer at the door wouldn't let her in, she cried, "But my screaming orgasm is in there!" Then she realized what she'd said and fled back to her friends, who were crouching behind a car in the parking lot. They all laughed so hard they got the hiccups.

"Amstel," she said to the bartender after crossing through the glass-paneled front doors-apparently there was no need for bouncers at two-thirty on a Saturday. The bartender looked at her questioningly but then set a pint in front of her and turned away. Lisa took a big sip. It tasted bland and watery. She spits it back into the glass.

"You all right there?"

Lisa turned. Three stools down was a guy with messy, blondish hair and ice-green, husky eyes. He was nursing something in a little tumbler.

Lisa frowned. "Yeah, I forgot how the beer tastes here. I've been in Thailand for three months. Beer's better there."

"Thailand?" The guy smiled. He had a very cute smile. "Where?"

Lisa smiled back. "Thailand is my home country, Bangkok exactly"

His eyes brightened. "I once spent a few nights in Bangkok on my way to Koh Samui. There was this huge, awesome party"

Lisa cupped her hands around her pint glass. "Yeah," she said, smiling, "they have the best parties there, especially the beach ones."

She looked at his glass. "What are you drinking?"

"Scotch," he said, already signaling to the bartender. "Want one?"

She nodded. The guy moved three stools down next to her. He had nice hands with long fingers and slightly ragged fingernails. He wore a small button on his corduroy jacket.

"So you live in Korea for studying?" He smiled again.

"Well, yes but not just for that," Lisa said. The bartender set the Scotch down in front of her. She took a big, beer-size gulp. Her throat and chest immediately sizzled. "My dad owns a restaurant here"

"Cool." He nodded.
He nodded. "I was really depressed to come back to Seoul after Koh Samui"

"So, do you go to school here?" she asked.

"Just graduated." He wiped his mouth off with a napkin and lit a Camel. He offered her one from the pack, but she shook her head. "I'm gonna do some teaching."

Lisa took another sip of the Scotch and realized she'd finished it. Wow. "I'd like to teach, I think. Once I finish school. Either that or choreograph some music videos."

"Yeah? Choreographing? By the way, What's your major?"

"Um, English & Math?" The bartender set another Scotch in front of her.

"Math is what I'm teaching!" the guy said. As he said it, he put his hand on Lisa's knee. Lisa was so surprised she flinched and nearly knocked over her drink. He pulled his hand away. She blushed.

"Sorry," he said, a little sheepishly. "I'm Sean, by the way."

"Lisa." Suddenly her name sounded hilarious. She giggled, off-balance.

"Whoa." Sean grabbed her arm to steady her.

Three Scotches later, Lisa and Sean had established that they'd both met the same old sailor bartender at the Borg bar in Bangkok, loved the way bathing in the mineral-rich blue lagoon hot springs made them feel sleepy, and actually liked the rotten-egg sulfur smell of the geothermal hot spring water. Sean's eyes were getting greener by the second. Lisa wanted to ask if he had a girlfriend. She felt warm inside, and she was pretty sure it wasn't just from the Scotch.

"I kind of have to go to the bathroom," Lisa said woozily.

Sean smiled as he raised an eye-brow flirtatiously. "Can I come?"

Well, that answered the girlfriend question.

"I mean, uh..." He rubbed the back of his neck. "Was that too forward of me?" he asked, looking up from under his knitted eyebrows.

Her brain buzzed. Hooking up with strangers wasn't really her thing

She stood up and took his hand. They stared at each other the whole way to the bathroom. As Sean hoisted her onto the sink and she wrapped her legs around his waist, all she could smell was his scent-a combination of Scotch, cinnamon, and sweat-and nothing had ever smelled sweeter.

On Tuesday, the first day of the new semester, Lisa walked quickly to her first-period Math class. She turned to see Somi

"So what class do you have first?" Somi asked, leaning on her shoulder

She looked at him, surprised, and then down at her schedule. "Math"

"Me too. Mr. Kang?"

"Yeah," she mumbled. "He any good?"

"Dunno. He's new. Heard he was a Scholar, though."

Lisa eyed her suspiciously. Since when did Somi care about a teacher's credentials?

"Okay but I seriously heard he is a hot teacher, like really hot," Somi said as they both took a seat next to each other.

"Isn't that the title for English teachers? Math teachers are supposed to be geeky with those glasses," Lisa answered as they both laughed.

"So you are still on the tennis team? Your parents didn't allow you to leave?" Somi asked

"No" Lisa replied simply

She rocked back and forth for a few seconds, in full freak-out mode. The only thing that made her feel better was the memory of Sean, that guy she'd met at Bizzare. At the bar, Sean had followed her into the bathroom, grabbed her face, and kissed her. Their mouths fit perfectly together-they didn't bang teeth once. His hands floated all over the small of her back, her stomach, her legs. They'd had such a connection. And okay, fine, some might say it was just a...tongue connection...but Lisa knew it was more.

Lisa let out a tortured sigh and looked around the classroom. It smelled like books and Mop & Glo. The oversize, four-paned windows faced the south lawn and beyond that, green rolling hills. A few trees had started to turn yellow and orange. There was a great Shakespearean sayings poster next to the blackboard, and a MEAN PEOPLE SUCK sticker someone had stuck to the wall. It looked like the janitor had tried to scrape off the sticker but gave up halfway through.

-the new teacher, she guessed-stood with his back to the rest of the room and was writing on the chalkboard. Mr. Kang was all he'd written so far. He was holding a memo with SNHS's insignia on the top. From the back, he looked young. A few of the other girls in the class gave him an appreciative once-over as they found seats.

"I know I'm the new guy," he went on, writing, Math, under his name, Then he turned. The handout fluttered out of his hand and onto the linoleum floor.

Lisa's mouth instantly went dry. Standing in front of the classroom was Sean from the bar. Her Sean, looking lanky and adorable in a jacket and tie, his hair combed, his buttons buttoned correctly, and a leather-bound lesson planner under his left arm. Standing at the blackboard and writing...

He stared at her, his face draining of color.

Holy shit, indeed.

The class ended soon. Everyone slowly left the class, as Somi and Lisa walked down the hallway, Lisa was shouting at herself internally, Somi ranted about how some girl's ass looked really fat in jeans or how she is planning on cheating this S.A.Ts. "Somi, I forgot my assignment paper inside my desk, you go and see the others, I will be back in a minute," Lisa told her and left her in the hallway.

Lisa opened the door to the Math class, the minute she saw Sean in. Closing the door tightly she walked to him

"Hey, I didn't expect this," Sean looked at her and spoke up first, a bit nervous

"Y-Yeah... Same... I think this relationship can't work out then. Like if the students, principals or my parents find out then am losing my life and you are losing your job," Lisa said immediately

"Hey, no one will find out. We can't just end things. Calm down, let's meet later at Bizzare okay?" Sean calmed her down, she smiled, so he isn't that guy who will just let her go. She appreciated it

"Okay, I will see you at 4," she said before smiling sweetly. She looked behind and thankfully there was no one standing outside, she leaned in and gave Sean a quick peck on the cheek before leaving.

"Wow, someone is the teacher's pet huh," she heard someone's voice the minute she started walking. She turned around to see Somi standing, her arms crossed and she was smiling.

"Somi, please don't tell anyone," Lisa blurted out, to her surprise Somi walked up to her and hugged her, "Your secret is safe,"

PRESENT DAY

Sean and Lisa had broken up 1 year back when Lisa found out how critical her mom is about the age difference and how school passed a new rule that if the teacher and student date, the student would be suspended for 2 months. Even if she was no longer with Sean, she always wanted to hide this. It took her 2 years not to be just seen as a Somi's side friend. It took her 2 years to get into the school's major tennis team, 2 years to convince her parents to let her go to dancing classes, and if this secret ever leaked, her whole reputation is ruined, her parents would maybe lock her down until she turns 20 and what if other guys stop liking her, but she didn't worry about it much, because aside from Sean and her, only Somi knew, and Somi is dead

Lisa was just sitting on her bed deleting pictures from her laptop, she always saved pictures from her phone there. Suddenly she came across a picture of her and Sean. A tear slipped from her eyes and then another and another. She definitely missed him. She clicked on the delete button and boom, it's gone. She took a tissue and wiped her tear-stained face

and that's when another message came in

Lisa gasped, how did XOXO knew something which only Somi knew... This can't be. How did XOXO even know this! and then she opened the attachment, she gasped, a picture of her and Sean kissing, in the classroom on the first day. This can't be possible

"Congrats Lisa, your bad dream is now a nightmare," she said to herself