#A Lesson in Love Story

[oscars-wifeyyy]

Dinner with Manny

(MASTERLIST FOR THIS STORY)

Lina was greeting all her students in her classroom, but she took her phone out when she felt her Apple watch vibrate. When she looked down, she saw a text from Manny telling her good morning and that he hoped that she had a good day today, then another text from Janine letting her know that her presentation for Jacob was coming for an ASL interpreter to come in and help the student out. She smiled and quickly responded to both texts before putting her phone away and focused on teaching. Her students were paying attention today, filling her with joy as she took in their faces.

It was recess, and Lina went to the gym/lunch area to oversee the students and see Barbara and Melissa together at the center. She approached them but stopped when she saw Tariq walk into the room.

“What is Tariq doing here?” Lina asked as she stared at her friend’s ex-boyfriend wave at Barbara.

“I forgot to mention that Tariq is now the father of one of the students in my class,” Barbara said.

“Janine was pregnant?” Lina asked.

“I got so good at ignoring Janine that I never noticed she was pregnant,” Melissa continued scrolling through her phone.

“That child does not have a child. Tariq is just dating the student’s mother,” Barbara looked at both of the women.

“He’s not a father. He’s just a male figure in that child’s life until he leaves,” Lina shrugged, “There is a difference between a father, male figure, and dad,”

“Amen to that, sister,” Melissa said.

“Hey, Mrs. Howard. Hey, mean Italian lady. Hey, Lina,” Tariq smiled as he approached the trio.

“Tariq, you cannot keep showing up here unannounced,” Barbara said.

“Ok, but it’s an emergency. I accidentally took TJ’s lunch and gave him mine, so I’mma just switch these out real quick,” Tariq placed the brown bag on the table in front of a student and grabbed the Lunchable out of the kid’s hands, “Thank you. And I’m out of your hair,” 

“That is a lunchable,” Barbara pointed out.

“And it is delicious,” Tariq said, “Alright, have a good day, Junior,”

“You’re not my dad!” The little boy said.

“That boy is hilarious, and he gets that from me. Bye, y’all,” Tariq ate the lunchable.

Lina rolled her eyes and stood around the gym until it was time for her to take her kids back to class. Then, she took her phone out to see Manny, who had texted her again, so she continued texting him with a smile on her face.

“Who’s got you all smitten there?” Melissa asked with a smirk.

“Nobody,” Lina pulled her face together with a stoic look again.

“Bull. I saw you smiling at your face and texting someone,” Melissa said.

“Ok, I’m texting Manny,” Lina caved.

“Manny as in the district, Manny?” Barbara asked.

Lina nodded.

“Traitor,” Melissa smirked.

“Whatever,” Lina softly smirked and chuckled.

It was the end of school, and Lina was high-fiving her class as they left to their parents, so she quickly cleaned up her class when Jacob popped into her class.

“Hey, wanna go to Ruben’s with Janine and me?” Jacob asked.

“I can’t. I got like two classes at school tonight,” Lina said.

Jacob nodded and bid his byes before walking out,, so Lina quickly grabbed her belongings and left the school. She jumped into her car and began her way to school. Manny called her as she parked in the parking lot.

“Hey, you,” Lina said as she gathered her school bag.

“Hey, you,” Manny’s voice rang through her phone, “how was your day?”

“It was good. My students were angels today, and I’m at school to go to my two classes tonight, so it’s an overall good but busy day,”

“That’s good. What time does your classes end?” Manny asked.

“It ends around 8ish,” Lina responded as she stopped at the door of her class.

“Ok. Would you be interested in grabbing some dinner with me? Nothing too fancy or anything,” Manny’s nervous voice rang.

“Yeah, sure. What are you thinking?” Lina asked, “Because. I’m not gonna lie. I got some food at home that I can cook up for both of us,”

“That doesn’t sound fair. I’m the one that invited you out,” Manny protested.

“It’s ok. I love cooking,”

“That's okay if you insist. Text me your address, and I’ll see you at 8:30, " Manny said.

“Yeah, see you,” Lina grinned before hanging up and skipping into her class.

Hours seemed to be passing slowly as she looked at the clock, anticipating it would be over so she could head home and look presentable for her guests. Time had finally caught up, and she went to her place at 8:15. She rushed inside and into the shower. When she got out, her phone read 8:25, so she ran to her closet, grabbed a lounge dress that hugged her figure in the right places, and put on her slippers.

When she was fully ready, she heard a knock on the door. She rushed to the door and opened it to see Manny in a nice short-sleeve button-up shirt, dark pants, and Jordan 1ss.

“Hey! I was just about to grab all the ingredients from the fridge,” Lina smiled, letting him in.

“Great! What are we making?” Manny asked.

“We?” Lina asked.

“Yeah. I figured we could cook together, seeing as though I'm the one who asked you to dinner again,” Manny stated.

“Ok. We are doing something different. We’re gonna be eating some Korean barbecue,” Lina smiled, “I already had the meat marinating as well as prepped the side dishes and everything,”

“I never had Korean barbecue,” Manny said, “Also, I never said it, but you look absolutely stunning tonight,”

“It’s only a lounge dress,” Lina blushed.

Their night was deemed successful, and Lina blushed furiously at the end. However, nothing more had happened, and Manny was out the door by 10:30. This left Lina confused about whether it was a date or not, so she deemed it just a dinner with a friend.

The next day, the school day came and went, and Lina was grateful that it was over because it had been stressful for her. It had looked up when she saw a text from Manny informing her that Janine, him, and Simon were going out for drinks later. She asked if she wanted to go. She responded with a yes and packed her bag to head home and get ready to leave again. When she was done, Manny texted her that they were on their way, so she smiled and ran out the door.

“Manny, who are we waiting for?” Janine asked when she noticed Manny kept looking at the door.

“Oh, we’re waiting for Lina,” Manny said.

“Oh! Are you guys like a thing?” Janine asked.

“Maybe. At least I want it to be,” Manny blushed.

At that moment, Lina walked in and caught Manny’s eye, putting him in a trance. She wore flare jeans, a crop top with a black blazer, and some booties. When she got to the table, Manny stood up.

“Want to get a drink?” Manny asked.

“Yeah, sure,” Lina grinned.

The two started walking to the bar, with Manny’s hand on the small of her back, which made her blush. When they got to the bar, the bartender immediately approached them.

“Can I get a tequila pineapple?” Lina asked. The bartender nodded and looked toward Manny. He shook his head and gave him his card. “Why’d you do that? I could’ve got it,”

“What? And let a beautiful girl get her own drink with her own money? Nah, my mom raised me better than that,” Manny grinned.

“Well, your mom sounds like a great woman. I remember you telling me that she was a teacher and all the struggles she went through, especially with being a single mom,” Lina said, “I hope I get to meet her some day,”

“Yeah?” Manny smiled, “Maybe that will happen. I was wondering, would you maybe wanna go on an actual date with me?”

Lina looked at him with a dumbfounded look, “Really? Me?”

“Yeah, who else,” Manny looked around jokingly.

“Yeah, of course,” Lina grinned as the bartender set her drink down, and the two joined Simon and Janine at the table.

When they slid into the same side of the booth, Manny casually threw an arm to rest on the headboard behind her and secretly played with her hair. The table cheered to celebrate Janine’s win in getting Jacob an ASL translator, and they all had a fun time afterward. 

[egophiliac]

bring your son to work day

[astrogirlythings]

[mentations]

𝑰𝒇 𝒐𝒏𝒍𝒚 𝒔𝒉𝒆 𝒌𝒏𝒆𝒘 𝒉𝒐𝒘 𝒎𝒖𝒄𝒉 𝑰 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒌 𝒐𝒇 𝒉𝒆𝒓,

𝒔𝒉𝒆 𝒕𝒐𝒐 𝒘𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒇𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒊𝒏 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒆𝒍𝒇.

[kingofthewilderwest]

Viola is the most gorgeous-sounding instrument on the planet, but how I became a violist in music school is one of the dumber sets of circumstances I’ve had in music life. You’ve heard of the violinist to violist pipeline? Get ready for… another level beyond THAT.

Guys, I’m a flautist.

And I’m not, like, a slouch on flute? I’m no queen toot toot but I know which end you blow out of. In high school, I was competitive. Nothing extraordinary, but I did all the honor ensembles and made first chair flute All State Orchestra. Ahhh, the memories! XD

I came into my freshman year of college as a philosophy and linguistics double-major, then quickly realized I NEEEEDED formal music again. I was crawling up the walls. I was writhing on the floors. I was ready to eat wallpaper. I was prepared to do anything to get back into the music world.

So in my sophomore year I added music composition as a degree.

I auditioned in with piano and flute as my mains. In addition to the private composition lessons, I was signed up for private piano lessons (flute slots were limited to people getting a degree in flute - understandable enough).

But then came ensemble requirements. Something you’d think would be the easiest and most flexible thing to take care of. This was a good school. Please, not Curtis or Julliard or a conservatory or something, but a good school. We had LOTS of ensembles. Easy peasy lemon squeezy, grab an ensemble and go, right?

Naw.

To graduate, we had to enroll in one ensemble every semester. You couldn’t double up to complete the requirement faster and it had to be on your primary instrument. I was already at a disadvantage because I was doing the degree in three years. Thankfulllly, thankfully, the administration gave me an exception and allowed me to double up for credits.

Didn’t solve all my issues, though. Because here’s the thing: everyone in the flute studio could play circles around me. A composition major without flute instruction is not going to be able to compete with a performance major learning from some of the best people in the country.

So. By their own rules. I could neither get lessons on my primary nor would I have the chance of auditioning into a single ensemble on my primary.

This meant the only ensemble I could get into was the non-audition, lowest tier band. And because there was marching band during fall semesters, that meant the lowest tier band only met in the spring. So that gave me… 3 out of the 8 ensemble credits I needed on my primary.

And I’m looking at the administration, like, “Dudes, you have to work with me. Not getting my degree because I can’t get a few 1 credit ensemble courses is bat guano.” But my other primary, piano, was even more limited for ensemble credit options. What to do? What to do?

Well. In high school. I had a viola teacher. Sort of. I mean, I dated her. She offered to teach me viola during the summers, I paid her a little cash, and we more often than not paid attention to the viola before paying attention to other matters.

Humorous description aside, we were classmates in the same grade. We just happened to make a viola lesson arrangement within our broader relationship. This wasn't the only time we made such arrangements; I later taught her younger sister flute. And like, lessons were a convenient way to meet regularly without our families cuing in on our non-viola relationship.

We had a nasty falling out. So nasty. We were dumb. I was dumb. Don’t need to get into details. But I got two summers’ worth of viola lessons out of this and I owned a cheap@$$ viola I bought secondhand for $100 USD.

So. With my grand total of less than a year of “formal” [cough] viola instruction, where I could barely aim my bow at the correct string, I suggested This Great Music College should accept viola for my ensemble credits. Then I could enroll in the non-audition orchestra. Which, unlike its band counterpart, DID meet every semester. So, between the 3 ensemble credits for band and the 6 ensemble credits of orchestra, I COULD get my required 8+ credits acquired.

This plan was agreed upon.

So now I’m a flautist officially turned violist. A viola-approximate pestilence they can’t get rid of. Every semester they have to hear my yowling and know this is the grave of their own making. We must lie in it. I am second desk viola, not because of merit, but because I’m a music major, and I guess that meant I got preference. I did their optional chair auditions, they accepted that as "good enough," now here I am near the front. I am not where I should be. At all. Last year I was playing the flute solo of Dvorak's Eighth. Now I'm on Dvorak's Eighth near the front of the violas. What.

My problems were ended, though, right? I got what I wanted, right?

Well. There’s one final stupidity in this venture.

You see..... my “viola teacher.” My ex-partner. My now-turned-enemy. Had also enrolled in this college.

And was our section leader.

[lej222]

Supernatural Involvement and Ominous Signs in ASLFUA

For a while, many readers have theorized that there is some kind of a higher power/higher being in ASLFUA, and looking at the latest episodes it seems to have been confirmed. With this post, I've tried to gather every instance of the higher power's implied presence and all the ominous scenes in the story. I also included foreshadowing scenes that could have made Miae aware of certain things if she had paid attention because coincidences are important in the story, and certain moments that were defining in the plot. The list contains spoilers for the newest KR episodes and it keeps being updated.

Episode 2 :

Miae is reading a book in the library about how the last day of 1999 will be the end of the world: "'1999, a terrifying overlord is coming...the end of the human race.." -> this might be a reference to the famous prophecy of Nostradamus in which in the 7th month of 1999 a great king of terror would descend from the skies (which makes me think...is it July in the story right now?)

The Hwang family's phone stops working

Miae's dresser breaks and therefore she has to take out the trash, where she sees Cheol crying

"This boy is about to be this girl's most special person, someone whom she will never be able to forget."

Episode 3

Miae and her mother visit the Buddha statue and Miae's wish is not to be in the same class with Cheol - it doesn't come true.

Miae, Cheol and Jisu all become classmates in their last year. Miae and Cheol become deskmates by coincidence.

Episode 4

Cheol's furniture becomes Miae's, along with the contents of his dresser, something only he knows about

Episode 5

Yunhui calls Miae on their new cordless phone, the line is interrupted by another conversation, "Did you get the present I sent you?" - it sounds like a message to Miae from the higher power about Cheol

Episode 8

Miae ruins her bangs, her mother says she should do something about her hair - the first time we are told Miae should go to a hairdresser to fix it

Hwanggeum Academy uses corporal punishment - might be relevant later on?

Miae has to go to karaoke so she gives up on going to the hair salon (this foreshadowing is super crazy btw)

Episode 9

Cheol is compared to the protagonist of the comic Miae reads, 'My First Love Next Door Is Number 1' - gets into trouble and transfers, fights the school bully and wins, nicknamed Lucifer, has a facial scar, lives next door

As Miae is thinking about Cheol, her thoughts are interrupted by a cockroach in the classroom

Episode 11

Miae notes how strange it is that she keeps seeing Cheol while they didn't bump into each other the previous year (just like how Jisu later keeps commenting how strange he keeps meeting Miae) - Miae acknowledges the higher power

Yunhui's pager says "between friends goodbye"

Episode 12

Miae has a weird feeling when she's talking to Cheol's shoe as if it understands what she's saying

Episode 15

In her dream, Miae remembers Cheol crying and her making a wish with a stone tower about how she wants to be his friend. The phone suddenly rings, the TV becomes static and there's a storm outside despite the weather forecast not saying anything about it. The other end of the phone is silent and the lights go out.

Episode 17

Cheol's shoe gets smudged with ink so Miae cannot give it back to him. She cannot concentrate on her practice test, foreshadowing her involvement with Cheol's academy.

Episode 21

Miae again remembers some memories about Cheol saying he doesn't want to be her friend while she's sleeping

Side note: while Soonkki is a great writer, there's some inconsistency about Jisu's seating arrangement. I think she always meant him to sit in Block 1, that's why we got limited panels of that area of the classroom, but his position kept changing until his official introduction. Here, he should have been sitting in front of Seonghan, but there's another boy in that seat. In episode 23, we get a panel of Block1 again, and there's a boy who looks like Jisu from behind in that.

She again remembers her time with Cheol while sleeping on the bus

Episode 24

Daebak Academy notebook says "The teacher is spoon-feeding you, so why can't you pass" -> the higher power is giving hints to Miae, why can't she understand them?

Episode 29

Miae thinks about how she doesn't bump into Cheol as much as before, we get a close-up of the shoe and the Daebak Academy notebook

Episode 37

Miae falls on Cheol while playing soccer

Episode 39

Miae and Cheol are arguing but still bump into each other because of their parents

While Miae thinks about how Cheol should smile at people, she almost gets hit by a ball but Cheol saves her.

Episode 40

Cheol goes to Miae's house to do their homework. Miae's mother says she wonders if it will rain before she leaves. Cheol tries to change the lightbulb in Miae's room, but the lights go out because of the storm. Miae thinks "again?" and they fall on each other. She tells Cheol they should be friends.

Episode 41

Cheol agrees to be Miae's friend and we see a flashback of young Miae wishing they would be friends. While they are doing their homework the rain stops. Miae says planes even fly in the rain and Cheol replies that airplanes fly above the clouds.

Episode 42

Miae answers their phone and the line is interrupted again. Someone thanks their boss for the present and says they will do well on their own from now. -> is it a sign Miae should do well on her own after the hints?

Interesting to note that every time Miae might be involved with the higher power, certain objects in her room are highlighted - Cheol's shoe, the lamp, the notebooks. They all give signs to Miae that she keeps ignoring.

Episode 43

Cheol and Yonghui point out that Miae should get a haircut. Miae ends up cutting it herself instead of going to a salon.

Episode 45

Miae wishes upon a star instead of a plane so that the presentation in class will go okay. This actually comes true, as also noted by the narrator in ep 46.

Episode 46

Daebak Academy booklet says "nothing comes easy"

Episode 47

Something I've noticed is that throughout the story Miae keeps thinking she forgot something, and there's usually a situation that seems like the answer to it. Here, it turns out she forgot about Jinseop's homework. And Taekwang's song is about how someone cannot do both things at the same time. It was the same when she forgot about her homework while playing soccer. Forgetting about things is a recurring plot point for Miae, which culminates in the Jisu subplot where we learn Miae completely forgot about his existence even though she didn't have many friends who were boys.

Episode 50

Cheol's father wants to take a picture of Cheol and Miae, but Cheol refuses

Episode 51

Miae again cuts her own hair and wonders if she cut it too straight

Episode 55

Cheol kicks Miae's pencil into Jisu's chair (side note: you can see here again how Jisu's seating arrangement was inconsistent, he should have been closer to the window)

Episode 56

Miae gets sent out to the corridor with Jisu

Miae's friends talk about handsome boys and someone mentions the number1 student (Jisu)

Episode 60

Jisu becomes Miae's folk dance partner - the first time Cheol and Miae are not doing something together

Episode 61

Hwanggeum Academy booklet says "there's nothing you can't do if you put the work in, do not expect a miracle" when Miae is struggling with the dance

Episode 65

Cheol's father takes a picture of Cheol and Miae after the sports festival

Episode 66

In Miae's dream, Cheol's sister says for a while means 5-6 yrs, Miae counts she will be in middle school by then. There's also a memory of Miae running after Cheol, saying "wait for me".

Miae's mother tells her to get a haircut but Miae replies she needs a bigger allowance for it.

The narrator says Miae should watch where she's walking after she bumps into Cheol.

Episode 67

Miae loses her name tag and Jisu finds it

Episode 70

Miae wonders how her wishes never come true, but remembers she also made one with the stone tower as a kid, but cannot recall what it was about.

Episode 71

Miae's mom notes their phone keeps ringing since yesterday. The day before Miae wanted to tease Cheol with how she heard him saying he "loved her" in the shop and she saw him shirtless the same night.

Miae doesn't realize it was Jisu who called her a pervert

Episode 72

Miae notices someone wearing her name tag (Jisu), but doesn't find the culprit

Episode 75

Cheol wants to ask Miae something, but the homeroom teacher interrupts. Miae and Jisu get called to the teachers' room and have to do cleaning duty together for a week.

Episode 76

We see Miae's mom at a hair salon - could the lady in orange be Jisu's mother? who knows

Episode 77

Cheol stands up for Miae, but when Honggyu asks if they are dating, they both vehemently deny it. It suddenly starts raining.

Episode 78

Miae and cheol promise to be friends for real, forever. The narration comments, "But will they end up regretting their promise?". The rain stops. "1999, the final year of the century is half over" -> Miae's story is half over at this point. I have pointed out this before, but the series seems to be about the transition period between childhood and young adulthood, symbolized by the last year before the new millennium. Hence the title, 'green apple academy'

In her dream, Miae remembers asking Cheol if they are friends. She is awoken by their phone. the Daebak Academy notebook says "you are in danger if you are relaxed" and we see a girl talking to Cheol.

Episode 81

Cheol and Miae fall on each other and almost kiss, but the phone rings. Later, they do end up in the same position with an accidental kiss.

Episode 82

Miae wants to confront Cheol about the kiss and gets embarrassed, but her actions are interrupted when the trash bag she gave Jisu splits open, spilling its contents. Miae runs to him to collect it.

Episode 83

While Miae talks to her friends, she thinks back on her memories with Cheol and the narration says "I always liked.." and Miae looks surprised by it.

Episode 86

Interesting detail that Cheol doesn't know why Miae keeps looking at airplanes. If we assume she has a reason for doing it from the past, it's likely not related to Cheol.

Episode 87

Miae uses the trashbag as an excuse to run away from Cheol, repeating how she has to throw it out. All of a sudden, Jisu appears and takes it out of her hand, giving her a chance to run. It's just my personal theory that the trashbag here symbolizes Miae's vulnerability and reluctance to face her feelings, and Jisu takes it from her hand. It makes sense when we remember how his words made her think about her actions when she wanted to interrupt the confession. It's a great early foreshadowing that Jisu might play an important role in Miae's growth story as her voice of reason.

Episode 89

Cheol and Miae take photos together in a photo booth, first with Jinseop and Song-I, then the two of them alone. We don't know if Miae still has her pictures, but we can assume she somehow lost them during running around from the bullies because we never see them again. Cheol gives her a new name tag in the next episode.

Episode 95

Cheol gifts Miae an airplane model for her birthday. I personally believe this episode marks the end of the first part of the story and it's a turning point, but more about this under ep96.

While Miae leaves for school, their phone suddenly rings and her mom answers it. Miae sees posters about love on her way to school. For the first time, Jisu arives early for cleaning duty.

Episode 96

The series has had 2 symbolic illustrations at the end of 2 episodes. The first one was at the end of ep2, when Cheol and Miae's story started in the present:

Miae is offering a green apple to Cheol - a biblical allusion, here, the green apple probably signifies how Miae helps Cheol in the first part of the story to mature and grow as a person with her own knowledge.

This illustration comes at the end of ep96. Like I mentioned, I believe this marks the start of the second half of the story which focuses on Miae's growth as a person. Space is an important concept in the series, Miae also has planet stickers on the wall of her room,has a charm on her bag, etc.

"16 years old. An age much like the universe." "16 years old. An age where it's like you're thrown into space." - highlights the narration.

But why is it compared to space? We have the illustration right after Jisu splashes water on Miae's face and Cheol wakes up from his dream. In my opinion, it's because this is where these kids' limited worlds start to expand. In part 1, Cheol and Miae were mainly together, but as you grow up you start to feel like you're just one insignificant part of a greater whole. You might feel like you're the center of the universe when you're a teenager, and that the world is ending when you experience negative emotions, but as the illustration shows us, it's not just Miae and Cheol standing alone in the universe. There are other people, facing different directions, but they are all interconnected by an invisible force. Miae is looking at Cheol, but Jisu is standing in her shadow- because even though she was not aware of him, Jisu had his own life happening parallel to what we saw in part1, and this is where he starts to have an intersection with Miae. If there is a higher power in the story, it is aware of all these connections and talks about youth in a nostalgic way. The sense that these moments are fleeting is always present in the story, however, connections formed between individuals will always have a lasting impact, just like how the universe will continue to exist. Being thrown into space might feel like losing your footing, but here it's the personal relationships that ground these teenagers and make them stay close to Earth.

Episode 98

The teacher tells Miae to cut her hair after Jisu takes the blame for ruining the plant.

Cheol is acting strange because of his dream, and while Jisu looks at Miae the narration box says: "16 years old. An age riddled with the unknown, just like the universe."

Episode 99

Miae's hair gets stuck in the zipper of Cheol's bag and he pulls it out, ruining her bangs in the process. They go to the infirmary after Miae gets scratched by the zipper.

Episode 100

At the countryside, while Miae picked a flower she thought how nice it would be if Cheol came to her school - and it became true. She thinks how it was so strange -> Miae again unknowingly acknowledges the higher power when it comes to Cheol

Episode 101

It's raining and the TV is not working in Cheol's home. He remembers taking a picture with Miae in the countryside. He asks his father about the picture on the sports day -> the data was lost. Miae gets grounded by her mother and she wants her to quit the academy.

Episode 102

I've mentioned symbolic objects in the story, but this one was noted by other readers as well: in ep 101, Miae accidentally drops the chalkboard eraser out of the window and Jisu fails to catch it - but Cheol does. However, in this episode Miae tosses it back to Jisu before saying she hopes they'll never see each other again (it's the first, but not the last time she declares it).

Cheol fails to convince Miae's mom about the academy -> Miae's mom points out Miae's grades have been dropping since last year. She makes her stance clear - she wants Miae to study.

Episode 103

It's raining and Miae cannot open Cheol's drawer in her room.

She tries to cut her hair, but the phone rings. On the other line, Miae hears someone saying "I only did what I did because you wanted it so bad, but you screwed up that chance! You don't deserve that project, I'm going to hand it to someone else." -> the first time the higher power tries to directly say Miae is late

Miae's mom cuts her hair instead of sending her to a salon...

Miae loses the name tag Cheol gave her

Episode 104

Jisu says "see you again" to Miae (and will keep saying for a while lol). Miae points out she never wanted to see him again.

Episode 106

After the teacher discovers their conversations in class, Miae and Cheol get separated and Miae becomes Jisu's deskmate. Miae and Cheol are not allowed to interact until the final exams are over.

Hwanggeum Academy's notebook remarks "Do you regret it now?"

Episode 107

Miae dreams about the flower from the countryside and a voice says she should hurry up and do what she wants about her wish if she remembers. She doesn't remember and the voice gets angry, Cheol appears and crushes the flower, telling her if she doesn't remember she should just forget it. The voice remarks Cheol is angry because Miae is late.

Episode 111

Jisu, who has also become aware of the coincidences, tells Cheol he's not the only one having something special with Miae.

When Miae calls Jisu her friend from the same class and tells him he should learn for himself, Jisu tries to say something, but he is interrupted by Cheol.

Episode 112

Miae thinks about their bet and how she should ask something serious, something more than friends do from Cheol, and we get a bunch of error messages. Cheol's dream is all fuzzy.

Jisu wins the bet, but we never get to know his wish because Miae gets angry at him.

Episode 115

The narration points out Cheol has changed and matured a lot, is it Miae's turn?

Episode 116

We see some posters about a summer festival, the forest in Midsummer Night's Dream and how everything is the product of coincidence.

The forest in Shakespeare's play is dominated by the supernatural - what we have in common with this story is the forest Miae and Cheol played together as kids, and obviously the involvement of a higher power. The coincidences poster is possibly a reference to Carl Jung's Synchronicity, a concept that states that seemingly meaningful coincidences have a deeper meaning, they don't have a rational explanation - almost like destiny, a deeper order in the universe. It's a connection between one's psyche and the material world (so you have to notice and acknowledge the deeper meaning of these coincidences in order to experience synchronicity). Jung used this to argue for the existence of the paranormal. For example, if you cannot decide something, you might come across a book on the topic. What a coincidence, right? In this interpretation, everything is interconnected in the universe, and we are a part of this web of connections. So those coincidences...were actually not coincidences. -> Hmmmmm.....I wonder.....meaningful coincidences, the universe, connections...why do they sound familiar??? BECAUSE OUR STORY IS EXACTLY ABOUT THIS NOTION! Who notices these coincidences? Miae about Cheol, Jisu about Miae....One has to be open to the possibility of the connection between our inner world and the outside world, only then they can start to notice the signs the universe is sending them. Soonkki, you deserve my applause! Because it was exactly what I said about the art at the end of ep 96 and the placement of the characters. Mind? Blown!

Miae thinks that she feels something is wrong

Yunhui's pager says friends goodbye

Jisu gets involved in the Yonghui-Yunhui storyline by coincidence

Episode 117

We see all the coincidences from Jisu's perspective and how he became aware of them. And what does he say about them? That they are fascinating and kind of funny! My boy Jisu got the synchronicity message.

This is the 3rd time Miae and Jisu didn't hold hands. The first time Miae pretended to help him up, only for him to fall back. Then Jisu held out his hand after the exam, but she didn't take it. Here, he again reaches out and Miae doesn't take his hand. Remember this later!

Episode 118

Someone steps on Cheol's bag, and he's worried it might be Taeuk

Jisu wants to join in another bet in exchange for his help

Episode 119

Jisu gets involved in the Shim storyline, and as we know from later he picks up the cigarettes to get revenge on him

Episode 122

Miae learns that Cheol rejected Seonyeong and the lights flicker in her room

She cannot remember her dream. The narration says that she should have realized that something changed.

Episode 123

Miae notes that she experienced the kiss in the comic book with Cheol

Jisu almost catches her, but Cheol pushes him away

Episode 126

The parents are having dinner together at a pig feet restaurant and toast for the future of their children. The TV is not working, and a boy who looks like Jisu tries to fix it.

Miae kisses Cheol

Episode 127

Miae has a dream again in the white dress. As she realizes she might like Cheol, the voice says she's too late and there's no use regretting it.

Episode 129

Miae remembers that they took a picture in the countryside together and wants to take one now. She makes a wish to an airplane about how she just wants one photo, and remarks that the planes never granted her wish before. Spoiler, they won't this time, either.

Miae chooses to take the picture with Cheol. The narration box says "she's always done whatever she sets her mind to. That has always been one of her better attributes. But Mi-ae, it seems as though you keep forgetting something. I told you, you're too late."

The pager's message means idiot, cancelled and it suddenly starts raining. Maie and Cheol cannot take their photo and Cheol cannot give her back the hairpin she dropped a few eps ago.

Episode 132

Graduation photos were postponed until the second semester

In Miae's dream, the voice says she's all over the place and cannot decide what she wants from Cheol. In her memory, Miae wishes at the stone tower that Cheol would like her back. The voice angrily remarks how it must not mean much to her.

Episode 133

While Cheol and Miae are looking at each other, Miae is smacked in the face by a flyer. Later while they are riding the bike, Cheol almost says she looks pretty but he is hit in the face with a flyer that belonged to Jisu.

Episode 134

Miae takes the cigarettes from Jisu and puts them in her backpack

While Jisu and Miae look at each other, the narration box says "Well. this is what we would call fate. What do you think?" Miae can sense the voice and dismisses it.

Jisu again says "see you later" and Miae answers let's not, but Jisu replies they never know and it would be fun.

On the radio in Miae's room there's a voice speaking, asking if it was a success and how there is something you can't stop thinking about. "A friend? The fact that you weren't wrong? Whatever it is, I don't think it's such a bad thing to obsess over it a little bit. I hope you have no regrets about it."

Episode 135

Miae's eyebrow and bangs are so ruined she has to finally go to a hair salon. Yunhui gives her money and says there's a cheap place where she can go. It turns out Jisu's mother is a hairdresser and after realizing she is Jisu's friend, she doesn't ask for money. So if anyone ever wondered why Miae kept ruining her hair in the story, here's the answer....

a little bit of strange wording here:

The narration says "Now that I think about it, this was about the time..wait,no, it was a little bit earlier that things started to go wrong, little by little. You two were completely oblivious, though. Just you two."

Miae's mother goes to the academy. One theory I can give on this is that Miae's family might be moving. She wished for it at the start of the story, mentions it in a later episode as well. Who knows ~

Episode 138

Miae doesn't tell Cheol her feelings because of her pride as she feels like she would lose first

Miae has a feeling as if something is trying to make her look bad in front of Cheol and her gun suddenly starts working

Everybody forgot to buy the picture they took together in ep 139

Episode 140

After conveying their feelings indirectly to each other, Miae tells Cheol they cannot date right now because her mom wouldn't allow it. She plans to go to the same high school, university, everything and thinks there's no one to stop them so nothing can go wrong.

Episode 141

Cheol imagines high school together with Miae and their friends

Every time Cheol is flustered, he accidentally drinks his sister's coffee and he cannot sleep at night..in a story where dreams are relevant I'm sure this is just a coincidence, right???🧐🙃😏

Miae says they should not be obvious before the entrance exam and they start to think of it as a competition

Someone watches them from the street

Episode 144-145

We get everything from Cheol's POV

Cheol got his scar because he wanted to give Miae the romance book she liked before they left and he fell on the stone tower

The picture his dad took of them is about a young Cheol accidentally kneeling with flowers in his hands, the same flowers from Miae's dream, in front of Miae. This picture was in the book Cheol and his family kept.

Cheol realized the book was in his dresser that is now in Miae's room, the one she couldn't open before

Episode 146

Miae sees two flyers in the newspaper, one is about how a student still didn't give it up, the other is about changing one's car

On the street, the same car ads keep flying after her in the wind

Miae goes with Yonghui to wait in a line and the same flyers are all over the place

Episode 147

Miae wants to call Cheol, but Jisu stops her. Miae notices how often they have met during vacation, and Jisu says these coincidences are fun. He remarks it's almost like as if some higher power is involved (!!). Miae is standing on the car ad, they look down on it with Jisu, then she kicks it away. Jisu tells her he has a feeling they will meet again, but Miae hopes they won't.

The academy is also full of the car ads and Miae falls on them

Miae thinks that for a while she's had a feeling as if something wants to get between her and Cheol, but brushes it off

Miae ends up with a bubble gum in her hair and goes to Jisu's house to fix it. Jisu tells her she should stay because he is bored, and there is a car ad on a stool.

Episode 148

We see some of Jisu's childhood memories and he was called a magpie by Miae which was a symbolic choice (I also made a post about it). Jisu in this story is the grateful magpie.

Miae and Jisu "touch hands" for the first time when they high-five (I wrote about how their hand hold never happened before)

After spotting some men smoking, Jisu tells Miae to go inside (one of them might be his father?)

Episode 149

Miae finally remembers Jisu

the narration boxs keeps saying how Jisu is cool and showing heart-thumping sounds and Miae is confused about these strange things

Miae not remembering Jisu was an important plot point considering she recalled everyone else from her past. As I theorized, memories and fate seem to be intertwined, the synchronicity theory also supports this. Synchronicity happens when seemingly unrelated events coincide and they become significant to you. It's easy to see why Jisu was aware of this notion, but Miae was not - because Miae had no idea about those coincidences other than meeting Jisu randomly. Him being her classmate, being the one who found her pencil, who helped her in the crowd, found her name tag, etc. - only Jisu knew about these. But right now, Miae was made aware that they knew each other in the past - a pretty big coincidence.

So now that Miae might have kickstarted her own fate, the question is whether she will be able to fight it or if there are certain things bound to happen no matter what. Is the narrator omnipotent and omniscient? So many questions that will hopefully get answered.

Episode 150

For the first time, Miae says she and Jisu will see each other again sometime. Before this, it was always Jisu who said it and Miae would reply that she didn't want to meet him again.

Miae remembers Jisu transferring, but doesn't know why he singled her out (so she will probably recall more memories later)

As Miae leaves Jisu's house, the car ads are flying in the air around her

Jisu enrolls at the academy and for the first time he says it's not a coincidence

Episode 155

Hwani tells her mother it would be great if they could keep being neighbours with Miae because she's fun. After a pause, Cheol's mother agrees.

Jisu keeps telling Miae she's a "traitor" or "bat" (depending on the translation, meaning she keeps secrets from others like the Yonghui Yunhui situation and the fact that she went to Jisu's house) and she might get into trouble because of that

Episode 156

The narrator directly communicates with Miae again, and informs us about Miae's thoughts. It makes heart-thumping sounds when she's with Jisu just like in previous episodes, but Miae ignores them.

Jisu again says how the coincidences are so fun. He counts to three until the teacher interrupts Miae and Cheol's bickering (similarly to Taekwang in ep 158)

When Jisu tells Miae he'll go out of the room to let her talk with Cheol, Miae thinks she'll talk to him regardless of anyone's interference and we get a close-up of an academy notebook saying 'NO' and a plane flying in the sky.

Episode 158

Flashforward in the episode to a scene with Cheol leaving Miae at the academy while a storm is coming and Miae looks like she's about to cry

An hour earlier in the story the dark clouds are already gathering (I mentioned how rainy weather is always connected to the change in Miae and Cheol's relationship, and how it's usually an ominous sign). After seeing Jisu's flustered face, Cheol tells Miae that he wants to change the lightbulb in her house before she gets hurt. The lights at the academy are highlighted as they keep vibrating. (I also noted how the lights are signs of the supposed higher power, they get their own panels in Miae's room, and they went out 2 times when Miae and Cheol's relationship changed)

After Jisu reveals that Miae was in his house and Cheol gets angry, Miae's pager starts buzzing (again, the pager messages always appear when the higher power wants to communicate with Miae).

Taekwang is an interesting character because the things he says are sometimes connected to the greater theme of the story. Like when he listened to his music and said how Miae cannot choose two things at the same time (come on, it was the foreshadowing for the current conflicts!), he smelled Jisu on Miae (???), Jisu even said he's the one he cannot deal with, and now he was counting the seconds until Miae got another sign. Is he used as a medium? (who knows lol)

Miae wants to check the pager message but the fluorescent lamp(?) breaks. Jisu shields Miae from the shards while they fall on the ground, making it his first successful attempt to save Miae in the story. The pager lands in the corner of the room.

Episode 159

Miae goes to a phone booth to check her messages and it's filled with the car ads so she kicks them away

The first message is a loud noise of a song recording. I personally think if there's a higher power in the story, this message came from it. The other is about Miae's friends telling her they'll visit her at her academy which gives Miae a sense of panic knowing Yonghui and Yunhui might meet.

Miae sees an airplane in the sky and the narration says Miae has a feeling that something is interfering with her and the panels get fuzzy with flashbacks to phone calls earlier in the story (omg this is actually crazy)

It starts raining and we get a glimpse of the last countryside memory we haven't seen yet about Miae running after Cheol at night. In the present, Miae trips just as she did as a kid, but instead of Cheol she meets Tae Uk.

[anyataylorjoys]

LAST NIGHT IN SOHO (2021) dir. Edgar Wright

[bixels]

I'm not getting into The Giving Tree discourse...

[m00wd]

There are people who live in love with the sky regardless of the weather. Someday you will find someone who loves you the same way.

—m00wd

[katboykirby]

Hi

Respectfully, can the OM community please not post unmarked and untagged spoilers for the final Lesson?

Like tell me why I just got flashbanged by more than one relatively big account on Twitter openly posting full spoilers for the end of L60. Like outright just saying exactly how it ends. No spoiler warning or anything.

This is extremely basic fandom etiquette stuff here, guys. Please. I am begging you.

[me-writes-prompts]

nervous/awkward couple prompts?

Yes! Hope you enjoy these :)

By @me-writes-prompts

“I…I wasn’t sure if you’d like this, so I just bought all the colors they had there.” 🥹🥹

“Can we please kiss?” “Yeah, I was about to ask you that.”

“Ummm, sorry to disturb you while you’re working, but I wanted to let you that dinner is ready.” “Oh, yeah. It’s fine, uh, I’ll finish it here. Be there in ten.” “Great.”

“That was really awkward there, wasn’t it?” “Yeah, I could not stand it a moment longer. Haha.” “Same. Hah.”

“We should…take this to the bedroom, yes?” “Yeah, got carried away a little. Oops.”

“That was my first time trying Indian food. Very spicy, but kind of good. I guess…” “Yeah, definitely. Uh huh.” *laughs awkwardly because that wasn’t the reaction that they had expected from them*

“Well, you guys seem close.” “Yeah, we’ve been friends for forever, so…that’s why I wanted you to know them!” “Oh, okay.”

“I did okay back there, right? Like I didn’t look stupid or anything?” “No, no. You didn’t. You could never look stupid, baby. You did awesome back there. I promise.”

“Umm, I got you something for our first anniversary.” “Omg, I-I’m sorry, I didn’t get you anything. I’m really sorry, my love. I was just so busy and forgot.” “Oh, it’s fine. Really.” “No, no, it’s not fine. I’ll get you one right now.” “No, really it’s fine.”

Accidentally bumping into each other on their way to fro the bathroom, and laughing awkwardly.

Going to kiss each other at the same time

^^Trying to escalate things in car but they can’t because they are just so uncomfortable, so they have to move to the back seat

Coincidentally buying each other the same thing

[oscars-wifeyyy]

Smoking

The school day was already off to a bad start. The fire alarm went off, and everyone had their class walk to the front of the school. Lina stood with the other teachers while Janine stared at the substitute for her class with disdain and tsk’d.

“Janine, you good?” Lina asked.

“What you tsk’ing at, Tsk’in Teagues?” Gregory asked.

“I mean, look-look at this. My kids are just meandering. You know what I mean? You know, she’s not even using the buddy system. I-” Janine hummed.

“What even set off the alarm?” Jacob looked at Barbara.

“Don’t look at me,” Barbara replied as the fire captain walked out, “church and home are the only places my candles are lit,”

“What’s not lit is another call from Abbott. At least it’s not a full fire this time. Just smoke,” the captain gave Barbara a look, “it looks like someone lit a cigarette in one of the boys’ bathrooms,”

Everyone started making noises of surprise.

“Seriously, who still smokes cigarettes?” Jacob asked.

“Single dads, criminals…” Greg listed off.

“Morton. Where is he? Probably lightin’ up in a back alley behind a dumpster. Scumbag,”

“Hey. A cig after a night of drinking kind of hits differently,” Lina shrugged.

Melissa and Ava walked out with a student, “We got him. Melissa sniffed him out,”

“Oh, yeah. You got menthols; you can run, but you can’t hide,” Melissa smirked, “One whiff, and I am 14 again…” Melissa paused as she saw the cameras, “Thinking I’m gonna wait a couple of years before I try one of these,”

“That would only make you 16,” Janine looked confused.

“The smell always reminds me of my uncle,” the captain said.

“Oh, my aunt used to sit in a chair with a cig and a glass of Pinot Grig and recount ‘Moonlighting’ to me,” Melissa recalled.

“Yeah, my uncle used to do the same thing to me, except it was scotch and the Phillies game the night before,” the captain smiled.

“Childhood,” the two said in sync. The camera panned to Ava and Lina as they gave the camera a look and a smirk.

“Nah, but this is a real problem,” the captain emphasized.

“Oh, yeah. Absolutely. Where did you even get a cigarette?” Melissa asked the boy.

“The guy around the corner sold it to me for a dollar,” the boy said.

“A dollar? Inflation is crazy. But you are in big trouble because cigarettes are banned,” Ava said.

“Not on any of the signs I saw,” the boy retorted.

“What?” Lina asked as all the teachers and captain looked around the front and saw that there wasn’t a no cigarettes sign on anything.

When everyone returned to their rooms, the teachers and Janine went to the office with Ava and started looking for rules on the school district website. However, none of them could find anything.

“On the school’s website, we got ‘no skateboarding, no vaping, no loitering, no horseplay, no weapons, no open flames, no bullying, and no gambling.’ There is nothing here about cigarettes,” Ava said, “did y’all find anything?”

“Well, I saw a sign on the hallway that said ‘no,’ but whatever was under it was graffiti over it,” Janine said.

“Yeah, that was a no graffiti sign,” Barbara said.

“The e-mail from the top of the year lists everything, I mean everything, including bringing a live spider to school, is grounds for expulsion, but it definitely doesn’t list cigarettes,” Gregory said with his laptop in his hands.

“Fidget spinners, banned. Cigarettes just seem to have evaded every sign we’ve seen,” Lina shook her head.

“Wait, so many new hazards have come out that we forgot to put cigarettes on the ban list?” Janine asked.

“Gee willikers, I have nothing helpful to say, so I guess I’ll just restate the problem that we’re all aware of,” Ava mocked, “That’s you,”

“Yeah, I got it,” Ava muttered.

When the meeting ended, Lina continued her day and taught her classes. She felt her phone vibrate, so while her students began a math worksheet she had provided, she pulled her phone out to see a text from Manny.

Hey! Does this Saturday work well for a date? I've always wanted to try this Italian spot near my place.

Lina smiled and replied yes, saying she was excited about it. Then, she shoved her phone back in her pocket and checked her emails. It wasn't until lunchtime that she went to the teachers’ lounge and sat with Janine, Gregory, and Jacob when Ava entered.

“How can cigarettes not be banned?” Barbara asked.

“Yeah. Somebody really missed the mark on that one,” Melissa glanced at Ava.

“I know my fit is going off today, but don’t look at me,” Ava said, “I blame…Janine. What are y’all even doing down there at the district? Shuffling papers? Doing the Jubi slide? The children are smoking,”

“What’s that Jubi slide?” Barbara asked.

“It’s where you put your foot down and move in the opposite direction,” Jacob explained while holding himself to demonstrate.

“I do not want to live in a world where white people explain dance moves to me,” Barbara put her hands together while Jacob looked at the camera, dejected.

“You know, I just don’t get it,” Janine started, “I thought we beat cigarettes with the truth campaign. It’s just so retro,”

“Well, maybe they’re getting cool again. I mean, clogs are back. Anything’s possible,” Melissa said.

“There are some cool clogs, though. Granted, I only wear them inside or when I want to dress bummy to go to the bodega or something,” Lina shrugged.

“I just can’t believe that children are smoking ragweed,” Barbara said.

“I know! Don’t they know that smoking kills?” Jacob said.

“Jacob, don’t you literally vape?” Lina asked.

“Ok, that’s different, and don’t you use the nicotine pouches? What are they called…zyns?” Jacob said.

“Yeah, but vaping is worse. You’re literally inhaling thousands of toxins. Zyns are also discrete and give me that nicotine push I want,” Lina said, “which reminds me that I need to stop at the bodega so I can get some more,”

“You inhaled all through ‘Saltburn,’” Ava pointed out.

“Yeah, well…Janine and Lina smoke weed every day.” Jacob tried to get the heat off of him, which caused everybody to gasp.

“We knew about Lina because she’s basically like a person in the military with her Zyns and energy drink consumption, but damn, Afroman,” Ava smirked.

“Nope. Not every day,” Janine shook her head.

“Janine,” Melissa shook her head.

“Reefer. Ganja. The Devil’s lettuce,” Barbara smacked the table.

“That’s why your feet so big,” Mr. Johnson said.

“It’s medicinal, and it’s considerate. If I didn’t smoke, I’d be an insufferable Energizer Bunny,” Janine said.

“Like you’re not already?” Lina raised an eyebrow, “if I didn’t smoke, then I would just be mean and a ball of anxiety,”

“Who would have thought? Janine is off that loud,” Ava smirked.

“Ava, you can’t talk. You’re a hookah head,” Gregory defended Janine.

“Mmhmm and microdosing. I just eyeball it and say, ‘Yeah. That’s enough,’” Ava said.

“Now, I don’t smoke, but I do enjoy a protein bar edible on the weekends,” Gregory tried to relate to Janine but failed, “You know, research actually shows-”

Ava cut him off, “Wow, this man just made drugs boring,”

“I suggest you all drop your vices and take a hit of my drug of choice - J-E-S-U-S. Street name, Christ,” Barbara put her arms out like she was on a cross.

“Uh, you’ve been known to demolish those little bottles of Chardonnay,” Melissa said.

“And you snort that liquid marijuana,” Barbara snapped back.

“You don’t snort it. It is CBD oil, and I rub it on my joints,” Melissa defended.

“It’s a gateway ointment,” Jacob peeped up.

“Your lungs are literally dust,” Lina pointed at Jacob.

“Crackheads. Speaking of joints, you ever submerge yourself in the essence of-” Mr. Johnson started, but Janine stopped him.

“Do not finish that sentence,” Janine said as she spotted a student recording their conversation.

“Franklincense and rosemary. I bathe in it while I hit a blunt,” Mr. Johnson continued as the teachers rushed out of the lounge.

However, amid the chase, Lina got a call on her phone to see it was Manny, so she stopped and took a deep breath before answering.

“Hey!” Lina smiled.

“What’s up, beautiful?” Manny’s voice spilled through her phone.

“Oh, stop it.” Lina blushed with a little giggle. How is your day going?”

“It’s good. Busy. How about yours?” Manny asked as he sat back at his desk with a smile upon hearing her voice through his phone.

“Oh, nothing super out of the ordinary. Just had a conversation in the lounge about drugs, only for a student to record it. Same, same,” 

“What? About drugs?” Manny sat up with interest, “what do you mean?”

“I’ll tell you everything tonight, but right now, I’m pretty sure everyone caught up to him, and I’m 90% sure that he posted it online because students are looking at me,” Lina sighed, “I’ll talk to you tonight?”

“I’ll do you one better. Want to hang out at my place tonight?” Manny asked, “You can even bring an overnight bag if it runs too late. I don’t want you out and about after 10 for your safety,”

“Yeah. I’d like that. Just a fair warning that I do have some homework and things to grade, so I’ll be multitasking while we hang out,”

“That’s no problem. I can even help you out,”

“Ok. Thanks, I’ll see you tonight at 8?” Lina asked.

“Sounds great. See you then, pretty girl,” Manny smiled.

Lina hung up and walked to her class when Janine approached her with a smirk.

“Who was that? I’ve never seen you with such a big smile and blushing,” Janine asked.

“It’s somebody that I’m getting to know, and he is an absolute angel of a man,” Lina smiled, “anyways, I gotta head back to my room and teach,”

The two split, and Lina went back to her class. However, she was put off by the questions her class had for her. It was towards the end of the day, and all the kids had gone home. She went to the front to see all the other teachers gathered around.

“These kids are out of control, and this needs to stop,” Lina said as she leaned on the desk.

“What do we even say to them? We can’t just have our kids undermining us,” Gregory said.

“Ok, but how do we tell them not to smoke or do drugs when, one, they know that we do them, and, two, we can’t just say anything to them except for ‘just say no’?” Jacob said.

“Ok, well, Janine, you’re at the school district. What’s our move?” Melissa asked.

“We do have one more resource at our disposal,” Janine said with a reluctant face, “I think it’s time to call in a professional,”

The teachers nodded again before dispersing into their own directions. Lina quickly went to her room and grabbed her bag and lunch box before rushing out of the school and saying bye to her fellow teachers, who looked at her in confusion. Janine looked at her rushing figure as Gregory stepped out of his class to ask Janine what Lina rushing out was about.

“She has this little fling, I guess, and I think they’re hanging out tonight,” Janine smiled.

“Oh, ok,” Gregory nodded and returned to his classroom. Janine took her phone out and texted the district group chat to see if they wanted to get a drink or two afterward. However, Manny responded, saying that he had plans tonight. Janine looked at the message and wondered if these two were talking to each other, but she shook her head and went about her day.

Lina finally got to her place and showered before putting on her undergarments. She was walking around her room as she looked at the clothes she laid out for tomorrow's workday. She settled with a pair of black slacks and a simple white long-sleeve that will be topped with a cream and brown flannel. The teacher moved onto her pajamas that she would wear at Manny’s place for the slight possibility that she was staying the night and settled with white and red plaid cotton shorts and a black crop tank top. At the last minute, she grabbed her workout stuff just in case they could sleep at a decent time so she could go to the gym before. When she figured that out, she looked at her closet and quickly settled with her black leggings, oversized Philly crewneck, and white Crocs with Jibbitz on them. Her hair was down in her natural waves, with her front pieces framing her face. Lina then gathered her toiletries and shoved them in her bag.

She gathered her ungraded assignments and schoolwork and started her way out. When she got to her car, she realized it was colder than she had thought, so she ran in and grabbed her brown Carhartt beanie. She connected her phone to her car and started her journey to Manny’s place. When she arrived, she realized there were reserved parking spaces, so she called him.

“Hey. I just got here and don’t know where to park,” Lina said.

“Oh, shit. I forgot. Come closer to where my building is, and you’ll see me stand where you should park,” Manny said. The sounds of him putting his shoes on could be heard over the phone.

“Ok, see you in a little,” Lina hung up the phone and drove deeper into the buildings to see Manny standing outside with no sweater. She quickly parked the car and got out, “What are you doing?! It’s freezing. Get back inside, and I can get my bags,”

“What kind of a gentleman would I be to let you bring in your bags yourself?” Manny smiled, opened the backseat to grab her 2 bags, and put an arm out. She wrapped an arm around his own, and he led them into his place.

When they went inside, Lina looked around to see it was clean and had a nice feel to the place. She noticed the dark green walls and the dark furniture to go with the walls. It had a nice, homey feel to it.

“This is a really nice place,” Lina said as she looked around.

“Thank you. I try to have it as clean as possible and looking as aesthetically pleasing as possible, too,” Manny said as he put her bags on the couch, “Now, what do you want for dinner? I have steaks and chicken,”

“Oh, it’s fine. I can cook for us,” Lina smiled.

“No, no. Sit down and do whatever you need to do, and I will cook us dinner.” Manny smiled. Which one do you prefer?”

“Steaks,” Lina said, “medium rare,”

“Alright. 2 medium rare steaks coming right up,” Manny winked and went into the kitchen as Lina grabbed her stuff and settled onto the dining room table that had a clear view of the kitchen, “tell me about your day,”

“Oh, it was good. Stressful, but good,” Lina said. The two had talked about both of their days while Lina graded her students’ papers and Manny was cooking their dinners. However, Lina couldn’t help but watch Manny cook and let her eyes roam. His posture was straight, and he moved with fluidity around his kitchen, but the main thing that caught her eye was the way his muscles rippled as he moved his arms or gripped the pan with the steaks cooking on it.

Manny felt her gaze and couldn’t help but smirk at the thought of her watching him, so he turned his head and gave her a wink, which caused her to blush. She forced herself not to look away. The two stared at each other until Manny looked away to check the steaks. Lina turned away and finished her grading, so she put her stuff back into her bag and sat back down at the dining room table with her body positioned towards the kitchen. Dinner was done, so Manny grabbed a couple of plates, plated the steak, and removed the potatoes from the air fryer. He took the two plates and set one in front of Lina and the other in front of the chair that was across from her.

“Would you like some red wine?” Manny asked.

“Yes, please,” Lina smiled.

Manny got up and grabbed two wine glasses and the wine from the fridge. He put one in front of Lina and poured the wine out, which drove Lina crazy as she felt his body heat behind her. Lina thanked Manny as he sat down and poured his own glass of wine. The two continued talking and eating until it turned into them talking and drinking their wine. However, it was disrupted by knocking on his door.

Manny looked confused as he opened the door, which revealed Janine, Emily, and Simon.

“What are you guys doing here?” Manny asked.

“I told them that we shouldn’t, but they kind of came here anyways,” Janine said as she saw Lina sitting at the dining room table, “Lina?”

“Heyy, Janine,” Lina awkwardly smiled.

“Oh, I’m sorry, dude. I didn’t know you had a female over tonight,” Simon rubbed the back of his neck, “We’ll see you tomorrow,”

“Yeah, see you,” Manny glared at the three of them before shutting the door and turning to Lina with a small chuckle, “Sorry about that,” 

“You’re fine,” Lina giggled, “they seem nice. I already know Janine is, but your friends are,” 

“Yeah, but they can be a bit of a handful.” Manny shook his head. " Do you Want to relax on the couch?”

“Yeah, sure,” Lina nodded and turned towards the time to see that it was 9:30, “Oh, shoot, it is kind of late. I like to go to the gym at 4 am,”

“Really? Me too! My apartment has a gym, so we can use that if you would like. I got extra towels for you to use,” Manny pointed toward the other end of the apartment.

“Really? Ok. I’m definitely down to do that,” Lina blushed, “Want to watch a movie then?”

“Yeah, what do you want to watch?” Manny asked, “I have every streaming service there is,”

“Let’s watch…” Lina tapped her chin in a thinking motion, “The Greatest Showman,”

Manny laughed, “Ok. Let’s put it on,”

The two started watching The Greatest Showman, and Lina couldn’t help but start singing along to the movie. It was by far her favorite musical movie that ever existed. Manny stared at her as she started singing and couldn’t help but smile at her antics. In a surge of confidence, Manny moved closer and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. She smiled as she leaned her head on his shoulder and felt the fatigue hit her.

“I’m getting kind of tired, and it’s 10 at night. I can take the couch,” Lina said as she rubbed her eyes.

“No. Take the bed, and I’ll take the couch,” Manny said.

“How about both of us just sleep on the bed,” Lina shrugged, “we’re adults,”

Manny cleared his throat. " OK, we can do that. " He stood up and put a hand out for Lina to take. He held her hand as he guided her to his room, holding the bag of her clothes and toiletries in his other hand. He set the bag on the bed, let go of her hand, and went to the bathroom to brush his teeth.

Lina opened her bag and grabbed her pajamas, night and day skincare routine, toothbrush, toothpaste, and mouthwash. When she entered the bathroom, Manny had just spit out his toothpaste and returned his toothbrush to the holder. He softly smiled at her and walked out, closing the door to give her privacy as she changed. She quickly changed into her pajamas and neatly folded the clothes she wore before brushing her teeth and opening the door again in case Manny had to use the bathroom while doing her nighttime routine. Manny turned his head at the sound of the door opening to see her in her pajamas, and he couldn’t help but stare at her voluptuous behind, which was thanks to her consistency in working out and wanting to be a muscle mommy.

She was unaware of the staring as she finished brushing her teeth and skincare routine. When she walked out of the bathroom, Manny successfully made it seem like he wasn’t looking at her. The two lay in bed silently until Lina turned to look at Manny.

“Good night, Manny,”

“Good night, Lina,” Manny said as he turned on his side to look at Lina too.

The two drifted off to the best sleep of their lives. Hours of slumber passed until 4 a.m. when both of their alarms went off. The two slammed their hands on their respective phones in an attempt to turn them off. Groggily, they opened their eyes to see that they were spooning, so they quickly got up and apologized to each other simultaneously.

“I’m so sorry!” Lina blushed.

“No, I should be sorry,” Manny blushed as well, “should we just get ready for the gym?”

“Yes, please,” Lina chuckled. The two went to the bathroom and performed their morning routines. They were done at the same time and were out the door.

Lina wore spandex shorts with a pair of oversized sweats over them and an oversized shirt tucked into the back of her sports bra. When they entered the gym, Lina looked around to see if they had the machines and weights she needed, so she nodded and stretched her legs out. The two were stretching together when Lina asked what he was working out. Manny was working out his arms while she was doing legs.

The two separated and did their own workouts, but both were distracted by the other whenever they did an exercise. Lina was finally feeling a pump in her glutes and legs, so she took off her sweats, continued her workouts, and blushed whenever she felt Manny’s gaze on her as she worked out. When they were done, they went back to the apartment and to the room.

Manny took off his sweaty shirt which didn’t go unnoticed by Lina who spared a glance at him. He turned to her, “you can take the first shower. I’ll make us some protein shakes. Is strawberry banana protein shake sound good?”

”Yeah, I’m good with that. Thank you,” Lina smiled and went into the bathroom, closing the door.

After her shower and freshly washed hair, she took out her hair dryer that she packed with a diffuser attachment as she dried her hair and made her curls pop more. When her hair was done, she put it in a half up, half down hairstyle with the front pieces to frame her face. Her clothes that she packed before were on her body and she walked out to see Manny walk into the room with 2 glasses of protein smoothie shakes.

“Hey! I’m sorry I took so long. I’m done here and I’ll hang out in the living room,” Lina said with a smile, “thank you for the shake by the way,” Lina grabbed a glass and took a sip, “this is really good!”

“Thank you. I tend to want good tasting protein shakes,” Manny chuckled. Lina chuckled along with him and nodded before grabbing her overnight bag and heading to the living room.

She spent that time on her phone, scrolling though TikTok while hearing the shower start up again. 15 minutes had passed when the shower had stopped and she determined that Manny was done with his shower. She went to the sink and put her dirty glass in before starting to clean the dishes. In the midst of her washing the dishes, Manny walked out dressed in a plain black shirt, black pants, and a brown cardigan over with his work shoes.

“Hey, you didn’t have to do the dishes. I can do them when I’m back from work,” Manny said.

“What kind of guest would I be if I didn’t do something to help you out as a thanks to letting me stay the night,” Lina blushed, “besides, I can hear my mom yelling at me in my head about not helping the host out,”

“Ok. Thank you, pretty girl,” Manny smiled, “Are you ready to leave?”

“Yeah, let me grab my bags and we’ll go,” Lina dried her hands on the towel that hung on the cabinets below the sinks.

“No need,” Manny held up her bags, “I got them,”

The two left the apartment and Manny walked her to her car. They hugged and bid each other a see you later since they had a date that weekend. When she got to school, she saw the FADE organization there so she went inside and gathered her class to go to the assembly. When she got there, she saw Gregory and Janine talking so she put the kids in their seats and sat at the back with the rest of the faculty.

When the assembly was over, Lina had to look through her students’ bags to see if they snuck any contraband on school property. She felt bad as she looked through each bag so she went to the lounge when lunch came around and walked in a few minutes after Ava came in.

“When you bring a substance in, you get suspended,” Barbara said.

“This seems like overkill to do all this,” Janine said, “without even having an honest conversation with Curtis or any of our students,”

“Well, that’s the system for ya,” Melissa said, “we’re not allowed to say anything except ‘drugs are bad,’”

“It just all seems ridiculous. Curtis is a good kid,” Gregory said.

“He’s an ‘A’ student. He doesn’t bother anyone. It’s kind of uncharacteristic that he smokes,” Jacob said.

“Smokes or smoked?” Lina asked, “Do we even know if he’s done this before?”

Everyone was looking at each other in thought as none of them knew whether he did it before or if it was only a one time thing.

“We let this thing get so out of control,” Barbara said, “We forgot to ask the boy what happened,”

“So, I guess I got to suspend him,” Ava said.

“Hold on. Let me talk to him. He’s been spending a lot of time in my classroom and I think he’s comfortable with me,” Gregory gathered his stuff.

“I’ll go with you. As a former child smoker. I can probable cough up some advice,” Melissa stood up and started walking before coughing, “See, it’s not funny,”

“Yeah, let’s see what else you cough up,” Lina muttered with a chuckle.

The day continued, and it was towards the end of the day, and all the teachers, Ava and Mr. Johnson stood at the front desk. Everyone encouraged Jacob to let go of his vape, which he stared at in front of his face. Everyone was cheering when he dropped it in the trash, and Melissa recorded the monumental moment when Jacob dove right into the trashcan to get it back. Everyone started trying to stop him in disbelief as he resubmerged with his vape. Mr. Johnson and Gregory wrestled it out of his hands and threw it back into the trash as Gregory kept ahold of Jacob. Lina couldn’t help but laugh at that before gathering her things again, walking out to her car, and driving out of the school.

[cozyfaee]

Ugh he's so 🥺🥺🥺🥺 I love hearing his inner thoughts

[therealmoonknight5]

"The worst enemy to creativity is self doubt" - Slyvia Plath

[thoughtsthatstayedwithme]