“I wonder what he looks like,” she muttered as she moved quietly towards the door. Standing off to the side, she slowly pushed back the curtains, peered out, and jumped back from the door in shock.
“Shit,” she swore. “What is he doing here?”
SLAM!
Hannah’s heart nearly leapt out of her chest. Twirling around, she sagged in relief when she saw that the source of the noise was Sam.
“Did you know that Mamoru is your trial student!?” The other girl demanded; her tone was sharp but her eyes were wide with shock,
All the blood drained from Hannah’s face. “What? He’s my trial? I saw him walk by but I thought... I don’t know. But I didn’t think he was my trial student!”
“Well Mariko just welcomed him in and told him to wait for a few minutes since it isn’t time for his trial yet.”
“Shit,” Hannah repeated. She fell into her chair and buried her head in her hands. “Well, I guess the bright side is that I no longer have to worry what level the student is.”
“You’re not seriously going to go through with this trial are you?” Sam hissed. “It is crazy!”
“What can I do? I can’t go in and tell Mariko ‘Oh, I can’t teach this student because I told him last night that that I never want to see him again.” Hannah sighed and leaned back in her chair. “The fact that he is going back to Tokyo tomorrow and he demanded that I teach his lesson means that he is here just to talk to me,”
“Well duh.”
Hannah ignored her. She was still shocked that Mamoru was waiting in the other room; she always assumed that he had no clue where she even worked. Glancing at the clock, Hannah let out a deep groan. She still had about 10 minutes until her trial was scheduled to begin, but, if possible, Mariko liked for them to start trials early. And the longer she waited to start this lesson, the harder it would be to go in there and face him.
“Guess I better go face the music.”
Sam rested her hand on Hannah’s shoulder. “Good luck. You’re going to need it. Just don’t hit him or anything. That might be hard to explain.”
“Will try to remember that.”
Taking a deep breath to calm herself down, Hannah stood up, plastered on a fake smile, and walked out into the hallway. Before heading into the main office, she slipped into the bathroom to check on her hair and make-up. If I’ve got to do this, she thought, I’m going to at least look good while I am suffering.
Out of reasons to delay the inevitable, Hannah checked herself out one more time then entered the office.
“Ah, Hannah,” Mariko greeted. “This is Mamoru, your trial,” she continued, oblivious to the look he was giving the teacher. Although his body language was very relaxed and confident, Hannah could see the uneasiness in his eyes.
“Hello,” he said with a hint of a smirk. However the slight fear in his voice showed Hannah how uncomfortable he really was.
Suddenly Hannah’s chest began to ache; she wasn’t ready for this. Ever since last night she was struggling with her decision. For over a year now she has wanted nothing more than to have some kind of relationship with Mamoru even if it was just friendship. Last night he basically offered her the chance to have the relationship she has been dreaming of, and she just threw that chance away. The logical side of her knows that it was the right decision, but the romantic in her is urging her to change her mind; to give him another chance. Until one side was declared the winner, she wanted to have no contact with Mamoru.
But that choice was taken away from her, and now she had to be professional and pretend that this was no different than any other trial. There was no way she was going to explain this situation to her boss.
“Hello,” she replied cheerfully. “It is good to see you.” Hannah glanced up at the clock. “Oh, if you are ready, then we can go on ahead and start,” she offered.
“Sure.”
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