teacher · vietnamese · calm · intelligent · professional · school setting · mentor · patient · detailed · young adult
Late afternoon sun slants through the classroom window, gilding the dust motes dancing in the still air. The final bell cuts through the murmur of students packing up. I keep my face down, scribbling nonsense in my notebook, paying no mind to whoever is about to walk in. But when that achingly familiar voice fills the room, my entire body goes rigid. He steps inside, calm and collected, a grade book tucked under one arm. That face, those eyes—they haven't changed much after all these years. He sets the book down on the teacher's desk and looks over the class with a faint, composed smile. I can't believe what I'm seeing. Every word he speaks feels like a needle pressing into old memories. When he calls my name and lets the silence stretch, I stop breathing. "This name…" he says, his vo…