Seeing her again 3

'Saki, I owe you one. Never thought that I will find her here. Thank you.' he turns around abruptly to hide the genuine smile that broke his lips. No one see how his face lits up with the small but deep dimple on his left cheek. It makes his face so handsome that you can compare him to an angel.

In 5 seconds, he return to his serious self before turning around to greet his students. He looked around to the sea of students in front of him before gazing a lot longer at the back of the room.

It happened so fast that it took less than a minute from the time he saw her to him returning back to his normal demeanor. No one see that he was rattled, well, except for her.

"Good afternoon everyone. Its 1:05 pm. I am Rhyu Umona, your substitute instructor for a month. Mr. Saki Bana will not be available for the time being as he is abroad for a business trip." He said with a stern face before looking down to the piece of paper containing the attendance of the 3rd year students of Applied Arts. He started calling them one by one, checking their names and their faces. Many female students try to get his attention by making high pitch sound when called, raising their hands, standing up or by showing big smiles and flicking their hair.

Rhyu actually finds this slightly amusing but his nerves is on edge as he anticipates to call her name. The faces of the people around him didn't register in his mind because it was occupied by her face alone.

Finally, it's time to mention her name. His heart skipped a bit when he saw the familiar name that is engrained on his mind. He did a double quick pause to inhale and exhale before he called out in his loud and steady voice.

"Hazano, Seyoo"

He looked up and there, amidst the background murmuring of the students, he saw the hesitant way of her raising her hand. It was so low that if you are not focused on the person, you might miss it. Their eyes meet for a brief second before she retracted her gaze and looks down, her right hand still extended upward. He, in the meantime, continues to gaze for 4 more seconds before glancing on the piece of paper in his hand. He is disappointed that they are not alone right now. All he wants to do is to look at her and talk about the things that happened in the past year. Seyoo, for him, is like a beacon and energizer whenever he felt down in the past year. He just think of her whenever he experienced challenges and difficulties and everything will be good. So it was really a big and wonderful surprise to have her in his first class.

Rhyu face turn more serious with his lips tightly close together as he think of a way to talk to her and maybe offer some help. He hate this feeling that he is not in control of the situation and that he really can't do anything because of his position as their instructor. Although he thinks about her, his professionalism still kicks in. He looks down to the paper he is holding, checking the next student to be called. He saw in his peripherical how quick Seyoo retracted her hand and maintain her head in a bow position

The effect of his serious face and sturdy voice makes the students talk more loudly about him. They think that he is sexy and handsome like a model.

"Everybody, please open your computer and check the file that Mr. Bana sent last time. We will continue where you left off last time... "

---

Within 3 hours of the lesson and coding, Rhyu tries to meet Seyoo's gaze. He even went to several seats as if checking on the students' progress but he just want to have an excuse to see her closely. When it was Seyoo's turn, he lingers for a bit longer and tries to engage her with some questions about the coding she is doing but all he gets is a nod or shake of her head. He go to the left most corner at the back of the auditorium, seemingly overseeing everybody but his eyes are fix on her. Memorizing her side view look.

'She looks different yet the same at the same time. How can I introduce myself to her? Is she still inflicted with her condition? But how can she study here if that's still the case?' He asks himself this questions. 'How is she now? I hope she forgot what happen last year.' He added to himself. He really wanted to talk to her and tell her who he is but he knows that it is not the right time. He is afraid to spook her and remind her of the past year.