Anna

“Mmmm!” I swallowed a mouthful of fragrant, beef-infused rice noodles. The gentle soup flooded my palette, leaving savoury deposits of umami to smack my tongue against. I dug through my almost-empty bowl with chopsticks, searching for leftover noodles as if they were rare shells. Occasionally, I’d net a morsel of brisket like I accidentally fished up buried treasure. The salt and lime and flavour filled water made a heavenly combination that would cure even the nastiest hangovers.

The fiercest slurps came from Seri, who sat beside me. Both of us happened to wear cream coloured cardigans today, over a white shirt and black pants. Neither of us took care to prevent broth from spilling on our shirts. We were fully engaged in our large bowls of pho; although her interest was genuine, and mine was more of a necessity.

I glanced up. A young woman sat in front of us, enjoying her medium bowl at a moderate pace. Light brown hair and purple rimmed glasses masked her age — I didn’t know how old she was, and I was too afraid to ask directly. Her collared shirt was unbuttoned at the top, covered with a loose, grey linen sweater. Why was this sophisticated looking lady eating with us, you might wonder?

I originally asked Seri out for lunch to talk about something. We hadn’t texted since our evening drive with the fruits, and I was worried that things got awkward between us. Thankfully she said yes. Not so thankfully, she decided to bring a friend from her class. However, my initial letdown transformed into confusion when I met the “friend” in question.

It was her english professor.

Eventually, the contents in my pho weren’t enough to keep me occupied. I grew uncomfortable sitting at the table, and the restaurant’s odd choice of dubstep didn’t make the atmosphere any more bearable for me. My eyes darted towards the other two bowls. They were still eating. I thought it’d be rude to pull out my phone in the presence of a PhD-haver, so I asked a question immediately after I mustered the courage.

“So why are all the english profs so young?”

Seri slapped my shoulder. “Stop hitting on Anna!”

“I wasn’t!”

Anna lurched forward, trying to hold her laughter mid-slurp. “I’m gonna choke,” she gulped, then daintily wiped her mouth with a napkin. “How old do you think I am?”

I froze. “Uhhh…”

“Yeah. How old do you think she is?” Seri piled on. Both girls gazed at me expectantly, with Anna giving a surprisingly playful look. This was unfair… although I didn’t mind being teased by an older woman.

“I thought you were our age until Seri said you taught her class.” Bam. Flawless answer.

The edges of Anna’s eyes wrinkled beautifully as she smiled. I couldn’t help but admire them. Dopamine flooded my brain in a way that no prof has ever induced before, and my neurons were truly activated.

Ah. Those eyes are the sign of a life well-lived.

“I went straight from my undergrad to masters to doctoral program,” Anna said. “That makes me thirty.”

“Oh, that’s the same age as Seri’s sister. Is that why you guys get along?”

“Nope,” Seri said. “I just asked a lot of questions. But some girls started gossiping about me talking too much, so we started hanging out after class.”

Anna’s kind smile never left her face. “There’s nothing wrong with asking questions,” she said affirmingly. This lady was an angel.

Boundaries, Sunny

I gave myself a mental slap-in-the-face and averted my eyes. I shouldn’t stare at her lips too much…

“So what made you become an english prof?” Seri asked.

Nice save. I proceeded to listen from the sidelines of their conversation.

Anna chuckled. “It’s a funny story, actually. I decided that I wanted to teach English back in ninth grade.”

“So early! What pushed you?”

“It was actually a videogame!” Anna’s irises glistened in a familiar way that made my heart pound. I looked away again. Where have I seen this expression before?

Seri continued to interview her. “Videogame?”

“Yeah!” Anna leaned forwards, and her face brightened. “I played Tears in the Wild. It’s such a beautiful game! I pretended it was a book and wrote a series of junior high book reports on it — I even taped the cover art to an actual novel and brought it into class! The story left such an impact on me, and it’s all I wanted to talk about. That’s what made me want to review stories for a living, and I’ve stuck with that plan ever since.”

“Did that lead into teaching?” Seri asked.

“Well, kind of. Now I teach students how to review stories using what I learned along the way. I’d love to go back to making reviews though…”

“Did you ever try uploading analysis videos?”

Anna bashfully adjusted her collar and leaned in. “Don’t tell anyone about this, okay?” she asked quietly.

We nodded.

“I still post them online every month.”

Seri and I immediately pulled out our phones.

“What’s your channel called?” I asked.

“H-hey!”

“Pleaaase? Or else I won’t come to class tomorrow!” Seri threatened.

“It’s… Razzberry Reviews,” Anna murmured. I pursed my lips. Seri audibly stifled a snort. How adorable was that?

The search results showed a feminine figure with a paper bag on her head. Holes were cut out for her eyes and mouth. There were ninety-nine subscribers before me, and I officially became one percent of her viewer base.

“Oooh! Can we watch these in class tomorrow?”

“N-no! Don’t tell anyone else!”

“Fine…” Seri pouted. “Oh, there’s something I’ve been meaning to ask…”

“Yeah?” Anna asked.

“Do you mind me putting you as a reference on my resumé? I’m looking for a part-time job as a pharmacy assistant.”

…what?

Anna’s eyes widened. “Of course! You’re applying into pharmacy, right? Do you need me to be a reference for your application too?”

Huh?

“Oh, I’ll be applying next year.”

“That’s no problem! Let’s keep in touch!”

“Great! Thank you!” Seri beamed. They shook hands across the table. I sat shocked. A part of me was jealous, really. I was never this close with any of my teachers, but seeing it pay off for Seri made me rethink my professional relationships.

“I’ll be taking my leave then. It was nice meeting you, Sunny.”

“Nice meeting you too!” I replied. A part of me wanted to grab her number — for academic purposes, of course. Was it too late to transfer classes?

Anna scooted towards Seri and lowered her voice into a whisper. “Seri. I know I told you your grade already, but don’t skip the last class.”

“There’s no way I would! I’m gonna miss you so much…” Seri whined.

“Save the tears for tomorrow.”

“Alright…” Seri pouted.

Anna turned and left. From the back, she walked the same way my mom did. That made me feel much more conflicted about admiring her.

Seri waved in front of me to block my vision. “Stop staring at my prof like that.”

“Sorry.”

“You didn’t even deny it…” she glared. Was she jealous? No, don’t get ahead of yourself.

“I was just wondering how you pulled that off,” I said.

“Pulled what off?”

“The resumé thing. I’ve never gotten close to a prof like that.”

“Ah! It’s simple,” Seri waved her chopsticks as she explained. “You just have to care about other people’s stories.”

“Like how you asked about Anna’s life?”

“Yeah! And you have to genuinely be interested too. People can tell when you’re faking it for your own benefit,” she squinted at me.

“Hey, I loved talking to Anna. I’ll definitely start getting to know my profs after meeting her.”

“Pervert.”

“Don’t say that so loud!”

“You didn’t even deny it.”

“So about the story thing…” I steered the subject back. “Do I just listen to people? How does that work?”

“Yup!” she exclaimed. “You know in the music industry, there’s ninety-eight thousand songs released everyday? Only a small handful of those – the ones from big artists – are heard. It’s the same for everything else too: most people aren’t listened to at all, so being curious and asking questions always works like magic. Just don’t be creepy about it.”

Don’t be creepy about it. Easier said than done.

As an overthinker, those worries constantly cloud my mind. I opened my mouth to argue but closed it when I saw her expression.

Seri’s eyes were glistening the same way Anna’s did earlier. It finally clicked in my mind.

Ah. That’s why I liked Anna so much.

Instead of being disagreeable like I had originally intended, I decided to play along.

“Seri.”

“Yeah?”

“Tell me about your family. What do your sisters and parents do?” I chose a topic that could lead to numerous different kinds of conversations. The possibilities excited me. After all, I came here today because I wanted to know her better.

The temperature rose a couple degrees as the girl next to me grinned.