Since his teenage years, Ali was known for his short temper.
However ever since he decided to become a teacher and eventually becoming one, he was determined to control his temper and exercise unlimited patience while dealing with his students.
Three years into the teaching world, his previous idealistic self also gradually changed. Turned out he was dead wrong.
Patience should have a limit and respect goes both ways. In fact, in certain cases, the students did not deserve both, especially those who once you give them an inch, will shamelessly take a mile.
One of those students is the female student in front of him, with not the slightest guilt on her face.
Clearly, it was not the first time she had said those degrading words to other people. Not if she was this confident to say it to him, a person whose identity was completely unknown to her.
Outraged of her behaviour, Ali snatched his phone out of her tight grip before she could put his phone into a brown paper box next to them.
Albeit surprised, she did not give in. She gritted her teeth as she tried to snatch his phone back causing Ali to yell in anger.
"Peasant? You know what! I am a teacher, and I will not tolerate your rude behaviour and I will report you to the discipline teacher." Ali looked towards the female prefect next to her. "You. Tell me where the office."
"You're lying! Give that back." She said, unwilling to give up.
Ali who finally lost his patience, shouted, "Are you for real!? Why would I lie about that?"
Out of the blue, her eyes widened and she quickly changed her stance to standing still with her hands folded politely in front of him.
In that same moment, the whispers, as well as the footsteps of the student walking towards the main hall in Ali's background gradually reduced into a total silence. If a single dime was to fall on the floor, the sound might echo throughout the place.
Ali was taken aback a little, wondering if this silence caused by his sudden outburst.
Ali's eyes darted from Anna to the fidgeting female prefect who stood perfectly still as a statue during the whole exchange.
However, their widening eyes were not on him.
In fact, it was at the person behind him.
Ali felt cold air on his back despite the warmth from the rising sun. Unable to contain his curiosity, Ali turned around slowly, his heart pounding faster in anticipation.
A tall sturdy woman came to his sight and Ali recognised her with one look. Pretty impossible not to recognise her when there was a huge picture of her on the huge 'Welcome Back to School' banner right outside the school.
He almost mistaken her as the contending politician on the election campaign.
She had a pale skin and a shoulder-length black hair with tinges of gray here and there, similar with the picture. The difference was that she was smiling in the picture but she was not at the time.
Combined with the deadpan look and the cold expression on her face, she could easily replace Morticia Addams in the Addams family series.
However, unlike the usual black outfit worn by the legend character, the woman in front of him was wearing a dark blue blazer with a grey blouse with a silver brooch on her waist underneath the blazer. The blouse was then tucked into a long black pencil skirt reaching below her knees.
With her eyes unwaveringly focusing on Anna, she said "He is not lying. He is indeed a teacher." Without waiting for Anna's reaction, she then turned her head towards Ali, her eyes void of expression.
"Follow me.", she said shortly. She started walking away, leaving the dumbfounded Ali behind. After grabbing his briefcase and took the time to gloat over the dissatisfied look on the student's face, Ali scrambled to match her fast footsteps.
She walked with her chin up high along the corridor and turning right towards a flight of stairs which led them up to the first floor. Her black heels made subtle clicking sounds on the floor with each step she took.
Despite that being the very first time they had met each other, the woman seemed totally disinterested of getting to know him.
Ali who was used to the normal greeting which usually followed by self-introduction from the woman in front of him, felt uneasy. Should he stop her first and introduce himself? Or did she know him already?
Oblivious of Ali's inner turmoil, she continued walking with Ali following her closely. His eyes darted around in curiosity.
She finally stopped in front of a wood double door, with the sign "STAFFROOM" nailed to the door. She opened the door.
Inside, the communal room for the teachers was empty except for a large, bald man who looked like in his early 50s who was sitting comfortably on his office revolving chair with his legs on the table.
The man's cubicle looked cluttered with black ring files almost covering his whole desk. Ali took the opportunity to observe the room.
The cubicles in the room were placed in groups of four and a black nameplate pasted for each cubicle. A long meeting table was placed in the middle of the room, which caused the room to be visibly separated into three.
He was wearing a light-yellow dress shirt with the two of the upper buttons undone, revealing some of his chest hair peeking underneath it, and a black trouser.
He had his tie wrapped around his left wrist and a half-eaten sandwich in his right hand. His eyes remain focused on the TV hung high on the wall, its screen displaying the morning news.
Ali turned his head turned towards the woman who led him to this unsightly view.
Comparing the two's looks, one reminded him of the elegant matriarch figure in the Addams family while the other, the typical retired Asian uncle in his element.
As they entered, he looked up and remarked: "Wow, a new teacher – how did you find a new lamb that quick?" Amused of his own words, he smiled broadly, exposing his pearly white teeth, a huge contrast to his general untidy appearance.
Although the sentence was clearly meant for Ali, the man's smile was mostly directed to the woman in front of him. As if he was mocking her. Ali wondered why.
The woman suddenly kicked the chair sat on by the man with her heels. So hard that the chair started rolling away. The next thing Ali saw was the bald man grunting in pain while clutching his arm in a foetal position on the floor.
"He's not a lamb. He's a teacher. Be respectful." She said calmly as if she was not the one who had just kicked a man causing him to fell harshly onto the floor.
Ali froze in shock.
What did he just witness? Of course, the man was being loose in his choice of words, but it did not warrant him to be treated that way.
Although she is the principal whose technically is the boss of all the teachers here, responding in such manner to a teacher was still unacceptable. Considering that he was about to be a teacher at this school as well, Ali was scared of his own fate.
She watched over the man struggling to get up without a single line of guilt apparent on her face. Ali shook his head in disbelief.
He bent down to pick up the half-eaten sandwich from the floor and held the man's shoulder with his other hand, trying to help him up.
The man mumbled 'rude' under his breath, his eyes staring daggers to the obnoxious principal who had walked herself to the opposite side of the room. She stopped and flicked her finger towards Ali, beckoning him to join her.
Ali looked back guiltily towards the man who simply waved him off with a smile before leaving the room. "Listen. My name is Mrs Lee Zhang Fei, and I am the principal of this school. Your seat is right there."
She then pointed towards an empty cubicle right next to the back door. He eyed the files that were stacked high on the desk anxiously.
Noticing Ali's stare, she commented, "Tsch. Look at the mess. This teacher, she left last week. Literally packed up her things, left a resignation letter on my desk and go. Too bad, she was a good teacher though she was quite too soft-hearted to my liking."
"Why did she left?" Ali enquired, genuinely curious of the reason behind the previous teacher's sudden departure.
She went silent for a moment.
Noticing that Ali kept silent waiting for her and that he would not back down without a satisfactory answer from her, she snickered in response. "Is that the important thing right now? The important thing is that you are now in charge of her class. There are a bunch of school toppers in that class you're about to teach."
She then continued nonchalantly as if she did not just drop a bombshell on him. "Your performance is what you should be worried about. You know, if I were you, I would not waste time worrying about nonsense when I have to worry more about being my best as someone else' replacement. "
This woman was clearly trying to dodge the bullet by aiming for his head instead.
Ali forced a smile, before replying. "Really? I think now that I'm in charge of her class, it becomes more important for me to know the reason behind her resignation, so that I can perform my best."
Mrs Zhang Fei was not impressed.
"You're acting quite shameless for someone who got into trouble on the first day of his work. Scolding a student in front of everyone. Now talking back to me. Should I remind you that I am your employer, and you are a teacher? "
"I was doing my job as a teacher. She was being rude for no reason, and I need to stop her …"
Before Ali could continue defending himself, she held up her hand and shook her head. "Don't you interrupt me while I am speaking. I have no wish to listen to your feeble excuses. You can start acting professional and behave from now on and if I caught you acting rashly in front of the students one more time, off you go."
She started walking towards the door but stopped after opening the door. Turning her head towards Ali before saying, "Can't believe I would have to say this to a teacher." She looked him up and down with a disdain look before slamming the door closed.
Ali bit his lips while looking at the cluttered desk in front of him. Although his question was left unanswered, Ali felt like he already knew the answer.