"Dad, what are you doing?"
Lin asked her father, His Majesty.
"Oh, hi-, sweetie. Why are you still awake?", the father looked up from the pile of papers on his desk and asked his lovely daughter.
"It's only 11 O'clock, Dad"
"Then shouldn't you be in bed?"
"Duh-, what do you think I am? A six-year-old?"
"You will always be to me, darling"
"Yuk"
The father felt both sad and cozy inside. He reminisced about the old days when he used to read her bed time stories at 9, but those days were surely long gone - at least a decade ago. At the same time, he was proud of the fine young lady - in his eyes - that his daughter has grown to be.
Kids grow much too soon, but also much too slow. So whenever the parent looked at his dear daughter, there was a mixed feeling of nostalgia and pride - the memories from her childhood and the teenage attitude that she put up which only made her look cuter to him.
But then again, he thought to himself, if it were a son he would have beat the hell out of the bratty child's teenage attitude.
"It's all for you actually", His Majesty came back to the present reality and answered.
"Huh? What are these?"
The Princess came over and sat on his desk, dangling her feet, picking up some papers only to scatter them back onto the desk without looking at them.
"Resumes for the teachers at your school"
"Why do you even need them?"
"I want to make sure that my daughter is taught in the best possible educational environment. And of course, that all starts with good teachers"
"Eh? But why are you going over them yourself?"
"I want to make sure that my daughter is-"
"Ah, forget it", the Princess waved him off as she knew he was only going to repeat the same sentence jokingly.
'Sigh, Dad jokes'
"But what do you mean resumes? You are hiring a new teacher just for me?"
"Well", the king leaned back on his most comfortably cushioned leather chair.
"After what happened at your last school. I want to ensure that you at least have a homeroom teacher who will keep you in line"
"I'm not a dog"
"Lin, I think it's about time you mature a little and start taking school more seriously"
"I DO take them seriously. My grades weren't that bad, you know?"
"That's not it. Your discipline… hasn't been that great, has it? Especially that fight you had with…"
"Yuk, don't mention that brat again, please. He deserved it"
"Punching British Royalty in the face is frowned upon, my child"
"Aw, don't YOU start it now"
"We've gone over this enough before - I hope. In any case, I'm not taking any chances. I want to make sure that we find you a suitable teacher"
"All teachers are the same"
"Not quite, young lady"
"Yeah, yeah, whatever. So these are all the applicants?"
Lin pointed at the pile of papers and a few that were scattered on His Majesty's desk. He wasn't exactly a tidy person, or rather, his mind worked best when things were well scattered.
"Yes. Needless to say, they are all highly qualified. Academically, that is"
"So what's your criteria? How can you pick one?"
"I want someone young. Someone who's young and motivated. It's easy to find an experienced teacher, but with age and experience comes dwindling passion"
"Go figure. Old men are boring. Just like you"
His Majesty chuckled at his daughter's bluntness. He liked that about her.
"Then maybe I'll let your Mom pick someone for you"
"Oh, God, no! I'm sure she will pick some crazy strict old hag!"
"So you want a young man?"
"I didn't say that! Besides, teachers are teachers, they are all boring. They are losers who couldn't aim for anything bigger in their lives"
That triggered the usually forgiving father a little.
"That is no way for you to speak about people who dedicate their lives to the future of the world, Lin. Without good teachers, there is no hope for the future generation", he spoke sternly.
"I think you've watched the Dead Poet's Society one too many times. Cringe"
"It was a good movie. And yes, it is precisely THAT kind of inspiring teacher that I wish to find for you"
"Gees, I'm going to bed"
"Good night then, honey"
As Lin slipped herself off the desk, she knocked over the pile of resumes and they fell to the floor, for which she did not apologize. She turned to head toward the door when His Majesty decided to teach a little lesson. He spoiled her rotten since she was a child, but good manners were something he wanted to instill in his daughter.
"Please pick them up"
Lin turned back for a moment, eyed her father, shrugged, and turned back to leave the room again.
"Lin. Please pick them up"
The girl halted and looked up at the ceiling let out a sigh and came back to kneel and pick up the papers.
'Man. The old man can be so troublesome', was what the brat was thinking.
It was then that a particular paper caught her eye. At the top right corner of the resume, a photograph of the teacher was attached, and something drew her attention. She picked it up and looked at the picture carefully.
He wasn't particularly handsome or had any extraordinary features that stood out. To everyone, he would have just passed as a decent-looking young man. But for a very very brief moment, she felt her heart flutter a little. He looked exactly like this side character she had a crush on in the shoujo manga she had been reading recently.
'Minsu. He looks JUST like Minsu!'
With excitement, she studied his resume more closely.
'Lee Jun. 26 years old. Wow, that's quite young. He's not even ten years older than me'
Something in her heart stirred. The girl who had a collection of thousands of shoujo manga in her room - she would have died in embarrassment if any of her friends found out - had a fleeting moment of fantasy play out in her mind.
Romance with a young tsundere male teacher, who's cold to her at the beginning but she wins his heart over and he will give up his teaching job to be with her.
She did a quick kyaa-roll in her mind and picked up the resume.
"Ahem, Dad"
"Yes?"
"I want this man"
Lin handed over Lee Jun's resume to her Dad.
His Majesty took the paper and studied it carefully.
"Hm, an international school in Germany. Perfect IB score. First Class Honours with Distinction. Education and English major - 26 years old"
"What do you think?", the coyish girl asked.
The father's danger sense tingled for a moment as he saw the glitter in his daughter's eyes.
'I'm probably just imagining things. But if my daughter starts enjoying going to school because she likes the teacher… maybe that's not all that bad?'
"Fine. Let's go with him"
"Yippe-, ahem. OK, I guess that's acceptable"
Lin cleared her throat, picked up all the loose papers from the ground, piled them up nicely for her father on his desk, and left the room with a heart that did a little more than a flutter.
She couldn't wait to meet her very own (real life!) version of Minsu from the shoujo manga.