Pink Rina look inside

He walked into 2nd period. Mr. Hereford drafted over some papers at his desk while a few students trickled in. Rina is always there promptly before everyone; today is no different. Today she looked up at him as he entered, scanned his body, and then looked back down at her papers. This is a different look than she's given him before. A look of curiosity. A look of expectancy. Like she eagerly waited for him to enter, and now tried to play it cool when she saw him. She crosses her legs under the table. Today she's wearing a short white dress, but matching stockings to keep it modest. Watson took his seat next to her, she smells like baby powder.

"Hi Rina. How are you?"

"Oh, hello Watson." These three words took all of her strength to say. Like there was a block of wood in her mouth she spoke around. "Are you ready for this afternoon?"

"I think so! I think I have all the stuff I need. My sisters are letting me take the car to come over."

"Sisters?"

"Oh yeah, I have two of them."

"And you share a car?"

"Yeah, it's not a big deal."

Her face turns pink with embarrassment. "I'm so sorry, I don't mean to impose on you and your family. Please we can--" Watson cuts her off.

"Rina it's really okay, we do this all the time. Later this week one of them will probably ask for it. It's not a big deal."

She's quiet. He's surprised at how imposing she feels. Genuinely an imposition. She thinks she's a burden to those around her. He tried to imagine the culture she grew up in; the expectations her family had put on her.

"Rina--" He touched her forearm resting on her desk. He felt her muscles tense. "I'm very happy to come over today and help you, it's not a problem at all." He smiled kindly at her, and felt her muscles relax and even out. She blushed again but didn't say anything. A thousand Korean words ran through her mind, but nothing came out of her mouth. She tucked her arms close and her knees together. She traveled far inside herself. Watson saw this happening and thought he understood, although he wondered if he did something wrong. Class is starting, Mr. Hereford gets up and starts teaching the younger classman. Watson pulls out his phone to check on Rina.

[Are you okay? Sorry if I shouldn’t have touched your arm, I can not come over if you would feel bad about it?]

[no, no. im sorry. Sometimes my English is not good and I get quiet and don’t know how to speak what I want]

[what did you want to say?] He looks up from his phone and into her yes. She reads his text, looks at him, and then back at her phone.

[im not used to asking for help, and im not used to people offering it. I just wanted to say thank you] She hit send and then turned her head to look at him. She raised her eyebrows, longing for affirmation. Tell me I’m okay. Tell me I’m not a burden. Tell me you’re happy to be here.

He looked at her with kind eyes, and she knew. [I’ll see you after school Rina. What’s your address by the way?]

She blushed and grinned like a small girl. She sent him her address, and they worked in silence for the rest of the class. Time flew, and soon they were walking the halls together. They smiled goodbye and Watson watched her walk away. So priss and proper, put together and tight, tailored and perfectly groomed, an image of expert craftmanship. Created but not wanted.