LOVE:ZERO

The old gentleman on the stage turned on the microphone switch. A ringing sound came out of the old microphone, vibrating the crystals of the chandelier and scattering toward the ceiling.

“One, two,three, mic testing.”

The old gentleman then introduced himself as Walter Pembroke. Walter stood up straight, his pitch-black tuxedo forming a starck contrast to his white hair, which looked like freshly spun silk.

He has been the facilitator of a cotillion class for upper-class children in the heart of New York for the past 40 years.

The manners, etiquette, and  ballroom dancing he teaches are not much different from those learned by aristocratic children in the 19th century before their debut in society.

The New York upper-class of the 21st century thoroughly educated their children in the old-fashion manners and customs that had been buried with the millenium, as if they were introducing them to 19-century European society

“I also taught ballroom dancing and etiquette to the parents of the ladies and gentlemen who came here.”

He glanced around the hall, lifted his chin with a proud smile.

“Rebecca Green, the mother of Miss Reed, sitting there, Lorraine Collins, the mother of Miss Cabot, and, let’s see… Mr. Lafayette’s father, Andre de Lafayette, and Mr. Hamilton’s father, Jared Hamilton. It’s always a new feeling to see familiar faces of your students sitting on the mezzanine above you instead of where you are sitting.”

Walter raised his arm and pointed at Hunter.

“Before we get into class, let me say this. When the lady enters the room or arrives at the table, it is good manners for a gentleman to stand up like Mr. Hamilton and wait for the lady to sit down.”

This time he pointed to the assistant host sitting on the chair.

“Ladies, sit up straight with your back straight. Here, like Miss Megan Fairchild, keep your knees together and your ankles crossed. In any case,  sit with your knees together. Always remember to keep the correct posture in your body.”

Jiyu imitated Megan’s graceful sitting posture, bringing her knees together and crossing her ankles.

“Now it’s time to introduce yourself and greet the person sitting next to you. In the past, etiquette was for the lady to introduce herself first, then the gentleman. However, in modern society, order is not important. However, in our Cotillion class, we follow traditional etiquette. When greeting, make eye contact for a moment and shake hands. When shaking hands, shake hands with firmness that is neither too hard nor too weak. Now, look here and follow the person next to you.”

After Walter exchanges introductions with Megan, he gives the children time to get to know the children sitting next to them.

Jiyu squeezed her eyes shut and opened them. It would been better if she had sat next to a kid she didn’t know

As she turned to face Hunter, hesitant, Rex tapped her on the shoulder.

“Do it with me first.”

‘If I greet Rex first, Hunter sitting at the end will be left alone without a partner. Is it okay?’

Jiyu hesitated and tried to turn around,  but Rex pushed her forward without giving her any leeway.

“Don’t look anywhere else! Introduce yourself quickly.”

“Uh… My name is Olivia Parker. Nice to meet you.”

Jiyu mumbled and bit her lips. It was so embarrassing to greet someone she already knew well as if it was the first time she had met them.

But somehow Rex seemed overly excited.

“Hello, my name is Alexander de Lafayette. Nice to meet you.”

He smiled mischievously and took her hand.

“You have to look into each other’s eyes when you shake hands, Liv. Didn’t you hear what Mr. Pembroke said?”

As Jiyu quickly raised her eyes, Rex asked with a playful expression.

“Shall I show you the eye color change?”

When they were young, he tricked her by telling her the secret of Odd-Eyes, telling her that if she put her eyes in the middle, the color of her eyes would change.

Rex was the only one she knew who had Odd-Eyes, so she was a little suspicious, but she believed him. A few days later, when she told Hunter about it, he laughed until he was done reading the book and said that Jiyu Parker had become a fool.

At that moment, Rex’s eyes narrowed in the middle and he made a funny expression, Jiyu, who had been off guard, burst out laughing. Then, Hunter’s hand suddenly shot up and snatched her hand from Rex’s grasp.

“It’s my turn “

Rex raised one eyebrow, his eyes shining meaningfully as if telling her to look at it. Jiyu looked at Hunter with a surprise face.

He spat it out as if he was chewing on it.

“Introduction”

She swallowed hard and cleared her throat.

“Oh, Hi… My  name is Olivia Parker. Nice to meet you .“

After she finished her introduction, awkwardly stammering, she looked at him.

The blue eyes were strangely swept over. It seemed like he was angry, or maybe confused. Then, when our eyes met, he quickly looked down and hid his gaze.

When Hunter raised his gaze again, it was almost like he was glaring at her. He stubbornly raised his chin and held out his hand to Jiyu in an arrogant manner. When she just watched, he clicked his tongue and grabbed her hand.

“Hunter Han Hamilton”

That was the end of the introduction.

Jiyu, who has been hiding her eyes here and there to avoid the prying gaze, wiggled her fingers.

Hunter was gripping her hand tightly with the same strength as holding a tennis racket. It was tingling because the blood flow was cut off.

“…It hurts, Hunter.”

He seemed startled, then immediately slapped her hand away.

Jiyu sighed inwardly.

“Where on earth does he like you?”

She turned her head slightly toward Rex and whispered with her lips.

“You are wrong.”

Rex just smiled wise, eyes with an angelic face and said nothing.

ꕥ

Hunter felt dirty. It was annoying that Rex and Jiyu had been whispering to each other since a while ago. They weren’t kids,  so why did they find childish pranks so funny that they would butt heads and giggle?

A warm, unpleasant feeling bubbled around the pit of his stomach. They were both irritating, no matter what.

Jiyu was like that when she was young. Whenever Rex came, she would crawl out of the library where she had been shut in like  a rat and hang around in front of the ninja course that she had never been interested in before. She even opens her mouth wide and laughs like an idiot at Rex’s ridiculous jokes.

That was the first time Hunter saw it.

When Jiyu smiles, a strange sinkhole appears at the corner of her mouth.

It was so disgusting to think that she had hidden that on her face and shown it to Rex first.

Rex also tried to compete with Hunter in everything since he was young.

“Hunter, you’re 1/4 Korean, right? I’m 3/8 Korean. So no matter how hard you try, Korean will never beat me “

Rex, who got 7;out of 10 correct on the Korean dictation test,  was unluckily sulking in front of Hunter, who got 5 correct. Even Jiyu Parker, who got all 10 correct, was quiet.

“Liv, how much are you?”

Rex asked Jiyu. It was annoying that he was the only one called Jiyu by the nickname ‘Liv’.

Since when were they so close?

“Huh? What?”

“How much Korean are you?”

“Ahh… 1/2 Korean.”

Rex’s face turned gloomy as he calculated hard in his head. Hunter snickered, but Jiyu intervened for no reason.

“But Rex, you speak Korean much better than I do.”

“You are better at reading and writing.”

“That’s because I love reading books.”

Jiyu, blushing and smiling shyly, couldn’t be more hateful.

“Why are you laughing? Where’s the funny thing about it?”

That night, Hunter couldn’t sleep because he was angry. After tossing and fuming all night, he reluctantly accepted the reality that his Korean was a little bit behind theirs, not much, but just a little bit.

Rex’s father, Andre de Lafayette, was a linguistic genius who spoke seven languages. Rex must have inherited some of those genes because he also had an excellent language acquisition ability. In addition, during summer vacations, he would go to his maternal grandmother’s house in Korea and stay there for a couple of months.

As a result, even though he was a bit lacking in reading  and writing, he spoke Korean fluently as if it were his native language.

Jiyu was able to read, write, and speak thanks to the annoying lady who spoke only Korean to her, even though she didn’t speak English well.

Since then, Hunter studied Korean day and night to catch up with the two. He had never worked this hard on anything except tennis. Lauren was very happy as his Korean skills improved day by day.