Private Lesson: Tae Kwon Do Me by Lola Fox Page B

across.
    The serious look on his face has me
zipping my mouth shut, but in my defense, I think my peculiar
behavior has something to with how anxious I feel…knowing I’m going
to be alone with Master Park for the next forty-five minutes or
so…
    * * *
    Jesus, I’m sweating like a pig here.
And not wet in the way I’d like to be, either. Master Park’s pacing
in front of me…around me…has me doing actual work! I’m punching and
kicking, repeating the steps over and over again to the point my
arms feel like they’re going to fall off, and my legs, well, I
can’t fucking feel them, like, at all.
    I curse under my breath, and I swear
he’s wearing a grin on that ugly mug of his. Okay, not really ugly,
but I’m none too pleased with him right now, so…ugly it is.
“Asshole,” I mutter, sweat falling like hard rain over my
makeup-coated face. To think I did all that work before I got
here…just to have it ruined! Fuck!
    “ Did you say something, Ms.
Kinkaid?”
    I swear he’s mocking me, I
can hear the sarcastic tone in his ugly voice. Yes, as of this
moment, even his voice is ugly to me, as well as his face.
“ Hai! ” Take my
Japanese and shove it up your hiney-hole. “I’m thirsty,” I groan,
pleading like I do with my dad when I’m not getting my
way.
    “ Really?”
    “ Yes, really,” I fire back,
punching at the air, while pretending I’m beating his stupid
face.
    “ Perhaps you should take a
break, Ms. Kinkaid?”
    “ Yes, that’s precisely what
I was thinking, too.” I feel my lips curving into a smile, and I
can only imagine how good that cold water is going to taste, going
down my dry-as-shit throat. “See, I knew you were just messing with
me, you know, earlier.”
    As I go to put my arms down, I’m met
with a chuckle from Master Park, and not the pleasant kind, either.
More like sarcastic, like he’s fucking with me again.
    “ Oh, Ms. Kinkaid, tsk,
tsk.” Master Park shakes his head, adding, “Your father told me you
lack discipline…that you manipulate people into getting your
way…that everything comes just a little too easily for
you.”
    “ That right?” I ask, sweaty
palms resting on my hips, wondering what else my father’s told him
about me that he shouldn’t have.
    “ Yes, and judging from what
I’ve seen so far…I’m inclined to believe him.”
    “ Hmph.” I swipe at my
sweat-riddled face with the sleeve of my dobok. “You know what? I’ve changed
my mind about you.” Master Park just stands there, wearing a stoic
face if I’ve ever seen one, hands folded across his chest, shaking
his head at me. The nerve of that…that…shit, I can’t think of
anything clever to call him. Goddamn him, he’s so irritatingly
perfect. Instead, I resort to defending myself with the best weapon
in my arsenal—my big mouth. “You shouldn’t judge a book by its
cover. Not very martial artsy of you. You don’t know anything about
me.”
    “ All I know is what you
show me, Ms. Kinkaid. And what I see is a young woman with little
to no respect for anything or anyone besides herself. I mean,
you’re the first student I’ve ever had in my fourteen years as an
instructor that’s sewn her name to the front of her uniform. So
disrespectful.”
    “ But—” is all I get out
before Master Park cuts me off. How rude.
    He begins, “And—”
    So I do the same to him.
Right back atcha, Master. “ But, I just wanted to—”
    “ And, ” he raises his voice over mine, effectively cutting me off
again, “you act as if you don’t want to be here. So?”
    “ So what?”
    “ Exactly why are you here?
Why did you sign up for a private lesson with me that costs so much
more than the group one? Why, if obviously, you can’t take what
we’re doing here seriously?”
    Like I would tell him why. Sure, I’ve
got a big mouth, but for me to just come out and say it? That being
alone with him is the sole reason why I got my dad to pay for
private lessons? That’s pretty bold, even