What the hell? Was she joining class?
His gaze dipped to her waist. Her white belt indicated yes.
Going by the affection in both Hannah’s gaze and Master Myeoung’s, they clearly knew each other. Maybe she was a former student? If so, weird. He’d been coming for a decade and a half and hadn’t seen her. He would’ve remembered.
Yet clearly, the two knew each other.
They wrapped up a quiet and brief conversation, and Master Myeoung gestured for her to take a spot at the back with the other white belts.
She made her way across the floor, her face pinched with a self-conscious smile. She’d do a quick nod to those watching her.
Tension gripped his muscles. Any second now her gaze would find him. Any second...
There it was. Her eyes rounded and she stumbled slightly.
His lips quirked and he gave a small nod of welcome, before drawing in a measured breath and turning his attention to Master Myeoung who was about to begin warm-ups for class.
Being in the front of the classroom, he could only catch glimpses of her in the mirror that reached across the entire front of the room.
She was definitely doing great with the warm-ups. He gave a small grunt of respect and narrowed his eyes. Maybe she had done this before, because Hannah seemed to be holding her own.
When it was time to start running the patterns, Master Myeoung met Eric’s glance.
“Eric, will you work with my niece on ChonJi?”
“Yes, Master.” Eric bowed.
Niece.
Hannah was Master Myeoung’s niece? What were the damn chances?
“Hey,” she whispered at his approach.
“Hey.” Idle talk wasn’t something that happened in the dojang, so whatever else he wanted to say, he bit back. “Do you know any of this pattern?”
“I took a few classes when I was a kid. I don’t remember much.”
“It’ll come back to you. First, put your feet into a back stance. Like this.”
She complied and followed each step he showed her in the first pattern.
“I can’t believe I remember some of this,” she whispered.
“You’re doing great. Keep repeating the pattern while we run through the next ones. Once you move up a belt, you’ll learn the next one. There’s another white belt over there.” He nodded to the right. “Watch him if you get confused.”
“Okay.” She bowed, but not before her gaze locked on his briefly. Her eyes sparkled with excitement and appreciation. “Thank you.”
He gave a half smile and bowed in response, before returning to the front with the other black belts. While running through all the patterns, his attention kept sliding to her.
She stumbled now and then on the steps of the pattern, but a quick glance at the white belt next to her always put her back on track.
Once they’d run through all the patterns and were lining up to practice front kicks in pairs, he walked back to be with her.
“How about these? You remember them?” He kept his words quiet as he demonstrated the first front kick.
She mimicked him and gave a small nod. “Yeah. I’m actually surprised how much is coming back to me.”
God, she shouldn’t look so sexy in the dobok. But the oversized uniform was cinched with the white belt, showing off just how tiny she was.