"You must have a peel."

My principal, vice principal, and some other coworkers kept trying to get me and another Korean American who works in an after school program at our school together. Close to when we started, they began asking me if I'd be interested in him.

We had our final dinner together for the after school program, which lost funding and will be officially over this Thursday (thank goodness). Just like the last one, the principal spent quite a bit of time trying to convince us we'd make a good couple.

I stayed a bit quiet because I had already told them I wasn't interested, but I didn't really want to say anything mean while trying to defend my case. The guy, on the other hand, kept talking. He would say things like, "Well, I want to stay in Korea and Gloria wants to go back to her family, so that's why." Then he would say something like, "We should pretend we're a couple, like in that show We Got Married."

My 6th grade co-teacher suggested that they get us drunk and see if we warm up to each other.

I turned around and said, "Mr. Bae! Stop."

After the dinner, my principal offered me a ride home. Along the way, she asked me if I really didn't have any interest in the guy. Mind you, she doesn't speak in English very well, so she speaks mainly in Korean with a few attempts at English words. I laughed softly because she already knew I wasn't interested. Then she pointed to her temple and said, "You don't have a peel?"

I was so confused. "Peel?"

"Yes. Peel." She pointed to her head again. "No peel?"

Suddenly, it dawned on me; she meant "feel" as in "feeling."

I answered, "Yes. No feeling. I think he doesn't either."

She nodded and answered seriously, "That's right. It won't work if you don't have a peel."

I nodded.

She pointed to her temple again as if to emphasize the point, "You must have a peel."

She's so adorable.