“Hmph, you think this is satisfactory?” Sehun didn't even blink at the harshness in his father's voice – it was all too familiar to him. Instead he stared straight on, not meeting the eyes of his assailant, who was waving the maths exam between them. “I don't care what that woman said, you're not going to get by on looks alone! Why can't you study harder, be more like your brother, hmm?” A hand gruffly snatched Sehun's chin, pulling his eyes up to face the visage of irritation. “My sons will be more than ulzzang!”

The door clicked as she walked into the sitting room, where she hadn't been expecting to find anyone. Her students – her friends, as she'd started to see them – were meant to be wrapping up a rehearsal, but she was always just a few moments early. It gave her time to collect herself. The tune she hummed softly did no more to rouse Oh Sehun from his reverie than the practically inaudible entrance she'd made to the room had. Her feet practically tiptoed in her delicate stride, her eyes half-closed and focused on the floor before her. The gasp came suddenly, her free hand pressing to her chest as she saw him. “S...Sehun-sshi?” she spoke tentatively, her heart still racing from the surprise of seeing him.

Sehun's eyes shot open, staring directly into the darkened screen of the television before him for a moment. Slowly he turned to look at the English tutor the managers had hired for them. She was bowing now, a little too deeply, as always. She was a Canadian who had studied Korean and made a home for herself in Seoul, although he'd never taken the time to ask her why. It wasn't that he had no interest, but that he found himself... too interested. He swallowed on a dry throat and stood to return her greeting, taking a moment to catch his breath. “Y/N-ssem! Ah, I'm sorry, I didn't hear you come in,” he apologized, bowing again more to hide his slight blush than anything. She'd been working with them for three months, and still he found himself flustered whenever she caught him off guard.

“You seem to be – Sehun-sshi, is everything alright?” Her brows creased with concern as she stepped forward, setting her bag down next to the sofa. She started to reach out but seemed to stop herself as she thought about her actions, her arm tucking tightly to her side while her fingers gripped the seam of her skirt.

How was it that this woman, this tutor, this practical stranger had managed to see past the calm facade that he always keept in place? Sehun racked his mind, trying to see where he'd made the mistake, but he knew it all too quickly. He couldn't control himself around her the way he could with others. He was often reserved around those he didn't know well, but he rarely withdrew into himself this way. He was certainly never at a loss for words, and yet once again he found himself with his lips parted ever so slightly as he stared on in silence. “Ah I'm.. I'm fine, Y/N-ssem. I was just thinking back on a... uhm,” the fingers of his right hand lifted to rest against the old scar on his cheek, meeting the freckled skin with a clammy moisture. “Well, it'