Seungcheol had his arm propped on his desk; his chin resting on his palm while his other hand aimlessly doodled on the margins of his notebook. His attention wandered away as Mr. Kang conducted that day’s biology lesson. The boy felt guilty but the teacher’s monotone voice made it hard for him to stay attentive in class. The unit they were currently learning was already uninteresting to begin with and adding Mr. Kang’s uninteresting method of teaching wasn’t really keeping his attention.

Seungcheol looked out the window and he noted the dark clouds that were appearing across the sky. It looks like it’s going to rain, the boy thought and he mentally made a note to send his mother a thank you text message once the class ended. His mother had forced him to bring along an umbrella as he left for school, insisting that “rain was in the air.” Judging by how dark the clouds were, it looked like a storm was going to appear in the afternoon.

I wonder if Minyoung brought an umbrella with her. Somehow, the boy’s thoughts wandered to Minyoung, whose class was next door. It was Wednesday and that meant that the basketball team had another tutoring session scheduled with their tutors right after school ended.

Jung Minyoung, huh…., Seungcheol thought, unconsciously smiling. He found himself enjoying the hour and a half long tutoring sessions with her, which usually ended with Minyoung handing him a carton of chocolate milk as a reward. Minyoung somehow made the material easier to understand and she was patient in helping him out. Not to mention she was  –

"Ehem." A loud cough from Seungcheol’s right took his attention away from his thoughts and he turned his head, a sheepish smile appearing on his face. Mr. Kang had moved from the front of the class and walked to Seungcheol’s spot. He returned Seungcheol’s smile with a chilly one of his own.

“Welcome back, Seungcheol.” Mr. Kang greeted.

“Oh…sorry, Mr. Kang.”

The biology teacher shook his head in disapproval as he walked back to the blackboard. “Now that Seungcheol’s back from his trip in space, please give him your assignments so he can bring them to the faculty office after class.”

Several students snickered and Seungcheol groaned as the bell rang to signal the start of the lunch period. “Please read chapter ten for next class.” Mr. Kang instructed, also writing it on the board for those who didn’t hear him. “Dismissed.”

With that, Mr. Kang left and one by one, the students in class 3-2 walked up to Seungcheol’s desk with their assignments.

“Tough luck, man.” Yoo Jaehyun, a member of the boys’ volleyball team, gave him a sympathetic pat on the back as he set down his homework on Seungcheol’s desk. Seungcheol rubbed the back of his neck, watching the load of papers grow rapidly. He then stood up once Im Jonghyun added his on the top of the stack.

“Did everyone give me their assignments?” the boy called out. “I’m going downstairs now.”

“Wait, here’s two more.” Jeonghan added two more assignments to the stack. “See you.”

“Okay.” Seungcheol took the papers in his arms. “I’m going.”  

Seungcheol closed the classroom door with a free hand, whistling as he started to head to the stairs. He was about to pass by class 3-1 when the door to the said class opened and a smile appeared on his lips when he saw Minyoung emerge. The girl was also carrying papers in her arms and Seungcheol couldn’t help but sneak up behind her as she turned around to close the door.

Once the girl turned around, she let out a yelp of surprise upon seeing Seungcheol, nearly dropping the papers in her arms. “Whoa! Seungcheol?!”

Seungcheol chuckled at her surprised expression. “Going to the office?”

Minyoung nodded as the two of them fell into step together and started to descend the stairs. The girl glanced up at him curiously when they reached the second floor.

“Excited for tutoring later?” Minyoung asked.

“Why?” Seungcheol gave her mischievous grin. “Are you excited to spend time with me?”

“No, I’m just asking because we’re going to review metabolic reactions for the test on Friday.” The girl replied, sticking out her tongue.

Seungcheol pouted but a chuckle escaped his lips when the girl smiled at him. After getting to know her, he couldn’t help but notice that there was something cute about the way she smiled, the way her brows furrowed when deep in thought, or the way she looked embarrassed whenever he used his puppy eyes on her (which was his favorite trick in his repertoire). Her expressions were almost eye catching and Seungcheol kept his eyes on her as they continued to freely talk.

Minyoung looked up at him and her cheeks turned pink when she noticed him staring at her. “What?”

“Nothing.” Seungcheol gave her an innocent look as they reached the main floor of the building.

The pair headed to the direction of the teachers’ offices and Seungcheol, holding the papers to his chest with one arm, opened the door with his free hand and motioned for Minyoung to enter.

“Oh! Thanks.” She gave him a smile of gratitude, which was returned with one of his own.

The two of them separated ways; Seungcheol walking to where Mr. Kang was seated and Minyoung to Miss Lee’s desk. Mr. Kang looked up as he sensed the boy approaching, folding the newspaper he was reading.

“Thank you, Seungcheol.” Mr. Kang took the pile of papers and placed them on his table. He peered at Seungcheol over his glasses, somewhat stern. “Don’t let me catch you daydreaming in class again next time.”

“Yes sir.” Seungcheol gave a bow and hurried out of the office, eager to be relieved from his duty. He quietly closed the door behind him and to his surprise; Minyoung was waiting for him at the hall.

“Waiting for me?” Seungcheol wriggled his brows teasingly and Minyoung shrugged.

“I thought it would be rude if I just left you.” The girl replied, tucking her hands into the pockets of the dark gray ped hoodie she wore over her school uniform. “Are you going to the cafeteria for lunch?”

“Hm…yeah, I think I’m supposed to meet the team there since it’s supposed to rain out. We usually eat outside.”

Minyoung nodded in agreement. “Yeah, it’s getting really dark out.”

Seungcheol was about to speak when squeals of “Oh my gosh, it’s Seungcheol!” interrupted him; making the two of them turn to the direction of the voices.

Three girls, wearing the royal blue school neckties for second year students, waved at Seungcheol as they hurriedly approached in their direction. However, once they saw Minyoung, their eyes widened and they gave her polite greetings.

“Oh, hi!” Seungcheol smiled and the girls giggled again, smitten.

“Does the team not have practice on Mondays anymore?” A girl with her hair in a bob spoke up.

“Yeah, there was no one there when we went the other day.” The second girl, who had her hair in a fishtail braid, added.

“Oh, we only have practice on certain days instead of every day.” Seungcheol gave them an apologetic smile and the two girls let out disappointed protests.

“When do you guys practice then?”

“We have practices on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays now.” The girl with the fishtail braid turned to her friends. “Then that means we’ll go watch on those days!”

As Seungcheol and the two girls continued to converse, the last girl, who had her hair in low pigtails, stared at Minyoung.

“Um….I’m just wondering but…are you two…dating?” The girl asked curiously.

Minyoung stared at her. “What?”

“Well, I’ve seen you two together so…” The girl with pigtails shrugged as her gaze went from Seungcheol to Minyoung. “And I think you were watching the basketball practice too…”

Minyoung shook her head frantically, waving her hands in front of her. “No, no, no. I’m just tutoring him.”

“You’re tutoring him?” The girl with bobbed hair repeated and Minyoung nodded.

“Coach Kim asked me to tutor him, that’s all.” Minyoung turned to Seungcheol, who was looking at her with a teasing grin. “What are you doing?”

“Oh…that makes sense.” The girl with pigtails nodded and she exchanged looks with her companions.

“Um…I think we’re going to go for lunch now.”

“O-oh, yeah!” The girl with the fishtail braid piped up. “We’ll see you later!”

The trio of second year girls waved and ran off, whispering and giggling amongst themselves.

Minyoung let out a puff of air as she watched them leave, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. “Huh, that was weird.” The girl mused and Seungcheol glanced at her upon hearing her amused tone. Minyoung looked up at him, their eyes meeting. “Does this happen all the time?”

Seungcheol ran a hand through his hair, a lopsided smile gracing his lips. “Kind of.”

“Hm….” Minyoung nodded. “You have it tough.”

“Oh? What makes you think that?”

“I don’t know…I guess I wouldn’t be able to handle people from school approaching me out of the blue, knowing who I am when I don’t know them. It’s cool you’re able to handle that.”

“Oh! Did you just say I’m cool?” Seungcheol asked brightly.

The girl stared at him. “What? I meant that it’s cool you’re used to people in school saying hi to you all the time.”

“Soooo…. you’re basically saying that I’m cool?”

“Ugh, this guy!” Minyoung huffed and Seungcheol burst into laughter.

“You’re so cute when you’re mad.” The boy grinned, his eyes creasing into his trademark crescents.

Minyoung scrunched up her nose, cheeks pink as she lightly punched his arm, making him laugh instead. “I’m going for lunch, bye.”

Seungcheol’s arms formed a heart over his head. “Bye bye! I’ll see you after school!”

Minyoung hid her laughter behind her palm as he watched her ascend the stairs back to the third floor, turning around once she was out of sight. He started to hum a pleasant tune as he headed to the direction of the school cafeteria.

So cute.

—

Minyoung hated Wednesdays the most – especially the first period right after lunch. That period was class 3-1 and class 3-2’s gym period, instructed by Coach Han and Coach Kim respectively. The cloudy weather transformed into rain, thus the initial plans of playing outdoor volleyball and soccer for the remaining gym classes got changed at the last minute.

Minyoung and Iseul emerged from the girls’ changing rooms, dressed in their mandatory navy t-shirt and sweatpants, and running shoes. Several of their classmates and students from class 3-2 were sitting within the inside of a makeshift oval running track consisting of four benches marking each turning corner and the girls joined two of their classmates sitting in the middle.

Minyoung tied her long hair into a ponytail as she plopped down on the floor beside Kim Hana. “Oh no, are we running laps today?”

Hwang Eunbi, who was seated beside Hana, nodded. “Yeah, they’re combining our class with class 2 today.”

As if on cue, several boys from class 3-2 emerged from the change room and entered the gymnasium. Whispers and giggles bubbled from the girls as Seungcheol, Jisoo, and Jeonghan sat down with the rest of the group.  Seungcheol beamed at Minyoung as he sat down on the empty spot to her left, startling not just Minyoung, but the rest of the students. Jeonghan, Jisoo, and Iseul all exchanged looks with one another, cracking knowing smiles.

“I guess we’re having gym together today?” Seungcheol gave her a grin.

“Nice to see that someone’s happy about gym class.” Minyoung’s face made a displeased expression, making Seungcheol laugh.

“Gym’s not that bad.”

“Easy for you to say, Mr. Basketball Team Captain.”

Seungcheol chuckled as Coach Kim and Coach Han clapped their hands for the students’ attention.

“Hi everybody,” Coach Han smiled in greeting. “I hope you had a great lunch period. I know I did.”

The students snickered; the student body knew that Coach Han was a foodie and sometimes exchanged recipes with the students in the cooking club.

“So, as you can tell, it’s raining like cats and dogs outside so we had to change things up a bit for today.” Coach Kim spoke up. “So we’ll be running laps. By ‘we’, I mean you guys!”

Several people groaned and Minyoung scrunched her nose.

“You know the drill!” Coach Kim instructed. “Find a partner and then one of you is going to run for twelve minutes and your partner’s going to keep track. Then you guys will switch and the other person will run for twelve minutes too. Let’s go!”

Students scrambled to partner up and Minyoung felt a tug on her arm, turning around to face Eunbi, Hana, and Iseul.

“Minyoung, did you want to pair up with me?” Hana chirped brightly. “Iseul wants to run with you so I figured we should trade partners.”

Minyoung nodded and the four girls stationed themselves on the top rightmost bench. Minyoung and Iseul were going to run during the first round, while Eunbi and Hana would run during the last. Once the students had partners, Coach Han blew the whistle, signalling the start of the twelve-minute laps.  

“Ugh, I can’t wait till gym class is over.” Minyoung grumbled as she and Iseul jogged at a steady pace on the rightmost side of the track as to not block the way of the runners. Minyoung hated gym class; rather, she didn’t like activities that required a lot of physical movement. In fact, like many people, the girl preferred the comfort of her bed. The most movement Minyoung made was from walking to and from school, taking the dog for a walk whenever she was asked to, and gym class.

“On the bright side, we get to rest during the last half.” Iseul gave her friend a sympathetic smile.

“True.”

The two best friends continued to keep a steady pace, sometimes chatting if they had the energy to. The girls were discussing La Boulangerie Douce’s new chocolate hazelnut donuts (so good and limited time only!) when Iseul turned to Minyoung and nudged her friend on the side.

“What?” Minyoung huffed.

Iseul gave her a look that said, “Look to your left”, a smile forming on her lips. Clueless, Minyoung glanced at her left and did a double take when she saw who it was.

“Whoa, jeez!” The girl huffed. “That’s the second time today!”

Seungcheol laughed at her reaction, his eyes disappearing into crescents. “How are your laps going?”

“Good actually,” Iseul replied. “We’re on our seventh now.”

The boy whistled. “Ooh, that’s great! Keep up the great work.”

“How many have you done?” Minyoung asked.

“More than ten,” Seungcheol smirked and Minyoung frowned at his response.

“You athletes have an advantage, that’s why.”

Iseul snickered. “You have to get used to it through exercise, which you barely do.”

“Excuse me, I do exercise.” Minyoung corrected. “I have to walk the dog every morning.”

“That doesn’t count,” Iseul turned to Seungcheol. “Seungcheol, you should help her since you’re on the basketball team and all.”

Minyoung shook her head frantically at the suggestion. “Uh, no. Seungcheol’s busy with practice and studying so he–“

A twinkle appeared in Seungcheol’s eyes. “That sounds like a good idea actually.”

Minyoung turned to him with a look of terror as the boy continued. “I think a few laps around the neighborhood every morning will help. It’ll help you get used to running.”

Iseul nodded eagerly. “Right? And then you guys can continue adding a lap every time to get used to it.”

Seungcheol turned to Minyoung, a mischievous smile on his lips. “Shall we start tomorrow at 5:30?”

“I didn’t even agree to anything!” Minyoung smacked him on the arm. “And 5:30’s too early; I’m still in bed at that time!”

“But will you go if it’s not at 5:30 then?” Iseul and Seungcheol asked at the same time and Minyoung groaned.

“No!”

“Anyways, have you guys only mostly jogged all this time?” Seungcheol asked, glancing up at the clock on the scoreboard, which currently displayed how many minutes were left in the first round of laps. “I feel like every time I pass by, you guys are only jogging.”

“Yes because Minyoung doesn’t want to run.” Iseul replied and Minyoung pouted in protest.

“But there’s five minutes left! You guys should run for the last bit.”

Minyoung made a face at the idea and the boy laughed at her reaction. “It’s not that bad.”

“Seungcheol has a point. I’m going!” Iseul gave Minyoung a wave as she started to pick up her pace, leaving Minyoung and Seungcheol behind.

“Ah, fine, leave me.” The girl pouted as she watched her friend speed ahead, turning to Seungcheol. “You don’t have to wait for me, you know. You can go ahead.”

“But what if I don’t want to go ahead by myself?”

“What?”

Seungcheol gave her a smile. “Come on, just at least run a lap with me.”

Minyoung stared at him with a deer-in-headlights look at the offer. “You want me to run with you?”

The boy nodded, still smiling as he waited for her response.

After a moment, Minyoung sighed, smiling too despite herself. “Let’s go then.”

—

Minyoung groaned as she plopped down on her and Seungcheol’s usual table for that day’s tutoring class. Her body was sore from running during the last five minutes of gym class. Hana, who was keeping track of Minyoung’s progress, had happily announced that Minyoung ran fifteen laps in total. Fifteen laps was Minyoung’s new record – surprising not only herself, but also Iseul, who knew that her best friend absolutely hated tiring physical activities. Minyoung had Seungcheol to thank for that and she had made a mental note to give him something in thanks.

But after the exhausting gym class, Minyoung wanted to go home and feel the comfort of her bed. She and Seungcheol had an hour and a half of tutoring, plus a ten-minute walk home. But if she endured gym class, she could last through tutoring and the walk back to her house.

Or she could get her brother to pick her up and drive her home – but then again, she would probably get a lecture for being lazy. So, walking home it is.

The doors to the room opened and Minyoung turned her head in the direction as the boys filed in, chatting amongst them as they settled into their spots. Minyoung furrowed her brows as she noted that Seungcheol was missing.

“Oh right, Minyoung,” Jeonghan piped up and the girl turned towards him. “Seungcheol said he’s going to be a bit late since he just went to run an errand.”

Minyoung slowly nodded, somewhat surprised. “Okay, thanks Jeonghan.”  

A minute became five and Minyoung was considering sending Seungcheol a text to ask where he was. She didn’t want to seem almost naggy for asking since Jeonghan did tell her that Seungcheol was going to be late. But Minyoung felt that as his tutor, she had to ask how long his errand was going to take since it was going over their tutoring time. Seungcheol had asked to specifically focus on metabolic reactions in preparation for the biology unit test the third years were going to write on Friday, thus that day’s tutoring time was precious.

Minyoung dug out her phone from her skirt pocket and was about to unlock it when the door to the tutoring room opened once again, the sound making her look up to the direction of the noise.

Seungcheol gave her a wave as he made his way to his seat beside her, smiling apologetically.

“Sorry I’m late,” Seungcheol said softly as he sat down. “I had to get something.”

“That’s fine,” Minyoung gave him a tiny smile, sighing softly. “Let’s get started.”

“Ah, before that–“ Seungcheol placed a carton of strawberry milk on the desk and pushed it to Minyoung’s direction. To her surprise, it was the same brand of strawberry milk she usually bought and drank from the school cafeteria. “It’s for you.”

Minyoung looked up at him in surprise, blinking. “For…me?”

The boy nodded, grinning brightly.

“It’s your reward for doing really well during gym class today. I heard you ran fifteen laps in total. You did well!”

Minyoung continued to stare at him with wide eyes, only to look away with red cheeks as Seungcheol laughed at her reaction. “

Oh…thank you…” She mumbled shyly, feeling her heart thump in her chest as she punctured the carton of milk with the straw and took a sip.

To her right, Seungcheol smiled, pleased with himself as he cracked open his biology textbook.

Hi everybody, long time no see! I'm still alive - though I have an assignment due soon to round up my semester ;_; But here's an update, in time with the release of S.Coups' teaser picture hehe. I yelled "DOG!" when I first saw his picture this morning. I'm super excited for 17's comeback, how about you?
As always, thank you for reading and for the subs and I'll see you soon! ^^