The way Eungi scolded Kyuhyun seemed like a great idea to repair his attitude. From that night onwards, Kyuhyun quits from being a snob and becomes an obedient student in Eungi’s class—the other professors still talk about how rude he is in their classes though. He comes on time, do the assignment as he told to and he stops whining to get her attention. She likes to think that he’s being like that because he finally realizes that it’s not his place to even try to mess with his own professor and she enjoys the peaceful treatment she gets from him. Eungi also likes to believe that Kyuhyun is taking her bait when she intentionally called him a ‘kid’ in order to slaps his pride. She sees big potential in him and the brilliant mind she sees in him is covered with his ignorance that keeps holding him back, so the only way to wake him up is to hurt him right on his soft spot.

For the past eight weeks, he tries his best to prove her that he’s more than smug kid that’s hiding under his father’s shadow. He secluded himself from his friends and other students as he starts to study more in order to impress his lovely professor. He didn’t like the way she looked at him when she called him ‘kid’, she’s only several years older and she has no right to call him like that.

But it hit him, it hit him hard in the right spot.

“So I just got back from a seminar in Copenhagen yesterday and good news is, they liked my proposal and asked me to improve the main idea into something practical.” Eungi stands in the middle of the room before she dismisses her class.

Her students clap their hands for her. “Awesome Kyosu-nim!!” the buffed guy cups his mouth to makes his voice sounds louder.

“Thank you, Kangin-ssi.” She smiles.

As she predicted, after couple of weeks her students begin to respect her as their professor—glad about the fact that she’s their lecture even—because she turns out to be one of those cool teacher that allows her student to explore their ideas without limits, unlike the other old professor. She’s also one of those lecturer that always have the answer to her student’s problems—academic matters, of course—instead of telling her student just to ‘google it’ whenever they have a question. The girls start to consider her as an oenni and sometimes even ask her to join them for lunch and the boys sitting quietly while secretly admiring her every move in front of the class.

“And I’d love to recruit two of you into joining this project with me.” She adds her announcement.

Some students raise their hands immediately.

“Wait, I can’t just pick anyone. This is not a regular class assignment so it won’t affect your score at all.”

Some of them sigh from disappointment.

“If you’re really interested in manipulating the eco panel into something useful for everyday use, I’d like to see your proposal. I’ll pick two students to collaborate.”

“What will we get, Kyosu-nim?” A girl raises her hand.

“You will get your name cited in the proposal and if chosen you’ll come with me to Copenhagen to present our ideas. Being cited in an international summit is an honor that not every student gets to taste, Nara-ssi. You’ll get your name recognize by the international board and who knows what that will do to your career later on. So please try to look more excited.” Eungi explains.

Her students begin to discussing with each other and starts to make the class noisier than it already is.

“So! To sum up!” Eungi claps her hands to get their attention, “In case any of you interested in joining me, please give me your proposal and portfolio of your previous works so that I can choose two students to collaborate. Is there any further question?”

No one answers.

“Well then, class dismiss. See you next Monday!”

*

Kyuhyun is looking for Eungi in her cubicle the next day, but as usual she’s not there. In his head somehow her voice repeats when she says ‘have you make any appointment?’ so he decided to look for her in her usual hiding place.

Once he gets himself into the café where she usually hangs out to avoid her colleagues, Kyuhyun spots her sitting by the window with a cold latte and some cookies. Kyuhyun approaches her table and a smile forms on his face once he sees her falling asleep while supporting her head with her hand on the side. There’s no paper nor laptop in front of her so she must have been super tired to even considered to work. He slowly lifts the chair in front of her so he doesn’t make a sound that’ll wake her up and he quietly sits to enjoy the view in front of him—it’s not her prettiest moment of her but it still gets him grinning happily to see her innocent face and the cuteness of her y lips slightly pout when she’s sleeping.

*Pict belongs to Park Seul

Kyuhyun takes out his phone to capture the rare sight in front of him, it feels like a long time since he talked to her. He’s been keeping his distance from Eungi since he’s trying to prove her that he’s worth something else than just being his father’s son, one of the reason he comes looking for her today is also that. He wants to try his luck in her research and hopefully he gets a spot to join.

Eungi’s head suddenly slips from her hand as it about to hit the table hard enough to wake her up—badly. Kyuhyun’s fast enough to reacts by catching her head by his left hand before she’s woken up by the impact. She opens her eyes after she experience the sensation of falling and surprised to see that her student’s hand is holding her head instead. She lifts her body to a straight sitting position while she’s still blinking fast to adjust the bright light.

“Cho Kyuhyun-ssi? What are you doing here?” She wipes her face and tries her best to get back to her senses quickly.

“Take your time, Kyosu-nim. You seem to be very tired.” He chuckles to the look in her face, she’s catching up with her surrounding but she tries to look very awake.

Eungi covers her face with her hands and takes about a minute to collect herself.

“Did you pull an all-nighter last night?”

“Ng.”

“To have fun?” He tries to make a casual conversation.

“Paper work.”

“Do you even do ‘fun’?” He chuckles once she lifts up her face from her hands.

She pouts a little then puts on her serious face. “So, what honor do I have to get your visit, Kyuhyun-ssi?” She takes her latte and drinks it down.

Kyuhyun slides a bundle of file he prepared with him towards her. “This is my proposal and portfolio. I know it’s not much but I hope I can join your research.”

Eungi jaw drops as she hears him, she knows how much he’s improved since she offended him that night but she never thought the change would be this positive. She takes the file in the middle of the table and begins to look into it.

What caused him to hardly pass his class is still a big question for her. looking at his proposal and his previous works, Eungi will definitely considers Kyuhyun as one of those gifted students that should graduate fast and get a lot of job offers afterwards. His concepts are exceptional, his understanding of the design elements are on point, his drawing is even better than hers, and Eungi really likes the way he collaborates modernism with traditional Korean value in his every works.

“What do you have in mind about the green panel?” She lifts her head from the file and look into him.

“Well, I’ve been thinking to adapt the technology into something that’s used in every houses—roof tile. I mean your concern is mostly about heating in the houses and my concern mostly about the panel that’s now still unaffordable for most households. I believe if every house owns one, South Korea will save up a lot of money in fossil fuel.”

Eungi stares at him in disbelieve. He looks like a same person but he’s totally different.

“Kyos