It was already 11.00, her class was already begun and Eunji was still trapped inside the bus in the middle of a traffic jam in Seoul. Damn her new apartment that was apparently placed in the outskirt of the city. But she of course didn’t have any power to move herself back to the university dormitory—or even to any other place available to her—since, she could never move out of that damn high-end apartment. Not without any permission from a certain someone who was for sure would never give her that kind of permission at all.

Somehow she regretted of her stubborn choice to not take ride in his car and chose to ride on public transportation instead. But no, she didn’t want to be called as a leech that on its host nor even a weak damsel who couldn’t do anything as she pleased at all.

But now she was late as she didn’t predict that the road to her university from her new apartment would be this long and stressful. And as she didn’t want to be late even more thus she stopped the bus and jumped out even though it had not reached the bus stop yet. Eunji then ran as fast as possible, passing the traffic jam, through the city streets and possible shortcuts she knew and finally arrived in her university gate in fifteen minutes. And it needed another fifteen minutes by running to reach her department building and straight to her class in the 7th floor of the building.

By the time she reached the front door of her class, it was obvious that the professor had stood in front of the class and the class had already started half way. She tried to slip into the class through the back door. Though, only stupid people thought that they could pass under that fox eyes of the professor. But Eunji acted innocent even though she was sure that she saw the professor took a glance—glare—at her when she finally took a seat on the back row beside her junior yet in same course with her, Son Naeun.

“Eonni! How can you be late in the first day of this course!” Naeun hissed at her. As their background, they could hear a student recited something related to the course.

“Can’t help. My new apartment is so far away and I was trapped in the middle of traffic jam,” Eunji reasoned. “What has the professor talked about? And what is that student currently reading?” she asked while glancing at the professor who was holding on a folder and then at the said student she didn’t know his name yet, then back to the girl beside her.

“Just some introductions. Our professor is Kim Sunggyu—oh eonni, I thought he will be so old, but apparently he is younger than he looks!—he’s 28 years old. And he also talked about some class’ rules—that boy is reciting the rules written on this journal. Professor Kim demanded us to read all of these loudly by rotation. He believed that it was for us to memorize them better,” Naeun patted at the opened folder on the desk in front of her—the said journal.

Eunji flipped the journal to take a brief look at its white cover and then skimmed through some lines of the rules written on the opened page. “Where did you get this journal from?”

“Prof. Kim—who else? He gave them to each of us earlier when he started the class. Why don’t you just ask him? He let you to get into the class even though you’re so late, so I guess it’s okay to ask for another copy of it now.”

Eunji ducked her head in somewhat embarrassment and took another glance at her professor in his reading glasses who was murmuring the word ‘next’ in such demanding tone to the student next to the previous one reading the rules on the journal. “I guess I’ll ask for it after the class instead,” she nodded to herself. “So, well—what the rules said? Let me take a look,” Eunji pulled Naeun’s journal closer to her so that they could read it together. Eunji skimmed through the introduction of this final course, the goals that each student should reach, pre-requirements, timelines, application format for the final project title proposal, until someone interrupted by a cough and Eunji had just noticed how Naeun had poked her foot several times under the desk and that their lecturer had taken his full attention at her with such a murdering look. She looked up confusedly, “Pardon me, Sir?”

There was a pregnant pause before the professor asked her in such unreadable expression, “What’s your name?”

She blinked tentatively. “Jung Eunji,” she answered in frown.

“Jung Eunji, Professor,” he corrected.

“Jung Eunji, Professor—uhm—did you just say something to me before? Professor?”

He scoffed before answering with emphasis in every word, “I. Said. ‘Next’. Miss. Jung.”

Eunji’s eyes widened in panic and she immediately looked down at the journal in front of her but then got more panicked as she didn’t pay attention to where did she suppose to start reciting. She didn’t even realized until now that it was already her turn to read the rules. She looked up at Naeun—but apparently that younger girl didn’t pay any attention as well as she was obviously distracted by her older friend who was late—before looking back at their professor. At her confused look, Prof. Kim frowned and crossed his arms with an obvious annoyed look.

“Page seven, fourth paragraph, rules section three point one, Miss Jung.” he smirked. “If you didn’t have any intention to pay some attentions inside my class, I’m sure you know where the exit is, Miss Jung.”

Eunji face was red—not only from embarrassment, but also from anger. Hell sure, she didn’t want to be expelled of this course. She needed to be graduated this very year! Oh c’mon, he didn’t have to be that annoyed. It won’t hurt to just tell her nicely right?

“I-I’m sorry, Prof. I’m just—”

“No excuses, Miss Jung,” he cut her. “Well, I guess that you have to meet me in my office after class, Miss Jung. Since you apparently not only have some lacks of punctuality, but in manner term as well.”

***

“Come in,” came the voice from behind the white door of her professor’s office room. She blew a breath before entering the room with an obvious annoyed look. She found her professor was sitting behind his desk, scribbling on some paperworks of his students, probably marking them, before looking up at her and gestured her to sit on the set of chairs across his desk and she complied.

She looked around and found how simple yet luxurious the room was as it was in its modern look dominated by white and black and some accents of red—obviously his favorite colors as they matched with his attire of white dress suit, black slick trouser and black dress shoes, comple