It was another scorching summer day, as the heatwave continued in Seoul. Chaeyoung, her mother, and Lisa were working at the cafê, as guests were dotted between the tables, enjoying drinks, lunches, and slices of cake. Chaeyoung was at the coffee machine, making a frappuccino for a middle-aged man waiting at the counter.

“You don’t need to wait here. I’ll bring it over to you,” the blonde informed the man, trying to fake politeness, who nodded and walked away to his table.

Lisa walked behind the counter and went to the cash register and started entering an order into the monitor.

“So getting back to that new neighbour of yours,” Lisa began, “your mum told me she’s going to yours tonight to teach you privately,” she continued, looking at her friend for answers.

“Yeah,” Chaeyoung pumped her eyebrows and smirked suggestively, "I’m looking forward to it,” she giggled to herself, making Lisa roll her eyes. She knew exactly what her best friend was up to. “But seriously, I need to get my grades up and retake my tests next year, if I wanna be accepted into uni."

“I think you should listen to your mum, and leave this one alone. Just let her teach you, and don't pursue her. It’s uncomfortable having a rift between neighbours. She’s married. If you get in the middle of their marriage, then that'll cause bad blood between you, your mum, and them. Not to mention, your other neighbours on your street will probably find out about it sooner or later, and then there’ll be even more rifts. And I know Heather doesn’t want that again."

“You never normally stop me when we’re out,” Chaeyoung furrowed her brows and narrowed her eyes at Lisa, waiting for an excuse.

“That’s because you hook up with random women, who you’re less likely to bump into again. But this time it's your neighbour. You’re gonna be bumping into her almost every day,” Lisa tried to reason.

“Oh, I hope so,” Chaeyoung stuck out her tongue through her smirk, winking at her friend, who just sighed in defeat.

“Well, at least wait a while before you do anything. Make sure that she at least is in fact very unhappy with her marriage and wants to actually get out of her marriage, before trying to seduce her,” Lisa bargained.

“She is unhappy, Lis. I saw the way she acted when she mentioned her husband last night. Something’s wrong, and she seemed really sad and uncomfortable when she thought about her husband,” the blonde said with genuine concern, which Lisa smiled affectionately at. She knew her friend really had a big heart, but it was hidden under a pile of debris from past traumas. “So you know…I just wanna give her something to smile about,” the blonde shrugged as if her seducing and sleeping with her neighbour wasn’t a big deal.

“Well, couldn’t you just give her some more carrot cake? You said she liked the one from last night,” Lisa suggested as Chaeyoung put the frappuccino on a tray and walked away from Lisa to give the guest his drink. Lisa sighed and shook her head at her friend’s ways. She wasn’t angry at her friend, because she knew all about Chaeyoung’s past, and what happened to make her this way. In fact, she was grateful that her best friend didn’t turn out worse.

Chaeyoung returned to the back of the counter quickly, as the café wasn’t very big. “Okay. I won’t do anything just yet. I’ll just test the waters for now. And then when I’m absolutely sure that she’s unhappy and that she wants me, then I’ll make my move.” The young blonde compromised, much to her friend’s relief.

“Thank god for that," Lisa sighed. "In the meantime, there’s a house party on Tuesday night, if you fancy it? It’s one of the football player’s birthday from uni, so it’s gonna be a big one. Plenty of hot girls for you to keep your mind of Jennie,” said the Thai girl, tempting the blonde.

“You know you’re a good friend, Lis,” Chaeyoung teased, accepting her friend's invite. “I’ll be there.”

____

At almost exactly five o’clock, Jennie knocked on the front door of the Parks’ house, with textbooks and materials in hand. She didn’t have to wait long for the door to open to show a stunning young blonde with her hair down, dressed in denim shorts, and a sleeveless black crop top, with a plunging neckline, exposing the top of her cleavage. The brunette creased her brows at the inappropriate attire for a private lesson with a private tutor but dismissed it as it was another blistering hot day, in the middle of a heatwave in mid-July.

Chaeyoung opened the door with a smirk on her face, knowing exactly who was on the other side of the door. The blonde looked at Jennie, not so subtly checking her out, as the brunette could feel the young blonde’s gaze roll up and down her body. As Chaeyoung looked at Jennie as if she was a piece of meat that she was ready to devour, she also couldn’t help but notice that her neighbour was again wearing clothes more suitable for late-autumn. She was wearing another pair of skinny jeans, with another long-sleeved sweater, this time beige, and the same ankle-high leather boots from yesterday.

As requested by Chaeyoung’s mother, Jennie removed her boots, revealing black socks, and then Jennie and Chaeyoung walked through the house to the office. The young blonde pulled out the dining table chair that she had borrowed from the dining room, and then offered the comfortable office chair to Jennie, who accepted it with a smile. Chaeyoung sat and observed the brunette sit and pull out a novel and some papers with extracts from the novel. The blonde internally groaned as she thought that she might be assigned an essay. Tutorship should be a lot easier and more laidback than actual school, right?

“Don’t worry, I’m not gonna give you a book review to write,” the brunette chuckled upon seeing the groaning eyes from the blonde as if reading her mind. “We’re gonna look at last year's English lit exam which I managed to find online, and practice with the questions. It’s good practice for you for your exam next year, and it’ll also allow me to assess your ability.” The young blonde rolled her eyes and took a deep breath, obviously not excited about education.

Jennie snickered a little upon seeing Chaeyoung’s reaction, and put the exam in between them, on the modern oak desk. “Let’s start with question one.”

The blonde nodded alternating her glance between the paper and the y brunette tutoring her, only really interested in the latter. Faking attention as Jennie instructed Chaeyoung how to approach and answer the first question, the young blonde purposefully ran her fingers slowly and softly down her own upper arm closest to Jennie, making sure the brunette could see her touching herself.

“Hmh hmh,” Chaeyoung hummed as she pretended to understand what Jennie was saying, when in reality, she didn’t give a damn. All she wanted to get was Jennie’s attention and to make her tutor hot and flustered. But when Chaeyoung realised that Jennie wasn’t paying attention to her fingers on her arm, she changed her tactic. Feigning frustration, she frowned, sat up and arched her back, and put her palm on her left , closest to Jennie, and then ran her hand up towards her neck to scratch herself softly, mimicking a gesture of discomfort.

“Oh, Jennie, can we not do something fun?," Chaeyoung pouted and moaned. "I don’t understand this. I don’t get poetry.”

Taken aback by the overdramatic show of frustration from the blonde, Jennie saw every single movement. She saw the blonde arch her back. She saw her frown and give her puppy eyes. She saw the young stunning blonde cup her own , before running her hand up towards her neck. She saw everything in those couple of seconds, and Jennie was slightly flustered at the display and thought it was going to be a long few months if she has to put up with that every lesson.

“Do you not think your outfit is a little inappropriate for private tutorship?” Jennie asked, quickly composing herself, understanding perfectly that Chaeyoung was displaying her body for her own flirtatious agenda.

“Why, what’s wrong with it?” Chaeyong pouted and smirked, turning her body towards Jennie, making sure the brunette could see her in her entirety.

“Well, you’re showing too much skin. You should cover yourself up a bit more,” the brunette said with regained authority, much to Chaeyoung displeasure. She wanted to see Jennie hot and bothered.

“Are you sure you don’t like it?” Chaeyoung asked, running her fingers over her own cleavage, looking at Jennie who glanced at her teasing fingers but instantly turned away. Chaeyoung was sure she could see a hint of a blush on her tutor’s face. A small victory that could keep her satiated for now.

“Absolutely not,” Jennie remarked, trying to make it sound as convincing and final as possible. However, Chaeyoung heard the small slice of doubt in her voice.

“Well, I could ask you a similar question, Jennie.” The young blonde stated, gaining an inquisitive look from her neighbour. “Do you not think your outfit is a little inappropriate?”

Jennie looked at her own outfit, trying to find a flaw in her clothes. “No. This outfit is more than appropriate for a tutor-student relationship.”

“Maybe…but it’s not appropriate for the middle of summer. We’re in the middle of a heatwave and you’re totally covered up. You should be wearing a t-shirt and shorts…you know…showing off a little skin,” Chaeyoung smirked as she cheekily hinted at what she wanted to see.

Jennie was taken aback by Chaeyoung’s flirtations once more. She had been a teacher for three years, since graduating from university, and was used to dealing with disruptive students in class, and cheeky students talking back to her. But she had never experienced a student flirting with her before, especially so obviously. It made her feel slightly uncomfortable, as she took pride in her professionalism as a teacher, and she knew that a flirtatious relationship between teacher and student was completely wrong.

Looking at the young blonde, Jennie thought about how to go about stopping the blonde’s cheeky statements. She knew the statements were harmless, but she knew that if she didn’t put a stop to it now, the young blonde might up her game, and who knew what she might try in future sessions.

“I’m quite happy and comfortable with my current attire,” Jennie said with a hint of uncertainty while rubbing her forearm again. That right forearm. Why did she keep rubbing it? Chaeyoung watched with curiosity and concern, although she would never admit it, as the brunette rubbed her right forearm, and remembered that she did the same action several times last night at dinner. The blonde remembered that she rubbed her arm last night after mentioning her husband and now she’s doing it after talking about her clothes. What was the meaning behind her action? Was it self-soothing while talking about uncomfortable topics, or was there something more? Chaeyoung thought it was the latter.

Jennie sensed the blonde’s eyes observing her hand rubbing her forearm and immediately stopped, leaning on the table once more, and letting out a sigh, which she tried to hide. “I won’t be showing you any skin, Chaeyoung. Now let's continue with question one. I've only been here five minutes and you're already being inappropriate.”

“What’s wrong with your arm?” Chaeyoung nodded towards Jennie’s arm without looking away, ignoring what Jennie had just said.

The brunette visibly tensed up at that question, and put her hand back on her forearm, as if to protect it from the blonde. “N-nothing. It’s…it’s just itchy,” her excuse held no weight as Chaeyoung heard deception in her tone.

“Show me,” Chaeyoung basically demanded, with growing concern.

“It’s nothing, don’t worry. Get back to your work,” the brunette tried her best to reassure her student.

“Show me,” Chaeyoung demanded again, with her voice turning into a growl.

“Chaeyoung! Stop worrying about my arm, and get back to your work,” Jennie added with half a yell, but it didn’t intimidate Chaeyoung.

“I said show me,” Chaeyoung growled, getting angry at Jennie dismissing her.

“AND I SAID GET BACK TO YOUR WORK AND STOP ASKING TO SEE MY ARM!” Jennie yelled from sheer frustration from the incessant blonde, who didn’t even flinch. Jennie’s jaw was agape, and her eyes widened, visibly shocked at her own outburst. She adjusted herself in her chair as she composed herself, running her hand through her hair, trying to regain her professionalism.

Keeping her eyes on her tutor, Chaeyoung noted how frustrated she got from such a simple request, to show her her forearm. The blonde decided not to push it further for now but knew there was something deeper at play. She had a hunch as to what the reason behind Jennie’s uncomfortable forearm might be, but she needed visible proof. Just the thought of her hunch being correct made her blood boil, and at that moment, the young blonde vowed to find out the truth.