“No ing way.”

I stared at my screen appalled, because after I had turned in the assignment, a few days later I had received my grade back, there were fewer points taken off, however I was mainly staring at the little ‘teacher’s comment’ section, with one small message that probably proved Kyungsoo’s intelligence yet again. 

“Come see me during office hours.”

Kyungsoo let out a small chuckle as he stared at my screen. “What did I tell you?”

I rolled my eyes at him, “Either that, or Professor Byun just wants to fail me or kick me out of his class.”

He shook his head at me, before gathering his things and placing them into his shoulder bag. “I have to go, I have work until noon then I have one class to teach around 4.”

I just simply stared at him, “Kyungsoo, take a breather, you’re going to burn out. Doing projects for big companies, teaching university students, and completing your masters at 22.”

I always tell him the same thing, to lay off his load. Yet, the funny thing is, Kyungsoo actually enjoys being busy. Ever since middle school, I have honestly never seen Kyungsoo with a free schedule. He surprisingly never gets burnt out. He would always tell me that if he were to have nothing to do but have freetime, he would go insane. 

And after being friends with him for 12 years, I honestly do not doubt that.

“This is considered a relaxed schedule for me.” He was about to head out to leave until a voice had grabbed both of our attention.

“Hi guys!” Haera walked up to the table we were seated at, currently at the common area of the student center.

“Hello Haera, it has been a while since I’ve seen you.” Kyungsoo offered a hand to shake and I scoffed before swatting his hand away.

He always has to be so formal. How is this kid ever going to find love?

Haera blushed before she stood before Kyungsoo. “It has been a while, I barely see you these days Kyungsoo. You’ve been pretty busy, haven’t you?”

“Yeah actually, I must bid you a goodbye, unfortunately I’m late for a work meeting.” Kyungsoo nodded at me before he took his departure, not even looking back at the girl who continued to stare at him longingly. 

Haera turned back to me, “He’s always too busy to catch, isn’t he?”

I gave her a sad smile, “You know Kyungsoo, he can never stay in one place too long.”

Haera laughed before she sat down, “What are you up to today? I have class in ten minutes.”

I huffed out a breath, “I’m about to go to Professor Byun’s office hours.”

Haera gave me a surprised look, “Wow really? But you never go to office hours. You at getting along with your professors!” 

I mean she was right, maybe one of the reasons I did struggle in classes was because I never took it upon myself to develop proper relationships with my instructors. If I had asked them for help or guidance maybe classes would come easy to me, just like Kyungsoo said. Yet, the thing is though, I always found it so bothersome. 

I ended up having to bid Haera goodbye as she had to go to her class, while I walked to the top floor of the engineering building, I sighed as I was making my way towards the end of the hall.

I stopped in front of Professor Byun’s office, I noticed that the door was slightly open and you could see the view of his desk. There seemed to be another student there as well, asking him questions. However, Professor Byun didn’t look too pleased to be conversing with the student. 

I decided to wait my turn as I stood against the wall, scrolling through my phone for a bit to pass time. It seemed as though about ten minutes had passed before the student came out of Professor Byun’s room, her eyes caught mine for a second, and it seemed as though her gaze hardened, she had already looked annoyed as she stomped away.

I took this as my cue to go inside, so I slightly knocked on the door, gaining the teacher’s attention. 

“Professor Byun? You wanted to see me?” He looked up at me before nodding his head over to the chair before his desk.

I walked over and decided to sit down, placing my bag on the ground and running a nervous hand through my hair. Not really knowing why he had truly wanted to see me. 

Professor Byun stared at me for a bit as I squirmed under his gaze, feeling a bit uncomfortable. It’s over isn’t it? This man is going to fail me and I’ll have to constantly keep retaking his class, and then I’m going to blame it all on Kyungsoo.

“Do you not enjoy my teaching, Mara?” Professor Byun spoke up first. He seemed to be in deep thought as he stared at me, as if trying to read me. 

“I-It’s not that, Professor Byun. I don’t have a problem with how you teach.” I shook my head furiously, I can not afford to get on his bad side. “I just tend to go to Kyungsoo for help, I’m more of a hands-on learner, you see.”

Professor Byun raised a brow at me, “I didn’t realize you were on such good terms with Professor Do to call him by his name.”

I knitted my brows together in confusion, did nobody know how old Kyungsoo actually was? Did none of the professor’s realize that the kid is the same age as any other college senior? He’s even 9 months younger than I am.

Of course Kyungsoo wouldn’t clarify that. He at making small talk, and it’s not like anyone would question it with his intellect.

Professor Byun cleared his throat before nodding, “Anyways, no matter how close you are to Professor Do to ask him for help, I still think it’s a stretch to ask another professor for help in this class when you could’ve just come straight to me.”

I huffed out a breath, I know where this is going, and I can already hear Kyungsoo rolling his eyes saying ‘I told you so’

God, I hate how he’s always right.

“We can set up a tutoring session if you’d like. Since you don’t seem to be able to learn from the lecture, we’ll do a one-on-one session after each class we have so that you’re not behind on the assignments.”  Professor Byun seemed to be looking through his schedule. He looked up before a shadow of a smirk appeared before his face, “And you can stop going to Professor Do for help with my assignments.”

I couldn’t help but stare blankly, I mean, this is a good thing, right? Professor Byun doesn’t seem to care about the two past encounters we had, and if I get tutoring help from the instructor himself I could pass this class without worrying so much. 

So I nodded, “Sounds good, Professor Byun. I’ll see you tomorrow, then.”

Professor Byun looked confused for a split second before nodding his head as he went back to work on his computer, “See you tomorrow, Mara, don’t be late.”

I was late.

I was very late. 

As usual, I’m never used to ever attending any type of tutoring sessions, I always knew I needed it, but I never worked well with authority. I’d much prefer figuring it out on my own, or just asking Kyungsoo to help if I couldn’t manage it somehow. 

I just simply liked the satisfaction of being able to teach myself rather than have someone teach me.

I managed to make it to Professor Byun’s office exactly one minute before we had agreed to meet. However, it looks like I didn’t have to worry about being late since the door was left slightly open and I noticed he was yet again in a meeting with the same student from yesterday. 

I sighed before leaning against the side of the wall, looking through the opening of his door, it seemed like Professor Byun looked frustrated at the student. She didn’t even seem like she was asking a coding question since she didn’t seem to have her laptop out. Professor Byun’s eyes seemed to have met mine, and he seemed to look a little relieved before saying something to the student, as she seemed to begin gathering her things. I moved aw