My feelings for Kiseop were ones that could only be considered as ‘forbidden’. Although the term ‘forbidden love’ is so clichéd, that is exactly what it was. We were not allowed to be together because he was teacher and I was student. Perhaps that’s why I constantly lied to myself and denied these feelings. Lee Kiseop was my private dance teacher. Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, he would come round my house after school and teach me. My mother had cleared everything out of the old drawing room and turned into a dance studio, just for us.

Nobody from school knew about my hobby… Not even my best friend, Dongho. Although, I swear half the time he wasn’t interested in anything I had to say anyway. Shin Dongho lived in his own little world most of the time. However, one time after school at one of these lessons, he and his brother, Soohyun, turned everything upside-down…

~이기섭~

“1, 2, 3, 4, 2, 2, 3… Extend your arms more!” Kiseop shouted over the thud of SHINee’s ‘Noona Neomu Yeppeo’. He continued to count out the timing and shout at me to change things about my posture or articulation. While all this was going on, my mother came in, so Kiseop stopped the music. “What can we do for you Mrs Kim?”

“Oh, you’re fine Kiseop-ssi. But I need to borrow my daughter. Her friends are at the front door.” I shared a puzzled expression with my mother before following her outside, bowing slightly to Kiseop on the way out. He smiled at me smugly, meaning he was going to go tough on me when I returned. I groaned internally.

“You’re progressing well with Kiseop-ssi, aren’t you?” My mother asked. She was never worried about my performance at school, which was average, bordering on good. Instead she spent her time fussing over my dance lessons, and spending money to get the best instructors and equipment.

“Neh, umma. He’s one of the best teachers I’ve had.”

“He’d make a good father for your future children, you know!”

“UMMA!” I screamed at her as we reached the front door. She opened it before I had a chance to collect myself, to which Dongho and Soohyun burst out laughing at me.

“Hey chingu!” Dongho greeted, immediately letting himself into my house and making a beeline for the kitchen and dining room. Soohyun just chuckled at his dongsaeng’s behaviour and strolled in before I closed the front door in his face.

“Guys, I’ve told you before, I’m busy after school on a Monday, Wednesday and Friday. So why are you here?”

“You don’t look very busy,” Soohyun answered, a wry smile on his face.

“Yo, what’s going on?” Kiseop asked. He was leaning against the doorway in his slightly sweat-soaked white vest and black tracksuit bottoms.

“Who’s this?” Soohyun asked, puzzled.

“Kiseop…my…cousin!” I shouted as the thought came into my head. Kiseop’s expression suddenly became cold as he stared at me. His eyes flared with a blinding fury.

“You’re not going to tell your friends?” he suddenly asked, his voice extremely menacing. I sent him a glare, trying to get him to shut up…but he completely ignored me. “We are…dating after all.”

I seriously wanted to wipe the smug look off his face and beat him half to death. Instead I gaped at him, my mouth open as wide as it would go.

“CHINCHA?!” Dongho screamed from the kitchen, his mouth full of food. He came running in, trying to hide the huge slice of baguette he was in the middle of eating, behind his back. “Why you no tell us?” he spat.

“Yeah yeoja-chingu… Why didn’t you introduce me to your friends?” Kiseop asked, milking every minute of the pretence he was keeping up.

‘I hate you,’ I mouthed to him, before turning to face a chubby-cheeked Dongho. “I didn’t tell you because we’ve only just made it official… Isn’t that right, namja-chingu?” I asked, spitting the last part out as though it were something rotten and disgusting. “Anyway guys… Kiseop and I are in the middle of a study session, so I’ll see you tomorrow at school.” Dongho whined loudly and retreated back to the kitchen. “Get out of my fridge, Shin Dongho!” I yelled and dragged the boy out of my house, his brother following close behind. As soon as the door shut behind them, I let my rage out at Kiseop.

“What do you think you’re playing at? ‘Yeoja-chingu?’ Over my dead body!”

He sauntered over to me, the smug expression back on his flawless face. “Oh come on baby… Tell me you didn’t like it.” He entered my personal space, so I started to step backward. That was until I hit the wall. His lips were so close to mine that I could smell the peppermint gum he was chewing. “Tell me you don’t like me. Tell me you didn’t fall in love with me when we first met.”

My cheeks were as hot as a furnace as he continued to invade my personal space. He made absolutely no move to back away from me. So instead, I used all the strength I could to push him off me. He fell down on his , groaning slightly as he made contact with the floor. “Get away from me you creep!”

He stood up, the smirk wiped off his face and replaced by a look of fury. “Fine,” he snarled. He collected his things from the small dance studio and walked briskly out the door.

“Did Kiseop-ssi just leave?” My mother asked as she popped her head round the corner from the laundry room, carrying a big pile of my brother’s dirty clothes. Said ‘walking enigma’ sauntered into the room and stared at us blankly.

“What’s going on?”

“Never mind Jaeseop,” my mother replied quickly. “Just go back and study.”

Jaeseop ambled into the kitchen and then returned with a packet of pocky and a can of Dr Pepper. He gave me a curt nod and walked back upstairs to his room.

“Why did Kiseop-ssi leave early today?” My mother pressed on.

“He had a phone call,” I mumbled, lying through my back teeth. Following after Jaeseop, I trudged upstairs; trying to escape from my mother’s probing looks. I knocked on his door softly and entered his room to find him in the middle of a campaign on Call of Duty.

“Want a controller?” he asked, passing me the large black object. I instantly took it and began blasting the heads off of computer-generated zombies. “So what’s up between you and umma?”

“Kiseop… That’s what.”

“Ahh,” Jaeseop sighed. “That again... Is she still trying to make out that he would be the perfect husband for you?” I nodded. “I know how you feel. Umma keeps telling me to find a sweet girl to settle down with. She also continuously tells me that she’s proud her daughter has such good child-bearing hips…” he trailed off, noticing my disgusted expression.

“I can’t believe that woman sometimes…”

“Get used to it sis… Anyway, what’s going on between you and Kiseop. I’m sensing a lot of tension.”

“Geez… Give the man a medal. He’s a pig!” I declared angrily, shooting the hell out of a zombie that I had already killed. So naturally, I didn’t notice the ones coming in at me from the other side, thus ending in GAME OVER. I slammed the controller down on the desk angrily.

“Sis, calm down. You’re getting too riled up. As much as this guy frustrates you, you’ve clearly got feelings for him.”

“Bullsh-”

“No it’s not,” Jaeseop interjected. “I see the way you act around him. Ever since he started teaching you, you’ve been putting in more effort. Your dance lessons are longer, which is a pain because then dinner is later. You do lessons on a Friday as well now. You’re generally happy after your lessons now as well.”

“Aish… Relationship psychologist in training,” I grumbled.

“Actually, I want to focus on child psychology. But you still gotta admit I’m good.”

“Never!” I stuck my tongue out at him lightly, feeling the atmosphere lift considerably.

“Hey, come here!” He tackled me in a hug, causing us both to crash on the floor. “Now be a good girl and give Kiseop a chance, arrasso?”

~이기섭~

The following lesson, Kiseop turned up, looking overly grumpy. He threw his bag in the corner, put the CD in and started the warm-up without a word. I wanted to say something, but instead decided to comply with him. I waited until we’d finished, to finally pluck up the courage to speak.

“Kiseop, I’m sorry about the other day. I think I overreacted a bit… I didn’t mean to treat you so harshly.”

“Whatever… And you should address me as sunbae or songsaengnim.” His cold tone cut through me like a knife. But I figured ‘fine, two can play that game.’

For the next hour, he ordered me around, critiquing me on every aspect of the routine. So it was no surprise that while I was trying to focus on every criticism he threw at me, I couldn’t focus on my feet. I tripped over and landed on my right ankle with a deafening snap. I screamed loudly as Kiseop halted the music and ran over to me.

“Oh Jesus Christ, we need to get you to hospital!”

“Kis-seooop~” I cried, “It hurts s-so m-much!”

He crouched down beside me and pulled my head against his chest. As he my hair with his long, slim fingers, he tried to comfort me with his words. “You’ll be okay,” and, “It’s not as bad as it looks…”

With that, I stupidly chose to look at my right ankle. That was something I severely regretted doing, because as soon as I saw the bloody mess and the white bone sticking out of my foot, I fainted.

~이기섭~

I woke up to be met with the familiar surroundings of one of the cubicles in A&E. The pale blue walls, lit only by the single, dim, ceiling light were not comforting in any way, and neither was the itchy bed I was lying on. Either side of me though, was my mother, who was fast asleep, and Jaeseop, who was looking at something on his iPad. But it wasn’t either of them that I was hoping to see.

“Oppa,” I whispered, trying to get Jaeseop’s attention. He looked startled for a moment, before he cracked into a wide grin.

“You’re awake! How are you feeling?”

“Terrible. Did they fix my ankle yet?” He nodded, preferring to use gestures rather than words. That was one of the reasons my brother was considered an enigma. “Where’s Kiseop? Did he go home?”

My brother chuckled lightly. “No. We couldn’t get him to if we tried. He’s just gone to get some food and stuff from the canteen.”

We sat in silence for a few minutes, waiting for Kiseop to return. As soon as he did, he almost dropped the cup of coffee and muffin he was holding. He quickly set them down on a small table and sat down between me and Jaeseop.

“Hey, are you okay?”

“Never better,” I grumbled, pain shooting through my foot when I tried to shift into a more comfortable position. I winced loudly, which caused Kiseop to stare at me with wide eyes. He placed a hand on top of mine and gave me a small smile.

“You shouldn’t try to move. Just lie still… I’m really sorry about all of this. This is all my fault.”

“No, it really wasn’t sunbae. I didn’t concentrate on what I was doing.”

Kiseop’s smile faltered. His chocolate eyes suddenly looked downcast as he spoke. “You don’t have to call me sunbae. I’m sorry I acted like a jerk before. Can you forgive me?”

“Of course, Kiseop. We were both at fault.”

Jaeseop sighed loudly, still staring at his phone. “Are you two gonna stop being so mushy and just confess to each other already?” I stared at Jaeseop wild-eyed, whilst Kiseop just chuckled brightly.

“Wow, your brother doesn’t waste time does he? He just gets straight to the point…”

“Yes well, there’s no point dallying around, is there?” Jaeseop snapped in response.

“Fair enough… I guess this is the point where I tell you that I really like you,” Kiseop blushed shyly, but never let go of my hand.

“I guess I was being stubborn before and didn’t realise that I really like you too.”

“Hallelujah! Praise the Lord and Allah and Buddha and whoever else!” Jaeseop declared sarcastically.

“Jaeseop!” my mother suddenly screamed, startling us all, which also meant she’d been eavesdropping again.

“How long have you been listening mother?” I asked in a bored voice.

“Only since Jaeseop declared you’d woken up.” I groaned loudly, wanting to just die on the spot from embarrassment.

~이기섭~

Later that afternoon, I was discharged from the hospital; on the proviso that I used a pair of crutches to get around and that I wouldn’t dance for at least four months. Kiseop came home with us, as he was worried about me and he didn’t have anyone waiting at home for him. Since his parents had abandoned him, he made his own way. He dropped out of school and took on multiple jobs before settling as a dance teacher. Or at least that’s what he told us when my mother asked what school he went to.

So naturally, my mother being the meddling, interfering, but nonetheless lovable person she is, invited a) for Kiseop to stay with us, and b) to pay for him to start school with Jaeseop and I. And naturally, my mother refused to let him say no.

“So what happens now?” I asked Kiseop once my mother had started making dinner. “What about us?”

“What do you mean?”

“You’re a dance teacher…and I’m your student. I’m pretty sure there are rules against that sort of thing.”

“Yeah, but starting Monday, I’ll be your classmate. We’re the same age anyway. It’s no big deal. You do still want to…be with me, don’t you?”

I shuffled down the sofa slightly, and rested my head in Kiseop’s lap. His hand automatically came to rest on my head, patting my hair soothingly. “Of course I do Kiseop-oppa!” He leant his head down and kissed my nose lightly.

“By the way,” he mused quietly. “Don’t forget to remind me to thank those friends of yours. If they hadn’t interrupted and put the both of us in a stroppy mood, we’d still be denying our feelings right now.”

I hope I get more responses for this one. No one commented on the Xander chapter... :'(