AN: Sorry, not MinRen POV.

Dongho met Aron again when he was about to go home from college.

It had been a whole week after their encounter in the supermarket, and Dongho seen neither hair nor hide of the teacher. Mainly because he had been busied with his part-time job (apparently one of their employees had gotten sick and Dongho had to fill in for him) along with his increasing schoolwork. For the past week, either Jongup or Junhong walked Minhyun and Minki to and from school. Not that the twins minded, they adored Dongho’s neighbors.

But still, Dongho wished he could be the one walking them instead.

Mainly because he wanted to spend as much time as possible with his nephews and getting them to be more and more comfortable with him. Although he wouldn’t deny he also wanted to see Aron. Dongho felt that they could be great friends, and it would be nice to know someone around his age that had more experience with children.

He scolded himself for not remembering to ask for Aron’s number that day, but what’s done is done. And besides, it’s not like Dongho couldn’t see him. There will always be a chance for him to see Aron.

And the chance came soon—more exactly, a week later—when he had to stay back in his college a little late.

Jongup had rushed right out of the classroom as soon as the lecture finished, since his shift started in less than an hour. Dongho decided to stay behind, since he was pretty much free that day, to ask their professor about a sub-topic he didn’t quite understand. With all due respect to Professor Kim, the man was smart, witty and a fairly good teacher, but he tended to go off track and speak utter nonsense at times. Unfortunately for Dongho, he couldn’t quite separate between the nonsense and real information just yet, unlike Professor Kim’s older students.

He already called Jongup to walk the twins home and leave a note for Junhong to babysit them—the older boy grumbled something about being late over the phone but didn’t quite refuse Dongho’s request. Dongho knew Jongup didn’t have the heart to make Minhyun and Minki wait until Dongho was done.

His small tutoring session with Professor Kim had been far shorter than he had initially thought, and he decided the remainder of his time studying in the college library. Gently declining Professor Kim’s offer of a ride back home.

As soon as Professor Kim was out of sight, Dongho slumped against the desk, feeling the cold wood against his forehead. Contrary to popular belief, he loved the college library. It was spacious, quiet, and even though he may not understand half of the books put on display, he still liked the calm, peaceful and undisturbed atmosphere of the place. It was a contrast to his home. Especially after Minhyun and Minki moved in.

He took out a textbook (a thick and daunting book, but was actually a lot easier to understand than it looked) from his backpack, opened to a marked page and began reading quietly. Hoping to get some studying done before his class the next day. Suddenly, someone tapped him on the shoulder. Dongho’s head swiveled back and his eyes widened considerably when he saw the person he wanted to see for the past week smiling down at him.

“I knew it was you,” Aron said, “What are you doing?”

It took a short while for Dongho to recollect his thoughts and smiled back, “I’m studying. It’s nice to study here. It’s kind of quiet. What is hyung doing here?”

“I go to college here.”

“Oh,” Dongho’s eyes widened a tiny fraction, “Really?”

Aron laughed, “Why so surprised? You remember I told you I’m two years older than you, right? I’m still in college too.”

“B-but your job…”

“My job in the kindergarten only requires me to work in the morning until the early afternoon. All of my classes are in the late afternoon. So as soon as I’m done teaching, I take Jonghyun home, change my clothes, gather my school stuff and run all the way here.”

“I see…” Dongho mumbled, “So our classes are at different times…”

“Yeah, that’s probably why we never really met outside of the kindergarten.”

Dongho wanted to laugh at the irony of it all. They went to the same college, yet they never even saw each other on campus outside the kindergarten. Dongho could have met him a lot sooner if he decided to stay in college a little late.

“Hey,” Dongho said, suddenly realizing something, “Then what about that time we met at the supermarket? Didn’t you have classes that day?”

Aron raised his brows and thought about it for a while. “Well that was exactly one week ago, right?” Aron said absentmindedly, “Today I don’t have classes until 5.30. And we met at around…4 PM I think. I still had time to do some grocery shopping before running to class.”

Dongho nodded in understanding, “Then why did you suddenly run off? Was there something wrong?”

“Oh that! Sorry, that was Professor Mun. He lives next to me, you see. And apparently he accidentally locked himself out on his balcony. Since he couldn’t get ahold of anyone else that has a copy of his house keys, he tried calling me. And because his classes was about to start soon, I had to get him out as soon as possible.”

“Professor Mun?” Dongho questioned. He knew who Professor Mun was. The man was quite famous in-campus, partly due to his good looks, partly due to his 4D personality and strange quirks. He may have looked cool at first glance, but his students have told many stories about how odd he could be.

“Professor Mun,” Aron repeated, “He’s a really nice person, despite his quirks. He’s the one who helped me get the job in the kindergarten.”

“Oh? Are you two close then?”

“Well…not exactly. About as close as a teacher and a student could get, I guess.”

Dongho nodded, not sure what else to say. Silence settled between them, neither of them really making a move to break it. All of a sudden, Aron cleared his throat. Dongho looked up at Aron as he gestured to the seat next to Dongho.

“So, is it okay if I sit here?”

Dongho nodded vigorously, pulling out the chair for Aron to sit. Aron said a soft thank you and flopped onto the seat ungracefully, settling his backpack on the table with a soft thud. Dongho watched as Aron took out a thick-looking book and began reading. Dongho craned his head slightly to try and read the contents. It was definitely in English. Dongho could understand some of the phrases and words littered across the text.

“You’re good at English, hyung?” Dongho asked, slightly startling Aron.

“Yeah, I take English courses, so I have to. Didn’t I say Professor Mun was my teacher?”

Dongho did remember Aron hinted that Professor Mun was his teacher. “Can I hear you speak English, hyung?”

“Okay,” Aron shrugged, “What do you want me to talk about?”

“Um, how about your job at the kindergarten?”

Aron paused for a while, before he started to speak. “I love my job at the kindergarten. My boss is very nice and the kids are all pleasant to work with. The pay is quite enough for me to pay my rent and to buy other necessities such as food and clothes. I’m glad I was able to get the job.”

“Wow, your English is really good, hyung,” Dongho said, gaping with awe.

“Did you understand what I said?” Aron smiled cheekily, resting his chin on his palm.

“Er…” Dongho didn’t exactly want to admit he didn’t understand a word Aron said, but he couldn’t really pretend he understood every word either. Aron was speaking far too fast for his liking, even if Aron’s accent was flawless. And besides, the most English Dongho knew was only enough to hold a simple conversation.

Aron laughed seeing Dongho’s troubled face, “I was basically only saying I really like my job. And of course my English is very good, I lived in America most of my life. Why do you think my nickname is Aron?”

“I don’t know…to sound cool?”

“Hey! Are you saying I’m not cool already?” Aron said, looking mildly offended.

“Well…” Dongho trailed off, eyes trailing down Aron’s figure, “The way you dress right now isn’t exactly the epitome of ‘cool’…”

It was true. A grey hoodie, slightly faded jeans and tattered sneakers weren’t exactly in-fashion. It was worse in comparison to Dongho’s white polo shirt, denim jeans and running shoes. Aron’s clothes were rather unflattering and it hung a little too loosely on his figure.

Aron huffed, “I don’t wear these all the time. You should see me in my best clothes, I’m positive my looks will blow you away.”

Dongho laughed heartily, “Sure, hyung, sure.”

“Are you doubting me?” Aron gasped, “How can you doubt this handsome face?” Aron said, pointing to his face.

Dongho paused for a while, before his lips curved into a Cheshire grin, “I think you look weird.”

Aron decided to ignore the mild insult in favor of admiring Dongho’s use of English. “Oh, you can speak English! How well can you speak?”

Dongho paused for another moment, “A little.”

Aron laughed, “I see. But I think your accent is pretty good Dongho! You just need to polish it a bit so people wouldn’t confuse between the Ls and the Rs.”

Dongho lit up at the compliment, smiling brightly at his hyung. Somehow, the compliment made his heart swell with so much pride he thought it was about to burst. But he brushed it off. Dongho generally loved receiving compliments anyways.

“Thank you hyung, but I’m not really good at memorizing all the English words and grammar rules.”

“Oh, it only takes a bit of practice to get the hang of them! If you want…I can teach you English, completely free of charge,” Aron offered with a small smile, but Dongho could clearly see the excitement and anticipation twinkling in his eyes. Excitement for what, Dongho didn’t know. But it reminded him slightly of a hopeful kid hinting at what he wanted as a birthday present. Dongho decided the expression looked cute on the older male.

“Really? Are you sure, hyung?”

“Of course!” Aron exclaimed, “It would be my pleasure to teach you English! I mean it would be good for you in the long run, wouldn’t it? And it’s cheaper in comparison to taking English lessons from other private teachers. If you want to, that is.”

Dongho though about it for a while, it was true that it would benefit him greatly in the long run, and he did love things free. Also, it would be a good chance for him to get to know the older male. Dongho was being honest when he said they could be good friends, and he really wanted to establish a friendship with Aron.

“Sure! Why not? It’s good for me anyways.”

And I can get to know hyung better.

“Great!” Aron grinned, not even bothering to hide his excitement. He rummaged through his backpack and took out a notepad and a pen. He wrote something on the notepad, detached the note, folded it neatly and gave it to Dongho. Dongho stared at the folded piece of paper, slightly confused.

“My phone number,” Aron explained, “You can call me anytime between 8 to 12 PM. And during the weekends I’m usually up until 2 AM. Be sure to give me a call so we can arrange the time and place.”

“Can’t we do it now?” Dongho asked, puzzled.

Aron’s eyes widened, “Isn’t it getting a bit late? My class is going to start soon and wouldn’t the twins be worried if you’re gone too long?”

Dongho immediately looked at his wristwatch only to see that Aron was right. It was fifteen minutes past five o’clock. Junhong and the twins were going to kill him. Again! He hurriedly shoved his textbook inside his backpack and hefted his backpack up his shoulder. He said a quick goodbye to Aron and rushed out of the library, pointedly ignoring the librarian’s yell of “No running in the library!”

True enough, when he reached home Junhong started to scold him because why was he home so late? Dongho said he would be home at around 4.30! The twins were starting to panic and how did Dongho think he felt when the twins looked like they were about to cry? Be grateful that Junhong is doing all this for free!

Dongho said his apologies to both Junhong and the twins again and again (Offering them cherry tomatoes and candies as peace offerings) until they eventually let him off. Junhong stormed out of the apartment in a rather huffy mood, while the twins decided to ignore him for the night, opting to go straight to bed after dinner.

Dongho sighed as he tucked the twins in their bed. He would really have to make it up to them somehow. He turned off the lights and gently closed the door behind him. He decided that he really should call it a day and go to bed. But as he was about to throw himself onto his bed, his eyes caught sight of the piece of paper Aron gave him.

Dongho took the piece of paper in his hands and unfolded it. There was Aron’s number written at the top of the paper, and on the bottom was a note, written in English, saying: ‘Be sure to give me a call, okay? ;)’

Dongho smiled at the little note, understanding the general message. Suddenly the idea of sleeping right away seemed unappealing to him. He picked up his cellphone from his bedside table and dialed the number. Perhaps a chat with Aron wouldn’t hurt.

First and foremost: 20 subs. 20 SUBS!!! I don't deserve you people! /gross sobbing

*cough* Sorry about not updating for 5 days, but I was really really busy with schoolwork and preparing for a charity bazaar. ^^" Luckily, I have a 2 weeks vacation now so hopefully I can update more often.

To those of you who were looking forward to the MinRen POV chapter, please forgive me. I found the transition between the previous chapter and the MinRen chapter slightly odd so I decided to postpone it for a bit. I hope the Baekron interaction is enough for you not to kill me~ Right?

THANK YOU TO THOSE WHO SUBSCRIBED, COMMENTED, OR JUST TOOK THE TIME TO READ THIS!!! Words cannot describe how awesome all of you are.