Chapter 12: Sneaky Teacher

Pain coursed through every part of Hyunseung’s body. It was Monday morning and he was determined to not miss any more school; so, he pushed all his pain aside and forced himself to walk to school. He did everything he could in order to ignore the comments of his fellow classmates and to avoid Junhyung all together. Gikwang tried on several occasions to approach him but Hyunseung found hiding spots and was able to somehow avoid him all day.

It was now time for his English class. Slowly, he made his way to his seat, taking extra care to avoid further harm to his arm and ribs. It was then that Junhyung decided to walk into the room. Seeing Hyunseung sitting at his desk walked over to him, glaring with a smirk on his face.

“What the hell happened to you, ? Your pimp finally realized how much of a up you are and beat you around?” he laughed coldly. Several other students in the room laughed as well.

“That’s enough Junhyung-shii.” The teacher scolded as he walked into the room. “Sit down before you get detention.” With a scoff Junhyung glared at the teacher before moving to sit in his seat. Hyunseung shrunk in his seat in silent relief. He turned his attention to the teacher and focused on the lesson for the day.

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The rest of the day passed without too much trouble. Hyunseung was still in unbelievable pain but he pushed it aside and was able to last his last few classes. He sighed when he realized that it was time to meet Junhyung to work on their project. After missing so many days, he knew that he couldn’t push it off for another day. They only had one and a half more weeks before the assignment was due. With a sigh, he made his way into the classroom where the younger boy was already waiting. Bracing himself for the worst, he gripped his backpack strap tighter and walked over to his computer.

“So the decided to actually s how up today.” Junhyung glared over at him. Hyunseung just ignored him as he pulled out the supplies that he needed. He was determined to not let the other boy get to him. He wanted to just focus on the project and get it over with as soon as possible.

“H-how far di-did you g-get?” Hyunseung stuttered glancing at the other boy out of the corner of his eye. Junhyung just glared at him as he threw his notebook at the older boy’s face. With a slight sigh Hyunseung copied down what Junhyung had done onto his own copy. He then looked at how much they had done. Junhyung had translated just under half of the first verse leaving them with two and a half verses left to translate. He read through what the other boy had done.

‘Call you up in the middle of the night

Like a firefly without a light.

You were there like a blowtorch burning

I was a key that could use a little turning

So tired that I couldn’t even sleep.’

After he finished reading the verse, Hyunseung pulled up the YouTube video of the song and turned to look at the other boy for a moment. Junhyung glared at the other boy before he sat up straight with a groan, taking his notebook back and grabbing a pencil. Hyunseung’s eyes widened in surprise when he realized that the other boy was actually going to help with some of the work.

“What are you looking at, ?” Junhyung growled out with a snarl. Hyunseung jumped slightly.

“No-nothing.” Hyunseung looked back at his own supplies. “Do-do you w-want to finish the p-p-part that you were wor-working on-n? He cursed himself for stuttering so much.

“Keh, whatever. I don’t care. I just want to get this ing project over with so I can stop being forced to be around you.” Junhyung complained, pulling the song up on his own computer.

“Oh-kay. Th-then you do th-the rest of the f-first verse and I-I’ll start on the second.” Hyunseung immediately started working on the second verse while Junhyung reluctantly continued on the first.

After about an hour, Hyunseung leaned back in his chair, stretching his arms above his head and letting out a large yawn. He had finished translating the entire second verse. There were some difficult parts but he also wanted to get this project over with so he worked extra hard to finish early. He looked over at the other boy who was staring at an English word intensely with a confused look on his face. Hyunseung leaned over slightly to see if he could help.

“Whoa, what the are you doing ! Stay away from me!” Junhyung yelled out when Hyunseung’s face was right next to his.

“God damn it, just let me help you.” Hyunseung glared slightly. The other boy squinted his eyes at the older, even more confused by the sudden confidence that he possessed. Hyunseung leaned in again and looked at the word, staring at it for a few moments. Junhyung was becoming very uncomfortable with the close proximity. He looked down at the other boy’s neck and gulped slightly. ‘He really is handsome...Wait...What the ! What the hell am I thinking!’

Quickly Junhyung reach forward and pushed Hyunseung out of his personal space. “Are you trying to make a ing move on me ?!” he glared at the older boy.

Hyunseung glared right back. “Astray.”

“What?”

“Astray. That’s the word you’re trying to translate. Since that’s the last word of the first verse, why don’t we call it quits for today?” Hyunseung sighed as he started picking up his things. Junhyung stared at the other boy for a moment before he wrote down the word. “We need to start working on learning the English lyrics. Since we’re almost done translating it to Korean, all we have to do is discuss what the meaning behind the lyrics is and practice singing it.” Once all his things were packed up he turned to look at the other boy. “How’s your voice?” Junhyung stared at in silence. “What are you looking at?”

“What happened to your stutter? I’ve never heard you talk so much...” Junhyung glared at the other boy quizzically. Hyunseung looked like he was thinking for a moment before he answered.

“I guess I am just focusing on the assignment so much that I don’t care that you’re here. Now answer my question.”

“My voice is fine. It’s you that I’m worried about.” Junhyung crossed his arms and leaned back in his chair.

“Oh yeah, how about we each sing part of a song before we leave? Just so we know what we’re both working with.”

“Keh, whatever. Just don’t make my ears bleed.”

“You go first, whatever song you want.”

Junhyung glared once more before sitting up in his seat once again and took a breath.

“Ajikdo ireon nal saenggakhanayo

Geudael himdeulge seulpeuge apeuge han nal

Chwihaetdaneun geu iyruo

Saenggageobsi jeonhwahan nainde”

Hyunseung stared at the other boy in shock. ‘Holy , he can sing.’ Junhyung opened his eyes after he finished singing and looked over at the older boy.

“Don’t fall in love with me now, freak. It’s your turn.” Hyunseung’s face reddened with anger (along with slight embarrassment). Closing his eyes and pushing away all current thoughts he took a calming breath and started to sing.

“Byeori bitnaneun areumdaun bamiyaiya

I bami yeongwonhagil nae soneul jababwa

Pureun dalbichi areumdaun bamiyaiya

Nawa jeo haneureul georeobwa

Byeori bitnaneun areumdaun bamiyaiya.”

Hyunseung kept his eyes closed for several moments after he had finished singing. It had been a long time since he had sung anything and it felt really good. He didn’t realize how much he missed singing until this point. When he opened his eyes and looked over at his partner he smirked in satisfaction, noticing the amazed look on the others face.

“Don’t you fall in love with me either, Jerk.” Hyunseung winked sarcastically before standing up. “Come on, let’s go turn this in.” Junhyung’s eyes narrowed into a glare as he packed up his things and followed the older boy out of the room. ‘Who the hell does he think he is? He doesn’t deserve to tease me back. He’ll pay for that.’

Hyunseung slid the door to the teacher’s office open and stepped in, Junhyung following behind. “Here’s our work for the day, Sir.” The teacher took the slip of paper, looking it over. He looked up at the two boys with a slight smile.

“Junhyung-shii, you must finally be helping Hyunseung-shii to get this much done in one day. Good work you two.” He set the paper on his desk. Hyunseung and Junhyung bowed slightly and turned to leave the room. “Ah, Hyunseung-shii, I’d like to speak to you alone for a minute. Junhyung, please wait in the hall.” Hyunseung turned back to the teacher as Junhyung scoffed and exited the room.

“What is it, Sir?” Hyunseung asked.

“Where were you all last week? I can’t give you credit for the days that you missed unless you give me a good reason. And what happened to you?” He gestured to the cast on his left arm.

“Ah, my father was sick and I had to go home for a couple days to take care of him.” The teacher nodded his head slightly. “And this, I uh, I tripped down some stairs back at my apartment and broke my arm. It’s nothing to worry about.” He lied. The teacher stared at Hyunseung for a few moments before sighing slightly.

“I will not mark you down for missing last week but you are responsible for making up all homework in your other classes.”

“Thank you, Sir.” Hyunseung bowed and turned away once more.

“And Hyunseung,” said boy looked over his shoulder, “you don’t need to lie to me. I can help you if only you let me.” Hyunseung nodded his head very slightly and started walking out of the room once more. “Have a good night, Hyunseung-shii.”

Hyunseung walked out of the room and looked at Junhyung. Junhyung glared slightly before walking into the office. With a sigh, the injured boy slowly and painfully made his way to his locker to get his things to head home.

In the office, Junhyung stood in front of the teacher with a bored look on his face. “Junhyung-shii, first off I would like to thank you for actually trying today. Hyunseung told me about what happened to his father which explained why he was gone all last week. Because of the circumstances, I am going to give you credit for the work that you did. There was nothing that could be done in that situation. I expect you to keep up this work for the rest of the project.”

Junhyung looked at the teacher in shock at first before hiding it with a scoff. ‘What happened to that freak’s dad? Wait, why the hell do I care?’ He focused on the teacher again.

“I’m not sure what happened to Hyunseung-shii, but he looks like he is in a lot of pain. He hides it well, but he is suffering a lot. I would like you to help him get home tonight so he doesn’t injure himself more.”

“You want me to do what?!” Junhyung yelled at the teacher.

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I was going to wait to post this chapter since I just posted the last one yesterday, but then I decided that you all waited so long for me to update that you deserve to not have to wait again. I'm so proud of myself for getting another chapter out so quickly. I've just been in a writing mood the last couple days and I can't stop. I hope that you all enjoy this chapter. It's the first time Junhyung is actually being civil with Hyunseung! Don't forget to leave me a comment on what you think!

Thanks for reading!

-Ashley