Minho’s eyes were glued onto his teacher’s face. His mind was speculating all kinds of strange thoughts like how his teacher really is a true beauty hidden behind those black spectacles. It kind of made Minho want to gently press his lips against his teacher’s. Seeing how Mr. Lee remained silent, Minho assumed that doing this was okay, so he decided to go with the flow and he slowly moved forward.

On impulse, Taemin throws both of his hands and presses his fingers onto Minho’s lips. “I-it’s forbidden to have a teacher and student relationship! So… M-Minho, if someone walks in and sees this… they’ll misunderstand and we would be in trouble,” Taemin said nervously, his eyes squeezing shut. Minho was taken aback; did he seriously get rejected again? And what the hell was he just about to do?! While Minho was caught in his train of thoughts, Mr. Lee took this chance to slip out from under Minho, but the tall male firmly grabbed his wrist, stopping him from escaping towards the door.

“Mr. Lee… you haven’t given me an answer,” Minho’s voice was just above a whisper. Taemin was beginning to feel flustered.

“A-answer to what?” Hadn’t Taemin already made it clear that teachers can’t date students?

“What should I do to get you to believe me?” Minho quickly answered as he pulled the other one closer to him. Mr. Lee gulped loudly and turned his head away—to avoid facing Minho—and with that Minho loosen his grip around the wrist. Silently, the older male left the room, and Minho just watched his teacher leave with mixed feelings that stirred inside of his chest, but then he saw Mr. Lee stuck his head back, his eyes filled with worry. “Umm… Hope you’ll feel better though…” he says before leaving again. Mr. Lee’s actions sparked a little hope inside of Minho, thinking that he’s at least on his teacher’s mind.

Minho slumped down onto the bed and ran his hands through his hair in a frustrated manner. ‘Is there something that I’m doing wrong?’

That very night, Minho burst into Minjung’s room and grabbed her hand mirror from her drawer. “Minjung,” Minho called softly as he held the mirror in front of his face, examining every angle. “Guys could fall for me, right?”

His younger sister was sprawled across her bed, eating some chips as she watched TV. She got up, feeling astounded that her brother would just barge in asking the most bizarre question she had ever heard from him, she was beginning to think that he brother must have lost it or something. “Huh, why are you asking me?!” Minjung wasn’t sure how to respond to his question, so she rebutted it with her own question.

“I mean, I’m not ugly. I’ve been told many times that I’m downright handsome,” Minho ignored her question as he touched his face with his free hand. “Guys could fall for me, right?”

“Yes, yes, oppa… why, of course!” Minjung replied nervously. She sensed the cynical tone in that last word that uttered from her brother’s lips. She knew that if she didn’t answer him correctly, she would most likely wake up in her undergarments in the dog house outside in the morning. Minjung feigned a confident laugh as she proudly declared, “guys can like your face, too! Your face is the handsomest! What kind of guy wouldn’t fall for you?!” Minho shot a satisfied smile at his beloved younger sister and after Minjung saw his cheesy grin, she let out a relieved breath of air.

Hearing Minjung’s words did make Minho feel a bit better, even though he was only teasing her to begin with, but he couldn’t help but think… and as he pondered, he let out a distressed sigh as he set her hand mirror back down. ‘Perhaps I’m just not Mr. Lee’s type? Could it be that he has a lover already? No, no, can’t be. Maybe he doesn’t even swing that way even though he really looks like the perfect jail-bait…’

Minho began to flush as he thought about the last line. ‘W-wait, why am I even thinking about my teacher like that?’ He shook his head furiously. ‘Right, just focus on how to hitch a date with him, I’m not serious about this. And wanting to kiss him was only because he looked too vulnerable, it’s not my fault.’ Too immersed with his little pep-talk-to-self and plan of his next attack, he didn’t realize that his sister was observing him look like a fool, just being depressed, then happy, then frustrated. Minjung found it quite amusing though, she wondered who could make her cool yet evil brother like this. She would have asked him about it but she had a feeling that her brother would just tell her to stay out of his business like last time.

Minho tiredly grumbled as he walked down the hallway, he was still concerned about what went wrong in the infirmary. It was unlikely for him to be this anxious about this, and it was way too early in the morning to even think about it. But to calm his nerves, Minho spots a girl gawking at him and strides up to her, pushing her against the lockers with a little bit of force. “Would you like to go out on a date with me?” Minho asked in a low, coolly tone.

The girl was utterly speechless and her face surged with the color red as she nodded yes. Stepping back, Minho smiled, of course he still got it. His face instantly dropped when he realized that Mr. Lee was a spectator of what just happened. He saw how Mr. Lee’s eyes widened with shock, and he immediately wanted to explain that he wasn’t serious when he was asking that random chick that question but before Minho could even utter a word…

“U-uh… it’s okay for you guys to date, but… don’t stay out too late,” Mr. Lee bows and takes his leave. Minho stood frozen, feeling a bit hurt that Mr. Lee didn’t even seemed like he was jealous at all, perhaps asking his teacher out is a hopeless cause.

At the restaurant, Minho idly fiddled with his French fries in the awkward atmosphere with the girl he randomly asked out from this morning. Minho didn’t want to be here but he has never taken back his words before. He mentally cursed at himself, calling himself an idiot, what did he think he was doing this morning? He was too depressed to even think about it what happened and he’s been in a foul mood ever since the morning.

“Umm… Are you okay, Minho?” the girl quietly asked. Minho finally took notice of her and glanced at her from the corner of his eye while resting his chin against the palm of his hand.

“Hmm, yeah.” A lie came from his mouth. Minho was sure that there was something wrong with him since he couldn’t get Mr. Lee out of his head, so sure that when he glanced outside of the diner, he could have sworn that he was seeing his teacher across the street, sitting on a bench.

Minho blinked and looked carefully, staring hard through the window, it really was his teacher. A warm little feeling was beginning to spread across his chest as he thought of the reason why Mr. Lee might be there. Maybe Mr. Lee was jealous after all, and maybe that’s why he’s here to “check” up on them. Minho quickly sprang from his seat, slamming his pay for the dinner, and dashing out the door as he bids the girl he was just with goodbye and thanks.

Mr. Lee was checking his cell phone, not even noticing that Minho was approaching closer. And just a few feet away, Minho stopped, his face fading away into a blank expression as his little hopes were completely crumbled as he saw the excited expression his teacher had on when another male appeared before him.

All Minho could think of at the moment was who is that man and what is he to Mr. Lee?