At work, she is Professor Oh.

To her colleagues she is Hana.

At home she is nothing more than a sideways glance filled with reproach and scorn.

"I'm here," Hana calls dully as she unlocks the door to Apartment 10B. Sehun is sprawled out on the couch, iPad in hand. He doesn't bother to greet his sister. "Sehun, do you want me to make dinner?"

"Of course," he scowls. "That's your job."

Hana rolls her eyes before changing into a pair of sweats and heading to the kitchen. Her culinary skills lie no further than the arena of ramen and cereal. She never had the time to learn anything else; when you're a 12 year old girl trying to cope with the stress of college life, whipping up a gourmet meal is the least of your concerns.  

"Ramen again?" Sehun groans, eyeing the savory pot of noodles. "You're 19 years old and all you know how to do is follow the instructions on a Styrofoam cup."

Hana resist the urge to hiss, I may not be able to make some fancy dish, but I’m smarter than you’ll ever be. But she bites her tongue. Best not to make him hate her even more.

After dinner Hana burrows herself up in her room. Today was quite a busy day, what with meeting all her new students for the first time. She’s almost scared of herself, what with all the drastic rules she set for her class. But it’s the best thing to do. In her experience, the best kind of teacher is overly strict. It challenges the students to push themselves and work harder.

I hope I can make a friend here, she thinks, rolling over on her bed. These past 19 years have been awfully lonely.

    “When I call out your name, reply with 'here'.” Professor Oh clears . “Park Sumin. Byun Baekhyun. Han Do Mi.”

    “Kim Jongin,” she says, and Kai says, “Here. And I go by Kai.”

    Professor Oh doesn’t spare him a glance. “Alright, Mr. Kim.”

    A pang of embarrassment hits Kai in the face. She was going to call me Mr. Kim anyway. Why did I tell her that anyway?

    Class begins. Professor Oh is a challenging teacher, explaining concepts well but suddenly transitioning to a new topic without waiting for everyone to catch up. Panicked looks are visible on every face in the room as everyone rushes to scrawl notes down. Kai, however, tips back in his chair and watches.

    Someone taps his shoulder. “Kai, aren’t you going to take notes? You’ll fail.” Do Hwe Ji whispers. He throws her a cocky smirk.

    “You know me. I never take notes,” he tells her, and Hwe Ji smiles.

    “True,” she admits. “And yet you get such good grades. God, Kai, teach me how to be so smart.”

    Kai throws her a flirty wink. “I could teach you a few other things-,”

    “Mr. Kim. Ms. Do.” Professor Oh is glaring at the two. “Leave the classroom and proceed your coquetry elsewhere.”

    “We’re really sorry, Professor Oh,” Hwe Ji stutters, ducking her head. “It won’t happen again. Really. I’m really sorry.”

    “This is your last warning.” And Professor Oh turns back to the whiteboard. When she’s turned around Kai flips her off, causing giggles to crack up among the students. Professor Oh doesn’t notice. Or maybe she just chooses to ignore it.

    Kai’s drab day is uplifted when he receives a text from Sehun later that day.

    There’s a freestyle competition over in Hongdae next Saturday. Are you up for it?

    Of course, Kai types back, his lips curving upward. He had promised Minah that he’d go on a date with her that day, but he can easily cancel. Kai wouldn’t miss a freestyle competition for anything.

    Great. Let’s meet up tomorrow to practice, Sehun texts.

    “You look pissed,” Sehun notes as Kai storms into their practice room, fuming.

    “My math professor is such a y old hag,” he hisses. “I turned in my homework in black ink, like her stupid rules stated, but it bled through the paper. And you know what she did? She threw it away.”

    Sehun’s jaw drops. “Wha- why?”

    “Apparently it was because it was unprofessionally messy.” Kai scoffs. “Bull. Professor Oh has it out for me. She hates me for no reason.”

    “Does she act this way towards everyone?” Sehun inquires.

    Kai slowly shakes his head. “Well, no. She’s awful to everyone. But she hates me especially, I think.”

    “Well, you know what to do, right?” Sehun tilts his head towards the stereo system sitting in the corner of the room. “Dance it all away, man.”

    After a long but satisfying practice, Kai and Sehun sit side-by-side on the floor, chugging water. When Sehun crumples up his plastic water bottle, tries to throw it into the trash can, but misses it by a foot, both of them start laughing. In all the 5 years Kai’s known Sehun, he’s always missed the trash can. It’s become a sort of a lame inside joke between the two.

Although they no longer attend the same school- Sehun goes to the Seoul Institute of the Arts so he can become a professional choreographer, while Kai is a student of Seoul National University, vying to be a petroleum engineer- they have retained the slew of memories they created during their school days. They know each other.

Which is why Kai can tell that something’s been wrong with Sehun lately.

“Spill. Something’s on your mind.” he tells Sehun, looking over at his best friend.

Sehun shrugs. “Nothing much, I guess,” he mutters. When Kai gives him a look, Sehun sighs. “Alright. It’s my sister.”

Kai’s eyes widen. His friendship with Sehun is very open, but there are two taboo topics they may never speak about: Kai’s family and Sehun’s younger sister. All Kai was able to garner from the few times he mentioned her was that she was very smart, and loved the most by Mr. and Mrs. Oh for that reason. Beyond that... nothing.

“My parents forced her to live with me, because they wanted us to bond or whatever.” Sehun continues, rolling his eyes. “It’s a crap reason. And now that she’s there... I feel like my freedom’s been snatched away from me. All these years I had stepped out from under her shadow. I wasn’t being compared as much to her. But now she’s back.”

Kai slaps his back in a reassuring manner. “I’m sorry, man. When is she moving out?”

    “I have no idea,” Sehun sighs. “I’m going to get married so I have an excuse to kick her out. God, I hate her. She doesn’t know how to make anything but ramen and a bowl of ing Cheerios, for god’s sake.”

Kai can’t help but let out a chuckle.

    The two sit in silence, oblivious to the fact that they are both complaining about the same woman.