It's been two months since school started. Changmin and Saemi continued to get to know each other. Of course, she wasn't the only student he was close with. He was close to all of his students, especially his returning students since he knew them beforehand. It just happened that Changmin and Saemi had a lot more in common that they thought.

It also turned out that Saemi's ex-boyfriend was in his last class. So to get back at the jerk for cheating on Saemi, Changmin would always take one or two points off his tests and assignments as a passive-agressive kind of revenge for Saemi. Changmin also kept his word and gave him a hard time whenever he was goofing around by making him do clean up duty and whatnot. 

School was over. Changmin was tutoring Saemi and her friend Chaerin on improving their vocabulary with synonyms.

"Okay, so haughty is a synonym for arrogant. It rhymes with naughty, which means playful or badly behaved. But haughty means conceited, like someone who is full of themself."

"So Mr. Shim, are you haughty or naughty?" Chaerin asked mischieviously. 

"You're being naughty for asking this question." Changmin said completely serious, causing Saemi to laugh. 

Changmin went over more words and any questions the girls had. As soon as they finished, Changmin got a text from Gayoung. 

"Do you wanna get coffee right now? I'll be at the cafe in five minutes."

"Sure. I'll be there in ten."

Hey girls, what kind of coffee do you usually drink? I feel like trying something different today."

"I don't like coffee. I prefer tea." Chaerin noted.

"I usually get an expresso or a cappucino." 

"Alright. Well, I'll see you girls on Monday."

"Bye Mr. Shim!" The girls both waved. As Changmin was leaving, he heard Chaerin say "Yah, don't you think Mr. Shim is really cute?"

"I guess. I never really looked at him in that way." Saemi replied nonchalantly.

Changmin was slightly disappointed to hear that. As he made his way to the cafe, he contemplated on the relationship he had with Saemi. *Why should I be disappointed if she doesn't look at me like that? She already brother-zoned me.* 

Whenever Saemi was in his class and the students were working quietly on an assignment or test, Changmin would unknowingly lay his eyes on her. He would smile to himself seeing how she was concentrating hard to get the correct word or sentence structure. But once Changmin realizes what he's doing, he would mentally hit himself. 

*I shouldn't be thinking about this. What's wrong with me...* He sighed loudly as he stopped at the entrance of the cafe. *Wonder what Gayoung wants to talk about.* Changmin and Gayoung had only gotten coffee one other time after she explained to him why they had broken up, and it was just to help her out with teacher stuff. 

Changmin ordered a medium sized expresso and found Gayoung sipping on her caramel macchiato.

"Oh... I didn't know you liked expressos."

"Felt like trying something else for a change." He took a sip of it and noted to himself that he would get it more often. "So what's up?"

"I wanted to give you this." She handed him a wedding invitation.

"It's finally happening... Time went by pretty quick." Changmin stated as he opened the envelope. 

"Yeah I know. We're getting married in two weeks. And if you're not able to make it, it's perfectly okay but I think your presence will make it more worthwhile."

"I'm sure I can make it." He murmured as he scanned through the card. "I'd like to say hi to your parents too. They're good people."

"Thanks Changmin. You're the best." The two of them talked a little more until Gayoung had to go get more wedding errands done. 

* I'm going to my ex-girlfriend's wedding. I feel so accomplished.* It was official at that point. Changmin had been able to move on and it was thanks to Saemi. * I can't believe I'm admitting this...but I might be falling for one of my students.* On his way back to the car, Changmin continued to ponder over the fact that after three years of not liking anyone, he ends up liking his student. 

When Changmin approached his apartment, it was about five in the evening. He took Mangdongie for a quick walk, came back home, fed Mangdongie dinner, and was about to look over some late essays to grade when he got a call from Kyuhyun.

"Changmin, let's go drinking! Siwon, Jonghyun, and Minho will be there too. We haven't gotten a nice break in a long time."

"Right now? It's kinda early..."

"Like at eight. We can eat out as well."

"Alright. Just text me the details. I wanna try and get some grading done."

"Even after college, you're still an over-achiever. Alright. See ya later."

Changmin had a huge appetite so he wanted some brain food a.k.a. dinner so he could eat while grading and then eat with Kyuhyun afterwards. He decided to eat chicken noodle soup.

He managed to finish grading all of the papers at 7:25 pm. He got ready and changed into nice clothes. He gelled his hair too, knowing that the guys wanted to drink at a club instead of a bar. *Would I be able meet a nice girl there and forget about Saemi?* He chuckled to himself; finding a nice girl at a club would be unrealistic.

After reading the text that Kyuhyun sent, he went on his way to the street vendor. They ate there for about half an hour before moving on to the club. Changmin had plenty of fun. It had been a while since he and his friends got together to drink and enjoy themselves.

It was almost midnight when Changmin decided that it was time to leave. But once he left the club, it had began to rain.

*What the hell...* He made a dash to his car and was relieved that he didn't get too wet. When he was half way to reaching his home, he saw Saemi standing in front of a bakery, under the balcony, taking shelter from the heavy rain. She had her bike as well. Luckily, Changmin had a spare umbrella behind his seat so he decided to go take her home.

"Mr. Shim?" Saemi asked, as she noticed him coming closer. 

"Yeah, it's me." Changmin said from under the umbrella. "I'll take you home."

"Actually, my parents aren't home and my sister is vacationing with her friends in Jeju Island. I didn't want to stay with Chaerin because I stayed with her a lot already and didn't want to bother them. I was going to go to the orphanage I volunteer at, but then the rain started pouring." Saemi sighed as she looked at the night sky continuously letting rain drops appear.

*Should I invite her to my place? I have a guest room... Is that too risky?* Changmin debated with himself. *Ohhh, to hell with it.*

"I have an extra room in my apartment if you want to take shelter there. I'll take you to the orphanage in the morning. It's too late to go there now." Changmin stated confidently.

"Really? I can?" Saemi questioned, looking as if she just won the lottery. "Yeah. Come on, let's go." Changmin made sure he covered Saemi as the two of them walked to the car. The bike was small enough to fit in the trunk of his car.

As Changmin began to drive, Saemi hummed softly to the music that was playing on the radio. The two of them didn't say a word but it wasn't an awkward moment of silence. It was peaceful and Changmin liked that Saemi didn't ask any questions about what he had been doing and whatnot.

Changmin got out first and was going to open the car door for Saemi, but she did it herself. 

"You don't have to be such a gentleman, Mr. Shim, but thank you. The fact that you're letting me stay over is magnificient." She pronounced the adjective in English.

"No problem." Changmin smiled. He lived on the third floor but the elevator broke down so they had to walk up the stairs. 

"Sorry you had to exercise a little."

"That was nothing. You should visit the gym I go to. You probably need to work out more if you thought that was tiring." 

"Well anyway, welcome to my home." Changmin murmured as he unlocked and opened the door to his apartment. 

"Wow, it's so clean." Saemi exclaimed after Changmin the lights and started to look for some comfortable clothes for Saemi to change into.

"Oh my gosh, what a cute doggy!" Saemi squealed as she crawled to where Mandongoe was laying. After playing with her for a while, Saemi got up and looked around the kitchen and living room.

Changmin came out of his room and gave her the clothes."They're my sister's pajamas but I'm sure they'll fit you."

Saemi said her thanks and went to the restroom to change. Changmin felt a little nervous realizing how far this situation had gotten. *Well, nothing's going to happen so I need to stop worrying.*

Changmin breezed to the guest room to see if there was anything that needed to be clean. There wasn't much but a few of old pictures that needed to be put away. All of a sudden, there was a roar of thunder and flashes of lightning. He noticed that it was taking Saemi a while to change so he went to go check up on her. He knocked on the bathroom door.

"Saemi, everything okay in there?" Changmin was sincerely worried something wrong had happened. 

She opened the door, terrified. Without thinking about it, she went into Changmin's embrace.

Changmin was surprised, but relaxed once he understood that Saemi was scared of the thunderstorm. *This is actually really nice.* Changmin could feel her heart beating rapidly. He hoped she didn't hear that his heart was racing as well. 

After a minute or two, the thunder paused and Saemi let go. "Sorry about that, I don't know why but I've always been scared of thunder. I know it's a type of phobia that can be treated but I never had the chance to get help for it."

"It's okay, it is preventable and you don't have to rush to get treatment. Here, this is where you're sleeping." He held her as they walked across to the room.

The guest room was bare but spacious. There was a bed on the opposite side of the closet, a small desk below the window, and a couch right next to the bed. 

"I don't think the thunder will last much longer but I'll stay with you until it completely ends." Changmin noted.

"I appreciate it a lot, Mr. Shim." Saemi beamed despite looking extremely tired.

"Lie down. You need to sleep." He pointed to the bed. Once she did, Changmin sat on the couch. 

"Mr. Shim, you might be more than an Oppa to me now." Saemi mumbled after she was comfy and surrounded by blankets.

Changmin felt like he was on cloud nine. "Do you realize what you're saying?" 

But Saemi had already fallen asleep. Changmin didn't want to leave her in case thunder would abrupt again. So Changmin decided to lie on the couch and look out the window. Eventually he dozed off and dreamt a nice dream.

However, Changmin did wake up from the rain when lightning was flashing by his eyes again. He looked over to see if Saemi was alright. He was relieved to see that she was still in a deep slumber. Changmin was going to go back to his bedroom but he suddenly felt an urge to just stay where he was. Whether it was laziness or he just wanted to stay with Saemi, Changmin was able to go back to sleep. 

It was about eight in the morning when Changmin woke up. He turned over to see if Saemi was still sleeping but she was gone. There was a note on top of the bed that she must have gotten somewhere on the desk.

Mr. Shim, thanks so much for letting me spend the night. I'm so thankful, especially after the thunder too. You're the best. I didn't want to be more of an inconvience so I left early. I hope you can bring my bike to school Monday. I'll see you then. Take care! ~Saemi

*Wow, I can't believe she just left like that. I feel bad now.* But after remembering what Saemi had said last night, it seemed that Changmin had a chance.

*Wait what chance? I'm still her teacher!* Changmin sat back down and pondered for quite a while about what he was going to do. He knew that as the days go by, he would fall for her more and more. He thought about Saemi a lot so it would be hard not to. 

"I'll tell her how I feel when she graduates." Changmin murmured out loud after a long decision. He continued to do his regular Saturday afternoon routine, as if he had no more burdens now. But little did he know, that trouble was going to arise.

The weekend flew by quickly and Saemi was just arriving at school when she noticed how a myriad of students and faculty were surrounding the notice board. Curious, she went to see what was going on. As Saemi made her way there, students saw her and moved away so she could see what it was. The sight horrified her.  

"It's her right? She's the one that slept in his apartment?" A student whispered from behind her. More students were gossiping as Saemi continued to stare at what was on the notice board. 

There were pictures of Changmin and Saemi entering his apartment. There was another picture of her leaving as well. There was a caption that said "Mr. Shim is sleeping with his students!!" 

Saemi turned around to scan the crowd to see if she could find Chaerin. When she did, Chaerin avoided looking at her. 

Changmin wandered to the front after saying "What's with all this commotion?" He spotted Saemi and noticed her shocked state. 

"Mr. Shim! You've been sleeping with Saemi?" One of his past students interrogated.

"What?" The students just pointed at the notice board. As soon as Changmin saw it. he took the pictures off and started to yell out "Who the hell did this!??" It was the first time anyone had seen him so angry and no one dared to respond. 

At this point, the principal and other board members called him out to talk about his punishment. They asked Saemi to accompany him as well. Some teachers were allowed to attend because they were concerned about Changmin's career. 

As the two of them walked behind the angry board members and concerned staff, Changmin whispered to her, "It's gonna be alright. I"ll take full responsibility."

Saemi just kept apologizing to him. "I should have been more careful. I don't want you to lose your job. I'm okay with transferring. I've done so plenty of times... I'm so sorry, Mr. Shim."

Changmin just reached down and squeezed her hand lightly, comforting her as he murmured "It's not your fault. I should have figured out that someone would have taken those pictures."

"What do you mean? You know who it is?"

"It's a theory for now. But we'll have to see." When everyone headed to the conference room. the board members all gawked at them, judging, whispering, and shaking their heads in disappointment.

"Well Changmin, what do you have to say for yourself?" The principal questioned once everyone settled down.

"There's no excuse for having a student stay in a teacher's home. But there is a misunderstanding. We did not sleep together in the way you're thinking. " 

"Saemi? Do you have anything you want to add?" 

"I just want to apologize that this situation had to occur. If it's necessary, I am willing to transfer." Changmin made a disappoving face at her stubbornness and was about to interrupt when the principal stated, "That won't be happening. You're one of our students that make us proud. We wouldn't want you to leave."

"So that means I'll be leaving?" 

"Your job? Not exactly. I decided that you won't be teaching seniors anymore. You're back to teaching freshmen."

"That's it?" Changmin was confused on how this could be.

"Changmin, ever since I hired you, all the students who learned English did very well on the standardized tests. Not only that, but the students enjoy your class on a daily basis. You get along with all of the teachers, and you're respectful to not only your sunbaes but your hoobaes also. I can state plenty of more reasons. But as of this potential teacher-student relationship, I think it's best if you don't teach seniors for a while. Also there might be trouble if anyone sees the two of you together. Understand?" 

"Yes. Thank you for the consideration and I'm sincerely sorry for this happening." Changmin got up to bow and Saemi did as well. But a teacher yelled in anger. 

"This is stupid! He deserves to get fired!!!" Everyone turned to the direction of the outraged voice.

"I was right." Changmin muttered softly so Saemi could hear. "He's the only teacher that lives in the same complex as me." 

"Song Jaehyun, what are you going on about?"

"I was the one who put up those pictures! This isn't freaking fair! I've been here longer, I've worked harder, but none of you recognized my hard work or even bothered to thank me." He glared at Changmin.

"Just so you know, I saw you post those pictures earlier. I didn't want to say anything because I know you've always envied Changmin, but this certainly wasn't the way to deal with it." The principal began. "What you did was very immature of you, especially since you're older than Changmin. Don't think you're going to get away with this without a punishment. Since you revealed yourself, do you want me to also reveal what you've done? Or do you want to save yourself the shame and receive discipline?"

The principal silenced him and Jaehyun ran out of the room with his tail between his legs.

After discussing more about what was going to happen, Changmin and Saemi walked out of the room, both gloomy.

"Mr. Shim, I'm going to miss talking to you."

"I will too. But don't worry too much. We can still see each other and I think that's what really matters."

"That's true. Take care Mr. Shim, and good luck with everything."

"You too, Saemi. Hwaiting!" Changmin put his fist to the air.

Saemi beamed a smile as she did the same.

It was going to be lonely and worrisome over the next few months but Changmin hoped he would be able to get through this. *Why is it as soon as I realize my feelings for her, I'm not able to talk to her anymore?* He sighed as he watched her leave to the class that he wouldn't be teaching anymore.

*Saemi, you'll do well. I'm sure of it.*

~

It was graduation. It was a wonderful sunny day in the springtime. The teachers and lower classmen were all present along with the seniors' families.

"Welcome everyone. May I present to you the class of 2013."  The principal started to clap with the audience as the students marched proudly to their seats. As the principal began to present the diplomas, Changmin started to prepare himself. He was going to tell Saemi his feelings. The two of them haven't talked since the incident, but Changmin continued to watch over her in case she was bullied, see how she was progressing in English class with the new teacher, and was always delighted when the two passed by each other with smiles on their faces. 

Changmin had cheered for all of his students as they received their diplomas, but Changmin cheered extra loudly for Saemi when it was her turn.

When everyone was done, the principal had one last quick speech and then all of the student threw their graduation caps high in the sky, They all made their way to their parents and Changmin noticed that Saemi was very happy that her parents were there. Changmin had to get the right timing to confess to her.

"Hey Changmin. Aren't you glad we finally take a break?" Gayoung mentioned as she sat down next to him.

"Well, not for long. Students may think that teachers get the two months off but we have to plan new lessons and attend all those conference meetings and-"

"Don't remind me! But the reason why I'm so excited is because I'm going to do a lot of shopping."

"Why? Is there an occasion?"

"I'm going to have a baby." Gayoung glowed with happiness.

"Congratulations! I'm really happy for you. I'm glad you and your husband are doing well." Changmin had met her husband during their wedding and knew that she would be treated well.

"Thanks so much Changmin. Well I should go take some pictures with the students. I'll talk to you later."

"Alright. Have fun." As soon as Gayoung left, Changmin could see that Saemi and Chaerin had just finished taking pictures. And instead of him approaching her, it was the opposite as Saemi was heading his direction.

"Oh Saemi. I sincerely congratulate you on your graduation."

"Thank you. Now that I graduated, I can finally talk to you now. I missed you Mr. Shim."

"You know what? Call me Oppa."

"What??" Saemi was surprised that such a thing had come out of his mouth.

"I like you Oh Saemi. I had fallen for you as we had gotten closer. I completely understand if you're freaked out by this and will hate me all your life but I wanted you to know now that you're no longer a high school student." Changmin was nervous; he was almost stuttering and had a hard time looking Saemi in the eyes.

But Saemi's reaction was something Changmin hadn't expected. Upon hearing this, he knew that there was a chance that she might reciprocate the feelings back.

"Alright, Oppa." 

-----

Sorry I took so long to finish this. College is stressing me out to the extreme. But it's done now! And there's a poster too! Thanks for being patient and reading!