"You lied to me!" I slammed my hands down on the wooden desk after whipping open the door to the that man's office. 

"I didn't lie." He was so calm, sitting relaxed while looking through his 

all-too organized papers. 

It pissed me off. 

"You said you'd bump me to a C!" Waving my chemistry test in his face, I tried to provoke some sort of movement from him. He barely even blinked his unamused, half lidded eyes behind his glasses. 

"I said I would bump you if you tried hard." 

"I did!" I began flailing my arms again.

"You did not, you had a solid D+ on that test. If you call that working hard, then we've misunderstood one another." Bastard. I had no other choice but to unwillingly crumble to his level and beg, 

"I have A's in every other class but your stupid honors chemistry class. This is my senior year, and I need to get into Seoul University. Please, I'll do anything." 

"I will not bump your grade if you do not deserve it." I was on the verge of strangling my 6'3" teacher. 

"I can't go to Seoul University if I have a D or C in chemistry, and I can't make myself smarter!"

"Why do you have to go to Seoul? You'd make it easily into a local instead." 

"It just has to be Seoul, okay? I'll do anything. I just need to get in.. Maybe I'll just drop honors then." I stopped speaking to him and stared him down. Although he was seemingly unaffected by my glare, he began to speak. 

Still calm, still unamused, 

"Stay after school today and meet me in the chemistry room for an hour." He stood up and put on his white lab coat that I loathed so much. Every time he put it on, his ego and arrogance level sky rocketed. 

"Wait, I have detention?! You can't do that. I'm just sharing my concerns! If I have a detention on my report-"

"Luhan!" The stern voice that called my name had lost its cool.. I cracked my cold hearted chemistry teacher. 

"..eh?" And I was scared. He looked frustrated, but nothing more than that, despite the chilling way he called my name.. and that was scary for a teacher with no emotions at all. 

"You are going to be tutored, it's the only way." As if nothing happened he tucked his hands into his pockets. 

"Wait, huh?! No way!"

"You said you would do anything, and this is my solution. Take it, or fail my class." With a whirl of a white lab coat, I was left alone. 

"Well you and your stupid lab coat, you jerk." I whispered to myself in fear he could hear me- he was always around me at the worst times. 

 

I sat through my afternoon classes, staring out the window. I knew my only choice was to get tutored, but I hated being told what to do. Ever since I started high school, Professor Oh had been stepping all over me. Originally he taught earth science, then he moved to bio and now I was stuck with him in Chemistry too. I aced every damn test he gave to me until this year and now he was treating me like I was stupid! 

He very well knew I was not stupid. 

I remembered when I first saw him, first day of my high school days. He was wearing his notorious lab coat, reading at his desk while we all came into his class. I remembered recognizing the book, as I had read it from the libraries stack of classic novels and poetry.

'He likes old literature too..' I had thought to myself, 

I was dead wrong. 

Professor Oh was my worst nightmare. 

He had literally sat on top of me since my first year and had just added more and more weight. No matter how hard I worked, he was unimpressed. 

No matter how many 100%'s I waved in his snooty face, I never got a 'good job.' Professor Oh was always looking under his glasses at me like I was some sort of dumb slacker and always reprimanding me for no apparent reason. 

My guess was that he hated me because I was Chinese. Maybe he was on a quest to prove Korean people were better than Chinese people, but i disregarded my silly theories. 

I mean he was a cold bastard.. But he wasn't that cold. 

My collar seemed to squeeze my neck, metaphorically strangling me, as I walked down the hallway. I was an independent person and I didn't like others getting in my way- now I was not rude, I just liked to get things done my way. Tutoring was totally against everything I was, but I had no choice. My mother was like that.. Independent and stubborn. I liked to think I was more like her than my father, but she had died when I was 8 in a car crash, so I didn't know for sure.. I wasn't like my dad though. It was true he was fairly successful with his business, but I was not a man like him. I wasn't heartless.. Or an alcoholic. 

One day, when I had a child, I would spend time with it. I'd tell it I loved it unconditionally everyday. 

I wouldn't be like my father. 

School was my escape. I threw all my time into it to avoid going home and seeing my father. I didn't have time to make friends, the only person I really had was my childhood friend, Kris, who constantly moved from Canada to China to Korea because of his father's work. He was supposed to be coming back to Korea in a month to stay for the rest of the school year, but things changed all the time for him so I could never rely on him like I wanted to. But he was there for me when my mother died.. I was only 9 years old then and didn't know what to do. Kris, who is a year old than I, flew all the way from Canada to see me. He was like the older brother I never had, the only one I cared to keep in touch with and the only one who cared about me. Sure, I knew people at school, but it didn't mean we were friends. Basically, I was the school's laughing stock, 

"You don't belong here, go back to China." It was endless during my middle school days. With Kris there for only a few weeks at a time, I became cold at a young age. I pushed people out and withdrew myself from the outside world. Books were my friend and school was my life, and I liked it that way. No matter how much I shut myself out though, I couldn't seem to keep the hate of others out. 

"Why didn't I die instead?" I'd ask myself that over and over again, unable to come up with an answer. The ninth grade was the worst time of my life. Kris was gone that whole year and my father's alcoholism spiked- which meant my beatings did too. 

I felt lost and hopeless. 

I tried to kill myself by cutting, but it didn't work. I still don't know if I'm happy or sad that it hadn't worked- I usually just didn't think about it much and covered my wrists. Long sleeve uniform in the summer, long sleeve uniform in the winter- I set myself up for being called a freak. 

"Once you're in Seoul University, you can leave everything behind." I promised myself I'd never go back once I was in college; I would keep that promise. After I entered high school, the teasing seemed to quiet down. But that was when I met Professor Oh- and he made up for the torment from my peers.

He'd tell me I wasn't trying and to study harder, so I did. 

What Professor Oh didn't understand was that every time I got a bad grade on his test, I was beaten for it. I was not a overachiever for the sake of it, I had to ace everything in order to keep myself 'safe.' I mean, I was beaten regardless of my grades, but a solid D on a final didn't help. It wasn't like I could just tell my teacher that though.. It was embarrassing. 

Turning the corner to the chemistry room, I held my breath and hoped for the best.

 

"You walk very slow." Without even looking up from his book, Professor Oh already started insulting me. 

"I do not." 

"It takes 3 minutes to walk from the english room to the chemistry room, you are slow." 

"How do you know my last class?" I pulled up a stool and sat in front of the desk, pestering the cranky man. 

"I know everything." Tsh. I scoffed,

"Well, it takes you a shorter time anyways. Your legs are like sky scrapers. One of your steps is like two and a half of mine." His eyes flickered up to meet mine, then back down to his book. 

"You're short." That jerk! 

"I am not sh-"

"Stop whining, we have work to do. Pull out today's assignment." 

"Where's my tutor?" Professor Oh's eyes met mine again, but this time he squinted a little, 

"You really are an idiot." 

"Huh?!" 

"I'm tutoring you."

"Wh- NO!" Knocking the bench over while springing up, I yelled at him. 

I was not spending anymore time than needed with that bastard! 

"Fine, then fail my class." 

"B- why can't someone else tutor me?!" 

"I'm your teacher, I know your strengths and weaknesses. I am the best one for the job." 

Strengths. 

Maybe he didn't think I was so stupid after all..

"And no one else can put up with your bratty attitude but me." 

I take that back. 

"Fine, whatever. Just because I have to get into Seoul, I'll let you tutor me." Grunting, I picked the bench back up and plopped my bum back down, slouching over the desk. 

"Try to do 1 through 10 on your own, if you don't understand something, I'll help you." I sighed and looked over my homework. It all just looked like letters and numbers; I didn't understand. Every now and then I'd peak up at Professor Oh to see if he was staring at me, wondering how stupid I really was, but he wasn't. He was reading his book like always, paying no attention to me, so I tried to concentrate. The room felt hot with Professor Oh sitting directly in front of me, and the silence didn't help. 

I gripped my pencil. 

The faster I was done, the faster I could leave. 

 

Number 1- Empty. 

Number 2- Empty. 

Number 3-10.. Empty. 

I was so confused. It was already 3:30. A half hour had gone by and I was still on number one. Professor Oh looked so into his book, I didn't want to ask him anything.. And I wasn't sure if I could. He did say he'd help me if I didn't understand, but he never said that I could ask him questions. A normal tutor would allow questions! 

But he wasn't a normal tutor.

I sat stiff in place, not knowing what I should do. 

"Why are you making strange faces?"

"Huh?" 

"Let me see your work." 

"Uh- no! Th-" My blank assignment was snatched away from me. 

"Have you been day dreaming this whole time?" 

"What? No!"

"Then why is it empty?"

"I don't get it.." He put his hand to his forehead, then gently ran his fingers through his artificial blonde, long hair, 

"Then why did you not ask me anything?"

"I-I don't know.."

"Do you really mean to tell me you and I have sat here for 45 minutes doing absolutely nothing?" 

"You were reading a book!" 

"One that I've read twice already." He closed the book and cleared his throat,

"Forget it, let's start with one." Professor Oh stood up and made his way behind me, propping himself up with his elbow, leaning over the desk. He was so close I could smell his cologne- or deodorant.. Or maybe it was his shampoo? 

"Luhan!"

"What!" 

"Are you listening?" 

"Yes!" 

"Then do number one." I picked up my pencil and began to write down a letter. Then a number. Then another l-

"You're already wrong, do you even pay attention in my class?"

"I do!" 

"The you should know that a K is potassium, not a P." 

"Well that's dumb! It's not 'Kotassium' its 'Potassium'" 

"Stop complaining, it's almost 4:00." I rolled my eyes and continued. It was a whole new experience for me, Professor Oh tutoring me. Every time I'd write something wrong, he'd correct it- although he insulted me every time, it was helpful. 

 

"Okay, we can be finished."

"But we only did ten out of the twenty.." 

"That's fine." 

"I'll probably get the rest wrong though."

"When we work on class assignments together, I'll excuse you from the ones we don't finish."

"Oh.." I didn't know how to respond to that, it was very kind and out of the norm for him. 

"Thanks.." 

"Hurry up, it's 4:45, you should leave." 

"Y-yeah.." I packed up my things and returned the stool to its rightful place. Professor Oh was just standing behind his desk with one hand in his pocket and the other holding up a book for him to read. 

"U-um.. When should I come back?"

"Whenever you'd like." 

"Will we have homework tomorrow?"

"Yes." 

"Th-then I'll come tomorrow.. Is that okay?" He put down his book and looked over at me, where I was standing in the doorway. 

"I said come whenever you'd like." Smart . 

"Tomorrow then." 

"Fine, goodbye."

"Bye." I left feeling awkward for the first time. It was the only time I could remember that I had left in a somewhat pleasant mood with him and I didn't know if I enjoyed it or was just surprised. 

So was that it? 

Was my nemesis of a teacher really my tutor? 

Wait, wouldn't I have to pay him? 

I didn't recall him mentioning anything and I didn't want to ask. 

My teacher was my tutor, asking if I had to pay would have made it 20 times more awkward anyways. 

Sighing, I walked out of school into the fresh September air. 

"I'm doing this to get into Seoul University." That was the only thing I needed to remind myself, the only thing keeping me from hating my teacher and turning down tutoring. 

I had to get into Seoul University.