“How come you never showed your best friend to us?” Jungkook questioned whilst standing behind a pillar. His sister managed to drag both brothers into her crazy stalking plan, even with their petty effort to dismiss the idea. Well, Jungkook had nothing better in his mind either way, so he may as well go along with it.

“Dunno,” Krystal answered absentmindedly. Frantically looking around the largely occupied field, the girl eyed every couple passing through, until she found the one they were looking for since twenty minutes ago. “Might as well now introduce you two to her. It’s that girl checking her phone right now…” Krystal trailed off when her phone started ringing loudly.

The Jung’s trio watched in horror as the said girl turned to their direction.

“Turn it down!” JaeJoong snapped, thrilled by how intense it actually managed to get. All three siblings tried to hide themselves behind pillars just few meters ahead of Sulli.

“Hush,” Krystal instructed her two accomplices before answering the call. “Yeah?”

“I’m right besides that café you proposed. Taemin is buying drinks for us right now.” Krystal could hear Sulli’s voice spread not only from the phone’s speakers, but from just few meters afar. Too close for Krystal’s comfort.

“And?” Krystal spoke very quietly, sensing that Sulli is still slowly tip-toeing to their lame- lurking place.

“I wanted to hear another recommendation from you. Are you okay? You sound odd.”

Jungkook barely steadied himself from falling behind the pillar. How could anyone overlook their obvious presence behind the spot?

Krystal, as silently as possible, coughed before continuing the call. “No no, everything’s fine. How is the date coming along?”

Sulli signed and her heel to watch as Taemin was standing in the line to the counter. Still in the same place as before. Is the line even moving? “I’m quite disappointed. I wish you were here instead.”

Krystal extended her phone in front of herself to glare at her friend’s display image. “Are you out of your mind?”

Sulli though she heard the voice from somewhere nearby as she turned backwards once more. Intrigued, her instincts told her to walk towards those wide grey pillars. Looking at the ground, she noted how three shadows fell behind it, irking her senses even more. With raised eyebrows, she started nearing those pillars in light steps.

JaeJoong lightly flicked his younger sister’s head from behind as she almost shouted at the phone. Now they’re totally getting busted.

Jungkook rolled his eyes and was the first of the trio to step away from their hiding place and so he dragged Krystal away from her spot. Revealing himself and his older siblings, Jungkook rolled his eyes once more as Sulli gasped at the three.

“Were you following me?” Sulli incredulously asked the obvious; Krystal and JaeJoong glanced at each other with grim expressions. Sometimes Jungkook questions himself whether he really is the youngest child in the family.

“Well, you wanted me here, so, voila!” Krystal faked a huge grin.

Sulli fixed the lightly hanging purse on her shoulder and crossed her arms. With expressionless face, she stared right into her best friend’s soul. Krystal gulped at the glare. Only Sulli could get such reaction from the slightly shorter girl.

“I can disappear before Taemin sees us, if you want,” Krystal sheepishly smiled and heard a grunt from her younger brother’s side. He’s going to call her an idiot all evening long, she can guarantee it.

Sulli waved her hand dismissively, along with “Nah, I’m bored as hell. I’ll just let Taemin know about addition to the date.”

Krystal’s smile changed into a disbelieving look. “I don’t want to intrude yours and my past crush’s date,” she whined, receiving different reactions from the others.

JaeJoong was astonished at such information. His sis had a crush on someone in the past? How come he knew nothing of it? Wondering about his role as an older brother, he heard the youngster’s following question.

“Is it that guy?” Jungkook tilted his head at one boy nearing the group with two bags of food in his hands. “I could introduce you to someone way better-looking,” the youngster added.

Sulli accepted the extended bag with a smile from Taemin, who was eyeing the trio suspiciously. “Hello, Krystal.” He obviously knew the flustered girl and so opted to greet her before asking anything.

As it was a bit too late to run away from the amusement park, Krystal stood there dumbfounded at how this small plan turned for the worst. Not only she was caught red handed by her best pal, her past crush noticed her also. Not to mention two brothers awkwardly standing beside her.

“Oh hi, fancy running into you two here,” she lied right away, not daring to look at Sulli’s cocky smirk. “These are my brothers, Jungkook and JaeJoong,” she introduced her companions.

It was clear that this situation was awkward for all of them as the silence took place in the group.

Sulli glanced at her date. “I’m sorry Taemin, but I should go home now. I had a great time,” she smiled slightly at the curly haired boy named Lee Taemin. Of course she was bored out of her mind throughout this whole meet up and was actually glad that her best of friend decided to spy on Sulli.

Taemin watched, amazed, as Sulli lead her female friend and her two siblings away from the spot, towards the exit.

“I’m thankful for you and your dumb mind, really,” Sulli s her hand around her friend’s arm. The boys were silently following from behind. She turned promptly around and extended her free hand to the friendlier looking one. “Finally I can introduce myself. Hello, I’m Choi Sulli.”

JaeJoong accepted the gesture and shook the younger girl’s hand with a huge grin. “JaeJoong, the older brother. I heard a lot about you.”

“I’m Jungkook,” the youngest one intruded the eye-war between the two with a short nod. Sulli awarded him with her stunningly beautiful eye-smile.

“How come you have spoken about me yet kept them in secret?” Sulli wondered out loud, turning to the front again.

Krystal shook her shoulders. “I have mentioned them a few times before, though.”

“I’m taking the third train,” Sulli announced once the group entered the train station. Spotting the mentioned train arriving just then, she grinned at how conveniently it all planned out.

“We’re gonna talk through Skype tonight, right?” Krystal hugged her friend before bidding goodbye. The brothers simply waved to Sulli as she proceeded to step inside the train.

“Well the whole trip was for nothing,” Jungkook grunted when the trio was left standing in the middle of the station with nothing else to do.

“Nonsense!” Krystal chirped, her good mood returning. “You finally met my bestie.”

“She seems lovely,” JaeJoong added absentmindedly, receiving questioning looks from the other two siblings. “Let’s go home now.”

*

Throughout all weekend, Krystal Jung couldn’t stop thinking about one particular red haired teacher. She was just so embarrassed to return to his classes after her so miserably failed test. Convinced that the hot substitute teacher won’t last more than one more week, the girl decided on skipping all lessons before her old grumpy teacher shows up again.

On Monday she skipped Physics alongside her only friend, continuing to do so on Tuesday and Wednesday, until Sulli finally disagreed on it on Thursday and returned to the class, leaving Krystal to walk aimlessly around school grounds, alone. How come she had Physics lessons every day?! All this week the girl had to carefully walk around the halls, not to accidentally bump into Mr. Tuan, a.k.a. the hot sub. She was pretty anxious about getting caught by him.

On Friday though, Krystal happily walked around the school upon hearing that the hot sub’s lessons were canceled. That means the old teacher is coming back, right? Hopeful at the thought (surprisingly) Krystal skipped through the halls with Sulli by her side until the last lesson for the day started. As the taller girl had an appointment at the dentist clinic, Sulli excused herself from the lesson, leaving Krystal half awake throughout the lecture.

Bored, Krystal counted every minute that passed, even wondered how fast this week has passed already. It was one hell of a mission to avoid that substitute teacher at all costs, she grew tired of it. Finally his time here is over! Unknowingly, Krystal dozed off with a smile on her delicate features.

A bell woke the girl from her tiny slumber as she managed to close her eyes for mere minutes only; however the teacher seemed to have noticed Krystal’s head laying on the cold desk, as the old witch (Sulli’s choice of nickname was rather disappointing) glared at the awakened girl with her hawk-like eyes. She stopped Krystal from exiting the classroom, giving an extra homework to the poor sleepy student when others were set free from the lesson. Like Krystal would do any of the regular literature work. Keep talking; Krystal merely stared at the angry teacher, calmly waiting for the lecture to end. Once released from the class with the teacher storming out of the school, Krystal felt herself in a familiar situation.

“It’s like déjà vu,” she grinned to herself, fully knowing she’s alone at school. Now she’s just gonna get her coat and call JaeJoong…

“Oh hey,” a husky voice distracted the girl from her thoughts.

“Aw ,” she cursed not so silently, her smile decreasing rapidly.

Mark blocked her path with a smug smirk on his lips. Damn, she almost forgot how hot the substitute teacher really looked. Not like she stopped dreaming about him every night, though.

Stopping in her tracks, the student let out a deep breath, not knowing what to anticipate from the young man in front of her. How come he’s still here?

“Funny how I ran into you, just when I was thinking about you,” Mark leaned to the wall on his left, his arms crossed and mouth smirking.

Krystal gulped. “Huh?”

“I thought that maybe you were sick or something, but you obviously weren’t,” Mark slowly scanned the girl from head to toes and back, noting how stiff she got at the sight of him. “Skipping my lesson isn’t that good of a decision, taking your recent scores into consideration.”

The girl stood get ground, however, “Does it matter, though? The real teacher should come back next week; it’s not your worry anymore,” she also leaned to the same wall, mimicking his composure.

“Are you really that brave to speak with your teacher like this or just plain ignorant?” Mark shook his head, clearly amused by the girl. When he reopened his eyelids, Krystal was quickly lost in his deep honey-brown orbs that didn’t blink even once when met with hers. They gazed at each other in silence for whole minute when Krystal felt her eyes getting teary. She was getting worse at eye wars.

Mark chuckled afterwards and straightened his back.

“What makes you so sure he’s coming back?”

Krystal’s eyes widened; was the man suggesting something? “You’re leaving the school this week, aren’t you?”

“Why does it matter?” Mr. Tuan teased, grinning again, “Are you that uncomfortable with me teaching you?”

Getting no response from the flustered teenager whatsoever, Mark made a swift move and cornered the girl with his both arms pushing the wall behind the shocked girl; his hands placed near enough her head to block it from moving. Smirking at her quickly blushing complexion, the hot sub continued with the tease.

 “Sorry, but you’re going to stick with me for a bit longer. Today I’ve just been appointed to continue lessons till the end of semester.”

Krystal’s brain was twirling and doing cartwheels while her face was expressionless the whole time her mind processed the news. Only the blush was changing into paleness, a normal reaction considering how threatened she actually felt that moment. So the avoiding mission was all for nothing! Maybe she could still forfeit his lesson? Then again, why should she? Yes, he is intimidating, but so is she! Seriously, it’s the first time someone managed to both impress and annoy Krystal, all at the same time. As much as she adored the sub’s appearance, he seriously was getting on her nerves!

Mark took the girl’s silence in his favor. Enjoying his little game, he let his hand travel to the girl’s cheek which he cupped, feeling its warmth spread through his palm. Smirking deviously, the man glanced at the student’s lips and then locked his gaze onto her.

That’s it! Krystal felt a burning sensation rising from her pits. Now he’s plainly flirting with her. For Pete’s sake, he’s her teacher! Then again, a substitute one… Also a really attractive and mysterious one…

The girl wouldn’t surrender without a fight. It was not in her nature.

“Look, sub,” she pushed his palm away from her face, getting fired even more at the skinship. “You obviously know you’re handsome and stuff, but please refrain from such actions. That is, if you want no trouble,” she smirked at his surprised expression. Yes! She finally wiped that smirk away from the sub’s face.

Not for long, though, as Mark regained his amused composure once again and leaned in a tad forward. Krystal stopped breathing. He enjoyed such reaction, as he leaned even more.

“What kind of trouble are you suggesting?”

Aaaand now Krystal is done for. Back to the stoic expression, the girl felt as if a bucket full of ice was downed upon her. What could she do in this kind of situation? Shouldn’t this be considered as harassment? Pushing Mark away from her body, the girl managed to escape from laughing boy’s trap.

Too amused not to show it, Mark finally gave in to the laughter. “I’m sorry, Krystal, your reactions are too good. You’re so easy to tease, too,” he finally gave her some distance.

Krystal, too pale to blush at the comment, glared at the new teacher, still unsure about how to respond to that.

“You’re just too adorable at times to leave you alone,” Mark continued as if what he was saying was totally normal. Calming down, he added, “Upcoming Thursday, eight period, my classroom. You’re gonna help me in the library as your punishment for skipping a lot. Also, study for the upcoming test and don’t skip any more of my lessons, alright?”

Krystal curtly nodded and without waiting for anything, she dashed to the cloakroom. She’s done a lot of running for these two weeks, she mentally noted.

Wait, did he call her adorable?!

***