“Who can go grocery shopping with me?”

“Me! I’m free!” Krystal ran up to JaeJoong, her new clothes on point and ready to be shown-off.

The male patted his sister’s hair, instructing to follow him afterwards. It was a really warm Sunday afternoon, the siblings decided on taking a walk to the shopping centre instead of taking the male’s car. It was mere thirty minutes walk, anyway. Talking nonsense and joking around, the Jung’s soon found themselves standing by the shelves, discussing which cereal they should buy.

“Oh, mom asked me to buy something… Wait here for five minutes, alright?” Krystal’s mind lit up as she barely remembered her mother’s request. Without waiting for an answer, the teenager dashed further from the aisle, towards the ‘woman’s section’.

Geez, what’s so embarrassing to say that she needs to buy… Yeah, well, it’s pretty darn embarrassing. Krystal is almost eighteen, yet, her mind is still one of a kid’s. That’s exactly what teenagers are- adults on the outside, children on the inside.

Krystal busied herself with hurriedly choosing the materials she and her mother needed, that she didn’t even notice anyone walking past her. Though one husky voice send shivers down her spine, as she could have recognized it from miles away. What is he doing here?!

With two boxes of hygienic pads in her hands, Krystal froze on the spot, not daring to turn around to greet her substitute teacher, a.k.a. Hottie Tuan.

Why the hell would Mr. Hottie stand there, in this aisle? Hey, is he, perhaps, with a girl here?

Turning her head just slightly, she recognized the pair standing behind her, a few meters on her right, talking to each other. Thanks to her peripheral vision, Krystal made out the female’s face. Surprise surprise! It’s the same goddess she met at school last week.

“Are they seriously together?” Krystal whispered to herself, assured they wouldn’t hear a thing.

“You took longer than promised,” a loud voice intruded the girl from burning the other female’s skull with her glare. Jump-scarred, Krystal almost shrieked (almost) at her older brother’s appearance.

As expected, the gorgeous pair that were joking around stopped blabbering and turned around to where that little scream originated from. With their eyes fixated on the shorter girl’s back and masculine guy’s concerned face, the pair exchanged glances, ready to walk away from the scene.

To Krystal’s biggest dismay, though, the goddess decided that she, in fact, also needed some ‘womanly materials’, therefore, walking up to the teenager’s turned back to grab some boxes. Mark stood firmly in his spot, his eyes still glued to the shorter female. Has he seen this back before?

Hyuna absent-mindedly wondered which packing to take, when JaeJoong spoke up again.

“Why are you blushing so madly?” Seriously, is it in man’s nature to be so oblivious?! “Is it because I caught you red-handed?” He smirked, expecting his little sister’s glare in return. To his wonder, though, what he received was a totally different reaction.

With both her hands busy holding the boxes, Krystal couldn’t shut her older sibling’s mouth shut. Noticing their shopping basket in his hold, she quickly placed the goods in it and grabbed JaeJoong’s arm, pulling him around.

The other pair was still looking at the siblings.

“Ah!” Hyuna chirped, clapping her hands in joy. “You’re that girl from Mark’s class!”

. How could she recognize Krystal from her back, meeting only once?!

Mark’s eyes widened in recognition. That’s what bugged his instincts. It’s Krystal! However, Mark stopped smiling whilst wondering who that handsome man next to her was.

“What’s her name?” Hyuna turned to her partner, who was now standing beside her.

“Krystal.”

“Oh, hi, Krystal!” Hyuna jolly waved to the turned back, waiting for the other girl to turn around.

At the same time, Krystal wondered how many ways she could murder her brother right on this spot. She came up with thirteen scenarios.

“It’s rude not to greet them back,” JaeJoong pulled the girl’s ear affectionately. Mark silently eyed the exchange.

On the verge of tears, Krystal cursed at whoever made this situation happen, and finally greeted the pair back.

“Hello.” That’s it. Should she have added ‘teacher’ too? But that would mean she ignored the female, right? Or not? Ugh, her brain was a mess. To meet the two while choosing hygienic pads, seriously?

JaeJoong noted how pale his sister was, also, the way she glued her sight on the ground.

“I’m Krystal’s brother, Jung JaeJoong,” he introduced himself, smile grazing his full plump lips.

“I’m Mark, your sister’s temporary teacher, and this is my friend, Hyuna,” Mark spoke up, his gaze following Krystal’s every move.

“Nice to meet you, teach my sister a lot!” JaeJoong snickered at his sister’s shy behavior. She was too tempted to smack him right there and now.

“We should get going,” Hyuna signed upon noting how awkward it was getting. She noted how the other female’s head was hung low for a whole minute. Cute.

Mark coughed and nodded. “Well then, see you at school, Krystal.”

“Yeah, teacher.” When Krystal finally averted her eyes to the front, the pairs’ backs were already disappearing from the aisle.

Now’s the chance.

Smack!

“What’s that for?” JaeJoong winced, rubbing the sore spot.

“Sometimes you men are so oblivious… At least I wore my new clothes today,” she signed.

“Huh?”

 

***

 

The same evening, Krystal surprised her family by skipping the dinner.

“Is she sick or something?” Jungkook bit onto his salad. As usual, JaeJoong made the dinner in their mother’s place.

“She is… studying, I guess.”

The father snickered, “That wouldn’t convince anyone who knows Krystal, so really, what is she up to?”

JaeJoong rubbed his neck sheepishly, not knowing what to say. “…She is studying.”

“This calls for an investigation,” the youngest boy dropped his fork right this instant, getting up and instructing others to do so to.

Quietly making their way to the girl’s room, they stopped by the door.

Father whispered to his sons, “Are you sure about this? I don’t want to feel her wrath.”

Jungkook rolled his eyes. If only Krystal saw this action…

Slightly opening the door, the youngest sibling peeked inside. He gasped at the image.

“It’s true!” He screamed so loudly and abruptly that the said girl dropped her Physics’ book in horror. “Krystal is actually studying!”

The trio hurriedly ran away from the scene to the living room, hoping to escape from her skull-burning glares.

The teenage girl signed and closed her room’s door, this time locking it shut, not to be disturbed again. What’s so special about her studying? Does she really do it so rarely that it attracts such reaction?

Plopping her light body on the tall bed, the girl grabbed the book once more and turned to the page she was reading.

Dang it, she has no clue what’s going on in this chapter. What’s up with those formulas? There’s so many of them, too…

When done reading the chapter, the girl was still unsatisfied. Opening her laptop, she searched for easer explanations on the topics she still had hard time understanding. Finally, she found some.

For the next three hours, Krystal buried herself with all the information she could find.

 

***

 

Arriving early in the Physics’ classroom, Krystal was greeted by a tired-looking Mark.

“Morning,” he greeted first, a heavy yawn escaping his lips.

“Hello,” she responded, plopping her leather backpack by her desk in the back. That is, her used-to-be desk in the back.

As much as Mark felt tired, this choice of seating didn’t go unnoticed.

Signing, the sub made his way to the unpacking girl, placing his hand on the cold desk. “Krystal, go to your designated seat.”

Krystal locked her eyes onto his. “But we’re doing test today, right? What difference does it make?” she pouted, one corner of her lips pulling into a mimic.

“I want you to be closer to me,” he lightly smiled and sat down on Sulli’s seat. Facing the teenager’s direction, he laid his head onto the cold desk, his eyes scanning her blushing face. Strange, no students made their way here, yet.

“How am I supposed to react to such statement?” Krystal thought, however, out loud.

Feeling hot all of a sudden, the girl averted her gaze from the surprised teacher’s shimmering eyes. Mark wondered whether his statement really was just a tease.

“I have no energy to bicker, just go to your seat, Krystal. Please.”

Gulping, the girl stood up and proceeded taking all of her stuff, when she noticed her pencil case was being inspected by the man lying on her used-to-be desk. “Excuse me, I’ll need that,” she extended her palm, clearly waiting for him to return the item to her.

With a smirk appearing on his handsome features, Mark looked at her open hand and back to her flushed face.

“Wha-?” Krystal gasped upon feeling the warmth of the sub’s hand on top of hers. Not reacting quickly enough, she watched in horror (more like in anticipation) as Mr. Hottie tightened his hold on her and started pulling the girl nearer himself.

What is wrong with this teacher? He should be aware that such actions…

That’s it! He’s being playful again! Krystal won’t back down that easily, though.

Mark’s smirk and narrowed eyes only fueled girl’s heart more. Trying to look as confident as he was, Krystal copied the smirk and didn’t protest when Mark’s hand pulled her so close to him. Their faces would stop at short proximity, right? Like usual? Or what if they didn’t stop at all?

The sub didn’t drop the tease since the girl seemed unaffected by it. Though, he could see a spark flicker in her dark orbs. What was it? Hesitant, Mark stopped pulling her arm and straightened in his seat. They were like really, really close now. Not knowing it, a small blush appeared on the young teacher’s face.

Krystal could glee at the sight in front of her- Mark was blushing! Hah, didn’t expect that from her, sub? Even though Mark let go of her arm, the teenager decided to spread that cute blush even wider. She noted that every millimeter her face was nearing his, the hottie’s eyes widened more and more. Krystal was left alone smirking.

Mark felt a breath brushing his plump lips; that’s how close their faces got. This surely took an unexpected turn. He really enjoyed teasing this girl, yet, never thought that such consequences could occur. Frozen, he waited for a warm touch, his eyes inwardly closing.

“I’ll really need that,” Krystal stood victorious, arms crossed by her chest, the pencil case in her hand.

Dang it, Mark mentally cursed, though, not sure what irritated him that much.

“Good going,” the teacher shook his head, getting up.

“I learn from the best,” she stuck out her tongue, feeling more confident than ever. Unexpectedly, she felt more relaxed with him than ever.

Mr. Tuan turned to the door. “How come no one is coming?”

Krystal racked her triumphant mind for an answer. “Ah! The basketball match is about to start.”

“And all of your classmates are on the team?” Mark guessed. Wrong.

“They just like to skip lessons and watch the matches.”

“Eh,” Mark signed. That leaves the two of them alone in the classroom. For whole period. Dang.

Krystal tapped Mark’s shoulder lightly to distract him from whatever thought he was having. “Should we go watch it also?”

The temporary teacher gazed at the girl beside him. A tad shorter, dark long hair, gentle but icy face, total opposite to how she acted. Something about this girl just never seemed to bore him. She was just asking for the teasing. And he was the worst when it came to playing games like this. Not because Mark’s actions could be misunderstood as flirting- he never knew the line where and when to stop. This time round, he wasn’t so sure anymore if he was just teasing the teenage girl he was supposed to see just as student. And he wasn’t so sure he could stop doing whatever he was doing with her. Even more so now, that she was the one initiating skin-ship.

“Show the way.”

 

***

 

The match with all-boys school started. There were so many students watching that there were no left seats in the tribunes, therefore, Krystal and the sub plopped down in the first row, on the players’ seats. Those were terrible spots, as the screeching sound was too loud there, and the smell, coming from the player’s sweaty jumpers lying around…

“Hey, isn’t that Myungsoo?” Mark whispered to his student’s ear, pointing towards a running blonde guy.

Krystal glared upon recognizing the mentioned student, hoping he would fall or something. She hated his guts. Even though she wasn’t so sure why.

“I had no idea he would be good at basketball,” Mark continued, “he looks, more… sophisticated.”

The girl turned to him in horror. “Myungsoo- sophisticated? Don’t insult yourself. You are sophisticated, that boy is nowhere your level,” she blabbered out, only then realizing how dumb and fan-girly she sounded.

Sub caught her cheeks pinking and a huge smile spread on his face. “You think highly of me, I’m flattered.”

Upcoming tease in three… two… one…

“Should I shower you with my affection, too?”

Almost rolling her eyes, the girl averted her gaze to the match. It was an intense one, and as much as it pained her to say, her arch enemy, a.k.a. Kim Myungsoo, was the lead player of her school’s team. “Oh?”

The one boy that caught her eyes ran just past her. “Jungkook?”

That particular teen turned to his sister, breathing heavily. Stopping in his tracks, he waved to the amazed girl.

“Why didn’t you tell me you’ll be playing in my school today?” she shouted, confused.

“Though of surprising you,” Jungkook winked at the female teen and ran back to his team. His teammates were too trying to take the ball away from Myungsoo that they didn’t even notice his short absence.

Mark narrowed eyes at the suddenly excited girl. “Who wa-“

“JUNGKOOK YOU GO!” Krystal shouted loudly, distracting most of the players from the game. With burning flames in her eyes, she quickly stood up and started chanting ‘Jungkook’ over and over again, totally forgetting anyone’s presence in the hall. Mark sat there, amazed at how flared up she got. Just what was the relationship between the two? Dating, perhaps?

The moment the first break took place, all the players dashed to their respective places. That meant it was time for Krystal and Mark to go away. The girl was too distracted, though, to notice one light-haired boy towering by ‘her’ seat.

“Krystal, get up,” Myungsoo grunted, grabbing a water bottle that was lying by the girl’s feet (she accidentally knocked it at some point). Glaring at him, she laid her back on ‘her’ seat. Mark had already bit his goodbye moments ago, since, another lesson will soon start.

“Make me.”

Raising his eyebrow, Myungsoo heaved a deep breath. With his cold dark eyes burning into the girl’s scull, he was up for a challenge.

Grabbing her arms away from the girl’s chest, he yanked Krystal off the seat, surprising the latter with the unexpected pull. Gritting her teeth, Krystal regained her balance, only to realize she was standing in Myungsoo’s strong hold. It was a rare sight to see him smiling lightly. He was best known for having a cold exterior, after all.

Myungsoo’s other teammates were in awe, as they shouted some unnecessary stuff like ‘kiss, kiss!’ and so on, attracting even more attention to the pair.

Fully aware that all of her attempts to escape would deem futile, the constrained girl had to acknowledge defeat. “You already made me get up, go take that stupid seat, I don’t need it anyway,” she pouted and turned her head away from his face. Looking from aside, it may even look like the pair were about to hug, when another boy approached them.

“Need some help?” Jungkook glared hard at the Jung family’s enemy (in their household, if somebody messes with even one of the members, he/she is declared as an enemy for a life time), crossing his arms in the process.

Myungsoo turned his body (still keeping a strong grip on the girl) and returned the glare. “Shoo away, she doesn’t need any help from you.”

“I’m pretty convinced she needs some,” Jungkook held the eye-war when a wincing sound came from his sister.

“Jungkook-ie, the hold’s too strong,” Krystal acted hurt, even tearing up a bit. Her mother always repeated to her that she could be an excellent actress.

Myungsoo loosened the grip when he felt the girl shuffle uncomfortably under his hold. Thinking she truly was hurt, he released Krystal who looked victorious afterwards.

“Seriously, you were shouting this dude’s name all the match? He’s not even from our school, where’s your loyalty?” Myungsoo blew out a raspberry.

Krystal calmly sided with her brother. Cuddling beneath his arm (she tried not to wince at the strong aroma coming from him), she ignored Myungsoo and was lead away towards her younger brother’s team, getting introduced to them as his sister.

For what was left of that break, Kim Myungsoo glared at the pair from afar and wondered just what type of relationship they have.

 

***

 

“Oh hi, Krystal!” one joyful voice greeted the girl as she entered the Physics class on Tuesday.

The room was filled with male students, some even from other grades, as they drooled at the goddess going by the name of Hyuna Kim, who was seating casually at the teacher’s table. As seen before, she wore high heels and a dress, although, this time more simple looking than her previous y outfit. Anyway, her beauty was radiating.

Wait, what is she doing here?

Dropping black leather backpack on her desk besides uninterested looking Myungsoo, she walked up to the goddess. Is Kim Myungsoo really gay? How could he act so cold with the goddess’ presence in class? Though, if anyone really paid any attention to him, they would have spotted his short glances at the visitor and his reddened ears. Krystal opted to stick with the thought of him being gay, though.

“Hi, what are you doing here, ma’am?” Krystal stood beside seated Hyuna. The latter female inspected the former one before responding.

“Call me Hyuna, Krystal,” she smiled widely, and Krystal had to admit, there’s no way she could feel any antipathy to this cute young woman.

“Are you waiting for your boyfriend? I think he might be in teachers’ lounge.”

Some boys gasped. Hyuna raised an eyebrow. “Boyfriend? Oh no, Mark is just a really close friend.”

Oh.

Krystal misunderstood. How unusual…not.

She is still hundred percent sure they are dating. How else could they act so casual while buying ‘woman materials’? Upon remembering the embarrassing encounter with the pair, Krystal blushed madly.

“Either way,” the younger girl spoke up, “are you going to stay here the whole lesson? You know,” Krystal leaned in, whispering to Hyuna “half of these boys don’t even have Physics.”

Patting the older female’s bare shoulder as the latter gasped in realization, Krystal went back to her seat.

Not long after Mark returned from the lunch break, he found his female friend looking kind of awkward as those wolf-like boys bombarded her with questions. With the unexpected help from Krystal and Myungsoo (both were bickering so angrily other kids just ran away) the temporary teacher asked the passersby out. Another make-up test started right after Hyuna gently asked for silence (boys kindly obligated). With the teacher and his friend quietly talking by the former’s table, silence filled the classroom.

Finally diverting her attention away from the suspicious pair of ‘just friends’, the rebellious girl took a look at the test. At least she studied for it. And she was gleeful for such decision as she started answering one question right after another. Huh, she’s getting the hang of it.

“Ahaha!” Hyuna roared not so girly, distracting the class. Mark’s laugh followed suit.

“Shh! Shh…” he put a finger by his pouted lips, indicating she should stay quiet.

He’s the one that needs to shush, Krystal snarled, as the sub continued the laughing for more than five minutes. At this rate, everyone might flunk at the test if nobody says anything about the noises.

Taking the initiative, Krystal raised her hand. Neither of the ‘adults’ seem to notice her, as she coughed, “Sub…”

“…Could you snap out of it?” Myungsoo’s irritated voice echoed through now once again silent classroom. “Thanks.”

Mark and Hyuna exchanged surprised glances, smiles wiped away from their faces. “It’s my fault; this is your work, after all. I’ll get going now,” Hyuna smiled apologetically to her friend and proceeded to leave the class. Once the doors were closed, Mark also spoke up.

“Sorry about that, if you want, I can give you extra five minutes to end your works.”

Krystal rested her head on her shoulder whilst looking at the flushed Mr. Hottie from the side. In her peripheral vision she could see Myungsoo still scribbling something down on his paper, however, Krystal was already done with her work.

“I’m done,” she announced, handing the surprised teacher her test back. With her backpack hanging on her right shoulder, the teenager exited the room.

What she didn’t expect to see outside the school gates was Hyuna still standing there, hesitant whether to go one way or the other.

Trying to pass the woman unnoticed was a failure, as the girl heard her name being mentioned.

“Krystal, want to go to a convenience shop with me?”

 

***

 

“This one is good for your skin,” Hyuna handed Krystal yet another tube of vitamins. The two girls were hanging out in beauty parlor, just next door the convenience shop they were supposed to go to.

“How come you know so much about this stuff?”

“Everyone should know how to take care of themselves, especially girls, since it’s in our nature,” Hyuna nonchalantly explained as she handed the teen one more box. “This will help your hair lots.”

Annoyed, Krystal put all of the handed stuff back to the shelve it came from. “Look, I don’t have any money right now to buy any of these.”

The slightly older girl pursed her lips and grabbed the essentials once more. “Alright, think of me as your fairy god-mother for today. I’ll buy these for you.”

How the hell did Krystal get dragged here in the first place?!

“Look, I’m really okay without any of these. There’s no need for you to buy anything for me.”

Hyuna could be stubborn also, she thought, as she waved her hand around. “No no, take it as an apology for ruining your test from me, then.”

“You didn’t ruin it, though.”

“Ugh, was I this stubborn when I was a teen, too?” Just as Krystal was about to agree to the statement, she got shushed down. “Look, everybody is attracted to girls that enchant their beauty. Healthy skin is one of the main ingredients of a woman’s charm, so just stay quiet, and let me get some vitamins for you.”

“Why are you taking me under your wing?”

Hearing the question, the goddess like woman started blushing a bit. “You are at the age where you want to attract some attention, right? I just want to help out a fellow girl.”

Krystal thought for a minute. “Can I speak to you casually?”

“Sure,” Hyuna handed the cashier money.

“Truthfully speaking… I think you would look even better with less make up and simpler clothes,” the younger female nodded a few times, an image appearing in her head.

Hyuna’s cheeks went scarlet red. “Rea..Really? Ah, I should try that, then.”

“So how about, since you were that against me buying you these vitamins, you could accompany me to a clothing shop some day? Mark is the only friend I have in this town since moving in, and to say the least, he gets bored easily.”

Krystal racket her brain for any possible reason not to agree. “Alright. Let’s exchange contacts, in that case.”

“Right,” Hyuna took the girl’s extended phone and dialed her number.

“And by the way… Why do you come to the school so often?”

Hyuna was still busy writing all her information down (why would Krystal need to know where she lives?), that she didn’t notice Krystal’s eyes narrowing on her.

“Oh, I’m actually still in a university, but my lessons end kind of early and the campus is quite near Mark’s job, so I just wait for him to go home.”

“So you live together?”

Smooth, Krystal, smooth. If Hyuna’s reaction couldn’t tell her otherwise, the girl’s query had no ground, therefore, hitting the older female unexpectedly.

“How did that even cross your mind?” Hyuna even shivered, “we are nothing more than friends, and it would never change.” For bigger impact, she even added “Dead God, no. How could anyone date that guy? He’ll stay single forever.”

“Then what day should we meet?” Krystal gleefully s her hands around Hyuna’s free arm, smiling widely. Again, the older female was blushing madly.

So she was wrong after all, Mark and Hyuna are just friends. Maybe it’s a signal for Krystal?

Well then, if so, the teen might as well try her luck with Mr. Hottie.

 

*