“Bye dad, bye mom!”

The three siblings repeated all over again, “Have good vacation!”

Once the parents were out and doors tightly shut, the trio separated into their own rooms, quietly. Krystal started wondering why it became so gloomy without their parents, shouldn’t the three be happy having all the freedom?

“Kookie~” the teenager shouted outside her bedroom. “The ball you mentioned, I am not so sure I can attend it.”

“Why?” Jungkook opened his door for the sister to enter. So clean! Krystal’s own fortress looked like a trash bin compared to this room.

“It’s actually a pretty bad date for me. Sulli will be all alone at that time, so what kind of friend would I be if I let her root alone in her house?”

The youngster snarled at such meek reason. “Then just tell her I invite her too. There are never too little girls in an all-boys school.”

“Really?” Krystal looked delighted. “It wouldn’t bother you if she slept over here for a few days, or would it?”

“Doesn’t bother me. Ask JaeJoong, though.”

“Nah, he won’t disagree.”

*

“Sulli!” Krystal caught up to her best mate ever. One and only mate, that is. “Guess who’s staying over at my place for the weekend!”

Sulli batted her long mascara filled eyelashes, “Who?”

Krystal grinned at the taller girl, saying, “You, of course, who else!”

“I thought I didn’t make such plans with you yet.”

“Yet,” Krystal opened classroom door for her friend, “And that is not all.”

“Oh?”

“Remember the winter ball I talked to you about?”

“The one at Jungkook’s school? What about it?”

“I think I mentioned before that he asked me to come, and what kind of best friend I would be if I didn’t drag you into it with me.”

Sulli avoided the other girl’s expectant eyes. “I’m not so sure about that.”

Krystal couldn’t take no for an answer, “You know, Jungkook was the one who invited you.”

As dense as Krystal could get, she noticed that in these past days Sulli became more aware of the Jung brothers. Yeah, they met only once, and yes, the two boys attracted lots of attention due to their sinfully beautiful appearance everywhere, but still… It was weird.

So, therefore, “Well, alright,” wasn’t such an unexpected response.

As weird as this whole thing was starting to get, Krystal couldn’t dwell long onto it as the Mr. Hottie entered the class with black slightly ed shirt and new brown hairdo.

*

“What’s up with the new hair?” Krystal quietly questioned herself, her sight glued onto unsuspecting Mark.

“Too casual for your liking now?” Myungsoo snickered (a very rare thing coming from him) beside the girl, making her lock eyes with him.

“You have something you want to say to me?” the girl snarled back at him, totally forgetting to keep her voice in check.

“Oh look who finally decided to awaken from her dream.”

“Look, , stop talking to me like we were some sort of friends.”

Myungsoo’s cold expression returned to its regular place, “Please, do not insult me in such way. Us, friends? Become more cultured to even be considered as a girl, first.”

To the boy’s surprise, however, an unexpected sight appeared before his very eyes. Krystal’s flushed scarlet red. Not only that- tears were forming in the corner of her sight. Quickly dropping the eye war, the girl returned her view onto blackboard, of course not before returning back some insults.

“This blond hair makes you even uglier, stupid.”

Lame, but still, a comeback. Krystal was the type of person to fight back at any cost. Even if her feelings got hurt just a tiny bit. Only small part. Wait, were these really tears? Oh yeah, she recently caught an allergy, it must be the case. Though someone who saw the scene might have misunderstood the liquid forming in the girl’s eyes.

A sudden guilt washed over Myungsoo. Did he go too far? Yeah, they tend to bicker a lot, throw some awful insults once now and then, but still, she was a girl and there were lines he probably couldn’t cross. Was she hurt to be told of being un-girly? Well, but it was true; Krystal doesn’t act lady-like at all…

“Myungsoo,” the boy got called from the teacher’s desk. “Could you go to the blackboard and explain how you got this formula?”

Krystal deviously watched as Myungsoo started scribbling across the board. Looking around, she slowly took her seatmates’ exercisebook and wrote ‘stupid‘ all over the pages inside. Payback always calms Krystal‘s nerves.

And who could‘ve guessed they were seniors.

*

Thursday, 8th period, library. Krystal was already waiting for her sub teacher inside the library, being eyed by the bored librarian. The old woman must have wondered if Krystal was a new student here, since it was first time seeing the teenager in the facility.

“Did you wait for long?“ a husky voice snickered above Krystal‘s head, just as the girl started browsing through a school‘s booklet.

The teenager shivered under the warm hush of air brushing her scalp. “So what exactly is my assigment here?“

Mr. Tuan swiftly glanced at the librarian, who was getting ready to leave. “It looks like soon we‘ll be left alone here.“

The girl felt her pulse quicken at the thought, the tension that was building up was nerve-wrecking.

“There are some books I have to sort out as a new teacher. Since there was too much work to handle on my own, I needed some asistance,“ the teacher continued.

Krystal turned around to face the god-like creature. “Am I some sort of a worker?“

“No,” the now brown haired man smirked, his pinkish lips catching the student’s attention. “But just recently you got on my radar. I told you it was a bad idea to skip my lessons.”

Krystal, usually composed and even aggressive, this time meekly down casted her eyes onto the ground and kept quiet. Mark surely thought the girl would throw the familiar tantrum like she did with anyone else, however, only a small tint of pink covered her cheeks. Grinning even more, Mark led the way to the furthest shelf of books, the abandoned section.

“How come you have to sort these books but not the old lady working here?” Krystal questioned right away when he plopped dozens of books right beside the girl’s face.

Mark sat across his female student, busying with the work. “Apparently it’s the duty of a new teacher. They told me every one of them had to go through this stuff.”

“And you believed,” Krystal chuckled, amazed. “This library got renewed just a year ago, meaning most of the books here are new. Before that, these ones,” she pointed at the book Mr. Hottie was inspecting, “were the only books here, meaning they had to be looked at regularly. I’m doubtful any of the teachers took the job away from the librarian.”

Mr. Sub (no longer a substitute teacher) seemed furious at the idea the girl suggested.  “Since I’m the youngest teacher here, I looked gullible enough for them.”

Happy how her theory was received, Krystal straightened her back and was ready to get up, when Mark’s hand caught her. “Even if I was fooled, I still agreed to help the librarian with the work, so if you wanna leave quickly, better start working.”

The soft smile and his dreamy eyes didn’t quite match with the energy radiating from him.

“I’ll have to stay here for a while, won’t I?” Krystal grunted, plopping herself back onto the seat.

“Not a chance.” His eyes screamed with ‘I won’t suffer alone’.

One and half an hour passed by when Krystal’s ringtone awakened the two from the slumber party. “I’m still at the school. Huh? What do you mean you’ll be busy?!”

Mark opened the last book from his pile. He was almost done with the work, but then again, looking at the girl’s pile… “Do you need to go home now?”

“Jaejoong oppa~” Krystal cutely named her older brother, making Mark chuckle at the act, “I’ll be done in just fifteen minutes, wait for me a bit longer~”

“How do you expect me to go home on foot when there is so much snow outside~?”

“Um, Krystal,” Mark tried to grab her attention. “If your brother has to wait for you because of me, how about I take you home?”

It almost went unheard to the girl, almost. “Are you sure, teach?”

Mr. Hottie brushed his brown locks upwards, nodding his head. “Yeah, why not.”

“Jaejoong,” Krystal curtly addressed her sibling, immediately dropping the loving tone. “I have a ride home. Go and do your thing.” Right after that, the phone call ended with the girl resting her head on her left hand, eyes looking through the window at the falling snowflakes.

“He always comes pick me up.”

The teacher spoke up, “Maybe he had some urgent matter.”

Krystal glanced at Mark from the side, her lips pouting, “I mean, he always picks me up. Unless I say otherwise.”

The young man leaned forward to the teenager, his grin widening every second. “You’re acting spoiled. What if he has a girlfriend? He can’t always look after his younger sister only.”

The idea of Jaejoong having a girl somehow struck the girl as an unheard of thing. “What are you talking about? If he had a girlfriend, I would’ve known about it. I and my brothers are super close.”

“Do you tell them about you crushes?” Mark grinned like a Cheshire’s cat, his eyes gleaning with knowing look.

Blushing, the girl avoided his interested eyes. “It’s another thing. We girls can be nonchalant about who we like, though boys seem more like an open book when they like a girl.”

“I’ll have to disagree with that,” Mr. Gorgeous brushed a strand of loose hair behind Krystal’s red ear. “Can you guess if I have someone in my heart?”

The poor teenager‘s throat dried out real quick, not to mention her whole body electrifying. “I would have to see you in action with a female to know.”

Countless of romance movies passed by in the girl’s head. If those movies and reality had anything in common, then her moment of success would be now. This Tuan guy, who likes to so much, probably should get the message Krystal is no newbie in the teasing (even if she is; all she did was see those unrealistic romance movies).

“Then how about… you finish your work and I take you home?” said young man whilst leaning back onto the chair.

Just as Krystal grunted and continued with her book inspecting, another comment flew out from the gorgeous creature. “I know for a fact that those who work hard are the most beautiful women.”

Face blooming red like the Sun, she quickly scanned through books, feeling Mark’s playful eyes watching her every move.

*

“Do you want some more meat?” Jaejoong smiled at their guest, oblivious to the tense atmosphere surrounding the table.

“Ah no, thanks, that’s more than enough.”

Krystal felt her soul leaving the body. Just twenty minutes ago she was alone at school with the hottie, but look how everything changed. Both Jaejoong and Kookie are seated on sides, though they’re not in library anymore. What the hell had to happen for Mark Tuan to stay for dinner at the Jung’s house?!

Ah, yeah.

“Is it the place?” Mark asked the female seated on his right.

Krystal pointed to the house on the side, “Yep, this one. Thanks for dropping me off, teacher.” As young as he was and even though she dismissed him as a regular teacher, the girl still couldn’t address him by his name.

“You helped me out today, so thank you.”

“It was a punishment for getting caught skipping classes,” Krystal chuckled.

“For getting caught?” Mark faced the teenager, amused. “Not for the fact that you were skipping them in the first place?”

She liked it when he got playful. “I’m not the perfect student type, for your information. I skip classes a lot, you’ll have to get used to it.”

“Oh really? Then how come you aced the last test I gave you?”

Krystal’s eyes gleamed with excitement, “I aced it? Really?”

“Only good pupils would be so happy about doing well in school,” Mark grinned as the female smiled slightly.

“Or the ones that do well so rarely,” she smirked.

Mark shook his handsome face, chuckling. “You insist on acting bad. Adorable.”

But Krystal didn’t take the compliment so nicely, blurting out, “Am I some sort of tiny animal so everything I do is just adorable? Am I a little kid? Thanks for the ride, have a safe journey home.” Glum without a reason, the girl swiftly exited the car, leaving the driver dumbfounded. As he watched the teenager dash towards her house, Jaejoong’s car stopped right behind him.

The oldest Jung sibling greeted teacher by the latter’s window. “You dropped my sis home?”

Awkward, Mark greeted back. “Yeah, I was about to drive home.”

“You should come in to have some tea at least as thanks. Are you busy right now?”

“Not really, but…”

Jaejoong opened the teacher car’s door for him, signaling to step out. “I have something to discuss with you, actually.”

It didn’t take much of persuasion to keep the Hottie till dinner.

“I noticed Krystal started studying Physics quite recently. She never showed so much determination to any subject before,” Jaejoong started the topic. Krystal would give anything  she has just to shut her sibling’s mouth from saying something misunderstanding.

“My parents wanted to discuss it with you, but I thought now might be the chance. Would you consider becoming her private tutor?”

“Say what?” Krystal shouted, almost choking on her food. “When did such discussion take place? I don’t remember agreeing on it!”

“I would have to think about it too,” Mark answered unsure that it would be the best course of action.

“Of course, of course,” Jaejoong patted the teacher’s shoulder as if they were close friends. Even Jungkook cringed at the sight. The oldest brother took this character straight from their father.

Not long after that request Mr. Hottie excused himself, thoughts filling up in his head. He shouldn’t accept the offer, right?

*

The next day school was buzzing with various pupils running around. Was it always so lively on Fridays? Confused, the Ice Princess decided to ask her longtime companion about it.

“Sulli, do you have any idea what is going on around here?” Krystal awkwardly looked around the busy corridors. “Is it my imagination again or are they looking at me?”

The other female shrugged her shoulders. “I’m as knowledgeable as you today. For the first time in forever, I think you’re right. They seem to be talking about you.”

Krystal glared at her friend, “You’re as useful as my beauty right now. Do something about it!”

“But you’re the intimidating one, not me,” Sulli snickered and led the way towards their last period. “Maybe your wishes came true and somebody is crushing on you. Someone really handsome and popular. Someone whose choice could get such attention.”

“Are you telling me Minho might like me?” Krystal almost squealed, entering the Physics classroom. “But why do I think you just insulted me? What do you mean ‘whose choice could get such attention’?!”

Laughing her infamous laugh, the taller female went to the back of the class, to her usual desk, whilst Krystal was left alone at the front. Not exactly alone, as Myungsoo was lazily eyeing her.

Out of nowhere, she felt someone on her right. “Jay?”

“Hey Krystal, could I drop you a question?”

Intrigued, the girl nodded a few times.

“Are you going out with Mr. Tuan?”

*