You always tend to fall asleep at the start of flights, almost as if take-offs make you sleepy. When you wake up from your short nap, you're already flying. Not just that, but you also have someone leaning across you. Mr. Byun is stretched across your seat to look out the window. He lowers the blind because the afternoon sun is shining through. He glances at you to check if you're okay with the lack of sunlight, but you're already staring at him.

"I'm sorry," he flusters, sitting upright in his seat again. You feel his weight off your chest, but you almost miss the feeling already. You're a naturally touchy person, actually. "I was just closing the shutter."

You smile sleepily, "It's fine. It feels better now. Thanks."

Mr. Byun grins back. You look around you and notice that everyone else are in front, making you and Mr. Byun the only people of the group at the back. You yawn and check the time, wondering if it's time for medications. You sniffle, your nose already starting its ritual.

"Do you know what time our first meal will be served?" You ask Mr. Byun, who has his laptop out already.

"I'm not sure, do you want me to ask them?" He stops using his laptop and looks at you, scanning your face. 

You shake your head, "No, it's fine."

"You need food with your medicine?"

You nod while you clean your nose with a tissue. Mr. Byun holds his laptop and stands up to reach for the overhead compartment.

"Do you need help?" you ask, quickly extending your arms for his laptop. He glances at you and smiles when he sees you offering to hold his device. He gives you the machine and you take it for him.

Mr. Byun easily gets something from his carry-on bag now that he isn't holding his laptop in one hand. He sits back down after shutting the overhead compartment close. He takes the laptop from you and passes you a packet of biscuits.

"Eat this and then take your medicine," he tells you. "Do you need water too?"

"I'll get it myself—"

Mr. Byun has already pressed the button to call for assistance. An air stewardess comes over, smiling at Mr. Byun. Her eyes are shiny and they look star struck by the passenger she is serving. He smiles back politely as he requests for a cup of water. She nods, walking away after resetting the button.

"Thank you, Mr. Byun," you murmur.

He looks at you for a while. It makes you awkward, so you look away. He chuckles softly, "No problem." The air stewardess comes back with a cup of water. Mr. Byun thanks her and takes the cup. "Here," he sets up the cup holder on the back of the seat in front of you.

He slips the cup into the holder and now you're all ready to have your medicine taken. You eat the biscuits Mr. Byun gave you as you watch him work away on his project on his computer. You then take your medications and lie back against your seat to wait for the effects of the drugs to kick in. Mr. Byun glances at you and catches your eyes right away. He smiles softly at you and makes sure that your blanket is covering you up well.

"I'll wake you up when they're serving our meals," he mumbles as he wraps the coats and blanket around you tighter.

You nod, your eyes already droopy. You eventually fall asleep again. You wake up when you feel someone tapping on your cheek, murmuring something to you. You can't hear what he is saying but when you open your eyes, you realise that your head is resting on Mr. Byun's shoulder. You shoot away from him, only to regret it because your vision blacks out for a long moment. You grab the seat handles, only to end up holding his hand in your left hand coincidentally.

The teacher squeezes your hand almost naturally as he worries over you, "You alright?"

"I out a little," you mumble and shake your head.

You feel a soft hand on your forehead and you open your eyes slowly. Once the fuzziness has cleared, you see Mr. Byun staring at you as he bites his lip. His one hand is holding your hand and the other is on your forehead.

"You said you didn't have a fever," he frowns.

"I lied," you murmur softly. When you see the annoyed look on his face, you quickly tell him, "I just didn't want you and Mr. Kim to worry."

"But now I'm—"

"Hi, would you like to have the bulgogi beef with rice or the salmon with mashed potato?" An air stewardess interrupts your conversation, smiling at you.

"Bulgogi, please," you mumble.

"The salmon," Mr. Byun tells her politely.

She nods and turns to her cart to get your food. Your teacher has already taken his hand off your forehead, but now he reaches to open the table for you. You had totally forgotten about holding Mr. Byun's hand until he clenches your hand lightly before letting go. He saves his work on his laptop while you take the two trays from the air stewardess. Mr. Byun keeps his laptop and gets his table out. You set his food on his table.

"Thank you," he grins at you. "Your head was moving a lot," he mentions as he picks up his bread roll. "I've sprained my neck like that before, so I made you lay your head on my shoulder... I hope that's okay with you."

You survey the meal in front of you as you reply, "I had a good sleep. I just hope I didn't drool on you."

"Just a little bit." Hearing no word from you, he turns to look at you staring at him with a horrified expression on your face. "I'm just kidding." You crinkle your nose and he laughs. Then he gives you a serious look, "But seriously, about you lying to me..."

"I just didn't want you guys to worry, or even send me home..."

He sighs as he peels the skin of the bread roll distractedly. "You're right about that, then. I am worried. But I can't send you home anymore since we're on the plane already." Mr. Byun narrows his eyes on you, "Did you at least bring your medications and thermometer?"

"Medications, yes," you nod. You open the aluminum foil to your food. "But no thermometer."

"Okay, you know what," Mr. Byun sets his bread on the tray and shifts to look at you better. You stare at him. "Each teacher is going to have to be in charge of three students each, and I want you to be under my care."

"Do the teachers get to choose? Or do the students choose?" You ask.

"I'm not sure, but I just want to make sure you're alright. If you don't wanna be under my—"

"I'd prefer to be with you," you murmur shyly. Mr. Byun doesn't say anything, so you tell him, "I'm comfortable with you. And you promised Sehun you'd take care of me."

The teacher smiles gently and nods. Now that that is settled, you go back to unpacking your meal. Mr. Byun neglects his bread even after spending time on peeling its skin and goes straight to his salmon. You always share your food with Sehun, so every time you go out with him, you'd order different things and try from each other.

"Do you want some?" You ask Mr. Byun before you start eating. You don't want to spread your germs to him.

Mr. Byun contemplates before nodding. He takes a bit of your rice and bulgogi. You don't expect anything from him, since this is just something you and Sehun do. It's normal if others don't have this tradition. You've already started eating your food when Mr. Byun brings a spoon of salmon and mashed potato to your face.

"Put it here," you tell him, showing him your spoon. He transfers the food to your cutlery.

"You're not as spoilt as I thought you were as an only child," Mr. Byun mumbles. "Guess I've made some misjudgment against you."

"And I, you," you mutter to yourself quietly.

It has only been five hours into the long-haul flight. With the air pressure and the coldness, your nose is leaking like a running tap. You've been blowing your nose, but you're afraid it might annoy the other passengers. So now you've resorted to just stuffing the tissue up your nostril to stopper your nose from running. Mr. Byun is still on his computer with headphones on. He's listening to songs as he does his work.

You reach down to your bag to grab your medicine. It isn't time for your next dosage, but you took the medication for fever previously and this time, you want to take the one for flu. When you sit up again with your medicine, you hear Mr. Byun calling your name. You turn to him, looking at him blankly. He has his headphones around his neck now.

"You have, uhhh..." He points to his own nose to refer to what he's talking about.

"Oh," you take the tissue wad out and quickly blow your nose. You explain, "My flu is back."

"Ah..." He nods, looking at the box in your hand. "You're gonna eat your medicine again?"

"This is another one," you show him the box. "The one I took just now was for fever."

"How many do you need to take?"

Mr. Byun takes the box from you and reads through the directions even as you tell him. "Two tablets every time it's necessary."

He hums and returns you the box. "Don't overdose yourself."

You nod and start taking the medication out of the packaging. You take two tablets and then keep the medicine again. Mr. Byun is still watching you like a parent watching over a child.

You laugh and tell him, "I'm fine, Mr. Byun. Go do your thing."

He groans, leaning back in his seat. "I'm tired already."

"What were you doing, anyway?" You ask, glancing at his computer.

He tilts his head to the side closest to you and looks at you as he replies, "I have an assignment due in a week. I'm trying to do as much as I can while I'm free so I don't have to rush when I get back."

"You have an assignment due during the holiday break?" You frown. "That's unfair."

"Life of a Masters student," he sighs tiredly, closing his eyes. "But I love what I'm doing and what I'm gonna do. I can bear with it."

"You're so sure of yourself," you murmur, staring respectfully at the man. He shakes his head, but it is only a small movement.

You let him sleep as you try to occupy your time by watching a movie. Mr. Byun moves a lot in his sleep, you find out. Halfway through the movie, Mr. Kim walks past the two of you to get to the toilet. He smiles at you, promising to come back to look for you after he's gone to the bathroom. When he comes back, he first stares at Mr. Byun, who is still sleeping.

"He's sleeping," Mr. Kim finally says, looking at you like he doesn't understand this situation.

"Yes..." Your eyebrows are knitted. So what?

"Baekhyun never sleeps," Mr. Kim mutters to himself. You furrow your brows even more. He shakes his head when he sees your face, "He sleeps. But hardly ever when it comes to assignment period. He's a perfectionist."

"Oh..." Now you get it.

You and Mr. Kim are both staring at the sleeping Mr. Byun. Then Mr. Kim asks you, "What movie are you watching?"

"Jurassic World."

"Great movie!" He praises, showing a thumb up. "Baekhyun and I actually watched it together with some other friends. Enjoy watching it, you'll love it!"

You nod, beaming at him. Mr. Kim walks away and you're left alone again with Mr. Byun and your movie. You put your legs on the seat and get into a more comfortable position. You turn your back to Mr. Byun while you hug your knees and watch the movie. Whenever you're watching a movie with Sehun, you'd sit this way too. It just makes you feel more comfortable and closer to him. Sehun is just as touchy as you are, probably since the both of you sort of grew up together. He'd lean on your back and place his head on your shoulder.

After a while of sitting in this position though, you feel the hand rest that is between you and Mr. Byun pressing painfully against your lower back. Seeing how Mr. Byun is still sleeping, you reckon that he might not be awaken by you lifting the hand rest. So you pull it up and go back to your original position. You make sure that you're within the premises of your seat though. Mr. Byun isn't Sehun, whom you can just lean against so casually.

You're so engrossed in the movie that you don't realise Mr. Byun slowly leaning on you as he sleeps. It is only when you get a scare from the movie scene and you jump so hard that your teacher jerks awake as well. You whip your head around, staring wide-eyed at Mr. Byun who looks sleepy and groggy as hell. You quickly pause your movie and turn to him.

"Oh, I'm so sorry, Mr. Byun!!!" You panic. "I didn't know you were—"

"It's fine," he shakes his head tiredly. His voice is rough and sandy, so much different from his normal voice. He groans softly, looking at you with half-lidded eyes, "You okay? Why'd you jump?"

"I got a scare from the dinosaur," you point to the frozen movie scene on your screen. Mr. Byun gives a lazy chuckle, his eyes fluttering close again. You tell him, "You can rest on me."

"Just for a bit..." he murmurs tiredly, his head already leaning towards you.

You quickly turn your back again so that he can lay his head on shoulder while you're still being in a comfortable position. Now that you're aware of Mr. Byun so close to you, you feel yourself heating up. You don't know if it's just your fever coming back again or if it's due to other factors. You continue with your movie, all the while being aware of Mr. Byun moving behind you in his sleep. When the movie finally finishes, you turn your head and you see your teacher facing the other side, his back against yours.

You're finally feeling sleepy too, but you need to take your medicine before you go to sleep. The stewards are already rolling their cart out to serve supper, so you decide to wait until you've gotten your food to take your pills. You tap on Mr. Byun's arm when the stewards are nearing your seats. He doesn't move, so you get up and reach over to tap his cheek just as he did to you previously.

Miraculously, he wakes up. Since your body is across his seat, your faces are close to each other. In his groggy state of mind, Mr. Byun stares at you, his eyes scanning your entire face. "Hey," a soft smile appears on your lips unconsciously. "Hungry?"

He moans, shutting his eyes as he stretches by arching his back. You sit back down in your seat, staring at Mr. Byun. He turns to you and mumbles, "What time is it?"

"Um," you check the flight status on your monitor. "About 9PM in Korea." 

"Only?" He groans and goes on his computer to save his work. He shuts the laptop as he grumbles, "This flight is terribly long."

"I know," you chuckle. "My 's sore from all the sitting already."

Mr. Byun laughs, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. "Maybe you can walk around a little." 

"I'll look crazy."

"Aren't you?" When he catches your pout, he grins. "I'm just kidding. So what did you do while I was sleeping?" 

"Watch you sleep." 

"I told you you're crazy," Mr. Byun says it in a matter-of-fact tone and you laugh because you know he's just trying to tease you. 

"I was watching Jurassic World," you tell him. He bobs his head as he stares at the stewards pushing their cart closer. "Although, I'm not sure if I was listening to the audio of dinosaurs roaring or you snoring." Mr. Byun freezes and stares at you with a panicked expression. You laugh aloud, finding his expression funny. "I was joking. You didn't snore." 

"Ah, seriously!" He clucks his tongue in a berating manner as he nudges you with his elbow. 

"You did it to me first!" You laugh, hitting his arm in response. He laughs with you, his mouth wide in the shape of a rectangle. You've never noticed that, but now that you do, you think it's cute. You've never seen anyone with a rectangle smile before. Mr. Byun's pretty special, you think. 

You wake up in the middle of your sleep. The cabin lights are all off since it's alright past midnight in Korea. Most people are sleeping, except for the man next to you. He's working hard on his assignment. This time though, he's not listening to anything. He must have heard you moving because he looks at you. He frowns and asks if you're feeling alright. 

"I just need to use the toilet," you mumble sleepily, getting all the layers off your body. 

Mr. Byun nods. He quickly saves his work and stands up with his laptop in his hand. You get up with wobbly legs, the medicine you took after supper is still having an effect on you. Your teacher quickly reaches out to steady you, but you're already holding onto the seats. Mr. Byun keeps his hand and you move out of your row to go to the bathroom. You feel Mr. Byun staring at you even as you walk towards the lavatory. When you're washing your hands after relieving yourself, you notice how sick you look in the mirror. It could just be the sleepiness that's making you look worse than you really are. 

You make your way back to your seat, but you're sleepy and listless. You would have overshot your row and continued walking down if not for Mr. Byun grabbing onto your wrist. You look at him and he stands up as he holds you strongly with an arm around your back. 

"Hey there, lost kitten," he murmurs. 

You whimper in exhaustion, letting him help you into your seat. "I'm so out of it." 

"It's just the medicine, hopefully," he says.

When you're in your seat already, Mr. Byun helps you cover yourself with the blanket and coats—probably because he sees you struggling with it. When you're wrapped up and comfortable, Mr. Byun settles down as well. You stare at his face illuminated by the light of his laptop screen. 

This man is so hardworking that you're afraid he might be a workaholic. Even though he's your teacher and you shouldn't care that much about his welfare and health, he's been taking care of you so far. Shouldn't you at least watch out for him too? You don't want him to get sick because of lack of sleep. You'd rather Mr. Byun do his assignment everyday for an allocated amount of time than for him to stay up for several nights just to perfect his assignment. Other than this worry though, you're also in wonder at how steadfast and hardworking he is. He's giving his all for this project and you're not going to doubt that he does the same for all other things.

"You should get some sleep too, Mr. Byun," you move to look at him, eating a little into his seat because you have your legs up as well. 

"I have to do my work," he turns to look at you, leaning his head back against his seat. Your heads are close and you're just staring at each other. He finally tips his head at you, "Go to sleep. You look very tired."

"So do you," you reply.

"You're sick though, you need more rest."

"If you don't rest, you'll be just as sick as I am." 

Mr. Byun stares at you and you stare back. You can be a mother when you want to. Especially when your best friend is a boy who hardly listens to anyone but you. Your teacher finally sighs. He looks upwards in contemplation.

He murmurs to himself, "I'm forgetting that you're only 19." Yeah, you're always the more mature one out of Sehun and you. Mr. Byun sits up again without saying anything else and faces his laptop.

Your heart drops, seeing him going on his computer again. He's not going to listen to you and that's because you're only 19. That has to be the reason. Just when you're about to flip to the other side to hide from your embarrassment, you witness Mr. Byun shutting his laptop close. You watch him keep his notebook in his bag before stowing everything under the seat in front of him. So he was wrapping up his work, not continuing it. He leans against his seat again, staring at the front. 

Everything is dark now without the light from his laptop. But you can still see his sparkling eyes when he turns to greet you Good night.