Jongin blamed Luhan.

If Luhan didn’t exist, then Sehun wouldn’t be hopelessly deluded about trying to impress him. If Sehun wasn’t trying to get in the football captain’s good graces, then he wouldn’t have spent 20 extra minutes out of the morning trying to fix his hair into something “trendy” and “stylish” to catch his attention. If his roommate hadn’t wasted their time with something Jongin knew would never work, then they wouldn’t have missed the bus. And if they hadn’t missed the bus then maybe they would have arrived to Romantic Lit on time – and then just maybe the teacher’s assistant wouldn’t have glared at him until he felt like shriveling away like a grape left in the sun.

But Luhan did exist, and the events of that morning unfolded as they were somehow meant to.

At first, the teacher’s assistant had left almost no impression on Jongin when he and Sehun had squeaked open the back door and slunk into the last row of the lecture hall. He had taken note of nothing more than a dark head of hair bobbing in between the rows of the lecture hall, white papers in his hands passed on to the students.

“,” Sehun had whispered under his breath when they’d sat down, tugging off the straps of his backpack and collapsing into his seat, breath still ragged from the run.

“You said we’d make it on time,” Jongin hissed quietly, peaking over his shoulder to his professor, who hadn’t seemed to notice their entrance and kept on with his lecture, reading over the class syllabus.

“Well I doubt we missed anything important,” the other replied. “They haven’t even finished handing out the syllabus yet. Don’t worry about it.”

“But what if they already took roll call?”

“I’m sure it will be fine. We already paid for the class. They can’t just drop us for being late.”

A hand slammed down on the desk to Jongin’s left and the pair turned around startled. He turned to find that the teacher’s assistant had already made it to the back row, and was staring down at him in contempt.

He had never seen a glare so harsh on a face so soft. But the assistant’s thick brows were so downturned that the crease between them folded unattractively, and his large eyes narrowed and penetrated Jongin’s face. It felt natural to sink down in his seat under the stare, like prey pinned down by a predator, and he stuttered when he finally reached for the paper he’d been handed.

“T-Thanks,” he ended up choking out.

But the small man made no effort to reply or even acknowledge him and simply moved on down the row, and when he had finally shaken his head and gained his wits back he turned sharply to Sehun, a hand over his mouth as he whispered.

“Did you see his face? He totally knows we snuck in. He’s gonna tell.”

Sehun’s mouth had dropped open and had followed the small assistant’s back as he moved down the row – almost as if he recognized him. “Dude, I think that guy is-“

But as they stared after the small man it was almost as if he seemed to hear them, because once he’d reached the bottom of the stairs he paused and turned around, glaring harshly at the two of them like he knew what they were talking about.

Simultaneously the two snapped their jaws shut, and Jongin silently turned back in his chair to face the professor, so distracted he hadn’t even noticed how much time had passed.

It was easy to drift off with Dr. Kim. His long-drawn monotonous voice could put even the best students to sleep, and since there was no particular material to cover that day, the raw data of the syllabus alone could have put the two boys in the back out like lights.

However, just as Jongin seemed to drift away - his head slipping out of his hands - was when he felt daggers pierce him. He caught eyes with the teacher’s assistant in the front row who sat facing the class, and the man seemed to want to bore a hole through Jongin with his fierce stare alone.

The boy shuddered under its weight. Jongin wasn’t one for making waves in school, but it was clear he’d already somehow gotten on his teacher’s assistant’s bad side – and he didn’t like being on anyone’s radar. So he almost shot out of his seat with the way he straightened his back and sat up. It seemed like the small man wouldn’t let up until he was paying his full attention, and finally, when that stare turned from him to the rest of the class, only then did he feel some relief.

---

When noon rolled around and the class let out, Jongin finally felt at ease - somewhat. Sehun stretched out and yawned – having dozed off halfway through the class – and began gathering his things, cramming them haphazardly into his backpack.

Jongin followed suit, mentioning to his friend the rumbling in his stomach from having skipped breakfast in their hurry, and then the two walked down the stairs and out the front door. However, he took one last peek at the assistant, who seemed to be busy chatting away with the professor, a polite smile on his face, before he followed his friend out the door.

“So what do you think was his problem?” muttered Jongin, cocking his head at the small man after they’d left the room.

Sehun raised both his eyebrows at his friend in disbelief. “You mean you don’t know?”

Jongin’s head tilted in legitimate confusion. “Know what?”

“He’s-“ Sehun’s words cut off as he noticed the small teacher’s assistant emerge from their classroom, his gaze locked on the pair again as if he knew they’d been about to speak of him. “I’ll tell you later, Jongin.”

The other followed his gaze over to the assistant, but