Chapter Eight: Dazed and Amused

It All Started with a Big Bang...

Top had just managed to pull himself out of bed and was in the middle of brushing his teeth when the doorbell rang.  With his toothbrush still hanging out of his mouth, he went over to see who it was.  GD and Seungri's faces peered at him through the electronic peep hole.  He opened the door, moving aside to allow them in.

"What's for breakfast, hyung?" Seungri asked the moment he got inside.

"Byeonmeon bleam yeonaeon..." Top mumbled, trying not to spray toothpaste everywhere.  He disappeared back into the bathroom before returning toothpaste free.

"I said 'I haven't gone grocery shopping in a while, so there's not much to choose from'," he clarified. "I think all I really have is instant porridge..."  Seungri sighed at this, but nodded and went to grab three containers of instant porridge from the cabinet.  Top turned to GD, who was stiffling a yawn,

"Are Young bae and Daesung coming too?"

"Naw, I don't think so," GD replied. "Daesung had some appointment and Young bae wanted to workout."  Top nodded in understanding and they walked over to the kitchen table while Seungri put a kettle on to boil.

Top was never very chatty first thing in the morning - he was by no means an early riser, so it usually took him a while to get going in the morning.  He didn't expect that from Jiyong, though.  He was usually pretty hyper in the morning.  Today they waited for the food in silence.  Top caught GD yawning again.

"You're quiet today.  Still sleepy?" he teased.  GD rolled his eyes, grinning,

"Yeah... I stayed up studying last night."

"That's what you get for being so advanced - the teacher pays you extra attention," Top joked.  GD swatted at him, laughing.  Just then the kettle whistled and their breakfast was ready.

The three chatted as they ate, until they got a call from their manager telling them to come to the car - he was going to drive them to the studio (where class was held).  They shuffled to the elevator and rode it to the lobby before shuffling into the waiting car.  Daesung was already inside.  He greeted them warmly before informing them that Taeyang was already at the studio.

When they arrived, they took the stairs to the third floor, where there was a room that had been set up like a small classroom.  It was used by the whole company whenever anyone needed a tutor for any reason.  Taeyang was already there, looking freshly showered, sitting at one of the tables.  Under closer inspection, he almost seemed uneasy about something.  Except when he greeted them, his eyes were down-turned, and his hands fidgetting in his lap.

It was only when he sat down the Top noticed that Teacher Park was also present, along with the new tutor.  He was surprised to realize that the new tutor was actually the girl who had tripped onto him outside the studio a few weeks back.  He hadn't heard anything about her in the weeks since then - YG had told them that a tutor had been hired, but not who it was.  Although, he had mentioned that one or more of them might recognize her - Top hadn't known what to make of that at the time, but now it seemed obvious.

She was currently involved in a deep conversation with Teacher Park and didn't seem to have noticed their arrival.  Top leaned over to GD, who was staring straight ahead with his chin resting on crossed arms,

"I didn't know that she got the job.  Imagine it being the one applicant we met..."

GD made a noncommittal noise, adjusting his head on his arms.  Just then Teacher Park and the new tutor seemed to finish.  The tutor nodded and began writing furiously in a notebook in front of her.  Teacher Park turned to face them with a smile.

"Hello everyone, welcome back!" she began cheerfully. "It's been a while since we've all been together!  I have an announcement today.  As you know, a new tutor has been hired to replace me when I leave in a month's time.  What you may not know is that the new tutor will not only be teaching you English, but Japanese as well."  They all looked at each other with interest.

"As far as I know, it has also been some time since you've had lessons in Japanese.  For now, I will finish up my time teaching you English while your new tutor observes me and you so she can get an idea of how best to teach you when I'm gone.  Starting from today you'll see her at every lesson, and she'll be available to help you when I am otherwise engaged.  Also during this last month, I will be working with her to improve her Korean to as close to fluent as we can - although she is already very proficiant.  Now allow me to introduce your new tutor, Caden Mancini.  Caden ssi, why don't you stand up and introduce yourself."

The new tutor, Caden, stood, smiling out at them brightly.

"Hello," she began in Korean. "I'm going to quickly introduce myself in English, Japanese, and Korean -"  She started with English, stating her name and quickly greeting them before doing the same in Japanese.  Finally she finished in Korean,

"Nice to meet you.  My name is Caden.  Let's work hard together."

She bowed in greeting before sitting back down.  Teacher Park smiled approvingly.

"Very good, Caden ssi," she said before turning back to the boys. "I'm sure you'll all have plenty of time to get to know Teacher Caden in the coming weeks.  For now, let's begin the lesson."

 

After that the session was mostly uneventful.  This lesson picked up where the last one left off, but that had been several weeks back and now Top found himself struggling slightly.  Teacher Park recommended that he borrow a certain book from her to help him review some of the grammar and vocab he'd forgotten.

An hour and a half later, class was nearly over.  Teacher Park declared the lesson finished, adding the Caden had one last announcement.  They all turned their attention to the new tutor, who stood once again, smiling graciously at Teacher Park.

"I have one last request for today," she began in Korean. "Since I've already introduced myself to all of you, I'd like you to individually come up and introduce yourselves to me.  You can do it in Korean, or whatever language feels comfortable to you.  Once you do this, you're allowed to leave."  She smiled around at them expectantly. They all looked at each other almost nervously for a moment before GD stood and lazily made his way over to Caden.

"Hey, how's it going," he said in English. "I'm GD, nice to meet you."  Caden grinned at this.

"Nice to meet you, too," she replied with a note of amusement.  She held out her hand to shake.  GD, almost reluctantly, obliged.

"Whatever language you greet me in, I'm going to shake your hand at the end of it," Caden explained in Korean, as she released GD's hand, "because, as an American, it doesn't feel like a real greeting without a handshake."  She paused, before grinning,

"Actually, the real reason is because I've been living in Japan for the past two years and I'm craving human contact.  They don't have much of that there, except when you ride the bullet train at express hour..."

Everyone laughed at this - even GD chuckled.  As soon as he turned to leave the classroom, Seungri jumped out of his seat and hurried straight up to Caden, who chuckled slightly at his antics.

"Good morning, I'm Seungri," he began in Japanese. "Please take good care of me.  I hope to learn a lot from you."

"Ooh," Caden replied, impressed.  She shook his hand, replying playfully in Japanese, "I hope to teach you a lot." 

He laughed, nodding, continuing to shake her hand.  Caden looked down at their hands purposefully.

"Thanks, you may go now," she said politely in Korean.  The guys all laughed at this as Seungri finally released his grip, looking around sheepishly before heading for the door.  Daesung stood eagarly next, walking over to her quickly.

"I'm going to do mine in Korean," he explained, "because you said to do what's most comfortable and I'm more comfortable speaking Korean easily than showing off..."

Seungri, who had just reached the doorway, spun around,

"Hey hyung!  That was about me, wasn't it?"

Everyone laughed again, especially Daesung.  He quickly introduced himself before ushering the still complaining Seungri out the door.  As Caden watched their antics with amusement, the remaining two exchanged a questioning glance before Top nodded, indicating that Young bae should go first.

He hesitated, but stood - if rather reluctantly.  Caden turned back just in time to see him approach.

"Hello," he began rather shyly in Korean. "I'm Taeyang.  Let's work hard... together," he said finally, tripping somewhat over the last word.  Caden smiled warmly, completing the greeting.  He bowed quickly and hurried out the door.

 

Caden had been very satisfied with her performance so far.  She had been comfortable and never one let their fame get to her.  She sighed happily before turning back to her last remaining student.

Top had watched Taeyang leave and now casually turned his attention to the girl.  He stood and walked leisurely up to her.  Caden noticed the slightest twing in her stomach.  All at once he was towering over her, looking down with those intense eyes, wearing that intense look that he always seemed to have around her for some reason.  He cocked his head to one side and dropped his shoulder, bringing himself slightly closer to her level to make eye contact.  Caden felt tighten slightly.

"Hey there," he began in Korean, and Caden was ashamed to realize that she had to mentally calm herself at the sound of his voice. "I hope it's okay to address you informally this once, even though you're our new teacher.  I figure since you're American and since we've met before, it'd be okay."  He grinned, shooting a sideways glance at Teacher Park, who only shook her head, still smiling.  He continued,

"I'm Top... or at least, you can call me Top.  Let's work well together..."

The possible implications of that last statement really got to her, although on the outside she remained calm.  He was the only one who hadn't requested that they work 'hard', but 'well'.  'Well together.'

'Dear lord, get a grip on yourself, woman!' she internally chastised.  Although all of this ridiculous (in her opinion) internal angst went on over the course of about half a second, she was still surprised when he reached down and scooped up the hand at her side, that she had forgotten to offer to shake.  He shook it gently.

"What, were you going to skip me?" he teased.  Finally she pulled herself together somewhat.

"Haha, of course not," she replied - her perkiness sounding slightly forced now, but she was just busy thanking God she wasn't blushing.  She gave his hand a couple firm shakes. "It would be terrible of me not to give you ALL the SAME TREATMENT."  She unintentionally emphasized the last part ever so slightly.  She wasn't sure if he'd noticed, but Top, who looked like he was trying not to laugh at her, just smiled and nodded,

"Well goodbye.  I'll see you back here tomorrow."

He turned to leave, when Teacher Park called out to him,

"It's fine to greet her informally outside the classroom, but from now on I expect you to greet her the same way you greet me during the lesson.  She's your teacher afterall."

Top only grinned at this,

"Of course, I know," he replied, making his way toward the door. "Goodbye Teacher Park, I learned well."

"Goodbye," she responded brightly just before he disappeared around the corner.

 

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Finally, we got to see all of the boys together! 

Plus it was the first strong Top point of view. :P

I probably won't update on Thanksgiving, but after that.

I hope you're still liking it!

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Thank you!
Mikalino13
I'm back! In case... you missed me! Lol. I hope you enjoy this latest chapter starring GD~~

Comments

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Yoongi1230 #1
Chapter 4: Omg the lip biting so cuteee! It's gna cause trouble lol!
Cinderelly12
#2
Chapter 37: Wow! I really enjoy the flow of the story! I also just realized that we are 37 chapters in and we don't know who exactly her love interests are. Hmm. I can guess at maybe 2. Will be interesting to see what happens next! Thank you!
Cinderelly12
#3
Chapter 34: So is Daeho cool with her teaching the idols? Was he shocked or impressed. Was he understanding? It seems like he is okay with it. Thank you!
Cinderelly12
#4
Chapter 18: I like her friendship with Daeho. Thank you
Cinderelly12
#5
Chapter 3: I'm glad she fessed up to not being the other applicant. Looks better on her.
Cinderelly12
#6
Chapter 1: Interesting start! I like that she is a little clumsy and confused.