A/N: Whhaaaaat? An update??? -insert sincere apology here-
       -apologies even more because it's a shorter chapter-

Monday morning is when guilt finally hits Ahri like a ton of bricks. Despite knowing it wasn’t just her fault for getting extra punishment, it’s apparent that Seungcheol has it much worse.

It’s barely a quarter past five in the morning, but Ahri is already wide awake and thinking about Seungcheol’s morning classroom clean up. That’s the source for most of her guilt, and it somehow triggered her sense of responsibility to do something about it.

Within twenty minutes, Ahri is double checking the contents of her backpack before heading out the door. She did wonder, somewhere along the way, whether Seungcheol would even show up for his task. Defying Ms. Choi’s orders certainly isn’t a first for him.

Ahri greets the school’s gate guard before heading straight to her classroom. Being this early meant complete silence throughout the school campus. But as she nears her classroom, she slows her footsteps in hopes of hearing any sort of noise from beyond the door.

Unsurprisingly, there is total silence.

Ahri carefully push the door apart before going towards her desk to set her bag down. But that’s also when she spots a body hunched over a desk all the way in the back corner.

It doesn’t take her a second longer to recognize Seungcheol’s sleeping body, obviously ignoring his cleaning duties, which also isn’t a surprise.

She bit back her giggles and quietly saunters over to the boy sleeping peacefully in his arms. She stood there, not tending to the minutes passing by with her eyes fixated on his frame. And for awhile, she recalls the many occasions seeing him like this, usually after attempting to pass down homework sheets, only to turn around and see him knocked out. And every single time, it was her duty to wake him up before the teacher did.

But this time, waking him didn’t cross her mind.

Ahri steps away and head towards the black board. After all, she is here to help him, so he should get his much needed rest as the basketball team’s captain.

Seungcheol stirs at the sound of soft brushing coming from somewhere before him. He lifts his head, capturing a blurry image of a moving figure front of the class. And as his eyes adjust to focus, they also widen in delight.

Warmth floods his chest as he sprang up wide awake. Yet the first task to cross his mind is to check whether he’s in a dream. Seungcheol quickly shakes his head before pinching his own cheek.

It’s real. She’s here.

His lips spread into a wide grin while his focus falls entirely onto her back. Already he’s debating whether to run up or stay back and admire. But ultimately, he just can’t resist this mere distance, and quietly gets off his seat. His smile grows wider as Ahri somehow fail to notice his presence. Even with him just two steps away, she’s kept busy by a chalk stain on the lower left corner. Seungcheol watches with amusement, and eventually she seems to be finally satisfied with her work.

Ahri was ready to take a step back to examine the rest of the board when Seungcheol carefully leans forward to her ear.

“Good Morning.”

Ahri promptly jolts in sync with a yelp from her lips. She turns around as fast as she can, clutching her chest against the black board when Seungcheol breaks into laughter.

She was frozen still for a few seconds before sighing in the usual defeat. “Seungcheol!” Ahri’s voice is stern, despite her pulse rising to her neck.

“Sorry.” He huffs, “I always forget how easy it is to scare you.”

She tries to compose a proper response but all she could do is turn back to face the black board.

“Why do you always do this?”

She attempts to sound upset, even folding her arms as emphasis, but Seungcheol can only process how adorably huggable she looks at the moment. So he steps up, circling both arms around her waist before pulling her flat against his chest.

He gave her no time to protest and swiftly rests his chin on her shoulder.

“Hey, I’m sorry.” He tries again, still grinning from ear to ear. “Couldn’t help myself.”

The way Seungcheol eased into her figure kept her heart racing like usual, yet his warmth felt just as comforting.

“Did you come to help me clean?”

“Yes, and we still have work to do.” Ahri’s surprised to see herself answer so honestly. Normally, she’d just elbow him to let go. But right now, she prefers to be like this.

“You’re really spoiling me.”

That caught her off guard for a moment. Ahri turns her head in question, just as Seungcheol tightens his grip around her waist.

“Makes me want you even more.”

His husky whisper drove extra warmth into her cheeks, but it was his words that sat her body on fire. Ahri quickly reminds herself he’s just teasing again, but why does his voice sound so sincere?

“Seungcheol…”

He loosens his arms, and Ahri turns around to meet a smile so bright she thought she was seeing stars. His aura captured her like a spell, one that’s powerful enough to erase everything but Seungcheol from her eyes.

He reaches up, cupping her cheek ever so gently before caressing her skin with his thumb. Her skin burns against his soft touch, yet she’s simultaneously thrown in a whirl of déjà vu.

“You got chalk dust on you.”

His sultry voice pulls her back to reality, and Ahri instinctively glances down in embarrassment.

She’s right about the déjà vu.

And just like the previous predicament, she quickly reaches for her other cheek, only to be intercepted by Seungcheol’s own hands.

“Didn’t you learn last time?” He chuckles, teasingly as ever. “You’re just going to wipe more chalk on yourself.”

Ahri realizes it’s too late to look anywhere but the floor. With her face burning in his hand and her wrist caught by Seungcheol, she isn’t in any condition to handle anymore of the boy in front of him.

But Seungcheol has plans of his own. Despite seeing her adorably fruitless resistance, he continues to lean forward, until his lips pressed against her forehead.

Sparks flew past every nerve of Ahri’s being. Yet the thumping of her heart doesn’t even compare to the heat now pouring from her forehead. It’s probable that Ahri’s brain just lost all ability to function.

But, being the gentleman that he is, Seungcheol pulls away quickly enough to not completely melt her.

“I’ll settle with this for now.” He mutters, satisfaction lingering in his voice.

Ahri’s unquestionably glued in place, even after Seungcheol stepped away to grab the mop and bucket beside the door.

“I’ll be right back!” He holds up the empty bucket, flashing that blinding grin before making his exit.

It still took a solid minute or two before Ahri finally remembers how to breathe. She fell back against the black board, relishing the much needed support after yet another adrenaline storm. She placed a hand on her heart, then to her burning forehead that didn’t seem to recover much. However, her senses fell right back to the glowing surge of bliss filling her stomach.

Ahri found her lips curled into a smile. And indeed, even as she closes her eyes, Seungcheol’s smiling face is the first to fill the void.

At this rate, Seungcheol might just claim every piece of her.

But she doesn’t mind.

A/N: I'll just apologize again since I'm probably the most irresponsible author on this planet. To everyone's who's been waiting on the story...I'M SO SORRY...but I'm back. To be honest, I wouldn't be surprised if some of you has already dropped this story. But for those of you who have been waiting, thank you so much ;^; Also, this story is coming to an end (finally! It was supposed to end at chapter 3 lol). Please stayed tuned!

P.S. I'm also working on a spin off to the Monsta X Wonho's story, this time featuring a different member.