word count: 2,123
requested by: byzelo

“Moon Taeil.”

A uniform-clad boy with a mop of auburn hair passes by Ten’s chair, feet shuffling on the ground towards the owner of the voice. “98/100.” Soojung declares with a smile. “Good job, Taeil. I knew you’d top it,” she whispers as he arrives in front of her and flashes her a grateful beam. “Prof. Kim told me Mr. Moon here has always been the best student in English,” she announces knowingly, “and he has certainly proved it. Congratulations.”

Claps all around fills the silence of the room, which is probably the reason for Taeil’s pinking cheeks. Ten resists the urge to roll his eyes, because yeah, sure, Taeil’s the best student. “Meanwhile, there are some students who ought to be like Mr. Moon.” Although she doesn’t point out any names, Soojung pointedly looks at Ten, who smirks at her. “I hope that your results in the next quiz will improve. That’s all for today.”

“Ssaem!”

Soojung skids to a halt, her arms full of paper as she turns around to entertain the caller. “Yes, Mr. Chittaphon?” She knowingly asks, and Ten can’t help but grin. I’m glad she recognizes my voice already. “I don’t understand those idioms you taught today. Can you teach me?” He blinks innocently, and Soojung heaves a sigh. “Well, I don’t know. Perhaps if you promise you’ll behave this time,” she refers to the last time he asked her for help.

In short, it was a mess. It started out as a simple study session in the classroom with Ten paying zero attention to Soojung’s lecture and ended disastrously with her getting into trouble by the headmaster because Ten just had to make a ruckus when she wanted to stop the tutoring (since he wasn’t even listening).

“Ey, ssaem, why do you hold me for something that happened in the past?” He playfully makes a disapproving hum. “I’m disappointed. Today is today, yesterday is yesterday. Besides, whether it’s the future or whether it’s the past, what matters is that I want to get better in English. So, please, ssaem? You told me you wanted me to improve my quiz results~” His lips carve into a pout, and Soojung sighs again. I swear, with this boy, I’m never going to stop sighing.

Ten sees the defeat in her eyes, a lopsided grin quickly forming on his face. He quickly gathers the paper huddled in her arms, “I’ll drop this by your office, ssaem! Meet me in the library!” He laughs when he hears her protest behind him. Soojung noona is so cute. He thinks, his grin widening even more.

“Raining cats and dogs. This seems pretty simple enough, right? Do you know the meaning?” She inquires, marking off the idioms she wanted to test him on. The lack of response brings her to turn her head to look at him. “Mr. Chittaphon,” Soojung mutters in disapproval upon finding Ten staring at her instead of paying attention. He uprightly gazes into her eyes with his deep ones, making her speechless.

“Noona. I can call you noona outside class, right?” He asks softly, and Soojung finds the more reason to stay astonished. “We… we’re still at school, though,” she finally says lamely, making Ten smile at her cuteness. “I guess. But you know it won’t stop me from calling you noona. After all, you’re just two years older than me.”

Flustered, Soojung tries to keep her heart from fluttering, “… I’m still your teacher, you babo. And we’re still at page 1. K-keep up this time, w-will you?” She stutters, tearing her gaze away from his probing eyes forcedly. Ten can’t help the itch to smile. I’m glad to see that she’s getting affected. “S-see. Look at this example. It’s raining cats and dogs outside so I can’t go and play with my friends.” Soojung tries to illustrate.

“What does that mean, noona?”

A faint blush covers her cheeks, and she coughs lightly. “Teacher. Please call me Teacher.” She avoids his gaze. “Then you call me Ten, first.” He challenges, happy at the way Soojung is reddening with embarrassment. “T-Ten? But… but you’re Mr. Chittaphon…” She lamely reasons. Ten freely laughs, earning cold looks from the people around. Soojung never wanted to hide more in her life.

“Please stay quiet, Mr. Chittaphon. We’re at the library,” she reminds embarrassedly, the tips of her ears reddening. “Eh? You’re not calling me Ten, though. Should I call you noona then? Noona?” He purposely increases the volume of his voice, earning more glares from around. Soojung’s eyes widen, “Mr. Chittaphon, please. Lower your voice!” She half-whispers, half-yells, almost covering her face with her arms in embarrassment.

“Mr. Chittaphon? You’re not giving up, are you? I’m not Mr. Chittaphon!” He loudly says, finally earning stern shushes and complaints from the people around. “O-okay, okay! Ten, I’ll call you Ten, so please stop it; we’ll get kicked out!” Soojung rambles in embarrassmen