Suho sat back into the leather chair, the edges worn and frayed and the back riddled with little nodules that poked uncomfortably into his spine. The office for pastoral care was swimming in dust, and there were various posters dotted about the wall, all crumbling and offering some creepy cartoon image and attempt at a motivational quote. The pitiful state of this place was laughable. Whoever was in here last- well, Suho doubted that it had actually been occupied at all.

Maybe they just set up this office to look good for school inspections.

Whatever the case may be, Suho was here for a reason. Pulling his folder out of his backpack, he opened up the book of files on this year's Senior class that he was to offer counselling sessions for over the next few months. The school had their own counsellor trained in CBT on retainer, yet since she would soon be on maternity leave, the Headmaster had kindly asked Suho to pick up some of the sessions for her. 

Kindly, he obliged of course, requesting only that he helped to manage the case load of a specific group of teenagers for this year. Suho's curiosity with this bunch of misfits was inexplicable to say the least; some of them, like Kris and Baekhyun were no-good, troublemakers on the surface, yet both with a latent intelligence that could get them out of this town and doing whatever they wanted in life; headstrong women like Amber, Irene and Wendy were all seemingly held back by some, irrational lack of faith in themselves and the systemic setbacks that sadly came with being a woman in this world; young Chanyeol was a prodigal musician with an obvious penchant for weed that Suho worried he would never overcome; then there was Sulli, a wonderful and brilliant mind with heartbreaking mental and physical setbacks; the couple, Kai and Kyungsoo were both talented performers who were struggling to stay afloat with all the drama that had unfolded this year; and then there was Kora and Krystal. Suho had faith in Kora's talents and genius, yet had noticed early on some of the more negative, latent aspects of her personality that made him question whether or not they were more psychological in nature; Krystal arrived soon after Kora disappeared, a girl so strangely similar to the absent student, that Suho had a particular curiosity about. She was an enigma to say the least, burdened by whatever weigh on her conscience in her time away, but Suho also saw a light in her that she didn't seem to see in herself. 

Whatever the case may be, it was Suho's job to fix these kids up, and prepare them for the world ahead of them.

How he would manage that, was a question he was still figuring out himself.

Wendy

"This past month has actually been...pretty great." Wendy said with a slight smile on her face as she sat across from Suho. In his eyes, she did seem slightly happier; her eyes lit up when she smiled, her shoulders set with more determination, and even her voice sounded stronger and more willful. 

Suho had been worried particularly about Wendy. The best and brightest of them all, she had been so lacking and directionless since he'd met her. In a way, he saw a glimpse of his younger self in her; someone so smart, so intelligent, yet so overwhelmed by everything going on around them and all the options available to them, that it was easier just to switch off. That's how he knew exactly what to suggest to her when she'd told him about her troubles last month - because he'd lived through them too.

"So you went ahead and applied for the Joint Honours programme?" he asked.

Nodding eagerly, Wendy replied, "I'll do sixth months at SNU before doing the rest of the course at Yale. I could've stayed in Korea longer, but- I just think it's time for me to flee the nest."

"No, I completely understand that," Suho reassured her, "I think sometimes getting away from the norm is often the best thing for us. Those experiences can come to be what define us for the rest of our lives. How long till you hear from them?"

"Not long now," Wendy replied, her eyes hopeful, "I just hope everything else doesn't fall apart in the mean time."

"What do you mean by that exactly?"

Shifting slightly in her seat, Wendy continued, "Well...everything's a bit weird right now. Like, our psycho friend who ditched us all last year suddenly decided to come back. She was a complete psycho who took off when our friend died and- anyways, my best friend is on the verge of a breakdown because of that, whilst also trying to date yet another guy I don't approve of."

"Oookayyy, but-" 

Yet Wendy seemed to be going off on one right now, "Not to mention I'm starting to freak out over the level of student debt I'm about to get myself into. Have you seen how expensive American universities are to attend? I mean, I can get funding and scholarships but still! How am I meant to survive when I'm not living with parents? Am I gonna' have to do my own laundry?"

"Well it's kinda' part of being a student Wendy-" 

"And not to mention, I met this really sweet guy at the open day and we've been hanging out. I keep telling myself I don't want to date another loud and extroverted guy, especially since I've got school to worry about - but Chen is just so sweet and just seems to get me, you know?"

"Well then, what's the matter?" In his professional capacity, Suho was tiring of this conversation. But his actual self, who was also a young adult who has had his own struggles with love and relationships, actually loved hearing this gossip and wanted to help Wendy out.

"I'm pretty sure I've been friend-zoned."

"Oookay...I-"

"I know it's a bit weird for girls to be put in the friend-zone this way, but I figured maybe you could give me advice?"

"What makes you think that?" 

"Well, duh you're my counsellor now. And also, you said you spent all your time studying at university so I assume you probably got friendzoned all the time!"

What a way to be called out by your student.

If Suho's life was a TV-sitcom, this would the moment he would stare straight into the camera, with a look of mild embarrassment and a self-depracating smile on his face. 

*

Kris

"So my Mom only agreed to let me come to this because I responded so well to counselling last time when my friend died." Kris explained as he slumped back into the chair, looking all too comfortable as he casually spun a basketball on his finger, his eyes focussing intently on its endless journey, round and round.

Suho pursed his lips as he tried to get a good look at Kris's body language. He seemed more reserved since being taken out of school, quieter and less boistrous as Suho rememebered him being - but Suho got the feeling that this was because Kris had a lot on his mind. 

"And what do you think you'd benefit from talking about this time, Kris?" 

Staring at the ball spinning for a moment longer, Kris suddenly sat up straight, grabbing the ball in both his hands and leaning forward in his chair to look Suho in the eye. Kris's face was wrought with concern, his brow furrowed. 

"You can't tell anyone this..." Kris looked over his shoulder, apparently paranoid of prying ears in the room. 

Suho nodded for Kris to continue.

"My kind-of girlfriend just told me she's pregnant, and we don't know what to do." Kris sighed, gripping tightly onto the ball in his hands as he looked down at it, "I guess- I guess it too late to do anything."

"Is she that far gone along?" Suho asked. He got the feeling he knew who Kris was on about, yet didn't want to press him for confirmation of this. Suho just couldn't help but feel guilty and pity over their fate.  

Nodding, Kris continued, "I just started to figure myself out too. I've got an interview for an apprenticeship in Seoul. But- but I can't do the course and raise a baby at the same time!" Kris let the ball drop to the floor as he slumped back in his chair, clearly distressed over this realisation.

Pursing his lips, Suho thought through Kris's options carefully. It was so difficult to give advice to these kids without projecting his own thoughts and ideas onto the situation, and without letting his personal judgements get in the way of these things. As much as Suho was career and success-driven, it wasn't his place to tell these kids what they could and couldn't do with their own futures and fates. 

"Have you talked to your family?" 

Shaking his head, Kris replied, "My parents would cut me off. I have no doubt about that. But my sister..."

"Do you think she'd be a bit more diplomatic?"

Kris nodded, "I- Victoria's always had my back. She knows I mean well. I guess I'm just dumb." 

Smiling ruefully, Suho replied, "You're not dumb, Kris. In fact you're actually more intelligent than you give yourself credit for. But at the moment, you're just very much backed into a corner."

"Then how do I get out of this corner?" 

"You need an exit route. And you need to make sure that this exit route is the best one for both you and Amber."

*

Sehun

"What has made you feel so confused, Sehun? I thought you seemed to have everything on track post-education?" 

"Honestly, it's not school that's bothering me." Sehun sighed as he leaned back into the chair, his brow furrowed and face perpetually stormy.

Suho had only known Sehun a brief amount of time since joining the school a few months ago, yet was immensely impressed at both Sehun's achievements in technology and his transformation this year. Of course, it was impossible not to pay attention to school gossip, and Oh Sehun's metamorphosis seemed to be one of the biggest topics of the year. This handsome, fashionable young man who sat across from him right now seemed impossibly different from the awkward, socially-anxious teenager that everyone seemed to describe him as before.

"What's on your mind?" 

Sighing, Sehun sat on the edge of his chair, his eyes and face becoming slightly panicked, "Honestly? Girls. Girls!"

"Girls?"

"Exactly!" Sehun threw his hands up, "I lost my ity in February. It was awesome. But I thought it would be some life-altering moment where everything would change for me but honestly? It's just gotten worse!"

Suho cleared his throat. This kind of subject was not what he'd sat through months' long courses of counselling training for. 

"How so?"

Sehun sighed, before single-handedly delivering the biggest monologue and string of words that Suho had ever heard him speak.

"There's one girl who I really, really like but I'm pretty sure she's driving me insane. She's slept with two of my friends, so I went and slept with someone else to get back at her. On the other hand, the girl I lost it to is in Japan and I really really miss her and we don't get a lot of time to talk because we're so busy. I can't hang out with one girl without feeling completely guilty about the other, and we all said we'd take it slow which is fine but I feel awful! And what's worse, is that I'm also going crazy because I'm not having any at the moment! Sometimes, I just wish I stayed a and didn't sleep with anyone! My life would sure be easier!

Yet again, Suho found himself looking straight at the camera that was filming his metaphorical sitcom, and sighing in defeat.

*

Irene

"Irene, we only have twenty-minutes for our session, do you really need to take a selfie?"

"Have you ever had to run a social media account with twelve-k followers?" Irene asked sarcastically as she posed for her camera.

Sighing and running a hand through his hair, Suho replied bluntly, "No."

"Then maybe you should let me take a selfie with you. I know plenty of people like the hot teacher thing." she shrugged before finally pocketing her phone.

This is not happening right now.

Sighing in defeat, Suho looked down at Irene's notes in his hands, and reminded himself the purpose of this session. 

"Irene you've missed a few classes recently, is everything alright?"

That seemed to catch her off guard slightly. Shifting in her seat, Irene finally began to settle slightly. 

"Not really. Where do I even begin?" sitting back into her chair, Irene continued, "My psycho ex-best-friend is back in town, and I have some pretty serious trust issues from that friendship."

"Why is that?"

"Oh I don't know - probably because she ran away from town after our friend died? Or that she convinced me to sleep with horrible, horrible human being and then was a sneaky who snitched about it to my parents?"

"Wow, that is evil." Suho cursed himself for lettin