Ms. Park stood at the podium in front of the classroom, reminding them of how the student-to-student tutoring goes. Just like what she’d said after reciting all the names of the required students, she held them up after class while the rest headed out for break.

She groggily sat herself beside Taeyong on a seat upfront, since the female teacher told them to go in pairs. She didn’t spare him a look but narrowed her eyes as she faced front, trying but failing to hide her annoyance. She had already asked whether she could decline the offer, just before they were asked to go in pairs, but she was shunned away, as she expected.

Taeyong, on the other hand, fought a smile from drawing on his lips. After he said to Ms. Park that he wanted Yoon as his tutor, he made sure to watch her reaction and he knew it was worth it, although the main point of what he’s doing wasn’t just to annoy her. Nevertheless, the way her eyes widened and her lips turned to a frown is just so priceless for him that he didn’t regret whatever he did.

“Then I’m letting you off. You can start as soon as today or whenever but I’m expecting good results during the midterm exams, alright?” She said as she gathered her things before giving them a final smile. “Good luck and have fun.”

Have fun?! Yoon bit her tongue as she bowed to the teacher like the rest before shooting up her seat and stomping to her table. It was an understatement to say that she was irritated—she was beyond mad. She just can’t understand. Why would the boy want to have her as his tutor when it would mean unnecessary after-school meetings, even during breaks?

“Is he insane?!” She whispered to herself, throwing her things carelessly inside her bag.

“Probably.” She jumped in surprise at the voice and turned around, glaring at the boy who yet again had the little smirk on his lips. She looked around the room and found them alone.

Good, she thought as she fully faced him, crossing her arms over her chest.

“Just what was that?” She said in an incredulous tone.

Taeyong raised an eyebrow at her. “Like you said, I might have gone totally insane.” A smirk was back on his lips.

She scoffed. “I get it. Is this what you meant by one month?” She didn’t let him answer as she laughed humorlessly. “Are you trying to get a revenge on me? Just because of what I said?”

Taeyong’s lips twitched, of what, she wasn’t sure. He shrugged just a second later. “Not really but whatever suits you.”

Her jaw fell open and before she could form any retort, his face went to his usual stoic expression which amuses and annoys her at how fast he could change.

“Let’s start later. I’ll message you the place,” and just like that, he turned around and left her in a stupor.

No, that did not just happen. No way. No.Way.

Her hand furiously typed on her laptop as she tried to convince herself that she just heard it wrong and her head was just messing up with her. It was supposed to be her extracurricular class but their teacher had called in sick so they were let to do anything after being given a take home homework by the fill-in teacher. She went to the library then, wanting to escape the noise in the room.

But the silence of the area made her recall what happened just a few hours before, and it made her fume once again.

“I’m sure it wasn’t true. I might’ve heard it really wrong. Right. That should be it,” she mumbled to herself over and over but she knew that no matter how much she tried to deny it, to delude herself into believing that what happened in the classroom was just something she imagined, she knew it wasn’t, because first of all, she wouldn’t imagine something as impossible and ridiculous as that, not even in a million years.

Bringing her hands down on the table inside the library earned her looks from the students still present and a stingy eye from the librarian to which she bowed her head to before she buried her face to her palms, groaning into it. The scene that the silver-headed boy created just a few hours ago played in her mind, like a jumping CD.

“Are you sure about that, Taeyong-ssi?” Ms. Park asked, seeming to compose herself.

Taeyong merely nodded, a ghost of a smile on his lips that wasn’t too obvious to others but to Yoon who have seen it more than once, which she now was sure, real.

“Alright then. Do you have anybody in mind?” Ms. Park continued, a smile to her lips.

Yoon watched on, now feeling queasy for some reason. She felt like vomiting when finally, it became known why she was feeling anxious all of a sudden. The most loved guy in the campus and her most disliked person in her life suddenly turned to her, muttering the words she never in a million years hoped to hear as he meet her eyes which widened on its own.

“If it’s alright, I’d like to have Yoon-ssi to teach me. I know she is the best.”

Cue the small smirk and she was about to faint, not because of that twitch on his lips to which the other girls swooned over but of what the boy had just said.

Then what happened after the short meeting after class played in her head. She was just pulled out from her thoughts when her phone vibrated on the table and she grabbed it to see a new message. She groaned, seeing the name ‘Taeyongie’ flash. It wasn’t her who named it that way, neither did she know that she has the boy’s number but she was certain it was Jaehyun who did it, since he would sometimes borrow her phone.

Annoyed, she opened the message.

From: Taeyongie

Let’s skip today. Let’s just do it after class, tomorrow. Prepare ‘til then, Ms. Tutor. Bye.

“Ms. Tutor?! That freaking bastard…!!! I’m so gonna kill him!” She muttered under her breath, fingers angrily typing on the phone as she changed the name to ‘Don’t Answer’.

“That’s against the law. You can’t do that, Yoon-ah.”

Her eyes snapped to the direction of where the familiar voice came from, only to come face-to-face to a boy whose lips was formed into a feigned indignant line before forming to a smile, his cheeks coming prominent.

“Jota.”

“At your service,” he winked, making Yoon stifle a chuckle as she straightened on her seat. The boy did the same, sitting up from his position in which his elbow was on the table and his chin resting on his palm. “Who’s the bastard?”

Yoon sighed, shrugging.

Jonghwa understood, wondering why he even bothered when he knew he didn’t need to ask, especially after the rumors that went around that afternoon reached his ears, he already knew how much in a foul mood the girl would be, and he nodded, a smile on his lips which was always there whenever she looks at him.

“Do you still hate him?” Yoon looked at him and he quickly corrected, “I mean, dislike—“

“Nope, you’re right. I hate him. I hate his looks, his smirk, his guts… I hate everything that is him!”

The librarian finally made a hushing sound and Yoon shrank to her seat, making Jota quietly laugh. He would always be fascinated with her outbursts. He grinned.

“I think I came just in time then,” he said, knowing it was better to leave it at that. “Let’s go to our favorite ice parlor. My treat.”

Her eyes lit up. “Really?!" He nodded. "Thanks. You’re the best!”

“Stop flattering me,” he smirked, “You know I’d do anything for you.”

Yoon grinned, knowing by now not to put an