“You’re finally here!”, Jinhwan shouted as soon as he saw Junhoe. Junhoe replies with a smile and calmly sits down in front of him.

“Why did you call me?”, Junhoe asked.

“Have something first, what do you wanna eat?”, Jinhwan asked back, offering the menu. “My treat.”

Hearing the word ‘treat’, Junhoe becomes more cautious. He slowly takes the menu off Jinhwan’s hand, “You want something from me, don’t you?”.

“Why are you so suspicious?”

“Just spit it out.”

“Well, you know I’m moving, right? Emergency and stuff.”

Junhoe nods without shifting his gaze from the menu.

“And you know I’m tutoring a student, right?”

As soon as he hears that, Junhoe quickly looks up and stares at Jinhwan. “And…?”, he asked, although he already knows what’s coming next.

“I need you to take over for me.”, Jinhwan requested.

“Why? Why me? Just ask the others.”

Junhoe’s reply makes Jinhwan rolls his eyes. “Yeah, right. They’re not half as smart as you.”

Junhoe opens his mouth, trying to reject Jinhwan’s request, but Jinhwan already speaks before he can say anything.

“There are only three sessions left before his exam, and I feel bad for leaving him midway. And you can take the payment!”, Jinhwan explained, but Junhoe is still not convinced. “You don’t need to tutor him next year. Just for these last three sessions, please!”, Jinhwan pleaded.

Junhoe stares at Jinhwan’s pleading eyes. Sensing that Jinhwan won’t leave him alone, Junhoe sighs and finally agrees, “Alright, fine.”.

“Great! I will give your phone number to his mom.”, Jinhwan said.

Over the lunch, Jinhwan explains the details to Junhoe. He is to tutor a year-10 student named Chanwoo on every core subjects.

“But, whatever you do, don’t do his homework for him!”, Jinhwan warned.

Junhoe snorts in response, “Of course I won’t.”.

“Well then, I’ll take my leave. Just come to his house at the time, and you should be fine.”, Jinhwan said as he pays the bill and leaves. Meanwhile, Junhoe looks at the notes that he took while Jinhwan was explaining. It can’t be that bad.

Junhoe arrives at Chanwoo’s house on time. Chanwoo’s house is a classic suburban house: two stories, small garden, wooden gate, and all that. He stares at the house for a while, realizing the fact that he never sees any house in the city; it’s all apartments and tall buildings. Perks of being in the suburb.

After a minute or so, he walks in and rings the bell.

Before long, the door opens, revealing a middle-aged woman that Junhoe assumes is Chanwoo’s mom.

“Ah, you must be Junhoe!”, Chanwoo’s mom greeted as she moves to open the gate. She quickly introduces herself and guides Junhoe inside. Once inside, she points toward a room on the second floor. “That’s Chanwoo’s room. He’s probably on his laptop right now; playing games or whatever young people do on their laptop nowadays.”

Junhoe smiles and thanks her. When he starts walking toward the room, Chanwoo’s mom halts him. “Oh, I don’t know if Jinhwan told you this or not, but Chanwoo can be a bit… difficult.”

Junhoe doesn’t quite get what she meant by ‘difficult’. Is he a bad kid? Like, rebellious and all that? Or is he just not that bright? Nevertheless, Junhoe continues. He knocks at the door and waits for a response, but there’s no answer. Finally, he decides to just enter.

When he’s inside, he sees a boy on the bed, browsing on his laptop; a pair of headphones neatly covers the boy’s ears.  Junhoe studies the boy’s appearance. He still has his baby fat, but his body is quite tall for his age. That must be Chanwoo.

It takes Chanwoo a while to notice Junhoe, but when he does, he immediately takes his headphones off and stares at Junhoe. He then sighs, “You must be the new guy.”.

Junhoe puts his bag on the floor and looks around the room. So messy… Not unusual for a 15-years-old boy, he guesses.

“So, how does this usually work?”, Junhoe asked, although he already knows what he is supposed to do from Jinhwan.

Chanwoo continues staring at him; then he points at his desk. “Just do my homework for me.”, he said, before returning his gaze to his laptop. This time, he doesn’t put on the headphones.

Junhoe slowly walks toward Chanwoo’s desk and checks the stuff on the table. There’s a pile of books that Junhoe assumes are Chanwoo’s school books. He opens the topmost book. Biology…

He then gets an idea. Junhoe sits in front of the desk and takes a pen, pretending to do Chanwoo’s homework.

Truth to be told, Chanwoo is secretly watching Junhoe from the corner of his eyes. He gets pleasantly surprised when Junhoe obediently follows his words and does his homework for him. Is he seriously doing my homework?

“What is ‘lipase’?”, Junhoe suddenly asked.

Surprised by the question, Chanwoo quickly shifts his gaze toward Junhoe in disbelief. “How should I know?”, Chanwoo asked.

“Eh… then how am I supposed to answer this question?”

Chanwoo scratches his head, still staring at Junhoe and trying to decipher whether Junhoe is playing with him or not. Meanwhile, Junhoe only stares back at Chanwoo and gives him a clueless face. Is this guy dumb? Why is he tutoring me then?

Finally, Chanwoo decides to turn his brain on.

“Lipase is an enzyme that digests fat.”, Chanwoo explained.

“Ok. Thanks.”, Junhoe said, returning to Chanwoo’s homework.

Satisfied, Chanwoo returns to his laptop. But, not long after, Junhoe gives him another question.

“Where is the bile produced?”

Chanwoo can’t help but gives Junhoe another stare, clearly annoyed by all the questions.

“If you don’t know, why are you here!?”, Chanwoo asked half shouting.

“Well, Jinhwan forced me…”

“Argh… Whatever…”, Chanwoo said. He turns his brain on again, “Bile is made in the liver, then stored in the gall bladder until needed.”

“And what does it do?”, Junhoe asked.

Chanwoo sighs. “Digests fat.”, he said, returning his attention to his laptop almost immediately after.

“Then, what’s the difference between lipase and bile?”

Chanwoo stares at Junhoe again for the nth time, but… good question. He somehow cannot find the answer in his brain.

Seeing Chanwoo getting lost, Junhoe explains, “Bile emulsifies the fat so lipase can break them down.”.

Chanwoo can’t help but flinches at Junhoe’s explanation.

“You knew the answer, didn’t you!?”

“Eh… do I?”, Junhoe asked back.

Chanwoo sighs. “Ok, I get it. I’ll do it myself.”, he said as he stands up and pushes Junhoe from the table, but Junhoe refuses to move.

“You know, the best way to learn is to teach. So I’ll do your homework, and you’ll teach me.”, Junhoe explained.

Chanwoo can’t help but raise one of his eyebrows. This guy is… quirky.

“But the teacher will know if it’s not my handwriting.”, Chanwoo said.

“Oh, yeah. That’s right.”, Junhoe realized, finally moving away. “But the rule is the same.”

“No! I’m not explaining anything to you.”

“C’mon. It’s better for you, trust me.”, Junhoe insisted. He then points to a question, “This. Explain this question to me.”

From the way Junhoe looks at Chanwoo, Chanwoo can tell that Junhoe isn’t going to give up anytime soon. Oh well…

In the end, Chanwoo can only sigh and starts explaining, much to Junhoe’s delight.

The tutoring session continues.

Junhoe successfully makes Chanwoo explains most of his homework, and he only helps when Chanwoo gets stuck. They go from question to question, subject after subject until everything is finished. From this, Junhoe can tell that Chanwoo isn’t dumb. If anything, Chanwoo should be able to do just fine without a tutor.

“You’re smart. Why do you need a tutor?”, Junhoe asked.

“How should I know? Ask mom.”, Chanwoo said. He tried to make it sounds nonchalant, but Junhoe can catch the hint of spitefulness in his voice.

“I can tell her if you want.”

“Trust me; she won’t listen to you. She doesn’t even listen to me.”

“I see…”. He tries to think of something so the conversation doesn’t end like this, but it’s all in vain. In the end, he doesn’t say anything else.

“Don’t think about it that much.”, Chanwoo reassured. “It’s just two more sessions, anyway.”

Junhoe can’t help but smiles at Chanwoo’s response. To be honest, he is amazed; Chanwoo has said his response in a way that makes him sounds mature and controlled. But he still wants to say something to comfort him.

“Well, if she doesn’t listen to you, you can just talk to me. I’ll listen to you.”, Junhoe said, giving Chanwoo the best smile that he has.

Chanwoo doesn’t reply immediately. Instead, he studies Junhoe’s face, trying to figure out what Junhoe is trying to say, whether he is earnest or not. Finally, Chanwoo opens his mouth. “Yeah, right.”, he said cynically.

“I listened to you for the whole tutoring session, right?”

Chanwoo tries to come up with another cynical comeback, but this time, he can’t think of anything. Fortunately, a knock on the door interrupts their conversation. It’s Chanwoo’s mom.

 “I don’t really want to disturb you two, but it’s time for dinner.”, she said.

“Eh, it’s already this late!?”, Chanwoo shouted in surprise when his mom said that it’s dinner time. He totally lost the sense of time when Junhoe is making him explains all that questions.

“Hmm? You don’t realize?”, Junhoe asked.

“We’re supposed to finish ages ago. Why didn’t you warn me?”, Chanwoo protested.

Junhoe shrugs, “Well, you seem to enjoy yourself, how can I interrupt?”.

Chanwoo opens his mouth, trying to make another protest, but Chanwoo’s mom interrupts. “You can stay for dinner.”, she said to Junhoe.

“Oh, that’s ok. We’ve actually just finished. I’ll just leave.”

“Well, at least bring some home.”

“No, that’s ok. Really.”

But Chanwoo’s mom insists. In the end, a box full of food is forcefully shoved at Junhoe’s hand.

“Well, I’ll be going now. See you next time!”, Junhoe said to Chanwoo as he leaves. Chanwoo tries his best to ignore Junhoe, swiftly turning his body and walks toward the dining table as soon as Junhoe leaves.

“You’re not saying goodbye?”, Chanwoo’s mom asked.

“No need.”

“So, how was him? I heard you explaining all that high school stuff to him.”

Chanwoo can’t help but blushes a little when he figures out that his mom has been listening.

“He made me do that!”, Chanwoo declared. Then, he shifts his attention to the food.

They continue eating quietly for a while, until Chanwoo asks out of the blue, “Can I get his phone number?”.

“Hmm? For what?”

“Just in case I need to ask him something.”, Chanwoo lied.

“Yeah, sure.”

After he gets Junhoe’s number, Chanwoo quickly finishes his dinner and runs back to his room. He lies on his bed and stares at Junhoe’s number. For some unknown reason, Junhoe’s words keep resonating in his head. I’ll listen to you. What’s that supposed to mean?

Truth to be told, that was the first time someone has ever said something like that to him. And it makes Chanwoo feels a bit… weird. Should I call him? No way, It’s way too soon for that! Text? I have no reason to text him either.

Oh well, Chanwoo shrugs and closes his eyes. All he can do for now is to wait patiently until the next tutoring session. Hopefully, the weird feeling has disappeared by then.