- 21 - 

TAEYEON's POV

I stared at Mrs. Jung. I was a little caught off guard by this lunch detention, but I guess I should've predicted it. I mean, I was tardy on purpose, but I wanted to know what she was going to do.

Guess I just found out.

It's not like I minded having lunch detention, especially with her, but I was kind of hungry. She pulled me back into the room and closed her door, looking at me with squinted eyes. She was leaning against her door, and I wanted to walk right up to her and kiss her. My brain was forming some very naughty images, and then she spoke, "Don't embarrass me like that in front of my class again. Understand?"

I tilted my head, and I didn't know if she was messing with me or not. Her gaze was firm, and her arms were still crossed. I shrugged, "Okay... I didn't mean..."

She held up her hand, "No, yes you did. I know you think that we're on this friend basis but you're going to respect me inside my classroom."

I felt my face redden, she was serious, and suddenly I felt bad for doing what I did. I didn't know why I said the things I said to her, and I didn't know that I said it that loud, but my face held sorrow. I looked at Mrs. Jung, trying to read her expression, and she unfolded her arms.

I smiled, "So now what?"

She looked at the clock, realizing we still had about 35 minutes left of lunch, and she shrugged, "You can help me sort papers."

I groaned, and I followed her over to her desk. I sat in my usual spot when she asked me to stay after class, and we began sorting her papers. I kept glancing at her from under my hair. I wanted to see her, I hated not looking at her... but I studied her body, making sure she didn't have any bruises.

So far so good.

She was still wearing her ring though, and I wondered why. I knew it was Tyler that grabbed her all that time ago, and that's the one that bruised her, so why would she still wear the ring? She spoke, "Can I ask you something?"

I felt my heart rate pick up, and I became nervous. I hated when people said that because if they had to get your permission to ask a certain question, it always .

I looked up, right into those light brown eyes that always seemed to be looking at me. She smiled, reassuring me that it wasn't bad, and I nodded, "Sure."

She crossed her legs, and she folded her hands in her lap, just like any normal adult would do when asking a kid a serious question. I faced her, and she spoke, "Taeyeon... your parents..."

I held up my hand, "Don't, I don't want to answer that."

Her features fell, "I'm asking you this as a friend, not a teacher..."

I looked at her, but I couldn't bring myself to want to talk about it. I ran my hand through my matted dark brown hair, trying to calm myself down. Could I trust her? I didn't trust anyone. I haven't even told Jonghyun about my family... Mrs. Choi knew, but she tended to stay out of my business anyway. She never straight up asked me about my family, she just knew what I told her.

Which wasn't much.

She continued, "Taeyeon, do you live alone?"

I shook my head, leaning back in my chair, trying to look calm and collected, "No ma'am, I live with my mom."

She touched my knee, seeing that I was uneasy, but her hand on my leg just made me even more crazy. We weren't far apart, and I looked up, she was smiling weakly. She probably knew what her touch did to me, and she was doing this on purpose.

"Is your mom ever home, Taengoo?"

I shrugged, "I see her when I see her, I guess you could say."

I couldn't focus on anything because her damned hand was on my leg, and suddenly everything became serious. Her eyes met mine for a second, and this time there was something a little more sympathetic there.

She was worried about me.

I smiled weakly, "It's not a big deal anyway... I'm better off without her."

She tilted her head, "But what about your dad?"

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