For not updating for the past week, I'm so sorry. My semester is ending so it gets busier hehe. Above all, enjoy!

18.

The corner of my lips turns upward as I receive a ‘thank you’ from my student who just came for a consult, since the entrance examination is just around the corner. The whole academy gets busier during this time around, seeing my colleagues walking back and forth to the photocopy room, to the consultation office with the student’s parents, or to the classroom – I feel alive. This quiet place strangely feels a little lively with this atmosphere. But that also includes me seeing Jongdae a little lesser, the only time we see each other around is when we left for work every morning. However that hardly happens nowadays as well, he leaves early in the morning and I only hear his door beeping at late nights as he stays back in his office.

And it gets weirder when I realize that I am actually bothered by it.

It can’t be that I have…

The words in my mind flies away immediately when I feel my feet hardly touches the ground and instead, my body is about to bump to the floor as I tripped onto something there – however on the next second, I find myself in someone’s arm. His soft chuckles echoes in my head as I am still in the process of grasping the whole situation. “You really shouldn’t space out while walking, Miss Ga Eul.”

My eyes blink a few times while snapping my head up, and when his laughter burst off again at my face – it finally hits me. A short scream comes out from my mouth as I tear myself apart from him by one step to the back as blush crawls up my cheeks.

“I’m…sorry, Mr. Byun.” My lips pressed to each other as I contain the embarrassment whilst Baekhyun’s head tilts to the side as he enjoys watching me fidgeting like a scared puppy. His hand waves lazily as an ‘it’s okay’ sign along with the sound of his laughter fades as seconds pass.

“What were you thinking so deeply, anyway?”

“Um, nothing in particular.” I notice that I answer it a bit too fast as if I was hiding something thus it brings the clear doubts in my employer’s face as one of his brows lift up. “I should…probably go.”

“No, wait.”

That command halts my steps immediately and his head dips a bit as he shoots a look at his wristwatch, checking out the time. And in that brief moment, my eyes capture a sight of my boss serving looks in his grey dress shirt paired with black slacks and a pair of leather shoes – his dark brown hair reflects his white porcelain skin even more and I’m pretty sure that skin is better than mine. Or maybe equally good, since mine is undeniably clear too.

“What do you say if we grab a lunch together?”

“What?” I am visibly taken aback by the offer as my hand dramatically lands right above my chest as I ask again for confirmation, “With me? Just the two of us?”

“Yes,” he nods, those pink lips hinting a small pout that looks natural as he sees my face in hesitation upon his move. And so those lips of his parts again, stating, “There’s something I need to tell you.”

“Noona, you come home late, again?” I raise my gaze up and meet Haneul’s lifted brows that is sewn with concern and…suspicion. However not did I bother for it, I only wiggle my brows as a response and leans down, taking off my shoes just before I step into the house. My body feels tired from all the walking here and there in those heels, the tense in my ankles are killing me. “This has been going on for several days, where did you go this time?”

My eyes roll to the back of my head upon the question as for this kid interrogates me for no reason, even our mother don’t do that. The boy keeps on butting my way, never a second that his mouth stays shut as he ask the same type of question again and again, growing the irritation inside me.

“How many times have I told you? I went out with my boss…!”

“Your boss?” My head snaps to the side upon catching that voice in the house, and so the guy comes to my sight. My shocked, dilated pupils meet his crooked brows whilst Jongdae puckers his pinkish-red lips as he questions, “You went out with Baekhyun? On weekend?”

“What are you doing here?”

I cover my own mouth, noticing that I was half-yelling for I was flustered to see him here unexpectedly. He is one of the rarest sight nowadays, I wonder why he is even busier than the president himself. And it feels strange inside, to finally see him again as we last spoke to each other was during the school festival last week.

“To have dinner with us, of course.” Mom appears from the kitchen then leaves her mittens at the counter before she takes a seat. “It’s been a while, don’t you think? Both of you have be