[July, 2012]

"Where are they?" Jinyoung could only manage to ask through whispering Jaebum who is seated beside him in their class in Creative Writing. It has already been fifteen minutes since the class started and he's still not seeing even a single hair strand of those three dorks. 

"I don't know." Jaebum whispered back, shrugging his shoulders lightly while writing down notes at the same time. They are keeping their heads low, afraid of getting caught by their professor. 

"You don't know?" Jinyoung repeated, annoyance and disbelief mixed together in his quiet voice. "But you ate lunch altogether." Jaebum just gave another shrug, looking back at the board where their professor was writing something about the different literary tropes. Making his voice even lower and quieter, he asked again. "And they even brought Youngjae with them? And you let them?"

If only he could yell right now, Jinyoung would. His idiotic friends have decided to skip on class again, huh? Youngjae has always been a diligent student, but sometimes he could easily be swayed and influenced by those spawns of satan. Those guys really are something. They're already heading towards the end of the first semester and it means they need to take things seriously in all their subjects but looks like it's only him who's doing that. Well there's Jaebum but, he thinks the guy is just tired of walking around too much that's why he rather stay in class. Sure, his friends did say they didn't like Creative Writing, considering they don't exactly need it in their chosen course (Jackson and Jaebum are taking ICT, Yugyeom and Youngjae are taking Marketing, and Bambam is taking up Film Studies) unlike him who is taking up Bachelor's Degree in Professional Writing. He always dreamt of becoming a writer, and of course he'll love anything related to writing. Wish he could say the same for his friends. But nonetheless, they still need to attend this class for them to be able to get at least the minimum grade. What are those guys thinking?

Making a silent but sharp hiss, Jinyoung kept his head lower, almost hiding under the desk as he fished his phone from his pocket. Jaebum, who noticed him, stopped taking down notes and asked, "What are you doing?"

"Trying to put some sense into those morons' brains." Swiping his phone open, he searched for their group chat and typed in a message:

[jinyoung: where the hell are you guys???]
[jackson: not in that boring class]
[bambam: skkrt skkrt]
[yugyeom: jackson told me to shut my mouth up]
[youngjae: they gave me burgers so i would go with them]

Jinyoung could only groan in annoyance and was about to give a flying fish to Jackson when he felt Jaebum nudging him in the head with his elbow. Irritatedly, he swatted off the latter's elbow and typed in a reply.

[jinyoung: jackson if you want to fail leave youngjae out of this]
[jackson: oh calm your jinyoung-ah. we're not gonna fail]
[bambam: and i thought you're concerned for all of us]

Another nudge from Jaebum distracted him from texting and Jinyoung was about to get Jaebum for that when he heard a stern voice calling out his name. "Park Jinyoung."

The whole, round and resounding voice of the older almost made Jinyoung jump up from his seat. Sitting up straight, he turned his head to face the front where he sees the twenty-five year old professor with hands on his waist, staring directly at him. "Is my class too boring for your liking that's why you're up to something else?"

The way how those fine brows arched up, and how those almond brown eyes were giving him a scrutinizing look made Jinyoung feel small. "N-no, sir. I was just-"

"If you have other important things to do, mind as well leave my class. I don't want to hold you in for something irrelevant." That, and the older turned away, facing the board and continued writing about tropes.

As his shoulders went down, Jinyoung could only slap his own face. He did a good job in embarrassing himself. 

Prof. Mark Tuan- he will never forget his name.

[September, 2019]

Jinyoung felt like he just turned into a stiff log as he stood there in front of the door. He read the name written on the board once again. Prof. Mark Tuan, Ph. D. It's written there, in bold letters, clearer than Blue Lake. But still, he can't believe he's standing right here, in front of the good office of his college professor. 

He could still remember their unforgettable encounter. Since that day, Jinyoung has done nothing but study his hardest just to get a good grade from the foreign professor. He was thankful to get a grade of 1.25 from the older. But after that semester, Jinyoung avoided taking a class under him. Thank God Professional Writing is taught by a different professor, his was saved. Since that embarrassing moment, never did he want to cross paths with the Prof. Tuan again.

But now...

"Come in when you're ready, Park Jinyoung-ssii. Professor Tuan has been expecting you." And Ms. Han's (Prof. Tuan's assistant) words only made him feel even more nervous.

As a new-on-the-scene writer, Jinyoung has been given a break to have his very first book published. He has been working on his manuscript for almost two years now since he started working under L&T Publishing House. This break is very important for him and he needs all the help he can get. He contacted his previous thesis advisor to recommend him to someone who could help him revise his manuscript. Just last night, Prof. Hong Jisung called him and said he's arranged a meeting with his consultant. Jinyoung was happy to hear that. But he didn't expect that he'll come face to face with the same person he tried real hard to avoid for his remaining two years in college. 

But Jinyoung knows, he needs to get this done.

Clutching on the strap of his satchel bag which contains his manuscript, Jinyoung took a deep breath before bringing his hand up to knock at the wooden door. After two knocks, he heard his usual stern and firm voice from the other side of the door, telling him to come inside. Taking another deep breath, he twisted the knob open and stepped inside the older's office.

His sight was graced by the foreign professor, standing near the windows. The older was wearing a long sleeved black shirt, topped with a grey vest. When the professor turned to face him, Jinyoung's eyes travelled from his chestnut brown hair and landed on those almond brown eyes behind those gold-rimmed glasses. Professor Mark Tuan. He really is a sight. No wonder why Jinyoung always enjoyed being in the older's class. Well that was until he got humiliated in front of the whole class.

Putting his left hand inside his pocket, right hand adjusting his glasses, the professor greeted. "Park Jinyoung." His voice sounds the same and Jinyoung felt like he's been trasported seven years ago, back in college.

"Good day, sir." He said with a bow. "Thank you for responding to my request."

He watched as the professor took five paces until he reached his table. "Well, it's Professor Hong who asked. How could I say no to that?" And he wouldn't miss on how the older's mouth curve slightly upward, saying that. "Mind sitting down first so we could start discussing your matters?"

Jinyoung did sit down and started off with his reason of going here. He handed the manuscript to the professor and talked about his work. All through out the time he was talking, he could see how the older focused his entire attention on him and his manuscript. Prof. Tuan flipped through each page, giving a bit of constructive criticism about it. Their talk went well, better than he imagined in fact. When they were done, the older stood up and fixed his vest.

"That's about it for today. You can come and visit again for consultations every Friday and Saturday, around the same time. We could do this regularly until we reach the last page of your manuscript." Jinyoung nodded, also standing up from his chair. The professor then lend out his hand for him to take. "Thank you for your time, Park Jinyoung."

The way the professor calls him by his full name still gets to him but Jinyoung ignored it and reached for the older's hand, saying thank you in the process. With one last bow, he gathered his things and headed towards the door, letting himself out of the office. He was greeted again by Ms. Han who asked how things went and Jinyoung just gave her two thumbs up to say it went okay and he's still alive. 

It was when Jinyoung reached the lounge when he thought of opening his phone. He needed to turn it off just an hour ago because Jackson seemed like he wanted to blow his phone up by chatting him nonstop. The chinese has been insistently asking him how things went for the past three hours already. Now that he's done with the consultation, Jinyoung figured he can now inform his friends about it.

Swiping his phone open, he typed a message to their group chat.

[jinyoung: i'm alive jackson. you can now breathe]

It took a minute before his friends were able to read his message. And then came a reply from Jackson.

[jackson: oh thank god. how did it go, honey?]

Jinyoung wanted to tell the chinese off for calling him using that endearment. He did say he doesn't like it but when did Jackson ever tried listening?

[jinyoung: it went fine. i was told a few things but it's all helpful]
[jaebum: constructive criticism, so you say]
[youngjae: he didn't trash your manuscript though, right?]
[jinyoung: i was 80 percent confident that he won't. glad my confidence didn't fail me]

Jaebum, Youngjae and Jackson expressed their gladness about the consultation going well but Jinyoung thought of telling the guys about the highlight of his afternoon. He had to type and erase while having second thoughts whether he'll talk about it or not. But then he thought, even if he won't tell them, they will eventually know since he needs to indicate the older's name in his acknowledgements when he had his book published. And he's sure those guys will pester him for not telling. So he just decided to go for it.

[jinyoung: but something unexpected happened]
[yugyeom: what is it???]
[bambam: yow spill it park jinyoung-ssii]

These brats. These two were the first ones to reply when just a while ago, they were just leaving his messages on seen. The others went curious also so Jinyoung carried on with his story.

[jinyoung: remember our professor in creative writing?]
[bambam: did i ever take such subject?]
[jackson: just drop the name, jinyoung. i don't want to use my brain at this moment]

Jinyoung's eyes rolled heavenwards in instinct. It's a reflex everytime he hears something stupid most of the times from his friends. He went back to chatting.

[jinyoung: Professor Mark Tuan]

His friends seem to remember the older so Jinyoung continued on talking about it.

[jinyoung: the consultant Prof. Hong was pertaining to... well it turned out to be him]

All his friends were flabbergasted learning about it. Jinyoung had to be reminded of what happened back in college and his friends even recalled how hard he tried to avoid the professor. They all knew what had gone through after that incident. They all knew Professor Tuan isn't who Jinyoung would like to work with.

[jaebum: didn't you have a crush on him, though? some time, seven years ago?]

Thank God they're only talking through chat or else his friends will see how flustered his cheeks are! Jaebum really needed to remind him about it, huh? Yes, it might have been true. He did have this some sort of crush on the said professor, but that was all before he got humiliated in front of the whole class. He really admired how the professor teaches and how knowledgeable the older is. That's just it. It faded real quick anyway. All it took was that incident and his little crush went away. He could still remember how those eyes stared at him and it could almost make him shiver. And now, Jaebum dares to bring that back?

[jinyoung: quiet or i'll block you!]
[yugyeom: it's alright. jinyoung might block you, only to unblock you some time after]

Jinyoung was about to silence the guy as well, but then he felt someone standing beside him, shadowing over him. It took a while for Jinyoung to react but that someone was faster to speak, making his presence known.

"Park Jinyoung." And of course he'll recognize that voice and how his full name sounded so whole and firm. When he turned his head, he saw him- Professor Mark Tuan, with his neatly comb