"Thanks again for doing this, Wendy."

Wendy smiles back at the bespectacled professor, who's currently dabbing at his forehead with a handkerchief. 

"No problem, Professor Yang. It was actually nice, seeing the campus again."

Wendy wasn't lying. Besides the horrific parking situation that only got worse since the time when she attended, the school sparked some nostalgia that awakened a side of her that had been dormant for a while. Seeing all the driven and like minded students in the same place made her regain some hope. Sure, she knew for a fact that more than half of them drank coffee like water and had serious mental breakdowns every testing season, but that came with the experience. 

"Well, I'm glad you enjoyed it, because I might need to ask you to drop in pretty often this semester," Professor Yang, shoved his handkerchief into his pocket, and adjusted his spectacles. "The school will imburse you for your time, of course. I've just been so busy with research, and my wife had another baby, and I still have NO idea how to change a diaper without getting pee on my face..."

The older man worked himself up and into talking nonsense now, so Wendy sees this as an opportunity to cut in.

"I'd be glad to speak to your class every now and then, Professor. Should I get started?" She gestures at the large class of students talking amongst themselves. "You can't have them discuss this one theory forever, after all."

Professor Yang stares at her blankly, then finally shakes his head, coming back to reality. "Yes! Of course. I shall introduce you, and you may go ahead. Ahem."

He turns to the class, and gives them a quick introduction as to who Wendy is, and why she's there. When the Professor says her name, Wendy smiles at them and waves, examining the students' faces and gauging their interest. Some are nodding off, some are clearly uninterested and having side conversations, but the majority are facing the front. I can work with this. Wendy sweeps her eyes to the middle-left rows, and sees two girls whispering to each other and giggling. There's a smaller one (who looks a little young to be in this class, honestly) with blonde hair and a mischevious look in her eye. She's poking at her taller friend, who's swatting her hands away and laughing. The taller student has silky, midnight black hair, and her make up is pristine. Gosh, why couldn't I look like that when I was in college, Wendy inwardly scoffs. The girl combs a hand through her long tresses, looks up at where Wendy is standing, and catches the mousy woman's gaze. Wendy's cheeks tingle, a little embarrassed that the girl caught her observing them. But the student just grins back at her confidently, and the extended direct eye contact throws Wendy off a bit. She clears and pushes her glasses up, redirecting her attention to the Professor, who's just finished his introduction. 

"Mhm. Yes! I'm Wendy Son, and I took this very same class almost three years ago, when I was a student this university." She pauses. "And trust me, I know just how difficult this course can be. Professor Yang could tell you about the tear stains he would always find on my submitted homework assignments."

A low thrum of sympathetic chuckles echo through the classroom, and Wendy smiles. This might go better than she thought. She glances at her speaker notes, ready to glide through her presentation. She manages to get through 3 of her 4 main topics when, during a lull in her speech, she sees a raised hand out of the corner of her eye. She turns to her left, and sees it's the grinning girl from earlier.

"Ah, yes, question?" Wendy points. 

"Earlier, you discussed a brief hypothesis for this phenomenon, but you're treating it as a researched and supported theory." The girl pauses, and tilts her head. "It kind of invalidates your subsequent points, don't you think?"

There are murmurs throughout the class, and people start looking in the girl's direction. Wendy can hear someone whisper angrily, "Just let her finish the presentation, damn it, I want to get out early..."

Wendy turns her attention to the student. "I never said it was law, however. I merely skimmed the details because I didn't want to bore you guys," She gestures to the rest of the class. "And I assumed you all wanted an easier lecture today. I know I would if I were you," She chuckles, and a couple students express assent. 

The student raises her eyebrow, and Wendy can see the corners of twitch upwards. "So, you don't think we can handle it. Basically." She giggles at the end of her sentence, implying that she's joking. But something still irks Wendy. She's not sure if it's the tone of the student's voice, or the cocky smirk and overconfident body language, but it makes Wendy's hairs stand on end. This was the kind of girl she would be terrified of in high school. 

"Well, I'll tell you what Ms..." Wendy trails off. 

"Joy. Joy Park."

"Ms. Park. If you're interested in all the enthralling details, I'd be glad to give you a special mini lesson after class," Wendy hears a few 'oh s' and low whistles, which she ignores. "Otherwise, I'll continue and hopefully I can get you all out of here 10 minutes early, yeah?"

The class cheers and hollers at that, and it takes a couple moments for Wendy to calm them down again. She finishes her lecture, every now and then stealing a glance at Joy Park and her friend. Her friend is starting to doze off, her blonde head bobbing in and out of sleep. But Joy keeps a laser-sharp focus on Wendy, not seeming upset or put off in the least. In fact, Wendy thinks the girl is even more focused now, and she still hasn't wiped that smug look on her face. 

Whatever.

Wendy finishes her talk, and the class politely applauds. She bows and waves to the students as they shuffle out of the class, and her eyes trail over to the same area again. She sees Joy Park staring back at her, a blank look in her eyes. Wendy holds her gaze, determined not to appear weak. The student blinks twice, and whips her head around, ushering her sleeping friend awake to hurry out of class, arm in arm. 

That's what I thought, Wendy huffs.

Professor Yang congratulates her on a job well done, but on the drive home Wendy's mind is inexplicably still on the cocky student that got under her skin.

======

Joy dips a finger in the whipped cream of Yeri's drink, and brings her forefinger to her lips. She opens and slowly, purposefully the sweetness off of her finger, much to Yeri's chagrin.

"You are un-ing-believable. Get your dirty hands out of my drink, ert."

Yeri snatches her cup away from Joy, who laughs raucously. "You know you love it, squirt."

Yeri makes a face, and swirls her straw around to dissolve the whipped cream. "Will you please stop calling me squirt. I grew at least two inches in the past year, and also, it sounds wildly inappropriate," She whines. 

"I'll stop when it stops making you blush," Joy sings teasingly.

"I am NOT blushing!"

Joy guffaws, and scoots her chair closer to Yeri's. They are seated comfortably at one of the campus cafes, due to the fact that Yeri needed to submit an assignment (last minute). She has her laptop open and she's typing away, winging an assignment that she had a week to complete. 

"Aaaaanddd...Done!" Yeri dramatically presses the 'submit' button, and cracks her knuckles. "Man, this college thing is easier than people said it would be."

Joy rolls her eyes, stealing a sip of Yeri's drink. "Yeah, because you're barely taking any units. And it's not like you're dumb or anything."

Yeri pulls the drink away again. "You say that like you're not in the honors program, nerd."

Joy stretches her arms, and yawns. She pouts at the younger girl. "Yeah, but it's so hard," Joy ignores Yeri's muttered 'That's what she said', and continues. "I barely have any time to go out on the weekend anymore. I used to be able to have some time to myself but now it's go, go, go." She sighs.

"Well, you're getting close to graduating. Less fun, more wallowing at a 9-5 for the rest of your life," Yeri starts putting her laptop away. "Did you have any fun last weekend?"

Joy smiles dreamingly, resting her head on her arms on the table. "Oh, did I. One of my favorite DJs played the club I was at, and I went home with a cutie that goes to the private university an hour away from here." She looks off into the distance dramatically, as if she's recalling a good memory from years ago. 

Yeri pauses zipping up her bag. "The Catholic university?"

Joy winks. "You bet."

Yeri shakes her head. "Bless her heart. His heart. Whatever," She finishes putting her stuff away, and leans back, crossing her arms. "I have no idea how you pick up so many people. If only they knew how gross you really are." 

"Watch it, pipsqueak," Joy slaps Yeri's arm. "I'll have you know, people find me very attractive. Not even you can resist this face." Joy frames her head with her hands for emphasis.

Yeri scoffs, but a part of her knows it's true. When Joy would tell her stories of the numerous hookups she had at college, Yeri wouldn't believe her. After all, when they went to high school together, Joy wouldn't entertain the idea of dating at all. She was almost as confident and alluring as she is now, but was much too focused on maintaining her academics that boys or girls were never really a priority. 

When Yeri enrolled in the same college as Joy however, she got a front row seat to all the mischevious things Joy would get up to. A part of her thought that once she got to college, she would be as wild as Joy was as well, but the older girl took it to a whole new level. Yeri would get tired just hearing about Joy's conquests.

"I think there's probably one nut you won't be able to crack," Yeri hums. Joy looks at her, smirking. "Ugh, not like that you idiot. Like," Yeri looks around, peering at the students walking in front of the cafe. All kinds of students are walking around, some short, some tall, some smiling and some zombified. Yeri looks harder, scanning the courtyard like a hawk. Soon, her eyes land on a small brunette woman carrying a comically huge bag, walking across the green lawn. The woman looks older than both Yeri and Joy, and she seems to walk with an easy confidence. But even from this far, Yeri's trained eye sees a meekness in her posture, and a tiredness in her eyes. The girl was admittedly quite pretty, and Yeri figures she's a graduate student or a TA, or maybe even both. 

Joy follows Yeri's line of vision, and sees the woman Yeri had been observing. She grins devilishly, knowing what Yeri is going to ask. 

"Like her." Yeri decides. "You think you can attract anyone, right? I'm betting that you can't. Do you think you could flirt with her?"

Joy smiles smugly. "Oh. Especially her."

======

What Joy doesn't expect is to follow the brown haired woman right into her afternoon class. Yeri said she would tag along because she didn't have a class at that time anyways, and she had nothing better to do. When the tiny brown haired woman walks down the steps of the lecture hall and right to the front of the class, setting her bag down and pulling out papers, Joy fights the urge to gape.

Behind Joy, Yeri cackles. "Oh, you're really about to try and seduce the substitute Professor, huh? Hah!" 

Joy turns on her heel, and watches Yeri set her stuff down, still laughing to herself. Joy takes the seat next to her. 

"No way she's a prof." Joy shakes her head adamantly. "She looks way too young." Right at that moment, Professor Yang walks in, shaking the woman's hand and engaging in conversation. "See? She's not a substitute. She's probably a TA, or something."

Yeri rolls her eyes. ", you already know who your TAs are. You're going to find out that lady is actually 40 years old with a husband and two kids," Yeri can't help but cackle again, knowing she won the bet. She then frowns to herself, thinking she should have put some stakes on their bet, since she's going to win anyways.

Joy nibbles on her lip, a little less confident about talking to the woman now. Class starts, and Professor Yang starts teaching as usual. The woman from earlier is sitting in the front row, paying close attention to the lecture. Joy glances at her every now and then, thinking of ways to approach her, if approaching her was even appropriate at this point. Halfway through class, Professor Yang tells them to talk to their seatmates about what they just learned, and Joy turns back to Yeri, who has now resorted to playing computer games on her laptop. 

"She might just be observing the class for today. She could be Professor Yang's friend?" Joy theorizes. 

Yeri guffaws. "And that's better how...?" A large GAME OVER flashes on Yeri's screen, and the blonde girl slams her fist on the table. "Damn it!"

Professor Yang clears his throat at the front of the class, causing several heads to turn and the noise levels to decrease. "Okay, everyone! That's enough. I hope you've had enriching discussions with your classmates." Yeri looks at her laptop guiltily, and slowly starts closing it. Joy rolls her eyes. "I have a special treat for you today, that might become a recurring treat! Today, we have Wendy Son here, an old student of mine who graduated recently." The woman waves. "She was quite the star when she attended this school!"

Joy feels Yeri poking her side, so she turns to look at her. The younger girl is grinning mischeviously and wiggling her eyebrows. "Oooh Wendy Sonnnn..." Joy shushes her, but can't fight back a smile. Yeri continues to tease. "Wendy Son is out of your league, errrrttt..." 

Joy laughs and pushes Yeri's tickling hands away. She runs a hand through her hair, trying to regain her composure. While doing so, she stares right into the eyes of the very woman her and Yeri were giggling about. 

Oh? She gives Wendy a smile she knows is blinding, and the woman seems to get flustered, because she quickly looks away and fiddles with her glasses. Joy gives Yeri a knowing sideways glance. 

"Oh, don't even start," Yeri whispers angrily. "Just because you smiled at her like a weirdo, doesn't mean she likes you." She crosses her arms.

"Take a nap, grumpy." Joy drawls happily.

A few more minutes pass, and Wendy seems to be coming to her closing points. Joy thinks it's now or never if she's going to make a move to get Wendy's attention. She mentally runs through what Wendy had previously discussed, and finally comes up with something she can bring up. During a pause Wendy makes to look down at her notes, Joy raises her hand. 

"What are you doing?" Yeri whispers.

Joy shushes her.

Wendy meets her gaze. "Ah, yes, question?"

Joy clears , fully aware she's going to be a bit of an , but confident in her decision anyway. She starts to speak. 

"Earlier, you discussed a brief hypothesis for this phenomenon, but you're treating it as a researched and supported theory. It kind of invalidates your subsequent points, don't you think?"

Joy watches Wendy frown a bit, but recover her straight face almost immediately. "I never said it was law, however. I merely skimmed the details because I didn't want to bore you guys. And I assumed you all wanted an easier lecture today. I know I would if I were you." She giggles a bit and the other students agree. Joy pushes more.

"So, you don't think we can handle it. Basically."

Joy can see Wendy clench her jaw from this far away. Oh, you've really done it now, Park. 

Wendy steels her gaze at Joy. "Well, I'll tell you what Ms..."

"Joy. Joy Park."

"Ms. Park. If you're interested in all the enthralling details, I'd be glad to give you a special mini lesson after class." Next to Joy, Yeri whispers 'ooh la la'. Joy kicks her under the table, and the other girl yelps in pain. Wendy doesn't seem to notice. "Otherwise, I'll continue and hopefully I can get you all out of here 10 minutes early, yeah?"

The class cheers, and Joy bites the inside of her cheek. 

"Huh," she says aloud.

"You got flamed," Yeri yawns, and closes her eyes, ready for a nap. Yeri clearly thinks Joy failed. Joy was fully expecting the tiny and cute speaker to stutter or backtrack. But she supposes she got what she wanted, in the end. Wendy Son's attention.

When class ends, Joy notices Wendy staring at her coldly, as if challenging her to come up and actually stay after class to get lectured. Joy hurriedly wakes up a grumpy Yeri and drags her out of the classroom. When they're outside, Yeri clicks her tongue.

"Your plan was negging her while she was public speaking. Brilliant," Yeri shakes her head. "I wonder why that didn't work out."

"I was just trying to get her attention. You know, maybe she'd see me as someone who was actually listening and challenging her or whatever," Joy explains haughtily. "I didn't expect her to get all defensive and angry. She's kind of sensitive."

The blonde shrugs. "Maybe you're just not as good as you think."

Joy shakes her head. She knows when someone isn't open to flirting back and forth, and knows when someone doesn't find her attractive. She's not an idiot. But she caught Wendy Son looking at her multiple times. Her gaze would linger, before snapping back to the powerpoint or to the rest of the class. The combination of confidence but at the same time awkward reluctance in the older woman threw Joy off. 

"Maybe." Joy hums thoughtfully. "Maybe you're right."