A/N: Hi, guys! Here’s the next chapter! Lol I’m updating this story much more quickly than I usually do with my stories because I myself am also very invested in and excited for this story xD

Siwon and Yesung decided to spend one weekend at a five-star hotel (the choice of hotel was obviously made by Siwon) in their city. They wanted some time to themselves in a place other than Yesung’s apartment. Unfortunately, since Yesung was needed at the academy, they couldn’t go to a far place for a long time. So, they just decided to do a hotel staycation for now.

That Friday afternoon, Siwon and Yesung had just finished checking in at the hotel lobby and were about to head up to their room when they heard somebody call out from behind them—

“Yesung?”

Both men spun around and were surprised when they saw the director of the hospital walking toward them.

Siwon raised an eyebrow, but Yesung, despite being surprised, smiled at the man. “Director Park! Nice to see you again.”

“Fancy seeing you here!” the director flashed his dimpled smile at Yesung. “And Yesung, I told you—just call me Leeteuk hyung. No need for you to be formal with me. What brings you here?”

“Oh, Siwon and I are here for a staycation this weekend,” Yesung explained, gesturing a hand toward to his boyfriend.

Siwon silently nodded his head to Leeteuk in greeting.

Leeteuk gave a brief nod to Siwon as well in response. Then, he quickly turned to smile again at Yesung, “Well, this is a nice coincidence! I’m here today for some formal business meetings. I’m free tonight, though—why don’t you guys have dinner with me? There’s a new Italian restaurant just a block away from this hotel. My treat, of course.”

Yesung was torn. On one hand, this weekend was supposed to be just about him and his boyfriend. On the other hand, Director Park was quite an important person at the hospital, plus Dr. Lee and Dr. Cho were familiar with and worked with him; Yesung didn’t see how they’d be able to turn down the director’s offer in a polite manner.

Before Yesung could decide, though, Siwon already spoke up for the both of them.

“Well, thank you very much for that kind offer, Director Park,” Siwon said with his usual friendly and polite smile fixed across his face. “Unfortunately, I’ve already made a reservation for Woonie and myself at the hotel restaurant for tonight.”

“Ah, that’s too bad,” Leeteuk shook his head. “Well, what about right now, then? We could grab a drink together at the hotel’s bar. It’s already open at this time.”

That seemed like a good compromise, so Yesung was about to nod in agreement. However, Siwon beat him to the punch again.

“Actually, we need to head upstairs and get settled, so I’m afraid that we’ll also have to refuse that offer.”

“I see. No worries, I understand.”

The curtness was a bit more obvious in the director’s tone this time, and Yesung couldn’t really blame him. It was a bit rude for Siwon to keep on refusing the director’s offers like this; Siwon did keep his tone friendly and polite, but his answers were a bit on the short and brusque side. And Yesung himself was having some issues with how Siwon wouldn’t let him speak up about what he wanted to do.

However, the place to discuss these issues wasn’t in front of the hospital’s director, and also, Yesung wanted to enjoy this weekend with his boyfriend, so he chose to let it go and set aside those issues for now.

Yesung and Siwon said their goodbyes to Leeteuk. Then, they headed up to their hotel room, and they “got busy” and didn’t resurface again until it was time for the dinner reservation that Siwon made.

The week following their staycation at the hotel, Yesung went back to teaching in a very good mood. Their few days at the hotel was quite relaxing… well, relaxing and ually charged. He still had some light bruises on his hips due to Siwon’s strong hold, and he had a slight limp due to his aching backside, but it was the good (and ually satisfied) kind of ache. 

His good mood due to his relationship momentarily made him forget about his other worries and concerns… But only for a few days. The oddities around him made themselves known again, starting on Wednesday of that week.

During lunchtime at the academy.

Yesung had just stepped out of his office when he heard a student say, “Yesung seonsaengnim?”

It was Kim Kibum, who was standing right outside of his office, leaning against the wall. Yesung’s mind flashed to Kyuhyun for a second; Kibum’s position now reminded him of how Kyuhyun waited for him and Dr. Lee outside Dr. Lee’s office. Yesung shook his head, trying to lose those thoughts about Kyuhyun and focus on the student instead.

“Hello, Kibum-ssi. Can I help you with something?”

“Seonsaengnim… I was wondering if I could eat lunch with you?”

Yesung was surprised at the invitation. It’s not often that a student would ask a teacher to eat with them. Moreover, Yesung was still feeling wary about that incident with Kibum a few weeks ago. No matter Kibum’s claims that he was heading in the same direction and no matter how plausible those claims were, Yesung still hadn’t been able to shake off the feeling that Kibum was watching and following him back then.

But being a good person in general, Yesung nodded anyway and accepted the student’s invitation. He decided to give Kibum the benefit of the doubt. After all, it wasn’t easy being a new student, especially if you’re older than most of your peers. And Kibum certainly wasn’t a social butterfly, for as far as Yesung had seen, Kibum didn’t have many friends yet at the academy.

‘Besides’, Yesung thought as they walked together toward the cafeteria, ‘maybe by spending time with Kibum, I can figure him out’.

“Thanks for letting me eat with you, seonsaengnim,” Kibum said once they had bought their lunches and sat at a table in one of the far corners of the cafeteria. “Sometimes, Eunhyuk and Donghae seonsaengnims would let me hang out with them, but the dance department teachers had a working lunch meeting today.”

Yesung raised an eyebrow at that. Huh, maybe it was normal for Kibum to eat and hang out with teachers, after all…

“You sometimes spend your lunches here at school with Eunhyukie and Hae?”

Kibum replied quietly with a thoughtful expression on this face, “I guess that since my age is closer to their age than many of my classmates’ ages, I’m more comfortable with hanging out with Eunhyuk and Donghae seonsaengnims than with my classmates…”

“That makes sense. So, how do you like studying in this academy so far?” The teacher in Yesung was ashamed that it had taken him this long before he asked the new student about how he was adjusting to the school.

“Oh, it’s been good so far, seonsaengnim. I’ve been learning a lot about modern dances since I got here, especially from Eunhyuk and Donghae seonsaengnims’ classes. All of this is a bit different from what I had gotten used to in America, but I think that I’m now starting keep up with how things go in this academy.”

Yesung’s eyes widened a bit. “You studied in America?”

“For a few years, yes. I attended a university there and studied English.”

“Wow, learning a different language, and now, learning dancing!” Yesung was quite impressed. “You’re quite talented, Kibum!”

Kibum seemed to be the kind of student who excelled in different fields. And what’s even more impressive to Yesung was that Kibum had the determination and perseverance to really study in multiple fields and improve his skills.

“Thank you, seonsaengnim. I really enjoyed studying in America, and I’ve become quite fluent in the language. I thought that it was time to pursue dancing, which I had also been interested in.”

“Is that why you returned to South Korea? To study dancing in this academy?” Yesung asked curiously.

But Kibum shook his head. “Not really, seonsaengnim. I’ve been back here since... nearly two years ago now. My parents still live in our hometown back in the province, and I came back to help them with family matters. I left America and came back here.”

Yesung suddenly felt sympathetic to the student. And more than Kibum’s talents, Yesung was more impressed with his good character. Not everyone would sacrifice their own lifestyles to help out their parents.

“That was very noble of you, Kibum,” Yesung praised.

But the student just shrugged a bit self-consciously.

“It was only the right thing to do. There was no one else back then to be with them, so I had to do it… Though I do still miss studying in America,” Kibum admitted.

“What was studying there like for you? Did you stay with relatives there?”

“No, I just stayed in the dorms. I actually didn’t know anyone when I first moved there. I had no relatives in America. Like I said, my parents still live in our hometown. And I have an older brother who’s also abroad, but he’s living in China instead with his boyfriend. He’s been there for many years now and can’t leave, so I was the only one left to help our parents. I had to adjust again to living in our hometown when I first returned.”

“You were all alone in America? You must have been lonely,” Yesung frowned slightly. While he liked to maintain his independence, Yesung couldn’t imagine being so far away from his family and his friends for such a long period of time.

“Solitude doesn’t bother me, seonsaengnim. In fact, I actually like it.”

Yesung nodded. Yes, he supposed that Kibum wouldn’t have had much problems with being all by himself in a foreign country. Even in the short time that Yesung had known Kibum, he already got the sense that Kibum preferred to keep to himself.

The rest of lunch passed with Yesung asking Kibum about his studies here in the academy now and Kibum telling Yesung about what he’d learned so far from Eunhyuk and Donghae. 

Then, the bell sounded, signaling the end of lunch hour.

“I better get going. I still need to set up some equipment for my next class,” Yesung explained as he stood up and picked up his lunch tray.

“Of course, seonsaengnim. Thank you for having lunch with me.”

“It was my pleasure,” Yesung smiled warmly. “I’ll see you later, Kibum.”

Yesung walked away to throw his trash. He thought that the new student seemed okay. Kibum was quiet and a bit of a loner, but he was quite talented and seemed to be genuinely nice. 

…Yesung just wished that Kibum wouldn’t keep giving him unnerving stares.

As he walked to the trash bins at one side of the cafeteria and then walked toward the exit, Yesung could just feel Kibum staring at him the whole time.

That night, Yesung made the mistake of informing his boyfriend about his lunch with the new student.

“Oh, by the way, you remember that student I mentioned before? The one who followed me to the bus stop and rode the bus with me? I had lunch with him today. He actually seems like a genuinely nice guy.”

Siwon was in the middle of cutting his steak, and his knife went skidding across his plate, causing meat and vegetables to spill off the plate.

“You had lunch with your student?!” Siwon demanded, confusing Yesung with his sudden temper.

“Uhm, yes?”

“Why, Woonie?! Don’t you have any idea at all of how dangerous that could be?!”

“Dangerous?” Yesung repeated incredulously. “It was just a student, and we just had lunch together.”

“Even students could be capable of unspeakable things!” Siwon argued. “You’re puttin