Just to prewarn anyone, this is a very long chapter. Don't forget to take water breaks every 15 minutes!
 

 

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Byulyi was sat at her desk and scrolling through all the photo’s Hyejin took of her during their New Years party when her class turned up. She grimaced at nearly every single picture. By 10pm that evening, she was already faced and falling over everything and nothing at the same time. She couldn’t remember a thing from that night. She did wake up the next day with a blonde woman curled up in her bed. It would have been impressive and she’d have been proud of herself if it wasn’t for the fact that it was Wheein in a blonde wig. 

 

As soon as her class sat down, Byulyi put her phone away. She was ready for the onslaught of questions that were bound to fly her way. When they never came, she was mildly surprised and extremely grateful. Not only was she trying to physically avoid the literature teacher, she was also trying to avoid talking about her. 

 

“We have a ‘Back to School’ assembly today.” Byulyi heard the groans coming from her students. “I know, it so bad, but we have to attend so let’s go.” 

 

She stood up and opened the sliding door. Turning back to her classroom, she was slightly taken aback by the fact that every student complied so easily. One by one they passed by their teacher and out into the hall in silence. Byulyi eyed them suspiciously. 

 

They walked to the hall in silence. Even Sunghyuk, who was as Byulyi put it ‘a little ’, was as silent as the rest of her students. She’s sure she’s still drunk from New Years. Either that or she’s still asleep. 

 

Entering the hall, they were all surprised to know they were the first ones there. Normally they were the last. Many times the assembly had actually started before they even left their classroom. 

 

“Do we have to go to the front?” Seulgi moaned. “I can’t discreetly text my boyfriend if there’s no one in front of me to hide behind.” 

 

“You have a boyfriend?” Byulyi felt stunned. “But I thought you were...” She trailed off. 

 

“Only for you, Miss.” Seulgi winked. 

 

Byulyi hummed slightly and told her class to take their seats. Still in awe of the fact that everyone is doing as she asks without any form of backchat. 

 

The rest of the pupils began trickling in and the last class to arrive were Miss Kim’s. One of the benefits of coming early was the fact that she didn’t have to stand near Yongsun. The other teacher, however, didn’t get the hint that Byulyi was avoiding her and she made her way casually to the history teacher. 

 

“Hey.” Yongsun greeted. 

 

Byulyi just smiled at her in the most friendly way she could before turning her attention back to the headmaster on the stage. He was going on and on about how important school work is and how much they’ll have to study for their end of school year exams. Byulyi was just pretending to listen. Her eyes may have been on the stage but her focus was on the uncomfortably shifting feet besides her. 

 

“Can we talk?” Yongsun asked. “After school?” 

 

“We can talk, but first I’m going to ignore you for a week or two just like you did to me and then when I’m ready to talk, we can talk.” Byulyi was a stubborn bastard when she needed to me. She didn’t want Yongsun to hold all the cards within their dynamic. That she can just ring a bell and Byulyi would drop everything and come crawling to her. She needed some sort of power to stop herself from getting hurt again. 

 

Yongsun almost whimpered, “Byulyi, please.” 

 

“Yong,” Byulyi began, “We don’t have to talk. You don’t have to explain anything. What’s done is done and no amount of talking will undo anything.” 

 

“Byul...”

 

“We’re cool, Yongsun.” Byulyi nodded her head, “I promise.”

 

Yongsun didn’t believe that, but chose not to press the subject. Instead she asked, “Where are you taking your class for the field trip?” 

 

Byulyi sniggered for a few seconds and motioned for them to go to the back of the hall to avoid the glares from Miss Park who was stood next to the headmaster. 

 

“I’m not allowed to plan field trips anymore after last year.” Byulyi shrugged. “I have to go with another teacher or my class has to stay in school.” 

 

“What happened last year?” 

 

“There’s this cinema that shows old movies and Sunghyuk said there was an educational movie showing. He said it was basically a two hour biology lesson.”

 

“What film was it?”

 

“Human Centipede.” 

 

Yongsun snorted loudly and a few students turned to them. 

 

“Don’t laugh! I nearly got fired over it.”

 

“I’m sorry,” Yongsun tried to suppress her giggles, “I’m sorry.” She repeated and regained her posture, “Why don’t you come with me? We’re going to a petting zoo and ink museum.” 

 

Byulyi scrunched up her face, “Sounds boring.” 

 

“Yes, extremely boring which means you won’t get in trouble.” 

 

“ it, sure, why not.” The history teacher shrugged, “Give me some permission slips so I can get their parents to sign.” 

 

 

 

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After unsuccessfully trying to get Wheein to move out from her and Hyejin’s apartment, Byulyi once again woke up with the shorter girl in her arms. Sleeping with Wheein was like sleeping with a radiator and during the colder months Byulyi found herself gravitating towards her whenever they’d share a bed. 

 

A knock on the bedroom door startled them both. Hyejin stormed in and hopped into the spare space next to Wheein in the bed. 

 

“I have a problem.” She began. “Seokjin is the most oblivious yet sweet man I’ve ever met.”

 

“What do you mean?” Byulyi yawned and stretched her arms. 

 

Hyejin showed her her phone, “I’ve been ghosting him for a week and he texts me this! ‘Hey babe, hope you’re okay. I know you’re busy so I won’t disturb you. I just wanted you to know that I love you.’” 

 

“He’s so lovely.” Wheein gushed. 

 

“Yes he is but I’m trying to break up with him!” Hyejin swiped on her phone a few times and brought up a text conversation with someone else, “And then I’ve got Hot ‘N Cold texting me!”

 

Hot ‘N Cold was a nickname the three girls gave to a man Hyejin was seeing before Seokjin. Wang Kayee was his real name. His nickname came because of how he acted towards Hyejin. Hot - because of him constantly texting Hyejin to go to his apartment. Cold - because he’d ghost her for a month or two. 

 

“He keeps sending me pictures of his lovely knowing full well that I have a boyfriend.” Hyejin moaned, “He wants me to go to his.”

 

“You’re not going to, are you?” Byulyi asked. 

 

Hyejin hesitated, “Maybe.”

 

“Seokjin deserves better.”

 

“I know that. I’m going to break up with him tonight.” Hyejin placed her phone down on the bedside table. “I don’t know how I’m going to break his heart. He’s such a lovely person I’m not sure if I can do it.”

 

Wheein sat up, “Or, you just could offer him the third way?”

 

“The what?”

 

“The third way! It’s like an open relationship but without actually calling it a relationship. A friend of mine does it with his girlfriend, they still do couple stuff but they get to bang anyone they want.” 

 

Byulyi scolded Wheein for suggesting such a thing before rounding on Hyejin, “Seokjin deserves better! Break up with him properly.”

 

Hyejin rolled her eyes, “Fine. I’ll take him to my dumping pub tonight and I’ll break his heart face to face.”

 

“Good. And while we’re at it, you,” Byulyi jabbed a finger at Wheein, “can properly break up with Jungkook rather than booty calling each other every few days.” 

 

“Okay. We can both do it tonight.”

 

“Good.” Byulyi stood up and began getting ready for the school field trip, “I would absolutely hate to date either of you. I feel bad for your boyfriends.” 

 

 

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The field trip was as boring as Byulyi thought. The ‘ink museum’ was just a few different types of ink inside an old barn and the ‘petting zoo’ consisted of two chickens and a cow. Yongsun was very openly disappointed by everything and made a point to complain every second she could. 

 

Byulyi and her class just stood off to the side and messed around on their phones. Sunghyuk and Olivier were trying to knock each other down into the cow manure, Kitae was sat on a stool and staring off into space and Jisung and Irene were consoling a visibly distraught Seulgi. 

 

Confused at why Seulgi was upset, Byulyi crept over to her. 

 

“Everything okay?” She asked knowing full well that everything was not okay. 

 

Irene looked up at her teacher and sighed, “Her boyfriend is ignoring her.”

 

“He’s not just ignoring me!” Seulgi sobbed, “He got me into bed and I gave him something important. Now he’s completely ghosting me.” 

 

Byulyi thought for a moment and then spoke, “What did you give him? A family heirloom? Money? A gaming console?”

 

The glares from both Jisung and Irene were murderious. Seulgi, however, found it slightly funny. “No, Miss. He was my first.” 

 

“Men are just s.” Byulyi sighed and patted Seulgi’s shoulder, “But then again, women aren’t much better.”

 

“What actually happened with you and Miss Kim?” Jisung asked. 

 

Byulyi glanced over at the other teacher who was moving her class away from the diseased looking cow. “Nothing happened. She’s in a relationship and I’m cuddling with Wheein at a night time.” 

 

Before any of the three students had the chance to sympathise with their teacher, the owner of the ‘ink museum and petting zoo’ called attention. He was a very skinny old man with shoulder length greying hair, a glass eye and a bad stutter. 

 

“Welcome to the next part of the petting zoo.” He began whilst his eyes focused on a point well above their heads. “The world famous horned pig!”

 

His assistant (a middle aged man with a hunchback) brought in a cage with a sheet over it. After the owner introduced the pig, the assistant pulled the sheet off and revealed a diseased smelling pig with a horn cellotaped to his forehead. 

 

Yongsun gagged. “That’s disgusting!” She motioned to the cage, “I can’t believe you’re keeping an animal locked up in a cage like that! How on earth is it supposed to move around?!”

 

The old man cowered slightly, “It’s a wild animal, it stays in the cage.”

 

“A wild animal?” Byulyi muttered to her students, “I thought it was his wife.” 

 

“Why did you lock your wife up in a cage, sir?” Sunghyuk asked. 

 

“When was the last time you washed your wife?” Irene gagged. 

 

“Your wife has something green coming out of her .” Olivier added. 

 

The man was shaking slightly. Instead of yelling or running away, he tried to get the students to follow him to look at more inks. 

 

Yongsun approached the smelly pig and looked at it in pity. 

 

“Poor thing.” She cooed just as Byulyi approached her. “I wish I could just set her free.”

 

Yongsun shook her head and followed behind the rest of the students. Byulyi sighed as she watched the teacher walk away. She threw herself down on the floor next to the cage and watched as Yongsun acted as a barrier between the weird old man and the students. 

 

“What would you do, piggy, if you really liked someone who didn’t like you back?” She asked the sick looking pig. 

 

“Are you talking to the famous horned pig?” A voice from behind her startled her into jumping back on her feet. 

 

“What? No. Maybe. Yes.” Byulyi stammered, “Leave me alone, I’m depressed.” 

 

Kitae smiled sympathetically, “Want to talk about it?”

 

Sighing once more, Byulyi nodded, “Miss Kim has a boyfriend. She literally kissed me and then seven days later she announces to the world that she has a boyfriend. Why can’t she see that I like her? I really really like her.”

 

“Have you tried talking to her about it?” 

 

The teacher looked at her student as if he had grown two heads. “I’m a lesbian. We don’t do that. We just stare hopelessly at women and hope and pray that they make the first move.” 

 

Kitae chuckled, “You should let her know how you feel. If she doesn’t feel the same then that’s fine because you’re leaving next year and you won’t have to see her again, but if she does feel the same then you can both stay at our school and live happily ever after.” 

 

Byulyi considered him for a few seconds. Her eyes widened when an idea popped into her head. 

 

“I should let her know. I should do a grand gesture!”

 

“No, just tell her.”

 

“A grand gesture would be perfect! Girls like that !”

 

“Just use actual words and tell her.”

 

“I could free this pig!”

 

“Or you could tell her.”

 

“You’re totally right Kitae! I’m going to free the pig!”

 

“No, just go up to her and say ‘Miss Kim I love you.’”

 

“Free the pig!” 

 

Byulyi pushed the lock off the cage and pulled the cage door open wide. Kitae was facepalming at his teacher and warning her not to actually touch the pig. She almost yelled at the pig to run away and proudly grinned as it sprinted as far as it could until she could no longer see it. 

 

“Miss Kim is going to be pretty impressed.” Byulyi smugly remarked. 

 

“Yep.” Kitae sighed. 

 

The adrenaline began to wear off and Byulyi was dragged back to reality. “She’s not, is she?”

 

“Nope.”

 

“She’s going to be angry, isn’t she?”

 

“Yep.”

 

“.”

 

 

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After freeing the pig and realising how much of an awful mistake it was, Byulyi almost begged Yongsun to let them leave. Not that it took much convincing. The trip wasn’t as good as Yongsun had expected and she was happy to leave the farm and never look back. 

 

The coach ride back home put Byulyi’s anxiety on edge. As soon as the pig was released she felt instant regret. She was too scared to tell Yongsun that she freed it. She was sat at the front of the coach just behind the driver with her head in her hands. 

 

“I think we’re lost.” The driver mumbled. 

 

“Are you serious?” Byulyi groaned. She just wanted today to be over. 

 

“Take the wheel.” He stood up whilst the coach was still moving, “I need to use the toilet.”

 

Byulyi almost screamed, “No! I can’t drive a ing coach!”

 

“I’ll be five minutes.” He assured her as he all but ran down the isle to the toilet at the back of the coach. 

 

The teacher sat down in the drivers spot and gagged slightly over how hot the chair was. She was actually not bad at driving the coach down a straight road. She gave herself a mental pat on the back. 

 

Suddenly a flash of pink ran out in front of the coach and Byulyi had no time at all to react as she slammed into it. Whatever it was that she hit went flying backwards through the air. Byulyi hit the breaks and stopped the coach. 

 

“What was that?” Yongsun jumped up and came to the front of the coach. She got a nervous shrug from the other teacher in response so she decided to investigate it herself. 

 

When Yongsun jumped from the coach, Byulyi turned to the students, “If anyone asks, the pig hit us! Understand?” 

 

The students nodded. Yongsun came back into the coach holding a plastic horn. 

 

“Does anyone know anything about this?” She waved it around and continued when all she got in response were blank stares, “Come on, I won’t be mad. I just want the truth.” 

 

Byulyi was frozen. Her eyes wide and her knees shaking. She pleaded with Kitae with her eyes to take the blame. He shook his head slightly but muttered, “Fine,” when his teacher held her hands together in a silent prayer. 

 

“I freed the pig, Miss.” Kitae said in a bored manner, “Because it looked sad.” 

 

Yongsun studied the boy for a second before replying, “That was incredibly stupid and irresponsible, but I do appreciate the gesture.”

 

The history teacher looked totally offended. She silently made her way to Kitae whilst Yongsun was busy putting the horn away and jabbed his shoulder with her finger. “You stole my gesture!” She accused quietly. 

 

“You told me to!”

 

“Only because I didn’t want Miss Kim to think that I was an idiot. Well, more of an idiot than she already thinks, anyway.”

 

Kitae folded his arms in a huff just as the driver came out from the toilet. He looked around slightly confused and asked why the coach wasn’t moving. 

 

After explaining to him what had happened, he tried to restart the coach to no avail. He hopped off the coach and opened the hood that lead to the engine. He mumbled to himself over and over at how stupid Byulyi was and that he shouldn’t have let her drive in the first place - something Byulyi completely agreed with. 

 

“I can’t get any reception.” Yongsun moaned as she held her phone up in the air. 

 

“Neither can I,” Seulgi moaned, “Then again, that isn’t texting me back anyway, so I don’t know why I’m bothering.”