“What I mean is…as your teacher and a mandated reporter, I must look into instances like these if you are repeatedly injured. It’s all part of the rules,” Baekhyun improvised after the last statement landed them in an awkward silence.

“Right…” his student bit back her laughter. Mr. Byun was lying through his teeth, she told herself. The man could care less about school regulations. 

Yumi glanced over at his wall clock to check on Kyungsoo’s arrival time. Moments like these had the girl wishing that she paid more attention to what her brother was trying to tell her. Unable to recall his arrival time, she figured it wouldn’t hurt to give him a call first. Hinting at another favor to come, Yumi sent her teacher a suspicious smile. She held her palms out discreetly before eyeing Baekhyun’s cellphone on the table.

“May I please borrow your phone, Mr. Byun?” she gleamed, batting her lashes innocently at him to earn extra brownie points.

Baekhyun maintained his stern front, refusing to be weaken by her antics. He carefully placed his phone into Yumi’s possession, but was not prepared when she stood up to leave with the device. Before he could utter a single word, the troublemaker was already long gone, doing God knows what with his phone. For a split second, he debated on following the girl, but ultimately decided to stay back for privacy reasons. And just when he finally caught himself a break, an uninvited guest came knocking at his door in no time. Confused at who it could be since he rarely ever invite anyone over, Baekhyun even considered ignoring the knocks. 

“Byun Baekhyun! Are you ignoring your sister now?!” a faint voice penetrated through the man’s soundproof walls— which could only mean one of two things. One, the soundproof walls are fake. Two, his sister was yelling at the top of her lungs. 

Something told him that he spent way too much money on rent for these walls to be fake. Baekhyun hurried out to see what the ruckus was about, but most importantly, what rare occasion brought her to visit. For the most part, he could not even recall the last time she stepped into his house. 

“Took you long enough,” Jieun grumbled, reeking of alcohol. The strong odor made his nose crinkle in response. Baekhyun peered at his older sibling, unsure if he should proceed the uncalled visit. 

“Aren’t you going to let me through, loser?” she stuttered on her way in. 

An impatient Jieun pushed past her little brother before he could even stop her. For a so-called genius, Baekhyun’s brain might have malfunctioned for a split second when he realized the real situation at hand. This can’t be happening right now, he thought to himself as he fought to stop Jieun from going any further. With a high school student lurking somewhere in his home and a drunk lawyer snooping around at the same time, might not be the best combo. 

“I’m so thirsty. Do you have any water? Alcohol works too,” she shouted casually from his kitchen. However modest Jieun managed to present herself worked quite differently in her tipsy state. The 30-year-old lawyer salvaged a can of beer, hidden deep in her brother’s fridge, for a light refreshment to ‘dilute’ the many shots of hard liquor she took hours prior. 

“You need to leave now.” Baekhyun firmly warned, scrambling to send his sibling home.

To his dismay, she just laughed it off. Jieun even went as far as mocking his tone, all while clutching on to her stomach from the sudden outburst. The teacher anxiously watched his back room, praying that Yumi would stay put for a bit longer until he could sort things out.

With the phone in her hand, Yumi excused herself to another room. It wasn’t much of a privacy issue, she just felt oddly weird talking on the phone in front of another person. She ended up in the bathroom, since it was more or less her only option here. As she waited for the call to go through, Yumi overheard an incoherent conversation happening just right outside. 

“Hello?” Kyungsoo’s voice momentarily replaced her curiosity. 

“Hey, are you back yet? I got into a little situation so I’m locked out of my apartment…for real this time,” Yumi explained over the phone.

“Wait at the front desk. I’m coming right now.”

At least the confirmation from Kyungsoo somewhat put her heart at ease…for now. The noise outside became more apparent over time. She could clearly hear a woman’s voice echoing through now. After hanging up the quick phone call, Yumi carefully tiptoed outside to dissect the current situation. The nosy student poked her head out from a door that directly connects Baekhyun’s bedroom hallway to the living room. She immediately caught a glimpse of a woman’s back, her clothes unkempt with a can of beer in her hand. Even without context, one could assume her drunken state. Fortunately her back was facing Yumi, which