Soobin had always wanted to be a teacher, ever since he was a child. He loved learning new things and thought it might be even more fun to teach people, to see them learn and understand something they usually wouldn’t even think about. As a child and then as a teenager, he knew what he’d like to teach: literature. Soobin always loved reading and was very interested in the different writing periods, the various genres that existed and the writing styles that went with each of them. Because of his love for books, he was often seen as a nerd but he never cared about what people thought of him, he was happy reading books and it was all that mattered for him.

“No, but, seriously, what’s the use?” Soobin asked, making his friends groan.

“Soobin-ah, stop asking us the same question every day. Every subject’s got a use, if you don’t see it, it’s your problem,” answered Taehyun, the P.E teacher.

“And if music’s got no use, what about my subject?” Beomgyu, the arts teacher, asked.

“Beomgyu-yah, your subject helps the students to work out their creativity, they actually do something by themselves. Yeonjun just makes them listen to music, that’s it,” replied Soobin.

“You’ve got it all wrong, hyung,” said Kai, the maths teacher. “You should really see how he teaches, it’s different from anything you’ve ever seen. I wish I could teach maths the way he does but students aren’t as interested in maths as they are in music,” he added, sighing.

“There is a reason why students like Yeonjun hyung so much,” Taehyun said, closing the subject.

 

“Soobin-ssi!”

Soobin groaned before turning around to see Choi Yeonjun walking up to him.

Choi Yeonjun, music teacher, one year older than Soobin with his blonde hair and casual clothes. Soobin didn’t like him. He could list several reasons why but he couldn’t tell which one in particular irked him the most about Yeonjun – or maybe he could but didn’t want to think about it. Well, Soobin was always wearing a suit at all times, no matter the weather, and he thought the way Yeonjun dressed wasn’t drawing the line enough between the students and himself; just like his blonde hair did. Yeonjun was too extroverted for Soobin, always wanting to befriend everyone and, okay, that wasn’t that bad but Soobin didn’t see why he would like to be friends with everyone. He seemed too nice for it to be real, he couldn’t always be smiling, right? But the thing that annoyed Soobin the most was that Yeonjun knew about Soobin’s opinion about the subject he was teaching but still stayed nice to him.

“You walk super-fast!” Yeonjun said, giggling when he stood in front of Soobin. “Anyway, I wanted to know if you’d like to have lunch with me. I sadly couldn’t meet you yesterday but I’m free today,” Yeonjun explained, smiling.

“I’m sorry but I already have plans. Maybe next time,” Soobin lied, he didn’t have any plans but he didn’t want to eat with Yeonjun.

Yeonjun looked dejected for a second but quickly smiled again.

“Okay, no problem. I’m going out to eat with Beomgyu-ssi, I thought you’d like to join us. But if you already have plans, I’m not going to insist. See you later, Soobin-ssi!” Yeonjun said and walked away, a little jump on his steps.

Soobin sighed deeply and made his way to the school’s cafeteria.

 

“Bin, you won’t be able to avoid eating with Yeonjun forever, you know,” Beomgyu said.

Soobin and Beomgyu were waiting for Kai and Taehyun to arrive to their favourite bar. Like every Friday night, they spent it drinking, forgetting about their work for one night.

“I can try,” Soobin childishly responded, earning an eye-roll from Beomgyu.

“He’s really nice, Yeonjun hyung. I’m sure if you gave him a chance you’d become great friends. I ate with him the other day and he’s been teaching for a very long time, he’s got a lot of fun stories to tell.”

“I don’t care about his stories, Gyu. I really don’t care about Choi Yeonjun,” Soobin said, sipping on his beer.

“Well, that’s too bad. Because Hyun and Kai just arrived and Yeonjun is with them,” Beomgyu stated.

Soobin turned to look at the bar’s entrance and, indeed, Yeonjun was following Taehyun while he talked to Kai, a big smile on his lips.

“, why is he here?” he muttered, sliding closer to Beomgyu.

“Hi, guys. Sorry, we’re late but we thought it’d be a good idea to bring Yeonjun hyung with us,” Taehyun explained, sitting next to Soobin.

“Hope you don’t mind,” Yeonjun said, giggling, sitting right across Soobin.

Soobin resisted the urge to roll his eyes and forced himself to smile.

“Not at all,” he managed to say in a strained voice.

Fortunately for Soobin, Yeonjun spent most of the time listening to the other three talking, sometimes looking at him but not saying anything. When they finally got up to leave, Beomgyu announced that he’d go home by cab and left with Taehyun and Kai, leaving Yeonjun and Soobin alone.

“So, I guess Beomgyu usually walks with you to the closest bus stop, right?” Yeonjun asked Soobin.

“No, he usually drives me home but tonight he wanted to drink so I have to go back home by myself,” Soobin answered, already walking to the closest bus stop, cursing Beomgyu in his head for putting him in this situation.

“Well, I came with my car actually so I can drive you home if you’d like?” Yeonjun suggested, still standing in front of the bar.

“You did drink though, didn’t you?” Soobin asked, turning around to look at Yeonjun.

“Only non-alcoholic mojitos,” Yeonjun replied, a light smile gracing his lips.

Soobin was facing a dilemma. He didn’t wanna go home by bus but he also didn’t want Yeonjun to drive him home. But he was a bit dizzy and decided that it’d still be better to bear an awkward car ride than risking falling asleep in the bus.

“Only this time,” Soobin muttered, walking back to Yeonjun who led them to his car.

It was a good car, nothing too fancy, just a comfortable looking average black car. Soobin sat on the passenger seat and Yeonjun asked for his address. After entering it in his GPS, Yeonjun turned the engine on and they were on their way.

Yeonjun turned the radio on, much to Soobin’s relief who didn’t want to talk with Yeonjun or feel the suffocating awkward silence. After some moments, they were at a red light and Yeonjun turned to Soobin.

“Why don’t you like me?” he softly asked.

“Because I don’t see the purpose of your subject,” Soobin replied, equally soft.

“No, I meant me. Why don’t you like me?” Yeonjun pushed.

Soobin didn’t know how to respond to this.

Did he really dislike Yeonjun? He didn’t know. But there was something annoying with Yeonjun that he couldn’t quite figure out.

“I don’t dislike you. I just don’t see what music is ever going to teach the children.”

“Do you say the same to Beomgyu?”

“No,” Soobin immediately replied.

“Then why me? I know you never asked this question to the teacher who left. So I must be the problem here,” Yeonjun said, a little sadness in his voice as the light turned green.

Soobin was bothered by all these questions. Why, why was he so adamant on finding the purpose of music? It didn’t matter to him before, Yeonjun was right.

“I don’t know,” Soobin slowly spoke. “I’ve been thinking about it for some time. The purpose of each subject. From my perspective, P.E and maths don’t matter, they don’t help me as a person. Arts, on the contrary, can help creativity. But making children listen to music, making them sing songs don’t teach them anything. That’s just what I think. The fact that I never voiced it before has nothing to do with you.”

Soobin was lying. Of course he had told Taehyun and HueningKai his opinion on their subjects and they had agreed with him. Not one teacher can expect all their students to like their subject, that’s just impossible. But music class had always been a waste of time for Soobin when he was younger and he still thought the same.

“You should really come see me teach one day,” Yeonjun said, giggling. “I don’t know who you had as a music teacher when you were a kid but they weren’t good, that’s for sure. I became a teacher because I fell in love with the way my music teacher taught us and I wanted to become like them. Have you ever wondered why students like me?” Yeonjun asked and Soobin shook his head. “Well, I think it’s about time you find out, Soobin-ssi. I’ve been here for a couple of months, I know you don’t warm up easily to new people but you never even ate lunch with me! I, on the contrary, try to warm up to everyone because I like to work in a good environment.”

Soobin hummed in understanding and soon, they stopped in front of Soobin’s apartment.

“Thanks,” Soobin said, unbuckling his seat belt. He opened the car door, was about to get off when he stopped in the track.

“Yes?” Yeonjun asked.

“You told me I don’t know why students like you and you’re right. But do you know why they like me?” he asked.

“I do. Because you make old boring books fun. You have a way to adapt them to our society and make students relate to them. You make it so the books talk to them. That’s why they like you, you listen to them, you don’t only teach them,” Yeonjun replied, smiling warmly to Soobin.

“Anyway, thanks for the ride,” Soobin huffed and got off the car, almost running to his apartment.

Yeonjun watched him disappear behind the door and smiled to himself.

“He’s so cute.”

 

Soobin couldn’t sleep that night. Every time he closed his eyes, he saw Yeonjun’s smile and heard Yeonjun’s soft voice. ‘You listen to them, you don’t only teach them’ he had said. He was right, Soobin admitted. How Yeonjun knew that though was a mystery – and, no, Soobin didn’t want to solve it. He literally didn’t care about Choi Yeonjun, of course not. That’s why he didn’t want to get to know him or eat with him or find out why the students liked him. When Soobin could finally close his eyes and go to sleep, the sun was already getting up.