The next day, Soobin felt nervous. From the moment he woke up till he found himself in front of Yeonjun’s classroom’s door, he couldn’t stop thinking about it. Even at lunch, when Yeonjun asked him if he was ready, Soobin just shrugged, too busy thinking to properly respond.

There literally was no reason for him to be nervous at all, he was only going to watch. But he was anticipating it and that made him nervous. What if Yeonjun was actually a bad teacher? Or worse, what if he was a great teacher? Or even worse, what if Yeonjun looked hot while teaching? God, that would be the last straw for Soobin. Just thinking that he could find Yeonjun hot made Soobin feel afraid of what he might feel for the older. But he had no time to dwell about it. He knocked on the door three times and waited to Yeonjun to come open the door.

Wearing the same dazzling smile as ever, Yeonjun opened the door, quietly greeting Soobin with a ‘hi’. Soobin took a moment to properly look at him and at his outfit. He didn’t have time at lunch because he was too busy overthinking his whole life and they were seated.

Yeonjun was wearing a striped black and white t-shirt with a simple blue jean. His hair was parted 4:6 which revealed his forehead and made him look less fluffy and more serious. Soobin noticed that like this, Yeonjun did look like his age despite his casual outfit and hair colour. It felt oddly familiar to see him like that.

Yeonjun walked back into the classroom and Soobin quickly followed. They were both standing at the front of the class and Soobin recognised them: it was his favourite class, the 3-B. They were in their last year of high school.

“So, as I was telling you, we’re having a very special guest today,” Yeonjun told the class before turning to Soobin. “You can introduce yourself.”

Soobin chuckled.

“Hello everyone. I’m Choi Soobin but you can call me Professor Choi since I am, in fact, a literature teacher,” Soobin cheerfully said, waving at the students.

They all laughed, Yeonjun included, and Soobin made his way to the back of the room.

“Now guys, we’ll act like Professor Choi isn’t here and do what we usually do,” said Yeonjun. “Stand up, we’re going to warm up first,” he added.

Everyone stood up and faced Yeonjun.

“Let’s shake ourselves up a little. I know it’s the last class of the day so you might feel a bit tired but I want you all to be here with me today,” Yeonjun stated and he began to shake his body a little.

He started slowly with the hands, then the arms, the shoulders, the legs and soon, his whole body was lightly shaking. All the students imitated him, some even doing gestures that looked like they were throwing things out of their bodies.

Soobin knew this exercise helped to both lessen the stress and energise people. He thought it was a great way to start the class.

After a few minutes, Yeonjun called everyone to stop and smiled.

“Great. Now, who can tell me where we left off last class?”

A boy on the front row lifted his hand to answer.

“We were talking about the meaning of songs,” he answered.

“You’re right. I asked you to find some songs which contained hidden messages – or not! Who wants to begin?” Yeonjun kindly asked, a warm smile on his lips.

“Me! I found one that’s really interesting!” A girl seating not far from Soobin said, lifting her hand.

“Okay, Yujin-ah, you can go,” said Yeonjun, sitting on his desk.

Soobin had seen a lot of teachers sitting on their desk, he did too sometimes, he liked to sit halfway on his desk when he was tired of standing but not wanting to fully sit down.

But Yeonjun climbed on his desk and sat cross-legged on it, staring at Yujin with intent.

“So, the song is Sign Of The Times by Harry Styles. Honestly, I didn’t get what he was talking about at all reading the lyrics but after searching about it, I found out it talked about a woman who lost her child and  she was telling them that it will all be alright. After discovering this, the song sounded different to me.”

When Yujin was done, Yeonjun nodded.

“You did a good job, Yujin-ah. I like that you listened to the song once again after discovering the meaning of the lyrics. Who wants to go next?” Yeonjun asked, scanning the class with a warm smile on his face.

Soobin liked the fact that he asked the students and didn’t force anyone to participate.

When no one raised their hand, his smile widened.

“Okay, since you seem so enthusiastic, I’m gonna talk about a song of mine that I like. Do you know Eminem?” he asked and almost everyone nodded. “Well, for the few who don’t know him, he’s an American rapper, one of the best of his generation. He’s an awesome lyricist and even if he’s quite controversial, he’s got a lot of fans. He also likes his songs to convey a message. The song I’m going to talk about is Lose Yourself. It’s quite old but the message it conveys still applies to us. The message isn’t hidden at all and it’s quite a good one. He starts the song by asking us a question: if we had one opportunity to achieve whatever we’d like, would we take it or not? Then, he tells us the story of a guy who tries to seize that opportunity but also goes through a lot of questioning, wondering if he’s doing the right thing because there are a lot of things he has to give up. It tells us a lot about life as it is. That, sometimes, to achieve what we want, what we yearn for, we gotta do some sacrifices. So, today, I’m asking you the same question. If you had one opportunity to achieve whatever you want, to make your dream come true, would you take it? And another one, from me: what kind of sacrifices could you do, to what extent would you go to make it? I’m giving you ten minutes to think about it and then we’ll see who wants to talk about it.”

When Yeonjun was done talking, every student took a piece of paper and a pen and began scribbling. Yeonjun got down the desk and made his way to Soobin.

“So, how do you like it this far?” he asked, smiling as ever.

“To be honest, I kinda like it,” Soobin admitted. “It’s very different from what I experienced at school.”

“Well, since you like it, I’d like you to answer the same questions,” Yeonjun said. “I’m also going to do it, in case the kids want to know about me.”

“Do you always answer their questions?” Soobin asked, surprised.

“If it’s not too personal, yeah. I mean, we get to know a lot about them but they practically know nothing about us. I just think it’s fair to answer them when they ask questions. They answer ours all the time, it’s boring to only give answers at some point,” Yeonjun explained, giggling.

Soobin was surprised to say the least. He thought he was the only one to answer students’ interrogations. But after thinking about it, he thought it was only natural of Yeonjun to be like this.

“Okay,” he found himself saying, lightly smiling. “I’ll do it.”

“Great!” Yeonjun said before going back to his desk.

Soobin watched him sit down, take a sheet of paper and a pen. He scanned the room, made eye contact with Soobin and began to write.

Ten minutes later, Yeonjun was back on his desk, cross-legged.

“So, who wants to go first?” he asked and a few hands got up. “Okay, let’s see… Henry!”

“Okay, here I go,” Henry began. “My dream is to become the best violinist in the world! So, let’s say I got into an orchestra, I don’t think I’ll stop before anything to achieve my dream.”

“That’s great, Henry-yah. Have you got some examples of some sacrifices you could make to fulfil your dream?”

“I haven’t really thought about it…” Henry admitted.

“Do you guys have some sacrifices in life you know you could never make?” Again, a few hands were raised. “Yes, Minwoo?”

Minwoo turned to Henry and asked, “Could you ever turn your back to your family?”

“No!” Henry immediately replied. “They’re the most important thing for me and they support me so much!”

“That was a good question, Minwoo-yah,” Yeonjun said. “So, can you change your answer, Henry?”

“I would do anything but reject my family to become the best violinist in the world,” Henry said, his cheeks pink.

“That’s great. Let’s applaud him, guys,” Yeonjun said and everyone clapped for Henry.

Soobin smiled at this. Firstly because the whole thing was very benevolent but also because the amount of trust the students had to have in Yeonjun to admit such personal things was phenomenal. Soobin wasn’t foreign to this but he found it refreshing to find it with another teacher.

“Who wants to go next?” A few people raised their hands and this time Yeonjun immediately chose someone. “Dongwoon-ah.”

Dongwoon cleared his voice and read his paper.

“I don’t have a dream yet but I think that if I had one and got an opportunity to make it happen, I wouldn’t make any sacrifices.” He said and a lot of people began to murmur.

“Quiet, guys,” Yeonjun kindly scolded and everyone quieted down. “Why, Dongwoon-ah?”

“Because I think that if you have to give up something to gain something else, no matter how important it is to you, it’s not worth it. Why is it that I have to give something up to gain something else? What if I regret it afterwards? And why can’t I have everything?” Dongwoon answered.

“Those are great questions. Does someone want to answer?” Yeonjun asked. “Yes, Jinwoon-ah?”

“My mom always says ‘you can’t want the cake and eat it’. I think she’s right. You can’t ask for something and expect to not have to give something up in return. For example, if you want a new game console, it means you’ll give up on your old one.” Jinwoon answered and some people protested.

“Guys, be quiet!” Yeonjun scolded, raising his voice a little. “Let’s see what Dongwoon has to answer to this.”

“I think you’re wrong. You can get a new game console but you still can have the old one. You can still play with it and the new one,” Dongwoon answered and a lot of people nodded in agreement.

“Okay, we’ll leave that topic aside now. You can talk about it outside of class if you want, okay? Let’s clap.” Yeonjun said, his voice nice and soft again. Everyone applauded before he asked, “Who’s next?”

After this, a few people talked about their dreams, what they could give up or not to achieve them. Then, Yesung asked: “But what about you, prof?”

“You wanna know about me?” Yeonjun asked, giggling.

“You and Professor Choi!” Yesung replied and a lot of people agreed.

“Okay, okay!” Yeonjun said, making everyone grow silent before looking at Soobin. “Are you okay with it?”

“Of course. Do you wanna go first?” Soobin asked.

“Guests first,” Yeonjun replied making a few students giggle as everyone turned to look at Soobin.

“Well, in my case, I’ve already achieved my dream. As surprising as it can be, my dream was to become a literature teacher,” Soobin thought for some seconds before going on. “I didn’t particularly give up on anything to get where I am but I did face some hardships.”

“Such as?” Someone asked. Soobin giggled.

“Such as asking myself if I was ready to deal with young people going through puberty,” he replied, making everyone laugh. “Also, making my parents worry because I’m quite introverted and talking in front of people had always been a chore when I was in school. Now that I think about it, I had to give up on my timidity to become a teacher.”

“That’s a good thing to give up on, don’t you think, guys?” Yeonjun asked and everyone agreed. “Let’s applaud him!” he exclaimed and everyone clapped.

“Your turn now!” Yesung exclaimed.

“Well, my story is quite different from Soobin’s. My dream as a teen was to become a musician. I wanted to become a music producer actually,” Yeonjun began and everyone looked at him in awe. “I had a few opportunities to succeed but every time, I let it slip. I had more important things to do so, I wasn’t able to fulfil my dream. But I’m still very happy now!”

A few seconds passed by before someone asked, “What were those things?”

“Ah, that’s a tad too personal, guys,” Yeonjun answered, giggling. He looked at his watch. “The class is almost over so let me give you some homework for next time. I want all of you to find your favourite song and to write something about why it is your favourite song and what you think of the message in it, if there’s one. That’s it!” he said and, on cue, the bell rang.

Everyone got up and when the last student was gone, Soobin approached Yeonjun.

“Thank you. It was great,” he said, watching Yeonjun gathering his things.

“I’m glad you liked it,” Yeonjun replied, briefly looking at Soobin. He closed his backpack and standing up straight, staring at Soobin. “Would you – would you like to go drink a coffee or something? My treat.”

Yeonjun had a little blush on his cheeks, making him look lovely. Soobin quickly pondered about it and when he found no cons, he nodded.

“I’d love to.”

Yeonjun beamed and grabbed his backpack, walking to the door.

“We can ask the others if they’re free too if you want,” Yeonjun said as he locked the door after Soobin was out of the room.

“No, it’s okay.” Soobin simply said, trying to supress the urge to find an excuse. There really wasn’t any, he just wanted to be alone with Yeonjun.

They walked quietly through the school until they were out the gates. Soobin looked at Yeonjun and their eyes met. They both quickly looked away and Soobin cleared his throat.

“It was interesting to know how you came to teach music. I understand why you chose this subject. I also understand why it’s useful,” he said, looking straight ahead of him.

“I’m glad. I was worried you wouldn’t get it,” Yeonjun admitted. “You seemed so stubborn to not even try to get into my world, to understand it.”

“I think I did come off as rude,” Soobin said, ashamed. “I’m sorry. I hope you forgive me.”

“I do. I found it cute to be honest,” Yeonjun said, looking straight ahead as well, not wanting to meet Soobin’s gaze at all cost. “The way you were so intent on being against me… how cold you were being… it actually was ing adorable.”

Soobin didn’t know what to say. He knew he was blushing like crazy but he couldn’t care less. Yeonjun had told him he was adorable.

“Thanks. You’re quite adorable too,” he replied, smiling.

Yeonjun giggled and finally looked at Soobin.

“We’re there. It’s the little café over the street. Is it okay for you or would you like a bar?”

Soobin almost forgot to respond, mesmerised as he was by Yeonjun’s piercing eyes.

“Um, no, that’s fine. A-A café is fine,” he stuttered.

“Okay, let’s go then,” Yeonjun said and when the light turned green, they crossed the street.

Yeonjun opened the door for Soobin, who blushed again, and they walked to the counter.

“Hi, Yeonjun hyung! How are you?” the worker behind the counter said, waving at Yeonjun.

“Hey, darling! I’m fine! Here’s Soobin, a colleague,” Yeonjun replied, smiling brightly.

Soobin frowned at the pet name but quickly bowed to the man.

“Nice to meet you, I’m Choi Soobin.”

“Hi, I’m Jung Wooyoung,” the man replied, turning back to Yeonjun. “You’ll take the usual, right honey?”

“You know me~” Yeonjun sing-songed. “What about you, Soobin?”

“I’ll take a latte, please.”

“It will be 6000 wons, please.”

Soobin about to get his wallet out when Yeonjun stopped him.

“I told you it was my treat. I’m the hyung, let me do this for you,” Yeonjun said and took his phone out, paying with it.

“Thank you. You can go sit down, I’ll bring your drinks asap,” Wooyoung said and the two teachers bowed, going to search for a good table.

They sat somewhere at the back of the café, somewhere calmer where they wouldn’t easily get spotted by other people. A lot of students came here to drink something and relax.

Soobin was a bit bothered by the nicknames the two men gave each other but also by the fact that Yeonjun had introduced him as a colleague. So, he decided to address this one first.

“Um, Yeonjun-ssi... Why-Why did you introduce me as a colleague?” he shyly asked, suddenly feeling stupid. They were colleagues after all.

Yeonjun stared at him, looking confused.

“Aren’t we colleagues?” he asked, sounding genuinely curious but also a bit teasing.

“Well, we are –” Soobin began.

“Would you have liked for me to introduce you as something else?” Yeonjun asked and he was definitely teasing this time. “Would you like me to introduce you as my friend?”

Soobin blushed, again, and nodded.

“I think we became friends after today, didn’t we?”

“I always thought we were friends but since you always acted so professional around me, I thought you wouldn’t like it if I said you were my friend,” Yeonjun explained. “But if we’re friends, you should start calling me ‘hyung’. All of my younger friends call me ‘hyung’.”

“Okay... hyung.”

Yeonjun smiled, satisfied, and Wooyoung appeared with their drinks.

“Here you go with one latte and one iced Americano. Enjoy!”

“Thanks, darling,” said Yeonjun and as Wooyoung was about to walk away, Yeonjun grabbed his arm. “By the way, Soobin is not only my colleague, he’s also my friend.”

“Oh, that’s cool. Nice to meet you, Soobin, Yeonjun’s friend,” Wooyoung kindly said, laughing and finally walking away.

“Is that better?” Yeonjun asked, Soobin nodding lightly.

Soobin knew he shouldn’t be bothered by the nicknames but he couldn’t help it. Yeonjun seemed very friendly with Wooyoung and he was very curious about why they called each other such endearing names. Were they maybe…?

“What’s your relationship with Wooyoung-ssi?” he asked, trying to sound casual, sipping on his latte.

“Wooyoung is my best friend. We met in university. He wanted to become a teacher too but gave up and now he owns this café. When I went to teach in the countryside, we kept in touch regularly,” Yeonjun explained.

“Is he your boyfriend?” Soobin asked, despite himself, and immediately felt embarrassed.

“What? No! He’s just a friend,” Yeonjun exclaimed, laughing out loud. “Is it because of the nicknames?” he asked. It sounded like he was used to people misunderstanding his relationship with Wooyoung. “Actually, we started it as a joke. He’s a bit younger than me and he always felt like a little brother to me, you know? So, I started to give him endearment titles and at some point he started to do the same. We love each other but as nothing more than friends or let’s say brothers. That’s it.”

When Yeonjun was done explaining the situation, Soobin stared at him for some seconds. He could feel he had told the truth but something on Yeonjun’s face also told him that he wanted to say something more. He smiled and waited for Yeonjun to speak again.

“I see you picked a latte. Is it your favourite drink?” Yeonjun asked.

Soobin took the change of subject as a sign that Yeonjun wasn’t ready to say what he was about to. He smiled.

“Not really. I don’t like coffee generally and I have a very sweet tooth. I usually take something sweeter but I felt like a latte today,” Soobin explained.

“What do you usually take?” Yeonjun asked, apparently very interested.

“I don’t know… A caramel macchiato or something as sweet. I can’t stand black coffee, even with sugar.”

“I like black coffee not because of the taste but because it keeps me awake. That’s why I take an Americano and not a normal coffee. It’s not as bitter,” Yeonjun said, taking a sip.

Soobin nodded in understanding and took a sip of his drink too. He looked up and met eyes with Yeonjun who smiled widely. Soobin smiled too and cleared his throat.

“Can I ask another question?”

“You can.”

“If you don’t feel like answering it, don’t force yourself to. It might be intrusive,” Soobin said and Yeonjun looked both intrigued and confused. “It’s just, why… why couldn’t you become a producer? What held you back?” Soobin asked, his voice calm and soft but Yeonjun could hear that he was genuinely curious.

“Well, I think I can at least tell you,” Yeonjun stated, his smile faltering. “While I was studying music at uni, I met an old man who liked my music. He told me he could help me become a producer after I told him about my dream. I thought about it for some weeks. I told my parents about it – I was still living with them at the time, it happened during my first year – and I decided to turn down the offer,” Yeonjun paused to drink a bit. “My parents told me that my dad had had just lost his job and they didn’t want me, their only son, to take a path as unstable as the one of a music producer. I was so frustrated at the time but we were struggling with money and I knew that making music and getting paid for it would be hard. I didn’t have time to dream, I needed to work to make some money to help my parents. So, when I was given the choice to choose what career I’d like to pursue, I chose to become a teacher. I would still be doing what I like: music and teaching. I liked teaching people, making them learn about things they probably never would have even thought of. I could do so while talking about my passion too so, it still made me happy.”

When Yeonjun was done with his story, his usual smile was back on his face. Soobin knew he had meant it when he said he’s happy. He wondered if he looked as beautiful when he was happy.

“You really had it hard in life, hyung. I’m sorry to hear that.”

“We all face hardships. If life was easy it would be so boring, wouldn’t it?” Yeonjun said, finishing his coffee in one go.

Soobin nodded and finished his coffee too, deep in thought. he’s right… what would my life be like now if I hadn’t done that choice? Would I still have met Yeonjun?

“Anyway, since we’re done, should we go?” Yeonjun suggested and Soobin nodded.

As they walked out of the café, Yeonjun waved to Wooyoung, telling him in English that he’d call him later.

“You speak English?” Soobin asked, surprised by Yeonjun’s flawless accent.

“Fluently. But I don’t mean to boast,” Yeonjun replied, running a hand through his hair.

“Sassy!” teased Soobin making them both laugh out loud.

“But yeah, I do speak English. When you’re passionate about music you end up learning it because it all began with this language, you know? All the interesting stuff, I mean,” Yeonjun explained as they walked.

“Interesting stuff?” Soobin asked, interested.

“Yeah, the rock’n’roll. The Beatles, the Stones. The pirate radios. The 60s,” Yeonjun explained.

“I’m sorry but I don’t know what you’re talking about at all,” Soobin said, laughing.

“What?! Tell me you’re joking, please! The Beatles!” Yeonjun exclaimed, stopping in his track.

“I know The Beatles but I don’t know about the pirate radios.”

“Oh my gosh. We have to fix this, Soobin-ah, we have to.”

Soobin was surprised by the casualty with which they talked to each other but he liked it. He definitely could get used to it.

“Let’s fix it then. My place or yours?” he boldly asked.

“Is this a challenge, Choi?”

“What do you think, Choi?” Soobin sassily asked back.

“Oh, bring it on,” Yeonjun replied, leading the way to his apartment.

 

When Soobin got back home, he could confidently say that he still didn’t get a single thing about the pirate radios and the 60s. However, he knew he would learn everything about it overnight if it meant he could taste Yeonjun’s oh so mesmerising lips.