Quick Author's Note

Greetings everybody! After 12 games of MASH and 5 games of “Eeenie Meenie Miney Mo”, I have picked the student who will be tutored by Taeyeon! This guy miraculously won 5 MASH games and 2 games of “Eenie Meenie Miney Mo”. Being the first student means that he has the most probable chance of being together with her. I will reveal him (you guys will never guess who he is…well, maybe. He's in EXO-K and he's barely coupled with Taeyeon) in the third or fourth chapter. Enjoy reading today’s chapter!!!

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Chapter 2: Rumors

               In a spacious room filled with expensive oak furniture and posters ranging from Michael Jackson to the Beatles, two young figures mumbled to each other as they each had a pencil hand in hand. A fairly tall high school boy wore a serious expression while concentrating on a simple piece of paper in front of his nose. The girl, that sat next to him, would have most likely be seen as a highschool student as well if it weren’t for the Seoul National University pendant on her bag.

               “Now, see here. If x equals nine, then the quadratic root times π would have to be…”

                “17.54!”

                Taeyeon grinned at the boy’s answer and scruffled his brunette hair joyously as she said, “See, you’ve got it! See how easy that was?”

                The boy smiled cheekily and nodded with much excitement.

                “Because of noona (1), it became so much clearer! Thank you,” chirped the brunette teenaged boy, beaming at the girl in front of him. His black shirt shifted around him as he turned to his noona for a high-five. Chuckling her usual ahjummah laugh, her eyes sparkled around as she returned it.

                As soon as her palm met his, the boy noticed something particular about his noona's hand. So when she pulled away to direct him to another problem, he grasped her hand and placed it against his calloused ones while examining both of them. Confused, Taeyeon—still smiling—shifted her head to the side and sent him a wondering gaze.

              Feeling her stare, the boy bluntly stated, “Noona, your hands are really small and soft. No wonder you’re so short.”

                Agitated, Taeyeon snatched her hand away from his grasps and vehemently glared at the boy. “Yah! They are not small! And they are not the reason why I’m short! At least my legs aren’t like a chicken's!” the petite girl hastily barked out. The teenaged boy just smiled at his noona’s outburst and turned his attention back to his paper.

                “Instead of whining and complaining, we should get back to work. You’re wasting my time noona,” the boy coldly said while biting his cheeks to keep him from laughing at Taeyeon’s look of disbelief.

                Sighing in annoyance, the dainty female mumbled to herself when she heard the boy chuckling, “Kids these days. Disrespecting their teachers, making petty gangs, getting zeroes on their studies—”

                Picking up the last two statements, the boy cut off his teacher to ask, “What gangs? Who got zeroes on their studies?”

                Running her hand through her soft, blondish hair, Taeyeon merely sighed and shook her head. “It’s nothing, Taemin. Nothing that concerns you and your chicken legs.”

                Hearing this, Taemin placed his mechanical pencil back on his desk and leaned back on his chair, his arms folded and his face contorted into a pout. His legs crossed in defiance and he stared blankly in front of him, refusing to move until his noona would answer his questions and apologize about his lovely, dancer legs.

                Groaning in exasperation, Taeyeon tried to coax him by using her soothing voice as she said, “Okay, okay. You don't have any chicken legs. Now start your studying or your parents will get angry if they find out you’re acting so childishly.”

                Taemin didn’t budge and merely blinked in acknowledgement of the apology.

               Attempting to try again, the small college student said, “You have an important exam next week and if you don’t use your time wisely, you’ll get that C again….”

               No response.

               Flailing her arms around in defeat, Taeyeon grumbled loudly, “Fine, fine, fine. I’ll tell you so stop doing that ridiculous pose of yours.”

               As Taemin’s ears pricked up her declaration of surrender, he released his stoic pose and smiled so brightly and innocently that Taeyeon had to squint for a moment. Still smiling, Taemin raised his eyebrows as if to usher her to tell him what he had heard her say before.

               Slumping her shoulders, she rolled her chair towards her student and said, “I’m getting a new student soon. His name… has a Kim in it.”

               Like Jessica, Taemin gave her a look that told her how idiotic she can be at times.  

               Taeyeon ignored his gaze and continued, “He’s part of some gang called Pee-lex-so or somethin’ and on his transcripts from 8^th to 10^th grade all show that he has zeroes on all of his courses and—”

               Cutting off her again, Taemin intercepted, “Pee-lex-so? What kind of stupid name is that?”

               Glaring at her student for interrupting her, Taeyeon answered him lazily, “I don’t know. It’s just some small gang from your school. You should know, right?”

               Taemin wondered for a moment, and a silence swooped over them. Then, out of nowhere, he started to burst out in a fit of laughter while desperately clutching his stomach. Startled by his sudden giggling and sniggering, Taeyeon widened her eyes in puzzlement while slowly chuckling nervously with him. Was she missing a joke in here?

               Once her student calmed down, Taeyeon stuttered out, still a bit scared by his crazy laughter, “W-what’s so funny?”

               Shaking his head, the boy merely beamed at his teacher and chuckled, “Taeyeon noona, it’s not Pee-lex-so. It’s EXO. The English letter E, X, then O.”

               The college female’s mouth dropped down into an ‘O’ shape and her eyes widened in realization.

               “Oh.”

               After a few giggles from Taemin and glares from Taeyeon here and there, the room finally calmed down as the boy wiped an imaginary tear from his eyes. After collecting himself, Taemin's smile fell and, instead, he sighed and rubbed his forehead, a habit he did whenever he was stressed about something. Taeyeon, weirded out by his sudden change of demanor, wondered to herself if he was undergoing some kind of teenage hormonal stage. His sudden mood swings and constant teasing could be part of some kind of alien virus that could infect her. Or he might be some kind of alien himself. Judging his girly looks and his skinny chicken legs, he may be a mutant. Or maybe some kind of math demon could have possessed the poor boy. Taeyeon decided to go with the alien excuse; it seemed more probable.

               Interrupting her thoughts, Taemin started to talk once more.

               “But this is bad noona. You should quit before you face hell,” Taemin warned her. Taeyeon, thinking that he was joking around, grinned mischievously at him before she saw him facing her with a serious expression.

               “I’m only saying this because I think of you like one of my precious family members. Those boys from the gang are no joke. Drinking, smoking, gambling, ,” Taeyeon’s eyes widened at the word “...and fighting are what they're infamous for. The boy you are about to tutor will probably practice most, or even all, of the things I listed just now. They might’ve been young, innocent, and carefree before, but they are changed, rebellious, ignorant teenagers.”

                Taemin’s face fell once he finished his last sentence. Taeyeon, catching his expression, cautiously asked him with curious eyes, “Did someone you know join their gang before?”

                Her student simply ignored her and stated solemnly, “We only have 20 more minutes left until you leave. We better hurry up noona.” 

                With this, Taemin picked up his pencil again and focused soley on his practice problems, leaving Taeyeon puzzled and lost. After a few seconds ticked by, the shorty finally sighed in defeat and started to correct the boy's answers and explain the intricate demon-like math problems.

                Taemin, however, only had half of his mind paying attention to his teacher.

               He blankly stared at the numerical sentences as he thought to himself,

                ‘The person I once knew no longer exists. He’s dead to me.’

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(1) noona is said by a male when the female is older than him by a few or more years.

So, how'd you like it? This chapter was a bit longer than the first and ended on a sadder note, but still a bit humorous. Let me know your thoughts through the comments below :)

Did you think it was an EXO member when you started to read in the beginning? Hehehe. That's what I was aiming for, but, if you didn't, cookies to you!

What EXO member could have been the nerdy Taemin’s friend? Hm....

I've also made a video trailer for the fanfic yesterday! It's in the foreword if you want to watch it.

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Thank You and Love your faces! :)