|Chapter Five|

"Noona, you look awful!"

Mone glared at her wretched brother, glaring mockingly up at him. "Thanks, jerk."
Myung Dae shrugged, taking a seat next to his sister on her bed as she shuffled through several papers. "What are you doing?" he sang quietly, nudging her. His sole goal right now was to lighten up the mood for his sister, who happened to be drowning in an atmosphere flooded with intensity and hostility. "Don't tell me you're all worked up because of hyung again."
"Which hyung?"
"Kai-hyung."

Immediately hearing the name, Mone's lips fell into a deep scorn of a frown, her eyebrows furrowing together with contempt. "That jackass," she whispered harhsly. She continued to shuffle through the multi-coloured packets laying around her bed, but her gestures became rougher and more aggressive. Myung Dae let out a low whistle, taking his sister's hands into his and placing them by her side. "Why don't you just.. take a break?" he suggested with hopeful eyes.
Mone shook her head. "I have to prepare these lesson plans for Kai-shii," she murmured. "We're gonna meet up everyday now because the stupid jerk failed his test."
"Well.. didn't he thank you today?"
"For what?" Mone barked. "The boy knows how to express gratitude?"

Myung Dae let out a soft chuckle. "He had an English quiz today, and claimed about scoring a B+ on it."
"...Chong mahl?" Mone raised her eye brows, puzzled and in deep inquiry. She shook her head. "I don't remember him saying anything about a quiz at all, to be honest," she recalled. "He just seemed to be in a good mood, but I just assumed he scored another girl."
Myung Dae smirked, a habit he's picked up from Jong-in. Mone noticed the familiar smirk swept across her brother's face and immediately took action by using her thumb to nudge his face away. "Don't smile like that; it's unattractive!" she declared rudely, wiping his face with her hands.
She smiled, patting her brother's back. "Did he really have a quiz today?"
Myung Dae nodded. "He even showed me his quiz paper; it had B+ written all over it. He seemed to be happy. I'm surprised he didn't say thanks or anything."

Mone sighed, her lips curving into a small smile. "Kai-shii's like that. You really can't tell with a stubborn guy like him... so that's exactly why you shouldn't pick up on his habits, araseo?!"
"De, araseo, noona," Myung Dae mumbled. "Araseo!"

"Yah, you got a B+ on your quiz yesterday, and you didn't bother to even tell me, much less thank me?"

This was the first thing that rung through Jong-in's ears the moment he stepped into the spacious classroom. In reaction, his eyes fell shut, as he suddenly felt a surge of irritation flow through him. As he took his seat beside Mone, he lifted his eyelids and glared at her stubbornly. "Wae? Now I have to tell you everything that goes on in my high school life?"
"I think as your English tutor, you should at least express your gratitude-"
"Yah, where are your honorifics? I'm older than you, you know.. dongsaeng."
"Tsk, you should act more like it then, Kai-shii."

Jong-in sneered at her momentarily, taking out his supplies. "Aish.. this girl," he muttered.

Mone shot him a harsh glare. "Yah! Next time if you do well, you tell me so I know what to plan for the next lesson. Araseo?"
"Ye, araseo!" Jong-in barked back aggressively.
"Aish, this guy," Mone growled.

She tossed a blue coloured packet his way. "Study this for fifteen minutes; I'll test you on it when your time is up."

Jong-in yanked the packet off the table roughly, eyeing Mone through narrowed eyes. "De.. seon saeng nim.."
Mone let out a huff before smirking. "Mm.. you should start calling me that more often; don't you think it suits me?" she jeered. "Study! Aigoo."

The following morning, Jong-in smirked, taking his test packet from his teacher. He looked at the first question and his smirk instantly broadened. Oh.. Kang Mone. Gamsahamnida.. ani, thank you! 

"Yah, yah, yah!"
Mone rolled her eyes, looking up from her laptop, and stared across at the man who sat in front of her. During this ungodly lunch hour, she only wished for finish her persuasive essay. "Buya?" she demanded angrily, typing away on her laptop.
She lifted a brow as to signal to Jong-in that she was waiting his reply. And just as she looked up, she found him holding up a test paper with O's marking all his questions. "B-bwoh?!" she cried, rising to her feet.
She disregarded the stares she received from her surrounding peers, and snatched the paper from Jong-in's hands. "Yah, you got a perfect score!" Mone yelled enthusiastically.
Jong-in remained seated, crossing his legs smoothly. "Thank you," he said to her in his improving English. Furthering the growing conversation, he slipped in a few more English terms. "I owe you one."

Mone grinned, slipping back down into her seat. "You sure do," she replied in her Korean. "Good job," she murmured, handing him his test back. However, Jong-in raised his hands, declining his paper. Mone glanced at him, puzzled.
"You keep it, as a trophy," Jong-in simpered. "You've tutored the impossible."

"Andwae," Mone whined. She tried to the paper back into her student's hands, but he wouldn't have it. "Yah! Take it, it's yours to fawn over!" she cried childishly.
Jong-in chuckled. "I don't want it; it's my thanks to you."

Mone glanced at him with catechizing eyes. Is this your way of thanking me?

Aigoo, this boy.

"Ah, araseo," Mone muttered, sticking his test paper into her folder. "But this isn't the last time you're going to score perfectly, okay? Don't think that the rest of the tests are going to be like this. You may have scored perfectly, but if we calculate it accurately, your overall grade is still at a 76%... and I promised you a B, at least."

Jong-in nodded. "Mone-ah."

"Mm," Mone returned, eyes back on her monitor screen. She looked back up silently to find Jong-in with a sincere smile, a gesture that was rare from the playboy heartbreaker:

"Goh mah woh."

So he does know how to say thank you.