Min Hyuk was pretty beat. He hated how their uncle had recruited their teacher to be their tutor. And why have an extra class outside the classroom anyway? He grabbed his phone and dialed Yeon Seo's number. After a couple of rings, the other line picked up.

"Min Hyukkie?" Yeon Seo asked from the other line.

"Noona, I am so tired," he said in his usual lifeless voice.

"Wae geurae (What's wrong)?" she asked.

He told her what had happened during tutorial class. Yeon Seo laughed like a Yamato Nadeshiko or the royal court ladies in Europe. She found the technique very amusing.

"That just reminds me of 'Gongbu-ui Shin' (Master of Study)," she shared. "The students were made to make a memory tree, where the graphics and cutely written words will come to your memory and be associated in the test. You make a memory tree for a certain topic and share it to your friends. If your memory tree is defective, it will affect your friends who depended on your memory tree."

"Do you really believe in that, Noona?" he asked helplessly.

"Ne. That is called group work," Yeon Seo said. "Your seonsaengnim might have used that in the past."

"Eh?"

"I am not sure, but your explanation of that teacher is very familiar," Yeon Seo said. "Could she possibly be Park Shin Hye-seonaengnim?"

Min Hyuk jolted up in his bed.

"How did you know her?" he asked in shock.

"I was tutored by her in high school too," Yeon Seo said. "She is very effective, I tell you."

Min Hyuk sighed.

"Noona, can you just tutor me instead?"

"Geunde, I am studying too," she said. "I want you for a boyfriend, not for a student."

"Noona~~~~"

"Mianhada, Min Hyukkie," she crooned. "I will only come to you to pet you, huh? Noona will not torture you with lessons..."

"Arasseo..."

****

"Nuguseyo?" Hitomi asked from inside her room.

"Jong Hyun."

Jong Hyun stood outside the room and waited for the boarder to open her door. Hitomi opened the door afterwards and allowed him to enter.

"Jong Hyun-ah, if you come in here to whine, mianhande, I am busy with school work right now," Hitomi said.

Jong Hyun sat beside Hitomi, who was sitted on her portable mattress on the floor. He knew that this noona just wanted to use a portable one as a bed because she hated moving beds during cleaning time. Hitomi closed her notebook.

"You usually come here to talk to me about Victoria and G.na," she said, calling the girls by name, as they are agemates.

"Not today..." he said as he flopped on her mattress. 

Hitomi could read his eyes even if he never said a thing. He looked up the ceiling as he let the lights blind him. He just distracted himself with the two lizards on the ceiling, chasing each other.

"You always come here to talk to me about girls," Hitomi pointed out. "It was just twice or thrice you talked about your cousins and Uncle Geun Suk."

Jong Hyun looked at her with his burning eyes.

"It's about Park-seonsaengnim, is it?" she asked.

He nodded, got up, and explained to her what happened. Hitomi nodded and told him it was a good idea. She and her classmates often exchanged notes too.

"I never knew there is such a thing as this," Jong Hyun said dryly in his usual apathetic voice.

"There is!" Hitomi said.

Then, she leaned closer to him.

"I can never know how you feel because you never smiled, so I only look into your eyes."

Jong Hyun stared back at her with a mysterious sadness he often showed her. She put her thumbs to the corner of his lips and lifted his cheeks to give his face an illusion of a smile.

"You will look cute if you smile often," she said.

Then, dropping his cheeks, she got back to her notebook.

"I wonder why you told me about this, not Victoria nor G.na," Hitomi asked.

"You know I like G.na-noona only for her chest. And with Victoria-noona, she is really outspoken that I find it hard to tell her some things," he explained.

"Oh, so you feel dominated by your noona? She is older than you, after all. She will naturally lead you," Hitomi observed. "But why do you tell me about Park-ssaem doing this to you? You said that Victoria met Ssaem already."

Jong Hyun wrapped his arms around her and leaned on her shoulder.

"Ya!" Hitomi ed. "Uncle Geun Suk will kick you out of my room!"

"Noona~~~" he said in a whining but deadpan voice. "Can I not even have a friend whom I can share my thoughts with?"

"You have a lot of friends," Hitomi said.

"My cousins are my only friends. Victoria-noona is my girlfriend, and G.na-noona is my secret fling. I am not close with my female classmates either. And I am tired of the girls chasing after me as if they are sasaeng fans...." Jong Hyun said. "You are the only one who can understand me even if I do not talk."

Hitomi squeezed Jong Hyun's hand and leaned on his head.

"Arasseo... I can be like your diary..." she said. "But let Noona study, arasseo?"

"Eung..."

And so, Jong Hyun let go of his hug and looked at her.

"Thanks for listening to me, Noona," he told her.

Hitomi ruffled his hair and accompanied him to the door. Afterwards, she got back to her mat and studied.

****

Jung Shin turned off his lights to let the darkness consume him. His head was aching real bad that he did not want to look at glaring things. He dialed Nana's number, hoping for her to pick it up.

"Jagiya?" Nana asked over the next line.

She was so worried because he suddenly called. He told her about the tutorial class, and after sharing, Jung Shin heard sniffles over the next line.

"Gwaenchanha?"  he asked.

"Oppa, I am a bad girlfriend," she cried. "How could I not teach you our lessons? I know you never cared, but at least, I should have made the effort to teach you."

"You have the effort, I just do not have interest," he replied.

But Nana was sobbing over the other line that his chest clenched at the hurt. He could not take it that he had hurt Nana like this.

"Sorry for hurting you," he told her. "I made you cry."

"Ani, Oppa," she said. "It is I who hurt you. I should have been a more considerate girlfriend. You always put up with my whining. You accompanied me to Miss Alodia's cosplay events and workshops. But I could not even pay back your kindness to me. I am such a bad girlfriend..."

"Hush now, Nana," Jung Shin comforted her.

"Oppa, you are a wonderful guy, even if you never smiled for me," she said. "I think it is time for me to do things for you..."

"Nana..."

"Ne, Oppa," she said with conviction. "You can have the tutor classes, but I will also teach you my techniques in Science..."

"Gomapda, Nana..."

****

Yong Hwa was sitting on the ledge of his window, exhausted after that three-hour session with his teacher and his cousins.

"She is very intelligent indeed," he thought. "If I will not make the effort, I cannot be at par with her."

He was not fond of studying, but he vowed to do his best so that Shin Hye will look at him.

"Is this thing called love?" he thought. "Or am I just having a crush on my teacher?"

The memories of the ice cream and yogurt date got back his mind again. And he promised to surprise her with goodies the next day.

~~~~