Chapter 5

At the library, Changmin tries to concentrate on his homework. However, it is a bit too hard for him to do so because Mr. Professor Park Yoochun is right next to him, staring at him very closely.

“Is there something wrong, Professor Park?” Changmin softly asks his professor.

Yoochun just gives him a smile and shakes his head. “Nothing is wrong. However, you made a mistake on one of the problems there.” Yoochun points at the incorrect problem on his student’s homework.

Changmin checks his solutions once again and realizes that it was indeed incorrect. He heaves a sigh as he curses himself for making a fool in front of his professor. Then he lets out a nervous laugh. “T-thanks.”

Yoochun gives him a wider smile and says, “No problem. I am after all your professor, and you ARE doing my assignment. Therefore, I am glad to help you whenever you need the help.”

Changmin begins to turn red as he realizes that he IS doing Professor Park’s assignment at the moment. ‘Oh god, how did I end up doing his assignment when he is with me at this time?’ Changmin thought to himself as he made a fool of himself.

“Changmin-sshi, do you need help?” Yoochun suddenly asks him.

“Uh...” Changmin hesitated before he can give his professor an answer. “No, I’m fine.”

“Are you sure?” Yoochun looks at his student suspiciously. “If you do not understand any problems, you can surely ask me. I am here to help you with any problems that you need help on.”

“I am fine, Mr. Park.” Changmin says.

“Then may you explain why you are having trouble with this problem?” Yoochun points out at the problem where Changmin have been re-doing for the past hour. “You have been answering the same problem for the past hour and it is still incorrect.”

Changmin gulps on his saliva. ‘How can I tell him that I cannot solve the problems to the homework when he is here next to me? How can I tell him that he is making me nervous when he is so close to me like this? What can I say for him to understand my feelings at this moment?’ He thought to himself. “Uh... No, I’m just not in the mood to do homework after all. Maybe I will just read something.” Changmin gets up from his seat and walks to the aisle where a bunch of books are located. “Yeah, reading books will definitely help me focus.” He mutters to himself.

“What kind of books are you interested in?” A voice appeared behind him.

“AH!” Changmin jumps a little as he is shocked to hear him from behind. “P-professor Park.”

Yoochun looks at his student in concern. “Did I scare you?” He takes a step forward. “I’m sorry.”

When Yoochun takes his step forward, Changmin takes his step backwards as he tries to distance himself from the older man. Too close, too close!!! Changmin’s mind began to go crazy. He glanced over at Yoochun’s shoulder, but even from this close there was no monster visible. Changmin’s head spun.

“Y-you’re in my space bubble.” Changmin answered, wanting to step backwards but there was a bookshelf blocking his way.

“Oh I’m sorry, am I making you feel uncomfortable?” Yoochun asked nicely, but he didn’t step away.

“Yeah, can you... move away? Please?”

“Sure.” Yoochun said with a smile and took a step back, turning to the bookshelf and picked a book before going back to the table they sat on before. Changmin heaved a sigh and went back to try to find a book he wanted to read, but he couldn’t concentrate. Finally taking whatever it was within hand reach, he took a book and went back to the table, sitting opposite to Yoochun.

Yoochun seemed to be deeply absorbed in the book he was reading, so Changmin opened his as well. He was startled as the page he opened revealed an old drawing of a monster, Lust. Reading the text, he figured he had taken a book about myths. He didn’t know what he saw was a part of myths, but he was now very interested in reading it.

The explanation said the monsters to be a kind of parasite. From that, he figured even if the parasite dies, human can easily become a host of another because their emotion is never stable. While deeply concentrating on the things he was reading, a finger tapped on the page in front of Changmin, breaking his concentration. He looked up to see Yoochun staring at him.

“You seemed to be very interested in that. What is it about?”

“Myths.” Changmin shrugged. “I like myths. They’re interesting.”

“Sure they are... say,” Yoochun leaned closer over the table towards Changmin. “Do you think such things exist?”

Changmin swallowed at the question, not knowing how to answer. Should he lie? “Well, I can’t say it doesn’t... if there’s smoke, there must be a fire somewhere right?”

“So... is it a yes?”

“We’ll never know, would we?”

“Hmm...” Yoochun smirked. “Anyway, Changmin-sshi, I have to leave now. Fancy talking to you. See you in class!” He said as he gathered the books he read before and walked away, leaving Changmin stunned.

“Professor Park is one hell of a weirdo.” Changmin shook his head and continued reading.