Woohyun and Myungsoo went into the classroom, shocked to see someone unexpected still there.

“Where’s Sungyeol?” Myungsoo asked Hoya, who was still laying his head on the desk.

“He took his bag and left,” Hoya replied.

“Let’s go, Woohyun,” Myungsoo signaled to Woohyun, who also grabbed his bag.

“Hyunnie,” Hoya called out to Woohyun and the latter turned to his best friend.

“Give me a second?” Hoya asked with a pout.

“I’ll wait for you outside,” Myungsoo rolled his eyes at Hoya’s attempt at acting cute and left the classroom.

“You’re not telling me you saw what happened before, did you?” Woohyun chuckled, unable to believe how his best friend could know everything that was happening to him.

However, Hoya’s eyes were serious.

“Why did you say that? Didn’t you know that it would hurt him?” Hoya asked.

After hearing his best friend’s solemn tone, Woohyun stopped laughing and looked his best friend in the eye.

“Right now, Sungyeol is acting extremely weird. I don’t even know why he is like that. Hence, I was hoping that he would stop giving Sungyeol’s stress,” Woohyun said to his best friend.

“You could have told him about Sungyeol and Lee Joon. Then, he would stop asking Sungyeol,” Hoya pointed out.

“That’s my friend’s privacy. How can I tell him that?” Woohyun questioned.

“Woohyun, do you hate it when I tell Dongwoo about you?” Hoya asked and couldn’t help but feel a little afraid of the answer.

“Of course not!” Woohyun laughed. “But Dongwoo and you and him and I are two totally different things,” Woohyun said.

“It’s not that different, you know,” Hoya told his best friend.

“I’m sure Sungyeol wouldn’t have minded if you told him. The reason why you didn’t, Woohyun, is because you didn’t trust him enough,” Hoya continued.

Woohyun’s eyes widened at Hoya’s words.

“You didn’t trust that he would not hurt you and your friends. You didn’t trust him to help Sungyeol. If you did, you would have told him, Woohyun,” Hoya told his best friend in a sad tone.

Woohyun’s smile left his face as he stared at the ground, like a kid after being reprimanded.

“Woohyun, I know it’s hard for you to trust someone after everything. But this is how it is to truly trust someone: to tell them everything without restraint. If you’re not ready, being half-hearted, will only hurt him even more,” Hoya told Woohyun.

Woohyun considered Hoya’s words for a minute or so.

“I think I understand, Howon. Thanks,” Woohyun smiled at Hoya and gave him a hug and a pat on the back.

Hoya watched Woohyun leave the classroom. He wondered if Woohyun would be alright.

~

Sunggyu’s fingers flew across the keyboard as he swiftly typed a few words into the school’s database. He needed to check something.

“Sunggyu-ssi?” Sunggyu heard someone called him and he spun around. He saw Sena smiling as she stood behind him.

She leaned forward to see what’s on Sunggyu’s computer.

“The school’s basketball team? Oh no, are you spying on my captain?” Sena joked.

Sunggyu laughed a little before replying, “No, I was actually quite curious about something. And I found something weird here. Was Sungyeol in the basketball team before?”

Sena thought for a while before answering, “I believe it was 2 years ago, when Sungyeol was only a first year student. He was the hidden star of the basketball team.”

Sunggyu nodded as he listened. Mir had mentioned this in class before.

“Then, why did he get out?” Sunggyu asked.

“I think it was about some fight that Sungyeol-goon was involved in. Then, he couldn’t participate in the annual tournament and in the end, he left the basketball team,” Sena said.

“Sungyeol was quite a legend, you know,” Dongwoo scared the two teachers by suddenly creeping out on them.

“What the hell, Dongwoo-ssi, don’t scare us like that!” Sena chided.

“Anyway, you were saying something about Sungyeol,” Sunggyu didn’t miss what Dongwoo said.

“Well, he was a good student. Had good results and was friendly and active. Sungyeol was definitely the last person you think would end up in 3D,” Dongwoo told the two teachers.

“Hmmm, this was getting weird,” Sunggyu pondered for a while.

“Sunggyu-ssi, the basketball team has activities today. You may want to go check it out,” Sena smiled as she told the young teacher.

Sunggyu’s eyes lit up. “Thanks, Sena-ssi!” Sunggyu thanked her before dashing down to the basketball club room.

In his eagerness, Sunggyu ran at lightning speed and couldn’t stop in time as he bumped into someone coming out from the club room.

The teacher and the student fell backwards upon contact. Sunggyu recognized the student, “Heechul!”

Heechul got up from the floor and offered his hand to Sunggyu, who took it.

“I didn’t know you were in the basketball club,” Sunggyu said.

“Teacher, did you have anything to do here?” Heechul asked the teacher.

“Oh right, I was wondering if you could help me with something,” Sunggyu suddenly remembered why he was here.

The two went into the basketball court and took a seat on the spectators stand.

Sunggyu watched Lee Joon shot in a pretty three pointer.

“Wow, he’s good,” Sunggyu commented.

Heechul smiled. “Of course, he’s our captain!”

“I was wondering if you knew Sungyeol from 3D. He used to be in the basketball team,” Sunggyu started.

“Lee Sungyeol?” Heechul confirmed.

Sunggyu nodded his head in confirmation.

“Of course I know him. Even though he was in the team before I even entered, but he was considered a legend,” Heechul told Sunggyu, his eyes full of admiration.

Sunggyu couldn’t believe what he was hearing. He didn’t know his student was such a sensation.

“We don’t really mention this in front our captain because the two of them were kind of rivals in first year. But rumors were always spreading in our team,” Heechul said to Sunggyu, who was listening attentively.

“Sungyeol-sunbaenim was a sensation in first year, always taking the MVP in all of the friendly matches we had. The sunbaenims all said that if Sungyeol-sunbae had played the tournament two years ago, we would definitely have won first place,” Heechul continued excitedly.

“Why didn’t he play then?” Sunggyu asked.

“Well, apparently he got involved in a fight and the teachers put Joon-sunbae up instead,” Heechul replied.

Sunggyu remembered hearing this from Sena. “But I checked Sungyeol’s records and nothing was mentioned there,” Sunggyu told Heechul.

Heechul bent in closer to Sunggyu and whispered, “This is top secret so I’ll only tell you.”

Sunggyu nodded quickly.

“Well, the sunbaes said that because Joon-sunbae was rich and a sponsor to the school, the teacher chose him to join,” Heechul whispered softly.

“What?!” Sunggyu blurted loudly causing Heechul to cover the teacher’s mouth immediately.

“Shhhh!” Heechul chided the teacher who scratched his head shyly.

“In the end, they found out that Sungyeol-sunbae wasn’t involved directly in the fight and was a victim. I heard Sungyeol-sunbae was so mad, he left the team,” Heechul continued.

“It was such a shame. If Sungyeol-sunbae went on to second year, he would have been the first captain who was only in second year!” Heechul expressed his disappointment.

Sunggyu almost laughed at this innocent student.

“But do you not like your captain now?” Sunggyu asked. He thought that everyone would have disliked Joon for using such methods to reach the top.

Heechul smiled. “At first, we didn’t. But Joon-sunbaenim is really nice and hardworking. He practiced harder than anyone else and is now, as good, no I mean, better than Sungyeol-sunbae! Sungyeol-sunbae is a legend but Joon-sunbaenim is our captain!” Heechul exclaimed.

Sunggyu smiled. Sure, from the way he saw Lee Joon practiced, it did seem like he deserved the captain post.

“Thanks Heechul. I’ll see you around then,” Sunggyu pat Heechul on his head again before walking out of the basketball court.

Heechul watched the teacher leave as he went to touch his head. Heechul managed a smile before rushing down to the court and started training.

~

“Sungyeol!” Myungsoo called out to his friend who was in the café drinking his usual Expresso.

“Oh, hi,” Sungyeol simply turned and forced a smile at his friend.

Woohyun and Myungsoo exchanged worried looks.

“Sungyeol, is something bothering you?” Woohyun asked his friend, his voice tainted with concern.

Sungyeol looked up into Woohyun’s sincere orbs, but averted his eyes and whispered, “Nothing.”

“Recently you are acting so weird! Like you often leave early and also about the money incident today too. We all know that Woohyun didn’t give you anything,” Myungsoo told Sungyeol.

Sungyeol’s eyes remained fixed on the ground.

“Sungyeol, won’t you tell us? We are your friends. Maybe we can help you,” Woohyun said to Sungyeol.

“It’s fine, Woohyun. I’ll be fine,” Sungyeol looked straight up into Woohyun’s eyes and told his friend. “I promise.”

Woohyun was about to open his mouth and say something but Sungyeol beat him to it.

“Oh, and I got to go. I need to help my mother with something,” Sungyeol said and hurriedly left the café.

Woohyun and Myungsoo couldn’t believe what they were seeing. There was definitely something wrong with Sungyeol.

~

Sunggyu went up to Sungyeol’s house and waited patiently outside. Apparently, nobody was at home.

It was already quite late and Sungyeol wasn’t even home. Sunggyu was starting to worry about his student.

He waited and waited, from seating position; he went to squatting and finally, resorted to sitting on the ground. He leaned against the walls and sat on the ground.

Slowly, he felt his eyelids went heavy and Sunggyu drifted into sleep.

~

“cher…Teacher…” Sunggyu felt someone shaking him.

Sunggyu woke up to see Sungyeol, who was staring back at him. Sunggyu immediately got up and the jacket on him dropped to the floor.

“Oh sorry for sleeping in front of your house and dropping your jacket,” Sunggyu instantly picked up the jacket and handed it to Sungyeol, who took it while looking at Sunggyu weirdly.

“Why are you here, teacher?” Sungyeol asked.

“I needed to ask you something, Ahhchoo,” Sunggyu sneezed.

“Well, come on in then. My mother went back to her hometown for a while,” Sungyeol told the teacher and invited the sneezing teacher into the warm house.

Sunggyu stepped in to see stacks of paper covering the dining table messily. Sungyeol immediately went forward to clear them, hiding them out of Sunggyu’s sight.

“So, why were you looking for me?” Sungyeol asked.

“Sungyeol ah, I hope you don’t mind but I went to do a little research about you and the basketball team,” Sunggyu started.

Sungyeol froze in his actions for a while, before saying, “It’s fine.”

“Won’t you tell me your side of the story?” Sunggyu asked.

Sungyeol seemed shocked at Sunggyu’s request. “Haven’t you heard everything?” Sungyeol questioned.

“Yeah, but I wanted to know how you felt about the whole incident,” Sunggyu said.

Sungyeol paused for a while, before finally replying, “That was how I first met Woohyun.”

Sunggyu waited patiently for Sungyeol to continue.

“I think you would have heard how I was rather good at basketball. And we were supposed to win the championship,” Sungyeol said and Sunggyu nodded.

“Well, a few days before the final round, I got ambushed by other school’s students. I think they wanted to take me out of the tournament. They were so aggressive it was like they wanted to break my leg or something,” Sungyeol told Sunggyu.

“Then, Woohyun came to save me, all by himself. I’ve long heard of Nam Woohyun. A notorious delinquent was what all the teachers told me. But when Woohyun saved me, I knew then, he wasn’t like that,” Sungyeol said.

“Surprisingly when I went to school the next day, the teachers called me in and well, they didn’t allow me to enter the final round,” Sungyeol recalled the incident two years ago.

“The police went to find the school as I dropped my student pass and when they found me in bruises, they thought for sure I was the culprit. I tried so hard to tell them that it wasn’t me and I was the victim. Woohyun, even stood out to help me and related the whole incident to them but nobody listened,” Sungyeol became more agitated.

“Even with no proof, the teacher-in-charge didn’t let me join the tournament,” Sungyeol tried to blink back tears of anger.

“And then, after the tournament, the police finally found the culprit and evidence to prove that I was innocent. And you know what the teacher said?” Sungyeol asked Sunggyu.

Sunggyu watched his student with pitiful eyes.

“Now we know,” Sungyeol told Sunggyu. Sunggyu’s eyes widened and Sungyeol smiled sadly.

“He said, now we know. No words of apologies or anything. He expected everything to return to normal. He just brushed all the pain and hurt I endured throughout the period under the carpet. That was when I realized how cold their hearts are and how cruel they are,” Sungyeol said to Sunggyu.

Sunggyu went forward and pat his student on the back.

“I’m sorry, Sungyeol. I’m so sorry you had to go through all of that,” Sunggyu hugged his student.

He too, couldn’t believe that the teachers could be so cruel.

“That’s why I joined Woohyun and he became the only person I could trust. I would never, ever forgive that teacher. That Park Jin Hwee,” Sungyeol swore.

Sunggyu was startled when he learnt that the cruel teacher was actually the Head Teacher now. He knew that Mr Park was mean but he never knew that the latter could be so cruel.

“Let’s show them, Sungyeol! Win the tournament and show them that 3D is not to be messed with,” Sunggyu encouraged his student.

“What?!” Sungyeol seemed a little confused.

“Didn’t you join this tournament to prove the teachers wrong?” Sunggyu asked.

“Ah!” Sungyeol appeared shocked but hurriedly nodded his head after that. “Yes, of course!” Sungyeol smiled uneasily. “Let’s show them eh?” Sungyeol laughed nervously after that too.

Sunggyu felt that his student’s reaction was a little funny but he decided to ignore that.

It was late and Sunggyu didn’t wish to bother Sungyeol anymore. He stood up to leave but was stopped by his student.

“Teacher? I think this jacket belongs to Woohyun,” Sungyeol handed the jacket to Sunggyu as the teacher was about to leave.

“What?!” Sunggyu seemed shocked as he took the jacket over.

“Woohyun is worried about you in his own way, I guess,” Sungyeol smiled at his teacher.

Sunggyu looked at the jacket weirdly.

~

Sunggyu walked a few meters from Sungyeol’s house before he caught sight of a familiar car.

Sunggyu ran up to the car and peeped through the car window. He smiled when he saw Woohyun sleeping soundly in the car.

Sunggyu thought about Sungyeol’s words: ‘Woohyun is worried about you in his own way…’

Sunggyu smiled as he knocked on the car window, scaring his student who was jolted awake.

Woohyun got a shock as he saw his teacher watching him through the car window. He lowered the car window.

“Stalking eh, Nam Woohyun-ssi?” Sunggyu smiled and asked.

“You’re done?” Woohyun smiled back at Sunggyu, who nodded his head.

“I believe this belongs to you,” Sunggyu gave the jacket to Woohyun who blushed a little after receiving it.

“I’ll send you home,” Woohyun offered Sunggyu.

~

“I’m sorry,” Woohyun suddenly spoke as he drove, shocking Sunggyu.

“I’m sorry if what I said hurt you,” Woohyun said again.

Sunggyu smiled. “It’s fine. You and Myungsoo were right. It’s none of my business actually,” Sunggyu told Woohyun.

Woohyun frowned. “Are you really going to do this? I said I’m sorry so just accept it,” Woohyun pouted like a small kid.

Sunggyu laughed and amended, “Ok ok. I accept your apology.”

“Woohyun?” Sunggyu called.

“Hmmm?” Woohyun looked at his teacher.

“I’ll never ever betray you,” Sunggyu said as he looked into Woohyun’s eyes.

Woohyun was momentarily startled by Sunggyu’s sudden seriousness but he smiled when he saw sincerity in the teacher’s eyes.

Sunggyu suddenly remembered about Sungyeol’s words and realized how these students were let down time after time. He swore to never ever let Woohyun or any other student feel that way.

Woohyun stopped the car when they finally reached at Sunggyu’s house. Sunggyu was about to leave the car when Woohyun grabbed onto his hand.

Woohyun pulled the teacher to him and embraced his teacher.

Sunggyu was shocked by Woohyun’s sudden action but he didn’t reject or move away from it.

“If you ever betray me, I swear I’ll die,” Woohyun whispered into Sunggyu’s ears.

Sunggyu was shocked at Woohyun’s serious and sad tone. He slowly moved away from Woohyun when the student released him from his embrace. He watched Woohyun who was giving him a sad smile.

The moment was disrupted by Woohyun’s phone which suddenly received a text message.

Woohyun took a while to look at the phone and the message which read: Young Master, the research is done.

Woohyun smiled and turned to look at Sunggyu.

“It’s late. Time for the hamster to return home,” Woohyun smiled at Sunggyu who blushed at the familiar nickname.

Sunggyu waved to Woohyun who drove off.

Woohyun’s words came back to Sunggyu. Those words sounded so much like a plea.

‘I’ll never betray your trust, Woohyun. I swear…’ Sunggyu thought to himself.

Author's note: i hate coming up with titles. gosh i should have just did like chap 1, chap 2 n blah. >< lol my title makes no sense. so that's a really really long chap. i shall have a shorter chap later. ^^ heheheheh. ohhh n i made woohyun nicer!!! is everyone happy now?? ^^ hahahha, well u nid to giv woohyun some time but trust me he does care bout sunggyu. erm n well, look forward to the next chap n thanks for all the support! honestly, bc of all the comments, im able to put in more cool ideas n the story became so much nicer than i had imagined before! ^^ thanks so much for everything! i'll try to update asap!