The rain poured mercilessly down on the streets. Everywhere was pitch black except for the dimmed light of the street lamps. Sunggyu trudged towards the small apartment and let himself in quietly, careful not to make any noise.

He crept into his room and switched on the lights. He was shocked when he realized he had woken someone up.

“Teacher?” Sungyeol got up and rubbed his eyes lazily.

Sunggyu was startled momentarily.

“I’m so sorry. Sungjong said I could have your bed since he thought you won’t be coming tonight as well,” Sungyeol immediately got out of the bed.

“Ohhh, don’t worry about it,” Sunggyu immediately said. “You can have my bed. I’ll sleep in the living room tonight,” Sunggyu smiled warmly.

Sungyeol studied Sunggyu’s drenched and soaked figure.

Then, he couldn’t help but laughed at his teacher.

Sunggyu frowned when he realized his student was mocking him even though he had kindly offered his bed to the latter.

“Oh, I’m sorry…ha ha I didn’t mean to.. laugh but erm… teacher, were you probably dumped?” Sungyeol tried to stifle his laughter.

Sunggyu frowned even more and turned away from his student to his closet to get some clean dry clothing.

“Well, Sungjong was suspecting that you might have a girlfriend or something since you didn’t came back a few days ago,” Sungyeol explained when he realized that he might had been a little too rude.

“Nah, I don’t have a girlfriend or anything like that,” Sunggyu dismissed Sungyeol’s comment as he took out a pajama.

“Huh? Why? But teacher you…” Sungyeol tried to pursue the matter but was disrupted by a sudden text message.

Sungyeol reached over to his phone and read the message. When he finished, he sighed.

Sunggyu, who was watching him couldn’t help but feel curious and asked, “What’s wrong?”

Sungyeol scratched his head before answering, “It’s just erm, I guess you can’t hide anything from Woohyun.”

“What did he say?” Before he could stop himself, Sunggyu’s curiosity got over him and he asked without hesitation. He was supposed to be still angry with Woohyun.

“Huh?” Sungyeol seemed shocked at Sunggyu’s sudden question but replied anyways. “Well, Woohyun wasn’t the one who sent the message. It was a text from Myungsoo.”

“Ohhh…” Sunggyu’s face fell.
‘But true, why would Woohyun want Sungyeol to know. It would just make Sungyeol guilty,’ Sunggyu thought to himself.

“Is something the matter?” Sungyeol questioned his teacher who was suddenly lost in thoughts.

Sunggyu was jolted out of his thoughts with Sungyeol’s question. “I was just thinking does Woohyun do that a lot?” Sunggyu told his student.

“Do what?” Sungyeol didn’t understand.

“Like fighting with other students and stuff,” Sunggyu replied, trying to sound uncaring and casual.

“Huh? How did you know that Woohyun went to fight…?” Sungyeol was surprised. He was sure he hadn’t mentioned anything about what Woohyun did.

Sunggyu scratched his head. He didn’t know how to answer that. “Well, I guessed. After all, I know that wound of yours isn’t caused by falling,” Sunggyu managed a lousy reason.

Sungyeol glanced at his teacher skeptically.

“Anyway, answer my question,” Sunggyu continued, trying to change the subject.

Sungyeol didn’t bother pursuing and innocently answered, “Well, even in a small town like this, fights are quite common and many times the police was called in to handle. They came to our school too for the punching teacher incident too. Woohyun does it only when other schools are picking on us but he never initiates it. But I guess Woohyun is quite notorious for being a great fighter.”

Sunggyu listened attentively to Sungyeol. ‘Good,’ He thought to himself. ‘I can get a lot of information from him.’

“Hmmm. But isn’t it not really good? Like fights and all,” Sunggyu asked. He was sure it was definitely illegal.

Sungyeol smiled and chuckled a little. “I guess after a while, nobody really cares. I don’t know how it is like for other places, but here, the stronger are always bullying the weaker, like that time when the group tried to extort money from Sungjong,” Sungyeol told his teacher.

Sunggyu frowned at the mention of his brother. He couldn’t believe that such incidents were common. All these acts were immoral. And to think they were being carried out by students.

“I really hate all of them!” Sungyeol punched into the bed and berated.

“All of them, teachers and police and all adults. In the past, the students of Shin Academy were often picked on as we had the best grades in the whole town. Still, the teachers all didn’t bothered helping us. They were only interested in academics and grades. Other than that, we were left to fend for ourselves,” Sungyeol said with such bitterness.

Sunggyu listened and was a little surprised to hear such agitation from his student. He also didn’t expect to hear about the school’s past.

“But then, we had Woohyun. He was the only one who stood up for us and defended us. It was thanks to him, we were able to stand our ground and even fight back. As such, the attacks from other schools decreased and the good students are thus able to continue their studies without a problem. But still, those adults, the teachers all labeled Woohyun as an unrefined and impetuous kid. Hence, 3D was formed to put all the delinquents into one class,” Sungyeol continued.

Sunggyu nodded, now finally knowing why the other classes of Shin Academy were good and 3D was a disaster.

“They don’t understand that Woohyun is the one supporting this whole school. Now, whatever we do, we are called delinquents. People judge us and don’t bother getting to know the truth. Whatever we say are being doubted and suspected. Nobody trusts in us anymore, like the punching teacher incident. We tried so hard to tell them that the teacher was the one who insulted us first. However, nobody believed us. They assumed that we, as a bunch of hooligans, started everything,” Sungyeol couldn’t stop complaining.

“How could they?” Sunggyu suddenly cried to Sungyeol’s surprise.

Sungyeol was too engrossed in complaining and Sunggyu was listening attentively. However, he couldn’t help but comment on that. It was as if he understood their injustice.

“”All people are like that. It’s hard to change somebody’s mindset so don’t expect anything from them.” That’s what Woohyun said,” Sungyeol told Sunggyu.

Sunggyu’s eyes widened. If Woohyun had said such a thing, it just goes to say how much he doesn’t trust anybody and anything.

He couldn’t help but feel sadness mounting up in his heart. Just how much had Woohyun had to go through to lose all hope in people?

Also, he felt anger boiling in him. How could people, especially teachers, do this to students?

“Teacher?” Sungyeol once again called out to his dazed teacher.

An idea suddenly struck Sunggyu.

“Sungyeol, you mentioned about the previous teacher bullying an old cobbler and throwing insults first right?” Sunggyu asked agitatedly.

Sungyeol nodded.

“Well, if we find that guy, wouldn’t he be able to prove that the previous teacher was at fault?” Sunggyu asked once again.

Sungyeol seemed a little shocked at his teacher’s question. ‘What was this teacher up to?’ Sungyeol thought to himself.

“Well, if we can prove that the previous teacher was at fault, then won’t we be able to get Woohyun back to school?” Sunggyu revealed his intention.

“Huh? Wait. I’m telling you all these not because I want to get Woohyun back. I just want you to be more understanding towards Woohyun when he returns to school. And also, the thing is Woohyun’s suspension will end soon in about two weeks even without you doing anything, teacher,” Sungyeol tried to calm his overly excited teacher.

“And besides, Woohyun will probably be mad. I think he is happy now with the suspension,” Sungyeol continued.

“No! How can you say that?!” Sunggyu exclaimed. “Woohyun was not at fault! So what even if he comes back to school? This isn’t about the school’s problem! It’s about what is right and what is wrong!” Sunggyu chided his student.

Sungyeol stared with dilated eyes at his teacher. Sure the guy was shorter than Sungyeol, but still, he suddenly seemed a lot taller.

“Well, the truth is behind Woohyun’s back, Myungsoo and I tried to look for that old man as well. But because he is unemployed officially and often visits other towns, we were unable to locate him,” Sungyeol confessed.

Sunggyu frowned. “Where does he often go? And where was he when you guys saw him?” Sunggyu bombarded Sungyeol with relentless questions.

Sungyeol was surprised by his teacher’s determination. Though he had doubts that Sunggyu could find the old man, Sungyeol still told him, “The time we saw him was beside the central market. He often goes to crowded places either to mend shoes or play his guitar.”

“Ohh, can you describe his features in detail to me?” Sunggyu continued asking.

Sungyeol tirelessly replied Sunggyu and offered him good information.

“He has no family or friends in Yeochun City huh….” Sunggyu took notes attentively. “So when was the last time you guys saw…?” Sunggyu wanted to ask further when he realized that Sungyeol was already deep in sleep.

Sunggyu smiled. ‘Such a nice guy,’ Sunggyu thought to himself as he covered the blanket over Sungyeol. ‘He really cares about his friends a whole lot.’

While watching Sungyeol, Sunggyu was thinking about the students of 3D. Though they all appeared to be very bad, but inside, Sunggyu was sure that they all cared about each other and were extremely united. Such a class was definitely not a bad class.

After listening to Sungyeol, Sunggyu was even more certain that he had probably misunderstood the students. He was sure that the students of 3D were just lost because of the way they were being treated. Not trusted by anybody, even their teachers, of course the students would be bad. Sunggyu wanted to trust and believe in those students, that all of them actually, like Sungyeol, had a good heart. And that, obviously includes Woohyun.

‘I’ll find him. Definitely,’ Sunggyu swore inwardly. ‘And I’ll also get Woohyun back to everyone’s side again.’

For now, he felt as if this was the only thing he could do for his class.

~

The bell rang, signaling the start of classes. All the students were rushing into school before the school gates locked shut.

At the entrance, Sena stood there alone and looked out of the school gates worriedly.

“Stop waiting, he’s not coming,” A voice came from behind over her shoulders. Sena spun around to see Dongwoo who was smiling cheekily.

“What do you mean by that?” Sena immediately asked.

“He texted me, saying he’s not coming to school today,” Dongwoo showed Sena the text message.

“But why?” Sena appeared shocked at the sudden revelation.

“How would I know? He didn’t say anything other than that!” Dongwoo replied. He was also curious as to why the new teacher would suddenly take leave.

“Oh and wait a second. When did you have Sunggyu-ssi’s phone number?” Sena suddenly added with a low tone.

“Huh?” Dongwoo made a sound.

“You! Give it to me! I want it too!” Sena cried as she attempted to steal Dongwoo’s phone from him. The two teachers made a loud fuss and din at the entrance of the school gate.

~

“Morning!” Sungyeol stepped into the classroom of 3D with a light step.

“You! Where were you yesterday?” Myungsoo immediately went up to his friend and asked.

“Oh. Haha. I was just staying over at a friend’s house. Well, I guess I really didn’t have to since you guys found out,” Sungyeol smiled awkwardly. He couldn’t tell Myungsoo about staying over at his teacher’s house could he?

“Wow. Those guys really beat you up badly huh?” Myungsoo rubbed the bruise that was still on Sungyeol’s face.

“Ouch! That hurt! Stop it!” Sungyeol smacked Myungsoo back and the two engaged in a childish battle.

Suddenly, they were startled by Hoya who stood up.

Hoya walked past the duo towards the classroom door.

“Hey! Where do you think you’re going? Class is about to start!” Sungyeol called out to Hoya.

Hoya spun around and smiled at them.

“Gee Gee is not going to come today. I’m off,” Hoya waved at the two before stepping out of the classroom.

Myungsoo and Sungyeol stared at each other. They hadn’t heard anything about that.

Sungyeol was shocked to hear the piece of news. When he woke up the next morning, Sungjong had told him that Sunggyu already left. Sungyeol was certain that Sunggyu would reach early. Who knows the teacher wasn’t even planning on coming to school.

Just what the hell was Sunggyu doing?

~

“One Strawberry cappuccino please,” The guy smiled at the waitress and made her blushed immediately.

The guy gazed out of the cafe onto the streets. It had been so long since he came to the city area. Just today, he had a special craving for strawberries.

“Here, Sandy,” The guy fed his golden retriever beside him with a dog snack.

Everyone in the cafe had their attention on this gorgeous teenager with his adorable dog. He was like a pretty painting or photograph, so perfect and amazing.

Suddenly, Sandy barked and leaned onto the café window. Something had caught the sharp dog’s eye.

Woohyun took a sip of his coffee and looked in the same direction as his pet.

He caught sight of a familiar figure.

Woohyun averted his eyes to get a magazine to read when Sandy barked again, calling the attention of her owner.

Woohyun sighed and patted his dog.

“You little thing, you can’t look any other guy except for me,” Woohyun cuddled his dog. All the girls in the café melted at this single action. Surely they were all jealous of Sandy.

After doing that, Woohyun turned his gaze back out at the figure. Surprisingly, the figure was gone. Woohyun stood up immediately. Without finishing his coffee, he wanted to lead Sandy out when he bumped into somebody.

The person gave him a hug immediately. 

Author's note:
wow. I hadn't expected Sungyeol n Sunggyu's convo to b so long. lol. i still wanted to add more like on how Sungyeol joined Woohyun but i guess there wasn't a necessary for that. hahahaha. if not the whole chap will b on sungyeol n sunggyu. hmmm so anyways, im back! slow update but MY EXAMS ARE OVER!!! so yeah u can expect more regular updates from now on! N im once again extremely thankful to everyone hu commented!! ^^ awww honestly, dear teacher is getting so much love n im really motivated! ^^ mayb i should really just write school fics. thanks so much for comments! n for those hu wanted yadong, i gave many hints in the previous chapters >< n for this one too! see if u can spot it ^^ n well, i hope u guys will like the way this fic is progressing. n honestly i think this is gonna b a super longwinded fic >< i wanna do a new plot too >< nahhh. i'll try to finish this soon by the end of the year? I hope ^^ once again, thanks all for commenting n supporting n do so more often in the future! I'll update tmr as well. A promise to all the subscribers hu had given me so much motivaiton! ^^