Taemin ran his comb through his hair once more, staring at his reflection in the mirror. The smile on his face was irremovable, though he struggled to keep it from turning into a grin. The house was clean, everything was in place and his heart was fluttering. All because she was on her way.

If she was interested in him the same way he was in her, she didn’t show it, not that he expected her to. He didn’t even show his own feelings; she was his tutor, it would be inappropriate to say the least. For now, it would remain his one-sided crush but maybe one day... one day...

There was a knock at the door and Taemin jumped in surprise, hurriedly checking to make sure nothing was out of place before going to answer the door.

“Sorry I had to skip our session yesterday.” The woman in front of him sniffled, fidgeting on his doorstep.

He frowned, studying her face, noting the sad look in her eyes and how her mascara was slightly smudged. “No, it’s okay. Are you alright?”

A forced smile spread across her face as he let her inside. “Perfect.”

“Right.”He nodded slowly, eyeing her as she sat down at the small table in his living room, her copper-colored legs folded to the side of her. “Are you sure you’re ok?”

Eun Ae wiped slightly at her smeared make-up. “Yeah, I’m fine. Now let’s get to it.”

Taemin silently sat across from her, setting his books on the table. His eyes never left her face as he cracked open his English book. “You’ve been crying.”

“What?” She blinked.

“You’ve been crying.” Taemin repeated himself. “Why?”

His tutor busied herself with searching through her shoulder bag. “Just some problems with Yoochun. Nothing serious.” She mumbled.

“Did you...” He hesitated, searching for the right words, “Are you two still together?”

“Yeah. For now.”

Taemin heard the doubt in her voice, he knew she wasn’t sure that they would last long... and he was happy. “Oh.”

“Well…” Eun Ae nibbled at her lower lip, “let’s get started, yeah?”

It was hard to focus, knowing that she was the closest to being single than she’d been since he’d met her. She was still out of his reach, whether she was single or not, so he struggled to keep his mind on track.

Still, he relished her attention, soaked up every bit of it happily. His heartbeat sped up when she leaned in a bit closer to point to something on the page and almost stopped whenever her hand happened to brush his. He flirted a little, but not enough for her to think it was anything but harmless.

The time passed by quickly, soon she left and he felt a little hole in his heart begin opening up again. He just wasn’t whole when she was gone but he didn’t feel sane when she was there. He knew he’d do anything for her, anything…

His phone rang next to him, Onew’s name scrolling across the screen. “Hello?”

“Are you still coming? Ranee is getting just a little impatient.” Onew told him, clicking his tongue. Taemin’s eyes darted to a spot in the corner of the room. “Yeah, I just had a little… work to do first.”

-

She lay face down in her bed, arms folded underneath her head. She was depressed, more so than she’d ever let herself be over a man but Yoochun wasn’t just anyone.

Eu Ae’d promised herself she’d never get so emotionally perturbed that she wouldn’t function right but as it was now, she could hardly focus. She wasn’t even sure what she’d taught Taemin today, she was only going through the motions, not thinking right, though the cute kid did help her mood a little bit, if only for a while.

“EunAe~” The lights flicked on overhead and a hand shook the girl’s slender shoulder. “Don’t you dare sit here moping all day over a man.”

EunAe gave a light grunt before shifting and flipping over. Jooni stood beside her bed, hands on her hips and an expectant look on her face.

“I haven’t been moping all day.” EunAe told her. “I went to work and class and everything, I just got home.”

Jooni yanked the covers down, frowning. “Yeah well, you don’t need to be at home. You need to be out with me and HyoRa and Soelhee having fun.”

“Nooo, if I go out I might see Yoochun and I really do not want to see him.” The younger of the two whined, reaching out to pull her blanket up again.

Jooni growled slightly, reaching out to grip EunAe’s forearm and haul her to her feet. “Who cares? You’re coming and that’s final.”

-

“So fierce and meaaan~” EunAe crooned, straightening her clothes as she sat down in the booth. Soelhee sat to her right, glancing at a menu, Jooni across from her, smirking and HyoRa playing with her nails beside her.

“You needed to get out.” Soelhee said, honestly. “It’s not even like you and Yoochun are over, it’s just an argument and it’s giving me a headache.”

“I know, it’s just so much going on. With tutoring Taemin and going to classes plus work, I hardly have time to figure out my own feelings. I don’t know what to do.” The girl sighed.

“So many problems.” Jooni said with a click of her tongue, “I personally think you don’t want to figure it out, you just-“

“EunAe, behind you.” HyoRa pointed out, causing EunAe to look over her shoulder.

Yoochun walked through the door, Yunho beside him, heading straight for the table.

“What’s he doing here?” She hissed angrily.

“Surprise.” Jooni grinned, sliding out of the booth to meet Yunho half way. “Now or never.”

“Time to figure it out.” HyoRa told her with a small smile.

A large hand closed around EunAe’s shoulder and she looked up to lock eyes with Yoochun. “We should talk.”

“Good luck.” Soelhee mock whispered with a grin.