Thank you so much bigdogs for upvoting!! ^o^

The time had come for my first day at the academy. During the summer, I would tutor the students from the afternoon until the evenings. I changed into a skater skirt, a light blouse, and a blazer and a pair of flats. I had to look somewhat mature and professional in order to impose some sort of image on the high school students. I tied my long dark hair into a ponytail, and left the dorm with my belongings in a cute purse.

As I walked to the academy, I passed by my favorite bakery, and remembered that I still had to fill out the application for the work place. Things had been a bit hectic since Luhan had left, so I was in a blunder. I took a mental note to go home after today and fill out that application as soon as possible. I was actually really craving some castella as well… Nothing like fluffy sponge cake to soothe the soul.

I eventually made my way over to the academy, but I paused when I arrived. I looked up at the building sign, only to see that the building itself was very old and raggedy looking compared to most of the surrounding businesses. This was unusual as the location of the academy was in a relatively rich part of the neighborhood. The sign read the following:

Su shine A ade y

The “n” in Sunshine had fallen off to who knows where, and the “c” and “m” from academy were on the brink of falling, hanging upside down because some of the screws had become loose. The rest of the letters, however, stood proudly on the side, to the best of their ability, despite that they looked like they had endured numerous natural disasters.

The most ironic part, though, was the fact that Sunshine Academy did not receive any sunshine. The towering building next to it managed to block all of sun’s rays from reaching the academy, even though it was very sunny. Such a fitting name.

I shrugged, took a deep breath, and entered the building.

I gasped a little, because the interiors were totally different; the exterior was deceiving. On the inside, the academy looked amazing: the walls were bright, the lights were illuminating, and the ivory counters created a very scholarly feel to the place. The classical music playing in the background only added to the effect. On the areas near the wall, a row of alternating vases and sculptures of scholars were displayed, eyeing me with judgment. At least the flowers looked pretty. I gaped at the grand paintings on the side, and opened my eyes even wider at the size of the room: the lobby itself could have fit over 10 of our school dorms!

Snapping out of my trance, I made myself over to the office, which was located to the side. There were hallways side to side near the back of the lobby that each led to numerous classrooms. I could vaguely hear some teachers lecturing and the groans of some students, but overall, the academy was very nice and clean.

I knocked on the office door, and waited for a response. The door opened, and I was greeted by a surprisingly young looking man.

“Excuse me, but may I speak to the owner? I’m supposed to start my first day here as a tutor,” I began.

“You’re speaking to him right now,” the young man answered. He smiled, and held out his hand for a handshake.

I paused, and then my eyes bulged out of my sockets. This fine looking man owned this academy!?? He looked like he was only in his late 20s, and his skin was pearly white. His eyes looked very kind, and he sure was easy on the eyes. Overall, a very refreshing guy in my book.

I realized awkwardly that I had been staring at him, and quickly took his hand for the handshake before feeling my cheeks for blushing. Aish way to go Eunbi, looking stupid in front of your boss already….

“Haha, don’t worry,” the owner said as he noticed me trying to fan myself. “I get that all the time; people say I look too young for my age, but the thing is, I actually am pretty young to own my own academy.”

I nodded politely as he led me into his grand office. Everything was neat and filed, and the room was well lit, so everything just felt so clean and comforting.

“Oh, by the way, I go by Suho,” said the man. I glanced over at his name placard which obviously said KIM JOON MYUN, but I tried not to make it obvious. Suho, however, was quick, and noticed that I had found out the inconsistency. “Oh, that’s my legal name, but I like to go by Suho,” he said.

Dang…. He read my mind….. I thought to myself. As he sat down behind his desk, I frantically looked around for a chair.

“The chair is up here,” Suho said, pointing to a small cushion stool.

What the…… How’d he know…

Suho decided that I would be teaching a group of high schoolers who were having some trouble with English. I excelled in English myself during high school, so I felt relieved to know that I would actually know what I’d be tutoring. Suho also decided that I would start right away, as in right at that moment after our meeting.

“What? Right now? But I haven’t prepared any lessons,” I said.

“Don’t worry; today you can continue off of what the students learned from last week,” Suho reassured me. I nodded, but still felt a little uneasy.

After a few more minutes of explanation, I exited his office to go to my classroom where my students would start class any minute now.

“Room 300…301…… ah! Here it is!” I paused a bit outside the door, listening to the loud noises of children shouting, yelling, and chatting.

Song Eunbi… You can do this…. This is nothing… Hwaiting!! Aja aja!!

I terribly at encouraging myself, but at least I tried. My heart started beating quickly and my hands were shaking. I tightened my hands into clammy fists, and took a deep breath.

I slid the doors open, and walked right in, only to experience the beginning of my chaotic day. First of all, all the students fell silent, and just stared at me. I smiled at them as I waved then continued to make my way to my desk on the other side of the room. All the way there, I could feel their judgmental stares burn holes into my body. My outfit looked fine, I wore some makeup so I didn’t look THAT bad, and my hair wasn’t frizzy. I didn’t know why the students were staring at me, but I tried to ignore the fact and got ready for the lesson. I checked the clock.

3:56 PM

Classes started at 4 PM, so I decided to write a few things on the board before it was time to start the lesson. While my back was turned away from the students, I could hear hushed voices and whispers.

Aishhh what are they talking about?? Is there something on my back? Do I have something stuck to my ?? Ahh this is nervewracking! I had never felt so judged before in my life.

For a moment, the room was filled with the sounds of chalk being dragged across the chalkboard, with my footsteps as the accompaniment to the endless scrapes.

After I was done writing, I turned around and was about to make my way back to my desk when it happened.

“Oomph.”

I felt something dry hit my face, and I stopped where I was, touching what had sprayed all over my cheek. I immediately closed my eyes, and felt something powdery covering my entire face. I swore I didn’t wear THIS much face powder this morning after putting on foundation. When I looked at my hand, I paused in horror. My hand was covered in chalk.

I looked down on the floor to see the projectile that had smothered my face in white powder: the chalk eraser lay on its side, surrounded by a ring of chalk powder on the wooden floor.

Instantly, the whole class broke out into laughter. I was furious. No wonder Suho had wanted me to start so soon. These kids needed a big whoopin’ ASAP.

Suddenly, the laughter died down, and the room became deadly silent.

“Who is it,” someone called from the crowd. I turned to face the owner of the voice, which sounded like a male.

“Yah, Sehun-ah, calm down-“ the boy next to him put his hand on his shoulder.

“I said, who is it,” the student said. Oh my, he really was serious.

The class remained silent. Even though there were only 8-12 kids per class, they could make a lot of noise, and they could also be quieter than a group of snails.

“If you don’t raise your hand, I’m going to find out who it was, and you won’t be laughing in class afterwards,” Sehun said, in a deadly serious manner. Dang, even I got a bit scared, even though I was the victim.

Still, nobody dared to raise their hand. These students sure were loyal to whoever had thrown the chalk eraser.

Ding-dong~

The bell rang, signaling that classes had started. Instantly, every student got down from their desks, and sat in their seats, like nothing had ever happened. Secretly, everyone was kinda glad that the bell had rung, which meant that class had started and the person who was responsible for bullying the new tutor didn’t have to speak. Saved by the bell~

I really wanted to go to the bathroom and wash off the remaining dust plastered all over my face and the top part of my shirt, but I couldn’t leave the students now, since class had begun. I could only imagine what could happen if Suho caught me leaving on my first day on the job. I dusted off most of the chalk from my face, but remnants of the powder were left on some parts of my skin and all over my top.

I took a deep breath to calm myself down, and turned towards the class, facing them with the most confidence a girl who had chalk imprinted on her face could. I even managed a smile.

“Hello class. My name is Song Eunbi, and I’ll be your new English tutor starting today.”

The class remained silent, only staring at me. I heard someone in the back, stifling a laugh, when the boy named Sehun kicked his desk, causing the laughing student to immediately sober up and stand still. I couldn’t blame him though: I probably looked like the radish monster or some ghost from a terribly made 1920s horror movie. Still, I swore I could see some sweat drops forming on his forehead, probably from the anxiety.

Dang…. How does this Sehun kid have so much power here??

“Before my little introduction, I’d like to take attendance to make sure everyone is here.” I began calling out names one by one, and each of the students shouted “here!” and raised their hands.

“Oh Sehun?” I called, looking up to see the owner of the hand. He remained silent, only raising his hand like he was some super cool kid..

“Sehun, next time, please say here as well, because if I don’t look up, I won’t be able to tell if you’re here or not,” I explained. Sehun only stared at me, causing me to freeze a bit. I didn’t want to become the next victim of Sehun’s threats.

Song Eunbi!! You’re a freakin’ tutor!! You’re the boss here, not Sehun!

Yet I still froze under his glare. The whole class waited to see what I would do.

I decided to just continue reading through the names.

“Umm… Kim Jongin?” The class remained silent, and nobody raised their hand or said anything. “Is Kim Jongin here?” I repeated. Since nobody responded, I marked him absent on my attendance roll sheet.

Everyone was present, except for Kim Jongin. I set the form aside, and walked in front of my desk to the center of the room in order to say my introduction.

“As I was saying, hello everyone. I’m currently a sophomore at Seoul National University, and I’m looking forward to meeting all of you and helping you improve over the year.” The class remained uninterested, except for a particular student who was sitting near the front of the room. He looked to be a very polite young man. Anyways, I continued my introduction, and was about to start the lesson when I heard the door open from the back. I turned around from the board to see who it was, and gasped.

The only way I could tell he was a student was because of his uniform, which looked messy and dirty even then. His hair was ruffled and his lips were swollen. I could see a trace of blood running down his mouth. His backpack was slung over his shoulder carelessly, giving him a “I don’t care about anything and I still manage to look good” kind of image. Gah, I wish I had that ability. The student made his way over to the empty desk near the back of the classroom. I assumed that he was obviously the one student who had been absent earlier. He sat on his chair and instantly put his head on his desk, and it looked like he had fallen asleep. The weird thing was that the rest of the class reacted indifferently to his appearance, as if he always came to tutoring looking like he came out of a battle in his school uniform.

“Kim Jongin?” I called, waiting for his response.

The student looked up, probably surprised by the new voice of the tutor, and just went back to napping. Who did this kid think he was, barging into class late and ignoring my call? I felt a bit irked, but I decided to let him go this time because I didn’t know his situation.

Finally, the lesson began.

“Ok class, open your English books to page 403 and we’ll continue on with the lesson from your last tutor,” I said. The whole class groaned. I had to deal with it, as this would be nothing compared to what would happen in the future.

After around two hours of trying to teach the students conjugations and verb tenses of the utterly complicated English language, the students had a 10-minute break to freshen up before the next tutoring session. I turned around and went back to my desk to finish up my lesson plans for the rest of the week. This class would need a lot more work than I had thought…

Suddenly, I felt a tender poke on my shoulder. I looked up to see who had caught my attention, and it was none other than a student from my class.

“Hi, Lay, what can I do for you?” I asked with a smile. This was the student who sat near the front and seemed like a good kid; well, good as in compared with the rest of the class… But no, really, Lay did seem like a very nice student.

Lay hesitated a bit, before taking his hands out from behind his back, presenting me with a handkerchief. It was neatly folded in both of his hands as he slightly bowed down to present it to me. I realized then that my face still had remnants of the earlier chalk incident, and I blushed in embarrassment. How could I have forgotten that such a thing had happened?

“H-here you go, seonsaengnim,” Lay said politely.

“Ah, thank you Lay, I really appreciate it,” I replied, smiling. So there WERE some good people in this room! Lay’s behavior instantly changed my dark outlook of my tutoring job into something much better.

Lay bowed again, before scurrying back to his desk. Aw, he was such a polite kid. He looked pretty smart too. I smiled at him again, and he smiled back, shyly, exposing his sweet dimples. AWWW.

I shook my head as I went to work on wiping the rest of the chalk off of my face. It actually didn’t look too bad, but it was painfully noticeable. I was just glad that the eraser hadn’t left a mark on my skin; all I had to do was brush off the white powder with the cloth. Before I knew it, the 10-minute break was up, but I was still finishing wiping my face. Of course, with my amazing luck, Suho managed to enter the room with the students silently waiting for me to resume my lesson. Just when I was about to get up and tell the class to open their books, I saw Suho looking at me, then my compact mirror and my handkerchief, and then back at me. His face showed disappointment. He probably thought that I was primping myself up instead of teaching the kids, but it wasn’t that! He shook his head, closed the door, and left me in despair.

Noooooo!!! That wasn’t supposed to happen!!! I’ve actually been teaching these kids!!

I felt so wronged even though I hadn’t done anything wrong. I sighed deeply, and continued the lesson.

“Hey, ssaem, don’t worry about sajangnim,” a boy said, near the back of the room, who had obviously noticed my depressed look. I turned around from writing on the board to see who it was. Baekhyun, I think?

“What was that?” I inquired.

“Just don’t worry about it, ssaem. Sajangnim does that a lot, but he’s actually a good guy. I would know; he calls me to his office almost every day!” Baekhyun continued, as if he could read my mind. What was up with guys and reading my mind these days?! The rest of the class laughed at his humor, and the mood eased up a bit.

I just nodded and smiled at Baekhyun, who goofily smiled back with such a cute manner that I almost aw’d in front of him. He looked so adorable right then.

The rest of the lesson went as planned; I didn’t get smacked in the face with any other chalk erasers. Success. The unusual part though was that I could silently feel the glare of Oh Sehun as I taught. You know that feeling when you’re being watched? I felt that feeling every time I turned around to write some sentences on the board. I tried to ignore it, but every time I looked over the students and landed on Sehun, he was still staring at me. Why wasn’t he working on the problems?

Finally, the lesson ended in the evening, and one by one, the students left.

“Good job guys. Tomorrow, we’ll work more on conditional and imperfect tenses,” I said as the bell rang and the students were busy rustling papers and books and tidying up their desks.

Some even apologized for what had happened earlier, but I just brushed it off, saying it was ok. I would just have to wash everything when I got home. Lay bowed 90 degrees to me and scurried hurriedly with Baekhyun, who just goofily bowed and left. I smiled at their friendship: the funny, outgoing guy with the smart, polite, yet shy guy. I used to have a friendship like that in high school myself…

Once Lay and Baekhyun left, I realized that there were still a couple of students left in class. The remaining female student hurriedly packed her bags and left, but the two remaining students did not leave like the rest of the class. I really wanted to just go home and relax, but I had to send off my students first.

“Oh Sehun, you can leave now. Don’t you want to go home?” I asked, looking at the boy. He was just waiting in his desk, as if something were supposed to happen.

There was no response. He totally ignored me.

T_T My confidence went down a bit, to tell you the truth.

I began to walk towards him in the back of the class. It was dark outside, and thankfully, there were windows to the side of the room. As if on cue, my whole body felt very exhausted, and the stress and anxiety from my first day on the job finally kicked in. Still, I had to keep a fresh face for my students until they left.

“Hey, Oh Sehun, class en-“ Before I could finish my sentence, Sehun grabbed my arm, as I was right next to him, trying to get his attention. I hated it when people ignored me so obviously.

I was shocked by this sudden movement, and stood there, waiting, partly out of fear, partly out of curiosity. What was this kid up to next?

Sehun looked up at me, his hand still gripping my arm, and slowly raised his other arm. He then put his finger to his lips, signaling a hush-sign, and then pointed over at the sleeping body next to him.

He was telling me to be quiet and not disturb the sleep of the student next to him. Pretty much, he was telling me to shut up. He then tightened his grip when I didn’t respond, glaring up at me, and I immediately felt a bit scared. I nodded quickly, and smiled, acknowledging that I understood his sign language. He then released me from his grip, and I took a deep breath.

Things were gonna be rough around here..

I decided that I could wait a little longer, and made it back to my desk, and sat down. I guessed that I could use some more time to plan out the lesson for the rest of the week.

Thankfully, after only a couple of silent minutes and extreme awkwardness, I heard chairs rustling and desks moving. I looked up with glee, only to be disappointed. Sehun had stood up and began to leave the classroom, but the remaining boy did not even budge. Before Sehun left though, he turned and saw my happy then depressed face, and smirked, making me feel even lower than I already did. I guessed that it was safe to say that Sehun had some sort of relationship with the other student, but I didn’t know if it was necessarily a friendly one. Nevertheless, after Sehun left the room and slid the doors closed again, I sighed and groaned as I hit my head on the desk. I didn’t care if I would get marks on my forehead because of my blazer buttons. I just wanted to go home and eat all the bread I could. Mmmm I decided to buy that castella if there were any left by the time SOMEBODY in the room finally decided to leave.

After a grueling half an hour later, I decided that I couldn’t take it anymore. It was just so quiet, and the weather was getting very hot and humid, and I began to feel icky in my clothes. The kid in the back seemed like he was totally knocked out, not even budging one bit. I was afraid that the academy would close soon, and I surely didn’t want to stay here overnight.

I stood up and made my way to the back of the room. Thank goodness I had worn flats, or my heels would be clumsily clacking on the floor with extra unneeded noises. I made my way to the student, who was face-down on his desk with his arms around his head.

First, I tried to poke the student. I didn’t want to be too invasive. There was no response. I then tried tapping the student’s shoulder for a while. Still, no response. Geez, this kid really was knocked out cold! Finally I used my entire hand to shake his shoulder a bit, signaling that he should wake up.

“Kim Jongin, I’m sorry to say but class is over,” I said. Yet the boy did not move.

Argh. Normally, I’m a very patient person, because I hated conflict, but this was an exception. At this rate, how long was I supposed to stay in the academy!?!? If I left him here, I might get a complaint call from his parents on how careless I am, and Suho would be even more disappointed in me, and my job would be in danger. Aishhh I just want to go home……. I frowned subconsciously at the student, looking down at him, sleeping his off.

I sighed in frustration, and took the seat next to him, where Sehun had sat earlier that day. I sat sideways on the chair, facing Jongin. I leaned my head on my hand with my elbow on the desk, looking out the window. You couldn’t really see much, because the building was in the city, and all I stared at was the window of the building across from us. The warm yellow light triggered some of my own fond memories…… My mind slowly drifted to a particular dinner a few months ago…….

“Luhan…” I unconsciously whispered… I had tried so hard to forget about him, but when presented with times such as this, all I could do was wait and think. I was sad but hurt; Luhan had left, but not without an image of him kissing a different girl. I really tried to just forget the memory, but I would never be able to forgive. I mean, what kind of explanation could there be for such an intimate kiss and the lies afterwards?

“It’s ok, Song Eunbi. You’re better than that,” I said to myself aloud, not realizing that the boy in front of me had turned his head towards my directions.

Worst of all, his eyes were open.

o_o

I turned to look at Jongin again, to check if he was awake, only to freeze. Our eyes met, and I felt paralyzed under his stare.

Ohhhhh myyy he’s awake…. Did he hear me talking to myself? Aishhh SONG EUNBI!!! GET A HOLD OF YOURSELF AND DON’T BE SO CARELESS!!! I thought as I semi-whined and punished myself.

Suddenly, I heard chuckling. I looked at Jongin again, who had now gotten up from the desk and was sitting up, still looking at me. His smirk was plastered on that face of his, and I desperately wanted to erase it. Something about his face just made me feel nervous.

To tell you the truth, I don’t always get scared by people like this. Actually, I’m actually pretty fearless. I’ve handled rough situations where my 2^nd degree black belt in Tae Kwon Do became very helpful. I don’t need no man to take me home after late hours at school, or hanging out with friends. I’m actually very independent, and I don’t hesitate to fight and take a stance for the people I love. Something was wrong with me at Sunshine Academy, however, because two particular kids, high school kids at that, game me the heeby-jeebies.

“Glad to see you’re awake, Kim Jongin.”

Jongin just smirked again, argh, and stood up, slugging his backpack over his shoulder. He then left the room, closing the door behind him, leaving me motionless.

I really needed to work on that not-being-ignored thing. I was the tutor here, not them!

I sighed dramatically, hugging the desk, and then immediately stood up. I grabbed my things which were already packed, and I took off to my wonderful, cozy home!

As I neared the entrance, though, I paused, and backed my way back to Suho’s office. I knocked on his door, which still had the lights on inside.

“Come in,” Suho said.

I entered, trying to manage a smile at Suho, and closed the door behind me.

“Yes, Song-seonsaeng?” Suho asked.

“I just had a quick question about one of the students in my class,” I began. Suho then mentioned to sit down, which I did, but I continued my question. “One of the students in my class, Kim Jongin, came to class not only late, but also with a bloody lip and fresh scars. I think this means something,” I began, looking at Suho. I expected a surprised or concerned response, but I got none.

“Ohh you must have met Jongin already. He’s notorious for getting into fights, but don’t worry about him, Song-seonsaeng. He knows his limits,” Suho explained. Suho then leaned in towards me, and I instinctively leaned as well, putting my ear near his mouth.

Suho whispered, “Just be careful, Song-seonsaeng. I’ve been hearing some things about these kids, and even though I know that they’re good kids, sometimes they can get a bit reckless.”

My eyes opened wide, and I slowly nodded, comprehending the information. Great. He tells me this now?!? I would have to be a lot more careful around my students from now on. I still wanted to graduate, and live the rest of my life, no matter how happy or sad it would be.

“Anyways, good work today, Song-seonsaeng! I saw you earlier, working VERY diligently,” Suho said as he winked at me. I paused for a while, before realizing what he had said, and blushed like crazy, looking down. Sigh. Suho then just chuckled, leaning back on his chair. “It’s been a long day. Why don’t you go back home and relax for tomorrow,” Suho said, reading my mind yet again. I stood up, bowed, said my greeting and left his office. I was just so so tired. Exhaustion overcame me with every step I took across the lobby to the exit of the building.

Song Eunbi…. You really screwed up this time… I thought as I dragged my feet and made my way back to my dorm.

Reference:

Seonsaengnim- teacher

Ssaem- abbreviation/more casual way of saying teacher

Sajangnim- president/owner

Hwaiting- also “fighting”; a cheer used for encouragement

Wahh thank you guys so much for reading!! This is one of my longer chapters.. I hope this story continues to spark your interest 8D