Chapter 19.

After coming across a small stack of stapled papers on his staffroom desk bright and early Wednesday morning, Kyungsoo had admitted to himself (almost sheepishly) that Kim Jongin was surprisingly good at getting things done. He hadn’t actually seen Jongin that week due to the scheduling of lessons, but Kyungsoo knew that the teen was at school – he was one of the few teachers that actually read the absentee notices, after all.

Kyungsoo had also admitted to himself that Jongin was incredibly gifted when it came to words. The essay the teen had left him to mark wasn’t too long or too short – it was smooth and concise, unlike many of the verbose and often obscure essays Kyungsoo had come to find himself growing used to marking. It wasn’t often that students were simply gifted when it came to writing, so Kyungsoo always found himself very much absorbed when he came across a piece that just worked. After reading Jongin’s essay, Kyungsoo found himself feeling almost envious – he may have been an English major and teacher, but that didn’t mean he didn’t find himself agonizing over badly structured paragraphs and words that didn’t quite fit. Jongin’s essay was, to put it simply, lovely to read.

When he had mentioned it to his colleagues during lunch they had all had some sort of similar tale to tell – it seemed to be a normal occurrence as a teacher to come across students who were far more gifted than they themselves would ever be – for some, the ability to take up a subject and just have it click for them seemed to be as natural as breathing. It was the chip on Kyungsoo’s shoulder, to say the least. For as long as he could remember he had always felt sore when, despite trying as hard as he could, he’d come second in class because there was that one kid who was just better.

Kim Jongin just so happened to be that one kid, Kyungsoo supposed.

Autumn was fast approaching. Despite it having been sweltering hot a few weeks back, there was a definite drop in temperature that signalled the end of the warm season. Not that Kyungsoo minded – he had always disliked summer, after all. It would be pleasant to be able to go out without having to smear himself in sunblock and constantly wear ridiculous shorts that revealed his paler-than-average-legs to the world. And there was also the fact that he was always getting headaches due to the heat. Kyungsoo’s summer orientated thoughts caused him to grumble for several seconds as he continued to wander across the oval while on lunch duty, the cheerful voices of the students on the oval oddly pleasant to listen to. The walkie talkie that he had attached to his hip buzzed and Kyungsoo quickly reached down to respond.

“How’s it going on your side?” Yifan’s deep voice asked from the other end. “I’ve had a bleeding nose here on the front oval. Year seven kid tripped over, and boy oh boy did he complain about it.”

Kyungsoo couldn’t help but smile despite wincing at the mental image of a blood covered thirteen year old. They were still young and always had the tendency to kick up a fuss. “It’s all fine over here.”

Yifan’s response was quick – Kyungsoo could tell his colleague was bored. “We still have so long, Kyungsoo. So lo~ng before lunch ends. I’ve always disliked lunch duty with a passion.”

Kyungsoo couldn’t help but grin at the tone Yifan’s voice had taken up. “Of course, it’s only been what, ten minutes?”

“Want to play eye spy?”

At this, Kyungsoo laughed. “It wouldn’t even be possible! We’re on two different sides of the scho— gah!” Kyungsoo leapt back a step, his body’s automatic response to avoid the object that had just whizzed past his face. It smacked onto the wall he was walking in front of before rebounding and rolling a short distance away.

A soccer ball. Kyungsoo heaved in two quick breaths as he tried to regain his composure, hand clutched over his heart from shock.

“Oh. Mr. Do.”

Kyungsoo whirled in the direction of the voice, a glare set on his face and an arsenal of complaints to start spewing on the tip of his tongue. However, his look of discontent quickly slid away when he realised who the culprit was.

Jongin strode towards him carelessly, his long, black jean clad legs propelling him swiftly up the drop off. His platinum hair glinted in the sun, his olive skin almost seeming to glow. Kyungsoo found himself blinking stupidly. “Your ball?” the English teacher finally managed to get out.

Jongin snorted. “No. It belongs to one of the guys on the field” Jongin motioned with a thumb behind him. “They were bothering me by continuously kicking it in my direction. I was just coming up here to move away from them.” It was at that point that Kyungsoo noticed that the teen was holding a book in his hand, the top of a book mark visible even from where he stood. Jongin read? Kyungsoo found himself fighting off the urge to shake his head at the stupid thought he had just had. Of course the teen read! He was by no means a fool. It took him several seconds longer for another fact to register in Kyungsoo’s mind: The ball had just so happened to come flying in the teen’s direction as he walked away, back turned.

“W-was