Chapter 28.
 

Kyungsoo had kept himself busy. He had done his utmost not to dwell on Kim Jongin. Instead, he did his best to finish writing up the exams, set areas of revision for his students and write up and hand out random practice essay questions.

But it was surprisingly difficult.

Without him having realised, Kim Jongin had become someone whose absence he noticed. The teen had become a part of Kyungsoo’s daily life – it left the dark haired teacher feeling oddly unsettled when the platinum haired youth didn’t appear like he did usually in his classroom doorway with his snarky comments and glinting dark eyes.

Still, Kyungsoo did his best to ignore the uncomfortable absence of the teen. Jongin was a complicated person and no good would come from seeking him out when he was conflicted about something. It was obvious to Kyungsoo that the teen was confused, struggling to accept the fact he was encountering things that threatened his usual mould – by pushing something onto him, it was likely the teen would fight back simply because it was the only way he knew how to react when it came to situations beyond his control.

The best results in the initial stages would come from the teens own decisions, Kyungsoo believed. It was up to Jongin to decide what he planned to do – accept or decline, seek out or hide, work on or avoid – when Jongin himself figured out what he was feeling meant, he would be the one to make the decision to either heal and improve or ignore and remain as he had. Jongin was a stubborn and prideful person – the epitome of an individual who could not be forced to change. It was for this reason that Kyungsoo more or less believed that pushing the teen would be fruitless. Like attempting to make a stubborn mule move, Jongin would be steadfast on rebuffing any attempts made by those around him. As such, Kyungsoo believed it would be far more effective to allow the teen to sort himself out and make the first move on his own – people tended to change themselves best not when they were being forced from the sidelines, but when they decided in their own heart that there were aspects of their personalities that they wanted to improve, after all.

So Kyungsoo had allowed the teen his space – Jongin’s pride had obviously taken a hit from their last conversation – the dark haired English teacher could already imagine the self-deprecating disgust the teen would have later inflicted upon himself after going over their encounter. Jongin did not like to appear sensitive – showing his true emotions in the heat of the moment, especially feelings that he had deemed unnecessary and weak , would of course result in a great deal of self-hate.

In Kyungsoo’s eyes, there was nothing sadder and more undeserved than the hatred Kim Jongin felt for himself.

Kyungsoo leant back in his chair in the English staffroom, not bothering to stifle his yawn as he stretched out his arms above him while simultaneously rolling his neck.

“I’m going to ignore the fact that I just heard you break the bones in your spine doing that.” Chanyeol said from across the room, frown on his face.

“Sorry” The dark haired English teacher laughed. “Actually I’m not sorry, it felt good.”

Chanyeol’s lip curled back. “Gross.”

Kyungsoo merely grinned in response, swinging his chair back around to his desk in one swift movement. “Have you finished grading those short stories?”

The deep, disgruntled sigh Chanyeol let out from behind him was enough to confirm Kyungsoo’s suspicions: he hadn’t.

“It’s gotten late, look at the sky! It’s already past four thirty.” Chanyeol complained petulantly. “Can’t we leave already? I’m getting hungry.”

Kyungsoo let out a huff. “Classes only finished an hour ago. Didn’t you swear that you were going to mark at least half of them? How many have you done now… seven? Eight?”

“Nine, actually.” Chanyeol grumbled.

“You have twenty two students in your class, so two more to mark before me leave!” Kyungsoo spun around, his smile purposely over-cheerful.

“You are so annoying sometimes.” Chanyeol frowned before swinging his own chair around so that he was facing his desk. Kyungsoo smiled to himself again before looking down at the teacher exam timetable he had been handed earlier that day by Joonmyeon. With a yellow highlighter in hand, he set to marking the days he had been scheduled in to be on duty in the exam hall before grabbing a pen and his work planner to jot down the dates. Once he was done with his own, he began the same process, minus the work planner, for Chanyeol. The minutes passed in easy silence and it was with a small jump of surprise (a good fifteen minutes or so later) that Kyungsoo looked up at Chanyeol, who had just snapped his laptop shut rather forcefully.

“What’s the matter?”

“I give up. I’m starving.”

Kyungsoo sighed. “You know we can’t leave until five thirty. The library is being left open until then for senior students to study for exams. What if one of them comes up here with a question?”

“Minseok is supervising them!” Chanyeol whined. “Look, how about I quickly leave and order us some Chinese takeout. By th