You're not sure if it is shocking that Mr. Byun is paying you more attention during the lesson after the little conversation in the basketball court. People tend to hurt others without realising it and then eventually regretting it. Is that what's happening to Mr. Byun now?

Your teacher never used to give you any eye contact, but now it seems like he cannot take his eyes off you. It isn't like you're going to burst out crying in his class all of a sudden, yet he still looks wary. By the time your lesson is over, Sehun is already waiting for you outside. He doesn't want to leave you with Mr. Byun for more than necessary. You rush out of class the moment Mr. Byun dismisses the class.

"Wait, hey!"

Sehun turns around with his arm around you. "Yes?"

"I'm, uh, looking for... your girlfriend," Mr. Byun sounds awkward even saying that sentence.

"Tell Mr. Byun that I might or might not want to talk to him," you tell Sehun, loud enough for Mr. Byun to hear.

"Heard my girlfriend?" Sehun sounds so serious and protective that you want to burst out laughing. You're glad Mr. Byun can't see your face. "Have a good day, Mr. Byun."

The teacher speaks up quickly again when Sehun turns around and start taking a step. "I... Please tell her I'm sorry. About what I said the other day. But I still meant it."

"What—" Sehun growls, turning his entire body to face him.

You swallow your pride and the desire to punch your Designing teacher in the face. You grab Sehun's arm, "Sehun, let's go."

"No," your best friend snaps. "He hurt you the other time and I wasn't there. I cannot keep quiet about this."

By now everyone has gone home, leaving just the three of you. You don't even dare to look at Mr. Byun in the eyes. You don't even want to be here with him any more than needed. So you squeeze Sehun's arm tightly, hoping that he would do what you want.

"Sehun," you murmur. "Please, don't."

Sehun looks at you worriedly, "Are you sure?" He realises how you're not giving Mr. Byun any recognition and how you're so quiet. So he nods curtly at you before glaring at Mr. Byun. His voice is low and dangerous when he snarls, "You're the lowest bastard I've ever met in my life to hurt her like that."

Today is one of those days where you stay back in school a lot later than Sehun. He has already gone home, but you're still in campus, trying to complete your assignment for designing. You have to draw some kind of layout design for a studio apartment. Mr. Byun even wants the design to be unique. You don't have much imagination skills and you obviously do not live in a studio apartment so there's no way for you to copy the layout of your own home or the blueprints on Google.

You're doing some research on studio apartments when someone walks towards your direction, probably going home. You're normally not distracted by passers-by but this stranger makes an abrupt stop right next to you as if making an impulse decision to halt. You look up to glance at the man and you see your design teacher standing there, looking straight ahead with his bag slung over a shoulder.

He turns his head to you and you feel your heart stop for second. You slowly reach up and take off your earphones. Mr. Byun clears his throat.

"What are you doing here so late?"

He speaks as if he is treading a mine field. He glances down at your opened designing journal. But he doesn't say anything though you're sure he knows exactly what you're doing. He's just waiting for your answer.

"I have an assignment to finish," you murmur awkwardly.

"It's not due until two weeks later though..." He walks around you and sits next to you on the bench. "Why are you hurrying it?"

"Well," you're heating up because of how nervous you are. You tuck your hair behind your ear and mumble, "I know I'll have a lot to edit later, so I'm starting early."

Your teacher hums as he makes himself comfortable. He places his elbow on the table and rests his head on his hand as he flips through your booklet. You almost feel embarrassed at the unmarked pages. You've seen your classmates' books and you've seen the feedback they've gotten. You can only dream about getting them since your works are so bad that Mr. Byun doesn't even bother commenting on them except marking them as seen.

"Your boyfriend didn't accompany you?" The male looks at his watch and murmurs, "It's kinda late."

Your lips twitch as a smile tries to make its way to your countenance. You don't intend to correct your teacher as you reply, "Can't concentrate with him around me."

There's only the buzzing of the nearest street lamp and the soft rustling of the trees in the night breeze that fill the short silence. You watch Mr. Byun inspect what you have for your assignment. His eyebrows crumple and you realise that under all the blunt words and douche-like actions, your teacher is actually an attractive man. Despite how frustrated he looks right now.

"Are you googling what a studio apartment is?" Mr. Byun asks as he looks up at you.

You blink, having gotten caught in the middle of thinking about how potentially good-looking he can be if you look beyond his personality. The teacher stares at you for a while until he realises that you're not going to say anything soon, so he looks at what you have on your laptop. He smiles because he is right.

"A studio apartment has everything a house has but in one room," Mr. Byun explains simply. "Just imagine your room, but with a kitchen, a bathroom and a living room."

"Is my bedroom gonna be bigger?"

Mr. Byun stares at you, looking as though he doesn't understand you. Then his lips curls into another smile. He shakes his head, "No, your room stays the same size. A studio apartment is a small home."

"That's a very small home," you mutter to yourself.

Mr. Byun chuckles and takes the pencil that you left out. He starts sketching on top of your layout design. The overall looks messy, but you can see his design clearly. You see why he gets to be a teacher for this subject. His art skills are good. 

"This is how a common studio apartment should look like," he mumbles as he draws in the bed. "It's easy to design one." You wrinkle your nose out of habit and your teacher catches that. He laughs, "I'll stay here with you until you go home. Then I'll drive you back too."

"Why?"

"What do you mean why?" Mr. Byun asks, tilting his head. "It's late and I don't want anything to happen to you. And I can help you with the drawing. I bet you have a lot on your plate as a double major student. You'll have more time to study without worrying about this assignment."

"Didn't you think I was stupid?" you mumble, almost scoffing.

"I'm only doing one major and it's already tough. I don't think you're stupid," Mr. Byun tells you honestly. His voice is quiet and holds a lot of what you think is admiration. "What I said before..." He sighs, ruffling his hair restlessly. "I meant every word... But I only said them to you to motivate you to do better."

"It worked, then. Also worked in making me feel like . Thanks."

"I'm sorry. I know I might have come off as a jerk, but as your teacher, I just want you to do your best. Not just aim for a pass, you know? Where will you go with just a pass? You should work hard for Architect just like how you are for your science studies."

"Medicine," you in to tell him your aspiration.

"Yeah," he nods. "I know you don't like Architecture and you may not be the most talented person in the creativity department. But I want you to do whatever you can so your parents don't waste their money and you don't waste your time and effort."

It is silent again. Mr. Byun gives you some time to think through all that he just said while you're stunned at his speech. You've always thought him to be a heartless creature with a rude mouth, but now you're seeing him in a different light.

Who knew that he was only thinking about you and your future? Not to mention, about your parents too. His words were harsh, yes. But now that you think about it, the reason why you're working so hard to finish and perfect this assignment is probably because you want to show Mr. Byun what you're capable of. It's because of his cruelty that you're trying so hard. 

You decide that he is a pretty good teacher despite being only a Masters student teaching First Years.

"Do you have a favourite pencil?" Mr. Byun breaks you out of your heavy thoughts as he spins your pencil between his fingers. You shake your head. He hums, "Every architect student has a favourite pencil... But then again you're not really an architect student, huh."

You can't argue with him because he's right. Though technically you are a student doing architecture as a major, you're also at the same time taking science as a major. And you'd refer to yourself as a science student rather than an architect student. 

Mr. Byun slides your journal and pencil back to you, "Here. Redo everything." 

"But you were the one who made it messier," you whine softly as you look through your pencilcase for an eraser. 

Your teacher chuckles. He takes the rubber from your hand once you find it and starts clearing the messy work. You hadn't meant for him to do it for you, since he is your teacher anyway. You only complained because you were lazy. So it definitely shocks you that Mr. Byun is doing this for you, especially since he hasn't shown much niceness to you before. 

Once the page is white again, he gives you your book again. You watch him take out his laptop to start it up. He probably knows you're staring, but he doesn't give you any eye contact. You pick up your pencil and draw the perimeter of the apartment. Then you stare at your drawing, wondering how to continue from here. It's harder doing it yourself now than just observing Mr. Byun do it before. 

"Sketch your own bedroom and go from there," Mr. Byun murmurs.

You look up at him and see that he has his own assignment opened on his computer screen. Turning back to your own work, you heed his advice and draw the layout of your bedroom from memory. When everything appears to be in place, you look at Mr. Byun from the side of your eye. He's concentrating on his work that looks a thousand times harder than what you're doing right now. He turns his head to take a look at your progress, only to notice that you're done. From how he pauses his assignment and leaves his hands off his keyboard, you know that he's been keeping an eye out for you and waiting for you to finish. 

"Stuck?" Mr. Byun asks even though he is already witnessing how distressed you are. He scoots closer to you as he scrutinises the layout of your room. "You already have your own bathroom, so that's one thing lesser you have to worry about." He picks up your pencil and points to your wardrobe, "That's a very big wardrobe you have."

"I'm a girl."

"I doubt it's that big," he remarks. "Make it smaller. And that extra bedside table," he points to the one on the right. "Remove it. You need space for a kitchen." 

"That's easy," you nod.

He returns your pencil and book. Mr. Byun doesn't move away from you, instead just pulling his laptop towards him. You start drawing again, but now that Mr. Byun is a lot closer to you, he keeps picking on your mistakes. He's even taken up the liberty to erase these faults himself. It takes you almost an hour to finish the drawing, what with all the changing of design and Mr. Byun's nitpicky personality. By now, it's darker and slightly colder. You hadn't known that you'd be staying out so late, or you wouldn't have sat outdoor to do your assignment. 

"Done?" Mr. Byun shuts his notebook and you nod. "Shall we go then?" 

"Okay." You still sound embarrassed and awkward around this teacher. 

The both of you pack in silence. You stand from the bench, getting out before Mr. Byun. After you have abandoned the bench-table, Mr. Byun points to a direction. You know he is gesturing to the way to his car so he can drive you home. 

You shake your head, "I can take the bus. I live quite close anyway."

Your teacher disagrees. He starts walking, "Let's go, problem child."

You scowl, following him. "I'm the only child," you correct.

"That's why you're the problem child," he retorts. You roll your eyes. Mr. Byun stretches his arm towards you, the one holding onto a scarf. "Wear this. It's chilly." As if knowing what you're going to say, he says, "My car's kinda far. Better wear it." 

You sigh and take the cloth from him. "Thank you." 

He nods in response, watching you wrap his scarf around your neck. You expected some kind of stale smell from the scarf, since this man has no soul and probably doesn't do laundry just like all other guys. But it smells like what you assume is his softener and a tinge of soft cologne. Guys normally wear cologne that makes them smell manly, but they have no idea how painful it is to the nose. But this guy, Mr. Byun, uses a fragrance that is manly, but still somewhat soft. It makes you feel warm. If there is anyway to explain the scent, simply putting it, it is like someone is hugging you from behind. 

"Did you tell your parents that you're going home late?" You nod to Mr. Byun's question. Then he questions again, "What about your boyfriend? I think you should tell him that I'll be sending you home. Just in case he thinks awry."

You shake your head, pulling the scarf up to your nose. Your breath warms your cheeks when you tell him, "I don't think I should. He already hates you as it is." 

Mr. Byun doesn't reply but nods as understanding. There is no one else roaming about on campus. There are students still studying indoors, otherwise going home just like you are. You and your teacher don't speak much, since you have nothing to say to one another anyway. It really is a long walk to the car park and you're grateful that Mr. Byun had kindly offered you his scarf. You're not very fond of the cold weather. 

You reach his white sedan car and he opens the door for you before moving to the driver's seat. He gets into the car before you do. There's no way out of this, so you step into the vehicle. Mr. Byun starts the car and you hear classical music playing through the speakers. Seems like there is a lot you need to know about this man.

"Where do you stay?" 

You tell him how to get to your place and he starts driving. You still keep the scarf on you, savouring the warmth it provides. When the car approaches your neighbourhood, you start to give your teacher more specific directions. It only takes 10 minutes to get to your home as compared to the 20 minutes you and Sehun need to take. Mr. Byun stops the car in front of your driveway. 

"Thanks for your help," you turn to him with your hand on the handle of the door. Then you remember about the warm scarf, so you quickly reach up to your neck and unravel it. You pass the knitwear back to him and he receives it with one hand. His other hand is still on the steering wheel. "You bought a good scarf." 

Mr. Byun chuckles, "I'm glad it served its purpose." He tips his head in the direction of your house, "Hurry home so you don't catch a cold. See you next lesson."

"Yeah," you mutter as you open the door and get down. "See you."

When you've handed in your assignment two weeks later and gotten back your booklet, for the first time this semester, Mr. Byun has written something on the page of the assignment. And for the first time in your entire academic life, you have never been prouder of red words on an assignment. Though the note is ultra-mega short compared to those of your classmates, but you're still contented with it.

Keep at it.

Author's note:

Hey guys!!! Ok, i meant to discuss about making this story but I kept forgetting, so now that i've remembered, I'll say it now. 

So a lot of you really want me to include in this fic and honestly, when you see a fic by "vanillasushi", you always expect , don't you? I mean, I would LOL... And teacher x student is not y or fun without , am I right?! BUT I really wanna make this fic not rated. I dunno, I wanna add scenes, but I don't want this fic to be hardcore , you know? I wanna change up my writing style and I hope you guys will support me... I promise to include scenes here and there though not too much!!! 

I'll be back with a new update hopefully soon, but I have other fics to follow up too. So please be patient!!

Till next time
xoxo