Prompt #8: I Like You

[100xoverfest]

Prompt: #8
Title: I Like You
Genre: Fluff, Romance
Rating: PG
Side Pairings: slight!ChenXiumin, past!Sehun/Suho
Warning/s: -
Season: Summer
Summary: "You’re my professor and this is your first year teaching and we’re practically the same age, can I stay after class so that you can help me with this thing I don’t understand.”
A/N (Author's Note): I hope it doesn't turn out as a flop. I'm sorry if it's not good enough but thank you for reading!

“If I were you, I’d kick his ass out of the classroom the next time he—”

There was a pause, making the gentle buzz of people quietly talking in the café seemed more audible, at least to Junmyeon who didn’t have anything plugged to his ears. His class ended fifteen minutes ago and he was sitting in one of the café closest to the Univesity to grab something to eat for lunch as well as calm his nerves after trying to constantly get the freshmen to focus in his class. It was rather a hard feat to do, considering how Junmyeon couldn’t raise his voice for good.

“Looks like you have a fan, Professor,”

Junmyeon looked up to check whatever had been in his favor to cut Jongdae’s rants short. It was not a new thing for the both of them to make Jongdae his dump whenever he was feeling the slightest bit down because he couldn’t possibly vent his frustration to his fellow Professors. Aside from the fact that their age-gap matched it of a son and his father, he refrained from looking like a whiny little bitch—because they said he’d regret it if he spent the rest of his youth sulking.

Not that Junmyeon had decided to sulk for the rest of his youth but he took the advice anyways.

“Mr. Kim!”

He raised a curious eyebrow when he found a tall guy with dark blond hair waving from a few tables away, not that far away that they couldn’t hear what he was saying. He ignored the fact that he might be someone from Jongdae’s work but his best friend didn’t seem to recognize him.

It was the first time he saw the guy, Junmyeon believed, because he certainly didn’t recall having a student enrolled into his English class that looked anything remotely like him. What Junmyeon noted the most of the guy’s appearance was the bright colored skintight pants he was wearing and he only realized it now why Jongdae almost burst out laughing a minute ago.

“Do you need anything?” Junmyeon threw a polite smile, noticing how equally bright the shirt he was wearing neon green seems a bit hmm. He glanced at Jongdae who was on his phone now, probably fumbling around his playlist for his favorite songs, as the guy suddenly stood up and made his way towards their table.

“Are you going to be busy after lunch, Mr. Kim?”

Junmyeon would’ve been flustered to hear that deep voice if it was any other day when the guy wasn’t wearing bright colored shirt and pants and Junmyeon found himself mildly wondering if he also wore something hideous like that to classes. Well, he certainly looked like a student and seemed to be enjoying his youth so much by experimenting on clothes and hair color nice and Junmyeon thought it was totally fine but okay, maybe he wouldn’t want to face a situation where one of his students showed up with that get-up in his class.

 Still maintaining a polite tone, he asked, “Can I help you with anything?”

But first, please tone it down a bit, your outfit is hurting my eyes, Junmyeon wanted to say but he was holding himself back. He was wondering when he started having internal thoughts that were similar to something Jongdae would say out loud. He had one more period before claiming he was free for the rest of the day and it was not like he was going to get directly busy afterwards but he didn’t say anything to the guy as he waited patiently for his answer.

“Yes,” the blond replied, scratching the back of his neck, to which Junmyeon hummed as a sign that he was listening. Then the guy took a deep breath, “You’re my professor and this is your first year teaching and we’re practically the same age, can I stay after class so that you can help me with this thing I don’t understand?”

If there was any other thing he noticed about the guy, it was that he said that in one breath with a thick-accented Korean. Junmyeon thought he might be some kind of a foreigner? That explained the pointed nose and sharp jawline, then. Great, he didn’t know he had a foreigner as his student—wait, what?

“What?” he blurted, only to gain himself an amused look from the guy.

Even Jongdae looked mildly interested now.

“Do you not remember me? I’m in your English class, Mr. Kim,”

How was it possible that Junmyeon didn’t remember his students?

“I’m sorry, what’s your name again?”

Junmyeon tried not to look like he had been on the edge ever since the blond approached their table by glancing at Jongdae who was sporting a huge grin on his face and it didn’t help at all. He was not sweating. Why would he sweat over something so—

“It’s Wu Yifan.”

“Wu—uh?” Junmyeon wheezed, imagining a mental list of students who were enrolled into his English class this semester. What if he was really one of his students because the name rang a bell and when Junmyeon found it in his memory, he mentally picked up a neon green highlighter to mark it. “I’m sorry,” he sagged against his seat, the mental process making him even more tired. “Looks like I can’t make it today?”

The Wu Yifan guy went silent for a few seconds before,

“How about tomorrow?”

“Tomorrow…uhh—”

“Tomorrow, it is!”

Junmyeon turned to give Jongdae a you-betray-me look and a glare that he knew wouldn’t work for his incredibly thick-headed best friend but said best friend just grinned and patted his back.

“You’re not going anywhere tomorrow, right?” Jongdae gave Yifan a thumb-up to which the blond responded with a grateful smile.

“What time will your class end tomorrow, Mr. Kim?”

Junmyeon jolted in his seat and fumbled around to fish his phone out of his pocket. “Around eleven…” he mumbled without looking up from the screen.

“Okay, I’ll be waiting in front of the faculty’s building.”

With that, Yifan left.

And Junmyeon finally be able to strangle Jongdae without holding back.

“I don’t need you to answer him for me,” he sighed.

“Come on, Jun,” Jongdae turned away from his phone. “Don’t be such a loser,”

“I have a plan tomorrow,”

“Does your plan have going out on a date with a guy in it?”

Junmyeon frowned, “No,”

“Exactly why you should go meet him tomorrow!”

“But it’s not a date,” Junmyeon glared. “And to think that you talked about kicking his ass earlier,”

Jongdae gave him a look of disbelief, “So, you were talking about him when you said there’s this student who was absent during the first weeks of your class?”

Junmyeon nodded weakly.

“But I can tell that he’s interested, Jun,”

“I don’t know, Jongdae,”

A pause.

“How long has it been since Sehun?”

Junmyeon saw Jongdae’s eyes softened upon realizing that the topic might still make Junmyeon uncomfortable. He really didn’t want to talk about it but apparently his best friend assumed that it was the right time. It had been years since he last talked about Sehun. It wasn’t like he was still in love with him and but thinking about being in a relationship again made his stomach churn. What if it didn’t end well—like his relationship with Sehun which hurt him the most, if not the both of them.

“Let’s say it’s not a date,” Jongdae’s voice brought him back from his trance. “But you should still come. He might need your help for real,” he shrugged.

Junmyeon had a tendency to consider everything Jongdae said, no matter how dumb it sounded so he nodded and thought it isn’t a bad thing to give your student a little help they need, right?

“I just hope that’s the case.”

***

They somehow ended up going to his apartment it was probably due to how he blurted that his apartment was closer to campus than Yifan’s house, probably. It was the first time for Junmyeon to have his student visiting him at his apartment. He was a little bit nervous as he punched in the pin that granted an access into his apartment. He knew Yifan was trailing after him. He could feel his intimidating (he appeared so to Junmyeon) presence as he changed into the home sandals, nudging another pair closer towards Yifan’s foot in the process.

He went straight to the kitchen after hearing the taller’s thankful hum but stopped mid-way at the sight of a messy living room. He stepped back, only to bump into something soft but sturdy that was Yifan’s chest. When he looked up, Yifan had his eyes around the living room but the only thing he noticed was that the guy was really tall. Probably the tallest one he had ever met.

“You know, Yifan, you should stop wearing those clothes,”

Junmyeon clamped a hand around his mouth immediately, noting how Yifan’s jawline looked really sharp from this angle.

“Hm? Is there something wrong with them, Mr. Kim?” asked Yifan, raising an amused brow.

Junmyeon unclamped his mouth and sighed, leaning away from the taller until they were no longer too close to each other. “Are you seriously asking me that right now?”

The thing was, Yifan looked good even in those ugly bright colored outfits.

“Nevermind,” huffed Junmyeon when Yifan didn’t say anything.

“How did you know I’m around your age?”

The thing the taller said about his age piqued his interest and he thought it seemed like the right time to ask him about it.

“Everyone has been going on about how you practically look too young to be a Professor,”

Junmyeon never expected that his actual age was that worth and interesting to discuss that everyone was actually doing it behind his back. But he didn’t want to think about it further.

“Well, yeah, true,” he hummed, began picking his laundry from the sofa.

“And they’re starting to guess your actual age,”

He hummed again, side-walking towards his bedroom door slowly with the laundry in his hands.

“Are you one of them?” he asked.

“At first, yeah, but then I think it may be best to ask you personally,”

If Yifan noticed how weird the situation was, he didn’t say anything. Junmyeon was never good at reading people’s expressions but Yifan was- had been not so subtle about it. He stared at Yifan’s amused face incredulously before kicking his door wide open to drop the laundry on his bed. When he came back, Yifan was still on the spot where he left him.

“But you just assume things,” Junmyeon shrugged, turning to walk towards the kitchen.

“How did you even know it’s my first year teaching?”

Seconds later, he heard Yifan’s answer, “I have my ways, Mr. Kim!”

Huh. It wasn’t like he needed to raise his voice. His apartment wasn’t that spacious after all.

“Can you please stop calling me that?” he raised his voice, thinking that maybe the other couldn’t hear him well from the living room. Yeah, despite the thing he said about his not-so-spacious apartment.

“Why?” came Yifan’s voice.

Junmyeon chose to focus brewing the tea. After setting the cups, he brought the tray to the living room and he saw Yifan was still standing in the spot where he left him. He realized he hadn’t told the taller to have a seat and immediately wanted to hit himself because what kind of host is he?

“It’s not like we’re in class right now,” he gestured for Yifan to come over and have a seat on the sofa. “And you said yourself that I’m around your age,” he glanced at now seated Yifan on the sofa across from him and mumbled, “I hope you like green tea,”

“Hmmm,”

This is why he always hates vague answers like hmm.

“It’s more comfortable to call me Junmyeon,” he added a little bit desperately.

Yifan looked thoughtful for a moment before a cheerful smile split across his face. “Okay, Mr. Kim Junmyeon!”

Junmyeon experienced a lot of new things today including the urge to punch someone in the face and then bury himself alive afterwards. He never put so much as self-restrain in front of everyone but he could feel his patient meter snapping. However, when he remembered why Yifan had visited in the first place, his thoughts were immediately replaced with something more academic.

“Oh, right,” he looked up from his tea. “You said there’s something you don’t understand? Which one?” he asked the taller with what he hoped was a gentle smile.

It was silent for quite a long moment. Junmyeon felt like ripping his hair out. He didn’t do it. Instead, he sipped on his tea and was relieved when he saw Yifan did the same before—

“Uhh- I forgot to bring it,” Yifan mumbled, looking away.

“What?” Junmyeon almost snapped but he knew he was definitely glaring at the other.

Neither of them noticed that it had started raining.

“So, what’s the point of you coming all the way here?” Junmyeon didn’t want to say it but he wanted to say it and ended up saying it anyways to tell how fucking dumb—

Yifan said without looking at him. “It’s okay. I’ll bring it tomorrow,”

Junmyeon rolled his eyes even though he knew Yifan didn’t see it. “You don’t have my class tomorrow,” he said a little bit too desperately.

He saw Yifan shrugging, his eyes were still on the blurry windows. “I can always visit your apartment, Mr. Kim,”

“There you go again,” Junmyeon sighed and he didn’t want to remind the taller for every time he called him Mr. Kim. “What time does your class end tomorrow?” he asked.

“Around twelve,” Yifan finally turned towards him.

“O-Okay, then,” Junmyeon didn’t know why he felt nervous when their eyes met.

“Is it okay for you?”

Damn. He could probably swim in those deep eyes.

“Isn’t that what I just said? I only have two periods tomorrow,” he managed to say it without stuttering.

Yifan hummed, fumbling with his phone. He kept glancing to the front door.

Junmyeon sighed. “Do you want to go home? But it’s still raining,” he gestured towards the windows. It was pouring and the sight beyond the windows resembled a dull, blurry painting of a town.

“Can I stay a bit longer, Mr. Kim?”

Junmyeon pretended to think it over. “Only if you stop calling me Mr. Kim,” he said, grinning but the grin disappeared when Yifan looked lost.

“Do you want me to brew more tea?”

“Huh—okay,”

He got up and turned to the kitchen, not noticing how red Yifan’s face was.

***

The second time around, Yifan didn’t forget to bring his notes and asked Junmyeon about the If Clause because he didn’t understand and said that the assignment to look for a news article and analyze it was too hard. Junmyeon ended up helping him more than he’d like to admit but Yifan stopped complaining and did the rest of it by himself.

What Junmyeon was thankful for the most was probably the fact that Yifan wasn’t wearing the bright colored outfit and he looked more normal.

“This sentence doesn’t make sense,” Yifan said and Junmyeon almost could hear the frown in his deep voice.

Junmyeon shoved a piece of paper he took from Yifan’s notebook, “I have written the formula for you,” he said, nodding towards the written formulas. “Even using a neon green highlighter so it stands out,”

“Thank you, but-” Yifan said appreciatively and then a pause. “I still don’t understand,”

“Oh, for God’s sake,”

Junmyeon threw the pen on the table. Yifan stared at the pen then he picked it up.

“Can you give me an example?” he asked, scratching the back of his head using the pen.

Snatching the pen from the taller’s hand, Junmyeon scooted closer to where Yifan’s notebook was on the table. “Here,” he slightly turned away so Yifan could see what he wrote.

“If I were rich, I would buy the whole apartment building?” Yifan recited.

Junmyeon nodded.

Yifan shrugged, staring dumbly at his notebook. “You have to be a millionaire to do that, though,”

Junmyeon facepalmed. “That’s not the point,”

With more force than necessary, Junmyeon circled the word ‘were’ and he could see the other glanced curiously at it. Only after Junmyeon looked up from the notebook, he noticed how close their faces were that he could see every hair of Yifan’s eyebrows. He jerked away like he’d been burned, almost falling on his back.

“Uhh- I know English is hard but let’s try harder, shall we?” Junmyeon said, nervously attempting to hide his embarrassment. Yifan must’ve noticed how he leaned away so quickly and he didn’t want him to get the wrong idea.

“My brain’s going to explode,” Yifan groaned.

Okay, maybe he didn’t.

“Me too,” Junmyeon agreed dimly—although for an entirely different reason, he wanted to add but he didn’t.

They decided to take a break before Junmyeon started to randomly break things despite them belonging to him so Yifan took the initiative. It surprised Junmyeon but he didn’t say anything about it. He was thankful, in fact.

“I brought this,”

A plastic bag was held up to his face and Junmyeon stared at it.

“What’s that?”

Yifan smiled. “Soondae,”

How did he know my favorite food oh my god—

“I’ll heat it up first.”

Without saying anything, Junmyeon got up and brought the plastic bag along with him to the kitchen. Again, he was too excited to notice how red Yifan’s face was.

***

“Do you want to come with me?”

Junmyeon looked up from his laptop, fingers hovering over the keys. Yifan was chewing his bottom lip, the gesture he picked up from him whenever he was nervous. He was on the phone with someone a while ago and Junmyeon didn’t even realize when it had ended. They were talking about something like studio…Junmyeon only picked bits of it.

Apparently, Junmyeon learned, Yifan was a part-time model and his friend who owned a clothing brand hired him to work for him because his boyfriend wasn’t enough to sell the bright colored outfits. Yifan was asked to come to the studio for a sudden photoshoot because this Chanyeol guy couldn’t make it due to a gig or something.

“Is it okay if I come along?” Junmyeon said slowly when they arrived at the parking lot.

“Why not?” Yifan shrugged, he didn’t look as nervous as he was back then when they were still studying in his apartment. “It’s not like I’m asking you to wear those clothes you seem to hate so—”

 “You don’t need to put it like that,” Junmyeon flushed, closing the car door a little too hard.

He glared when Yifan laughed. “I’m sorry, okay?”

Junmyeon rolled his eyes and trailed after the taller. He stepped aside to stand next to Yifan so he could see the elevator metal doors. He was so engrossed in looking at his reflection that he didn’t realize it dinged and the doors opened.

“Junmyeon Hyung?”

Huh?

“Yo, Sehun!” Yifan’s voice brought him back from his dazed state.

He couldn’t believe his own ears.

“You know Mr. Kim?” Yifan was looking interchangeably at another tall, lean guy inside the cubicle and him who felt like it was too heavy to even move a finger. When he finally had the courage to look at Sehun’s face, he saw the same bored look but his eyes were stunned.

Yifan nudged him and his legs finally moved to step inside the cubicle.

“What are you doing here?”

Junmyeon tensed when he heard Sehun spoke so close beside him.

“I’m just tagging along,” he replied, giving Sehun a stiff smile.

“I brought him here,” he heard Yifan said when the elevator stopped. “I thought he might be interested in Baekhyun’s clothing brand,”

He looked up and they were on the eighteenth floor. He honestly didn’t know what to make of this situation like meeting Sehun all of a sudden was certainly the last thing he expected to happen tonight. And to top it all, Yifan and Sehun seemed to know each other because he called him names like Kris? Is that some kind of a stage name or something—

“Can you leave us alone for a moment, Kris?”

Oh, shit. He didn’t know why but he didn’t want to be left alone with Sehun. Not right now.

“Uhh, sure,” Yifan shot him a hesitant look. “I’ll be around if you need me, Mr. Kim,” he waved and jogged off to the hallways.

“Is it what I think it is?” came Sehun’s quiet voice after Yifan had disappeared behind one of the doors lined the hallway.

“What is?” Junmyeon asked without turning his head. He felt like he already knew what the other was thinking.

“That Kris and you are…” Sehun trailed off.

Junmyeon tried to cover his embarrassment by clearing his throat. “Oh, no, we’re not a thing,”

For a second, he thought Sehun looked relieved but it must’ve been his imagination because the poker face was back. But he could tell that he was curious, from the way he leaned slightly close to him.

“Then how do you know each other?”

“He’s my student,” Junmyeon smiled up at Sehun. The first genuine smile he cracked since he bumped into him in the elevator.

Junmyeon always thought it’d be awkward if someday they were to bump into each other but he was proven wrong and he liked how the tension seemed to dissolve as they talked about anything. Sehun had been told about him being a Professor and he tried not to sound too curious when he asked about his ex’s career in China.

“I expected you to despise me after everything I did to you, Hyung,”

Sehun said to which Junmyeon responded with a raise of his brow.

“You should have known better, Sehun, that I’m not that kind of person,”

“But it seems that you’ve changed a bit, Hyung,”

The statement made him pause to think.

“Really?” he asked carefully.

“You seem…happier,” Sehun nodded and gave him a small, cool smile. “I’m glad,”

Four years, Junmyeon had learned to read Sehun’s facial expressions. Sehun was known for his lack of expressing enthusiasm but the smile just now, at least he knew it was genuine.

“How’s life in China?” Junmyeon cleared his throat awkwardly.

Sehun looked hesitant and careful with his answers. “Great. I get to meet a lot of new people,”

“It must be nice,”

“Yeah…”

There was awkward pause. But Sehun opened his mouth to speak—

“Look, Hyung, I know it’s probably really late to say this right now but I’m sor—”

“Mr. Kim!”

—only to get cut by Yifan.

“That dumb brat,” Junmyeon murmured to himself. “I’ve told him to stop calling me that,”

But apparently it was loud enough for Sehun to hear. He stared.

“Uhh, seems like he needs me over there,” Junmyeon looked up to find Sehun still staring and smiled apologetically while jabbing his finger towards where Yifan was standing near the set. “I’m sorry, Sehun. We’ll catch up later, okay?”

He was taken aback when Sehun grinned and nodded. He turned around quickly to jog over to Yifan who was still waving his long arms.

“What is it?” Junmyeon glared up at Yifan and leaned to whisper, “And I told you to stop calling me Mr. Kim especially when we’re not in class, didn’t I?”

“Ah, what a lovely man!”

Before Yifan got to reply, a tiny guy approached them, staring specifically at Junmyeon with twinkling eyes.

“T-Thanks…” Junmyeon replied hesitantly.

“Such healthy and fair skin,” the guy exclaimed, reaching out to take Junmyeon’s hands in his.

“I think he likes your skin, Junmyeon,” Yifan elbowed him and Junmyeon only glared at him for stating the obvious and to cover the hammering of his heart. He never thought Yifan calling him by his given name would have this effect on him but Yifan didn’t seem to notice.

“-would you?”

How long had he been spacing out?

“Huh? I’m sorry, what?” Junmyeon smiled apologetically to the guy who shook his head and pouted. He almost believed that the guy was super cute and no adult could pull it off like him.

“He said he wants to have a photo of you wearing one of the outfits he designed,” Yifan answered for him.

“Eh?!”

Did he just screech?

“Please?” now the guy was pulling a kicked-puppy look.

He looked at the guy in disbelief before sighing and raised his hands in surrender, even if it meant offending the guy who had been grabbing his hands during the whole exchange. He looked at Yifan who was already getting dressed and make-up on for a session.

“Just do it,” Yifan shrugged.

Junmyeon opened his mouth, “But—”

“What are you worrying for? You’ll look good in it,” Yifan cut him off.

Turned out the guy’s name was Baekhyun and he was the founder of a clothing brand and was currently taking a magister program and working as a designer for his own brand. He had no idea how he met Yifan but they shared the same interest, that much Junmyeon could see. He was relieved that the outfit Baekhyun wanted him to wear wasn’t as flashy as the ones Yifan usually wore for photoshoots. It felt comfortable and it was his first time being in a sudden photoshoot.

He personally didn’t like it if his photos were taken candidly but it was nice to get a photoshoot done once in a while so he could ask for the stock photos and used it for social media purposes. He was thinking of another pose to strike when he saw Sehun approached the set.

“Hi, Hyung,”

He immediately dropped his v-sign.

“Sehun? Is it your turn already? I’m sorry I’ll just—”

He was about to walk off the set when Baekhyun roared.

“Junmyeon! Where do you think you’re going?”

“But isn’t it his turn now?” he stopped mid-track, glancing at Sehun.

Baekhyun shook his head dramatically. “You two are having a photoshoot together,”

“Ah…is that so?” Junmyeon said weakly, stepping back into the set.

“Yes,” Baekhyun smiled sweetly. “Now, get in frame and pose nicely for me, honey,”

Junmyeon couldn’t believe Baekhyun made him have a photoshoot with Sehun, of all people. Not that there were a lot of people in the studio but did he know?

It was hard not to notice Yifan’s lanky figure around the studio and he couldn’t help but glance at him every now and then. Sehun was surprisingly talented and quiet too when he was in the set so Junmyeon wasn’t really sure how to strike a small conversation with him. The photographer yelled at him because his eyes roamed around and caught on the camera. He couldn’t help it, once again. Especially when he saw Yifan approaching Baekhyun with five colorful paperbags.

They were talking but Junmyeon couldn’t hear anything from where he was standing. It seemed like they were arguing because Baekhyun looked annoyed and Yifan looked like he was pressing an idea to him. He laughed when Baekhyun ignored the taller and raised a brow when Baekhyun finally huffed, typed something into his phone and a minute later, he was on the phone with someone Baekhyun also had no idea of.

Yifan looked satisfied, almost relieved, Junmyeon noticed from the way his body released the tenseness at the sight of Baekhyun phoning someone. When Baekhyun finished, he was suddenly called off the set and was told to change back into his own clothes. Baekhyun handed him the paper bags, telling him you must wear it! He only smiled hesitantly and was thankful when he was shoved into the changing room.

“So, how do you like being a model?”

He jumped when he heard Yifan’s voice behind the door separating the studio and the changing room. Junmyeon just glared even though he knew Yifan couldn’t see him.

“It’s…refreshing,” he knew it probably came out muffled but he didn’t care.

“You seemed to be enjoying it a lot up there,”

Was it only his imagination or did he really sound sad?

“Did I?” Junmyeon was done changing but he deliberately stayed in the changing room.

“Sehun’s a good looking one, isn’t he?”

Okay, he sounded annoyed just now.

“He is,” he agreed, not even trying to lie.

“Baekhyun wants you to wear them,”

Junmyeon’s eye twitched but he didn’t say anything. He opened the door and stepped out of the cubicle. Yifan was still standing in front of the door, paper bags lying around him on the floor. He tried not to imagine them in a date and Yifan was waiting for him to try on outfits he picked out for him. It wasn’t awkward but Junmyeon didn’t like the atmosphere.

He was thinking of telling the taller the truth about his past relationship with Sehun but quickly pushed the idea at the back of his mind because it had nothing to do with his student. When Yifan’s phone rang suddenly, making him jolt. He looked more annoyed when he saw the caller and Junmyeon found himself wondering if he had this kind of face on while talking about Sehun a few minutes ago. What was his reason to look and sound annoyed, though?

Junmyeon shook his head and looked up to Yifan talking to the phone in Chinese. He understood Chinese a little but he couldn’t catch what the taller was talking about and his expression had changed. He looked angered. Junmyeon shuddered.

“Is something wrong?” Junmyeon asked hesitantly after Yifan hung up.

“It’s already this late?” Yifan laughed awkwardly but Junmyeon didn’t see the usual mirth in his eyes.

“I’ll take you home. Let’s go.”

On the way home, neither of them said anything, not even about the colorful outfits.

***

Yifan disappeared and Junmyeon always had this impression that it was his fault that the taller disappeared but then he showed up nearly three weeks later with a cute looking guy whose name he learned later was Yixing. Yixing went to campus and trailed after Yifan like a puppy every day and it kind of irked Junmyeon a bit. Though it wasn’t what he wanted, he had been avoiding the taller guy for a while now. He ran away every time Yifan looked like he was going to call out to him and hid behind taller students before Yifan noticed him in the hallways.

But today he couldn’t do it because Yifan had his class. And he had ran out of way to avoid the taller so he might as well just face him as bravely as he could.

“Mr. Kim!”

“Yes?” Junmyeon turned around and tried to sound nonchalant when he saw Yixing.

“The class starts at one p.m. as usual, right?”

“Of course,” Junmyeon laughed awkwardly.

“Oh, right,” Yifan snapped his finger, “This is Zhang Yixing,” he gestured towards the cute guy approximately his height and Junmyeon thought the taller must’ve noticed the way he glanced at him earlier.

“Junmyeon,” he smiled—partly trying to look professional—and shook Yixing’s hand.

“He’s my English Professor that I talked to you about,” Yifan said to Yixing.

“Ah,” Yixing turned to him and gave him a smile. “He’s even pretti—”

However, he was confused when Yifan reached out to clamp his hand over the guy’s mouth as if to stop whatever he was going to say earlier. Junmyeon then noticed how close the two were. He was curious but he thought he didn’t want to know any opinions about him.

“How about grabbing something to eat?” Yifan asked, voice a little bit too loud. “Have you eaten, Mr. Kim?”

 “Nah, I’m fine,” He smiled weakly.

“It’s okay, it’s on me,” Yifan ensured but he wasn’t in the mood to get himself into any kind of awkward or irritating situation like having a lunch with his student and his potential boyfriend. “I also have something to talk,”

So Junmyeon did one thing he didn’t do best, glancing at his watch to make it seem like he was in a hurry.

“Crap! I’ll be late for the meeting!” he said with what he hoped was urgency.

“I’m afraid I have to go now,” Junmyeon pretended to look regretful.

“See you around!”

He was too busy to avoid Yifan that he didn’t noticed how sad the taller look as he stared at his retreating back.

***

Junmyeon knew he probably shouldn’t have left just like that and he was wondering if they could see through his lies. There was no meeting whatsoever in the first place and even if there was, he probably wouldn’t get summoned. He told Yifan that class would start according to the scheduled time but here he was, sitting in his balcony with a soju-clouded mind. He never meant to lie but he ended up lying to Yifan and even Yixing, twice.

“I’m the worst,” he whispered into the distance.

The clear, blue sky reminded him that summer was coming. He already felt the temperature rising. He wouldn’t need those coats in a few weeks. He chuckled when he realized that the colorful clothes Baekhyun gave him were all meant to be worn during summertime because of how thin they were. He made a mental note to thank the designer later.

“Should’ve invited Jongdae over,” he muttered after a gulp of soju, considering making a call but his best friend was probably busy at work at this time of the day.

“Why don’t you just call that damn brat?”

“But he’s with Yixing right now!”

He frowned. He must’ve lost it. No matter how shaken up he was during the first months of his break-up with Sehun, he never started talking to himself—not even when he got so drunk.

“Damn brat,” he mumbled as he emptied his one and only bottle of soju.

With swayed steps, he went back inside to get some aspirin for the killer headache he had yet to get rid of since yesterday. It was rather impressive how he survived the first and second period without wanting to pass out, not even once. But it was rather cowardly of him to be retired early for an entirely different reason. No, he was aware that it was just an excuse to avoid Yifan and Yixing, as if he hadn’t been doing exactly just that for the past week.

Junmyeon leaned against his bedroom door to check on his phone. Nothing. No message from his students asking why there was a different person teaching them. Not even one asking if he was okay but even if there were one, would it make any difference? Would it make him feel better even though it wasn’t from Yifan?

“I guess it’s okay for them to see a new face once in a while,” he smiled up at the ceiling, not realizing how bitter he sounded just now.

He decided to take a nap, hoping that the headache would magically disappear without him having to take some aspirin but when he was about to open the door to his bedroom, the doorbell rang, startling him out of his skin. The machine automatically answered for him and he was surprised to hear Yifan’s voice coming through the speaker.

“Mr. Kim! Please open the door!”

It took five minutes for Junmyeon to calm himself down. Although still shaking (and swaying) a bit, he walked over to open the door for Yifan because no matter how drunk he was, he couldn’t possibly be that heartless to his student. Right, student. He couldn’t afford to be unreasonable now of all times, no matter how hard his heart forced him to act otherwise.

“What’s the matter?” was all he heard as soon as he opened the door.

“Are you hurt?”

Junmyeon’s heart clenched at how worried Yifan sounded and he wanted to bury himself alive just by thinking he had lied to the taller guy a while ago.

“No, I’m—” he winched, feeling a throb of headache at the back of his head. “I’m fine,”

“Fine?” Then suddenly, he felt a warm hand on his neck. “You’re breaking in cold sweats!”

Really? He didn’t even realize it.

He tried looking at Yifan’s palm on his neck, failed and chuckled. “What are you doing here? You should be in class,”

“I came here because I heard you’re sick,”

The spot where Yifan touched him was burning.

“Well, whoever told you was lying,” he stared at the taller guy with half-closed eyes because it was starting to get really hard just to keep his eyes open, damn it. “I’m fine—”

He didn’t know he had the ability to run that fast. Yifan came after him a few seconds later with a worried look on his face as he retched up into the toilet bowl. He felt the other knelt beside him to slowly massage the back of neck.

“How is this fine?”

Uh-oh. Was it just him or he sounded angry just now?

“I’ll get you a glass of water.”

Junmyeon looked down on his lap, head still spinning like he just came down from several rides at once in an amusement park. He could feel Yifan’s eyes on him the whole time and it was starting to make him fidgety, being in the same room as the taller guy. Not to mention, they were only a few meters apart.

“It’s okay, you can go home now,” he finally said after five minutes of silent.

“I’m not going home,” came Yifan’s reply which ticked him off.

“It’s not like I’m going to die here,” he snorted, totally aware that by saying that he had given up being reasonable but he couldn’t bring himself to care.

When Junmyeon looked up, he thought he saw anger flashed in Yifan’s eyes but it disappeared as quickly as it came. He tried to ignore it because he couldn’t possibly be angry just because someone like Junmyeon decided to avoid him, right?

“You’re avoiding me,”

Junmyeon flinched, casting his gaze down. “Am not,” he mumbled.

But Yifan didn’t buy it.

He saw Yifan stood up to take a seat on the empty space next to him. Junmyeon barely had time to register the fact that the other was sitting so close that their legs were touching. He tried not to flinch away.

“Why are you avoiding me, Mr. Kim?”

That’s right, Junmyeon thought. He was just Mr. Kim to him.

“How many times do I have to tell you to stop calling me that?”

Shoot. He didn’t mean to raise his voice.

At the surprised look Yifan gave, he looked away.

“What did I do?”

“You didn’t do anything,” Junmyeon took a deep breath. “Just…leave me alone,”

There was a long silence that Junmyeon thought Yifan had left him alone for real. Maybe he deserved this? He treated Yifan like shit for the past weeks after all. And he didn’t even get to apologize to him and Yixing. How could he turn into such a bad person?

“There is more to it than just calling you Mr. Kim, isn’t there?”

Wha—

“I thought you have left,”

He didn’t mean to said it out loud but-

“Did you think I’d leave it just like that?”

Junmyeon shrugged. He started sweating and forgot that he was supposed to be having a hangover. He didn’t realize when he had sobered up.

“Look at me,”

He didn’t know why he found it hard to look at Yifan so he kept his eyes on his twiddled fingers on his lap.

“Is it really because you want me to attend class?”

 “Look at me, Junmyeon,”

“I can’t take this anymore,” Junmyeon groaned. He finally looked up, turned his head to stare directly into Yifan’s eyes. “Why are you being like this?”

“What?” Yifan asked dumbly.

“You already have Yixing and yet you came to visit me because you heard from someone that I’m sick. You showed up looking all worried like that when you know you should’ve just ignored it and attend class like a good kid. It’s killing me,”

He was panting, suddenly feeling like throwing up again.

“What’s Yixing got to do with this?”

Junmyeon closed his eyes. His heartbeat picked speed at the mention of Yixing. A faster thud thud thud.

“Yixing’s your boyfriend, right?” he tried not to sound too sad.

He was confused when Yifan started laughing.

“So, you’re jealous?”

“What? No way!”

He felt anger bubbled up inside him when Yifan fell into another fit of laughter.

“Bastard,” he thrashed when the other caught his wrist before he could land a hit on his shoulder. “I’m being serious here—mmhf?”

Huh? What?

Junmyeon didn’t know what happened after failing to give the damn brat some hit to his shoulder—or head, even better—because the next second he was no longer thrashing around and the hold on his wrist had gotten gentler. Most importantly, why was Yifan kissing him?

Kiss—wha?

Yifan pulled away just in time it was starting to get hard to breathe. He opened his eyes (when had he closed them?) and saw the other’s closed-up smile.

“Do you like me?”

Junmyeon hated how Yifan asked like it was a normal question to ask to your Professor.

“Why did you kiss me?” As if everything had just sunk in, Junmyeon asked, panicking.

Yifan raised a questioning eyebrow. “Can’t I?”

“No, I mean, how about Yixing?”

He got even more confused when Yifan sighed, running a hand over his face.

“Yixing is not my boyfriend,”

Junmyeon opened his mouth but nothing came out. He felt his whole body heating up but his face was where he felt the most intense.

“You’re the one I like, Junmyeon.”

“Oh my God,”

“Oh my God.”

“So, was it really just a bottle of soju?”

He gulped when he saw Yifan narrowed his eyes at him.

“Maybe one or two glasses of vodka?” he bit his lower lip when the taller guy shook his head.

They were in his bedroom. Yifan dragged his spinning chair from his working desk and placed it next to his bed where he sat, leaning against the headrest. The taller guy had insisted that he’d get a nice rest if it was in his bed, not on the sofa in his living room. Junmyeon couldn’t really argue with that one. And his knees kind of turned weak after the—

“Do you realize that I’m not here to nurse your hangover, right?”

Junmyeon looked down on a glass of water in his hands, frowning. “Who even told you to come, anyway?” he mumbled but apparently it was loud enough for the other to hear because a second later, he heard Yifan’s breathy chuckle.

“Come on,” he heard the taller said. “I was expecting a warmer welcome like maybe a hug?”

Junmyeon finally looked up to scrunch his nose. “Weren’t you expecting too much?”

He really wanted to say how much he missed the sound of Yifan’s laughter.

“Not even a thankyou?”

“No,”

“Being difficult, aren’t we?”

Junmyeon glared when Yifan started climbing into the bed to sit next to him. He was still recovering from the initial shock after getting confessed to by the other earlier. Also, how embarrassing it was that he went around assuming things that weren’t even true because that wasn’t very Professor of him.

***

They went out on weekend because Yifan asked him and there were a few things he needed to clarify before Junmyeon jumped into conclusions again. There were a lot of things he didn’t know about the taller but Yifan had said that if he was curious, just ask away. So, they were sitting at the park, having a real talk.

It turned out that Yifan had taken an English class last year but he took it again by accident and didn’t cancel when he saw Mr. Kim Junmyeon in real life. Junmyeon just found out that he had been having a crush on him since the first day but he didn’t want to appear creepy so he used tutoring as a reason to get close to Junmyeon and it did work, Junmyeon thought because he also fell for the taller guy without him knowing.

Ever since Yifan bothered him to stay after classes, he rarely even thought about Sehun anymore. His mind was focused entirely on how to make Yifan pass his class even though it was useless because Yifan understood English (and was even fluent in it).

The call he received after the photoshoot was from his father who apparently lived in China and Yixing was his childhood friend who got in contact with him regularly and that explained why he knew Junmyeon and told him he looked prettier in real life. Junmyeon had told Yifan that he felt sorry but the taller wanted him to apologize properly even though he knew Yixing didn’t mind. Yifan said he completely understood because a lot of people mistook them as a couple too.

And the reason why he looked pissed after the call with his father was because he had been bothering him to finish his study and take over their family’s company. It wasn’t as big as it sounded. It wasn’t also all about the luxurious life. Yifan apparently took a degree in Korea because he didn’t want his father to find out that his real passion lies on engineering not business. That day, his father called and told him to go back to China because he had found out that Yifan was a part-time model.

“Okay, so, Yixing was the one talking the way out of your father’s wrath?” Junmyeon asked, finally realizing how bad he must’ve been to Yixing.

“You could say that, yes,”

“I should thank him,” Junmyeon looked terrified. He felt like a horrible human being.

He turned his head when he heard Yifan’s breathy laugh.

“What’s so funny?” he narrowed his eyes at him.

“I never imagined you like me that much, Mr. Kim,” Yifan said between laughter.

Junmyeon glared. “I’ll kill you,”

“Alright, sorry, Junmyeon,”

Junmyeon flushed red. “I’ll kill you,”

“What—”

“Junmyeon?”

Junmyeon froze. He turned around to find Jongdae standing behind the bench they were sitting at. He noticed that Jongdae was with a really cute looking guy and he narrowed his eyes up at his best friend. It seemed like they both needed to do some explaining.

“Oh, isn’t he your friend, Junmyeon?” Yifan broke the silence.

Junmyeon wanted to bury himself. “Yes,”

“It’s nice seeing you again…uhh-”

“Jongdae,”

“Right, Jongdae,”

Junmyeon watched the exchange with horror because they both shared a knowing smile.

“I’ll fucking kill you two.”

Jongdae finally went away with Minseok after bothering them with unnecessary questions like when’s the wedding or did you two already do it? and after a long while, Junmyeon finally admitted to himself that he liked Yifan and no longer had feelings for Sehun. It was becoming easier to be with Yifan than the first time it had been but Junmyeon still found himself wondering why Yifan insisted on going back to Korea when he could drop-out and continue the family’s business.

“Yifan,”

“Hmm?”

“Why did you decide to stay?”

“I want your help to pass the English class.”