22 days | felix lee

XII | instruct

━━☆⌒*.

IT WAS THURSDAY, and Felix had his tutoring meeting with her tomorrow. He had gone over the notes that she had given him more times than he could count, her written words were quite literally tattooed in his brain. "You haven't studied this week?" Minho raised a brow, glancing at the boy who had already finished his worksheet.

The two had English together which is why they stuck together at the hip during their first period. "I've been busy with the whole cooking thing and I really want to show her that I'm not. . . making her efforts fruitless." His sentence sounded a lot more formal at the end as he attempted to find the proper words for it, eventually settling for an oddly proper phrase for it.

"You mean you don't want to show her that you're lazy?" Minho smirked, amused.

Felix quickly nodded, poring over his notes again as he traced over the letters and paid special attention to the parts that were highlighted. "Also, I heard that she charges. One of my friends in biology gets tutored by her. How did you get away with that?" Minho asked, clicking his tongue as he scribbled something in his literature worksheet.

Felix mumbled quietly, "She accepts payment in food apparently; we met up at a café that day because I was too sleep-deprived to work on Friday." Minho slowly nodded before he realized something, his eyes widening as he whirled his head towards the Australian. "So, you paid her in food, let Jeongin-ah lie about you, and gave up on cooking?"

The freckled boy froze for a moment, slowly lifting his head to give his hyung a confused look. His brown-haired friend used hand gestures as if telling him that the answer was painfully obvious. Which, technically, it was. "Jeongin-ah lied and said you were good at cooking which you aren't and you paid her in food; she's obviously going to expect cooked food."

It hit Felix like a train and he stiffened visibly in his seat, Adam's apple bobbing as he swallowed harshly. "And I know you're not going to lie to her," Minho said carefully, glancing at the nervous man in front of him. That statement was right; Felix hardly lied unless he really needed to. That hungover night and drunk crash at the mystery man's place proved it.

"So, what do you suggest?"

"Just admit to her you can't cook, but that you can bake." The brown-haired boy shrugged nonchalantly as Felix flushed red. Out of all of the embarrassing moments, he felt the stupidest right now. "Why didn't you tell me that solution earlier?" Minho smirked, hearing Felix hiss at him as his freckles got flooded over by the deep red on his skin.

Minho leaned back, "It was pretty funny watching you run around. That, and Jeongin-ah owed me money, so now he doesn't anymore thanks to your entertaining lunch. Jisung-ah didn't come to our date with food poisoning either, so think of me as being incredibly nice by granting you this amazing idea." He smiled, showing off his pearly whites.

"You're the devil."

"Why thank you," Minho grinned sweetly.

Felix sighed, huffing loudly before checking over his worksheet, setting aside the journal for now. The two boys compiled their worksheets together, quickly turning them in right before the bell rang, their feet traversing down the hallway. "Good luck," Minho lifted his hand at him, jokingly saluting before heading down another pathway.

Felix nodded politely; if he were to have any other reaction, Minho would probably reign more hell over his life. He gripped onto his bag, stepping towards the math classroom before setting his stuff down at his usual seat. Jeongin still wasn't there (as usual), probably caught up in the busy hallway or in front of a vending machine.

His fingers dug into his sweaty palms as he approached the girl that sat a bit in front of him, his feet scuffing the floor as he stopped promptly beside her. "Y/n-ssi," At the sound of her name, her head shot up and she looked at him with confused eyes. She seemed bewildered, blinking slowly at him.

"Felix-ssi, is something wrong?" She took one look at his body language, reading him like a book as her brows furrowed worriedly. He felt his heart melt at the sight of her concerned gaze, quickly shaking his head. "Ah, no. I-I just wanted to say that. . . um, Jeongin-ah was lying." The words slipped past his lips and she tilted her head.

"I can't cook."

Y/n grew more confused, "Okay. . . ? Do you want me to teach you, Felix-ssi?"

Deciding to take the opportunity, he quickly nodded. She smiled sweetly at him, "Okay, I'll send you my address this weekend then. Will Saturday work?" His heart thumped in his chest and he nodded again. Y/n was about to turn back to her journal, stopping when he opened his mouth to ask another question.

"Is this. . . like another tutoring session? Do I have to pay you?"

The girl looked at him, her heart fluttering at the idea of cooking beside him. Oddly enough, cooking had always been something close to her heart; however, she'd grown so used to cooking for herself and having to be independent. It was the only thing she had left from her mother after all.

"No, not at all. I think cooking with you is enough," The words sounded a lot sweeter when they rolled off her tongue, making the boy's breath hitch as he tensed. She seemed to process what she said for a second, her cheeks flushing as their gazes met. "Felix-ssi, please find your seat," The teacher called and the freckled boy instantly apologized, scampering to his chair.

"Everyone was looking at you two, Felix hyung," Jeongin said, wiggling his brows before taking out his usual container of food. The young boy was nosy but also rooting for his hyung; not that he'd verbally tell him the latter though. "Ah, really? That was so embarrassing." He set his face in his hands, feeling his skin grow warm all over again as he reflected over what just happened.

The blue-haired boy laughed softly, the two absolutely oblivious to the pair of angry eyes that watched them.