Waterfalls || Yeonbin

chapter 21: class

Continuing on June 2, 1940

"Soobin?" I called out, watching him reach over to turn the lamp off.

We were in darkness once I heard the click of the lamp, wrapping my good arm around him as he rested his head on my chest and hummed in response. I pursed my lips, feeling a bit anxious to ask him, "Do you think I'm being too hard on them?"

"On the recruits?" He asked, seeming curious.

"Yes."

He giggled, "How should I know? I'm not a recruit."

I chuckled as well, realizing how the question was a bit misleading, "I know, I know... D-Do you think I'll be a good teacher?"

He tilted his head up a bit, noticing his little pout in the moonlight, "Of course, you will. Why would you even question such a thing?"

I sighed, "I've never taught new recruits before. Day one didn't go very smoothly either." I responded, referring to my hurt shoulder.

"Well, yes, today didn't go as planned..." He said, hugging my waist tighter, "But that doesn't mean tomorrow won't be better."

I pursed my lips again, nuzzling my head closer to Soobin until our foreheads touched, "I just... I don't want to mess up."

"You do great with us."

"You five teach me. I hardly even know the full extent of what you're doing."

Soobin hesitated for a moment, picking his head up to kiss my cheek before he said, "I know you're going to do great tomorrow. Don't worry, Jun."

Even though his statement was simple, I felt more at ease. I don't know why I needed Soobin to reassure me, but somehow it helped. I gave him a little smile, whispering, "Thank you, darling..." I leaned forward and gave him a kiss, pulling away since I knew we were both tired. I kissed his forehead and his nose as well, quietly saying, "Sweet dreams, alright?"

He tilted his head back down, nuzzling further into my neck as he mumbled out, "You as well."

It's frustrating that it's difficult to hold him when I'm injured like this, and I cannot even sleep comfortably on my side either. Soobin doesn't normally hold me when we're falling asleep in this position, but he is. It was comforting knowing that he was holding me, his arm draped over my waist to avoid my injury. I slid my hand from his shoulder to his nape, playing with his hair to help him relax a bit. I kissed his forehead when I felt his body release the tension it had been storing up, both of us drifting into slumber.

June 3, 1940

I was nervous, watching all my recruits file into our small classroom. They were all scrunching their eyebrows at me, probably confused about the sling around my arm. But when one of them asked, "What happened to you, sir?" I didn't know what to say.

I knew I definitely wasn't about to tell them what really happened. That would be completely humiliating, so I cleared my throat and replied, "I injured it while I was training by myself yesterday."

They seemed to accept that answer, not hearing anyone ask any follow-up questions. When everybody had sat down, it was silent. I softly smiled to myself, guessing they learned from yesterday. I grabbed the stack of papers on my desk, already having set everything set up for today. I was anxious and got here way earlier than I needed to, so I went ahead and separated all the papers I needed.

I went over to one of the recruits in the front row, asking, "Your name again? Apologies, I have a horrid memory."

He gave me a small lip smile, "Kai, sir."

I gave him a smile back, handing the stack of papers to him, "Mind passing these out for me?"

He nodded, grabbing the papers from me, and beginning to hand them to everyone. He was almost as tall as Soobin, making me think about him again. It was so kind of him to try and make me breakfast this morning. Emphasis on the 'try'. I had to help him a lot, and the food wasn't the greatest, but he went through a lot of trouble to make food for us since he knew I wouldn't be able to within the same capacity.

I shook my head when I saw Kai standing in front of me again, a few of the papers left in his hand still, "There were extras, sir."

I took them from him, letting him sit back down at his desk. I looked down at the paper in my hand, reminding myself of the syllabus before I began to speak, "You all know that this class will extend to the end of August. Now, I will be showing you basic military strategy and combat techniques before you leave for the war. This paper is the outline of the class, so I would suggest keeping it somewhere in which you can easily access it again..." I placed the papers on the desk, walking around to the chalkboard as I added, "As you see, we will begin with a bit of history about our weapons and machines that I will also be demonstrating how to use later in the class. I suggest you all take notes."

I turned around, grabbing the piece of chalk and thanking everything that I still had the ability to write, "Now, you will all be issued a Wembley Number One to practice with and get used to. It's the same pistol we currently use in the field. It was first issued to the London Metropolitan Police in nineteen eleven, but does anyone know when it was first adopted by the Royal Navy?"

I turned around, pausing my writing to see if anyone had the answer. I scrunched my eyebrows when nobody had their notebooks out. Well, the only people who had them out were Kai and John. They were sitting next to each other in the front, eyes curious for the answer. I know I'm miserable with names, but the only reason I know John is because he had the fastest time on the course yesterday.

"Why does nobody have their notebooks out?" I asked, making John and Kai look behind them to see what I was referring to.

"How were we supposed to know we needed a proper notebook?" One of my recruits asked, sitting a few rows back.

"You all understood that this was going to be a class, no? Kai and John seem to have gotten the correct idea."

The same man scoffed, replying, "I thought we were going to do field work. Why would this ever benefit us anyways?"

I squeezed the piece of chalk in my hand, instantly annoyed. I bit my tongue to calm myself down, calmly asking, "Your name again, please?"

"Jeremy." He replied, resting his head into his hand, looking like he wanted to leave already, and the class only just began.

"Tell me, Jeremy, what would you do if your destroyer was suddenly being shot at by airplanes flying overhead? Or even if it was being flanked by another destroyer and your commander put you in charge of one of the guns? Explain to me how you use a one-hundred and twenty-millimeter QF Mark nine." I asked, knowing damn well he wouldn't know the answer to the question.

He blankly stared at me, clearing his throat as he pondered his answer. I interrupted his thought process, "Look at that. You took too long and now you've been shot down..." I clenched my jaw for a moment, adding, "Invest in a notebook. Hopefully you and the rest of your classmates can retain the information presented today."

Everyone went still, staring at me and I gave a stern look back to each of them. I skipped Kai and John since they were the only ones prepared, pausing for a few seconds before saying, "The Wembley Number One was adopted by the Royal Navy in nineteen twelve. We use the .455 caliber model, the London Police use the .32 ACP model." I turned around and began to write on the chalk board again, knowing I had a long day ahead of me from how this was going.