Unwanted--BTS--Soulmate AU

Friends

I leaned back from my desk and stretched my arms over my head. It had been a long day of teaching and I was more than ready for the weekend. I had finally finished grading all of the papers I had assigned asking my students to write one paragraph in English about their favorite color. My personal favorite was from an older gentleman who worked as street food vendor, Dae-jung. He had written about pink.

I like pink. It pig color. Good to eat is pig. Oink says pig that pink.

I swear I laughed for a good few minutes after I read his paragraph. Some students were still struggling with the placement of the subject in English, and he was one of them. I had to give him points for the usage of the word "oink". He was definitely one of the best students I had in my class. But he was also one of the best people I knew, not just in Korea but in life.

Dae-jung was certainly a non-traditional student—not because of his age, I had several students from all walks of life—but because of his reason for wanting to learn English at his advanced age. He had come from a poorer family growing up and he had never finished his education because he had to help his family run their small restaurant full-time.

After some years, he married and had a family of his own and history repeated itself. His son also dropped out of school to help his father run the business. Now his son had a family of his own but rather than perpetuating the cycle, Dae-jung decreed that his grandchildren would stay in school and attend university in America. He decided to learn English so that he could be an example to his family and show them that if he can do this at 74 years old, then they could do anything. I had never been inspired by anyone more than I was by Dae-jung. Not to mention that he always brought me some delicious chicken skewers on Thursday nights when he had class. He was definitely one of the rarest gems in this world. 

I stood up from my desk and packed my belongings in my sunflower tote before exiting my classroom and locking the door behind me. The school was quiet at this time of night. It was late evening, and the only other people who were still here would be others catching up on their grading like me. I made her way down the dim hallway to Lyle's classroom and was pleasantly surprised to see a light peeking through the cracked doorway. I nudged it open quietly and looked in. 

Lyle was slouched down in his chair at his desk, holding up a paper and reading it with squinted eyes while he carelessly flipped his pen around his fingers with his other hand. He didn't notice that the door had opened. I grinned and whispered, "BOO!"

Lyle jumped clear out of his seat, causing him to toss up his pen and bang his knee on his desk. He whipped around and glared at me, but I was already doubled over and clutching my stomach laughing. 

"What the fuck, Rina! You gave me a heart attack!" he screeched at me. 

Once I was done laughing, I stood up right and wiped the tears from my eyes. "I'm soooo not sorry Lyle! That was too damn funny. I've never seen you so engrossed in grading before!" I replied. 

Lyle was rubbing his knee and glaring at me. "Yeah, well, I was reading about how this kid loves corn, so you know, I was utterly captivated," he grumbled. 

"Ooooh you did food? I did colors. I thought it would be a bit easier for them," I said. 

"You know me darling, I'm a stickler! Plus, sometimes students will give me some banging food recommendations." He began packing his belongings up. "Let's go. I'm tired of this place and it's the weekend, love!" He said in a sing-song voice.  

I smiled and walked out with Lyle. It was nice listening to him tell me about how this kid he had in one of his classes was obsessed with corn. I hooked my arm through his and listened to him talk. Lyle was such a chatterbox. He would talk to anyone about anything. He had immediately befriended me when I started working at the school. His welcoming personality and fuck all demeanor was entirely endearing. I smiled and let him talk as we moved down the block.