Reflections ⋈ Jaehyun

4 ⨝ Numbers

one of my favourite hairstyles Yuta has had so far 

⋉ 4 ⋊

The room was filled to the brim with chatter. Even though it was early in the morning, many students were overcome with curiosity upon spotting a familiar name on the course's syllabus. 

Hye-jin gave her best to drown out most of the chatter, disinterested in the speculations of the sleep-deprived students around her. She reached into her backpack and took out her notebook. Seo-ah did the same. 

The older girl looked at her best friend that was flipping through the pages, looking for an empty one. Bored, she tapped the tip of her pen against the desk. Considering how quiet she was, Hye-jin took a wild guess. 

"You didn't look at the syllabus, did you?" Seo-ah merely shook her head, not looking at Hye-jin. "So you don't know who teaches this subject?" 

Once again, she shook her head. However, sensing that something was off, she now turned her head. She frowned slightly. 

"It's not Mrs Lim, right?" she questioned, desperately hoping for Hye-jin to deny her assumption. "If I have to hear her talk one more time I'll cry." She sighed before elaborating, "Like her voice isn't that bad you know, but the shit that comes out of her mouth is impressively stupid." 

Hye-jin pushed out an amused laugh, ere she shook her head. "It's not her." 

"Then?" Seo-ah wondered. "Someone I know?" 

"Someone you'll like," she said in turn. 

"You're making this sound so mysterious," the younger commented, slightly confused by her behaviour. "It's just a lecturer. What's there to like?" 

Hye-jin hummed. She wasn't sure what to say to that. However, in the end, she didn't say anything at all, as the door opened and revealed none other than said lecturer. 

Nakamoto Yuta.

He wore a button-up, suit trousers and glasses, contradicting the attire she had seen him in the last two times they had met. He seemed out of his comfort zone, yet Hye-jin couldn't claim that it didn't suit him well. 

The chatter died down. Deflated, it crept into the room's back rows and hid in corners, as everyone watched the man in silence. He walked up to the desk in front of the class. In his hand were his laptop, a notebook, some handouts. He kept his eyes on the way ahead, not bothering to look at any of the students. 

It wasn't until he put his stuff down and turned around to face the class, that the silence was broken by whispers. 

"It's so early," Yuta commented. "I'm happy that so many of you showed up despite that." 

He offered them a smile, then opened his laptop and switched it on. In the meantime, he let his eyes wander over all the students, his gaze getting stuck on Hye-jin for a second longer than on the rest. 

"Let me introduce myself," he began. "I am Nakamoto Yuta. As some of you might know, I am a member of 127. But I am also a former Inspector of the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency which hopefully explains why I am teaching this class." 

He reached up, the tip of his index finger gliding over the back of his nose until it reached the slim metal string of his glasses and pushed them up. 

He laughed to himself, "I'm not used to wearing these but I didn't have time to put in my contact lenses today." 

His voice and little laugh were endearing, causing some of the students to chuckle as well or simply quietly swoon in admiration. Meanwhile, Seo-ah didn't do either. She had not a single trace of emotion on her face when she turned to Hye-jin. There was a lot on her mind. A lot she wanted to say. And yet it all boiled down to,