𝗶 𝘄𝗼𝗻'𝘁 𝘀𝗮𝘆 𝗶'𝗺 𝗶𝗻 𝗹𝗼𝘃𝗲 (𝙗𝙪𝙩 𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙣𝙙𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙞𝙩'𝙨 𝙖𝙡𝙡 𝙨𝙤 𝙘𝙡𝙚𝙖𝙧) | 𝙝𝙖𝙤𝙗𝙞𝙣

iii

'Alright kids, time to put your pens down and clean up a little bit! Said Hanbin. 'It's almost lunchtime.' He added with a smile.

As he clapped in his hand to gather the attention of the children, he could see Zhang Hao in the corner of his eye, helping a bunch of them to put back all the furniture they used in their respective boxes. Right when everything has been put back in place, the bell rang, informing them that it was finally lunchtime. As Zhang Hao was leading those who ate at the canteen, Hanbin collected those who were heading home to lead them to the waiting parents.

As the kids were removing the shoes they were wearing inside, Hanbin made some small talk with a group of parents who were watching their kids distractedly, more focused on him.

Hanbin took a lot of pride in being the teacher the parents praised the most. Did the fact that he was pretty handsome help? Probably. There was a kind of running gag between the teachers, saying that if an ajumma were at the school to pick up a kid, the kid was eight times out of ten from Hanbin's class. But he really liked his job and seeing people recognize his efforts made him feel glad. It was just some silly words he would remember at the end of a very tiring day. It helped him fall asleep quicker, so that was that.

As he was waving at the last children who were being picked up and saying 'See you later' with a smile, he sensed a presence next to him. He slightly turned his head, but he already knew who it was.

'You're really good with them you know.' Said Zhang Hao who was looking straight ahead of him.

Once again, Hanbin could sense his cheeks starting to heat up. One day he will truly know why he was so sensitive to praises and compliments, but right now, he couldn't think about that kind of stuff.

— 'What do you mean?' He blurted out in an attempt to calm himself.

— 'It's just that... I can feel that you really like your job and that you're truly doing your best for the kids.' He paused. 'It's kind of inspiring, to be honest.'

If he could turn even redder than he already was, Hanbin's face would have done exactly that. As he turned to look at Zhang Hao, he found him already staring at him. Their eyes met for a split second, before Hanbin subconsciously decided that it was already too much for him and looked away. He cleared his throat awkwardly and declared:

'We should head back for lunch. The others are probably waiting for us.' He then turned away and started to find his way back inside.

But what he didn't see was the little smile that bloomed on Zhang Hao's lips.

'Are you coming?' Asked Hanbin who looked back after he opened the door.

[...]

Finally, everyone was seated around the main table in the teacher's lounge, ready to fill their stomach after such a tiring morning.

'Bon appetit!' Each and everyone said almost at the same time, before digging in.

The five of them were all seated around this round table, opening their lunch boxes. As per usual, some teachers hadn't taken their own lunch and had preferred to buy and eat it on the go, so the number of teachers had slightly decreased. The other three who remained were Chan, a sixty-something man who was really close to retiring, Yejin, who was known to be keen on art so she made her students do at least one creative activity per week, and Minyoung, a forty-nine woman whose child was already in high school. They, plus Zhang Hao and Hanbin, consisted the small group of teachers who mostly ate at school.

The meal started very quietly, everyone was too hungry and focused on their food to talk much. But not even halfway through it, Chan started a conversation with Yejin, mostly consisting of small talk about her class, the study schedule she had planned, and an idea he had for a trip to the museum for both their classes. Quickly, Minyoung joined their discussion, slightly forgetting the two other teachers.

Hanbin who was sitting right next to Zhang Hao got a bit closer to him and said in a low voice to not disturb the other three teachers:

'So... What's up? How has your impression been since you started your internship?'

Zhang Hao looked up at him, slightly surprised. It was probably because even since they agreed to get along, Hanbin had never started a proper conversation.

— 'Are you going to answer me or are you just going to stare at me with dead fish eyes?' Teased Hanbin gently. But apparently, he wasn't being as gentle as he wanted to be, since Zhang Hao suddenly frowned at him.

— 'I don't have dead fish eyes.' He pouted.

Hanbin couldn't help but find it cute.

— 'Hao, why are you being all sensitive today?'

— 'Am not sensitive. I just don't have dead fish eyes.'

He pouted even more and looked at Hanbin as if he just had made the worst statement ever. Taken aback by his rather odd reaction, Hanbin quickly apologized.

— 'You're right, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said that.' Hanbin said with a somewhat cute tone, that made Zhang Hao smile.

Just when he wanted to add that he found Zhang Hao had the shiniest eyes he had ever had the chance to look at, his train of thought was interrupted by Chan, who chose this moment to try to talk to them.

'So... How have things been going with you two? I've seen that you're getting along better now.' Said Chan.

As the other teachers shifted their attention to them, Hanbin felt his embarrassment grow as his cheeks started to heat up a little bit once again. His mind is definitely acting up because there's no way he genuinely thinks what he was about to tell Zhang Hao.

'We're doing great.' Answered the latter. 'We get along really well now Hanbin and I, we actually cleared all the misunderstandings...'

Though 'the shiniest eyes he had ever had the chance to look at' was an overstatement, Hanbin had to admit that Zhang Hao had really pretty eyes.

— 'I'm glad then.' Chan replied with a smile.

Hanbin slightly looked up from his lunch to steal a glance at Zhang Hao's cordial smile at Chan. This man had to stop looking so perfect at all times. His mind felt blank and buzzing with thoughts at the same time, which was a really odd feeling. Paired with these strange feelings he had been experiencing since Zhang Hao arrived, he just felt like he was a complete mess.

He wasn't sure of it, but he remembered that the conversation between Chan and Zhang Hao continued, though he couldn't recall what had been discussed during said conversation. For the rest of their break time, he had stayed silent, pondering about why he had been acting like that since this handsome-looking man who had stars for eyes and who sang with such a beautiful voice came to his school.

☼ ｡ :*•. ─────.•*: ｡ ✧

this chapter started to make no sense at all at some point but yeah, i guess i can only accept it.

anyway, let me know your thoughts about this ?