A Stroke of Victory [Yeongyu]

Chapter 3

Yeonjun glanced over his shoulder to make sure no one was watching before pushing open the door to the tutoring center. A quick scan revealed no familiar faces. He sighed in relief and filled out the sign-in sheet with his details. Name: Choi Yeonjun; Subject: Statistics; Entry Time: 6:05. Should he have used a fake name? Would they inform his professor that he had been here? That would be embarrassing. Would any acquaintances see his name and make fun of him? How had things gotten so bad? When had he become a dumb jock?

The center was smaller than he had imagined. There were a few rectangular tables where students could sit and work, and at the far end of the room were two places where the tutors sat. Both were occupied with other students, so Yeonjun sat at an empty table. He opened his notebook to a blank page and his textbook to the confidence intervals section. The text might as well have been written in another language for all he could comprehend. He should have sought help earlier when he could still understand something. He wasn't sure how this worked, so he just sat and observed.

There were only a few students there: two working with tutors and two sitting at the table next to his. They seemed to be doing their homework. He would be more than happy to sit there and work on his assignment, but he didn't know where to start. He hadn't had trouble until he got to the probability part. All those symbols and formulas swirled in his head like a word search, and everything had gone downhill from there.

The tutor swiveled her chair back and forth and tapped the desk with her pencil. She was a beautiful girl of Indian descent. She looked at him and smiled. Damn. It was one of those smiles - the kind of smile that said you're really handsome, want to go out sometime? He frowned, avoiding her gaze by focusing on his notebook. He hated the disappointed look that usually followed those smiles. And some girls tried harder to flirt with him when they found out he was gay. Why was that?

He shifted his attention to the other tutor. The guy seemed a bit younger than Yeonjun, and he was handsome in a geeky way. The black frame of his Clark Kent-like glasses matched his dark, thick hair. What really caught Yeonjun's attention, though, were the guy's lips. Even from that distance, Yeonjun could see they were a deep pink with a pronounced and beautiful heart shape. The guy had smooth skin and was slender, explaining why he looked a couple of years younger than Yeonjun. He waited for the guy to look at him and get a better view of his face, but he seemed absorbed in what he was doing.

Suddenly, Yeonjun felt the urge to leave. He didn't want to deal with the pretty Indian girl trying to flirt with him, and he didn't want to make a fool of himself in front of the handsome guy. He looked at the door, but reminded himself why he was there. If he didn't pass statistics, he risked being on academic probation, which would cost him his scholarship. Without baseball, what the hell would he do? He wasn't good at anything other than that.

The Handsome Guy leaned back in his chair and stretched his arms over his head, while the student he had been working with gathered his things and left. The Handsome Guy arched his back, and Yeonjun's mind wandered to inappropriate places, imagining the feeling of that creamy, smooth skin against the tips of his fingers. Then the Handsome Guy stood up and looked around.

"Anyone need help?" he asked.

Yeonjun blinked and avoided his eyes. He hated everything about this situation. He was not usually this shy, but he didn't want the Handsome Guy to know how dumb he was.

The Handsome Guy left his spot and walked toward the two students sitting at the other table. It looked like he was checking their work. Damn. Yeonjun flipped through the pages of his notebook. Would the guy want to see them? God, he would probably laugh at all his scribbles.

"Hey," the guy said as he approached shortly after. Yeonjun's heart jumped when their eyes made contact. Deep and adorable black eyes.

"Do you need help?"