𝓬𝓱𝓮𝓶𝓲𝓼𝓽𝓻𝔂❤︎

Chapter 3

She sat there, enjoying how Mr. Le interacted with the students—less like a traditional teacher and more like an older brother who’d mastered the art of sarcastic patience. Her group of friends hovered over the lab equipment, doing the hands-on work while she observed and filled out the lab paper, glancing up occasionally as their laughter bubbled up from minor mishaps.

When Mr. Le finished giving instructions, he let the class work independently. His dark figure moved quietly through the room, observing the students as they mixed chemicals and filled out their lab sheets. Eventually, he made his way over to her table, his eyes glancing at her paper as he walked by.

She sat on the outer chair, the perfect position for him to lean over and inspect her work. As he scanned her answers, she felt her heart beat a little faster when he paused, raising an eyebrow. His hand reached out, and with the slightest brush, he circled an answer with his pen, the ink marking her paper in a way that seemed far too significant for a simple correction.

"Go back and re-read the question, yeah?" he said, his tone casual but pointed. She blinked up at him, confused, her brow furrowed as she tried to figure out where they’d gone wrong. His sigh was barely audible, muffled by the mask, as he looked at the rest of the group, his eyes betraying mild amusement.

Before she could ask for more help, one of the girls in her group piped up, realization dawning. "Oh! I was wondering why the smaller number had more grams. I put them in the wrong column, guys."

A collective sigh rippled through the group as they erased the mistake and corrected it. Mr. Le’s chuckle was soft, almost imperceptible, but it sent a flutter through Y/N’s stomach. His raspy voice lingered in the air as he moved away, leaving behind a simple correction and, for her, a trail of lingering thoughts.

As he chuckled under his mask, she couldn’t help but feel that strange warmth settle in her chest. His voice, raspy and calm, stayed in her head longer than it should have. And then there was the fact that he’d touched her paper, left a mark on it, as if that simple gesture made the page more valuable. A small smile tugged at her lips as a ridiculous thought crossed her mind—how she could take the paper and rub her face all over it, if only for the fact that he’d touched it. But she quickly pushed that thought away, reminding herself that she had work to do.

The group kept working through the lab, focusing on the steps, until they hit a roadblock. A tricky question at the back of the sheet left all of them stumped. Everyone seemed to have a moment of collective confusion, no one able to figure out what the question was even asking.

When Mr. Le made his rounds again, one of her group members flagged him down, asking for some guidance. As he explained what an isotope was, his eyes met hers, and for a split second, it was as if the rest of the class disappeared. Her heart raced, a blush creeping up her cheeks as she quickly looked down at her paper, her mind blanking out. She wasn’t even looking at the question anymore; all she could think about was the fact that he had made eye contact with her, and now she was blushing like an idiot.

Mr. Le didn’t seem to notice, though, as he continued explaining, his voice calm and steady. When he was done, he gave a short nod and moved on, leaving her with a flurry of emotions she couldn’t quite name.