p e r s o n a l l y ☆ 2jae

f o u r

Unsurprisingly, the awkwardness persisted between the fateful pair during their maths lesson. Mr Alesto was handing back the test papers from the previous week.

"Well done Youngjae," he mentioned as he dropped the pages onto the boy's desk. A large '97%' in bright red ink dominated the top right corner.

Mr Alesto remained silent when giving Jaebeom back his paper just seconds later. '29% see me!'

Jaebeom knew in reality that he didn't care for this at all, but nevertheless he continued to flick through the paper to attempt to understand what he'd gotten wrong.

"For all the students with a 'see me' on their paper, you'll be having an academic meeting with me after school today– and whilst I'm giving these back I'll give you back your previous homework too."

Youngjae's stomach dropped.

"Get your homework out for this week and put in on your desk so I can collect it when I come round."

Youngjae remained glued to his seat as he watched everyone around his shuffle around for their homework.

It's fine
He told himself
You don't care about this

Mr Alesto dropped Youngjae's past homework in front of him.

'100% well done!'

"Youngjae where's your homework?"

He gulped and remained mute.

"Youngjae."

"I.. I didn't do it," he replied, which he knew was a blatant lie. He'd done his homework two days after it had been administered and now had it sitting at the bottom of his bag in case he had suddenly decided to go back on his plan.

Mr Alesto was taken back, a crestfallen expression on his face.

"Right. Detention on Friday then," and with that, he swiftly moved on.

"Wait sir! You forgot about me–" Jaebeom awkwardly interrupted, grasping two pages of scrawled handwriting.

Mr Alesto didn't understand what was happening. At this point, he had already given up on Jaebeom altogether, and somehow he's the one who's more prepared than his most diligent student.

"My apologies, thank you Jaebeom."

Everyone on their table gave the two funny looks.

Bambam laughed slightly, "This is new, how's Jaebeom getting his homework done– sounds kinda fishy if you ask me–"

"Nobody asked you," the mentioned retaliated.

"S-sorry.. I should shut up now.."

.

.

As the lesson ended everyone rushed to pack away their things.

"Alright everyone, have a good lunch but can Youngjae and Jaebeom stay behind."

The class looked briefly at the two in confusion, before remembering the paradise of lunchtime that they had before them and thus, not too long later, the classroom was cleared of all other students. The duo walked over to Mr Alesto's desk and stood awkwardly as they waited for the upcoming speech.

"Jaebeom, I'm sure you won't be surprised when I tell you that you're very close to failing this class."

The elder nodded slowly while Mr Alesto turned to Youngjae.

"Youngjae, I was wondering if you would be able to tutor Jaebeom. You can do whatever you want outside of school but I'll also give you this classroom to work in during lunchtimes."

"That's a great idea sir," Jaebeom jumped in before Youngjae could decline the offer. A wave of discomfort crossed everyone present. Jaebeom had never called a teacher 'sir' before. Mr Alesto was so taken aback that he'd forgotten to actually clarify with Youngjae whether or not he was sealing the deal.

"Jaebeom, since I've already given you a mini-lecture now and since you've actually done your homework for this week I won't force you to come to another academic meeting today and I'll log this in as you being present."

"Thank you sir."

"Alright, you boys are free to go," and with that, the two quickly turned away.

"Actually," Mr Alesto persisted, "Youngjae wait behind."

Jaebeom cautiously walked out of the classroom while Youngjae made every best attempt to avoid eye contact. 

"Youngjae, is everything ok at home? You don't seem to be yourself today."

Youngjae could only nod and hope to cut this conversation short. The other thing pressing on his mind was to point out how much he didn't want to be a tutor. Let alone to the infamous Lim Jaebeom- although it felt as if the moment to say so had long passed. 

"Well, if anything is going on you know you can talk to me or another one of  your teachers."

The boy nodded again before rushing out of the room before anything else could be said. His heart was beating from the stress of just that single interaction. He wanted to be alone, his plan to head straight to the library and hide away there until lunch was over.

"Choi Youngjae," a familiar voice jerked him from his thoughts. 

He sheepishly looked up, and behold, the one and only Lim Jaebeom was standing in his way.