𝐛𝐚𝐝 𝐛𝐨𝐲 || 𝐤𝐢𝐦 𝐡𝐨𝐧𝐠𝐣𝐨𝐨𝐧𝐠.

1

"hey dahee, do you know the answer to question 14?" the girl turns around at the call of her name, looking over to the boy's paper to see the question. she then proceeds to explain it to the boy in detail, running over some parts again when he couldn't quite understand it.

hongjoong watches from his seat, intrigued by her. how could she possibly be that pretty, smart and well mannered? how can someone possess all the good traits one could possibly have? she was perfect. and he was repulsed. how great of a life must she be living? how well was she brought up that she turned out that way?

she explains to his friend on how to solve the question, his friend nodding understandingly. he licks his lip as he leans back on his seat, observing them.

he snaps out of it when his friend cheers about finally getting it, thanking the girl profusely. "no problem, seonghwa." she grins at the boy, turning back to the front to finish her own work. her voice is so smooth and calming. she really is perfect, huh?

the bell then rings, indicating the end of the school day. everyone starts packing their bags, hongjoong doing so as well as if he was even using the materials he had on his desk. "hongjoong, can i talk to you for a while?" the said boy inwardly groans at this. "i'll wait for you by the front gates, dude." seonghwa tells him, immediately leaving the class after.

"yes, ms lee?" he fakes a smile at the middle aged woman sitting at the teacher's desk. "you're failing my class, hongjoong. as well as all your other classes." she states sternly, looking straight at the boy. he doesn't falter at the strong gaze, instead he stares back with the same intensity as she does before rolling his eyes. "well, what do you want me to do about that? not my fault you people suck at teaching."

the woman doesn't seem to be surprised to hear him say such thing. she fakes a smile at the rebellious boy, eyeing his whole appearance from the multiple piercings on his ear to the loose tie around his uniform collar.

"listen, hongjoong. if you don't start putting in effort into your studies, we'll have no choice but to kick you out. you don't want that, do you?" she softens her tone, looking at the boy sympathetically, knowing full well the reason he turned from being one of her favourite students about two years ago, to the mess that he is right now.

his father had passed away slightly over a year ago and his mother had stopped caring about him after that. she was never home for the boy and being an only child, he had no one to turn to. he was glad that at that time, seonghwa had stayed by him but nothing really beats the feeling of being loved and cared for by your own family member. that was all he wanted yet he never got it. figuring that he no longer had to impress his mother about his achievements in school, he completely stopped trying.

he stopped studying, he started smoking and doing bad stuff knowing damn well no one would give a shit about that. everyone left anyways, even his mother. the only good thing was that his late father used to be filthy rich so hongjoong didn't have to worry about making money for himself when his mother left him. he bought himself an apartment and still had so much money left. but what good does money bring if it can't buy you happiness?

all he ever wanted was some sort of familial affection but instead he was pushed out of his own mother's life. the woman acted like she was the only one heavily affected by the loss. she lost her own son because of her ignorance. she didn't realise that her son was also hurting.

"you can kick me out of this school if you want. it's not like i have a future anyway," he states monotonously, eyes void of emotion. "hongjoong, you have a lot of potential, you know that? well, you had potential but ever since your father...left, as well as your mother, you've seemed to have lost all motivation for anything. you can do so much better and i'm certain of it. please, just give it a try, will you?" ms lee looks at him expectantly, hoping she had talked some sense into the boy.

hongjoong seems to be deep in thought before a call of his name from the teacher snaps him back into reality. he notices all of his classmates had already left and the class was now empty. he sighs and looks at the teacher with a bored look. "well, what do you have in plan? you wanna start giving me remedial classes after school or something? i don't think you'll have all the time for that, ms lee."

"oh, no! you're right, i am too busy for that, and so are the other teachers. i've been thinking about having someone to tutor you all that you've missed out since last year. i know that's a bit too much but if you're willing, i'll have someone tutor you for extra credit." she explains to the young boy.

"you let me pick who tutors me and we'll have a deal." he states after a few seconds of thinking. the teacher takes no time to think about it and immediately agrees, excited that after a long time, she might actually see the boy putting in some effort into studying. the teacher starts giving him a few names to pick from, all those who have constantly been the top students in class. his eyes light up at the mention of a certain name and right then, he had already made his decision.

"i want jeon dahee."