the tutor | choi beomgyu

chapter 8: who are you?

8:39 AM, Monday, August 26th, 2020

[FLASHBACK : HYUNJIN]

It was the first day of junior year, Hyunjin stepped onto the city bus. He held on to the bar, leaving a free seat in front of him. There were two girls from another school sitting across from him, facing his back.
"He's so cute!" one girl whispered to the other.
"Shut up! He's gonna hear you!" the other replied.
"Look! there's a free spot right in front of him!" the first girl added.
"Should I go?" the second giggled.
"No, I want to!" the first said.
"You'll be too obvious!" the second argued.
"When the bus makes the next stop I'm gonna go over." the first said.
"Not if I beat you to it." the second joked.

Ugh, he put in his earbuds, trying to tune out the schoolgirls' conversation. Hyunjin was used to these types of things. It always made him uncomfortable. He didn't like being treated like a shiny trophy. Finally, the bus came to a stop. The two girls looked at each other. As one was about to stand, you sat down in the seat, staring at your phone.
Thank gosh, Hyunjin said to himself. You looked up at him, then carried on with whatever you were doing. No stare? Smile? Nothing? Huh. Who are you? he realized you wore the same uniform as him.
"Next time." the first girl said to the other.

______

Hyunjin looked around for you at school, but your school accommodated around 1,000 students so it wasn't exactly an easy thing to do.

He said goodbye to his friends as he walked towards the bus stop. He saw you sitting there. He didn't know why, but he started to feel happy. He went and sat down next to you. You didn't pay attention to him.
"Thank you for earlier," he said to you.
"What?" you looked up to see the guy from the bus.
"Those girls were making me uncomfortable, and they were gonna sit in that seat, but you took it before they could," he said.
"Oh, your welcome." you smiled softly.
"What's your name?" he asked.
"I'm (full name), who are you?" you asked, he didn't seem to be in any of your classes.
She doesn't know who I am? Hyunjin was surprised. He was what you could call a "popular kid". Being popular meant you dressed well, knew people in higher grades, joked around when the teachers weren't looking, skipped school sometimes, and had lots of social media followers. Another thing popular kids did was hide their real selves from each other, in fear of being judged. They were too caught up in being perfect. Hyunjin saw this as an opportunity to be himself. The truth is, he was tired of his fake friends, he was tired of being someone he wasn't. The people he liked most were his friends outside of school because he didn't have expectations to fulfill.

"I'm Hwang Hyunjin." he scratched his head.
"They were making you uncomfortable?" you asked.
"Oh, yeah, they just make comments about my appearance and bother me, but it's whatever," he said.
"Do they ride the bus in the afternoon too?" you felt bad for him.
"Not sure," he said.
"It's okay, I'll just put my earbuds in and ignore them, I just wanted to say thanks." he looked down.
"Hmm..." you were thinking about something.

______

[Y/N]

The bus arrived, you and Hyunjin stood up. As he entered the bus he saw the girls weren't there.
"Score," he said.
You sat down in that same seat.
"Don't get your hopes up, this is just going in reverse," you said.
"What?"
"The stops, if the girls ride this bus in the afternoon then they should be getting on a few stops from now." you pulled out your phone.
"Oh," he said.

Sure enough, the bus stopped and the two girls were waiting outside. He sighed, taking out his earbuds. Suddenly, as the doors opened you stood up next to him, holding onto the bar. The two girls stepped on. You linked your arm with his.
"Sorry for ignoring you this morning," you said to him as the girls sat down.
"W-what?" he said quietly.
"Just go with it," you whispered.
"I just thought you'd be mad at me for fighting that girl." you batted your eyes.
He looked at you like you were crazy.
"I mean she was trying to make a move on you and you know how jealous I get." you could tell the girls were watching.
"Oh, yeah." he was finally getting it.
"So you're not mad? I mean I really messed her up," you said.
"Nope, I think it's cute!" he patted your head.
Bingo!
"You're cute."  your acting wasn't the best, but it was enough. You turned to the girls with an I see you look. They immediately looked away. Fatality.