My Professor

accident?

It had been three days since my head had almost been cracked open by the concrete floor. I hadn't done one productive thing. My bag lay in a corner of my room, untouched since that day. My parents had been giving me extra attention since then.

I healed quicker thanks to my doctor parents. Uncle would change my dressing in the morning before he left and then the caretaker would change it thrice throughout the day. Then dad would change it at night after we watched some old action movie together. It was quite fun. I really didn't want to go back.

Day 4, I was wandering around the house aimlessly. Da-kyung kept updating me about whatever happened. Including the voice messages from Suwon's lectures. To get a clearer audio, he made her sit right next to him. From such a close proximity, my poor friend was bound to fall head over heels for him.

"Sunmi-ya I love you and all but please delay returning as much as you can" she giggled.

"YA! Do you like him more than me?" I questioned, very well knowing the answer.

"But HE SMELLS SO GOOD!"

That was so Da-kyung. I had known her since middle school. We bonded well, mainly because I didn't open my mouth a lot and she couldn't keep it shut.

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Day 6. It felt like this week had unusually more number of eco lectures. If I counted correctly, I had missed four working days and Da-kyung just sent me the seventh lecture audio. Was that man going crazy? Who takes extra lectures in the beginning of the semester.

I sighed and played the audio.

It only had a "That's all for today. Thank you class" and the sound of everybody standing up.

Da-kyung had forgotten to press the record button. She was probably too busy getting a whiff of his cologne. UGH THIS WOMAN WILL MAKE ME FLUNK.

I grabbed my phone to give her an earful when I realized that I had Suwon's number. I could ask him to brief me about what he did. Screaming at Da-kyung wouldn't be of much use anyway.

Hey?  No that's too informal.

Good evening ssim?  NOPE

Good evening. Hope you're doing well?  I sound like an old person.

Hello professor. Is your hand better now?  Yes that's perfect. I sent the first message and began formulating the next one.

'Actually Da-kyung had forgotten to record the entire lecture. It would be great if you could brief me about it.'

I contemplated if that message was enough. Not that it should bother him. Or it might? Idk. It might if he was the same prude I met on the first day.

I sent it anyway and kept my phone aside. There was no reply. One hour...two hours...three hours and dinnertime. He hadn't even seen the message.

At midnight, my parents hadn't returned. It was normal. They had to work overnight at times. Those days Uncle Jin and I were likely to cause havoc. We had done everything from sleepovers to sneaking out on his motorbike, getting drunk and running on the road barefoot, all on a school night. He was my real best friend.

Lately, he had been busy in his room texting Jiwon. I liked that he was trying to make mini moves but I felt like I would stop being his best friend if him and Jiwon ended up together. Regardless, I wanted to see him happy.

I lay on my stomach on the bed and scrolled through my instagram feed when a notification popped up.

JANG SUWON HAD FINALLY RESPONDED

'Hey'

'Sorry, just saw your text'

'oh yeah sure. I'll brief you about it on call?'

I didn't open his messages. He shouldn't feel like I'm always online, even if I am. A few minutes later another message pops up

'I'm so sorry I didn't realize it's this late. Gimme a call anytime after 2 tomorrow.'

Fuck it. I'll text him back.

'no no problem. I am awake. Should I call?'

As soon as I sent the message, he rang me up.

"Hey, how do you feel now?"

"Better"

"Great. So today I taught abou- OW FUCK"

It sounded like he had dropped the phone.

"Hello? Hello?"

There was no response. I hung up and called back but no answer. I was getting more impatient by the second. He lived alone. What if something had happened to him?! I called him five more times but nobody answered.

I rushed down to Uncle Jin's room, grabbed his car keys and walked out. I had told the caretaker where I was going and what I was going for. I'm sure my parents would understand and even my uncle won't be that mad because I had not taken his precious motorbike.

I knew where Suwon lived. Fifteen minutes away. How? Da-kyung of course. On the third day of college she practically had all his info noted down in her diary. She never told us how she got it. Her stalking skills were being put to good use and that's all mattered.

It was difficult to drive with a bandaged head. My vision would blur at times when I looked at the street lights but otherwise it was pretty okay.

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On reaching the main door of his apartment, I nearly broke the bell by ringing it so hard. Heavy footsteps approached the door and swung it open.

"Move move move move move" I scrambled into his living room and sat down on the first couch I saw. My head was spinning at full speed now. Had I not found the couch, I would've definitely collapsed in his arms which was the last thing he needed.

"Lee Sunmi! WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?!" he came rushing to me. His voice was a mixture of surprise and concern.

"You were whimpering on the phone" I muttered through heavy inhales, "I called you back multiple times but you didn't answer so I thought I should check up on you. You live alone so I wanted to make sure nothing bad happened"

He looked at me in utter shock. I couldn't figure what he was thinking or what he was about to say. He was quite evidently out of words. Couldn't scold me for sure.

"Sunmi-ya" he sighed, "you came all the way because of that!?" I knew he wanted to hug me and thank me but all he could do was smile. It feels good when someone cares about you right.

"What happened?"

"I tripped and fell on my plastered arm. I had to make sure it hadn't broken again so it took me time to check. I'm sorry you had to come all the way because I didn't respond"

The man was clearly deep in guilt. I told him about how I came alone and found his address from yellow pages and that I just had a hunch that he lived alone. Couldn't let him know that my friend stalked him. He might've freaked out.

He listened, while making a cup of hot cocoa that I poured down my throat in half the time.

Suddenly, the doorbell rang. We both were as oblivious about who it was.