Chapter Text

There’s a ringing in Sunoo’s ear when he drops his bags at home. His feet felt like they weighed a ton, dragging wearily against the floorboards of his apartment. Gingerly, his fingers touch the necklace on his neck, the metal cold against his pale skin. Before, the necklace felt warm. He doesn’t even know what he’s supposed to feel at the moment. 

Angry? Upset? Betrayed?

It would’ve been reasonable for him to feel all of those emotions. Yet truthfully, all he could feel was an emptiness in his heart. He walks into his kitchen, digging around for a glass of water, when suddenly, his mind replays a flashback from when Sunghoon last visited him.

“Sunoo-yah, we should try and make kimchi jjigae today.”

He looked back at Sunghoon with his eyebrows furrowed. “Are you sure? The last time you suggested we cook something in my kitchen, you almost burned my apartment down.” Sunghoon swivelled around the bar stool he was sitting on, mouth agape as he tried to look offended.

“Are you saying you don’t trust my culinary expertise?”

Sunoo rolled his eyes. “No, that’s not what I said. I’m saying, do you even have culinary experience to begin with?” Sunghoon let out a strangled sound, the tips of his ears burning red. “What the—I’ve been living on my own for years! Of course, I know how to cook.”

“Sunghoonie, cooking doesn’t just involve making fried rice and egg, y’know.” He bursts into laughter, watching as Sunghoon buries his head in his hands and fakes a sob. Ever the dramatic one, really. Sunoo caves in, though, itching to spend more time with Sunghoon (as if they don’t spend enough time together).

“Kidding, kidding. Let’s make some kimchi jjigae.”

A pang resonates in his heart, suddenly missing the presence of a second person in his house. 

Everything looked different in this light; the living room that he once cherished felt bleak and weary, lacking the usual mess of limbs lounging on the couch as they watched a movie together. His dining room was sombre, and if he closed his eyes hard enough, he might still envision the person who used to sit and stare as Sunoo made dinner for the two of them (after he got kicked out of the kitchen). He had forgotten what his apartment used to look like, used to sound like, even, right before Sunghoon so gracefully intertwined himself into his life.

He didn’t even know how it happened—one day, they were bickering as usual in the teacher’s lounge, and the next, Sunghoon had already fallen asleep on his couch during their Ghibli marathon.

His fingers felt the metal on his neck once again. There’s an unsettling feeling brewing in the pit of his stomach, and Sunoo surmises that Sunghoon wasn’t telling him the truth. The other already lied about the necklace in the first place, but he felt as if that wasn’t the full picture at all. The only thing is, is Sunoo even ready to hear him out? 

Even if there was more to the story, it was no reason for Sunghoon to lie at all and take credit for the necklace. 

Embarrassment floods the base of his neck. Has he been wearing a necklace gifted to him from someone else and flaunting it around as Sunghoon’s gift? Yet that itself didn’t make any sense at all because the note only mentioned a ‘Mr. Park’, and Sunoo’s pretty sure he’s scavenged every single ‘Mr. Park’ in the school and came to a dead end.

There was no one else it could’ve been, so why did Sunghoon say it wasn’t him? And why was Sunghoon so upset when he admitted to his lie? If anything, it should’ve been Sunoo, considering he’s been lied to the whole time.

Unless the necklace wasn’t for him.

Acid coats the back of his throat, a sickening feeling clouding over him. No, Sunghoon would never do something like that. He’s too lovely and sweet to ever lead someone on like that. Tears prick the corner of his eyes, and Sunoo realises just how much the day weighed on him.

There must be an explanation for everything. There has to be.

The phone rings once, then twice. “ Hello? Oppa? ” Park Minju’s voice filters through his phone speaker, sounding somewhat annoyed at her brother. “ Why did you keep spamming my phone? You know I had late classes today, ” she scoffs at her brother, but Sunghoon doesn’t miss the subtle softness in her tone. Now that Minju’s in college, the Park siblings have barely had any time to spend together, so it’s nice to hear from each other every now and then.

(Of course, like every sibling, they pretend to have a bit of disdain for each other and bicker till their mother yells at them for being too loud.)

“Sorry, Minju-yah. I just wanted to talk,” he said, his voice quiet and void of his usual cockiness. “ Oppa…are you okay? ” Seems like nothing ever gets past his sister.

All the pent-up emotions he’d been feeling since he last saw Sunoo made him nauseous, the feeling of the latter’s heartbroken stare gnawing at the back of his mind. He shouldn’t have said that, shouldn’t have let his emotions get in the way. There’s a heavy weight in his chest as he sighs heavily, gathering the courage to explain things to his sister.

“I may have fucked up,” he mumbles, slumping against the wooden frame of his bed as he hung his head low.

“ Well shit, can’t say I was expecting something else.”

Sunghoon sputters, his tone stunned, “What the—just what were you expecting?” For some reason, his sister’s words calmed the storm that had begun brewing in his heart, settling into an unsteadiness he couldn't shake off. “ I don’t know, ” Minju responds, and Sunghoon could imagine her shrugging as if she managed to materialise herself in front of him.

“ Maybe you got a girl pregnant or some shit like that, ” she retorts, stifling her laughter. Amidst Minju’s poorly concealed giggles, Sunghoon sat up straighter in bafflement (arguably the straightest thing about him at that moment, he surmises). “You piece of crap—I’m gay! ” She dissolved into loud chortles, then progressed into wheezing as she continued to laugh at her brother.

“ Who knows, perhaps you got drunk enough that you did it with a girl. ”

He’s genuinely astonished that his own sister would think he was capable enough of even doing something like that. Unfortunately for Minju, her brother was one: a homebody who chooses to drink in solitude, and two: already head over heels for somebody else. Which, speaking of, is meant to be the topic of their conversation before she diverted them to something unrelated.

“Minju-yah, I really did mess up, okay?” 

He hears the laughter on the other end die down, Minju clearing her throat in the process. Neither of them says a word for a while, with Sunghoon trying to gather his own thoughts. What was he supposed to tell her? Oh, I admitted to gifting my crush a necklace that was clearly not from me and then decided to expose it to his face because I got butt hurt that he called me a ‘friend’? No matter what angle Sunghoon tried to twist the story into, it still made it sound bad, so he guesses he just has to put up with the scolding Minju will surely subject him to.

“ Is this with that pretty boy you post on your story sometimes? The one that looks like a fox?”

Seriously, nothing ever gets past Park Minju.

“Yeah,” Sunghoon says, a bit breathless. He’s a bit shameless when it comes to posting Sunoo on his Instagram story, trying to make it clear to his (a little under 120) followers that he had something special with the ‘pretty boy’—posting their little apartment hangouts, cooking mishaps, and the like. Of course, she caught on to his crushing. She hums, amused and curious. “ So, what did you do?”

“Well,” he begins, and curses himself out internally because his words and impeccable intellectual ability decided to fail him at that moment. “I admitted to gifting him a necklace that was clearly not from me and then decided to expose it to his face because I got butt hurt that he friendzoned me.” Great, he paraphrased at least one word from his initial explanation, so that counts as a small victory in his sea of losses. 

Silence befalls the other line. Tugging the phone away from his ear, Sunghoon checks if his sister got disconnected without his knowledge, only to be greeted with her contact name on his phone and the elapsed time. He hears a slightly pained gasp, then nods in relief as he determines his sister is alive.

“ You’re so fucking stupid. How the hell did you graduate top of your chemistry degree when you were a student? ” Her voice was teetering between the line of incredulousness and irritation, and Sunghoon had a feeling he might die that night. 

Whilst he was the older of the two, once Minju gained enough consciousness of the world around her, she immediately assumed the role of a proxy older sister; nagging her brother when it came down to it, and giving him advice when his love life turned sour. He knew that despite her now annoyance with him (of which he does agree is valid ), Minju will always, always, stay by her brother’s side.

“ Can you please explain everything that has happened please? With all the details. I need to know what I’m dealing with and whether or not I’ll be choking you in your sleep.”

So Sunghoon does as he’s told. He explains that at first, he never said anything about the necklace, but no one took ownership of it, and at some point, Sunoo ended up believing he was the one who gifted it to him. It turns out, Sunghoon keeping his mouth shut about that mishap ended up being a turning point in his life, because who would’ve known they’d get this close?

He tells her of the odd letter of gratitude he received from Sunoo, how the latter acted a bit weird when he mentioned the letter to him. Sunghoon realises then how many peculiar things have been happening to the two of them that neither of them has addressed. Perhaps, he ponders, it’s a higher being bringing us closer together like true soulmates .

(Unfortunately, no, it is not the God of love bringing them together. It’s a bunch of high school students who should ideally be spending their time studying for college entrance exams instead of meddling in their teachers’ business. But anything is more interesting than staring at practice exam papers and wondering if they passed, or passed away.)

“ So to summarise, ” Minju snickers, “ Neither of you has commented on the weird things happening to you guys, from the necklace to the letter, and then you decide with that self-destructive tendency of yours to admit it wasn’t your gift? That’s a new low, oppa.”

Sunghoon groans loudly, leaning back into the bed frame, but accidentally goes too far and ends up thumping his head against the wood. He hisses, earning a confused hum from Minju, but brushes it off. Nothing ever seems to be going his way today. “Well, pretty much. That’s what I mean when I said I fucked up . I can’t believe I got so upset he called me a ‘friend’ that I ruined what we already had.” His sister grumbles something under her breath, something about her brother being born with a skull thick enough that no drill could penetrate any common sense into him. 

Minju sighs exasperatedly, “ Well, I think the two of you need to have a chat. You need to explain everything about the necklace, and you guys need to discuss whatever… thing is going on around you two. ”

Funny how one day Minju was crying at the park because she scraped her knee, and today she’s nagging at her brother to get his love life together.

He hears another heavy sigh from his sister, but this time her voice appears softer, a bit more introspective. “ Oppa. You know I’m only doing this because I want you to be happy, right? You deserve to find someone to make you happy. ” Sunghoon feels a lump in his throat, heavy and grateful. Tears well up in the corners of his eyes, and it baffles him how quickly his emotions make an appearance.

It was rare for Sunghoon to get overly emotional about things, but his sister just had that effect on him. He lets his guard down just this once, though.

“I know,” he chokes out, and Minju giggles through the line. Suddenly, it doesn’t feel as if she’s stuck in her college dorm, buried in a pile of readings for her legal studies class, and that Sunghoon wasn’t wrapped up in his bed, sulking about his failing love life. Instead, it felt as if they were back in their family home, with Minju wiggling her way next to Sunghoon’s side because she was scared a monster would jump out from under her bed.

“ You sap,” she chuckles, “ Make sure to update me on what happens, oppa. I hope it works out. ” Sunghoon manages to heave a watery laugh.

“ Now stop bothering me for the night. I have cases to go through. ”

Soobin bites his lip, eyes trained on the teachers in front of him. Beside him, Yeonjun looks on wearily, feeling as if all their efforts from the past few months have gone to waste. They watch as Mr. Kim fumbles around Mr. Park, avoiding his eyes with his head bowed down. Mr. Park was no better—he doesn’t even look back when Mr. Kim brushes past his shoulder, and there’s a cold lifelessness that’s evinced in their countenance that replaced the adoring warmth they used to have.

They were not the same teachers who the students were watching shamelessly flirt in their hallways two days ago. There is something completely and utterly wrong .

Yuna finds the two of them slumped by their lockers as the teachers briskly walk away from each other, following their line of sight and noticing the lack of bickering she’d gotten used to hearing from Mr. Kim and Mr. Park. “I thought it was going so good,” Soobin wails, his hands now coming up to claw at his face. “It was, Soobin-ah. I swear they were basically kissing every time I saw them in the hallway. Why are they now suddenly acting as if they got infected by the bubonic plague?” Yeonjun groans, sliding his back against the lockers till he reaches the ground.

She pats their shoulders sympathetically, nodding along to their bursts of frustration. “I know. It was going well. I overheard the other Mr. Park talking about how the two of them would always post each other on Instagram. ” This caused the two to whine even louder, earning a few pointed glares from the passing students. 

“I wonder what happened,” Yuna ruminates, running a hand through her hair. Soobin sighs again, racking his brain for things that could’ve gone wrong.

It seemed like everything was supposed to be going well—they were practically making heart eyes at each other in the chemistry lab. There was no denying the fact that the two have become enamoured with each other. It takes a truly blind and oblivious person to refute otherwise.

“I have a hypothesis and a proposal,” Soobin says, straightening himself up and fixing his hair haphazardly. “I think that they had an argument after the ‘acid’ incident.”

Yeonjun rolls his eyes, “Well, no shit, Sherlock. What else did you think happened?” Soobin scowled at him, not wanting to entertain Yeonjun’s smart ass. Yuna signals for Soobin to go on, as if telling him to get on with it.

“Hm, I think the argument is something a bit more personal, perhaps unrelated to the fake acid incident, but that was the catalyst,” he continues, “I don’t know, maybe one of them accidentally friend-zoned the other or something.” He peeks at Yuna, shaking her head in thought, “So, my proposal is this: we need to eavesdrop in the teacher’s lounge.”

“What’s this about eavesdropping?” A sudden voice rings from the corner of their hallway, and all three of them jump. Whipping themselves around, they were met with Yeji’s slanted eyes, her face stone hard and challenging. Marching towards them, she folds her arms over her chest, tilting her head to the side and prompting the three to explain what was going on.

“Mr. Kim and Mr. Park were arguing,” Yuna begins, shuffling her way to her friend sheepishly. Yeonjun stands from where he was crouched on the ground, his hair tousled from the many times he’s gripped it throughout their previous conversation. “We were trying to figure out why they were arguing. Wouldn’t you say our plans were going pretty well, Yeji?”

The girl nods, leaning her chin between her thumb and index finger as she ponders. It’s true, everything was going well. At least, that’s what Yeji believed, too. “I knew meddling in their business was a bad idea. We should’ve just let them fall in love on their own account.” Soobin interjects, “That’s the thing! We could’ve, but then we’d be 50 years old with crackling knees the day they get together. Which means they’d probably be on their deathbeds by then and definitely in hospice care or something.”

“That’s an exaggeration,” Yuna giggles, brightening the sudden gloominess that swirled within the air. “I don’t care,” Soobin grumbles, “That’s why we need to eavesdrop in the staff room. The teachers will definitely talk about it.” Yeonjun nods solemnly, “You’re right. They’re gossipers as much as we are.”

Yeji could only grumble and agree (unwillingly, if she may say so herself).

“What the hell is wrong with them?” Jake whispers, moving closer to Jay as they both watch Sunoo and Sunghoon dance around each other like there was a force repelling them. “I don’t know. But whatever it is, I don’t like it.” Jay shuffles on the couch, squinting at the way Sunoo would sneak wary glances towards Sunghoon.

The two were acting completely out of character the moment they walked into the staff room that morning. Sunghoon entered with two cups of coffee in his hand, one iced Americano and one vanilla latte for himself. Sunoo, who had already arrived a couple of minutes beforehand, only watched with yearning. He watched the way Sunghoon stopped himself before he reached the other’s table, then steered himself and made a beeline for Jay’s, to which he placed the iced Americano on his desk.

Jay never gets coffee from Sunghoon. Never. 

Sunghoon said that he’d rather die than choose to willingly buy coffee for Jay, and he’d ramble on about how he’s not Jay’s personal assistant to be doing stuff for him. Yet, there was always one person who’d defy all the odds, managing to make Sunghoon bend against his will.

It was a force of habit—he’s gotten so used to buying two cups of coffee every morning that it was just normal for him. Sunghoon’s forgotten that they weren’t technically on speaking terms at the moment.

“Weren’t the kids’ plans going well? Both of them have been coming into school looking starstruck after spending a weekend together.” Jake nudges Jay’s knee, motioning for him to shift towards the edge. Heeseung, who’s just gotten back from teaching a class, flops beside them, shoulders shrugging as he gestures to the two teachers standing five metres away from each other awkwardly.

“What’s up with them?”

“Exactly what I said!”

Jay slaps Jake’s knee for being too loud, and then says, “Someone should interrogate them or something.” Heeseung chuckles, whipping out his phone. “I’m already on it.”

heeseung

yo jungwon

jungwon

what

if ur asking for another pay raise pls know that the department already said no.

well then can’t say i’m not shocked

He glances up briefly, seeing the way Sunghoon walks around the room like he is walking on eggshells, avoiding Sunoo’s desk but still trying to get close enough to get a glimpse of the boy. Also, Sunghoon had his lips pursed in a way that made him look constipated, and that was enough of a sign to Heeseung that they needed to interfere.

heeseung

i need u to interrogate sunoo

jungwon

?? if this is about something weird i am NOT doing it

i dont wanna know how he likes to take it please

WHAT IS WRONG WITH U

I JUST WANT U TO ASK HIM WHATS UP W HIM AND SUNGHOON 

WHAT THE FUCK DUDE

I DONT WANNA KNOW ABT THAT?????

oh

lol

i assumed u wanted me to interrogate if him and sunghoon fucked or anything and that’s why they’re so awkies ykyk

…so u think they fucked like casually

and then it got awkward aft that cus the emotions got too much?

damn only u can catch my freak like that

i’m kidding yes i will interrogate

tell him i wanna see him rn

Standing from the couch, he saunters his way to Sunoo’s desk, a devilish smile on his lips. Jay and Jake could only watch with amusement, mischievousness twinkling in their eyes. Unaware of the three men waiting to pounce on him for information, Sunoo continues mindlessly flicking through the pages of the textbook he was supposed to teach for his next lesson. He doesn’t notice when Heeseung’s staring him down deviously, nor does he notice the way the other two have now crowded around him too.

From the other side of the room, by the big bookcase, Sunghoon frowns, wondering what the three were up to with Sunoo. There’s a part of him that wants to speak up, knowing full well that Sunoo doesn’t like being disturbed when he’s trying to create teaching materials for his students. He’s not sure if his act of chivalry would be received gratefully by Sunoo, so he chooses to bite his tongue instead.

“Jungwon wants to see you,” Heeseung begins, toying with the little cat figurines Sunoo had on his desk. He’s met with a confused hum, Sunoo still not paying him any attention. “And what does he need me for? I have a class in about,” he moves to check the watch on his wrist, “20 minutes.” The former tapped the desk insistently, now successfully gaining Sunoo’s attention, but the latter was evidently getting annoyed. “He didn’t say,” Heeseung said, to which Sunoo replied, “And why didn’t he text me himself?”

Heeseung groans, “Can you just go? I don’t know why he didn’t text you, okay? I just saw his message to me, and I’m relaying it now.” Begrudgingly, Sunoo gets up from his table, not sparing anyone another glance as he leaves the room. Truthfully, Heeseung didn’t deserve to be spoken to like that, but there’s just something in the back of his mind that’s causing him to act out of line. Sunoo decides that he’ll apologise to the other later, but for now, he’ll focus on whatever Jungwon has to say.

With Sunoo out of the room, the three (and Sunghoon, but he isn’t contributing to their conversation at all, too busy moping at his desk to even care) cross their fingers behind their back, hoping Jungwon could bring them some information to know how to proceed around the two.

And perhaps, they’re hoping that Sunoo and Sunghoon will return to the lovesick fools they formerly were. 

Trudging his way to Jungwon’s office, Sunoo runs a hand through his usually well-kept hair. It’s uncommon to see him so frazzled and unkempt, considering he was so nitpicky about how he presented himself to others. But there’s just been so many things on his mind lately, dragging him down and carving a human-sized hole in his soul.

He misses Sunghoon. He misses his presence, his laughter. He knew the coffee was supposed to be for him, and watching Sunghoon steer himself away from his desk just to place the coffee on top of Jay’s felt like a knife was stabbed into his heart and then twisted. 

Hand on the doorknob, he twists it gently. The door creaks as he’s tenderly pulled into the room, and a pair of familiar arms tuck him into the crook of their neck. Jungwon stays there for a moment, hands stroking Sunoo’s hair as he lets the latter bask in the comfort of his best friend. He continues even when tears begin staining the fabric of his polo top, allowing Sunoo a moment of respite from the mess he’d been in the past few days.

It was obvious to Jungwon that something was wrong when Sunoo dragged his feet into the staff room that morning, his hair marred with the cowlick that only appears when he’s just rolled out of bed. Sunghoon followed him soon after, looking equally as horrible, with his eyebags dark enough to make him look uncanny.

The two most prim and proper people Jungwon knew appeared looking like they’d just been mauled by an oversized truck. 

Once Sunoo was a bit calmer, he shuffled them towards his desk, making Sunoo sit on his chair as he propped himself on his table. “Would you care to explain what’s got you in such a mess? I’m gonna assume this has something to do with Sunghoon?”

Sunoo buries his face into his hands, his ears scarlet dusted at the tips. “ Fuck, we were that obvious?” Jungwon laughs, breathy and light, and it brings an ease that Sunoo welcomed. “I’d be more concerned about who doesn’t know at this point. So spit it out.”

“Sunghoon told me he was never the one who gave me the necklace.”

Jungwon suddenly feels his blood boil. Park Sunghoon admitted that he lied to his best friend. It would’ve been all fine if Sunghoon just quietly took ownership of the necklace, but he told the truth, and now it ended up hurting Sunoo. Noticing the sudden clench in Jungwon’s jaw, Sunoo was quick to defend Sunghoon. “It’s partially my fault, too, Won-ah.”

“How?” Jungwon questions, his brain conjuring up ways to make Sunghoon suffer for hurting Sunoo. “I pretty much forced him into saying the necklace was from him. He must’ve felt so guilty about it that he had to tell me.” Sunoo fiddled with the hem of his sweater, his eyes downcast. “I think I said something that hurt him after he had that… incident? I don’t think I can call it an incident, but for the lack of a better word, I’ll let it be,” he rambles, pausing for a moment before continuing, “He’s not the only one that lied, anyways.”

“Is this about the letter?” 

Lifting a hand to Sunoo’s hair, Jungwon began to carefully place each strand back where it belonged. He tries to smooth the cowlick down, albeit to no use, and promptly grabs the tube of gel he had in his drawer for emergencies. Sensing his best friend’s next movement, Sunoo intuitively bends his head a little lower, just so Jungwon could reach it better. 

“Yeah. To be frank, I don’t know why Sunghoon had to tell me that then. I think it was better off that neither of us knew anything. I must’ve truly said something that hurt him.” His lips tug downwards, forming an adorable pout that Jungwon doesn’t comment on this time. “Have you thought back to what you said that day?” Sunoo taps the desk in thought, “No? I just said that friends get worried for each other, that’s all.”

Jungwon gapes at him. That absolutely petty, fool! Seconds pass before Jungwon could even craft a well-thought-out response, but even then his astonishment betrays him. “And you wonder why he got upset?” It was Sunoo’s turn to widen his eyes now. “Why? Should I not have told him that? It’s true, though. We are friends, aren’t we?”

The other stops him before he could go into another one of his rambles, and Jungwon lays out the facts for him. “First of all, you somehow pressure him into agreeing that the necklace was from him. He doesn’t say anything and goes along with it. Second of all, he mentions you writing him a thank-you letter—in English, might I add—and yet you chose not to say anything. Lastly, you tell him that you were worried because that’s what friends are for. Then, he tells you the truth, and neither of you has spoken since then.”

“Don’t you see it, Sunoo?”

Sunoo tilts his head in confusion, then shakes it. “...No?”

Oh, Jungwon snorts internally, he’s hopeless .

After letting Sunoo rant and mope to his heart’s desires, Jungwon swiftly ushers the former out of his office under the guise that he’ll be late for his class if he doesn’t leave at that moment. Luckily, Sunoo was the type to arrive early to his classroom so that he could prepare his materials, and he didn’t notice the urgency Jungwon was in.

He jogs on the way to the staff room, ignoring the confused head turns directed at him by the other teachers and students. If his memory served him right, only Niki and Heeseung would be left in the room, with Jay and Jake on their way to their respective classes. Jungwon ponders for a minute if Sunghoon would be there, then remembers that he’s got another lab scheduled due to him covering a younger class.

So, the three of them could conspire as much as they wanted to (within reason, and that it is ethically okay enough for them to do).

Jungwon finds Heeseung grading a stack of essays when he enters the room, with Niki typing furiously on his laptop. “Are you guys free right now?” At the sound of his voice, Heeseung perks up, a Cheshire grin now pulling at his cheeks. Niki does the same, except he is still angrily typing at his keyboard. He chuckles at the sight of the other, “Niki, what are you doing?”

“Messaging some dude on Facebook Marketplace . I just wanted his cool coffee table. Why can’t he just let me have it?

Scratching the back of his neck, Heeseung looks over, “Were you bargaining a price with him?” Niki rolled his eyes, as if the answer was as clear as day. “Duh? I asked him to sell his $400 coffee table for like 80 bucks.” 

“Huh. No wonder,” Heeseung snickers, then directs his attention to Jungwon eagerly. “So? What did Sunoo say?”

Dragging a chair from Jay’s table, Jungwon starts retelling what Sunoo told him. Apparently, Sunghoon admitted that the necklace wasn’t from him after their chemistry lab incident.” Niki gasped dramatically, his face contorting into a mix of shock and slight betrayal. “He admitted it? Is he stupid?” 

Jungwon slams his hands on the table, “Fucking exactly! Why did he admit it? The kids have already worked so hard to get them to this point. And Sunoo. God, Sunoo! ” The boom from Jungwon’s outburst reverberated throughout the room, with both Heeseung and Niki jumping in shock (though Niki tried to play it off nonchalantly, except it didn’t work in his favour, and he ended up just looking even more idiotic).

“What did Sunoo do?” Niki asked, ditching his laptop in favour of getting all the gossip. Jungwon’s face fell flat, almost like he was in disbelief that his best friend could be that oblivious. “He friend-zoned Sunghoon.”

Both Heeseung and Niki blinked back with their jaws dropped and their eyes comically wide. Heeseung laughs disbelievingly, almost feeling like he’d go insane at any moment. “Oh my God, he’s crazy. Why would you friend-zone a guy you clearly have the hots for?” Jungwon, on the verge of another outburst, calms himself down by breathing in deeply. “That’s what I’m saying! The funny thing is, he doesn’t even realise that that’s the reason why Sunghoon admitted to not gifting him the necklace.”

“If you think about it, both of them kinda messed up,” Niki adds, now having gotten over his initial shock at Jungwon’s words. In the years that he’s known both Sunghoon and Sunoo as teachers, he’s always respected them in the way that their brains feel as if it had an unlimited capacity—absorbing and dishing out their knowledge in their respective fields like it was nothing. He’s even questioned them a few times on why they chose to teach at a high school instead of furthering their education and becoming a professor, but they’d always just shrug off his question with a smile, lamenting on about how the younger generation needed reliable teachers too.

Right now, though, he wants to retract any form of praise he’s given the two. Because, despite the wealth of intelligence they acquired, they were indeed fools when it came to romance.

Jungwon jumps off the table, now pacing back and forth in the room. He looks at the time on his watch briefly, concluding that they only had just over 15 minutes before Sunghoon would be done with his lab. “I think both of them need to be honest with each other,” he sighs, shoving his hands into his pockets and continuing, “Sunghoon needs to tell him why he admitted to the necklace. And Sunoo needs to tell him about the letter.”

“Letter? You mean the one with the Twilight references?”

Heeseung snorted, slapping Niki’s shoulder at the memory of that day. He never got over how unreal the letter sounded, and it didn’t help how Sunghoon looked more in love with Sunoo after being on the receiving end of it (plus, the fact that Sunoo never even tried to clear his name showed how equally down bad he was). 

“Yup,” Jungwon said, snapping his fingers together. “What if we do a little collaboration with the kids?”

“So that they’ll be the ones to make them make up?” Heeseung pipes up, excited at the prospect of meddling in Sunoo and Sunghoon’s business again. Jungwon smiles, his grin turning devilish from where his lips were once downturned. “ Bingo. Ugh, you keep matching my freak today, Heeseung. It’s giving me the heebie jeebies .” He shivers for emphasis, to which Heeseung could only laugh. Niki, on the other hand, was looking between them with a gleam of mischief. 

“Well, if you put it that way. We can technically make the kids do all the work.”

The two look at him inquisitively, much like meerkats peering over a wall.

“I mean, they already hang around the staff room, don’t they? If we give them the hint that the two argued and someone got friend-zoned, then maybe they’d come up with something to make the two make up,” Niki snorts, “The things they come up with are basically free entertainment.”

Clapping, Heeeung leaned over and ruffled his hair, earning a groan from the other. “That’s genius! Once the kids hear about it, they’ll definitely want to do something. I know for a fact that Soobin wouldn’t be able to sit still if they weren’t back on track to get the two married, or whatever.”

A chorus of nods was shared between the three, deciding on their next course of action. Just in time, too, as Chelsea boots could be heard dragging their way languidly against the wooden floor of the hallway. 

Sunghoon shoves the door aside, almost stumbling his way into the room and disregarding the eyes following and dissecting his every move. He couldn’t care less how he looked right now, not when the only thing on his agenda was to continue sulking about his grave situation with Sunoo. There was a heavy feeling in his heart that wouldn’t leave, no matter how hard Sunghoon tried. It was as if his entire soul was searching for its missing half, wondering why he wasn’t within the sun’s vicinity. The three watch as Sunghoon slumps on his desk, and soon after, another head pops through the staff room.

Sunoo enters similarly to Sunghoon, minus the aggressive slamming of the door. His eyes linger on the hunched body on the other side of the room, his feet instinctively taking him there. Only, he stops halfway, his hands coming up to feel his sternum, remembering that he stopped wearing the necklace ever since Sunghoon told him the truth. Breathing in sharply, he turns on his heels, now briskly walking to his desk and ignoring the way Jungwon called out his name. Every other voice sounded distant to him, and a part of Sunoo was just trying to get through the day without breaking down from the lack of someone’s goofy presence teasing him every chance he got.

They watch as the two assume strikingly similar positions, clouds of dreariness surrounding their once exuberant aura, and they realise just how much they needed to do something about it.

Beomgyu shoves Kai forward, prompting him to hurry up and get behind the lockers . Soobin, who was already crouching down and pretending as if he were searching through Felix’s locker for his maths textbook, glowered at them to shut up. The hallway was devoid of students, most of them choosing not to come to the school at ungodly hours of the morning, but this was the only time they could think of where other students wouldn’t question what they were doing lounging in front of the staff room at extended periods of time (realistically, they already do this, so there was no need to even pretend that they were being good students and coming into school to study for their upcoming exams). 

Yeji hisses at the three to keep it down, hearing the voices from the staff room gradually grow louder. For a fleeting moment, Yeji debated whether or not the teacher’s voices were intentionally getting louder, as if they were purposefully wanting other people to overhear them. Coincidentally, neither Mr. Park nor Mr. Kim was present in the staff room either, allegedly being sent off on sick leave by Mr. Yang to ‘get themselves together’ (Beomgyu overheard this conversation in passing, with Mr. Yang wittering on about how he’s gotten sick and tired of their sulking).

Today was their safest bet, given that the two teachers who had been acting out of character would be gone for the whole day, the students deduced that the other teachers would be gossiping about them. 

And they’re not wrong, because Mr. Park number two’s voice rings throughout the hallway.

“I genuinely cannot believe those two,” he whinges, probably rolling his eyes, but the students couldn’t see their teacher’s faces from where they were hidden. Another booming voice, which Soobin assumes is Mr. Nishimura because of his lack of awareness, replies. “Well, what did you expect? They both did something stupid, and now they’re quarrelling.”

Quarrelling? So their hunch was right, after all.

“It’s on Sunghoon for admitting what he did,” Mr. Sim adds, then a few hums of agreement resonate through. 

“Admit what?” Kai whispers, looking back at Beomgyu, who shrugged and tried to tiptoe to see over the lockers. Failing to look through the window, he whacks Kai several times to try, reasoning that the latter had to use his height for something good. Eventually relenting, Kai propped himself up higher against the lockers, not taking much effort for him to see through the windows above.

“What do you see?”

“Um,” he starts, “They’re standing in a circle like they’re in some kinda cult.”

“ Shut up, ” Yeji hisses, slapping the side of his thigh to say something worthwhile. He snorts and then relays something more important. “Mr. Yang keeps pacing back and forth, like he’s trying to come up with a plan.”

And consequently, a familiar voice flutters through the air. “He’s an idiot for admitting he didn’t give him that necklace.” 

Waves of shock crashed onto Soobin, his body involuntarily taking a screenshot. It’s like he just died and was resuscitated multiple times, and his chest is tightening from how hard the blood was pumping in his chest.

He stays frozen where he’s crouched down on the ground, unaware if he’s breathing or if the entire world has fully stopped.

A hand flicking his forehead breaks him out of his trance, and he looks up to see Yeji’s disapproving face. “You crashed out and then missed the next part of their conversation.”

“ What? ” Soobin dumbly replies, his eyes void of life. “Mr. Yang said that Mr. Park told the truth because he was hurt .”

That was even worse, and Soobin felt himself on the verge of tears. There is no way, absolutely no way, their efforts were going to waste like that. He releases a shaky breath, then tunes in again. 

“Well, I don’t blame him,” comes Mr. Lee’s voice, “He got friend-zoned after all.”

Soobin feels a bit faint now.

Shoving his hand up to cover his mouth, Beomgyu tries desperately to hide the chortles that were coming out. It doesn’t help that both Kai and Yeji were so shocked that neither of them could stop the sputtering that came out, because it’s unbelievable how their own teacher got friend-zoned .

Finally calming down, Yeji finds it in herself to become calm and collected again—she is their voice of reason at the end of the day. “Wait, guys, they’re saying more stuff.”

“That’s diabolical. They’re basically in love. Why would you friend-zone the man you’re in love with?” Mr. Sim’s shoes could be heard knocking against the wooden floorboards, getting closer to the door of the staff room.

The students became motionless, trying to make as little noise as possible until the coast was clear. The shoes clacked further away, and Soobin felt his heart momentarily skip a couple of beats.

“Well,” Mr. Nishimura’s voice echoes, loud enough to be heard outside ( this has to be on purpose, Yeji reckons), “If they could just be honest with each other and talk it out, I believe they’ll be back to what they were before. They’ve both hidden things from each other and haven’t talked about it yet.”

From the way Mr. Nishimura spoke of the situation, it seemed as if they were always aware that the two were being set up. Soobin swallows thickly—if the other teachers have clocked in on it, then are Mr. Park and Mr. Kim just playing along for the sake of it?

“Yeah, they need to talk,” Mr. Park number two mumbled, somewhat at a more acceptable volume compared to Mr. Nishimura. “I do miss their flirting a little bit,” Mr. Lee remarks, more hums of acknowledgement following along. 

Kai looks over the lockers again, seeing Mr. Yang drag a finger across the Polaroids on Mr. Kim’s desk. He’s too far to get a closer look, but from the angle that he’s at, he can make out two oddly familiar faces, but doesn’t make any speculations. “Someone has to do something about them, then.”

At that, the students looked at each other with an air of determination now surrounding them. Mr. Kim and Mr. Park need their help in reconciling—the other teachers proved it themselves. It’s up to them, they suppose, to fix the mess that got the teachers into this predicament in the first place.

(Debatedly, Soobin defends that they were the reason Mr. Kim and Mr. Park got closer in the first place. Any new development in their relationship could be attributed to them.)

“ Are they hearing this? ” Jay mouths to Niki, the latter peering slightly over the windows to check in on the kids. He nods, and the five of them kickstart their plan.

It was relatively simple: all they had to do was briefly talk about what caused the argument, embarrass Sunghoon a bit with a word on his apparent rejection, and then bring it all in with a call for help. No degenerate high school kid can resist being the pseudo-hero in someone else’s story.

All in all, it should work, as long as the knowledge they have of their students' personalities is correct.

“ I bet Soobin will lose it first, ” Jungwon whispered, playful as he clasped his hands together. He signals for Jay to start whinging as they had planned, the latter immediately locking in like it was the most important thing in the world.

Niki moved closer to the window, watching the way Soobin remained motionless on the floor, hands gripping Felix’s maths textbook and his face drained of colour. Jungwon was spot on because Soobin looked as if his entire life just flashed before his eyes. “ I think Soobin is about to faint, ” he snickered, tugging on Heeseung to look over the window. They both suppressed a giggle as Yeji flicked his forehead, coming back from their high, just as a pair of eyes peeked through their window from the other side.

They easily pretend as if they weren’t acting like high schoolers themselves just a second prior, casting on a solemn face and nodding along to the conversation at hand. “ They’re spying on us too, ” Heeseung mentions, with Jake intentionally walking closer to the door just to cause a bit of panic for the students.

This earned him a kick from Jungwon, the latter mouthing a don’t be a dickhead right now, and glaring like he was a cat in his previous life. 

From his periphery, Jungwon notices the same pair of eyes through the window, now donning a more contemplative expression (perhaps all of them should’ve gone into acting with the way they were treating this more seriously than anything). He snapped his finger at Niki, to which the other cleared his throat, and said his lines too loudly for comfort.

Jay rolls his eyes, slapping Niki on the arm for being too loud. “ Yeji’s with them, don’t forget that, ” he reminds, aware that the one person with the most common sense to figure out what was going on is with the boys, and they can’t risk having their cover blown. Jungwon moves to idle by Sunoo’s desk, his fingers running through the plethora of Polaroids. He halted at one by the pin board, moving closer to inspect it.

On closer inspection, the Polaroid showed both Sunoo and Sunghoon hanging out in the latter’s apartment, their smiles incandescent against the filter of the photo. “ Damn, Sunoo is in love. ”

Niki tried to look through the window again, with Jake tugging him down just in case the kids were leaning over the ledge and spying on them. “Did it work?” Jay said, his voice now louder than a whisper, but quiet enough to be their little secret.

Nonetheless, it seemed like their plan worked anyway—the kids congregated together with a purposefulness that they never exhibited with their schooling (aside from Yeji, of course).

Jake smirks, boyish and playful, “I can’t wait to see what they do next. I want our SunSun back.”

Four pairs of eyes stare at him in confusion.

“The hell is a SunSun ?”

The study period is meant to be a quiet time to prepare for their college entrance exams, where they should ideally be making the most of it just to secure the brightest future for themselves.

What it should not be, however, is a time to machinate the best way possible to get their teachers together again.

The future of Korea’s supposedly ‘gifted’ students is rather dire.

Tables fashioned in a makeshift circle—of which they told the innocent substitute, was what they usually did to study together effectively—they began bouncing ideas off each other.

“So Mr. Kim knows that Mr. Park lied, and then he got upset over it, causing neither of them to speak to each other?” Yeonjun clicks his pen a couple of times before scribbling something incomprehensible on the piece of paper. “Kinda? It’s something like that,” Soobin said, appearing more confident and less glum compared to how he was in the morning.

Yeji shuts her biology notes in resignation, realising that studying was nought, she finally tunes in to the conversation. “I’d be upset too if someone I trusted lied to me. Shouldn’t that be the basis of all relationships?”

Keeho speaks up, “What would you guys say is the most important thing in a relationship?”

“Trust,” Yeji repeats.

“Communication,” Yuna remarks.

“A fat ass,” Beomgyu chortles, receiving a non-malicious shut the hell up from Yunjin.

“If it’s trust and communication, then what if we just… show them what trust and communication look like?” Kai states matter-of-factly, remembering how his auntie would show his baby cousin what certain actions should look and sound like. “Like gentle parenting them, almost.”

Narrowing her eyes, Yeji replied, “Our teachers are not children! They’re adults who can probably tell if they’re being treated like kids.” At this, Soobin chuckles emptily, “I doubt it. They didn’t even realise they were being set up until somebody decided to cause a rift in our perfect plan.”

(Well, perfect was an overstatement, but whatever rocked Soobin’s boat, Yeji supposed.)

“What if,” Yuna commences, “What if we pretend to fight in front of them? And then, when they bring us to the teacher’s lounge, we reconcile and apologise for our,” she holds up her fingers for pretend quotation marks, “Wrongdoings?”

Soobin dwells on it for a bit, weighing down the pros and cons. The pros are that if their plan worked well, they could potentially knock some sense into Mr. Kim and Mr. Park and hopefully push them to talk. And the cons—well, he’d rather not delve into it. It’s better to be optimistic than to properly evaluate their options, anyway.

“Will it work?” Yeonjun huffs, his arms crossed over his chest. Yuna could only shrug; it was only her suggestion, and there was no guarantee that it would even work.

“I feel a bit like Schrodinger’s cat right now,” the former mumbled, nimble fingers flicking the page of his textbook back and forth. “I don’t think that’s how it works,” Yuna adds, eyebrows furrowed and her head tilted.

“Does it not? Y’know, like our plan is so uncertain that we don’t know what the outcomes will be, and until a decision by Mr. Kim and Mr. Park is made, we don’t know what’s going to happen.”

Yuna gapes at him, stunned, in disbelief at the words that had just left Yeonjun’s mouth. “The physics is getting to your head. I think you’re possessed.”

four.

A select few students gathered around the back of their school’s open field, with Soobin standing in the middle holding a clipboard. Yeji thinks it’s an outrageous sight, considering it was during the school day, and none of them should even be at the field at that hour. It’s a bit suspicious too, as every teacher who looks their way seems to see through them, as if there was a wordless agreement to not scold the circle of seniors at the very edge of the school.

She chooses not to comment on it—a win is a win, and if they can get away with stuff like this, then perhaps their plans of getting their teachers together were not another one of their lofty ambitions.

“Are we all aware of our roles now?”

Felix raises his hand, his chin perched on his palm as he peers at Soobin through his lashes. “So basically, all Yunjin and I have to do is argue in front of Mr. Kim and Mr. Park? But what would we even argue about?” Yunjin purses her lips, contemplative. “Perhaps we could argue about something similar? Like, what if I lied about a set of notes you ‘borrowed’ from me, thinking that it was from me, but it was actually Taehyun’s notes that he let me copy?”

“And then you found out because Taehyun saw the notes and told you it was his, and you felt embarrassed that you accidentally copied someone else’s work instead of mine. And then you called me stupid, or some iteration of that.”

All of them stare at Yunjin in silence, churning her words in their heads. “It’s…a bit complicated,” Chaeryeong states, flicking her eyes back and forth between Yunjin and Felix. “But, it could work? I mean, what other option do we have?” Silence looms over them again, each of them turning their heads towards each other in hopes of different ideas.

Alas, it was futile, and they had no choice but to settle for Yunjin’s idea.

“It could work, as long as you guys oomph up the acting game, I suppose,” Soobin states, nodding towards Yeji for confirmation. The latter shrugs, also at a loss for a better suggestion. As long as they get their message across and their two favoured teachers stop acting like they’re the teenagers, then they’ve done their job.

If this fails—well, they were never one to give up, were they?

Sunoo trudged along the hallway holding a stack of papers in his hand. He looked a lot more decent than he did the day after he argued with Sunghoon, yet the lack of a spring in his step was still evident that something was missing .

His hair was brushed this time, and he remembered to put a bit of concealer underneath his eyes before he left, giving his face the colour that he’s been lacking since he lost Sunghoon’s constant affection.

He’s always known something was brewing between them, pulling them closer to each other and tying them till the knot was secured. Sunghoon wedged his way easily into Sunoo’s life the same way breathing came so instinctively—there never came a day when neither of them was ever apart, be it from having dinner at the street food tents near Sunoo’s apartment complex, or simply calling each other when something reminded them of the other.

Missing Sunghoon was the worst, and yet he knew it went both ways.

Sighing, Sunoo opens the door of the classroom, setting his papers down once he’s reached his desk. These days, burying himself in work seemed to do the trick in forgetting Sunghoon for a short while, but never for too long—he can hear the other’s voice in the back of his mind, encouraging him when he’s grading papers, or listening to his rants about things that’s happened in his day.

Why did Sunghoon lie?

Feet stomping their way through the hallway and into the classroom shocks him from his musings, and he shoots up to see a frazzled Chaeryeong. She slams her hands on his desk, her eyes wide and frantic. “Mr. Kim! Yunjin and Felix are arguing—we need your help!”

Sunoo stands with the stealthiness of someone who wasn’t feeling his entire soul being ripped into two just a second ago, following Chaeryeong with hurried steps. Echos of shouts clang in his ears as they draw nearer to the nook that he guesses the two have hidden themselves in.

As he arrives, he spots a familiar figure running towards them from the other direction.

Sunoo feels his heart stop, only momentarily, before it begins pulsing with a normalcy that he’s been craving for.

He knows Sunghoon felt it too, with the way he halts in front of Sunoo, their eyes searching for each other. But they look away, because they have responsibilities as teachers first. Taehyun follows just behind Sunghoon, moving to stand next to Chaeryeong.

“They never said they could act like this,” Taehyun whispered, gaining a newfound respect for his two friends. “I didn’t know about it either,” Chaeryeong agreed, hiding her smile behind her hand.

“What’s going on?”

Sunghoon tries to block them off from each other, alarmed at the way both Felix and Yunjin seemed hurt. The two students ignore them, despite Sunoo tentatively shielding Felix with an arm.

“You didn’t tell me it wasn’t yours! ”

“How could I when you never gave me the chance to?”

Yunjin wailed, tears now streaming down her face as Felix’s frustrations kept spilling out.

“Okay, stop!”

Sunoo held his hands out, panic-stricken and worried. At his outburst, the students finally looked their way, noticing how both Sunghoon and Sunoo were gripping their wrists, ready to tug them away if a brawl did occur (it won’t, considering this was all an act that Felix and Yunjin put on. The hours they’ve spent practising for their school musicals have truly paid off, given the way that neither of the teachers even suspected it could be an act).

“Follow us,” Sunghoon said, his voice stern and lacking its usual warmth when addressing his students. Hanging their heads low, Felix and Yunjin followed Sunghoon in tow, shuffling their feet in embarrassment. They watch as Sunoo positions himself right next to his fellow teacher, pulling Sunghoon down to whisper in his ear.

“I’ve never seen them fight like this before,” Sunoo worries, biting his lip as he glances behind at the guilty faces of their students. “It must’ve been something bad.” Sunghoon lets out a heavy breath, pinching the bridge of his nose as he leads them to the teacher’s lounge.

For the first time in days, the two teachers were acting relatively normal with each other. It felt like a causal shift in the universe, suddenly returning back to what it always was, and always should be. But the students knew this wasn’t the end—their efforts would only be worth it if both Sunoo and Sunghoon were smiling at each other like there was no one else but them. 

Forcing them to sit on the couch, Sunghoon and Sunoo stood in front of Felix and Yunjin with their arms crossed, their faces schooled into an expression of both disappointment and concern. Sunoo taps his feet against the floorboards of the room, rhythmic in the way the student’s hearts begin pounding. The chemistry teacher had a naturally bright aura, always smiling back at students and teachers alike, so on the rare occasion that he’s upset, he gets quite terrifying.

They don’t let it show, though, choosing to enlist whatever ounce of valiancy they could.

“What’s going on between the two of you?”

Felix starts first, “I got upset because Yunjin didn’t tell me the truth about her notes.” She whipped her head to look at him, her eyes shining with unshed tears. “You didn’t let me speak up! I would’ve told you the truth if you had just let me! ” He tilts his head back to look at the ceiling, eyes rimmed red as he chokes back an onslaught of tears (honestly, he didn’t even realise they had it in them to act like this) .

Sunghoon cuts them off before they begin arguing again, his palm shielding their faces from each other. “Okay, okay. Calm down. Talk it through properly.”

Wielding a sharp breath, Yunjin twisted her body so she was fully facing Felix. “I should’ve told you the notes were Taehyun’s. I didn’t want to admit it when you believed that it was mine, when I should’ve done so. I ended up making you feel embarrassed, and I’m sorry.” Pouting, Felix rubbed the base of his palm against his eyes, wiping away his tears. “I’m sorry too, for not listening to you. I got so upset that I ended up calling you stupid, or whatever.”

The students end up pulling each other into a hug, aware of the pained faces on their teacher's faces. Their argument was reminiscent of what occurred to Sunoo and Sunghoon prior, striking the two straight to the heart with an arrow. If it was this simple to reconcile, then why couldn’t they do it?

Clearing his throat, Sunghoon interrupts their little bubble. “Are you guys okay now?” They nod enthusiastically, now looking more like the bubbly students they were so used to seeing. “Yeah. No use getting hung up on something like this and then ruining our friendship. Power of friendship and love, or something like that, I guess.” Felix giggles as Yunjin slaps his arm, the two of them standing up from where they were sitting on the couch.

Sunoo, still a bit shocked from how quickly they reconciled, could only acknowledge them with a hum, his brain churning and turning over their words. 

Ultimately, they were right. They’ve gotten closer in a way that they never would’ve had the necklace incident not occurred. Perhaps the kids had a point, and that there was no use getting hung up on something like that and ruining whatever they were ( if they really were something. Sunoo isn’t sure if they felt it both ways, or if he was being delusional).

Neither of them speaks once the students have left the room, a stunned silence enveloping them in a way that felt agonising. Mustering up all the courage he could (with Minju’s scolding voice ringing in his head), Sunghoon breaks the tension between them first. 

“Sunoo-yah.”

And relief washes over Sunoo, as if he were being healed from all the wounds that he’s been suffering from the past few days. “Yeah?” He replies, dizzy with the need to have Sunghoon by his side again.

“Let’s talk later?”

Sunoo didn’t need to be told twice.

There’s quiet chattering and rough pushing from five grown men in the classroom over, each of them wanting to see the spectacle happening in the teacher’s lounge. During the time the kids were gathering by the back of their school’s open field, Jungwon made sure to let the teachers know not to bother them, explaining that he had given them a ‘task’ to complete together, and they were allowed to finish it wherever they wanted.

Obviously, he lied , because there was no ‘task’, unless their little act in the staff room could be considered as the aforementioned task. It did give them a reason to spy on what the students were planning, which led to their current predicament.

“They’re still fighting?” Jake positions his head above Niki’s, to which the latter groans and tries to nudge him backwards, to no avail. “Yup,” Jay replies, quite impressed. “I never realised they had this much acting talent in them.”

“I don’t even think they knew, ” Heeseung snorts, then furrows his eyebrows, watching as Jake and Niki continue shoving each other aside. Annoyed, he pushed them away, ignoring the words of protest from the other two.

They watch as Sunghoon’s face morphs into something more daunting, like a realisation that dawned on him that shook him to his core. 

Jungwon smirks, mentally applauding Yunjin and Felix for their work. He’s got to look into getting those kids more acting opportunities to hone their talents—as compensation, of course. “This is genuinely the most entertaining thing I’ve ever watched,” Jungwon declared, seeing the way Sunoo doesn’t even look like he’s paying attention to their students anymore.

Usually, they’d be a lot better at separating their personal affairs from how they operate as teachers, never forsaking their duty of care for their own sake. However, it’s clear that Yunjin and Felix’s ‘argument’ strikes a chord within them, rendering them immobile and transported back to the day they argued.

“I think it’s working.”

Yunjin and Felix finish off as dramatically as they started, leaving the staff room with the most ecstatic grin etched onto their faces. Once they were out of Sunoo and Sunghoon’s sight, they brought their hands together and cheered like two little girls on the playground. “Look at them. They knew they had it in the bag,” Heeseung remarks, shaking his head at their antics.

“Wait, guys, look!”

Niki points a finger towards the entrance of the staff room, making all of them shuffle a bit closer so they could see properly. Sunghoon turns on his heels and looks directly at Sunoo, his voice soft as he addresses Sunoo for the first time since their fight. And if Jungwon’s knowledge of his best friend is any right, he knew the other’s knees would be buckling at the moment.

“ Sunoo-yah. ”

“Oh my God, ” Jake said excitedly, slapping Jay’s arm hard enough to have the latter hissing at him. They watch with keen eyes as Sunoo’s and Sunghoon’s faces soften once they face each other, the adoration they held for the other never disappearing despite their time separated.

“ Let’s talk later? ”

If it was socially acceptable for a group of supposedly responsible teachers to holler and whistle like a pack of hooligans, Heeseung believes they would’ve done it. Sunoo and Sunghoon aren’t the only ones feeling the relief that comes over them—they feel it too. The past few days have been a torturous hell; they’ve all had to be careful with mentioning their names in front of each other, avoiding any conversation that touches on their dispute. Making sure that they interacted with them separately was an arduous feat; the teachers shared common spaces within the school, and it was highly likely that they’d be in the same place at the same time .

But seeing them be in each other’s presence with small smiles on their faces was gratifying, and they hoped that the two would return to what they were.

Parking his car in the empty spot next to Sunoo’s, Sunghoon draws in a ragged breath—once he steps out of the confinement of his car, he’d be left alone with Sunoo for the rest of the evening. Whether they’d return home to being at least friends, or perhaps, something even worse, he doesn’t know. Yet the dichotomy of it frightens him, and he prays it’s the former.

Sunoo’s already waiting for him outside his car once he heads out, his fox-like eyes searching his face hesitantly. “We didn’t have to eat at the tents near my apartment, y’know. You live closer to the school—we could’ve gone there instead,” he mutters, his head bowed as their steps sync together slowly. “Nah. The tents near your apartment have better food. And it’s for old time’s sake, right?”

Lifting his head, his lips stretched into a smile, turning Sunghoon’s insides into complete mush. He never realised how incomplete his days felt without Sunoo doing so much as to look at him with a smile. So seeing him like this, softened by the streetlights, with the gentle breeze of early summer fluttering through his hair—it feels like a dream.

Reaching the tents, Sunoo greets the old lady in a sing-song voice, her eyes brightening once she sees the two. “Mrs. Yoon! We’re here!”

“Sunoo-yah! Sunghoon-ah! I’ve missed you both!”

She comes around from the stove and pulls them into a tight hug, the scent of freshly made tteokbeokki and comfort filling their lungs. Ever since Sunoo and Sunghoon started hanging out more often at one of their apartments, they have usually found themselves at Mrs. Yoon’s tent when neither of them could be bothered to cook (which happens more often than not), and she’d gotten so used to seeing them together that when Sunoo came by the other day without Sunghoon, she immediately knew something was wrong.

Perhaps, she’s as relieved as Sunoo is to know that they’ll (hopefully) be okay.

They take residence at the table by the very back of the tent, resuming their usual seating arrangement as if nothing’s ever happened between them. “How’s your day been?” Sunghoon asks, trying to break the ice between them. “Same old. I’ve been teaching the kids more about Korea’s modern history these days, and they’ve been particularly invested in our K-pop history,” he replies, with an awkward smile emerging on his face. 

Of all the things Sunghoon’s learned in his years of being alive, no one has ever told him how awkward it can be when you’re attempting to reconcile with someone you’ve got feelings for.

“Hey, at least they’re interested,” he sighs forlornly, acting all dramatic. “My students are cursing me out for making them learn all about organic chemistry.”

A grimace replaces the awkwardness on Sunoo’s face. “I don’t blame them. I hated organic chem back in high school.” He shivers at the memory of it, and the two of them burst out laughing.

There are things they need to bring up and discuss, but laughing together calmed the sea of anxiousness that was stirring inside, and it felt like the other half of themselves was slowly returning where it belonged.

Mrs. Yoon brings their plates of food to them, knowing exactly what the two always ordered. “Here’s your tteokbeokki, and chicken feet. I’ll bring out the eomuk and dumplings in a bit,” she said, her voice soft against the bustling of the other patrons around them. She ruffles their hair gently, her weathered hands warm.

Starving, the two of them start digging into their food, now talking about how Niki’s been getting on Jake’s nerves recently. 

“They keep talking about something incredibly elusive,” Sunoo recalls, “I came into the staff room once, and they both shut up immediately. And then Niki yelled out something stupid and Jake got pissed.” He giggles, shoving a piece of rice cake in his mouth.

Chuckling, Sunghoon splits the remaining dumplings between them. “Sounds about right. All of them have been acting pretty weird, actually.”

“I think that’s partly our fault.” Sunoo shrugs sheepishly, aware of how their friends have been extra careful around them recently. Neither of them speaks for a while as they finish off the rest of their food (their actions spoke louder than any word could. Sunoo grabs the last eomuk and places it on Sunghoon’s plate, with the latter sliding the remaining tteokbeokki across for the former to eat).

Contrary to the awkwardness that enveloped them when they first arrived at Mrs. Yoon’s tent, now, a more comfortable warmth settled, familiar and missed dearly by them.

Yet, the topic still burned in the back of their minds.

Sunoo stacks their plates together as he avoids Sunghoon’s gaze. “So, the necklace.”

Right. The necklace .

“I’m sorry,” he mumbles, his fingers fidgeting with his wristwatch underneath the table. The cat’s out of the bag now, so he might as well just spill everything. “I should’ve told you the truth, Sunoo. But when you came up to me and said thank you with the most gentle smile ever—I didn’t have the heart to.”

He ponders Sunghoon’s words for a minute before replying. “If the necklace wasn’t from you, then who could it be?” Tapping his fingers on the table, Sunoo watches as Sunghoon shakes his head in contemplation. “I’m not sure.”

“To be honest,” Sunghoon says, “I tried looking everywhere for who the necklace could be from, too.”

Eyes almost bulging out of its sockets, Sunoo fumbles, “What?” His outcry was loud enough for the other restaurant patrons to direct their attention to them, causing Sunoo to hunch his shoulders in embarrassment. 

Sunghoon nods slowly, sipping on his glass of water. “I did. I asked every substitute teacher and TA in our school who had the same surname as me.”

Oh.

A distant memory of himself popped into his mind, back when he went around the school searching for the ‘Mr. Park’ responsible for his gift. The only difference between them was that Sunghoon was insane enough to ask the people he never even considered asking.

“I never asked the substitutes or the TAs.”

“I know.”

Still gaping at him, Sunoo feels his heartbeat quicken again. It always happens when he’s around Sunghoon, and even more so when the latter does something that has Sunoo wanting to admit himself into a mental asylum to get his sanity checked.

“ Why? ”

Sunghoon rolls over the words on his tongue. “I wanted to help you find the true person who gave you the gift,” he says instead, forsaking the ‘ Because I like you’ that wanted to make itself known.

“That’s why I really am sorry, Sunoo-yah. All the signs pointed back to me, but the truth is, I never gave it to you. I don’t even know who gave it to you, either.” Sunghoon lifts his head from where he was staring intently at the ground, his eyes meeting warm, honey-brown ones.

“I’m not mad, Hoonie,” Sunoo whispers, reaching forward to brush off a stray piece of fluff on the other’s hair. “I was upset, yeah, but I knew there was a reason why you lied. I’m not completely innocent either, to be honest.” He giggles softly at the confusion that dawns on Sunghoon, fighting the urge to hold the latter’s cheeks in his palm.

Rather, he opts to poke Sunghoon’s cheek, revelling in the tinge of scarlet that dusts the apples of his cheek. “The letter that you received wasn’t from me either.” 

“Huh?”

Sunghoon shuts his eyes for a long moment, then blinks a couple of times after. Did he hear that right? There’s a hint of a smile that’s teasing the corners of Sunoo’s lips, biting his bottom lip to prevent himself from breaking out into a grin. A perplexed Sunghoon was incredibly adorable, and Sunoo wanted to do nothing more than ruffle his hair and squish his face (and maybe, pepper kisses everywhere, too).

“The letter wasn’t from you?”

Shaking his head, he lets his lips form a small smile. “No. I didn’t have the heart to tell you I never wrote you a letter when you seemed so excited about it.”

A gentle, melodic laugh slips through, coursing through Sunghoon’s body because, of course, both of them were stupid enough to lie for the other’s sake. He couldn’t even find it in himself to be mad— not when Sunoo was staring at him in awe. And if he was being honest, this whole situation just seemed hilarious to him.

His laughs settle down a bit to something quieter, still dripping with fondness. “You mean to tell me that I lied about a necklace I never gave, and you lied about a…” He pauses as he draws the end of his sentence, ruminating on what to call Sunoo’s letter. “ Love letter that you never wrote for me.” 

They chuckle again in synchrony, the swirls of tension in the air fully dissipating, replaced by a tenderness that renders them weak in the knees. Sunoo nudges Sunghoon’s leg under the table, and they know they’re going to be okay.

It’s a bit later in the evening when they bid Mrs. Yoon goodbye, the two of them heading towards the park next to Sunoo’s apartment to allegedly ‘walk off’ their food. At this point, they’re just making excuses to spend more time together, wanting to make up for the days they didn’t end it with a goodnight from the other (crazy how quickly their presence have become ingrained in each other’s routines—it’s like things were always meant to be like this).

Summer’s almost in full-blown swing, the days getting hotter as the weeks go by. Summer nights, though, still brought about a chilliness that prickled your skin enough to cause shivers. Sunoo feels the breeze pass by the back of his neck, and he shivers , hands coming up to rub his bare arms. Sunghoon, who was clever enough to carry around a cardigan with him, shimmies out of the one he was wearing and drapes it across Sunoo’s back.

“Wait—you’ll be cold! ” He tries to take it off, but Sunghoon, stubborn and too soft for Sunoo, tugs it back onto the other’s shoulder. “I’m used to the cold, remember?”

Of course, Sunoo remembers. 

A week or two ago, before they fought, Sunoo found himself lounging on Sunghoon’s couch as they talked about the hobbies they had as kids. Sunoo told him of the time he played piano, the memories of those days instilling a sense of nostalgia. It was then that he found out about Sunghoon’s figure skating days, and they spent the rest of the night watching his old competition videos, until they both passed out on the couch.

“Okay, Mr. Ice Prince,” Sunoo teases, nudging Sunghoon’s shoulder as they walk. They giggle quietly, the sound mingling with the air. 

Glancing at Sunoo, Sunghoon feels his heart clang within his ribs, blood pumping so ferociously that he wonders if he’s about to have a heart attack all because of how pretty he is. The glow of the street lamps that illuminated their path hit Sunoo’s face in a way that made it seem like he had a halo. His hair fluttered along with the wind, making him look like he was birthed by an angel.

Yet, there seemed to be something that was still bothering him, blatant in the way the twinkle in his eye isn’t glowing as bright as it usually does, or the way there’s a subtle downturn to his lips when he’s too preoccupied with his thoughts.

(Jay once told him that he could probably make a career out of being a Sunoo dictionary, with the way that he seemed to know every single one of the others’ quirks and leisures. Sunghoon argues that he’s just perceptive, but they both know that’s a lie. He only cares when and if the topic is about Sunoo.)

He nudges Sunoo this time. “Spit it out. What’s bothering you?”

Jumping from the sudden voice breaking him out of his thoughts, Sunoo whips his head to find Sunghoon staring at him with mirth swimming in his eyes. “Spit out what…” he says dumbly, a bit lost on what Sunghoon was talking about. 

“You’re thinking about something. You only do that pout when you’re bothered.”

Ignoring the fact that Sunghoon admitted to knowing when he was upset, when Sunoo often fared well in hiding it, he grabbed both of the latter’s arms, bringing him around to stand in front of him. 

“It’s just…” He looks away shyly, biting his lip. “I was just wondering what I said that made you so upset.”

Sunghoon honestly forgot he was supposed to be upset about that. When Sunoo started laughing and looking him in the eyes again, he resolved to shove his feelings aside and forget about it. He doesn’t know how he’s going to explain the reason why all of this started, because he got hurt he was friend-zoned.

But the way Sunoo’s eyes looked at him with sincerity—wide and inviting. One day, if he ever gets checked into an asylum for going crazy, the sole cause will probably be Kim Sunoo.

Fuck it, he thinks, I’ll just be honest .

“Sunoo-yah,” he mutters, tugging Sunoo closer. “Are we really just friends to you?” 

His legs feel like jelly right now, but it’d be embarrassing if he just fell to the ground in front of the man he had feelings for. Sunoo’s face transforms into one of shock, lips parted from Sunghoon’s confession (if you could call it one).

“ What? ”

He shakes himself out of it soon enough, his hands now gripping onto Sunghoon’s arms tightly, as if letting go meant that he’d realise this was all a dream. “I don’t think we’re just friends,” Sunghoon confesses, and Sunoo can see the way the former was trembling.

He knows he has to answer soon.

“ No. I don’t think so, too.”

Sunghoon grins, drop-dead gorgeous and tender. “I’m sorry I was being a pain in the ass.” Sunoo laughs, exhilarated and filled to the brim with affection for the other. “You really were,” he joked, but he pulled him in for a hug anyway.

They stayed in each other’s warmth for a while, letting Sunghoon’s cardigan and his arm envelope him in a comfort so endearingly familiar. When they pulled away, Sunghoon was immediately digging in his pocket for his wallet and tugging it out, much to Sunoo’s confusion.

Noticing the questioning looks he was getting, he immediately explained. “I got you something, but I couldn’t keep it in the box because you’ll see it in my pocket.” He pulled out a small, white envelope, opening it and grabbing whatever was inside it. 

The necklace glimmered as Sunghoon held it out for him to see, just as dainty as the other one he received, but much more stunning. Sunoo’s face sparkled with fondness. “Hoon. What’s this for?”

Unclasping the chain, he moved till he was standing right behind Sunoo, placing the necklace right where it belonged. 

It’s cold against his skin, the metal a stark contrast to the paleness of his clavicles. Yet, it filled Sunoo with an insurmountable warmth, a lot more tender compared to the previous necklace he received.

“It’s my apology gift, so that, y’know, you hopefully forgive me. I wanted to give you a necklace that was truly from me.”

Sunoo hugs him again, pulling Sunghoon down and tucking his chin on the latter’s shoulder. Sunghoon feels like home and a new, profound sense of affection. He feels like everything that’s good in the universe.

“It’s beautiful, thank you, Hoon.”

They continue down the path after that, but this time, their arms brush, sending jolts of electricity when they touch. Sunoo looks down at his neck and smiles, unable to stop the happiness that’s been simmering within him since Sunghoon gave him the necklace.

“You know,” Sunghoon says, now even closer to him. “I think someone’s been messing with us. Like, they’re trying to set us up, or something.” Sunoo hums from beside him, his lip wedged between his teeth. “I think so too. Because then it’ll explain the necklace and the letter incident.”

Walking in tandem, Sunghoon nudges Sunoo’s shoulder playfully. “Should we try and figure it out?” Laughing, Sunoo punches him lightly on the arm, eyes bright and cheeks bunched up. “Maybe. Or, we can let them do whatever they want to us.”

“I might have a hunch, though,” he says, his tongue poking out playfully when Sunghoon whines for him to elaborate. “Surely tell?” He gets a frivolous grin in return.

And Sunoo, lovely and stunning in the dull of the moonlight, says instead, “Take me out on a date first, then.”

It knocks all the wind out of Sunghoon’s lungs, his brain malfunctions, and his heart stops for a period of time. When he comes to it, he finds Sunoo’s still grinning face, a hand now clutching at his wrist to keep him steady. 

He’s not stupid enough to miss the opportunity this time, too.

“Yeah,” he mumbles, dazed and endeared. “Might as well do something about it, if they want us together so bad. Let’s do this right.”

He lets Sunoo intertwine their fingers together as he takes a deep breath in and slowly out. 

“Sunoo, would you like to go on a date with me?”

No stars in the sky can ever shine as bright as Sunoo was at that moment. “I would love to, silly,” he replies, beaming like a teenager in love.

Perhaps Sunghoon does have hope yet.