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Jisung thought Mr. Na was a great teacher. Sure, he was a bit weird at times, but Jisung thought that he was the best teacher he’d ever had in his four years of high school. A lot of other students seemed to think so, especially during teacher appreciation week.
Mr. Na was pretty young, so he understood the high schoolers pretty well. When Jisung had applied for AP music theory, he’d half expected for the teacher to be at least sixty years old. He got a pleasant surprise.
“Okay, everyone take out a pencil and your notebooks. I’m going to try to explain this concept as quickly as I can before I have some teacher meeting.”
Mr. Na set down his drink and bag, uncapping a marker and writing on the white board.
‘Secondary Dominants’.
Oh boy.
“Alright. I have like, ten minutes before someone else comes in to sub for me. First of all, does anyone know what a secondary dominant is?”
Silence. Mr. Na sighed, rubbing his forehead and capped the marker.
“Who gave me a class of grumpy teenagers in the morning? Fine. None of you know. Well, you guys know that composers can often use chords that aren’t in the key of the piece of music. Sometimes, they use secondary dominants.”
He uncapped the marker and started writing on the board. “The secondary dominant is the dominant of any key other than the tonic key. Then, it’s usually followed by the chord which would be the 1 chord of the key that it belongs to. Write that down.”
Mr. Na paused, letting the sound of pencils scratching on paper. Jisung groaned, already hating where the lesson was going.
“Alright! Let’s look at some examples. So here, I’m going to be in the key of C. Someone give me the new key.”
“F.”
“Okay, thank you Haerin. The dominant seventh of F, which is the fourth chord in C, is this.”
He drew the chord. “Here is how you write it…”
For the next few minutes, Mr. Na scribbled multiple examples on the board for the class to jot down. Finally, another person entered the room.
“Meeting time.”
Mr. Na sighed, set down in marker, and pulled something up on the projector.
“Alright, Mr. Lee, you have to teach them this. Give them these excerpts of music, and have them pick out the secondary dominant.”
Mr. Lee scrunched up his face. “Ooh, you guys got the secondary dominants? Tough luck.”
Ah, Mr. Lee, the AP music history teacher. Jisung thought he was quite alright. Honestly, Jisung thought of him as the sixty-year-old teacher.
“Don’t do anything weird to them.”
Mr. Lee raised his hands in defense. “Calm down. I have your students for my class anyway.”
Mr. Na turned to his class. “Fine, fine. Oh, and how did you manage to sub?”
“I have prep period now.”
“Lucky. I’m assuming you’re going to the one on Thursday then.”
Mr. Lee chuckled. “If I go at all.”
Mr. Na picked up his bag and coffee. “I’m tired of you ditching things and I have to bring you the information all the time. I’ve been doing this for you since we were fourteen and frankly, I’m tired. Oh, and thanks for subbing.”
He rushed out, and Mr. Lee gave the class a mocking face. “Go to the meeting this, go to the meeting that. Your teacher’s a riot.”
Jisung raised an eyebrow. Fourteen, eh? He looked around the rest of the class, catching the similarly curious eyes of his classmates. So, they were wondering too?
“Anyways, I know that secondary dominants can be a pain, so I’ll let you guys do your work. I know he told me to teach you guys, but I believe you’re capable enough to do this on your own. If you need help, just come up.”
Mr. Lee sat down at the desk, and started doing his own work, presumably grading papers. After a long hour and a half, the class was finally dismissed. The students of AP music theory gathered outside. Jisung’s class was relatively small, about twelve people including him, so they were all friends and knew each other pretty well.
“You guys, assuming Mr. Na and Mr. Lee are in their early twenties and they’ve known each other since they were at least fourteen, they’ve been friends for like, ten years. Imagine how chaotic that would be. Mr. Na and Mr. Lee teaching one class together.”
Chenle shook his head. “Don’t imagine that. Mr. Na would absolutely drive Mr. Lee up the wall with his music theory. We all know that Mr. Lee teaches music history for a reason.”
“Wait, guys, we have to go to class!” His friend Soojin called out.
Everyone muttered some expletives, saying rushed goodbyes to each other before running to their next classes. The entire Mr. Lee and Mr. Na thing went forgotten until Thursday.
It was last period. Jisung was nearly dying since that day had been the triathlon. Never again. Sitting through AP music history with Mr. Lee was not going to be fun.
“Alright class. Someone is coming in to sub for you right now, so I’ll be going. It’s for a teacher meeting.”
Hm. Jisung swore that someone mentioned a teacher meeting. And then, Mr. Na walked in.
“Ah. Returning the favor?”
“Yep.”
Mr. Lee seemed like he’d remembered something, and grabbed a piece of paper to cover his mouth while he whispered in Mr. Na’s ear.
Mr. Na brightened up instantly. “Yes! When did you get them?”
“Lunch.”
“Ugh, thanks so much. I’ll meet you there then.”
Mr. Lee nodded, and promptly left the classroom. Mr. Na sat down without much greeting, and straightened out the papers.
“Okay, so right now, you’re talking about…Clementi. So, what do you guys know?”
No one said a word. Jisung knew what was about to go down.
“Um…” Mr. Na scratched his neck awkwardly.
“We won’t talk until you tell us what you and Mr. Lee were talking about.”
Mr. Na stared at Minji weirdly. “I don’t know if I’m allowed to talk about my personal life.”
“Sure, you are! I mean, that’s why we know Ms. Kang has been divorced three times and has four children who are in jail.”
Mr. Na looked slightly horrified. “Okay. I guess it’s not that bad. Mr. Lee just got us tickets for the symphony tomorrow. That’s all.”
Jisung shrugged. It wasn’t really anything special. Everyone seemed satisfied, and from there, the lesson picked up.
After school ended, the twelve of them met outside.
“I ship it.”
Everyone stared at Minji weirdly.
“What?”
“I mean, I ship Mr. Lee and Mr. Na.”
Everyone started laughing.
“Come on, Minji. They’re just friends.” Soojin chuckled at her friend.
“Really? They’re basically going on a date to the symphony. Who goes to a symphony with their friend?”
“What if it’s for Mr. Na’s birthday?”
“A birthday date.”
Jisung paused. He’d only seen couples and old people go. Plus, they didn’t know if it was Mr. Na’s birthday or not. Maybe she had a point.
“Maybe she’s right.”
Everyone turned to him. “I mean, who else have you guys seen go to a symphony besides couples and old people?”
It was silent. “Okay, it might not be as farfetched as we think.”
“What if we went there, just to see why they’re there?”
Chenle hesitated. “Isn’t that illegal?”
“No. We’re just going to check it out.”
Everyone thought for a minute, and then Sanha spoke up. “Sure. We’re all going then. I’ll check out what time it is and I’ll text you guys.”
Ap music crew [jisungpark, chenlezhong, sanhayoon, +9 others]
sanhayoon: it’s at six
soojinpark: cool, so all twelve of us can grab dinner together at mcdonalds or smth and then check it out.
minjiyang: sounds good. Everyone else good?
jisungpark: yep
chenlezhong: mhm
sungjaekim: I’m with yoona and taemin and we’re all saying yeaaaaaa
haerinlee: eunyoung and I say yes. My sister is too lazy to text lol
yejihwang: cool
jaebumjeon: k.
“Hey idiots. Hurry up and eat so we can go.”
“Relax. Jaebum just needs to finish his burger and we can go. It just turned five, and the doors don’t open until ten minutes before.”
The teens cleared their trash, and started walking to the symphony nearby. Jisung made a face at the fact that he had to walk.
“Look at Jisung!”
The group burst out into laughter, and Jisung just rolled his eyes. After about half and hour, the group of teens reached their destination. They hid behind some of the walls and bushes surrounding the area. Some people were lined up already, but there were no signs of their teachers. Finally, a black Hyundai pulled up.
“Yo, that’s Mr. Na!”
He stepped out of the car, dressed in a black suit. His students marveled at him, since he didn’t wear anything but button-ups or slacks.
“If I didn’t ship him with Mr. Lee, I’d have a crush on him.”
They all turned to look at Eunyoung, and her sister smacked her upside the head.
“What? We’re eighteen, and he’s probably at least twenty-two.”
Jisung stifled his laughter, and she sent him a smirk.
The group waited until a grey Honda pulled up. Mr. Lee stepped out, also in similar formal clothing.
“Woah. I’ve never seen Mr. Lee dress up like that before.”
Jisung inspected him. His black hair was slicked back, unlike usual, where he had his bangs in his eyes like most men did. Mr. Lee didn’t care to dress up for work that much like Mr. Na, so often times his students saw him wearing a t-shirt and jeans.
“Why do they actually look good?”
“Honestly, none of us will never know, and I’m slightly upset about the fact that they look better than me.” Sungjae complained.
Mr. Na walked over to Mr. Lee, pulling him into a hug, also giving him a big kiss on the cheek. Mr. Lee fake-grimaced, but smiled at him nonetheless. They got into the line, and started talking to one another.
“Did you see that?”
“Minji, everyone did. You’re just freaking out.”
“Dude, that was totally not platonic. Yoona, come on.”
“You saw Mr. Lee’s face.”
“It was fake. Look at them.”
Mr. Na held up his phone to take a selfie, but Mr. Lee moved away from him. Mr. Na gave him a face, which almost looked like a pout, and Mr. Lee gave in. He slung an arm around Mr. Na’s waist, and forced a smile on his face.
“That’s so cute. It’s an official ship now. This stays between us twelve only.”
The twelve of them solemnly nodded before running off.
“Jeno, do you see them?”
“Yep.”
Jaemin snorted. “They think they’re being sneaky. Renjun told me during prep that he heard them talking about shipping us together. It’s so funny.”
Jeno rolled his eyes. “I’m pretty sure this will get us fired.”
“Not if we turn a blind eye to it.”
“Yeah, yeah. Whatever makes you happy and all that.”
Jaemin snorted. “Then take a picture with me.”
“Okay, no.”
Jaemin whined, his lower lip jutting out in a pout. “It’s our anniversary, and you won’t even let me take a picture with you. And you look handsome too.”
Jeno shook his head. “Fine.”
He wrapped an arm around Jaemin’s waist, forcing a smile on his face.
“Thank you.”
“Mhm.”
Jaemin pointed over to the bushes. “Look, they’re gone. Kiss me now.”
Jeno shook his head, but pressed a small kiss on Jaemin’s lips. “Happy anniversary.”
“Happy anniversary to you too. Thanks for taking me. And don’t worry about your gift. You’ll get it later.” Jaemin winked.
“Oh, I see.”
Jaemin grinned at him slyly, and Jeno bit his lip to stifle laughter. “I love you.”
“I love you too.”
(Turns out, before Jaemin could even give his ‘gift’, Jeno gave him another one. Jaemin may or may not have cried, and thought it was indeed a very pretty ring.)
“Hello, class!”
The class muttered half-hearted good mornings.
“You guys look so awake!”
Jisung slightly winced at Mr. Na’s cheery voice.
“Anyways, how was your weekend?” Mr. Na smirked to himself.
“Good.”
Minji raised her head from her arms. “Well, we forgot to say happy birthday last Friday, so we’ll say that now. And did you enjoy the symphony?”
Mr. Na looked puzzled. “Yes, the symphony was beautiful, but it wasn’t my birthday. My birthday is in August.”
Everyone looked at each other, smiling to themselves. Maybe it was a date.
“Oh. Okay.”
Minji put her head back down.
“Mr. Lee’s birthday is actually next week, though. April 23rd. Might want to wish him a happy birthday. He gets fussy if you don’t.”
Mr. Na laughed to himself, and with that, he started the lesson.
A week later when Mr. Lee popped in to drop papers off, it happened to be his birthday. The class chorused a happy birthday.
Mr. Lee looked pointedly at him. “You had something to do with that. I didn’t tell them my birthday.”
“Yeah, I did. What are you going to do about it?”
Mr. Lee sighed. “Nothing, because I have no say in anything.”
“Exactly. Move along. I’ll see you at home.”
The two teachers froze. Mr. Na clamped a hand on his mouth, and Mr. Lee ran away after muttering some excuses. The class had to hide their giggling faces in order to save them the embarrassment.
“Man, I’m going to end up like Ms. Kang. Sorry about that. I don’t mean to tell you guys about my personal life.”
Taemin shrugged. “We don’t mind. But you might want to clear up the air on that. Some of us might get the wrong idea.”
“Right. Mr. Lee and I just live together. We bought an apartment together for college since we’d been friends since middle school.” Mr. Na let out a breath of air.
“Okay, enough of that. Back to the lesson.”
For the rest of the class, the twelve students smiled at each other mischievously.
“Meet me outside.” Soojin mouthed to the other eleven teens.
After class was dismissed, the group of friends met outside in the halls.
“They live together. Oh my god. They’re either pining for each other or already together. This is hilarious.”
Minji flipped her hair. “I knew I was right. My gaydar has never failed me.”
Yeji slapped her shoulder. “Don’t let your head get any bigger.”
The group burst out into laughter as they saw Minji chase Yeji to their next class.
“Well, see you guys later!”
When the week came to a close, nothing interesting really happened. As much as Jisung didn’t want to admit it, he did want something to happen. It was pretty entertaining. Mr. Na and Mr. Lee must’ve been acting extra careful since that day.
Ap music crew [jisungpark, chenlezhong, sanhayoon, +9 others]
jaebumjeon: you guys wanna go to the mall
jaebumjeon: this week has been boring
yoonakim: sure
taeminjung: ok what time
jaebumjeon: like meet at the mall right as it opens. So ten.
taeminjung: cool
jisungpark: ok
haerinlee: eunyoung says yes. I say yes. We all say yes.
yejihwang: sure
sanhayoon: ok
soojinpark: I’ll be there
minjiyang: me too
chenlezhong: ok I’m in
yoonajung: sure me too
“Oh my gosh, it’s crowded already.”
Jisung checked his watch. It was 11:00.
“Well, it’s been an hour since it’s opened, and it’s Saturday. So, I guess a lot of other people had the same idea as us.”
Chenle sighed. “Are you guys hungry?”
The group murmured variances of yeses. “To the food court we go!”
The twelve loud teens basically ran to the food court, sitting down at a large booth and taking up the three tables that it stretched out for.
“Jeno. Try this. It’s actually really good.”
“Nana, I told you no.”
Jisung froze. Those voices were way too similar. He heard them five times a week. “You guys, is it just me, or is that Mr. Lee and Mr. Na?”
The teens whipped their heads to look at the booths and tables across from them, and indeed spotted their teachers.
“Shit. This is weird. And woah, they’re wearing normal clothes.”
“Guys, oh my god. The ship is real.”
“Jeno, oh god, the class is here. Why did they all have to be friends?”
Jeno groaned. “We can’t have nice things.”
“That’s what we get for being teachers at twenty-three. If we were older, we’d be cuddling on the couch at home.”
Jeno grumbled at him as he shoved rice in his mouth. “We would’ve been doing that if you hadn’t dragged me out here.”
Jaemin chuckled. “Sorry. We can do that later.”
“Fine.”
“This is so weird. I hope they didn’t see us.”
“I don’t think so. They would’ve acknowledged us.”
The twelve teens tried shifting their faces away from them, all of them huddling together. If anything, that made it even more obvious than before.
“You know, as smart as they are, they are dreadfully obvious at the fact that they’re staring.”
Jaemin hummed. “Eyes on me, dear.”
Jeno rolled his eyes. “I see enough of you.”
“Oh, that’s kind of sexy.”
Jeno let out a strangled groan, burying his face in his hands. Jaemin cackled, leaning back on the booth for support.
“You are so funny.”
“I’ve had enough of you.”
“Dude, they look so young. They look like us.”
The group tried to eat their food without making it look obvious. They thought it was going very well.
“Well, I mean, they are young.”
Jisung munched on his pizza, not saying anything. Suddenly, the clamor around him stopped. He didn’t bother to look up, figuring his friends were just being weird. Then, someone sat down next to him.
“Hey kids.”
Everyone froze at Mr. Na’s presence.
“Oh, h-hey, Mr. Na.”
Mr. Na smirked. “You guys look awfully stiff. Is it because I’m wearing Supreme like you kids?”
“Maybe.”
Mr. Na let out a laugh, and then they heard someone rushing over to them. “Jaemin, I leave you alone for ten seconds while I find a trashcan. Hey guys. We’ll be leaving.”
“Wha—hey! Let me talk to my—”
“Nope. Come on.”
Mr. Lee tugged him up, sending them an apologetic smile. Mr. Na grumpily walked away with Mr. Lee. They listened carefully.
“Just for that, we are not cuddling on the couch later. And I am definitely not cooking for you tonight.”
“Hey! I’ll starve!”
“And that’s not my problem.”
“But you love me.”
“Unfortunately. I’m still not…”
Jisung turned back to his friends, who were grinning devilishly.
“Did he say cuddle?”
“He said cuddle.”
“You’re both going to ignore that fact that they love each other?”
After that, nothing else happened. The entire thing went forgotten and dead for a while since homework and exams picked up. The twelve of them couldn’t hang out after class or during weekends because they were too tired or swamped in homework. But somehow, they managed to schedule a study session together in the town library. They figured the school’s library was packed, so after school let out, they walked to the establishment together.
“Okay, I brought some snacks and sodas in case you guys need anything.”
Everyone made show of pulling their things out and setting them down, and they worked for about five minutes before Sungjae spoke up. “We’re not actually going to study, right?”
There was a guilty silence before the rest of the teenagers relented and made a noise of acknowledgement. They pulled out snacks from Minji’s bag and started eating quietly to not alert the librarian to their table. Jisung shifted uncomfortably in the wooden library chairs, and started looking around for any soft plushy chairs or a couple beanbags. In his search, someone walked by their table, and the teens quickly hid their snacks and looked down at their work. After a few more seconds, they looked up to try and find who walked by, because teenagers were nosy. The library wasn’t too busy, so they could probably spot the person easily.
The AP music student luck struck again. Everyone’s face contorted in horror when met with their two teachers sitting at a table four tables away from them.
“I’m dropping out.”
“Take me with you!”
Taemin and Yoona leaned against each other, dramatically laying a hand on their foreheads. Yeji scrunched up her face and slapped them.
“Guys, not the problem. What if they see us?”
“We’re not doing anything wrong. Just eating snacks.”
Yeji shook her head. “No, what if they see us and leave? This is prime opportunity to see what they really are. They really don’t know that we’re here.”
“Well, they didn’t know we were there those last few times.”
“Okay, they might’ve not known at the symphony, but they for sure knew at the mall.”
Jisung shrugged, leaning back on the wooden chair and slightly wincing. Chenle noticed, and offered him his jacket as a pillow. He smiled in thanks, and propped it behind him. By the time he looked up, Sanha, Yeji, Taemin, and Yoona were gone.
“Where’d they go?”
Chenle smirked. “They went off to go hide in the bookshelves to see Mr. Lee and Mr. Na better. Maybe hear little snippets of their conversation.”
“Man, if we get caught, we’ll be in so much trouble.”
“Not us. Just them. Let’s study.”
When Taemin, Yoona, and Yeji, and Sanha came back, the entire group was already done studying.
“So, what did you guys see?”
“Not much. Kind of sad, really. They’re just grading papers for our class and the regular classes.”
“How boring.”
Jisung shrugged, not really caring, and turned around to pack his materials. He was met with a sight that he didn’t really want to see.
“Uh…you guys? Look.”
Mr. Lee and Mr. Na had already packed their things and moved to look at a couple music books. That was not a problem, but the way they were standing was. Mr. Na was standing normally with a book in his hand, and Mr. Lee was right next to him…with a hand in Mr. Na’s back pocket.
“Well…that can’t be ‘just friends’ behavior.”
“Are they seriously doing this in a public library?”
Mr. Na finally put back the book on the shelf, and motion to Mr. Lee that they could leave. To Jisung’s and his friends’ dismay, Mr. Lee removed the hand from Mr. Na’s back pocket and laced their hands together.
“My friends, I have come to the conclusion that they are most likely together. Any objections?”
Silence.
“Great! Let’s move on. Do any of you have the physics notes?”
The library incident went forgotten. As mentioned before, it was exam season. The twelve of them were busy trying not to fail senior year and hopefully move on to college. The rest of the school year passed quickly, and before they knew it, it was June.
“Cheers to finishing finals!”
The twelve students cheered as the halls of the school emptied out.
“You guys wanna hit the club?”
Jisung shrugged. He knew it was wrong and all that, but they didn’t even drink. They just went to dance and have a good time with each other.
“Sure. We’ll meet you guys there at nine.”
Before Jisung knew it, he was arm in arm with Chenle as they headed into the club. It was kind of shady since they didn’t really check IDs unless police were around, and just looked at you to see if you were old enough. They all looked twenty-one, except for Yeji. But, she still got in.
“Okay, let’s dance!”
The club was filled with the smell of alcohol and sweat. People were pressed together on the dance floor. Jisung was busy laughing at Chenle’s dance moves when something caught his eye in the corner of the club. It was a couple making out. It wasn’t that unusual since it was a club, but something caught his eye.
One of them had pink hair.
Jisung’s eyes widened. It was Mr. Na and Mr. Lee.
He called all his friends over, and pointed to the couple in the corner. They all gasped.
They were making out pretty hard, Jisung had to admit. It was kind of impressive.
One of Mr. Na’s hands were tangled in Mr. Lee’s hair, the other hand on his bicep. Mr. Lee’s hands were…on…a place that Jisung didn’t feel comfortable saying.
“Holy shit.”
Jisung nodded at his friend’s words.
They broke apart, and then Mr. Lee started going to town on Mr. Na’s neck. Jisung shivered at that thought. It was kind of gross. Mr. Na looked so blissed out that Jisung felt kind of uncomfortable watching.
“We should leave.”
“Yeah, we should.”
The twelve of them shuffled out at ten o’ clock.
“Well, I wasn’t expecting that.”
“Oh boy, first period is going to be so awkward tomorrow.”
“Hey class. Finals just finished yesterday! Woo! The rest of the week is just nothing, and then you’re off to graduation!”
The class offered him meek smiles, avoiding his gaze.
“Is something wrong?”
The class was silent, until Haerin spoke up. “We’re probably going to get in trouble for this, and serves us right, but we went to a club last night. And uh…we saw you with Mr. Lee…doing some not PG things.”
Mr. Na’s face instantly turned a deep scarlet. He hid his face in his hands, and banged his head against the whiteboard. It was loud enough to call the teacher from the other room over, who happened to be Mr. Lee.
“Is everything alright?” He walked in, eyeing Mr. Na with concern.
“Jeno, they saw us at the club last night.”
Mr. Lee’s face turned the same shade of red as his, and he stood there awkwardly with his head in his hands.
“We’re really sorry. We, um, didn’t mean for you to see whatever you saw.”
Eunyoung waved it off. “It’s fine. We’ve all seen a lot worse. It’s high school for god’s sakes.”
Mr. Lee let out a strangled yelp. “Oh god. This is terrible.”
“It wasn’t even your fault. We’re the ones who went in when we weren’t supposed to. It’s totally okay.”
The two teachers were silent, until Mr. Na finally decided to sit down on a chair facing the room. His face was still red. Mr. Lee pulled up a chair next to him.
Yoona spoke up to break the silence. “Well, what’s the deal, then? Are you two dating, friends with benefits, or did you just get together? Or was that a drunken stupor?”
Mr. Na glanced at Mr. Lee, who shrugged.
“We’re, um…engaged.”
The class was absolutely silent.
“I was right.” Minji whispered, and the teens started laughing.
“So then, the whole symphony thing was a date?”
Mr. Lee slowly nodded. “It was my anniversary gift to him.”
Yeji popped up. “Mr. Na! What did you get him?”
Mr. Lee choked. “None of your business! You guys don’t need to know!”
Mr. Na was flushed again. “Yeah, it’s a bit…inappropriate.”
Jisung nearly fell off his desk with laughter. The entire class was falling apart by the seams, and Jisung was pretty sure Sanha and Sungjae were on the floor.
The rest of the class passed quickly, the twelve of them huddled together and playing games. Mr. Lee and Mr. Na talked in hushed tones.
When the bell finally rang, Mr. Na had never looked so happy to see them go.
“Alright, out!”
Nearly all the students filed out, and then Sungjae was the only student left in the room.
“We’ll see you later, Mr. Lee.”
The students chuckled as they laughed at their embarrassed faces. The group waited outside the room, seeing if they would say anything else.
“Oh shit, I totally forgot I had them last period.”
“Aw man, I was looking forward to fucking you in your classroom.”
The students ran away, mortified, as they heard the two teachers explode with laughter.
When last period finally came, the twelve teens filed inside of the room silently. Mr. Lee smirked at them, the gag he and Mr. Na had pulled worked in shutting them up.
“Are you guys okay?”
They muttered yeses under their breaths.
“Well, then I hope you’re perfectly fine with Mr. Na being here.”
They looked up, seeing Mr. Na trying to hold in laughter.
“You guys do whatever.”
The teens moved to sit with each other, still silent.
“So, my mom wants to invite Aunt Haera.”
“You mean the crazy one?”
“Sure.”
“Jeno, she got drunk off eggnog at the Christmas party last year. We are not inviting her.”
They heard Mr. Lee scoff. “Then why are we inviting your mother?”
“She’s my mother, dipshit!”
Chenle finally cracked, letting out a little giggle. “What are you guys talking about?”
“Our wedding.”
That’s right. They were getting married. How odd.
“Oh, sorry. Continue.”
“Fine. Let’s say we don’t invite Aunt Haera. Then my mom will flip her shit on me.”
“She likes me, so it’s not a problem.”
“Jaemin, that woman will get her way. Please?”
There was a pause. “Fine. Do we have to invite her to the reception though?”
“Ehhhhhhhh.”
“And also, Jeno, I really like lavender. I think we could use that as a color.”
“It’s a winter wedding.”
“And it’s also my wedding, so I’ll do what I want.”
“Babe, come on.”
“I’m letting you invite Aunt Haera, it’s only natural that you let me have lavender.”
“But lavender is for like, spring weddings.”
“Then we’ll have a spring wedding.”
“But then the school year will be busy.”
“Fine. What about light yellow?”
“Winter wedding.”
Mr. Na groaned. “Let’s just elope. In Vegas or something. I’m so done.”
“Your mom will castrate me.”
“I’m…yeah, okay. I’m not fine with that. Well…”
Minji stood up, chair scraping the linoleum floor. “Oh my gosh, you both are the worst wedding planners! If you’re having a winter wedding, go with cooler tones. If Mr. Na wants colors like those, you need a summer or spring wedding. Set a specific amount of people to go, because if you invite this one insignificant person, more insignificant people will go.”
Mr. Na blinked. “Wow. You guys are only five years younger, but so much wiser.”
“You’re only twenty-three?”
“Yes. Well, Jeno—I mean, Mr. Lee is. I’ll be twenty-three in August.”
“Woah, you are young.”
Mr. Lee nodded. “Yes, we are. Oh, look at that. It’s almost the end of the day. Pack up.”
The twelve students dispersed, grabbing their bags. The bell rang, releasing the students. They ran out, calling goodbyes over their shoulders. The twelve made it look like they left, but returned and hid along the wall.
“I’m glad this is the end of the year, or else I don’t think I would’ve been able to see their faces for that long.”
“Who knows what they even saw? I hope they didn’t see me downing those shots.”
“Even I wish I didn’t see that. How do you do it?”
“I dunno. Years of practice, I guess.”
“Okay, anyways, they’re gone, and I wasn’t joking about fucking you.”
Jaebum let out a horrified sound, and took off. The other eleven teens groaned, knowing that they’d been caught, and took off after him.
“They never change.”
Jaemin looked fondly out of the door, staring at the figures running away.
“We should stop doing that before we get fired.”
“They won’t do anything. They love us, really.”
Jeno moved closer, grabbing Jaemin by the waist. “Hm. No wonder the students and I connected. Similar interests, I suppose. It turns out, I actually love you.”
Jaemin laughed, putting his hands on Jeno’s chest. “Aha. Very funny. I love you too.”
He leaned in, pressing a kiss on Jeno’s lips. Jeno playfully slid a hand up Jaemin’s shirt. He gasped, and broke the kiss. Jeno looked slightly disappointed. “Let’s go home.”
Jaemin smirked, unbuttoning a few buttons from Jeno’s shirt. “Alright, Mr. Lee.”