Chapter Text
Cha Eunjae was in the campus library, sitting on a corner as if purposefully hiding herself from anyone. She was sporting a dejected look on her beautiful face. Her usual bright eyes now looked like they’ve seen a Dementor, gloomy and sad.
“Just why???” she asked to no one. “Why do I always say such things without thinking?” she buried her face in her palms, internally screaming.
The incident was still fresh. It all started just ten minutes ago when she was summoned by Mrs. Oh, head of psychology department who also happened to be her academic advisor, in her office. She talked about a certain English Olympiad and suddenly asked her if she was willing to take part in it as a delegate from their department.
Flashback starts
“But Ma’am, I’m afraid I can’t.. I never participated in such competition..”
“You can do it, Eunjae-ah. I believe in you.”
Eunjae bit her lip, feeling torn because she didn’t want to disappoint Mrs. Oh who has been nothing but supportive of her. Often times, Eunjae saw her outside the academic consultation session just to talk about anything. Perhaps, she could be the closest mother figure to her in college. But on the other hand, her English… If her English were a kid, she’d be in preschool now. She might rank first in terms of GPA and everything compared to her classmates but this was the one she lacked. She's been depending on the other subjects only to cover her English score. All this time, she just relied on memorizing and just memorizing. Her scores on daily test and exam were always so-so and she knew nothing improved. It was something she got upset and frustrated on a lot too because she seemed to master every subject except this friggin particular language. Even recruiting a number of tutors turned out not to be much of help. So, she just couldn’t wrap her head around it. As time went by, her fight and struggle with English was becoming more tiring so, she concluded that English wasn’t her forte and decided to just avoid it.
Still receiving no response from Eunjae, Mrs. Oh sighed. “I understand.. I just thought it’d be a great experience for you and because you’re under my care too, you know.. But it’s alright Eunjae-ah, I respect your choice.”
“I’m so sorry, Ma’am,” Eunjae furrowed her brows sadly and looked at her in sincerity.
“Don’t be,” Mrs. Oh smiled. “Ah, while you’re here, can I ask for a favor?”
Eunjae nodded, smiling.
“Please tell Song Yuri to see me here. I think I’ll offer this chance to her though she’s Mrs. Shim’s student.”
Eunjae widened her eyes. “For the olympiad you mean, Ma’am?” she asked.
“Of course, dear.”
Eunjae felt like there was a war inside her head. Song Yuri was one of the top students. Her rival. Or more like, Song Yuri considered her as one and she never felt at peace before showing to the whole department that she beat Eunjae. And perhaps, she was determined to prove what their classmates said about both of them was wrong. People said that they were alike—top students who were intelligent, pretty, popular, and rich. Eunjae herself never bothered thinking about what exactly her deal was for doing such things since she was never interested anyway. She just spent her time studying and studying, then all she knew was she was the one who got the first rank.
Just a few days ago, Yuri’s competitive and ambitious nature perhaps just couldn’t take it anymore—that and she couldn’t stand the humiliation—that she swapped Eunjae’s americano with a glass of fish sauce when no one was looking. It was the day when Eunjae got praised by Mr. Kim for her exceptional research paper for midterm exam. Meanwhile, things weren’t really good on Yuri’s side as Mr. Kim mentioned that her explanation exceeded the word limit due to the unnecessary details. It was enough to turn her cheeks red in embarrassment and jealousy. That didn’t even cover for the purposeful-shoulder-bumping, snarky remarks and nasty stares Eunjae experienced all this time.
But now, come again.. Mrs. Oh wanted to offer the opportunity that she refused to Yuri?
Eunjae was never the vengeful type but this situation didn’t sit well on her. She could even imagine how annoyingly loud Yuri would be once she heard this.
“I’ll do it, Ma’am,” Eunjae said out of the blue. “The English Olympiad.. I’ll do it.”
Flashback ends
“Gaahhhh, the friggin competition is just 3 months away.. What am I gonna do? Gosh, I hate you, my blabbering mouth! Stupid mouth, stupid, stupid, stupid!” Eunjae cried. “If only there’s someone who can make me master English in 3 months, I’ll pay him 10.000 dollars cash without a doubt!”
“Really?” A deep manly voice suddenly invaded her hearing.
Eunjae who hung her head hopelessly turned quickly in shock since she didn’t expect she had a company. She looked up to find a tall guy standing beside the medical shelves. Only then, Eunjae realized that the spot she occupied belonged to the medical and health section.
“W-were you talking to me?” Eunjae asked, hesitate.
That tall guy approached her slowly. Eunjae got a clear view of him as he came out of the shadow. So far, she’s had close to zero experience with guys but she surely knew a handsome guy when she saw one. And this guy definitely fit the type.
“What you just said.. is that true?”
“W-what?” Eunjae blinked.
“That you’re looking for an English tutor whom you’ll pay 10.000 dollars? Cash?”
“Uh- huh, uhm, yes. Actually.. not just a tutor but one who can make me master English in 3 months,” she answered. “But, uhm, may I know why are you.. asking?” hesitantly, she asked.
Without saying anything, the tall guy pulled the chair beside her and sat there. Instead of answering her, he suddenly grabbed her hand in a handshake. Given her height, she never realized her hand would look so small, wrapped and trapped inside his big hands. But let’s put that aside because it was too abrupt for strangers!
Totally caught off-guard, Eunjae widened her eyes at him, looking at him and his extended hand back-and-forth in shock and confusion for a few seconds.
“I’m the one you’re looking for. I hope we’ll get along well.”
***
No matter how many times Cha Eunjae thought about it, she didn’t quite understand how it happened.
Eunjae took a peek at the guy sitting in front of her—Seo Woojin.
It was around 3 pm and they were currently inside the campus library. Yesterday, after she came down from a bit of shock, thanks to his unexpectedly massive interest and enthusiasm to be her tutor, they finally got each other’s name. He turned out to be a premed student and the same age and batch as her. When she lowkey interviewed him, he always gave her clear answers which kinda put her at ease. He also convinced her that he originally was born and lived in Canada but finally came back here ten years ago with his family.
Though only in short time, Eunjae found that he was mostly quiet. Well, it could be because it was their first meeting but even when he talked, it was mainly about their deal. He’d ask about her goals, what she found difficult, how much she’s understood and such. Other than that, she could see that he looked pretty serious. Well, she didn’t know whether to feel honored that he treated their deal earnestly or to laugh her head off as he offered to show his birth certificate for her to have faith in him. To avoid the second-hand embarrassment too, she said that she believed what he’d told her. Perhaps, he’s as desperate as me. Ah, molla.
Honestly, she realized that she didn’t have the luxury to be picky in the first place. She’s got a very cramped schedule right now. Seo Woojin looked convincing and capable enough too. So, she didn’t waste any more time. Perhaps, this could work out anyway, she thought.
And that’s how she finally went along with this set-up.
But, something tickled her heart.
Seo Woojin hasn’t smiled at all. There.
Since they first met, they’ve been attending their so-called lesson meeting every Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. They’ve been meeting for two weeks and Seo Woojin hasn’t smiled at all! For someone as bright as her, it was expected that Eunjae considered it as a problem.
So far, the only human side he’s shown was in the form of his tired eyes. There were times when he gazed her with his heavy lids while keeping a straight face. Those eyes couldn’t even hide the heavy burden that lived there. Then, it was on their second week when Eunjae found out that he took other part-time jobs after tutoring her.
Eunjae pouted as she felt conflicted.
I think if our lesson vibes are more fun and enjoyable, it could help me understand faster..
But we barely knew each other.. how am I supposed to break his walls?!
There must be a way! If we could at least try to build a great and friendly atmosphere, it’ll be beneficial for us both!
But what if he doesn’t laugh at my joke? I’m quite convinced that there’s a magnet under his poker face. They’re inseparable.
But it was when Eunjae unintentionally misspelled Parmesan Chicken to Permission Chicken or when she read orgasmic instead of organic eggplant, Woojin’s side—that Eunjae’s been waiting for since forever—finally made an appearance. He started off with a muffled laugh which surprised her then, as if he couldn’t get any cuter, his cheeks would redden since he was so bad in holding it in and that led him to finally laugh his head off.
He even threw his head back to let out his laugh. Eunjae, who finally realized what cracked him up, witnessed this rare phenomenon in awe. It was petty.. But Woojin letting his guards down and laughed heartily at something she said for the first time since three weeks passed somehow made her recover from the squirming embarrassment. It was honestly funny too now that she thought about it so, she joined laughing with him.
But the series of awkward yet funny rated episodes that Woojin experienced with her hasn’t ended yet. The other day, she proposed to explore more vocabularies and expressions through songs and he agreed, thinking that it was a good idea. He let her eagerly choose the song herself. “Oh, oh! How about this song? I’ve heard of this song a few times but I obviously didn’t understand a thing. My older brother won’t even tell me. He just said a famous American actor sang this.”
“What song?”
Eunjae clicked on her phone and the song was instantly played.
🎶 Got nothing but my t-shirt and boxers on
Waiting for you to get home 🎶
Woojin’s eyes bulged out in surprise as he heard the lyrics. He panickly looked at Eunjae who deeply frowned as if trying to interpret what the song was about. “Ya, ya, ya,” Woojin cut in, raising his voice a bit to drown out Jamie Foxx’s singing. “I don’t, uhm, think it’s a good one.. you know, to.. improve your vocabs.”
Eunjae looked at him in question. “But this is the first time I heard these words.. don’t you think I need to-?”
“No, let’s- let’s try other songs.”
Eunjae pouted but she did what he said. “Okay, I’ll pick one from the charts, then.” After she scrolled up and down, she finally picked other song.
But Woojin himself couldn’t decide whether she was dangerously innocent or simply playful when he heard the next song. It was all good until the lyrics went:
🎶 Add Netflix to this massage, better yet, turn that shit off
‘Cause I love to hear you cussin’ at me
Like, ‘Oh, shit, baby, too deep’ 🎶
Woojin, who couldn’t believe his ears, finaly gave up, “Alright, Cha Eunjae, English song lesson is enough for today.”
On the way home, Eunjae, who was sitting on the backseat of her family’s Genesis G70, thought hard about Woojin’s strange behavior. “Did I say something wrong?” she asked herself, furrowing her brows. She, then, searched for her phone and found that her last opened tab was U 2 Luv’s lyrics. She absentmindedly scrolled down to see the Korean translation and popped her eyes out her head as she read. Her cheeks got more and more reddened as she digested the meaning. She couldn’t believe she’s just embarrassed herself again in front of Seo Woojin. She knew that though they were no kids and already aware of these issues, they haven’t gotten that close to be able to just laugh it off.
She hurriedly texted him.
I hope u forgive me for today’s song picks.. I had no idea…. (T.T)
Woojin surprisingly replied to her in an instant.
You’ll surely be the death of me..
Not even a minute passed, another reply from him making her phone buzzed again.
NBD Cha Eunjae.
But tmr, song picking’s on me.