Foul | Park Jimin

t h r e e

The room of class 2-3 echos with the booming voices of its students returning from their eventful morning. Several brochures were to be seen amongst the hands of these students as the opened them and talked to one another about them. Though, I was not apart of this enthusiastic chaos, after my epileptic episode, I found it hard to recover. Instead of loitering in the halls and the outskirts of the classroom, I found myself make a beeline for the desk I had claimed earlier. My headache had morphed into a throbbing migraine long before my arrival to class, actually to be exact, it started when I saw Mr. Park soothe my burning forehead and I started to over-analyze the situation. Sungjin had followed suit and taken a seat alongside myself on the desk next to mine. I couldn't help but to lay my head down so that my cheek was pressed up flush to the top of the table and my head faced my best friend's direction. I watch the boy comfortably lay back in his chair, his form being too tall for the desk resulting in his long legs being splayed out on either side of the desk.

"I'm glad you chose to join tennis." Sungjin's silky smooth voice notes, speaking quietly to assist in getting my mind off of today's events but also being careful not to aggravate my sensitive mind. Sungjin always had a specific way to soothe my pain, his calming voice never failed to aid my migraines. But today's state of tranquility lasts for only a moment, the moment before Taewon decides that he wants to join in on our casual conversation.

"You joined tennis? Me too! Boys season is next semester but let's still practice together sometime!" His cheery voice calls a little bit too loud for my liking at the moment as he takes the seat in front of me. It's not that Taewon is annoying in any way, he's great, it's just that when I'm feeling uneasy, I'd rather be selectively with Sungjin and Sungjin only. The second boy was oblivious to my mental state so I would rather stay with someone who was sensitive to me at this moment... it was a personal preference.

"No." The over sized boy next to me interjects before I can. By this point I had already sat up and I was looking between the two arguing males. I watch as Taewon readies himself to argue back but his words are cut off by our homeroom teaching announcing quiet.

I lift my gaze up to meet the demands of our teacher, I cant help but to melt into my seat as I watch Mr. Park's furrowed eyebrows mold into an unreadable stern (and attractive) expression. He runs his hand through his hair, pulling it back only once and allowing it to fall back into its set place on his forehead lazily. Everyone rushes to their seats with their newly received brochures but as I am already seated, I take this time to admire Mr. Park as much as I possibly can. The man bites his bottom lip lightly and pulls at it with his teeth, a sign of aggravation and tension.

The only thing circling in my head during that moment was guilt and worry. I had only ever seen Mr. Park calm (which wasn't saying much as I had JUST met the man today) and it made me nervous thinking about what could have possibly sent him into such a tense state.

Said teacher scans the class for a moment as everyone settles down and once his eyes find me, they stop. I stop. My whole existence stops because Mr. Park quickly looks me once over, every logical brain cell in my mind told me that he was probably analyzing my physical state due to the events that took place earlier today but my immature teenage heart tried to convince me otherwise as it skipped a beat with the introduction of my teacher's gaze. 

My internal conflict was blatantly displayed on my face as I stared blankly into the eyes of my teacher. He notices this and sends me a reassuring smile before resettling his brown orbs to address the state of the rest of the class. The whole situation couldn't have lasted more than a couple seconds but, with Mr. Park, every second felt like a beautiful hour. 

"I hope you all managed to find a sport or club to join," Mr. Park's refined voice comments, now a little bit less tense than before. A low murmur runs across the class as students suddenly remember what they were talking about only minutes ago. Mr. Park continues, cutting off any conversations that may have begun, "but, I hope those extra curricular activities wont get in the way of my math class, because I won't make it easy. We'll be having a short quiz this Friday."

A hand raises and the student speaks, "On what?" They simply ask, breaking the sighs and groans that had sounded within the class.

"Just stuff you should have learnt last year, statistics and data analysis." The once previous and mellow groans of displeasure get significantly louder at that. We all knew that those were the hardest lessons from last year. Mr. Park waits for other questions but since everyone was busy sulking, no hands rise and he continues. "As your home room teacher, your grade in my math class will also play a factor in determining who will become class president in the near future. So I hope you'll all do well Friday!" The class falls silent again after a moment of insignificant chatter.

And what was I doing whilst everyone had a mental breakdown because of their grades? My love struck heart was still trying to figure out how to recover from Mr. Park's adorable and alluring presence. It takes me a second to process his announcement and when I do, I snap out of it. I assess the situation like a regular student and I cant help but think,That's such a stupid policy...

"The packet that I'm about to pass out is your study guide for Friday's quiz, and first assignment." He picks up the stack of papers off of his desk and proceeds to hand them out individually, "You'll have until Thursday to complete it. Come to me with questions at any time!"

Why is he assigning a study guide... if we don't even have the day before to quiz to use it to study?

Mr. Park may be hella seductive but... can he even teach? Whatever pleasure I felt with Mr. Park's presence was gone. Just like that, as if I had blinked and a whole new person took his role. I shocked even myself with how quickly I fell out of love with my teacher. I now felt confusion towards him and not a single inch of attraction. The spell he had on me was officially broken.

I turn over to Sungjin exasperatedly, "How do I already hate this class and it's only the first day..." I roll my eyes and lay my head down to match Sungjin who has preparing to nap as I felt my headache, that I had previously forgotten about, arise again.

Sungjin yawns, "I felt that... I'm going to sleep, warn me if he looks."

Mr. Park stops dead in his tracks on his way back to his desk and turns around abruptly. "You two in the back." He points an accusing finger at Sungjin and I, "Names."

His authoritative voice makes my whole body freeze unexpectedly and butterflies erupt in my system again. Come fucking on! I was over him a second ago! I lift my head up but allow my hair to fall and cover my slightly blushing face.

"Kim Mirae..." I confess in a tone that almost hints at embarrassment.

My best friend isn't fazed as he only yawns again. "Lee Sungjin." He mumbles before falling into a deep slumber on his desk.

"Ms. Kim," he purrs, my heart stutters, "Mr. Lee," he calls, his voice laced with venom, "I will have a word with you after class." And with that note, he takes a final seat at his desk, leaving me frozen in shock. Are my butterflies this time from Mr. Park... or anxiety?

a/n
Word Count: 1389

ft. Mirae being very confused about her feelings for her teacher