The Teacher's Pet

Secret

"...why does your dinner look so similar to Professor Hyun's?"

The postgraduate class was having their monthly dinner discussion session in their tutorial classroom, a day set aside for casual topical dialogues over packed meals.

It was something greatly encouraged by Hyun Bin himself, for it always allowed the more reserved students to speak up more actively on lesson topics amid small talk.

Chopsticks freezing in mid-air, chewing thoughtfully with her other hand over her mouth, Yejin blinked uneasily for a couple of seconds before swallowing, "Does it?"

"Yeah, it does. You usually buy packaged meals from the convenience stores for the dinner discussions, but this time it looks homemade...and of all dishes, it's also bibimbap..." Her classmate Hae In continued.

"Is it?" She tried to evade the younger man's eyes, picking up a mouthful of rice with her chopsticks and shoveling it into her mouth.

"...in the same lunch box no less, just that the boxes are in different shades of brown."

Damn. She shouldn't have had the brilliant idea to buy matching lunch boxes and prepared bibimbap for Hyun Bin and herself at his place.

Was it too obvious?

Admittedly...yes.

She was a grown-up, almost thirty for that matter, but being with this near-perfect specimen of a man had unlocked a forgotten corner of her heart, one she had numbed since that incident years ago.

Whoever knew she'd still had it within her— the fluttery butterflies in her gut, the appreciation for matching couple items and the secret smiles that she could never seem to successfully suppress.

"Mmm. What a coincidence." Her lips flattened in a patronizing smile, before stealing a glance at the professor who was talking with two other male students in between bites of home-cooked dinner.

"Can I try some?"

"Sure, if you wish to." As Yejin held her lunchbox out to her classmate, allowing him to take a spoonful for himself, she felt a familiar gaze settle over her.

Looking up discreetly, their eyes met, before Yejin noticed how the professor's eyes narrowed ever so slightly in displeasure at the sight of Jung Hae In eating from her lunchbox.

Someone isn't very happy, she realized, though she would say it was very flattering to see how that ruffled her boyfriend's feathers.

"Mmmm. It is really good!" Hae In commented, much to Yejin's increasing annoyance. "Which online vendor is this?"

Wait a minute.

Oh. So he thought the bibimbap was ordered from an online vendor?

Phew.

He can keep thinking that way then.

"Umm, I forgot the exact name. Will let you know again—." She whispered back, making a mental note to conveniently 'forget' about it unless Hae In asked again.

"Mr Jung," The rich baritone sharply sliced through the hushed whispers of their conversation.

Yejin's eyes widened in surprise at the sudden interruption, as Hae In hurriedly replied, "Yes, Professor?"

Placing his chopsticks down with a languid smile, eyes never leaving the younger man's face, Hyun Bin asked, "Where would you place the success level of the South Korean government's adoption of the principles of New Public Management in administrative reform in the last decade?"

Wow.

The Professor was clearly not giving the younger man any further chances at interaction with Yejin.