Let Me Teach You | LisRene AU

1

Some might call it corruption the fact that Lisa got into Seoul National University. Every one of her high school friends and teachers knew she wasn't smart enough to have the needed SAT score to be accepted there. And neither was her essay that riveting. Simply put, Lisa Manoban was not an extraordinary person. She was ordinary. So ordinary that it was a fact that translated and ascribed to everything in her life. Ordinary grades, just barely scraping past a C. Ordinary athletic ability- her being fit enough to be healthy but not so that she was first, second, or even tenth pick for a team. Ordinary social life. She had a few good friends as she wasn't a loser or loner but neither was she popular. And she and her friends never really did any cool stuff, just watched movies and talked games.

And her looks were ordinary too. She may have princess curls and doe-eyes, but it'd never garnered the attention of boys or girls. Which meant her love life was ordinary too. And by ordinary, she meant just pining after hot celebrities and reading fan fiction stories about them on the web.

Being ordinary sucked a bit, especially given who her parents were.

Nichkhun was the president of the University, lauded for his new developmental projects on making the school more eco-friendly.

And Tiffany was a star professor, chair of the Education Department, and founder of a charity that helped homeless children worldwide.

And that was only the tip of the iceberg for their accomplishments. They had so many more and it blinded Lisa, made her feel beat and worthless next to them. But she just...never really had the drive for it. She supposed she just wasn't properly motivated is all. Maybe all she needed was that one spark to light up her life, to fuel her to her full potential.

All she knew was that she didn't deserve her acceptance letter to SNU and she knew that her father had pulled strings to get her in. She didn't have the heart to say no and so accepted, already feeling buried under tons of pressure. Her parents wanted the best for her. They wanted her to be smart like them. Outgoing like them. A success like them. And each time their disappointed faces showed up at each failure to get an award, she felt her heart throb in pain.

"Maybe next time, sweetie," Tiffany had said.

"College is where you'll truly bloom," Nichkhun had cheered falsely.

And she smiled awkwardly at them and pretended like their expectations weren't going to bury her alive.

Don't get her wrong, she wanted to do good academically. And socially. And mentally. But it was a lot at times. She was a chill easy going person who just wanted to float by in life. To make as few ripples as she could. Her parents weren't about that. They were all about being out there and doing things and she'd get dragged along to do them with them. She just couldn't be perpetually happy like they were. Anxiety was a real thing.

Still, she was excited about college. It was a whole new world of experience and maybe she would bloom there. Get to know herself a bit better. Maybe join some clubs, do some good.

Picking out classes was fun, though she had come in without an inkling as to what she wanted to major in, which of course had been another point of contention for her parents.

"She doesn't know what she wants to do! How can we help her?" she had overheard Tiffany fretting from downstairs, long when they believed Lisa to be asleep only for the blonde to be up, stressing over the move-in day.

"Relax, honey. This is a liberal arts place. She'll have two years to figure it out," Nichkhun had assured.

"But what if she doesn't know? What then? Lisa's always been a drifter with no clear life goals." Tiffany's voice rose in pitch.