The Tutor I Never Wanted. Minsung

Try,Try,Try Again

MINSUNG- **The Tutor I Never Wanted**

Part 6: "Maybe It's Time For A Change"

Minho stares at the worksheet like it’s something sacred. Which makes no sense, because it’s just paper. Numbers. Lines. The same garbage he’s ignored for years. But the pencil feels different in his hand now.

He taps the eraser against the table—once, twice—and tries to figure out when everything flipped sideways.

Jisung’s voice still echoes in his head.

I could be doing literally anything else… but I’m here. With YOU.

It wasn’t the yelling. Jisung yells at him all the time. It wasn’t even the part where Jisung called him stupid. Minho’s heard that enough from teachers. From classmates. From himself.

It was the crack in Jisung’s voice when he said it.

That tiny break.

That tiny hurt.

Minho hates it.

He hates that he put it there.

For the first time in his life, he feels something worse than embarrassment over a bad test score—he feels… guilty. A weird, unfamiliar twist in his stomach.

He wants Jisung to storm back in with that dumb adorable pout and those round cheeks and those curls that bounce when he’s mad. He wants Jisung to look at his work and—what? Compliment him? Smile? Call him less of an idiot?

He wants… he wants Jisung to be proud of him.

God. Ew. Gross.

Minho drops his forehead onto the table, groaning into the wood. What is WRONG with him? When did he become the type of person who cares about someone else’s opinion? And Jisung’s, of all people. Loud, tiny, dramatic, infuriating, painfully cute Jisung.

Minho sits up again and grips the pencil like he’s holding a sword.
Fine. Fine. If his dumb heart has decided it wants Jisung’s approval, then he’ll just… get it.

He looks at problem two.

It makes no sense.

He looks at it harder.

It still makes no sense.

“Okay,” Minho mutters under his breath, “you’re a disappointment, but not a TOTAL disappointment. You can do this.”

He tries again. Slower. Step by step like Jisung showed him yesterday. He writes the wrong answer. He erases it. Writes a different answer. Erases it. Swears under his breath. Finally writes something that looks… vaguely right?

It’s ugly. It’s sloppy. It’s probably wrong. But it’s an attempt.

And Minho feels something weirdly warm in his chest. Because he tried. For the first time in forever, he actually tried.

And all because of Jisung.

Stupid, adorable Jisung who’s too good for him and should absolutely be hanging out with Chan or Felix or literally anyone else instead of being trapped here babysitting his mathematically doomed soul.

Minho glances at the door.

Where is he?

He’s been gone for a while. Getting water does NOT take this long unless he’s crying in the bathroom or dramatically staring into a mirror or calling Chan to complain.

Minho’s stomach knots.

He wants Jisung to come back. He wants to show him the worksheet. He wants—god, he hates how badly he wants it—to see Jisung’s expression when he realizes Minho actually did something right.

He wants Jisung to be happy to be here.

To be here with him.

Minho taps the table anxiously.

Maybe… maybe if he gets better at this—better at math, better at not being a jerk, better at trying—then Jisung will want to spend time with him even when it’s not mandatory. Maybe he’ll stay after the session ends. Maybe he’ll laugh at Minho’s jokes. Maybe he’ll look at Minho the same way Minho accidentally looks at him sometimes.

Maybe.

Minho grips the pencil harder.

He’s going to try. He’s going to try so hard Jisung won’t know what hit him. He’ll be the best damn student Jisung’s ever had.

Because for the first time in his life, Minho has a reason to learn.

And that reason is currently sulking somewhere in the school hallways with curly hair and a too-big heart and no idea what he does to Minho’s chest.

When Jisung finally returns, Minho will be ready.