My Delinquent Teacher: BOOK 3 || Jeon Jungkook [COMPLETED]

Chapter 15

The gate to the outdoor baseball stadium creaked and Taeho walked in clutching a baseball mitt and bat. "What on earth are you wearing?" He tucked the blue baseball jersey into his pants and adjusted the cap covering his eyes.

"I still need to practice for the game Saturday.", he said leaning the bat against the fence. "Thought I'd kill two birds with one stone."
"So this was deemed more important than that date with Professor Moon?"
"Miss Lee, I don't think you understand how terrible your idea is. I'm just trying to knock some sense into your idiotic thinking before the situation gets worse."
"Idiotic thinking...sure. But like I said, there's purpose in this."

Taeho picked up his bat and came closer to the pitcher mound I stood on. "Are you certain this won't end in chaos? Just tell her the truth. I don't want you to get hurt anymore than you already are." He gave a pleading look and I groaned.
"I just don't want my friendship with Daeun to be strained, okay?"
"If she were really your friend, she'd understand."
"Yeah... I guess. But-"
"Just tell the truth."
"I-I can't."
"You are extremely stubborn."

Taeho placed a hand on his hip. "But fine. Let's do it this way.", he said adjusting his cap. "You manage to hit five balls past shortstop, and I'll consider playing along with this scheme. If not, either you or I will tell Daeun the truth."
"That's insane! I've never played baseball in my life."
"Then it looks like you'll have to rely on beginner's luck."
"Professor Im."
"Please. We're opponents now. You can drop the formalities."

I laughed at his ridiculousness. "I never agreed to this.", I protested. He handed me the heavy baseball bat and pushed me towards the catcher's position. "I'm nowhere near prepped for this!", I said resisting. Taeho ignored me and continued pushing. "Consider this a practice round.", he said.

I stood in my place and gripped the baseball bat like the noob I was. "Hold it towards the end and use the bat's weight when swinging.", said Taeho directing my hands. "I'll go easy on you, but remember the deal." He stepped back and ran to the pitcher's position. "You ready?"

"Are you kidding me?", I yelled. "I have no idea what I'm doing and you expect me to be ready?"
"Just focus your attention and it's a guarantee you'll hit it."
"Easy for you to say."
"Come on."
"No, I'm not doing this."
"Just think about all of your pent up anger and swing. Simple as that."

My mind roamed to Jungkook and I unconsciously gripped the bat harder. Taeho threw the ball and I humiliatingly missed. "At least you swung.", he said holding in his laughter.
"How dare you throw with so much power."
"It's not about the baseball, but your mind. Baseball is all about focus and concentration."
"Yeah, okay. Because I would know everything there is about baseball."
"Think of that as warm up."

Taeho stretched his arm back and threw another one. My eyes were locked on the ball and I swung with great strength and anger. The baseball touched the very tip of the bat but it didn't matter to me where it hit. I hit it!

Taeho's jaw dropped as the ball made it past the pitcher's position. "Not bad.", he said. "But not great either."
"You HAVE to count that!"
"Nope. I said past short stop."
"Are you serious?"
"I didn't make the rules. Oh wait- I did."

Taeho smirked and I readily tapped the baseball on the ground, mentally preparing myself for the next one. And the next one. And the next one. My beginner's luck seemed to have only worked once as the next tries ended in complete failure. Taeho maybe threw me thirty baseballs and I managed to hit only one. Just one. And it was during the practice round.

He took the mitt off his hand and walked over to me. "You did pretty well for someone who's never played before. Kudos.", he said.
"If you count missing every single one, I was an expert. But I still lost the deal so..."
"There was a deal?"
"Yeah the-"
"Oh, that one. The one where I would keep your secret, right?"
"Wait... what?"
"I just blackmailed you into playing baseball with me. I think that's enough messing with you for today."

He gave a cheeky smile and I wanted to punch him. But at the same time... I felt grateful. The stadium's gate suddenly creaked and guys in baseball uniforms came pouring in. "...You have to admit our discussion was pretty fun, eh?", he said. "See you on Saturday."
"You better brace yourself then. I'm angry you just did that... but... thank you."

Taeho gave one final smile before meeting up with his teammates.

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"Okay! Festival day is finally here!" Professor Moon excitedly handed out red shirts to the members of our team. "I expect great effort from you guys. Though we're crowned the 'science nerds', I want you to DESTROY the other teams okay?" Daeun and I exchanged glances as Professor Moon continued with her 'inspiring' yet scary speech. "WE WILL PREVAIL OVER THOSE INFERIOR!", she continued. Our team cheered and her speech actually instilled a little determination to win.

"What's with all the screaming?", asked Jungkook. He wore a yellow shirt representing the business and marketing team. We locked eyes and my first instinct was to smile. Jungkook returned the favor before Daeun wrapped her arms around him. "Professor Moon was just hyping our team up before the races begin.", I said.

Jungkook scanned our team of unathletic science nerds and snorted. "Enthusiasm sure would help.", he said holding in his laugh. I rolled my eyes in response. "Please. It's not like the business team are athletes either."
"Well, lets see. There's... maybe a handful that do wrestling... many that play basketball actually... some star taekwondo black belts... a LOT of weightlifters... and how could I forget. There's me."
"Okay, first of all judo is a useless skill for a relay race."
"Are you forgetting that I'm an incredible runner? That's something you're not very good at."

"You... seem to know a lot about eachother's athletic ability.", interrupted Daeun. Oh shit. Jungkook and I unanimously denied. "Oh! It's just, we ran into each other at the gym. And we talked about the kinds of sports we played and all that... jazz.", said Jungkook. My heart rate accelerated but Daeun seemed to believe every word. "Oh fun! Somin, I didn't know you went to the gym."

Jungkook tried to hide a laugh and I gritted my teeth. "I thought I should.", I said glaring at Jungkook. "Lose a Little weight, you know?" Daeun nodded her head. "Oh, so you see it too? Thank God I'm not the only one gaining. All three of us should go together sometime." Wait... what? Professor Moon suddenly called Daeun over to help with the relay preparations. "I'll be right back.", she said patting us both on the back.

Jungkook finally released his laughter. "Am I really getting fat?", I asked. I stared at my stomach and poked at the flab. Jungkook pulled my hand off of my stomach and shook his head. "No, Somin. You're not fat, okay?"
"But you have to admit I gained some weight."
"I'm not going to admit anything because if I do, you're gonna complain either way."
"I won't yell at you for that. I would, however, yell at you for almost blowing our cover."
"That wasn't my fault. If you hadn't brought up judo-"
"Well if you hadn't continued with my lack of running ability-"
"Okay, it doesn't matter because she doesn't suspect a thing. So can we drop it?"
"Fine. It has been dropped."
"Thank you. Now if you'll excuse me, my team is going to prepare crushing you later."
"I'd like to see you try!"
"Will do. Good luck, Somin."
"Good luck to you too, Jungkook."