True Mates Book One: The Setlist

Chapter Nine: I'm already taken

*******Aurora's POV*******

I rested my head on my hand as I stared at absolutely nothing on the white board at the front of my classroom. All around me, the sounds of kids playing could be heard. Giggles, shrieks, toys crashing together, fake-baby crying over in the dramatic play area. But I couldn't focus on any of it. Not really. I was glancing around every couple of minutes to make sure that nobody was dying, but for the most part, I was feeling like a bad teacher, because my mind was occupied elsewhere.

With one Park Jimin.

It's been two days since he took me out to dinner, and I haven't heard from him since. Not that I expected to. He said he'd call me, but hours later, as I lay in bed, wishing that I could sleep like a normal person, I realized that he had never asked for my phone number.

"Miss Aurora, can we listen to some music?"

"Sure, Jack," I said to the little boy standing in front of my desk. "What do you want to listen to?"

"BTS!" all of the kiddos yelled at once.

I sighed, not wanting the reminder. "What about something else today?"

"Sick of BTS, are you?" A voice asked from the doorway, causing every head in the room, including mine, to snap around towards its source.

"JIMIN!" The kids yelled as they rushed over to him. I sat up straight and stared at him, but didn't say anything. Kingsley, on the other hand, started crying, he was so excited.

I watched as Jimin crouched down in front of him, his hand on the little boy's shoulder. "What's wrong, buddy?"

Kingsley hugged him, then wiped at his eyes. "I didn't think that you'd come back."

"And you're so upset that you're crying about it?" Jimin asked him in a teasing tone.

"Happy!" Kingsley told him. "Happy tears."

I felt a pat on my arm and looked down at one of my kiddos. "What, Claire?"

"Miss Aurora, when is lunch?" she asked me as she rubbed her little tummy. "I'm hungry."

I glanced up at the clock on the wall and realized that I had completely spaced and we were already 5 minutes late to lunch. I grabbed the hand sanitizer, since it's faster, and walked over to them.

"Hey," I said to the kids. "We're running late for lunch. Let's say goodbye to Jimin, sanitize our hands, and go have some spaghetti, okay?"

Jimin frowned. "Hey. I like spaghetti."

"Then go eat with them," I said without looking at him, as I put some sanitizer in each of the kids' hands and made sure that they rubbed it all over.

I could feel him staring at me, but I was too busy trying to get the kiddos to lunch, so I basically ignored him.

"Are you going to come and eat with us, Jimin?" Madison asked him. "You can sit by me, if you want to." A lot of the kiddos in my class are really shy, but Maddie was not one of them. 

"I'd love to," he told her. "But I have a couple of things to discuss with your teacher. I'm sorry. Another day, though. I promise, and I always keep my promises." This seemed to pacify Maddie, who skipped over to get in the line at the door. 

I turned to lead the kids down the hallway and when I glanced back, I noticed that Jimin wasn't following. After I got them into the cafeteria line, I went back to my room to find him sitting in one of the little plastic chairs that the kids use. He looked up at me, then stood and waited until I got to him.