Teacher's Pet | MarkHyuck

• 19 •

•

...Some kind of short circuit happened inside Haechan's brain.

The reddening of his face was something the boy could not keep under control, and he actually found himself with the urge to check the security cameras just to make sure that what his eyes had seen corresponded to reality; to what Mr. Lee had just done so casually.

Mumbling out of not knowing what to say, Haechan completely ruined his aim of appearing 'relaxed and totally-not-intimidated' in front of his teacher, yet again. After the realization that his mouth was only making him look worse, he decided to shut it.

The boy then heard a laugh coming from the source of all his headaches, followed by a "sorry, I didn't quite catch that, what were you trying to say?" Mr. Lee was met by Haechan's eyes, which silently begged him to stop with this whole show and let him be, but the older still had other tricks up his sleeve.

Wanting to get it over with as soon as possible, his student blurted out the first thing that came to his mind, no matter how more awkward it was going to make the situation. "T-taro milk tea is great..." upon hearing himself, Haechan simply continued with his drink, almost finishing it. He figured that if he didn't know how to react, at least he could pretend that nothing had happened. 

Saved by the bell, Haechan heard an alarm in his phone go off, signalling it was 7:45 p.m. This meant his break was over, and the boy had never been happier about going back to work. He turned off the alarm and let out a breath he didn't know he was holding. "I must head back, please enjoy your food," Haechan spoke in a rush, getting up without sparing his teacher a final glance, or daring to. 

Not giving Mark any time to reply, he took his empty glass and almost run behind the counter to meet with his coworkers. The boy tried his best to feign not feeling Mark's eyes on him, burning out of the rage caused by his student purposely cutting short the time they had together. 

And so Mr. Lee refused to leave yet. He stayed in the cafeteria for over an hour, working or simply watching time go by, eager for what was about to come. Then, something occurred in Haechan's mind, exactly the same something his teacher had planned before his grand entrance.

The boy realized that if Mr. Lee happened to stay there until closing time, he would even offer to accompany him home, since they live next to each other. Worst-case scenario, Mark would maybe even offer to take him home in his car if he had bought it, which, unfortunately for the boy, was the case. 

This is bad, Haechan confirmed just by imagining how uncomfortable and borderline scary that situation would be. Desperate for a knight in shining armor, he took out his phone to send a couple of texts to the person who popped up in his mind when thinking of someone he could rely on.

injeolmi

Junnie, I need your help

can you come pick me up from work?

It was now 9:30 p. m., time to start cleaning the whole place before closing in half an hour. No more clients could order, but they could stay in their tables until it was approximately 9:50 p.m., when they would be kindly requested to leave so that their table could be cleaned.

Haechan saw an older couple exit, indicating that the only client left was his teacher. He sighed shakily, hoping that his friend had received his messages and was able to arrive on time. The boy, with Shotaro and Sungchan's help, was busy cleaning the tables, stacking the chairs on top and mopping the floor, while Irene restocked the counter and took care of other final details.

Now it was time to inform Mark that he needed to go, which Shotaro, noticing his friend's nervousness, spared him and offered do it himself. He informed Mr. Lee that they needed to clean the table, which the older took as his cue to start gathering his things. Mark left finally, but not before a last glimpse of his favorite student, who avoided his eyes.

When it was only the four of them, Haechan could breathe again. "You said he's your teacher?" Sungchan asked curiously. "Yeah, he seems to enjoy making me feel small," he chuckled, the smile not reaching his eyes. "I've been avoiding him, but it turns out that he comes here every day," Haechan added, remembering what Mark had said.

"What? What do you mean? These months I've been working most weekdays afternoons and this is the first time I've seen him." Haechan, who was carrying a chair to stack it on a table, stopped in his tracks, almost dropping it. Once he snapped out of it, he continued, trying to conceal his true reaction. "He's never been here?" Sungchan shook his head.

So he lied to me... why would he even do that? Haechan began sweeping the floor, incapable of not overthinking just how it was possible that this happened to him. He wanted to forget about it and not find Mr. Lee waiting for him outside when goes home. Despite being hopeful, Haechan still wished the café had a back door he could use.

Sooner than the boy realized, the four of them were outside, Irene checking and locking up the place, "good job today guys, thanks for everything." As they bid their goodbyes and went separate ways, Haechan looked around quickly trying to spot Renjun or to see at least whether Mr. Lee was there.

The evening darkness made it difficult to identify anything, the streetlights helping only so much. Haechan could see none of them. A part of him felt upset that Renjun hadn't come, but he couldn't deny the joy of Mr. Lee having left. Nevertheless, that bit of happiness did not last for long.

Just around the corner, Mark stood leaning on his car, waiting.

•

A/N:

I'm kind of a freak for angel numbers, and this chapter has 999 words, which turns out means completion and new beginnings, so it couldn't be more fitting! :D

I don't know if we have the same calendar, but I just wanted to say, in case we do, Happy New Year!!! <3