#secretshinee

“Deal.”

As they ran, Ji Sung stuck out his right hand for a handshake, and the two sealed the deal before continuing on their way around the field. Their legs were seemingly becoming as heavy as lead, and the more they ran the slower they travelled.

“Would you move your legs over there?” came a shout, and Eun Ha and Ji Sung looked up in shock to see Mr Choi yelling at them. “I don’t have all day, you know! Sometime this period would be nice.”

With red ears acquired through embarrassment rather than exercise, the two students hurriedly jogged their way back over to the rest of their class and tried as hard as they could to avoid their teacher’s gaze. Mr Choi seemed to look down on everyone (with his intimidating height as well as his sharp, angry features), and scowled in disappointment. “I am so sick of everyone in this class not even trying. If I tell you to run, you run god damn it.” His voice switched to a higher pitch in imitation. “”But I can’t run any faster.” Oh, please.” Rolling his eyes, Mr Choi placed his hands on his hips and seemed to glare at one student in particular. “Let me tell you, you’d wanna be running faster than that if you’re trying to escape a lunch time detention. I’ve said it many times and I’ll say it again – I’m not in the mood for lazy twats. It’s either you do what I say, or face the consequences. Got it?”

“Yes, Mr Choi.” the students droned simultaneously, Eun Ha and Ji Sung sharing a mutual, disdainful expression.

“Oh, and you two?” he added all of a sudden, raising an eyebrow at the two friends and allowing his lips to twitch into a half-hearted, smug grin. “Twenty extra push ups for taking so long to get here. I’ll see everyone else next lesson.”

 Dropping into their chairs with weak, shaking legs, flushed cheeks and sweat running down their face, Eun Ha and Ji Sung breathed a long sigh of both relief and exhaustion. They sat in music now, currently awaiting the arrival of their favourite teacher (quite a contrast from their feelings towards Mr Choi), Mr Kim. He always seemed to be at least a few minutes late, whether it be because he really needed to use the loo, needed some help carrying his things or simply was too caught up having a chat with the other staff members.

The door gusted open and in came Mr Kim, with red cheeks, a large stack of books in his grasp and another currently shielded from view teacher who was carrying both an acoustic and a bass guitar. “We’re gonna be having a fun day today!” sang Mr Kim as he walked through, placing his books on his desk before taking the two guitars from the other teacher and hence revealing his face.

“Mr Choi!” gasped Eun Ha in a hushed whisper, bad memories of the period before suddenly flashing before her. She gave Ji Sung a look that seemed to scream pain, and the boy nodded softly in agreement at the unspoken statement.

Mr Kim smiled up at the taller teacher warmly, the same shade of rose still brushing over his cheeks delicately. “Thanks, Minho.” he spoke, patting Mr Choi’s shoulder in a friendly manner and subsequently sending the strict man on his way.

Ji Sung and Eun Ha shared a befuddled look at the apparent lack of hostility between the two teachers – they certainly hadn’t expected the two polar opposites to get along so easily. And to have Mr Choi help carry musical instruments to class? It was just unheard of. But the whole class had seen the occurrences transpire before their very eyes, and sat shell shocked in their seats as they waited for the lesson to begin.

“I would’ve thought they hated each other…” said Ji Sung under his breath.

Eun Ha shrugged. “Maybe they do. They probably just have to keep up appearances in front of the students.”

He nodded in agreement, however scepticism still laced his features lightly. “Yeah, I guess so.”

Standing before the class, Mr Kim scratched the back of his neck sheepishly with a wide smile. “Sorry about that.” he apologized, picking up the back guitar and giving it a testing strum. “We’ve been doing a lot of theory lately so I thought we should do some fun practical work today. I’ve brought in these guitars from home so make sure you treat them with care, m’kay?”

Everyone nodded enthusiastically, and Mr Kim seemed to bounce with delight and excitement. “Good, good! And you guys know where everything else is hidden, so I’ll give you a few minutes to choose an instrument you like and then we’re gonna do some improvisation. If you get left with something you hate just tell me and we’ll figure something out, alright? Now, off you go!”

Bustling around the room, all the students hurried desperately to get an instrument that they could at least play somewhat decently. Eun Ha and Ji Sung, with nowhere else left to go (and no musical talent really whatsoever), were left to sit by the piano together side by side, grinning impishly up at Mr Kim when he asked why they were sharing. “We don’t know how to play much else, and there’s enough room here.” They had replied.

Mr Kim simply nodded to himself with a wide smile and a thumbs up, leaving them to play the large instrument together. “Fair enough!” he spoke as he shuffled to another part of the room. “Who am I to say no?”

The two best friends breathed a sigh of relief, more glad in this moment than any other that Mr Kim was such a blessing. With his small and petite frame, his soft, calming voice and his musical talent, he really was a favourite at their school. It was beyond safe to say that Mr Kim was much nicer and preferred than the tall and masculine, deep voiced, sport crazed sadist Mr Choi – it was a fact which nobody ever questioned.

Well, up until that Saturday, at least.

A hard elbow shoved against Ji Sung’s side just as he went to take a lick of his ice cream, and he turned to face Eun Ha with a harsh glare. “What the heck was that for—“

“Shut up and look over there.” she whispered harshly, gesturing with a nod of her head in the direction of the park.

With a roll of the eyes, Ji Sung redirected his gaze towards the large, green field, decorated beautifully with colourful trees that swayed in the wind and water that cascaded down a large, central fountain. It took him a few seconds for his eyes to find what his friend was referring to, and then a few more to focus, but once they had Ji Sung gasped in shock and accidentally caused a scoop of ice cream to fall from his cone. But in that moment, the fallen ice cream certainly wasn’t the most important thing which had captured the student’s attention.

Because in that very park, looking rather cosy if he did so himself (much cosier than he and Eun Ha had ever looked together for that matter), were Mr Choi and Mr Kim, laughing loudly together at something one of them had said. Eun Ha and Ji Sung blinked, and blinked again, before shooting each other a gobsmacked expression with dropped jaws.

“M-Mr Choi…Is laughing?” stuttered Ji Sung.

“I didn’t know he could.” added Eun Ha.

The two watched on with wide eyes, becoming more surprised by the second as the scene unravelled before them.

With a smile full of sunshine, Minho gently slipped his fingers through Jonghyun’s and entwined their hands together, taking pride in the bright, rouge blush which spread across Jonghyun’s cheeks accompanying his actions. The shorter of the two looked down at the ground shyly, squeaking in pleasant surprise when Minho lifted his chin and gave his nose a chaste peck. “You’re too cute sometimes, hyung.”

“And you’re too much,” replied Jonghyun with soft laughter, swinging their arms back and forth wildly as they strolled along the gravel path. “So extra all the time.”

Minho grinned and gently ruffled Jonghyun’s dark brown hair so it stuck up at the edges. “You love it.” he teased, pausing in his tracks for a mere few seconds to swoop down and press his lips softly against Jonghyun’s.

Jonghyun’s smile was so wide and pure that his eyelids crinkled mirthfully at the edges and his face screwed up in joy. With a light giggle he pressed himself against Minho’s side and held his arm firmly, adding with a devious grin, “And I love you.”

“I love you too, Jonghyun.” smiled Minho with a tinge of pink painting his ears. They hadn’t really said it all that much to each other yet, so both males got extremely bubbly and flustered whenever the three special words were spoken.

Minho’s hands moved sneakily under the hem of Jonghyun’s shirt, tickling his ribcage softly so that his boyfriend squirmed wildly in both laughter and discomfort. Jonghyun turned away in desperation so that his back was facing Minho instead, but it was to no avail and the tickling continued, with the younger male’s hands slipping all the way around to tickle the soft skin of Jonghyun’s stomach. “Stop!” Jonghyun squealed with tears forming in the corners of his eyes, but the authentic smile decorating his features told Minho that they were tears of laughter rather than hurt.

Feeling as though he had tortured his boyfriend for long enough, Minho instead grasped Jonghyun around the waist and lifted him around with a spin, holding the older close to his chest and placing a small kiss on the nape of his neck. Jonghyun’s whole face was bright red, but he made no move to hesitate when Minho held his cheeks tenderly with his hands and pulled him close for a long, languid press of the lips.

“I’m seriously so lucky.” whispered Minho against Jonghyun’s mouth.

Jonghyun smiled and placed one last, chaste peck on Minho’s lips before jumping away with a mischievous look shrouding his features. “You seriously are.” he responded. “A mean ol’ sport teacher like you doesn’t deserve me, aka, the fluffiest, kindest music teacher to ever exist. How did you manage?”

With a pout, Minho stepped forward closer to Jonghyun, only to have his boyfriend jump away once again with a teasing poke of the tongue.

“It must have been my god-like body…or my chiselled face.”

Melodious giggles engulfed the warm spring air. “Or maybe…” spoke Jonghyun, stepping forward and fisting the chest of Minho’s shirt. “It was your flaming charisma.” His tone was mocking, and not a second went by before Jonghyun was erupting in full-fledged laughter, clutching onto Minho for support.

“I can’t believe…” he wheezed. “You introduced yourself as—“ Jonghyun’s giggles muffled his words, and despite the struggle to continue, he finished the sentence with tears of amusement running down his cheeks. “’Flaming Charisma Minho. I—“ And he was off again in hysterics, but all Minho could do was pout in distaste and hold Jonghyun up to prevent him from falling.

“I was young and naïve, alright?” Minho defended fruitlessly, a whingey tone to his voice.

Jonghyun’s chuckles came to a slow halt, but the wide grin and crinkled features adorning his face made no move to disappear anytime soon. “Sure, sure.” he responded sarcastically, before all of a sudden hooking his arms around Minho’s neck and pulling him down to kiss him softly on the cheek. “I love you, flaming charisma.”

“I love you too…” Minho grinned. “Bling bling.”

 Eun Ha and Ji Sung stood shell shocked, jaws dropped so low that they almost grazed the floor. The astonishment and surprise that they both felt in that moment was indescribable in words, so they simply stood there, watching on whilst frequently nudging the other in the ribs. The kisses shared between their two teachers, the pure joy on Mr Choi’s face, how well the polar opposites seemed to get along was just…odd. Not expected. Shocking. Unbelievable. Strange, in some sort of way. But despite all that, when Mr Choi and Mr Kim finally walked off with their hands clasped together tightly, it was with utmost joy when Eun Ha and Ji Sung turned to face one each other.

“That was not Mr Choi.” stated Ji Sung with disbelief, shaking his head softly with wide eyes.

Eun Ha nodded slowly. “I…I think it was, Ji Sung. But Mr Kim and him dating—“

“…”

“…It’s totally adorable!” they squealed simultaneously, jumping with joy.

“My OTP.” added Eun Ha.

Ji Sung nodded fervently in agreement. “I mean sure…at school Mr Choi is an asshole but…I guess he does have a heart after all.”

With a sly smile, Ji Sung stepped closer to Eun Ha and held out his hand.

“Um…” spoke Eun Ha with wide eyes, looking at the offered hand with a frown. “I-I don’t think we should be u-um—“

“—My money, you idiot. You owe me ten dollars.”

Silence filled the air.

“Oh.” blinked Eun Ha. Her gaze lifted to meet Ji Sung’s, and then she smiled wildly with fake innocence glazing her eyes. “Don’t remember, didn’t happen.”