Chapter 2

"The perfect student"

"And that's all for today," Namjoon said when he heard the sound of the bell, a signal for him to end the class, "let's do well this year."

"Yes," everyone said, but the sound of chairs moving around and books being stacked and packed into bags almost drowned it out. Even still, Namjoon got the feeling that they were just as determined to make this a good semester as he was.

While packing up his own books and teaching supplies, the auditorium slowly got drained for students, until only a single girl was left. Song Na Ri.

As she slowly started packing up as well, as if she had all the time in the world, Namjoon looked up and unintentionally got eye contact with her. Like opposite poles attract each other, it seemed impossible for either of them to divert their eyes from each other. Even Namjoon felt frozen on the spot when he started into Na Ri's eyes from the opposite end of the auditorium, but finally got back to his senses and just sent her a big smile to make the situation awkward. It was the presence of the two cute dimples on each of Namjoon's cheeks that made Na Ri return back to earth as well and she quickly looked away before packing up the rest and walking down from her seat at the furthest corner of the auditorium.

"I guess I'll see you later, neighbor," Namjoon said when Na Ri walked past him to get to the door. She just gave him a quick look and a nod before disappearing.

Namjoon sighed, he really couldn't have made a worse first impression, was his only thought of that moment. But Namjoon's thoughts were quickly interrupted when the door opened again and an old and kind looking man entered the auditorium.

"Principal Choi," Namjoon said and bowed politely, "it's nice to meet you again."

"The feeling is returned," said Principal Choi and bowed as well, "I'm sorry I couldn't greet you probably this morning, but I felt it would be too stressful for you when you had an early class."

"I understand, you didn't have to go out of your way to meet with me," Namjoon said and grabbed his bag before walking closer to Principal Choi. 

From the first look you could tell he was a kind man, easy to approach and talk to. Judging from his wrinkles, his grey hair and frail figure, he had definitely reached his sixties, but he still seemed to have some fighting spirit back in him, and after being the Principal for more than 30 years, it made sense that he had no intention to retire yet. He knew his job to the core and he loved it. 

"I have some time now before my next meeting," Principal Choi said, "why don't I show you to the office where your desk is? Maybe you can meet some of the other Professors as well."

"That is very kind of you Principal Choi," Namjoon said and followed the principal as they left the auditorium and started making their way down the many halls.

"Don't worry about getting lost, you'll always find a kind soul who can help you when you're in need," Principal Choi reassured him, "and before you know it, you could walk these halls in your sleep."

"I hope you're right," Namjoon replied.

"How was your first class?"

"I enjoyed it, the class seemed very engaged in the material I used. I think it'll be a very interesting semester where both the student but also I will grow a lot."

"We all grow with the tasks given us and I'm sure you'll grow a lot as well," Principal Choi said and then came to a halt in front of a door with the words "Teacher's office" written upon it. 

"Shall we take a look?" Principal Choi said with a smile before opening the door and stepped inside with Namjoon following right behind him. The first things he noticed was the small booths where people had their computer, their books and other personal belongings. He always found something quite appealing about such work booths, like your own little space in the midst of such a big workplace. Most of the booths where empty as the Professor's where probably out teaching or taking an early lunch break, but at one of the booths closest to the door, a kind looking lady got up from her chair and walked up to Namjoon and the principal.

"Good day Principal Choi," said the lady, "is this the new Professor you announced would be filling in for Professor Lee?"

"Yes, this is Professor Kim Namjoon," Principal Choi said to introduce Namjoon and he quickly caught on by politely bowing in front of the lady, "actually, I have a meeting very soon. If it's alright with you, will you show Professor Kim to his desk and maybe introduce him to some of the other professors?"

"Yes of course," the lady said and Namjoon quickly spoke as well.

"I'm sorry for taking up your time."

"No it's no problem at all," Principal Choi said and then walked to the door, "I hope you'll get settled without any trouble, if you have any worries then don't hesitate to come see me at my office."

"Thank you, that is very kind of you," Namjoon said and watched him disappear through the door. After turning around again, he got eye contact with the lady who just smiled at him the same way she'd been doing all the time.

"I'm sorry I don't think I introduced myself before, my name is Cho Kyung Sa, I teach English poetry and other courses in the English Literature department."

"It's nice to meet you Professor Cho," Namjoon said with a kind smile. She looked younger than most of the Professor's he'd seen around at the University, but she still looked a lot older than him. If he had to take a shot, he'd say she was around her mid thirties or so.

"So this is your desk," Kyung Sa said and pointed at one of the booths in the midst of the office, "as you saw before, I sit right over there, so you can always come to me for help if you need it."

"Thank you," Namjoon said, "that is very kind of you."

"You're welcome. Please let me introduce you to some of your fellow professors," Kyung Sa said and turned her body slightly so she was half facing two middle-aged men who were seated at the stalls behind Namjoon.

"This is Kim Sang Hun, he's been a professor in English Literature for more than 30 years and furthermore, he has been working at Seoul University for almost 20 years now." After Kyung Sa was done introducing Sang Hun, he and Namjoon greeted each other with a smile and a polite 'let's get along well'.

"And this is Kang Ye Jun, who is not only a professor in English Literature, but also a published author. He's been working at Seoul University for 15 years, so like Professor Kim he's another veteran you can ask if you're in need of help." Like before, Namjoon and Ye Jun made sure to polity greet each other and smiled.

"Professor Cho is way too kind, I've only published one book and it was never very popular," Ye Jun said and raised his eyebrow at Kyung Sa.

"But that still means you're a published author," Kyung Sa just said and shrugged her shoulders, "but now, my hardworking colleagues, I have to get back to work, so I'll take my leave now."

Namjoon and the two fellow professors all said their goodbyes to Kyung Sa and then turned to their own desk again, burying their head in all the paperwork they had to get through. Namjoon did the same and sat down at the comfortable chair in front of his desk, the desk he could barely see because of all the documents and papers.

At the top was some documents about the school, how the system worked, who to contact if there was any trouble and a lot of other practical information. Below that was his weekly schedule, one he had already had received through mail and looked through several times. He had the first class on Monday, two classes on Tuesday, one on Wednesday and again one on Friday. Thursday seemed to be completely free and was probably meant for preparation and the making and correcting of different tests he would hand out throughout the semester. All in all it didn't seem so bad, but then again, he was a new and young professor so the probably wouldn't give him the biggest workload before they knew how much he could handle.

Namjoon put aside the documents he'd been looking at so far and then reached to the pile about his students. The students Professor Lee had chosen to be part of his course. It was a big pile, around 50 students or so, which meant Namjoon could forget all about remembering their names. But he still wanted to give it a try and slowly started going through the documents.

Student: Song Na Ri

Birthday: 1996-07-23

Major: English Literature

She was one of the first students in the big pile and Namjoon immediately noticed her when he saw her picture at the top left corner. When he saw that ice-cold facial expression that he'd been met by this morning, he couldn't hold back his smile, but when he looked down on her marks and grades, he was shocked to an extend where his smile soon faded away. 

Never missed a single class, never failed a test, no on the contrary, she got the best marks on every single test she'd taken.

"You can only be looking at Song Na Ri-ssi to be showing such a startled expression," Ye Jun suddenly said and made Namjoon return back to reality. He was standing next to him with a freshly made cup of coffee in his hand.

"Ah... yes... yes you're right," Namjoon said and felt embarrassed about his reaction, "you know her, I suppose?"

"Everyone in this department knows her," Ye Jun said and took a sip of his coffee," but yes I have her in my "English writing" class. And Professor Kim had her when she was a first year in his class of "Studies in English an American writers".

"Is that so," Namjoon said, "she seems like a very intelligent girl.

"Oh she is, you're lucky to have her in your class."

"Seems like it," Namjoon said and then continued looking through the pile. All the students seemed diligent and eager to learn, only a few had low grades and a lot of absence. But those types are everywhere and there's nothing to do about it. Almost every student was majoring in English Literature, but a few came from other departments as well.

Student: Kim Taehyung

Birthday: 1996-05-17

Major: Performing Arts

Student: Jeon Jungkook

Birthday: 1996-12-01

Major: Performing Arts

Seeing that even students from such a department as that of "Performing Arts", would chose a course about Shakespeare, made Namjoon even more excited about the semester to come. Just by reading about the students, he knew he had been given the best class in the entire department and he couldn't wait to teach them.

"Then, thank you for today and I'll see you tomorrow," Namjoon said when he was ready to leave the University late in the afternoon.

"Thanks for your work," those who were left in the office said and they all bowed their heads to say goodbye. 

***

The traffic in the inner city of Seoul was no joke and it was slowly making Namjoon consider if it was even worth driving a car to work. Public transportation seemed much more appealing as time went by and the traffic stood still, with nothing to entertain him but the radio where they only played the same song over and over again.

When Namjoon finally reached his building and parked his car outside, he had already made up his mind. This would be the last day he took his car to work, one more day sitting in traffic like that would drive him utterly insane.

Rubbing his templates and dragging his drained body out of the elevator and towards his apartment, he suddenly saw the door to his apartment open from inside and he watched as a woman walked outside.

"Mom?" Namjoon said as his eyes widened in shock and his mom, Kang Yeon Hee, waited for him next to his apartment door with a bright smile on her face.

"There you are, my beloved son," Yeon Hee said and gave her son a quick hug and a kiss on the cheek, "I thought I would have to leave without seeing you."

"Well... there was traffic... I'm sorry you had to wait..." Namjoon began explaining until he came to his senses and looked at his mom with a more serious face, "but mom, why are you here?"

"What do you mean 'why am I here?'" Yeon Hee said and laughed, "I came to make sure that my dear son arrived in Seoul safe and sound, and that his fridge is filled to the top."

"You gave me a food enough to feed an entire army before I left yesterday, you didn't have to come with more food so soon. I'm sure there wasn't even enough room for it in the fridge."

"Well I did have trouble fitting everything inside," Yeon Hee said with a worried expression, "but then you can just share it with your friends."

"My only friend in Seoul is Seokjin and he owns a five starred restaurant, so I don't think he needs food," Namjoon said and laughed.

"Then share it with your neighbors, I already made all the food are you really telling me to take it back home with me?"

"No, no of course not," Namjoon said and hugged his mom again when he saw her saddened expression, "thank you so much for taking care of me. I'll make sure-" Namjoon was cut off when he heard the sound of a door opening and both he and his mom turned their heads to see Na Ri leave her apartment with a thick coat, a yellow scarf around her neck and a bag swung across her shoulder.

"Good afternoon, miss Song Na Ri-ssi," Namjoon said and bowed, to which Na Ri just bowed in return, not saying a word.

"Going out?"

A little startled by Namjoon's sudden question, Na Ri looked at him for a short while, thinking hard about what words to use until she simply replied with:

"Yes... I'm going to work."

Namjoon was about to say something again when Yeon Hee started poking his side and sent him a kind but at the same time very saying look.

"Oh, sorry for my manners, Song Na Ri-ssi, this is my mother, Kang Yeon Hee," Namjoon said and Na Ri quickly turned her eyes to Yeon Hee and tried to put on a smile, "mom, this is Song Na Ri, my neighbor and also one of my students."

"It's nice to meet you," Na Ri said while feeling the cold sweat slide down her back from all this conversation.

"It's nice to meet you too," Yeon Hee said in a kind tone, "you said you're going to work? It must be hard to keep up with your studies along with a part time job. Don't you want a few side dishes? Then you won't have to think about dinner when you get home."

"I..." Na Ri said, looking for a way to reject Yeon Hee's offer, but she had already turned around and went inside Namjoon's apartment to pack up the food.

"I'm sorry if we're making you late for work, my mom can be pretty persistent," Namjoon said and Na Ri just nodded with a nervous smile.

"There you go dear, you have to have a healthy body to have a healthy mind, right?"

"Y...yes," Na Ri said as she held the side dishes in her hand, clearly not knowing what to do. But after a short while she pulled herself together enough for her to walk back to her apartment, put the side dishes in her almost empty fridge and then say goodbye before quickly leaving for work.

"What a sweet girl," Yeon Hee said when Na Ri had left, "you said she's your student? That's too bad, then she can't be a potential daughter-in-law."

"Mom really? Is that all you think about," Namjoon said while feeling slightly embarrassed.

"Isn't that what every mom would wish for? That her son finds himself a sweet girl and get himself his own family?"

"Yes of course, but I'm not even thinking about that right now. I just want to focus on my work for the time being."

"But dear Namjoon, you're already 28," Yeon Hee said and looked saddened while doing so, "you should start dating again. I know you needed some time after what happened, but it's already been two years since you broke up with Seo Ye Ji-ssi."

***

"Your mom is right," Seokjin said while crunching on another breadstick as he eyed Namjoon from across the table, "you should get yourself a girlfriend before you turn old and have wrinkles everywhere."

"You'll be older before me, so watch what you're saying," Namjoon said and reached out to take a breadstick for himself, but Seokjin pulled away the jar just before he could grab one.

"I'm only one year older than you," he remarked, "and I have a girlfriend. So don't you try to make this about me."

Seokjin pushed back the jar so Namjoon could finally get himself a breadstick and he just ate it while looking into the air, thinking about the words of his mom and his best friend.

"How about at your new job? Any nice girls there?" Seokjin asked, while trying to get rid of the awkward and gloomy atmosphere.

"Well there's a lot of nice professors that's for sure, but they're all much older than me. I think the youngest woman I met was in her mid thirties."

"So?" Seokjin said, "you'll be in your mid thirties as well one day."

"I know, that's not it," Namjoon said a bit annoyed, "I'm just not interested in any of them."

"Well, nothing to do about that then," Seokjin said and leaned back in his chair, "too bad that Na Ri-girl is your student."

"Not you too!" Namjoon sighed, "I never looked at her that way! Not even before I knew she was my student."

"Alright, if you say so." Namjoon sent Seokjin a glare and he gulped, before quickly changing the subject, "well is she a diligent student?"

"Very," Namjoon stated without hesitation, "I've only been her teacher for one day but she was clearly the one following my lecture with most attention. And every professor in the department knows her and praises her to the sky."

"That's wonderful! It must be great to have a student who truly works hard?" Seokjin said but Namjoon didn't look very enthusiastic.

"Well sure it is," Namjoon started, "but I just don't believe it."

"What don't you believe?" asked Seokjin as he didn't really understand where Namjoon was headed.

"I just don't believe she is as perfect as she wants everyone to think she is."

Hello everyone!

I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I remember having a hard time starting this story, but with hard work and determination, I pushed through it. When I was writing this particular chapter I remember having this quote in mind:

"If one finds writing easy, then one could end up believing he's more talented than he is" -Joseph Joubert

Remember to stay warm and eat healthy and take care of yourself. Stay safe.

Also, don't forget to leave a comment down below.

Love, Annalise~