The bell rang, last one Taeyeon would hear today. Her head flinched up, her eyes widening at the sound that snapped her out of dozing off. A tall shadow fell over her whilst she was packing up, one that made her grin sheepishly. She spoke first, her voice apologetic and assuring. “Heeey there Jaehwannie~” she slowly zipped her bag, facing him fully. “I'm sorry, y’know, for falling asleep. It's not your lecture I swear!” A white lie to spare Ken’s sensitive pride. She was cut off by Ken’s bright smile—which somehow seemed different— and his hand on her upper arm. “I'm not mad about that Tae, I'm not mad at all~” he assured her. “I just wanted to talk to you…” his dark eyes averted towards a figure in the corner, to which Taeyeon instinctively turned towards.
To her surprise, it was the same boy from this morning staring out the fogged window as if he wasn't eavesdropping whatsoever. What was his name? SangHyuk? She nodded to herself, convinced. Taeyeon turned back to Ken, her head tilted in confusion as to why he hasn't finished his sentence. Another part of that confusion came from wondering why every single time Ken looked at SangHyuk his eyes filled with suspicion, cautiousness, and some form of...threat. She stared up at his furrowed brows, slightly squinted eyes, and full lips that usually were separated into a smile. Whatever SangHyuk and him have in their past, it must've been bad for Ken to be this bitter with him. ‘Poor Jaehwan’ she thought, assuming Ken wasn't a big part of the reason for this tension.
Not but a good two minutes passed before Sanghyuk turned his head to meet Ken’s scowl. “I wouldn't be all pouty if I were you Teach, you're the one that gave me detention. And on the first day too! What a tyrant.” He said with the lingering teasing tone laced within his words. Ken sighed, a slight twitch in his left eye as they closed. Taeyeon saw his thought process, he was composing himself. She had to admit, this was one of the things Ken did that made him more attractive. The way his chest puffed out as he inhaled and slowly sank to its normal state while he exhaled, the way his jaw tightened while his expression changed. It was...charming. ‘In a very platonic way’ she reminded herself. Ken had clearly ignored Hyuk and turned back to Taeyeon, a soft smile appearing on his face at eye contact. “I just wanted to ask how your day was Taetae. New school, it must have been interesting to say the least. Am I right?”
Interesting was one way to describe today. But Taeyeon would have rather used, ‘deadly boring’. Both in their own sense. Nothing really happened today, yet she knew everything was going on. People gave her strange stares in the hallways, she could hear fights outside during class, all her class subjects have been...strange. All that and sometimes she could feel Hyuk stare holes in the back of her head. Now was a great example of that. Taeyeon must have been really deep in thought just then because she only snapped out of it when Ken pulled her to him in a hug, his arm around her shoulders and fiddling with her soft blonde hair. She felt him lean in before he whispered, “Don’t worry, I'll protect you.”
An aching part of her wanted to thank him, the other questioned why.
