Angel Smile 39 Scene 39

"Hey, Lee Gun. Is it true that you haven't been attending the after school lessons because you don't need them?" A girl asked. She had a vexed look on her face, arms crossed on her chest.

"Please mind your own business," Gun didn't bother to raise his head up to look at the girl. He was busy scribbling away on a notebook; it was homework that was due on the next period which he hadn't had the time to do since he was too busy worrying about Yeo Ri.

"What? Hey, I'm asking because I was worried about you, okay?!" The girl shouted. Her face was red as she pouted.

"Why?" Gun raised his head to glance at her briefly, but his hand didn't stop writing.

"Wh—why?" The girl stuttered, her face reddening, "why what?"

"Why are you worried about me?"

"Be-because I-I li—ah—I c-can't stand it if Ha Jun gets first place! It'll upset the balance! are you just going to let him overtake you?!"

The boy next to the girl shot her a dirty glare. 'Why bring me into this?' He thought exasperatedly. 'Just confess already, d.a.m.n*t!'

"Oh." Gun replied plainly.

"Gun-ah, why are you so cold~?" The boy, Ha Jun, sighed. It was clear that the girl liked him yet Gun showed no signs of returning her affections.

Before they could say anything else, the bell rang, signalling the start of the next lesson and the end of their short break.

"Okay, students! Take out your homework and put it on the table! Let me have a look!" The teacher's voice boomed from the front entrance of the cla.s.sroom, sending the students scrambling to their seats. They quickly opened their exercise books and laid them on the desk.

The teacher dragged his long wooden ruler behind him, scanning the students' work.

"Good, good, good. Very good. Very— hey, you've got this one wrong. One hit!" He smacked the student's hand with the wooden ruler before moving on to the next student.

"Good. Good. Good. Go—hey. Hey, hey, hey! It's incomplete?! Just what kind of b*s—" The teacher was just about to unleash his anger on the poor student that hadn't managed to complete the homework, but when he raised his head to look at the student, he was stunned. "—S-Student Lee Gun?!"

Of course, why wouldn't he be surprised. Gun was his favourite student who never failed to turn in a complete and neat work. But for some reason, today, he broke his streak. Unlike what other students have been expecting, however, Gun did not get hit.

The teacher lowered his wooden ruler, looking at Gun worriedly, "did something happen? Why didn't you complete your work?"

Gun lowered his head, "I'm sorry, teacher. There were some family issues over the weekend and I couldn't finish the homework on time."

"No, no. It's fine, Student Gun. I'll go check the rest first while you finish yours." He kindly offered an initiative.

"Thank you, teacher." Gun bowed his head politely, accepting the offer. He ignored the other students' quiet complaints and stink eyes. Very quickly, he finished solving all of the questions before the teacher went through the rest of the students.

"Teacher, I'm done." Just as the teacher was in the midst of punis.h.i.+ng another student, Gun called out.

"Really?! Good, good." The teacher smiled in satisfaction. He went over to Gun's seat and checked his work. As always, it was perfect without a single flaw. Though he did it in a hurry, all the answers were correct.

"Good, good." The teacher repeated, nodding, his eyes practically glowing.

Seeing the blatant favouritism, some students grumbled, but kept quiet. They might get punished for complaining, after all. Gun was the teacher's pet, and slighting him was like slighting the teacher himself. It was better to keep their thoughts to themselves instead of risking getting their merit points deducted.

Gun spent the rest of the cla.s.s half-daydreaming and half-focused.

Yeo Ri's image and thoughts about her knife kept popping up in his mind, distracting him. He couldn't forget the scars marring her skin and the look of fear she had at the mention of that man. The franticness she showed when she couldn't find her knife was ingrained in his mind.

Gun shook his head and sighed. He took out his phone, flipping it open. The home screen had Yeo Ri's picture as its wallpaper.

It had been taken during Yeo Ri's 14th birthday. Yeo Ri was smiling prettily in the picture, looking bright and happy. They had been at home, eating fried chicken and a small cake. Yeo Ri rarely had cake so she had been very happy to have one present on her birthday. He wondered where the girl in the picture had gone. These days, her smiles seemed so sad.

Gun sighed again and flipped his phone shut.

He tuned out his thoughts and prepared himself to concentrate on the lessons instead.