"Excuse me, Mr. Choi." Beomgyu called out his professor.
Soobin looked up from his laptop where he had been busy working. "Oh, Beomgyu, you're here." he said with a smile.
"Y-Yes Sir, uh... I-I was hoping to get the syllabus you mentioned earlier before you dismissed the class." Beomgyu cleared the invisible lump in his throat and averted his gaze, feeling uncomfortable under the male steady stare. "Sir Choi?" he prompted when Soobin remained silent and continued to look at him.
"Ah, y-yes... the syllabus, of course! Can you wait for a minute? I need to print some new copies because some other students requested them, and I ran out of hard copies."
"T-That's alright, Professor Choi." he replied.
Soobin nodded and began printing the syllabuses.
Beomgyu watched his every move. The older leaned against the table where the printer was, hands in his pockets, and looked back at him.
Now Beomgyu felt self-conscious.
What could be the problem? Why had he been staring at him for so long? Did he have something on his face? But that was impossible, surely Jake would have mentioned it earlier.
Beomgyu took a deep breath and looked around the faculty room. There weren't many other professors there. "Mr. Choi?" he began. "D-Do you have a problem with me? You've been staring at me for a while."
Soobin chuckled, scratching the end of his eyebrow and looking at him with amusement. "I'm sorry, are you feeling uneasy?"
"To be honest, Professor, y-yes, I am..." Beomgyu admitted, grimacing a little.
"I'm sorry, Choi Beomgyu. I'm just so happy that I met you."
"P-Pardon?" Beomgyu couldn't understand him at all.
"Nothing, don't mind me. Here." Soobin handed him the freshly printed syllabus. Beomgyu took it immediately, and as he did, Soobin gently brushed his cheek with his hand.
"You're so beautiful." Soobin murmured, watching the younger pupils.
Beomgyu stepped back from the man. "A-Alright, Mr. Choi, I... I'll be going now." he quickly turned around and hurried out of the faculty room, shaking his head. He was really starting to find that professor strange.
As he exited the faculty room, he saw Jake talking on his phone.
"Oh, okay, bye babe, love you, mwuahh!" Jake said, hanging up as he spotted Beomgyu. "So, hyung? Was Profhotty inside?!" he asked excitedly.
"Yeah, here's our syllabus..." Beomgyu replied, putting the papers into his bag. He decided to distribute them to his classmates tomorrow since they had probably gone home by now.
Beomgyu checked his phone and smiled when he saw a text message from Taehyun, who said he was waiting for him outside the campus.
"Jake, do we have anywhere else to go? I need to head home..." he asked the younger.
Jake gave him a teasing smile. "Nope, why? Is your boyfriend picking you up? Let's go, we can leave the campus together, Beomie-hyung!"
They left the campus together, but parted ways when a guy, who looked like he also studied at the university, came to pick up Jake.
Jake excitedly introduced the male as his boyfriend.
Beomgyu approached the car where Taehyun was waiting. The younger was frowning as Beomgyu found him sitting in the backseat. Beomgyu gave Changbin a questioning look, but the male just smiled and signaled with his finger that he was in trouble.
"Who's that guy with you a while ago? Why did you hold his hand?" Taehyun asked, arms crossed.
Beomgyu furrowed his brows, trying to remember who the younger was referring to. "Oh, that was Hessung, my new friend's boyfriend. He was just introducing him to me. Why?"
Taehyun's frown disappeared, and he wrapped his arms around the older's waist possessively, gently kissing the male's cheeks. "Oh, nothing. I thought he was hitting on you. How was your first day at school?"
Beomgyu excitedly told Taehyun about his day at school, including his new friend Jake, but he left out one topic about the strange encounter with his professor, Choi Soobin. He didn't want Taehyun to worry about him.
"Haerin-nah invited me to her birthday! Are you going, Hyun? What do you think I should get her as a gift?"
The party was going to be at the Kang's mansion, more of a dinner than a party since Haerin didn't like big celebrations.
"You don't have to give her a gift. I already asked Changbin-hyung to buy one for her."
"But I want to give her something from me~" Beomgyu insisted, pouting cutely. Haerin had been so kind to him, and he wanted to give her a gift to show his genuine appreciation.
Taehyun then agreed and promised to go shopping with him to find the perfect gift. When they arrived at the mansion, they found Dr. Minjeong already there for Taehyun's therapy session.
"Hi, Beom! I brought the books I promised to give you. Sorry it took me a while." Minjeong said, handing him a paper bag filled with books.
"Thank you so much, Doctor!" Beomgyu replied, looking through the books in surprise.
"You're welcome. Hey, Hyunie, shall we start our session?" Minjeong said, approaching Taehyun and wrapping her arm around his.
Taehyun gently removed her hand from his arm and turned to Beomgyu. The older gasped when Taehyun cupped his face and stole a kiss from his lips. "Eat your lunch before doing your homework, okay?"
Beomgyu blushed, aware of the stares from Minjeong, Changbin, and Aunt Soule.
"S-Sure, but I'll go c-change clothes in my room first. You go ahead with Dr. Min." he replied, playing his fingers.
Taehyun warmly smiled and kissed him on the lips again before turning to leave towards the garden. Dr. Minjeong smiled at Beomgyu too before following the young male.
Beomgyu hurried up to his room. Remembering Taehyun's stolen kiss, he couldn't help but to squeal and smile.
∆ ∆ ∆
"Need help?" Beomgyu turned to see his professor, Choi Soobin, walking beside him. The male had his hands in his pockets, holding a planner and a book in one hand.
Beomgyu adjusted the books he was carrying, which he had borrowed from the library and finished reading.
"P-Professor Choi... it's okay. I can manage." he politely declined, awkwardly bowing.
Soobin smiled, and Beomgyu thought he would leave, but instead, he took some of the heavy books from him.
"W-Wait! Profe-"
"No, you can't. Let's return these to the library first before heading to your room." Soobin uttered. He started walking ahead of Beomgyu, leaving him no choice but to follow.
"Why BS Psychology?" Soobin asked as they walked to the library. It seemed he was curious about why Beomgyu chose BS Psychology as his course.
"Personal reasons, Mr. Choi." Beomgyu replied, looking down the ground.
"Oh, can't I know what those personal reasons are?" Beomgyu laughed at his persistence.
"No, Sir, you can't."
Soobin nodded, also letting out a chuckle.
"I'm sorry, I guess I'm being a bit annoying."
"Just a little, Sir..." he said, just as they arrived at the library.
He took out his library card, retrieved the books Soobin was holding, and placed them on the counter for the librarian to process. His professor helped him return the books to their respective shelves.
"Let's go, my class starts in five minutes. You wouldn't want me to mark you absent, right?" Soobin joked, patting Beomgyu's head before walking out of the library.
Beomgyu felt something weird.
Why do I feel this way about him?
∆ ∆ ∆
"Beomgyu? Are you alright?"
He looked at Taehyun. They were at a mall to buy a gift for Haerin. After his class, they had gone straight there.
"Huh?" he responded, a bit startled.
"I said, which store do you want to buy pretty Haerin's gift from? Is something wrong? Or are you hungry? You seem to be spacing out."
"S-Sorry, I was just thinking about an activity our professor assigned us." he replied, unable to shake off his thoughts about Professor Choi. It wasn't that he was assuming anything, but it felt like he behaved differently around him.
Just like earlier in the library and during their classes, he often caught Soobin looking at him, and whenever he did, the male would just smile at him.
Taehyun sighed. "Ah, okay. But do you want to eat lunch first before we buy a gift for pretty Haerin?"
"You decide." Beomgyu replied, trying to push away the thoughts bothering him. Maybe he was just being paranoid.
Taehyun then led him into a fast food chain. They found a suitable spot and he asked Changbin to order their food. Since there weren't many people inside, they quickly found a table. Changbin returned with their food and moved to a separate table.
"Let's eat, Beomgyu. Their food here is one of my favorites!" Taehyun said cheerfully as he arranged the chicken fillet, fries, sprite, and burger on the table.
"Didn't Dr. Sehun say unhealthy foods are not allowed for you?" Beomgyu asked the excited latter.
Taehyun pouted his lips and immediately intertwined their hands. "This will be the last time, Beomgyu, please?" he pleaded, repeatedly kissing the older's hand.
Beomgyu longingly sighed. What else could he do? "Fine, but you promise this is the last one, okay? You should eat only healthy foods from now on."
Taehyun responded with a wide smile after planting another kiss on his hand before they started eating.
After their meal, they headed to a bookstore where he planned to buy Haerin's gift. He learned that Haerin really loved fantasy books, so he asked Dongmin's soon to be wife, Jisoo, for advice on what kinds of books she might like recently.
On their way home from the mall, they sat together in the backseat of Taehyun's car. The younger leaned his head against Beomgyu's shoulder and gently ran his fingers through the older's hair.
"Beomgyu-hyung? If you have a problem or something bothering you, you can tell me, okay? Always remember that I'm here for you." he said, then dropped a swift kiss on the back of Beomgyu's hand.
Beomgyu sweetly smiled, pecking Taehyun's forehead in return.
🙇♂️.