0 3.    H o u s e   m o u s e

"The class is dismissed." He declared as he walked out of the space, freeing the students to resume their long-left conversations again, but now the topic of discussion was that professor who grabbed the headlines in the entire university, I supposed.

The minute he stepped out of the classroom and the minute I exited from the daydreaming session, I lifted my head only to see the hordes of begrudging girls surrounding me. Every girl, I hadn't seen for a long time was enclosing me like bees humming in the vicinity of flowers.

"What did he say?" The desperate one asked me scornfully.

"He asked her out, will that answer your question? Now, give us some air to breathe." Nari pushed the cluster of impatient girls to the side.

We swarmed out of the claustrophobic place very quickly.

Jimin followed us from behind, faking to chew a piece of gum. He ran his hand through his quiff in full-on attitude.
"Compose your concentration to studies only. That will make your future bright for sure and this guy will not." He pressed the word and the girls scoffed in reaction.

****

We were sitting in our second class of most tiring subject i.e. Macroeconomics.

"Gosh! I will make it a point to attend all his classes regularly. " Nari blurted out lowly.

"Get a move on Nari, he's such a shrewd and cruel man. Haven't you observed his traits when he gave such a lame introduction about himself? So mean." Jimin disgusted.

"I can see a jealous Jiminie right now. But hey, your eyes are great and smile is gorgeous too but not overbearing like his." She snapped at the last part of the sentence.

"Will you guys stop it? I'm out of here." I shouted as I got up from my seat angrily. The infuriated professor gestured me to leave the classroom.
I made headway with heavy footsteps.

What on earth is happening to these girls? The boys are also leading the race. Is he an angel or something? There's no denying fact that he's handsome but why is everyone getting so much obsessed about him? I headed out to the parking lot, at a tremendous speed.

Just as I was about to insert the key in the door of my minivan, someone tapped on my shoulder. I muttered without looking at the person, assuming it to be a random girl with the same question. "Wait. Let me guess, you are here to know what that hot professor said to me right?"

"Okay, you don't want to answer. That's absolutely fine." I blabbered, not caring to look at the identity of the person.

"He asked me to die." I pivoted lazily and was completely taken aback. I instantly covered my mouth with my hand and my back hit the hard surface of the vehicle. To my surprise, the devil himself appeared in front of me.

Prof.V
What is doing in here?

"Who asked you to die? And.. and why  are you leaving so early, I suppose you have two more classes left as per Monday's schedule, huh?" He scrutinized my pale-confused face.

"I'm feeling a bit low, so I decided to go back home to take some rest in particular." I forced a humorless laugh.

"It's strange though, I mean who feels sick on the very first day of their college?" He narrowed his eyebrows in concern, looking elsewhere.

"Anyways Prof. V, see you tomorrow. I mean to see you in.....tomorrow's class." I instantly reframed my sentence.

He simply nodded.

I hopped into my van after he left. Suddenly everything froze as I thought about my mom who would fire different types of questions at me if I reach home this early.

Whatever.

The engine turned on but the van didn't move an inch. "Now, what's wrong with this boneshaker? I cried in an utter annoyance.

After a moment, the same black car halted in front of mine. He rolled down the mirror, "I think your tire has gone flat." He pointed at the slouchy tire.

"Get in, I will drop you home." He signaled me to get inside his posh car.

"Are you sure?" I clenched my fists, taking baby steps towards his car. As I was still not sure about the decision of taking help from a stranger. Although he's my professor but then too, I recalled my granny's advice and mentally cursed myself out.

***

"And there you go." He said as we reached my house. I nearly took forty five minutes from my house to reach the university. But this drive was much shorter than I imagined, it nearly took about fifteen minutes or even less.

"Ahh... "

"What happens? Don't you want to go inside?" He asked me politely.

As he saw me fidgeting, he turned on the engine, "I know a place you would love to go." He took a u-turn, an inaudible gasp left my mouth.

***

The abandoned house stood in a composed way as if it had chosen solitude for itself as if residents were a luxury it could forgo. I move inside as he invited me in, I noticed the floors had been a highly polished parquet, individual blocks lovingly placed and sanded to a smooth finish before the varnish was brushed on with fine bristles. The walls stood firm, the window frames strong, glass triple glazed and whole. All in all, it looked like a movie set, a place waiting for life to come. The only give-away was the odor, well, that and the dust. It was musty and dry, but nothing opening the doors and windows couldn't solve. A spring clean, some fresh flowers, perhaps the house would enjoy the luxury of a company.

"Eh, Professor, your house is unique." My voice trailed off at the sight of his gloomy, scary house.

"Actually this house belongs to Mrs. Lee and I'm just a tenant. She rented me a room upstairs but I use this portion as well. Anyways, just give me two minutes and I will get something for you to drink." He said nonchalantly. He left me alone and I stood still for a moment before wandering around the confined space.

Taehyung

I don't want any tiny-weensy mistake to occur which would ruin my plans like hell. No sooner had I hurried to the entrance of the house than she appeared before my eyes.

"Oh, thank God!"

I breathed out a sigh of relief as I saw her staring at the huge photo frame that was hanging onto the wall.

"Hey! your coffee."

She slightly jumped at her place before shaking her head quickly.

I leaned back in my chair, spreading apart my legs and she sat across me in a timid like manner.

"Where are your parents? You don't live with them?" She asked me nervously.

"They abandoned me because I was  way too different than the other kids of my age," I replied to the truth without thinking twice, which was not completely true.

But, the exact reason why they cast me out was 'cause I was a fanatic boy, a demon with physical features as that of humans. Sometimes in the early day, they happened to get a rough idea about my dark intentions.

"Huh?"

"Anyways you can stay here for as long as you want since I'm going out for some work and will drop you home back. Do inform me, okay."

She nodded.

I walked through the doorway, taking an exit from there. I checked my missed calls and abruptly dialed the last number.

"Who's this?" I asked, rubbing fingers on my temples.

"I'm Eva."

"And I will leave you neva," I replied with words dipped in seduction. I laughed endlessly at my clever pun.

I instantly texted her, "Send me your address, real quick." It didn't take her long to reply back.

Poor Dasom.

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Word count -1337

Captain's note- A great man with a set of great puns!