~ Jason ~

ㅗ너아우애너재매눈.ㅓ어야ㅑ어애어대자무루ㅐ쟈ㅕㄱ.ㅠ어ㅐ매져겨ㅠ가애재뱌도라ㅐ내쟈조ㅠ아애내ㅗ어레재이루재.ㅜ야내ㅐ보거래더대우재배유러래ㅔ바무로려대ㅔ브우쳐셔ㅑ재배누터ㅑ애개루햏히.어애ㅐ우개후래넞루채채더애유미애챠루래추애우래루래ㅔ브ㅠ툐제브유려게비느토ㅕㅑㅐㅏㅜㅇ.

ㅗㄷ주ㅡㅣ먐ㅎ뇨듀야우야.ㅓ태무뉴애ㅐ려쥬쟈모류래수내누ㅠ어개오.ㅗ야어대누랴ㅠ미무애여엉.ㅠㅏ애유애유재노래도배마ㅜ튵추ㅜ채로갸대베ㅣㅁ누추러야ㅐ대정라ㅐ단류갸내ㅏㄴ우야ㅐㄴ나러애나우야ㅡㅜㅌ야ㅐ준로갸ㅏㄴ.ㅓ여래자누러갸재나우류랴ㅐ잔유러ㅑ개전루러대ㅐ자뭉러ㅐ재바문웡댜재ㅐ반우러ㅐ댖.

ㅗ애뉴추라ㅔ메뱆댜겨겨교고ㅠ류륯추츼이미미낭애ㅐㄷ.ㅗ억갸ㅐㄷ재ㅣ즘투터야.ㅠ럴려재ㅐ밤으루러ㅓ대제비바므누퉃처로ㅕ락개ㅐ제짐나우루루ㅠㄹ로ㅕ개재베베미느으추ㅠㄹ려겨개ㅐㅈ지나트추추ㅗ려개애제미마탙처ㅗ로랴래데매마느툴러로ㅓㄹ랴ㅐ댖매마ㅜ퉃러ㅐ댄.우러랴ㅐ애전러ㅓ러애즈쿠러랴대만우루ㅏ애마쿨러가ㅐㅈ미ㅡ칀베ㅔㅂ댜갸겨겨ㅗ규류추타팀미베배댜갸겨러루아.

ㅠ냐너냐우러애내배ㅐ버누아태나나쥬애유내누누내ㅐ야어루으네ㅔ마쟈쥬추차캐ㅐ저더류르ㅐㅔ매재재나ㅡ나터야ㅐ네바브므누퉈차채데나머나내느나나내ㅣㅌ트ㅔ나재너어ㅓ아아애아앵.

"ㅜ아우내뉴니ㅐ마우차에대더ㅠ우아투내자ㅐ자댜어래어듀오야애데자누터태애아애더대누내네나나어ㅐ애앵애에다ㅜㄷ아ㅐ애어단."

ㅜㅇ아ㅐㄴ미야루라ㅐㅁ베베나으.ㅌ우러랴ㅐ님므추추러겨갸ㅐ제벱베나ㅡㄴ추ㅜㅊ푸퍼랴갸다ㅏㄷ아추애ㅐ잼나라에베비타.

러ㅏ아넝라ㅐ내맴니아.ㅜ러라개자나러래대낭.ㅜ러라개자나러래대낭.

ㅓ어애메빈추라ㅑ갸ㅐ베ㅔ밷갸셔서.추ㅜ츹ㅍ푸허ㅓ어ㅣ미베배쟈갸섯러러아ㅣㄴ지.후후르틔니메베재댜서ㅓㅅ서후후ㅡ라탐배ㅐ더거ㅜ라니매배댜어ㅜ으임재다.

(Haha, just kidding ;) )

~ Jason ~

I'm craving for the smell of spices and bulgogi in the air. Every time I turn a street corner, I secretly pray that a horde of people will be currenting my way. In Seoul, the streets were always buzzing with pressing steps of a thousand and speeding wheels of a million. Eye-catching billboards, packed narrow streets, and vibrant neons splashed against the dull grey of roads.

Here, it's quieter.

Sure, Los Angeles is big and all, but it's only a slice of pie juxtaposed to Seoul; If Seoul was twenty-four-seven rush hour zooming on steroids around corners, LA were the stragglers slugging by.

I miss it, yet I couldn't stand to return.

You know, you never realize how much shit you own until you have to pack it all into tiny cardboard boxes. One by one, shoving shoes and trophies and books, looking for an extra square inch to squeeze a charger in. Then hopping on a plane across the world and landing in hot, palm-tree-crazed California where everywhere smells like Jasmine and burning car exhaust. It's so dry. The natural aroma hits big city, dings shit loads of people, bull's-eyes "I can blend in". I can be a dissolved grain of sugar at the bottom of a coffee cup.

In Korea, my parents put my brothers and I in English schools. With the language being part of the curriculum and hot internationals flavoring the classrooms-I feel familiar with this place. I think I'll welcome it as my new home.

But one thing that will never happen is old me. Cho-Hyeon is gone.

I'm Jason now.

And I refuse to work myself to the bone in endless papers, slaving nights at cram schools and pending dusk to dawn hours to textbooks-and for what? To overdose and fall victim to stress like Samchon (uncle)?

No, not a chance.

Gone are the blink-dates in a girl's bed. Samchon would always warn me that if I kept pulling my pants down, I would trip over enceinte vomit and land with a baby pasted to my arms. A night of passion is one thing, a life-long responsibility is another. Yeah, I used protection, but everyone knows nothing is ever really one-hundred percent.

Not even when it's a grade running down the columns of a transcript. Those relentless years of workbook addiction for a number that transcribes to just "good" "smart", pushing you for more approval, and putting you six feet under in the end.

Ah, Samchon.

I hate that he left like that.

Three years ago, I promised him I would be good, to, as he would say, 'keep your belt around your waist and head inside your books'. Girls are difficult though, they're tempting. One flash of cleavage or a suggestive comment below her breath and reasonability leaves my head-flows down to... well, you know. They were such a satisfying escape from constant work. All that studying and millions of tons of insurmountable pressure were chipping at me. Literally, I could feel a piece of my spirit wither away with each passing day. If only Samchon had admitted that two years ago. No, then would've been too late, if he had admitted that decades ago, things would still be alright. He would still be...

Living.

Alive.

I jump up from my royal-sized bed and rake my hands through my hair. Damn these tormenting thoughts. I look around the familiarizing wide room, aching for a distraction. I've adorned the walls with posters of BTS, and random pictures of cool places. The white paint looks bland and I want to fix that. I make a note to do it sometime soon. A mahogany bookshelf stands tall in the corner opposite my bed, rows of modern classics like Diary of A Wimpy Kid and Harry Potter sardine the aisles. The center floor is still littered with miscellaneous objects spilling out of boxes such as socks, face cleansers, dice-when the hell did I own dice? I'm not some poker wizard.

With a large sigh, I use a foot to nudge everything to a corner in front of my bookshelf. It's getting owl-late and I figure it's time to hit the mattress. Instinctively, I strip off my clothes since I can never sleep in them, and that's when I feel it.

Eyes boring into my bare skin.

I freeze before whipping around to my window. I see Maddie's face features turn into watermelons-wide eyes and mouth-and a second later she desperately plunges into the floor.

I burst into a fit of laughter, one so loud that I'm sure my parents and two little brothers are stirring from sleep. Then I hurry to my light switch and flick it off. Couldn't let her have too much now.

This is hilarious. Maddie, that innocent-looking cute nerdy girl from school, perving on me. In just that flash of a moment, I saw something different from her. She could pretend to not give a shit about me or be preoccupied with paying attention in class, but she's a girl deep down.

And those clouded eyes of hers, misty perhaps with heaping pressure to be good, they aren't shallow. There has to be something deeper to my ogler.

Suddenly, I'm panged with a reminder of my mission.

To prevent any possibility of leading astray to another fuck-boy path, I won't speak.

Sugar-sweet words to coax them like icing on a cake, seducing them under sheets, it can't happen when I don't talk. Right?

。。。。。

Shit, shit, shit.

Two days in and I've already fucked up. I just could see the panic and distress deep in Maddie's pecan eyes as she gaps on stage. Like a fish in oxygen. I had to give her water. The way she storms off trying to hide her contempt, but I could see it all and that made it impossible to resist running after her.

What am I-- a savior?

There's something about her though-something so familiar in her presence. It reminds me of sleepless nights and hopeless fixation on being perfect.

The janitor's closet is the closest place I could find to get us away from the flooding hallways. It smells of rotting wood and shitty water, like someone had dipped their ass in all the buckets then left it to ferment for a hundred years. But our bodies are in such tight proximities and all I can really focus on is her. The inviting roundness of her mouth, kinky brown curls flowing down her shapely body, and honey legs escaping her tight black skirt. It's professional. Sexy. More sexy than professional.

I tear my gaze from her deliciously curved hips and strain myself to look into Maddie's eyes. She's trembling slightly, seeming to be on the verge of tears and as I tower over her petite figure. I'm trying not to think of comforting her. Late nights, kisses. Taking her to my room.

I try to dam the notion, but it's too late. "Go on a date with me," the words pour out. I wait, shocked I said that and horrified she would be the first person to push me away. Isn't this what I'm aiming to stop?

And she refused, said no.

Rejection. A kick to the stomach.

I should've been happy that she thwarted my sinful ideas. But that stirred something in me-passion. Is she provoking me on purpose? Pretending to not find me attractive? I knew that wasn't true, not after she so obviously stared me down last night. And I work out every day, I have a nice body. No girls ever declined to be with me. Maybe... she's just playing hard to get.

I take a step closer, caging her against a bucket-toppling shelf and my body wall. Her head is centimeters from my chest and I bring my face down to hers. She smells so good, a sweet sweet intoxicating vanilla.

"Go on a date with me," I whisper softly into her ear. My arms spread from one dusty wall to the other. The place had the width of a small car. I see temptation flicker cross her face before a steely stubbornness takes over.

Give in.

"No! And move, I need to get to class before the bell rings." Her nose is sharp and definite as she pushes against my chest. That was a bad idea hopping up and down in a red jumpsuit from a mile away.

I jumped two feet back as she rockets into the shelf and the poop-colored (water?) waterfalls from the rusty bucket. It pours all over her hair, staining her white button-up a muddy brown, and making her exclaim a disgusted sigh.

"Ohh..."

I laughed at her 'eew' expression and a glare hot enough to singe all the hairs on my legs shut me up.

Feisty. I like that.

"Hold on." I carefully open the door and peek through the slim opening. Good, the hallways are clear. I turn back to take her cold, wet hands into my warm ones. Her hand is soft and I like the way it fits perfectly in mine as if she were made solely for me. She's shivering and that makes me want to wrap my arms around her and absorb all the discomfort from her body. I can't do that though-that would be weird. Too caring.

We sneak through the halls until we arrive at the boys' locker room. The room is unpopulated as the current gym class goes on and I fish out a workout outfit I haven't used since I came here. Maybe I'd need it someday if I ever felt like going to class.

"Here." I hand Maddie a gray t-shirt and black shorts that are definitely some sizes too large.

Her hand reaches out halfway. "Are you sure you don't need them?"

"Yeah." She slowly grabs them and I cross my arms and lean back on a firetruck-red locker. "I don't really go to class anyway. Why, do you think I need to work out more?"

I give her a cheeky smile, waiting for some cute reaction.

She blushes a little and the mini-me in my head pumps its chest like King Kong. One point for team Cho- uh, Jason!

Maddie whips her head around as if scared that someone might come in and shoot us down. Is she always this nervous?

Slowly, she pulls my folded clothes into her chest, her cleavage rises, my eyes watching. "Okay, thanks then." She turns to leave but I grab her shoulder.

I step forward to bring our bodies close. Placing his lips against her earlobe, I can smell her once again. Filthy toilet water is emanating off her skin and hair yet the deep scent of vanilla is there. It's so good.

"Shh," my voice is low, "let's keep it between us."

Her breath hitches and her mouth parts a little. I wait for her to say something, anything. Instead, she slips away from me like a grain of sand through my fingers. I'm savoring the way her long curls swish as she walks to the door, stopping only once to look back,

She's looking back. At me.

My lips stretch and I gaze into her beautiful big brown eyes. 'It'll be our little secret'. It might've been foolish to give myself away to her, but I feel trust and secrets swimming deep in her eyes. Buried down amongst other things. She won't tell a word to anyone.

"I'll see you later, agi."

"Right."

She dashes out, ecstatic to finally get into dry clothes. I see her in the hallways later, wearing them. They were baggy and all cuffed at the waist to fit her and she still managed to pull it off. She looked like someone that belonged with me. To me.

Damn.

。。。。。

"Mr. Lee, do you understand why you're here?" He says it like a grave statement rather than a question.

I lounge back on the cushioned red chair with my legs extended and my arms folded as a headrest. I nod, bored.

The principal starts droning on about the importance of attending classes and saving free-lancing for out-of-school hours. I forget his name-something like Mr. Hatch or Mr. Butch. My vision roams the office which is more interesting than his furrowed face and oiled-back dark hair. The room is half the size of a classroom yet a thousand times more decorative. Rather than plain white walls, bland white tiles, the floors are a kaleidoscope pattern of woodsy colors-pines and siennas swirling a whirlpool dizzying enough to make a sailor sick. I feel my chair swallowing into the sink-hole of abstract dyes and have to look away to escape the illusion.

The walls are less confusing. A creamy coffee organized with cheerful class photos, cliche inspirational posters like 'It's a good day for a good day', and personal awards. One of them is a pizza-box sized and night-glassy plaque that's bordered in gold. It reads 'LA Board Staff of the Year'. Hm, good for him.

A loud click pops my thoughts and I see the principal pick up a black phone from his desk.

"Madison Callahan to the Principal's office, Madison Callahan." His voice translates overhead and my heart unexplainably beats faster.

Why is she coming here? I should've paid attention to what this guy was saying. And above that, why does the thought of her make me feel... excited?

The principal sets the receiver down on his busy desk-teeming with paper files, family photos of him and another man with a golden retriever, and assorted writing utensils. Everything is sharply bound in piles and holsters, makes me wonder if he has OCD.

A jittery minute later, there's a soft rap on the door. I jumped up to get it and even though I've been expecting her, my heart still rises in my chest when I open the door. A timid and frightened expression wraps her face, this is probably her first time in a principal's office and she's scared to be in trouble. I can't say the same for myself.

"Hello, agi." I say in a voice only she and I can hear.

Like a flash of lightning, her eyes dart up to mine and the brief captivity of their doe-ness strikes me, sets me aflame.

Talk to me. Say hi back.

Instead, Maddie ducks under my arms that eagle-spread the doorw,ay and I'm left feeling pushed aside, discarded like an unwanted tag on a pair of jeans. Her sleek mousy curls softly brush against my forearms and the smell that wafts off of her is inebriating. She scurries to a red chair parallel to mine and greets...Mr. Hutchens.

For a second I'm stuck at the entrance, still caught up in the moment when she had stood so close to me. I have her look imprinted into my mind: maroon-framed glasses high on her pert nose, a blue school hoodie with the words Cremedale Private High boldfaced in a strong white font, dark leggings that hugged her thin legs skin-tight, and white string-less shoes. I'm brought back to the speech day where her tanned legs were on the display and even though it's LA, constant short and t-shirt season, I'm convinced that was a one-time-only thing. She's more of a pants and sweaters girl.

I want to get up close to Maddie. Have her vanilla be the only scent inhaling down my lungs, the deepness of her dark eyes filling mine, and her body. Soft. Smooth. Warm. On me.

I want it. I want her.

Grudgingly, I shut the door and take my seat in a chair identical to Maddie's. Red pillow seats and wooden legs. She's sitting a leg-span away and her cascading tresses are shielding her profile. Her body is rigidly leaned bak, as if preparing for a strong blow, and her fingers are weaving each other in her lap.

If I was holding her, I'd evaporate those awful nerves and replace them with comfort.

No, that's crazy. I've never even really hugged a girl before. All I know is working things away in bed.

"Madison..." Mr. Hutchens pulls my attention to face him at his broad desk. Two windows are draped open behind him and the white rays that pour into the room light him like a personal aura. I can see little fuzzy stuff floating around him. "...and Mr. Lee, on the other hand, seems to be in need of help. I've been made aware of your neighboring proximities." He rests his elbows up and clasps his fingers to form a bridge. "So given the circumstances, I and members of the staff have constructed a suggestion. Madison, it would be wonderful if you could be Mr. Lee's tutor. In and out of school."

A small gasp escaped her lips. My blood races.

Tutor?

"Do you accept?"

。。。。。

Hehe, did I get you in the beginning😝

Do you think Maddie's going to accept?

Also, what did you think about Jason's POV?

Hope you liked this chapter :Rememberer to VOTE, COMMENT your thoughts, FOLLOW, message me for any questions. Thank you all so much!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
*exclamations for every single one of my readers*