San then lead the way towards his car. Wooyoung, who was still sobbing, went inside the passenger seat. The silence was inevitable, but then, comforting. San then arranged himself and started the engine. However, when he was about to drive, he stopped.
"Um, Wooyoung-shii…"
"Yes, Sir?"
"Where do you live?"
Wooyoung then furrowed his eyebrows once again. His speculation of his teacher being a wild stalker must have jumped from zero percent to 90 in an instant.
"Why?" Wooyoung asked, his eyebrows still furrowed and his eyes squinting.
"My brother's restaurant is a bit strict with dress codes. You are wearing a basketball jersey and sweatpants. You have to change into a suit. So, where do you live?"
With a sigh of relief, Wooyoung relaxed his face muscles and understood. He did search on the internet secretly about Contessa restaurant, and it did say that it was strict with the dress code of wearing semi-formal to formal attires.
"I live nearby, just near MATZ café. Do you know where that is?"
"Oh," San nodded as he buckled his seatbelts, "Yeah, I know that. I heard that from your classmates before, but I haven't gone their yet."
"You should go there sometimes," Wooyoung exclaimed, "It's very quiet, and it even has soundproof cubicles, if you really need to study or work without any noise around. But it's always occupied when I go there. Tsk."
Seeing Wooyoung change his emotions made San contented. San looked at him and the tears were replaced by a nonstop promotion of the café. He liked hearing Wooyoung's voice. It has a hint of high-pitched comfort with a childish laugh and loads of sarcasm. They reached the apartment complex, and sure enough, near the corner of the street, there was the café.
"Do you want to park? I have to take a quick shower."
San wanted to reject the idea, as it was a bit too much. Even if they were both male, the notion of them being student-teacher was drilling on his head.
"Yeah, but um, I'll just wait outside your door."
"Oh," Wooyoung took the hint, "Yeah… Sure, you can stay there."
As Wooyoung entered his apartment and locked its door, San just stood and got a cigarette. He looked around and there was trash can nearby. He looked at his watch and saw that it was only 10 minutes before 7pm.
Wooyoung on the other hand couldn't help but blush as he showers quickly. He looked for his suit that he used for his brother's graduation. He put on a black long-sleeved shirt, button himself up, and grabbed the pants from the suit, which had a nice midnight blue color. He opened the door, looked around and saw San smoking near the trash can.
"Is this okay?"
San looked but couldn't help to stare up and down. Just how much of an impact does an outfit create?
"Yeah…that's… You look good."
Wooyoung heard him stuttering and pushed his wet hair back.
"Okay, wait for a second. I'm gonna be finished in five minutes."
The moment the door closed, San whispered to himself, "Please be finished in five seconds…"
-0-
It's a good thing that they were on the opposite side of the road, as the traffic was unbelievably horrid. They were going up north, and Wooyoung was just amazed that they were going somewhere outside the city. About a 30-minute drive, they arrived at the Contessa.
"Good evening, Mr. Choi."
"Good evening, Noah."
"The usual?"
"Yes please."
They followed the old man in a suit. Wooyoung couldn't help but look around. He saw that there were at least four buffet tables, and it had labels of which country the cuisine was from. Then, he observed that the guests were talking in English, some perfect, some were with an accent, but all in all, he noticed that nobody spoke Korean. It was to be expected, as most of the people around were talking to foreigners.
They arrived at a door with an engraved number 3. The old man, Noah, opened it, and there was a table set for two.
"The food will arrive in fifteen minutes, Sir Choi. Please indulge first on the appetizers on the side table."
It was unusual for Wooyoung that such things like these does exist.
"Wooyoung…you can sit here."
He looked at San, who was pulling the chair so that he can sit properly. He went towards it, and sat down. San then slowly pushed the chair back in, with the help of Wooyoung's adjustments. San then took his own seat, which was in front of the student.
"So," Wooyoung smirked, "How many women have you taken here?"
San choked on his water, and Wooyoung helped him since he was coughing so badly. Yet, they were both laughing at Wooyoung's question. San was trying to stop crying and laughing at the same time, while Wooyoung was trying to clean San with a tissue paper, and they didn't notice that the food was already being plated on another table.
"That's a good one." They stood with their plates and went on to their own mini buffet.
"Okay, so, seriously, I really wanna ask you that."
"Well," San started as he grabbed a big portion of the mashed potato and steak, "I never brought a woman here before."
"Ehhhhhh…" Wooyoung jeeringly uttered, as San was ready to smack his head, "Oi, I'm student, you teacher. No harm"
Wooyoung tried his best to talk English, and San let out a blurted noise. "It's 'I'm your student, and you are my teacher. You cannot harm me."
"Oh, okay," Wooyoung said with a wink. San blushed and smiled at the gesture, and they went back to their seats.
"But, excluding family members, I did bring at least three persons here."
"Oh," Wooyoung's heart sank, "May I know who they are?"
"They were my co-teachers from another school. But one of them was my ex. His name is Gyuvin."
"His… Wait, Mr. Choi San, are you gay?"
Wooyoung then finally realized. San was approachable to him during that awkward encounter. He was the one who observed him and Yeonjun, which made everything make sense on why he offered a shoulder to cry on.
"I mean, isn't it obvious?" San looked at him, "I thought it was since we did talk about your whole love life during that night."
"Oh…" Wooyoung slightly nodded, "Since I've already poured myself to you, how about you, Sir Choi? Give me at least three facts about you."
San looked up while chewing, trying to remember things that he can say in front of his student.
"Well, one, I finished my PhD in two years, two I have a cat, Byeol, and then three, I have a plushie collection, and my favorite out of them is Shiber."
He then unlocked his phone to show Wooyoung Byeol and Shiber. The latter wanted to laugh but he saw how serious San was, he tried not to, as he did ask also for him to introduce more about him."
"Alright, that's cute. I do wanna tell you that at your age and looking at you, we really can't judge a book by its cover."
San was slightly irritated by the statement, but seeing Wooyoung happy and having fun, calmed him down and thought of it as just a playful remark.
"I wanna ask, though," Wooyoung cleared his throat, "Why are you following me?"
"What?" San's eyes opened a bit and widened to the surprising question, "I'm not following you…"
"Huh? Mr. Choi, I always see you every day during every after classes, but I greet you, since you greet me. But wow, it's almost like every single day."
"Hmm… let me check," San then unlocked his phone once again and looked for his schedule, "Here, would this help?"
Wooyoung then looked at the schedule with San.
Surely enough, this was indeed helpful.
"Hehe," San laughed, "Meaning to say, my class is on room 201, and you're in room 202, which is next door. Then my next class is on room 403, and your room is on 402 at this time. Then after lunch, on Monday through Wednesday, you have classes with Mr. Bang, which is beside the faculty room."
Wooyoung's face was tinted red by the end of the conversation, and San was smiling, giggling.
"Well, if it helps you, Jung Wooyoung-shii, I won't be round until next week."
"Oh yeah, why is that?"
"My grandfather is in the hospital in California. So, all of us in our family, we will be flying to California by tomorrow evening. The doctors did say that they don't want to operate on him since it would be much more fatal to do so."
The student then looked at his teacher. The sadness that San was hiding through his smile was punching Wooyoung's chest. His problem was just about his boyfriend, while this person in front of him was bargaining a deal with death itself.
-0-
"I hope you had a nice evening."
"Yeah, you too," Wooyoung said as he opened the car door.
"Wooyoung…"
He then looked at San, but strangely, he smiled and just shook his head.
"Nevermind…"
"O-okay?"
Wooyoung then closed the car door and just stood as he saw the car make a turn to the left. He walked up the stairs and couldn't erase the smile on his face.
Meanwhile, San was driving and couldn't help but smirk, laugh, and giggle over and over at the fact that he had invited Wooyoung at Contessa. It was just a bit too early, but it was nice to have someone to chat along with, leaving behind reality's problems for a moment.
"End of February… by that time, I have to be ready."