soljae | teachers!au, fluff, one-sided pining... or is it | prompt: alternate universe
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KYUNGJEONG INTERNATIONAL HIGH SCHOOL, SEOUL — 7:55 AM
"It's going to be a sunny day with cloudiness in the afternoon. Temperatures will go up to fifteen degrees. And now, the news~"
Sunjae lowered the volume of the radio, the broadcaster becoming a murmur as they rattled off the news that happened during the night.
Drumming his hands against the steering wheel, he peered into the parking lot. She usually arrived at this time. Did she get all the red lights on the way over, maybe? Or was she sick?
A familiar car rolled onto the teacher's parking lot and he perked up. Quickly stepping out, he brushed off the dust and wrinkles from his black coat and straightened his back.
Act cool, Sunjae told himself.
Walking towards the school's gate, he kept his stride even but unhurried. His eyes stared ahead. If he looked back, it would betray his feelings in a single movement.
"Sun-jae-ah, good morning!"
Sunjae sighed, eyes briefly closing in relief, and then he turned around—leisurely, cool, aloof, not at all like he had wanted her to greet him.
"Sol-ah," he nodded, watching her quicken her step to walk with him. A herd of animals thrashed around his stomach. "Good morning."
Im Sol was the most beautiful woman he'd ever seen in his life. When he first laid eyes on her, he thought he was being pranked. No way the new art history teacher had the face of a model and the smile that could power a city. But a year in, she was still a teacher and she still looked the way she did—beautiful and unattainable.
Worst of all, she was kind. Sunjae was doomed from the start.
She grinned up at him, her cheeks a little flushed and her hair long and wavy down her back. "What's on the agenda today?"
They fell into step. Stuffing his hands in his coat, he balled them up to will some discipline into him. "Anatomy class for the senior class, the first and second years will be doing heptathlon sports." He briefly glanced down at her. "What about you?"
Her grin only widened at his question. "I've finally reached the film studies module with my third years. I'm for sure going to geek out today."
A smile trembled on his lips. "Geek out?"
"Y'know, get super excited. I just hope they don't give me dead stares."
Sunjae couldn't imagine anyone acting bored in Sol's presence. If he were her student, she'd have his full attention; it would give him an excuse to look at her all day.
Not that he was obsessed. He liked her. A lot. But he wasn't obsessed.
Striding onto the quad, they were greeted by groups of students congregating on the grass before class. Sunjae's keen eye noticed some students sent them pointed looks, chuckling and giggling behind their hands. He frowned. Did he have a coffee stain on his front? Did his hair lay askew?
Sol nudged his arm. "By the way, are the printers on your floor broken? Because mine gave up yesterday."
Promptly forgetting about the students, Sunjae offered to print all her documents until the printers on her floor were fixed. Naturally.
The day followed its rituals: He taught his classes. During lunch, he kept the seat beside him in the teacher's lounge reserved for Sol. He taught more classes. When school ended, he went to the teacher's lounge again for some paperwork. He could do it in a classroom, but Sol preferred to do it here. After school, he coached the swim team. After that, he passed by Sol's designated classroom to see if she was still around. She usually wasn't. And then he went home.
When his dad weaseled this information out of him a couple months ago, the older man had called him a pathetic loser and that he needed to start dating ASAP.
However, Sunjae wasn't interested in dating. It never appealed to him much. During his twenties, he genuinely thought something was wrong with him, but then he met Sol and everything made sense. Sunjae believed he had been unconsciously been waiting for her.
He now just... had to make a move. Somehow.
The next day, he received an email on his work computer from Sol.
Could you print these? Thanks! Attached were a heap of PDFs and PowerPoint slides that needed to be printed. Dropping all his work, Sunjae sent the attachments to his printer and grabbed his stapler.
Ten minutes later, he was at her classroom with the documents, neatly stacked and stapled; not a wrinkle in sight. Sunjae knocked on the door and popped his head inside.
Sol was in the midst of teaching, her voice wavering halfway through a sentence when she noticed his figure in the threshold.
"Oh, Mr. Ryu, that's fast!"
He stepped inside, nodding and smiling at the students slumped in their seats, and placed the stack of papers on her desk. "I had some spare time," he responded with an aloof tone.
She smiled up at him. "Thank you. You're a lifesaver."
Sunjae blinked. Lifesaver? Now that was... that was an exaggeration. He just helped her. A dry, curt laugh left his lips, the total opposite of the aloof tone he just assumed. "It's not- that is- it's whatever."
Sol's head tilted, confused, and that was his sign to book it out of the classroom. Giggles from the back of the class reached his ears, but he was already out the door.
Printing papers for Sol became part of the daily routine. Somewhere between first and second period, Sunjae strode into the room with a stack, tried not to crumble under her starkling eyes, and ran out.
In another life, he'd be a suave pop star, or a cunning Olympic athlete, but here, he was just a smitten P.E. teacher.
At the start of week three, Sunjae began to wonder why her printer was still broken. Maintenance usually reacted quickly. When his smartboard malfunctioned last year, it got fixed two days later.
Then again, did he want her printer to work again? Now he had an excuse to be near her every day—if only for just a minute. Those minutes added up, he found, and he noticed he didn't even need to reserve her spot during lunch as the staff knew where Sol would sit.
But then he made a shocking discovery that Thursday afternoon. He was on his way to check if Sol was still around and perhaps had time for some awkward small talk (he was working on it), when Sunjae froze in his steps.
There she was, right outside her classroom. The constant clicking and zooming of a printer spitting out papers. Sol was printing. She was using her own printer.
Before she could spot him, he turned around and sped away. His heart pounded high in his chest. Did it just get fixed, or had it been working for a while? She wasn't making fun of him, was she? That didn't sound like Sol.
The entire sitaution was ridiculous, something that didn't go past him. It was a printer, for fuck's sake. He needed to chill. But the question lingered—why did she not tell him? Pushing open the exit door to the teacher's parking lot, he crossed his arms to protect himself from the slight autumn chill.
The incident forced him to contemplate on the end goal of his feelings and actions. He couldn't continue this forever. He either had to confess or move on, otherwise he'd continue to get hurt by silly stuff like this. Moving on, however, felt impossible. Whenever he felt an ounce of bravado, all it took was Sol looking his way for all that arrogance to crumble and turn to dust at his feet.
These emotions were... a lot, and they refused to surrender.
Sunjae made a decision that evening before bed: he was going to confront Sol about the printer and confess his feelings.
The next day he waited as usual in his car for her to arrive. From the rearview mirror, he watched her yellow bug roll onto the parking lot. He took a steadying breath. Just get it over with, Sunjae. With a shaking hand, he opened the car door and got out. It was a bit misty, a drizzle so fine he didn't need his umbrella.
Sol got out of her car as well, slight surprise and curiosity crossing her face as she spotted him. Sunjae never waited for her, he realised in that moment, he always pretended to be on his way instead. He cringed. Damn, he was a loser.
Hitching her bag over her shoulder, she walked towards him. A tentative smile grew on her lips. "Good morning, Sunjae-ah," she greeted. "Are you... were you waiting on me?"
He nodded and stuffed his hands in his coat to hide his nerves. "Yeah. I need to talk to you."
Her brows raised. "About what?"
"About your printer that works again."
Sol blanched. "Wha- you- I'm-" Sputtering, she shook her head. For the first time, he saw Sol flustered. "It doesn't work. It's still broken."
"I saw you use your printer yesterday," he responded matter-of-fact, as though thrusted into a procedural drama. "I know it works."
Her jaw fell slack before she pressed her lips together again. She let out a nervous giggle. "Alright," she drawled, clearly trying to sound humorous. "You caught me, Sunjae-ah. It works again. Don't take it the wrong way though, I just forgot to tell you. It only recently got fixed."
He took a step closer, tilting his head. "What's recent?"
"Like... um..." She pretended to think. Sunjae couldn't believe he was attracted to this woman with piss-poor acting skills—if anything, it endeared him. "Well..."
"Sol-ah."
She sighed. "It got fixed two weeks ago. I'm sorry."
Two weeks. She only needed his help for one week, but prolonged it two more weeks. "Two?" Sunjae exclaimed, baffled. "Two?!"
The woman cringed. "In my defense, I had a reason."
He blinked, unable to comprehend what she was saying. "What reason? Making sure I got in my 10.000 steps?"
Sol dropped her head in her hands for a moment, groaning, and then raked her fingers through her long hair as she took a breathe. His gaze stayed focused on her, resisting the instinct to follow her hands and imagine his own twisting around her dark tresses.
"My reason is that... I wanted us to get closer," she admitted. Pink tinged her cheeks. "I enjoy your company a lot, Sunjae-ah, and I, um, I figured this would be a natural way for us to spend more time together. But I understand now that it was disingenuous." She looked ashamed and, to his horror, a little hurt. "I'm sorry."
"No!" He blurted, his eyes wide.
Sol took a step back in surprise at his outburst. "No?"
"No," he repeated. "No, don't apologise. Do not apologise. Holy shit."
"Sunjae-ah...?"
Had adrenaline not been racing through him, he would've fallen on his knees to thank whatever deity was up there. He took a step towards her. "I enjoy your company as well, Sol-ah. A lot. A whole lot." His hands formed into fists to keep himself from reaching for her. Out with it. "I have feelings for you."
"You have... feelings for me," she repeated, as if to make sure she was hearing him correctly. He wasn't sure whether she looked like she was going to run away or stay frozen on the spot.
He nodded. "Yes, I do. For a while now." A smile pulled on his cheeks, a bit lopsided. "I was going to tell you today, but you beat me to it."
Sol matched his expression, cautiously so. "Does that mean... we can meet for drinks after work?"
"Yes," he replied instantaneously. "Yes, please."
Her smile widened. "Okay."
"Yeah, okay." Unable to resist any longer, he reached forward and placed a hand on her arm. "I look forward to it."
Averting her gaze, a bit shy, she pushed past him. "L-Let's just clock in."
Sunjae grinned from ear to ear, watching her walk ahead of him. Drinks with Im Sol. A date with Im Sol. Catching up to her, he let his hand brush against hers.
"You're not flirting with other colleagues through printers, right?"
"Sunjae-ah!"