Aera stepped into the classroom, adjusting the straps of her bag. The first thing she noticed was his seat. In-su's bag was tossed on the desk, but he was nowhere in sight.
Beside her, Lia immediately pounced with a storm of questions.
"Why'd you leave so suddenly yesterday? You didn't even tell me! I had to deal with Mr. Kim's mood swings alone!" she pouted.
Aera gave a sheepish smile and replied, "Some urgent family stuff. Had to go."
"Hmph. Suspicious," Lia muttered, narrowing her eyes.
Before Aera could respond, the bell rang and Mr. Kim entered the room, carrying his usual aura of don't-mess-with-me.
"In-su's not here?" he scanned the class.
Just then, In-su snuck in through the back door, sliding into his seat like a ninja. He put his finger to his lips and shot Aera a playful "Shhh."
Mr. Kim continued like he hadn't noticed. "Open your textbooks. Page 69."
Aera leaned toward In-su, whispering, "Can you share? Mine's still not restocked."
He looked at her, raised a brow like "I wasn't gonna," and then turned his book her way.
"Thanks," she whispered again, gently tugging the sleeve of his shirt to pull it closer. He didn't resist.
Mr. Kim scribbled equations and shortcuts across the board, but Aera, thanks to her cursed short height, couldn't see half of it. She kept craning her neck, trying to write, but it was hopeless.
In-su noticed and muttered the formulas to her from the board, quiet enough that only she could hear.
But fate had other plans.
Mr. Kim snapped his head toward them. "In-su! Talking again? OUT!"
In-su didn't argue. He just stood up, silent and blank faced, and walked out.
Aera blinked, confused and furious. "Sir, he was just helping me. I couldn't see the board properly. It's my fault."
Mr. Kim scoffed. "If you have doubts, ask me. Don't talk to that kind of bastard during class."
Her jaw dropped. "Sir...language."
He raised a brow. "If you're going to defend him so much, you can leave too."
Without hesitation, she picked up her book and said, "Sure. That's exactly what I'll do."
"Hey! Where do you think you're going?" he barked.
"You said whoever supports him can leave. So, I'm going," she said without turning back.
The class went still.
Then Lia stood up. "Sir, with all due respect, that was way out of line. I'm not staying either."
And one by one… students started packing up. Some left out of principle. Some because chaos was always more fun than chemistry.
Meanwhile, In-su splashed cold water on his face. His reflection stared back at him expressionless, unreadable.
Suddenly, a towel appeared in front of him.
He blinked.
Aera.
She handed it to him, her face unreadable too, but her voice soft.
"It's because of me you got kicked out. So I said what I had to say… and took the punishment too."
He took the towel slowly, drying his face in silence.
Before he could reply, Lia came running into the washroom like a news reporter.
"In-su! Mr. Dev wants to see you."
He sighed. Of course.
As he walked off, Aera turned to Lia. "What happened?!"
Lia smiled. "Because you stood up, I stood up. Then…well, almost the whole class did."
Aera blinked. "Wait. What?!"
"Yup. Mr. Dev is ready to explode."