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TAO looked at the way he moved and smiled at how he turns from the shy sweet person that he is into the man who makes the female student body remember to never judge a book by its pink cover. He was the aegyo prince in one moment then the wushu warrior in the next. He looked at him with respect, admiration and something else he can't say to anyone else for fear of getting bullying or worse, having him find out and they would end up being awkward towards each other.
It didn't help that he was their self-defense instructor. And the advisor of the Harmony Club of SM University where he was currently a freshman.
Tao had begged to get a slot in this class. He didn't tell anyone that he was a medalist and could possibly do wushu in his sleep. He was trying not to show his natural ability so he could repeat the class next semester. The basics of the defense class made him want to smirk because he could probably take down every guy in the class on his own. He was never the kind who wants to flunk anything. He was a go-getter. But sometimes failing at something would get him what he really wants. And all that he wants right now is a chance to be around Sungnim-ssam.
"Your turn, Tao." his classmate Kris nudged him and he stood up and faced their professor.
He didn't expect Sungmin would attack him without even bowing. He moved out of the way and on reflex dodged the attack. And landed on his feet after black flipping since his attacker didn't stop at just the first move.
There a stunned silence then an explosion of applause and hooting was heard in the dojo when the rest of the class recovered from their shock.
"I knew you were hiding something from me." Sungmin's smile was both challenging and full of mischief. Tao grunted because that smile went straight to his gut...lower than his gut actually. Clean your thoughts, Tao. There are children here. He remembered how Kris would say that whenever he had that perverted frown he makes that only his best friends knew the meaning of.
"Class dismissed." the other students approached Tao, most of them the girls in the class. He winced at the possibility that his planned peace would now be forever a dream.
"You were so wonderful." the girl had the gal to touch his arm from shoulder to wrist. "How long have you been a martial artist?" she asked.
Tao felt a chill go down his spine. And not the good kind of chill. He moved away from the girl and just mumbled. "Since I was a kid."
"Tao. My office. Now." he breathed a sigh of relief when he heard Sungmin call him over.
"Yes, sir." he motioned for Kris to go ahead of him.
"I'll see you in our next class, hyung." Kris mouthed Good luck at him because his hyung knew that he would get in trouble because of the recent discovery of his skills.
SUNGMIN placed the towel on his table and gestured for Tao to sit down. He noticed that his student sat at an almost 90-degree angle, obviously tensed.
"Aren't you curious as to how I found out about what you can do?" Sungmin was the kind of professor who was popular amongst his students because he was a great instructor as well as a good person. He was friendly but when it was class time he was strict. He didn't care much for lying. If a student didn't go to class and he lied about the reason for missing class the punishment was more severe. So he knew that his student knew he was in deep sh!t right about now.
"I don't know what you mean, sir." it sounds like he was going to stick to his guns for as long as he could.
"You are a champion. I found out when I talked to my old teacher and I mentioned I had this student who wasn't getting any better. If at all possible he was getting worse by each class." his eyebrow lifted when he went on about it. "And my master said that a person who is not good at something needs to show at least some kind of learning. A person who is getting worse at something at an accelerating rate is either a complete idiot or someone intent to fail. Or someone pretending to fail."
TAO almost choked on that part. "Sir...I..." lying wasn't gonna get him anywhere so he just stopped the excuse he was about to say. He couldn't tell him the real reason why he was doing it because that would be a death sentence. He'd rather just say something else to save himself from the truth.
"I just didn't want to let anyone know and for you to expect too much from me. I was honestly not willing to be well-known for what I can do. I got into a lot of trouble because of it in my old school. Fans stalking me or anti-fans trying to get a chance to break my legs."
Sungmin gasped at the last part. It's probably true somewhere else, right? It was true that he was not popular in high school because he wasn't around to be bullied let alone make friends. He trained when he didn't attend class and that made little to no time for going out with anyone.
Lack of time and too much female attention turned most of the guys in his school into his enemies. They didn't like the obvious competition. To the girls, he was a mysterious student who never hung out with anyone and his training made his body develop faster than the rest of the pubescent guys they saw every day. He didn't really make any friends except for his EXO-M group mates. They were a bunch of Korean and Chinese guys he used to hang out with for dance competition matches. They teamed up with another group EXO-K lead by Kris hyung and they usually cosplayed and joined dance competitions together. Together they were called EXO12. Whenever they were in competitions, the teams knew they'd place and often begged them not to join and just be a performer, not a contestant.
"That is an awful thing to experience. I guess I can understand where you are coming from. But you really can't let some people affect your life and cause you to fail a subject. I know that you are a bright student with great...potential." Tao was intently listening that he didn't realize that he had been staring at his professor so intently. Sungmin gulped and continued after he cleared his throat. "My point is don't deliberately sabotage your self just to fit in. Fitting in is over-rated."
"Sorry for causing trouble." head bowed in shame, Tao looked at the neon pink rubber shoes his Sungmin-ssam had on and wondered how a man can love that color so much he would risk outing himself by wearing a pair of neon pink training shoes.
"It was no trouble. I am just glad that I have solved the dunce student dilemma. I thought I was losing my touch. I could make every student pass one way or another and I have been wracking my brain trying to think of what else I can do to make you get better so you could at least pass." Sungmin chuckled. "I even talked to my teacher to ask for help. I thought I was facing an unteachable student. It turns out you were smarter than I anticipated." even his laughter was musical to Tao's ears. He felt it again. He needed to get out of this situation before he's immobilized by this treacherous body.
"Are you okay? You're getting red. I didn't hurt you, did I? I swear I didn't land anything earlier." Sungmin went around to try to check up on him. Tao stood up abruptly and bowed then left.
He wanted the ground to swallow him whole when he stopped running. He leaned on the wall of the hallway and let himself slowly melt into the floor. He was so hot, and not from running. But from the burning flame in his heart.
He was going to have to drop out of that class. He felt the sting of tears at the corner of his eyes. Why was it that when he finds someone who makes him feel this way he wants to stay by their side but run away all at the same time?
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