Tiger Teacher
Title: Tiger Teacher
Pairing: Yonghwa/Seohyun
Genre: Comedy
Rating: g
Summary: Good intentions
“Get up!”
“But...”
“Again! Get up!”
“Urgh...”
“Get up!”
She startles herself awake and immediately winces at the pain in her fingertips.
“Ouch,” She brings her left hand up to her face to inspect the damage. Save for a few small bruises and a tiny callous developing on the pad of her middle finger, her fingers are fine. Her fingernails, on the other hand, well, they are worn down. She smiles to herself. These are the battle scars of a real guitar player.
Yonghwa’s back is facing her and he’s fast asleep, softly snoring.
Her eyes narrow at him. “Eeesh,” she mutters, though careful not to wake him.
He was responsible for introducing her to the guitar years ago and she now prefers the guitar instead of the piano, spending her time off strumming away happily at chords. But, she made the unfortunate mistake of sharing her wish to play the guitar for their Christmas concert with him, and he transformed into her own personal “Tiger Teacher”, who then pounced into action and employed his usual Sparta method to prepare her for her solo performance.
She should’ve been happy that her rocker-guitar-playing boyfriend was paying special attention to her, but his method was far from sweet. Every so often, she experienced flashbacks to that long day on the ski slope, when he barked at her to get up everytime she fell. She was grateful, but she also wanted to cry. Fast forward to today and she is both grateful and vengeful, plotting how she might carry out an appropriate scheme to punish him as much as he has been punishing her.
When Jonghyun stopped by one day, she played part of the song for him and he marveled at how much she had improved. “Wahh! You’ve gotten a lot better!”
“Thank you, oppa,” she smiled. “But it’s all thanks to Yonghwa oppa.”
Yonghwa smirked beside her and excused himself to the kitchen to get some water, leaving her alone with Jonghyun for a brief moment.
He leaned over and whispered hurriedly, “Let me guess, he’s relentless.”
She nodded, looking over her shoulder to ensure he wasn’t eavesdropping.
“Himnae, Seohyun! Fighting!”
She appreciated the words of encouragement. Yonghwa oppa never praised her for very long. He kept his compliments to single words, like “good” and “better”, and grunts.
One day, she had whispered, “I miss Jungmo oppa,” which he overheard and promptly gave her the silent treatment. “I’m sorry, oppa. I really appreciate all you’ve done for me so far,” He seemed to soften, until she said, “It’s just that Jungmo oppa is really patient.” She cringed once she heard the words come out of her mouth, promptly undoing everything she had tried to fix.
“Are you saying I’m impatient?”
“Aniyo. I just mean that he takes a gentler approach,” she cringed again. She needed to just shut up because everything she was saying was not helping her cause in the least.
He left their home recording studio/practice room, upset. She should have known better than to bring up Jungmo oppa’s name. He was the one person Yonghwa felt he couldn’t compare to, as a musician, even though she was never romantically attracted to Jungmo oppa. It was a guy thing, she had deduced, and because Jungmo was off on his military stint, it was Yonghwa’s duty, as her boyfriend, to step in and coach her.
She only said what she did because she was tired of him barking, “again,” so to break down his anger, she sat on his lap, threw her long arms around his neck, and peppered kisses on his lips to show him how much she was sorry. He relented after what seemed to be 5 minutes, hugging her tightly and professing his care for her, which is why he employed the Spartan method to ensure her success. She practiced for another 2 hours after he forgave her.
This morning, she feels him rouse from slumber, then rolls over to face her, but instead of greeting him in the loving way she normally does, she feigns sleep, complete with loud breathing.
He gently moves the hair off her face and kisses her. She will not be swayed, so she refrains from kissing him back. If she were to open her eyes and reciprocate, he would surely tell her to start practicing and for the first time in her life, she’s feeling rebellious, so she lies perfectly still, trying desperately not to blink her eyelids and give away her act.
“Seo Joo Hyun?” he whispers softly, bringing the tendrils of hair behind her ear, then kissing her earlobe. “Are you up?”
She doesn’t flinch, not even a muscle, and she hopes that he will just roll over and go back to bed, but he doesn’t. She can feel his eyes searching her face for any sign she’s feigning sleep, which she hopes she doesn’t give away.
“Joo Hyun?” he tries again, kissing her cheek. “Baby, get up.”
She has to do something. If she keeps up the act, he’s bound to know she’s pretending. She’s never been a heavy sleeper, so she stirs in her fake sleep, opening her eyes slowly, as if to bring her vision to focus on his face.
“Good morning,” he says, lovingly. “Did you sleep well?”
“Mmm,” she hums to answer in the affirmative.
“Are you ready for tonight?” he asks sweetly.
“Mmm-hmm,” she responds.
“What time are you being picked up?” he asks.
“8:00.”
“Jagi-ya?”
“Hmmm?”
“If you get up now, you can squeeze in a quick hour of practice before tonight.”
Her eyes narrow. “Yah! Jung Yonghwa-sshi!” she pouts.
“What? I just want you to be prepared.”
“And I just want you to be affectionate.” He does so, albeit begrudgingly, which she senses. “Oh, forget it,” she says, pushing his arm off of her so she can get out of bed and get ready for the long day ahead.
He wraps his arms around her torso and brings her back to lie down beside him. “I’m not done,” he snickers, enjoying her exaggerated reaction. “I’m sorry I’ve been pushing you so hard these past few weeks.”
“I think you rather enjoy it,” she pouts.
“I don’t. And you know what I like less?”
“What?”
“The fact that people will associate your guitar playing with me, and if you’re less than perfect, they’ll think I didn’t teach you well.”
She has fire in her eyes at his last statement, and even though he’s kidding, she doesn’t find it funny in the least.
“That’s it!” she shouts, standing up and startling him for the first time since they’ve gotten together.
“I’m kidding! I’m just kidding!”
“No, I’ve had enough. I am never playing the guitar again. Take back the guitar you gave me. I don’t want it anymore.”
His heart aches when she says it. “I’m sorry, Joohyun. You’ve been working so hard and you sound great now! You’re going to do so well tonight!”
“Forget it,” she says, getting up from the bed and retrieving her phone from her vanity. She presses #3, the number for her manager oppa, and waits for him to pick up, all the while Yonghwa watches her, afraid of what she might do.
“Oppa? Good morning. Yes, I was wondering if I could cancel my solo performance tonight. Or change it. Whatever. I don’t want to play the guitar,” She looks at Yonghwa and he is on the verge of freaking out that she doesn’t want to do her performance. “No, oppa, nothing’s wrong. I just don’t think I’m perfect enough,” she says, emphasizing the enunciation of the last two words of her sentence and meeting Yonghwa’s eyes as she says it. “Aahh, I see, there’s nothing that can be done? What about ’16 Going On 17’? Can I do that instead? Oh, I see… No repeats. And the background track is set for that song? Well, okay. Then please get me some maracas or a tambourine. That should do the trick. Okay oppa, thank you. I’ll see you in 90 minutes.”
She hangs up and Yonghwa’s mouth is hanging open. “What did you do?”
“I’m done,” she says, walking out of the bedroom and into the kitchen. She pours herself a glass of water and ties her hair up into a ponytail. In a few seconds, he’s beside her, wrapping his arms around her and kissing her shoulder.
“I’m sorry.”
“This isn’t going to work.”
“What isn’t going to work?” He looks worried.
“Me playing the guitar and living with a guitar player. Something’s gotta give, so I’m going to stop playing the guitar.”
“No!”
“Yes. My playing the guitar can’t jeopardize our relationship, oppa. I mean, look at us, we’re bickering and we never bicker.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Everyone around you knows what a perfectionist you are. It’s one of the qualities I most admire about you, oppa, but your method to achieve perfection doesn’t apply to everyone and it certainly does not apply to me. I also can’t get help from anybody because you have fits of jealousy when someone else teaches me stuff you know, so what am I going to do? My quitting guitar is for the best.”
She takes another swig of water and moves to the bathroom, leaving him to stand in the kitchen alone. He needs to do something to fix everything.
She comes out of the bathroom and makes her way to the bedroom, where she finds him sitting hunched on the edge of their bed.
“Seo Joo Hyun?”
“Yes?”
“You’ve been flawless on your song for the past 3 weeks. You shouldn’t quit just because I’m being a perfectionist jackhole. I’m so sorry for ruining the guitar for you. I hope you won’t stop playing it. Can you ever forgive me?”
“Apology accepted.” She says quietly, but can’t hold everything in anymore and starts snickering.
“What is this?” She is laughing openly at his reaction. “Have you been pranking me all along? Wah! Your acting is no joke! Did you even call hyung to cancel your performance?”
She picks up her phone and shows him her call log. The last person she called was her mom, last night.
“Yah! Seo Joo Hyun!”
“Serves you right, oppa.” She tackles him onto their bed and he pulls her into an embrace.
“I’m sorry I’ve been unbearable.”
“I don’t want to give up playing the guitar, but you have to support me in the way I need to progress, okay oppa?”
He nods.
“That means being patient with me and providing constructive criticism. No grunting or making me practice for 3 hours straight. Ahrasseo?”
He nods again. “Got it.”
“When you have the urge to enact the Sparta method, remember this, ‘Treat others as you yourself would like to be treated’. If you flare up again, I’m going to use your strict methods against you.”
She pecks him on the cheek.
❤
The concert is over and she’s in the dressing room, thinking about her morning with Jung Yong Hwa. He had opted to not attend the concert, for fear he might be recognized, so he stayed home and awaited word.
She calls him and he picks up immediately.
“Jagi-ya,” he starts cutely. “Did you do well?”
“I should have practiced more.”
“Nah, from what people have been saying, you did great.”
She smiles behind the phone at his words of encouragement. “I’ll be home in an hour, okay?”
“Be safe.”
“I will.”
She hangs up the phone and gathers her things to leave, only to hear her phone notify her of an incoming text. It’s from Yonghwa.
“When’s your next concert? Let’s work on picking…”
She doesn’t know whether to laugh or cry.
Pairing: Yonghwa/Seohyun
Genre: Comedy
Rating: g
Summary: Good intentions
“Get up!”
“But...”
“Again! Get up!”
“Urgh...”
“Get up!”
She startles herself awake and immediately winces at the pain in her fingertips.
“Ouch,” She brings her left hand up to her face to inspect the damage. Save for a few small bruises and a tiny callous developing on the pad of her middle finger, her fingers are fine. Her fingernails, on the other hand, well, they are worn down. She smiles to herself. These are the battle scars of a real guitar player.
Yonghwa’s back is facing her and he’s fast asleep, softly snoring.
Her eyes narrow at him. “Eeesh,” she mutters, though careful not to wake him.
He was responsible for introducing her to the guitar years ago and she now prefers the guitar instead of the piano, spending her time off strumming away happily at chords. But, she made the unfortunate mistake of sharing her wish to play the guitar for their Christmas concert with him, and he transformed into her own personal “Tiger Teacher”, who then pounced into action and employed his usual Sparta method to prepare her for her solo performance.
She should’ve been happy that her rocker-guitar-playing boyfriend was paying special attention to her, but his method was far from sweet. Every so often, she experienced flashbacks to that long day on the ski slope, when he barked at her to get up everytime she fell. She was grateful, but she also wanted to cry. Fast forward to today and she is both grateful and vengeful, plotting how she might carry out an appropriate scheme to punish him as much as he has been punishing her.
When Jonghyun stopped by one day, she played part of the song for him and he marveled at how much she had improved. “Wahh! You’ve gotten a lot better!”
“Thank you, oppa,” she smiled. “But it’s all thanks to Yonghwa oppa.”
Yonghwa smirked beside her and excused himself to the kitchen to get some water, leaving her alone with Jonghyun for a brief moment.
He leaned over and whispered hurriedly, “Let me guess, he’s relentless.”
She nodded, looking over her shoulder to ensure he wasn’t eavesdropping.
“Himnae, Seohyun! Fighting!”
She appreciated the words of encouragement. Yonghwa oppa never praised her for very long. He kept his compliments to single words, like “good” and “better”, and grunts.
One day, she had whispered, “I miss Jungmo oppa,” which he overheard and promptly gave her the silent treatment. “I’m sorry, oppa. I really appreciate all you’ve done for me so far,” He seemed to soften, until she said, “It’s just that Jungmo oppa is really patient.” She cringed once she heard the words come out of her mouth, promptly undoing everything she had tried to fix.
“Are you saying I’m impatient?”
“Aniyo. I just mean that he takes a gentler approach,” she cringed again. She needed to just shut up because everything she was saying was not helping her cause in the least.
He left their home recording studio/practice room, upset. She should have known better than to bring up Jungmo oppa’s name. He was the one person Yonghwa felt he couldn’t compare to, as a musician, even though she was never romantically attracted to Jungmo oppa. It was a guy thing, she had deduced, and because Jungmo was off on his military stint, it was Yonghwa’s duty, as her boyfriend, to step in and coach her.
She only said what she did because she was tired of him barking, “again,” so to break down his anger, she sat on his lap, threw her long arms around his neck, and peppered kisses on his lips to show him how much she was sorry. He relented after what seemed to be 5 minutes, hugging her tightly and professing his care for her, which is why he employed the Spartan method to ensure her success. She practiced for another 2 hours after he forgave her.
This morning, she feels him rouse from slumber, then rolls over to face her, but instead of greeting him in the loving way she normally does, she feigns sleep, complete with loud breathing.
He gently moves the hair off her face and kisses her. She will not be swayed, so she refrains from kissing him back. If she were to open her eyes and reciprocate, he would surely tell her to start practicing and for the first time in her life, she’s feeling rebellious, so she lies perfectly still, trying desperately not to blink her eyelids and give away her act.
“Seo Joo Hyun?” he whispers softly, bringing the tendrils of hair behind her ear, then kissing her earlobe. “Are you up?”
She doesn’t flinch, not even a muscle, and she hopes that he will just roll over and go back to bed, but he doesn’t. She can feel his eyes searching her face for any sign she’s feigning sleep, which she hopes she doesn’t give away.
“Joo Hyun?” he tries again, kissing her cheek. “Baby, get up.”
She has to do something. If she keeps up the act, he’s bound to know she’s pretending. She’s never been a heavy sleeper, so she stirs in her fake sleep, opening her eyes slowly, as if to bring her vision to focus on his face.
“Good morning,” he says, lovingly. “Did you sleep well?”
“Mmm,” she hums to answer in the affirmative.
“Are you ready for tonight?” he asks sweetly.
“Mmm-hmm,” she responds.
“What time are you being picked up?” he asks.
“8:00.”
“Jagi-ya?”
“Hmmm?”
“If you get up now, you can squeeze in a quick hour of practice before tonight.”
Her eyes narrow. “Yah! Jung Yonghwa-sshi!” she pouts.
“What? I just want you to be prepared.”
“And I just want you to be affectionate.” He does so, albeit begrudgingly, which she senses. “Oh, forget it,” she says, pushing his arm off of her so she can get out of bed and get ready for the long day ahead.
He wraps his arms around her torso and brings her back to lie down beside him. “I’m not done,” he snickers, enjoying her exaggerated reaction. “I’m sorry I’ve been pushing you so hard these past few weeks.”
“I think you rather enjoy it,” she pouts.
“I don’t. And you know what I like less?”
“What?”
“The fact that people will associate your guitar playing with me, and if you’re less than perfect, they’ll think I didn’t teach you well.”
She has fire in her eyes at his last statement, and even though he’s kidding, she doesn’t find it funny in the least.
“That’s it!” she shouts, standing up and startling him for the first time since they’ve gotten together.
“I’m kidding! I’m just kidding!”
“No, I’ve had enough. I am never playing the guitar again. Take back the guitar you gave me. I don’t want it anymore.”
His heart aches when she says it. “I’m sorry, Joohyun. You’ve been working so hard and you sound great now! You’re going to do so well tonight!”
“Forget it,” she says, getting up from the bed and retrieving her phone from her vanity. She presses #3, the number for her manager oppa, and waits for him to pick up, all the while Yonghwa watches her, afraid of what she might do.
“Oppa? Good morning. Yes, I was wondering if I could cancel my solo performance tonight. Or change it. Whatever. I don’t want to play the guitar,” She looks at Yonghwa and he is on the verge of freaking out that she doesn’t want to do her performance. “No, oppa, nothing’s wrong. I just don’t think I’m perfect enough,” she says, emphasizing the enunciation of the last two words of her sentence and meeting Yonghwa’s eyes as she says it. “Aahh, I see, there’s nothing that can be done? What about ’16 Going On 17’? Can I do that instead? Oh, I see… No repeats. And the background track is set for that song? Well, okay. Then please get me some maracas or a tambourine. That should do the trick. Okay oppa, thank you. I’ll see you in 90 minutes.”
She hangs up and Yonghwa’s mouth is hanging open. “What did you do?”
“I’m done,” she says, walking out of the bedroom and into the kitchen. She pours herself a glass of water and ties her hair up into a ponytail. In a few seconds, he’s beside her, wrapping his arms around her and kissing her shoulder.
“I’m sorry.”
“This isn’t going to work.”
“What isn’t going to work?” He looks worried.
“Me playing the guitar and living with a guitar player. Something’s gotta give, so I’m going to stop playing the guitar.”
“No!”
“Yes. My playing the guitar can’t jeopardize our relationship, oppa. I mean, look at us, we’re bickering and we never bicker.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Everyone around you knows what a perfectionist you are. It’s one of the qualities I most admire about you, oppa, but your method to achieve perfection doesn’t apply to everyone and it certainly does not apply to me. I also can’t get help from anybody because you have fits of jealousy when someone else teaches me stuff you know, so what am I going to do? My quitting guitar is for the best.”
She takes another swig of water and moves to the bathroom, leaving him to stand in the kitchen alone. He needs to do something to fix everything.
She comes out of the bathroom and makes her way to the bedroom, where she finds him sitting hunched on the edge of their bed.
“Seo Joo Hyun?”
“Yes?”
“You’ve been flawless on your song for the past 3 weeks. You shouldn’t quit just because I’m being a perfectionist jackhole. I’m so sorry for ruining the guitar for you. I hope you won’t stop playing it. Can you ever forgive me?”
“Apology accepted.” She says quietly, but can’t hold everything in anymore and starts snickering.
“What is this?” She is laughing openly at his reaction. “Have you been pranking me all along? Wah! Your acting is no joke! Did you even call hyung to cancel your performance?”
She picks up her phone and shows him her call log. The last person she called was her mom, last night.
“Yah! Seo Joo Hyun!”
“Serves you right, oppa.” She tackles him onto their bed and he pulls her into an embrace.
“I’m sorry I’ve been unbearable.”
“I don’t want to give up playing the guitar, but you have to support me in the way I need to progress, okay oppa?”
He nods.
“That means being patient with me and providing constructive criticism. No grunting or making me practice for 3 hours straight. Ahrasseo?”
He nods again. “Got it.”
“When you have the urge to enact the Sparta method, remember this, ‘Treat others as you yourself would like to be treated’. If you flare up again, I’m going to use your strict methods against you.”
She pecks him on the cheek.
❤
The concert is over and she’s in the dressing room, thinking about her morning with Jung Yong Hwa. He had opted to not attend the concert, for fear he might be recognized, so he stayed home and awaited word.
She calls him and he picks up immediately.
“Jagi-ya,” he starts cutely. “Did you do well?”
“I should have practiced more.”
“Nah, from what people have been saying, you did great.”
She smiles behind the phone at his words of encouragement. “I’ll be home in an hour, okay?”
“Be safe.”
“I will.”
She hangs up the phone and gathers her things to leave, only to hear her phone notify her of an incoming text. It’s from Yonghwa.
“When’s your next concert? Let’s work on picking…”
She doesn’t know whether to laugh or cry.