The Last Note: Begin
Title: The Last Note
Genre: Romance {Yaoi}, Drama.
Characters: Yoochun, Junsu, Changmin.
Pairing: Yoochun & Junsu
Rating: PG-13
Synopsis: Yoochun is a twenty year old university student whose father owns his school. Being the richest and the best looking, his pursuers compete to beat the number of stars in the sky. However, things change when his popularity starts to decrease significantly one day, and the man finds himself both shocked and jealous.
Prologue
Chapter 1: Begin
Approaching the main entrance of the newly renovated school building, Yoochun stared at the dull cream coloured walls and fought all his unhappy thoughts down.
Closing his eyes, Yoochun made a silent prayer. He wasn’t exactly sure what he was praying for; perhaps for a saviour to rescue him from the crap of his life, or simply just for the rest of the day without anymore bothering.
Reaching the main entrance of the school, Yoochun sighed and plastered his perfect signature smile on his meticulously crafted handsome face. He wondered how long he had practiced that smile; a smile he knew would lead people into believing he was truly happy.
He tugged at his Armani shirt, making sure there were minimal creases and that he was looking his best.
That had been a daily routine - venting his emotions on the piano in the music room of the old school campus, walking alone to the new building, the suppressing of his feelings and feigning of a cheerful front.
Putting up a cheerful front and bright smile was all Yoochun could do to make others see him as someone he wanted to be - someone strong, someone that he wasn’t emotionally and could never be.
Once the glass door that led to the main hall of the school was pushed opened, screams and shrieks were from every corner of the hall as girls (and boys) launched towards the entering idol, attaching their claws to man’s well-pressed baby blue shirt.
Students from other schools were often spotted lurking around the corners of Yoochun’s school just to witness the greatness of him for a brief moment. People fainting from excitement were not an unusual sight either.
Ecstatic shouts like, “Yoochun! Can I have your autograph?!” and “Yoochun! I love you!!” were all that could be heard.
Such artificial attention was all too familiar for Yoochun. He knew that those groupies simply worshipped him for his looks and wealth.
But he didn’t mind. It was only in school where people would willingly and altruistically pay attention to him. At the mansion where he lived (which he strongly denied as a home), Yoochun would rejoice to a darn sweet from his father.
Hell, Yoochun couldn’t even the last time that man actually smiled at him.
Moreover, Yoochun could not blame his schoolmates for being oblivious to his real character, could he? He was the one who decided to close his heart and shelve it away from every other person.
Maybe except for one.
Taking a deep breath, he cleared his mind before winking to a group of girls at the far end of the pool of students with a killer smile. As expected, the crowd was thrown into another round of hysterical fits of shouting and cheering.
“Yoochun oppa! I want your num…” A shout was audibly heard but the voice faded before the sentence could be completed.
Yoochun contemplated between: One, the girl had fainted from his charms. Or two, she was being squashed by the mass of students. He chose neither option.
Some male lecturers walking by the mob turned to stare and shook their heads disapprovingly while the other teachers joined in the quest of getting Yoochun to notice them, attempting to squeeze through the thick boulder of bodies.
“Yoochun-ahhhhh~!!!”
Amongst the everyday commotion, Yoochun heard a distinctive, high-pitched call for him.
Yoochun shuddered at the nickname he was just given a second ago and pivoted on his heels, flashing his mesmerizing smile in the direction of the owner of the voice.
“Hey Jessica babe,” Yoochun greeted habitually, nearly causing the golden haired girl to faint on the spot.
However, as what happened earlier that morning had Yoochun landed in one of his ‘moody-days’, he figured that he should just conveniently use this girl, who appeared in front of him volunteeringly, to cheer himself up.
“Yoochun-ah honey dearrrr! Are you coming to my place tonight?” Jessica asked seductively while twirling the locks at her shoulders.
“Oh, I’m sorry babe, but I have something on tonight. Our exams are coming soon you know, I have to study. And I don’t think we should continue seeing each other. You deserve someone much better than me,” Yoochun turned and smirked to himself.
As much as he thought otherwise, Yoochun decided to spare Jessica the humiliation. And since when did the rich son of the Chairman of their school need to study anyways? Disregarding the 3500 decibel scream from behind him, Yoochun walked back to class.
As Yoochun modelled down the packed corridors, he couldn’t help but notice that the people surrounding him today was lesser than usual. But he brushed it off once he saw the overwhelming group of students in his classroom.
“I knew it. They are already waiting for me in class,” Yoochun thought, defeated by his own charms.
He walked into the classroom, all prepared to shield himself from the cohort of students that he foresaw would catapult towards himself (as usual), asking him for autographs or just a simple shake of hands.
However, a frown slapped him hard when the students remained crowded around the teacher’s table, as though Yoochun was just a mere sheet of glass.
Just then, an unfamiliar and rather high-pitched husky voice was sounded within the crowd.
The owner of the voice continued, “Does anyone know how to work the projector?” Instantly, hands shot up into the air and the whole class ran towards the projector as though it was a million dollar race.
It was only when the mass of students moved away when Yoochun finally got a glimpse of the dynamic of the commotion.
His hair was a beautiful dusky shade of brown, fringe barely scrapping his well-trimmed brows while his side burns were well kept, showing off his sexy ears. Those plump lips were faintly pink and it complimented his slender jaw line just the right way. The elegantly angled nose added volume to the man’s face, making it more attractive than it already was.
A pity his eyes were covered by a pair of angular tinted eyepiece.
Every single person who had just seen this stranger would have found him extremely attractive. However Yoochun thought the exact opposite. The jealous man stared at the new male teacher who was clad in an all black suit.
“Who does he think he is to wear shades in class?! I know I am a ball of love and sunshine to everyone and that I practically radiate rays of sunlight, but I'm sure he doesn’t have to wear that indoors,” Yoochun thought unpleasantly to himself, not forgetting to compliment himself in the process.
Yoochun frowned at the man who had a smaller-built than him, and walked to the back of the class where his seat was.
Lessons went on and Yoochun found out that the handsome (no he's not, Yoochun had protested a few times to himself) stranger was their new professor - Kim Junsu.
Junsu was of the same age as Yoochun. As a child genius, he graduated from university at the sheer age of eighteen. Inspired by his own Language Arts teacher while schooling in America, the young man decided to engage in education, teaching his favourite subject two years after graduation.
As much as Yoochun was amazed by Junsu, he didn’t like the new professor at all.
Yoochun looked around the class, only to find that half the class was not staring and ogling at him as usual. Instead, their eyes were focused on the man in front.
He then spotted a familiar figure sitting at the front row of the class. The girl had long black hair and a small petite frame. Her head rested on the palms of her hands and she looked dreamily at Junsu as though he was a 100-carat diamond.
Yoochun looked at the familiar student, trying hard to recall as to who she was.
“AH! Isn’t she my ex-girlfriend, Julie?! What is she doing here?! She’s not even in this class! Her class is… two blocks away!” Yoochun gave a silent gasp.
Right then, the girl in question suddenly raised her hand, “Professor Kim, is it hot in here or is it just you?”
The class roared in laughter while Julie stared at the professor innocently and batted her eyelids with heavily mascara-ed eyelashes.
Yoochun made a gagging sound from behind, disgusted and somewhat horrified by what his old flame was doing.
Junsu merely returned a polite smile and continued with his lesson.
Throughout the class, girls were squealing at every action Junsu did. When the professor dropped his marker and pouted slightly at his own carelessness, a student actually shouted from the back of the class, “Professor Kim! You are so adorable!”
The figure at the back was feeling sour at the lack of attention he was getting. His glare towards Junsu was filled with detest and anger.
Halfway during the lesson, a note was passed to Yoochun from the front. The man didn’t bother to look at it. He knew that the message probably said something like “can I have the honour of having lunch with you later?” or “please write your number on the paper and pass it back, thanks!”.
These letters were common to Yoochun since he received them on a daily basis. It was only then did he realise that Junsu had a whole stack of those memorandums already lying on his desk.
“I’ve only received one today and there’s a sea of those stuff for him?!” Annoyed, Yoochun crushed the letter that was passed to him and threw it to the side, hitting the person beside him by accident.
“What the!?” The victim picked up the ball of paper that had landed on his lap and aimed it at Yoochun unhappily, all ready to settle the scores. But he dropped the idea when he saw the frown etched on the older man’s forehead.
Changmin was Yoochun’s best friend from the time they were pre-school kids.
He had an innocent, child-like personality, although mischievous, and was well liked by everyone in school. That was why Yoochun was never afraid to share his thoughts with the younger man, knowing that the boy would do nothing but make him feel better.
Changmin would always try to make Yoochun laugh, by sharing a silly joke, or simply with some food (which Yoochun knew made Changmin happier more than himself). Changmin had been so sweet that once Yoochun even suspected that he was in love with his childhood friend.
The man lightly tapped on Yoochun’s broad shoulders.
“Hyung, are you alright? You looked as though you could kill Professor Kim,” Not receiving any response, Changmin began to examined the look on Yoochun’s face.
The word ‘jealousy’ was practically printed on Yoochun’s forehead.
Holding his hand up to his mouth, Changmin exclaimed, “Gosh, don’t tell me you are jealous of Professor Kim too!”
That finally got him some attention - Yoochun punched Changmin’s arm in disbelief.
“Me?! Jealous of him? Are you mad?!!” Yoochun rolled his eyes and continued, “Watch what I’m going to do to this newbie and learn.”
Just as he finished saying that, Yoochun waved his hand high in the air.
“So, as seen from this poem, we can list out a few examples of words that rhyme… Yes, Yoochun?”
Yoochun was surprised that the professor could remember his name after taking just one round of attendance but put it off quickly.
“Professor Kim, what word rhymes with orange?” Yoochun asked so harmlessly, with his eyes as big as a doe’s, Changmin thought he would vomit on his textbook.
The class thought for a moment and whispers increased as everyone tried to find a word that could rhyme with ‘orange’.
Raising an eyebrow, Professor Kim calmly replied, “I heard that you are one of the best students in Language Arts.”
At this comment, Yoochun beamed, thinking he had asked a question even a university professor could not answer.
To the student’s dismay, Professor Kim continued, “As one of the best, I am utterly surprised that you do not know that it is widely accepted that there is no English word that rhymes with the word ‘orange’. There are only half rhymes such as lozenge, flange, Stonehenge, or porridge.”
A gush a blood rushed to Yoochun face. He looked down into his textbook nervously, embarrassed and slightly snubbed by the professor’s response.
Laughing at Yoochun’s state, Changmin teased, “Aww… Hyung, you make a cute tomato!”
Yoochun glared back at Changmin, warning the younger man to keep quiet.
Throughout the lesson, Yoochun had his hand constantly raised to post different questions, hoping to leave the young professor stunned.
“Why does the poet want to portray such intimate and personal feelings using such bold and straightforward expressions?”
Sorry for Yoochun’s revenge, Junsu answered all his questions with clear explanations without any difficulty.
Finally, the lesson ended with Junsu reading a poem out to the class. Yoochun could have sworn he saw girls weeping away while others were busy sweeping out their cell phones to snap photos or even videos of the professor. And he never felt so mad in his life.
/
On the other hand, Junsu was actually impressed with many questions that Yoochun had asked. He had least expected a student to be so in-depth in interpreting poems, despite himself being of the same age. Few people could have come up with such sensitive queries.
However, the professor could sense the coat of irritation that Yoochun carried for him each time he finished answering a question. Junsu was a clever man and knew that the student was asking so many questions on purpose of trying to get him speechless.
Confused as to what he had done to get on Yoochun’s nerves, Junsu decided to ask Yoochun to meet him after class, hoping to clear any misunderstanding between them. It was his first day in this school and Junsu definitely didn’t want to make a foe.
“Yoochun, can I speak to you after class?” Junsu said, loud enough for Yoochun. To which, the student nodded too enthusiastically.
While the others were convinced that Yoochun was excited to spend time alone with the new professor (and others were busy being jealous that the new professor had not requested to speak to them), Changmin, who was way more familiar with Yoochun’s antics, knew that the older man definitely had something up his sleeve.
Turning to Yoochun with a worried look, he sighed, “Hyung, please be nice to the new professor. Don’t do anything absurd. I’ll be waiting for you in the canteen. If you don’t come, don’t blame me for finishing all your food.” Then he stood up to leave, heading eagerly towards the school cafeteria.
/
“Professor Kim. You wanted to speak to me?” Yoochun asked politely with his hands in the pockets of his dark washed jeans.
“Well, I was wondering if you have something against my teaching? You didn’t seem very appy during my lesson today,” Junsu smiled, standing up from his seat to face Yoochun.
“I see you’re really a genius. Yes, I am unhappy.”
Receiving no response, he continued. ”I hate your shades. Who gave you the right to wear shades in school anyway?” Yoochun asked, straight and blunt.
Taken aback from the harsh tone Yoochun was suddenly using on him, Junsu couldn’t think of an answer that would appropriately explain why he was wearing shades indoors, “Well, urm…”
“Do you actually think you look good in them? Or are you hiding your eyes because you’re blind? I mean, just look at yourself…” Yoochun said with a straight face, clearly not bothered by Junsu’s hurt expression.
The teacher’s head fell, afraid of meeting Yoochun’s eyes.
“I think…” Junsu began, his voice faint and gentle. Unfortunately Yoochun was too hot-headed to let him continue.
“I’ll tell you what I think. I think those shades are absolutely hideous. And I’m sure whatever lie behind those shades are worse,” Yoochun yelled, determined to make the new professor cry on his first day at school.
“I…” Junsu was at a loss for words. He knew that the shades were not the reason why Yoochun was so displeased with him, but he did not know what to say. Staring at the parquet of the classroom floor, Junsu searched for a reply for the disgruntled student.
“You know who I am. This school belongs to me. With one word, I can easily take you out of the school’s board of teachers. You better not let me see these anymore!” With that, Yoochun swept his hand over Junsu’s face, throwing the black shades off Junsu.
Junsu cringed at shock by the impulsive contact. Realising that his eyes were rid of the protection he had earlier, he looked up suddenly, meeting Yoochun’s hazel eyes.
Yoochun took a small step backwards upon meeting Junsu’s intense stare. He had not expected his professor’s eyes to be so different.
They were blue, arctic icy blue. And the two cold tarns seemed to be hiding an emotion Yoochun couldn’t put his finger on.
Before Yoochun could peer further into those round orbs, the teacher turned to grab his fallen shades and walked out of the classroom, overlooking his poetry textbooks by the table.