Lunch time has arrived, and you begin to make your way down the hall to the cafeteria. There is a section of the cafeteria set aside for teachers, if they choose to eat there rather than in the small teachers' lounge. You feel better not being in close proximity to your fellow teachers or professors right now, so you decided the cafeteria would be the best choice. But nope, you were wrong.

Expecting only to see Mr. Min waiting at a table for you, you're surprised when you see him sitting next to your brother at one of the tables in the corner. Jin looks up and smiles, waving you over. You grimace, thinking, Ugh! Brothers!

It's embarrassing enough that everyone seems to know about the kiss now, and here your brother is waving his hand in the air for all to see as he tries to get your attention. Yeah, more like the attention of the whole cafeteria.

It will all probably be in the college's scandal sheet, loosely known as the Campus Crier, by tomorrow morning. You roll your eyes as you approach the table. Jin stands and motions for you to sit in a chair next to Yoongi.

There are other chairs, but just as you make a move to a chair not next to Yoongi, Professor Namjoon slips into that seat, followed by J Hope in the next one, leaving the only vacant chair being the one next to Yoongi.

What the heck? You stare at them, eyes squinting in bewilderment. Is there some conspiracy going on here?

Things just aren't adding up. It's like they are enjoying this. You look lastly at Yoongi; his cheeks look... oh my gosh, is he blushing!?

He looks up, catching you staring, and gives you that cute smirk of a smile. So he does know what is going on, or is he as much in the dark as you are and just too embarrassed to admit it?

You cast a glare at your brother, and he looks away. J Hope and Namjoon cast their eyes down, focusing on their lunch. You wonder how they figure into the equation.

You go ahead and sit between your brother and Yoongi. Avoiding any further eye contact with any of them. After a few minutes, they had you laughing and joining in on the conversations. Even Yoongi had you giggling with his deadpan comments.

It turns out to be a fun lunch, minus the teasing from your brother and the intrusive questions from J Hope. Namjoon just kept glancing at you and Yoongi, smiling just enough for his dimple to be more prominent.

You hadn't noticed the looks or the under-the-table foot taps J Hope and your brother were giving Yoongi. J Hope had slipped a note to Yoongi on a paper napkin, saying, "Women like to be walked places, so walk her to her classroom after lunch."

Poor Yoongi wasn't spared because Jin sent him a note scribbled on a paper napkin, too: "We have it on good authority that ladies like to be escorted by a man. They find it romantic. So walk my sister to her next class."

Yoongi isn't all that sure about their advice. Besides, he had no idea they were getting their advice by reading fictional romance novels. But he liked the idea of walking with you.

After lunch, you stand to leave, and the others stand too, out of courtesy. You tell your brother you will see him later at home and wave to the others. Jin, J-Hope, and Professor Namjoon sat back down. You took a few steps away from the table, not aware that one person hadn't sat down.

Yoongi, who remained standing, was pushed toward you by your brother, while Professor Namjoon and J-Hope made hand gestures for him to follow you.

You have a strange feeling of being followed, and you turn to look. It was Yoongi. "Can I walk you to your classroom, Miss Kim?" he sheepishly asks, his face slightly flushed.

You almost laughed when Yoongi asked if he could walk you to your classroom. You thought that was a silly thing to do. Your next class is in the opposite direction from his. But he looked so cute, blushing.

You move closer to him and talk so that your brother and his friends can't overhear you. "Mr. Min, you don't need to walk me to my classroom. I'm a big girl and don't need an escort. But thank you just the same."

You move away, walking through the now less crowded cafeteria. But you couldn't rid the feeling of being followed. You stop and turn around. There's your brother and his friends making motions to Yoongi in your direction. Yoongi turns around and almost stumbles over his feet. He wasn't expecting you to be standing there staring at him.

Understanding what your brother and his friends are doing, you take pity on Mr. Min and tell him, "Come on, you can walk me to my classroom. But only after we stop off in the teachers' lounge..." It should be empty this time of day, at least you hope so. "and we can make ourselves Iced Americanos."

Yoongi smiles. He loves the new machine your brother had put in the teachers' lounge. "Sure, that's fine by me." He loves Iced Americano and is glad to see that you do too. It's one more thing you have in common, other than working at the same college, and he feels he is making progress on his own in getting to know you better, without the questionable advice of his friends.

After making the Iced Americans, Yoongi holds the door open for the two of you as you leave the teachers' lounge. As you leave, the gym teacher walked in while Yoongi still held the door open. The gym teacher stops in the doorway and looks back, smirking, before entering the teachers' lounge.

Oh My Gosh, he knows it was only the two of you in there—alone! Yoongi watches your eyes widen in shock and touches your shoulder, asking, "Are you alright?"

You both turn to look at the lounge door as it's about to click shut, and hear the gym teacher chuckling. "Oh," is all Yoongi says as a frown flits over his face. Then he smiles, holding out his arm for you to take. "Shall we continue as if nothing happened?"

You nod, returning a smile, and place your arm through his. The walk to your classroom was silent. Several times, Yoongi made sounds as if he were about to speak. You remained quiet, leaving him space to talk, but didn't say anything.

But when you reach the door to your classroom, he suddenly asks, "About that kiss..." He clears his throat, and he continues after taking a sip of his iced coffee, "I thought we should talk about what happened and clear the air. I don't know about you, but I've been surrounded by smothered giggles in my classes. And strange kissy noises as small groups divide in the hallway, making me have to walk between them." He takes another sip of his coffee, and if it were liquid courage.

"Um, have you been experiencing the same thing by chance?" he asks, glancing at you from the corner of his eye. At that moment, three girls hurry by, pause long enough to grin at you two, then rush down the hall, whispering and snickering.

As you feel your cheeks heat up with a blush, you look away and shyly admit, "Yes, I have."

"Miss Kim, I realize that talking here on campus privately is basically not a possibility. Would you mind if I came over this evening and we could talk about that ki...?" He understands the look that just came over your face and rephrases what he was going to say, instead saying, "May I come over? It seems we have some things to discuss?"

Tired of the kissy sounds, the snickering, and the strange looks, you agree. "Yes. That would be fine. It would be good to clear the air. Then we can move on with our lives. Why don't you come over for dinner tonight, since my brother will be home anyway?"

Yoongi wants to talk to you alone, without your brother interfering and always telling him what he should do. But any time he can find himself alone with you to talk, he wants to take it. He can't keep holding in what has been growing since you started working at the college.