(15) ENTJ X INFJ

Requested by jiyoongi95

ENTJ (male) x INFJ (female)

Standing in front of her class of 30, Barbara, a teacher in the subject ‘Personal Development’, changes the slide in her presentation before looking back at her students. “So, we are bound to ask ourselves, what are our coping strategies?” She raises an eyebrow at them as she knows that the students are now thinking quietly about the question flashed on the screen. 

“Perhaps what you can also consider is how you tackle different stressful events,” she continues, “Try to recall how you helped yourself cope when you received a low grade. Would your coping strategy for that still be the same if you were, let’s say, going through a huge argument and fallout with your best friend? We all have different coping strategies depending on the event and what it-”

“Hey, Class 2A,” a male voice suddenly interrupted Barbara mid-discussion. She whirls around to see one of the teachers standing by the door carrying in one hand a thin stack of papers. Of course, she is not surprised to see the teacher she despises the most. And apparently, the feeling is mutual.

Physics teacher, Sir Ken. 

“Hey, Miss Barbie,” Ken teasingly greets her after, even winking at her before turning back to the students seated quietly and a bit in shock. “I checked all your papers for the physics exam. I’m glad to know that all of you passed!”

“Excuse me, Sir Ken,” Barbara utters sternly, narrowing her eyes at him. She could feel the anger grow in her. “Must you really talk about this now? Their period with you is later. Couldn’t you wait until then?”

“I can’t wait when it’s you, Miss Barbie.”

She scowls at him. She hates that darn nickname. “It’s Miss Barbara. And if you have nothing important to say, then leave.”

“Miss Barbara, I want to return to the students their papers-”

“Do it later!” She exclaims before walking to the doorway and grabs a hold of the door before slamming it close. She huffs and turns back to her students, fixing her blouse in an attempt to keep her composure. Yet, it’s clear that the students have seen right through it. 

Everyone in the school, whether teacher or student, can tell the tension between Miss Barbara and Sir Ken. Of course, when one would try to ship a teacher from the hard sciences and one from the social sciences, chaos is bound to ensue. But they collectively carry this hope that someday, one day, the two will realize their hidden feelings for each other. 

Barbara forces out a smile toward her students. “I all know what you’re thinking. The rumors between me and Sir Ken reach me as well. And before you get your hopes up,” she then lets the corners of her mouth fall into a frown, “it is never going to happen.”

The students wanted to hide their malicious smirks or remarks. They all knew that it was going to happen and they would wait even a hundred years for it. 

After classes, Barbara headed back to the faculty room feeling bothered with the interruption during her period. Ken is always like that and she hates how he always gets away with it! Just because he’s one of the best physics teachers on campus doesn’t mean that he gains a free pass from being mean to her. And what’s worse is that it’s only her who has to go through his crazy antics. The rest of the teachers are free from him and Elena, Barbara’s best friend, and a teacher in the elementary division has always told her to be a bit more patient with him. 

How can she stay patient when he knows which buttons to push to bother and make her mad?

Elena even said that maybe Ken is just flirting with her the whole time. The heck? Elena is crazy, Barbara knows that for sure. She even claimed that she had elves giving her new stuff for some time. Scratch that, Elena is beyond crazy. 

To say that Ken and Barbara rarely talk or A.K.A. “fight” is an understatement. They would always find the chance to go against each other. Being both intellectuals, but in different ways, would always seem tough for the two to see eye to eye. 

"You focus too much on the ethical dilemma. Either way, it will affect anyone! What needs to be done is to take this objectively. How much will that decision affect people? We can't fix all problems, we must focus a bit on the majority of people we can help." 

“Well, glad to know that I am not a heartless person such as you. Grow a pair, will you?”

Barbara stops in her walking and closes her eyes, shaking her head a bit to erase all those fights between her and Ken. 

Today is not the time to think of those fights. In fact, tomorrow is a school holiday and today is supposed to be a happy one because she has a date she needs to prepare for.

------------

So...this is what it feels like to be stood up. Nobody told her that it would hurt this much. She’s been talking to this guy online for the past three weeks and perhaps one could say that she grew fond of him. His words made her believe that he was a sweet and gentle guy.

But where is he when she has been sitting at a table in a small local restaurant for three hours already?

Barbara checked her phone for the nth time. No text or call from him. He said that he would meet her at this restaurant and even told her to wear something pretty. But where is he? Where is the guy that texted her with such endearing words and promised that he would be here to meet her?

Oh, this is causing her chest to clench in pain. The butterflies she hoped she would have felt in her belly upon seeing him seem to have died while waiting. 

Was he even true with his words? In his profile, was the display picture really him? 

In an hour, the quaint restaurant will close and she would have to go home with a broken heart and an empty stomach. Dinner was supposed to be fun, but it’s all ruined. Maybe she’ll whip up a bowl of instant ramen noodles and eat them silently or with treas slowly rolling down her face. Things have not been going well for her for the past few days and it’s starting to overwhelm her. She feels like crying...so much.

She can hold in the tears. She’ll wait for another hour and then she’ll head home when the restaurant closes. She’s strong and she won’t let any man bring her down. Though...she did give that man time and a bit of her heart. It may seem silly for some, but she really did enjoy their virtual time together. 

You can hold in those tears, Barb. Just stay here for another hour and then you can block that man and find a way to move on-

“Barbie?” With furrowed brows, Ken’s face (out of all people) is right in front of hers as he bends forward. Barbara audibly gasps and draws a bit further in her seat. “What are you doing here late at night?” He asks. He’s wearing a casual set of clothes with a brown jacket to shield him from the chilly evening. 

No, no. Why is he here? She gets stood up and now has to deal with the bane of her existence? She has had enough of a bad day and now she’s in the presence of the person she does not want to see at this moment? This frustrates her all the more! Why must she go through with something like this? Why her? Just when she thought that she had things going nicely for her, they all just had to go against her wishes and work towards hurting her. 

Maybe she can’t hold it in anymore. Ken’s presence just triggered the floodgates of her eyes to open. 

“Barb? You oka- oh, shoot,” Ken mutters out of worry when he notices how Barbara has covered her face with her hands and starts to sob softly, her shoulders trembling with every sob she emits. “Uh...oh no,” he continues, biting his lip as dread fills every fiber of his being. He came to this restaurant to visit his friend, the owner, and was surprised to see his colleague, who is looking extra beautiful, here. He wanted to say hi and tease her, as he always does, but he didn’t want to bring her to tears! “Mom always told me that it would come to this. She knew that my words would come back to bite me in the ass,” he grumbles under his breath. “Barb, is this because of me? I won’t ever call you Barbie again. I-I’m so sorry for all the things I’ve said and done that-”

Barbara instantly shakes her head and uncovers her face, feeling her cheeks blush since she finds it embarrassing to start crying in front of someone all of a sudden. “I-It’s not that.”

“Oh.” Ken is stunned. “That’s...oddly surprising.” He takes the empty seat from across the table and sits on it, peering not too close at her. “I hope you won’t mind my asking but what’s bothering you, then?”

She wipes her tears away, sniffling quietly as she frowns at him. “You’re going to judge me if I tell you.”

“Hey, we may not be the best of friends and I may also be on the rational side, but I do have an open mind.” He scoots his chair closer to the table. “So, what’s up?” He asks quietly. 

Barbara blinks at him, feeling her face fall all the more. It’s ironic that she’s about to share something that has painfully affected her to someone very unlikely to even care. “I...I’ve been chatting with this guy for the past three weeks and we planned to meet tonight, but I…” her voice gets soft as she finishes, “I got stood up.”

Ken’s jaw drops a bit. That’s why she is all dressed up. Some stupid guy decided to waste her time. Unexpectedly, he feels hurt for what she has to go through. “Barb, I’m so sorry.”

“Don’t be.” She sniffles again then forces out a smile, but it doesn’t reach her eyes. “I’m the fool here.”

“No, no you aren’t,” he immediately reassures her. “He’s the fool. You’re dressed up here looking all gorgeous-”

“Y-You think I’m gorgeous?” She stammers. She grabs a paper napkin from the side and delicately dabs it under her eyes.

“A-Ah...yeah,” he admits, turning somewhat shy, which is very unlikely of him to feel. “I actually did not recognize you at first. That dress suits you well.”

“You really think so?” 

“Yeah,” he answers, and more like in a daze, he continues dreamily, “it brings out your eyes more…” He blinks, the words he uttered now registering in his mind. He clears his throat and starts all over in a bit louder voice, “Anyway, that man reminds me of Schrödinger's cat.”

She frowns deeper. “Are you seriously bringing up cats now?”
 
“Well, take it as food for thought. Long story short, Schrödinger's cat is a cat placed in a box,” he starts explaining as if he is treating Barbara as one of his students, “You don’t know if that cat is alive or not. Of course, this is used to explain quantum mechanics, but if I were to place it in your situation, think of that man as Schrödinger's cat. You are not sure if he is real or not. Would you really want to deal with such uncertainty when you have something real in front of you?”

“And that’s…” Barbara drawls, still uncertain about where he’s trying to get at.

“Me!” Ken suddenly exclaims, causing Barbara to jump a bit in her seat. She raises an unsure eyebrow at him after. “Hey, I can be a good companion as well. “

“We haven’t been treating each other nicely for a long time,” she points out gently, the thought of her slamming the door at his face this morning running through her mind. “Do you remember that?”

“Of course, I do. But I am not one to leave a woman alone because some stupid guy stood her up.” He props an elbow on the table for him to rest his chin on his hand. “So, tell me now that I’m here, what made you like that pathetic excuse of a man?”

Ken’s words to describe her stupid date makes Barbara chuckle softly. “Well, he did text me a lot of pick-up lines.”

Ken cocks his head a bit to the side while raising an inquisitive eyebrow at her. “Pick-up lines? Like, for everyone else, they can call me Ken. But for you, you can call me...anytime?”

Her eyes go wide as if they are about to bulge out of their sockets. She never knew he was capable of such. “Ken!” She exclaims, but bursts out into a short fit of laughter, making sure to cover her mouth as she does so. Who would have thought that Ken had the ability to say a pick-up line...and even slay at it?

“Why have you never told me that your laugh sounded like that?”

“Like what?” She genuinely asks. 

“Like an angel’s,” he answers with a smirk, and Barbara completely caught off guard, reaches her other hand over to smack his arm. Now he had even more to say?! 

“Ken, stop it!”

Beaming widely at her, he enjoys how she has started smiling and clearly enjoying his pick-up lines. He then continues, “How can I stop when you keep on making my heart race? Speaking of racing, shouldn’t you feel tired now? Because you’ve been running through my mind all day.”

Her cheeks are surely in a deep shade of red by now. “You are so cheesy!” She manages to say in between her giggles. Gone are those feelings of hurt as they are now replaced with the fluttering and soaring feeling of her heart. Ken is even more smooth than that guy she has been chatting with online. She can’t believe it, but she is starting to feel better now and wants to hear more from Ken now even if she considered him a nuisance a few moments ago. 

Feeling bold, Ken then proposes something that seems out of character to him. But it somehow...feels like the right thing to do. “Well, if you want to continue this cheesy night, I do have a box of mac and cheese back at my apartment that we could whip up together. Think of it as a simple dinner.” He does not know why he said that. He does not know what came over him to suddenly invite Barbara, the person he always argues with, to his home. One thing is for certain though, he knows that he wants to spend more time with her. She rarely smiles around him or even laughs, but after experiencing such for himself, he seems that he can’t get enough. 

His invitation took her by surprise. Is this annoying yet surprisingly playful man asking her to eat dinner with him? She bites back a smile. She did dress up nicely for tonight and frankly enough, his pick-up lines did find a way to her emotions. And that’s in a good way. “Well, then can I follow you home?”

“O-Of course.”

“Good, because my parents always told me to follow my dreams.”

Ken happily gasps out of shock, “Barb, I didn’t know you had it in you!”

She shrugs nonchalantly, smirking back at him. “I am a fast learner.” She leans a bit closer.

Ken boldly leans closer as well. “So you also like moving fast?” He asks softly, followed by a wink.

Barbara couldn’t hold it in anymore. She breaks off into a smile. “...only with the right person,” she whispers. 

His heart skips a beat, but it also adds to his growing confidence. Inviting her over was not a bad idea after all. “Then you should be glad that I’m a physics teacher. I know everything about speed, acceleration,” he pauses to take her hand resting on the table and brings it to his lips to press some kisses on her knuckles, “and going slow at the right time. And this moment with you, I can’t believe I’m saying this but I’d frankly love to relish in it.”

She winks back at him. Maybe he is the silver lining to her hard days. “And you should be glad that I’m a social sciences teacher because I can tell when two people finally seem attracted to each other.”

“Out of hate?”

Barbara smirks. “Maybe.”

And there will come one day, though they’re not aware of it yet when he will officially become the Ken to her...Barbie. The question is, how will their co-teachers and students react when they find out?

~~~~~~~~~~~~

It's cheesy and I LOVE IT HAHAHA you can never go wrong with a bit of cheesiness in life ♡ also, trivia about myself: i love pick-up lines. There is just something about them that makes me feel so giddy! I swear, if any guy uses pick-up lines on me, I might fall fast for him HAHA

I hope you liked this!

Thank you so much for requesting and waiting ♡

Some positive traits of ENTJ: efficient, charismatic, strong-willed

Some positive traits of INFJ: idealistic, insightful, altruistic

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