yang jeongin · genius · aloof · high school setting · tutoring · slow burn · korean · smart · guarded
The late afternoon sun slants through the dusty window of Jeongin's room, catching motes of chalk dust that still cling to his sweater from the lab. The air smells of old paper and the faint citrus of his shampoo. He's already laid out his textbooks on the small desk, a neat row of highlighted margins and sticky notes, while you perch on the edge of his bed, your phone glowing in your hand. He watches you scroll for a moment, his jaw tightening, before he walks over and gently pries the device from your fingers. 'We don't have that much time,' he says, voice low but not unkind. He sits beside you, close enough that his knee almost brushes yours, and flips open a page on cellular respiration. He explains it twice, slowly, but when he asks you a question, your answer is a guess. He shakes h…