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Unfortunately, the period of summer break had passed by way too quickly. It was now August 7th, which meant that another school year was about to start—almost everyone was mourning this fact. Thankfully, there was something to be looking forward to, because this year’s contest had finally been announced.
Minho knew this was the case when he heard eager footsteps making their way downstairs as he was preparing breakfast. After all, Jisung has always been passionate about events like these; his contagious enthusiasm can even make Minho himself look forward to the occasion.
Jejudo High School has an annual tradition of organizing various contests that last for the entire two semesters. It’s a tiny bit unusual, Minho thought, but Chan insisted on implementing such a project so that “the teachers and students can get along nicely,” he recalled his boss’s words as he flipped the pancake on the pan. It wasn’t too exciting for him in the beginning, but he wasn’t against the idea either. He noticed he’s grown quite fond of them; Minho assumed it could be Jisung’s doing. He’d rather spare the details, though.
On the other hand, Jisung always has a blast participating in these activities; he’s sure the entire school knows this already. The battles are usually between the teachers, with the students voting for the winners. His favorite competition so far has to be the one held two years ago—the “Classy Classroom Contest”. Jisung was convinced he was going to win, but Hyunjin ended up taking the crown; it wasn’t even close. But in all honesty, it isn’t that surprising when he really thinks about it, since Hyunjin was the art teacher.
The sweet scent of pancakes had already filled the air when Jisung finally skipped into the kitchen with a wide grin on his face.
“Minho-hyung! Guess what!” Jisung shouted breathlessly, hugging Minho from the back and resting his head on the other’s shoulder.
“Good morning, Jisungie. Did the school announce the upcoming competition already?” Minho replied, pressing a light kiss to Jisung’s cheek before frying another pancake.
“Wow, you know me so well,” he teased. “They’re making us fight for the grand title of the school’s favorite teacher. And I’m gonna win,” Jisung smirked, reaching for one of the full plates and sitting down.
“Sure you are,” Minho scoffed. “Also, some pancakes are ready. We have maple syrup or berries if you’re that impatient.”
“I really am gonna win!” Jisung yelled with his mouth full, his words coming out muffled. “These are delicious. Who knew you were such a good cook?”
Minho laughed and finished cooking the final portion of breakfast. “I hope you’re aware of the fact that I’m not going easy on you, Jagiya,” he declared, placing his own stack of pancakes on the table. He joined his husband and dug in.
“You’re on!”
Having eaten breakfast, Minho and Jisung got ready for work and left the house, all dressed up with their bags packed. They always arrive at the school together, usually about 45 minutes before the classes start, which is significantly earlier than the rest of the teachers; not to mention the tired students that barely make it there on time. This gave them enough time to plan and prepare all the material that would be taught soon. As a bonus, they also hot some stolen moments for themselves behind closed doors, which usually consist of cheesy conversations and small pecks on the lips. (But nobody else needed to know that.)
Unfortunately, today was different; this was no time for all these pleasantries. Minho and Jisung were each other’s rivals from now on; sworn enemies, if you will. This state was probably going to last until the end of this competition. Most likely. As long as nobody gives into the temptation of being in each other’s immediate vicinity, so that requirement makes it a bit less likely for it to last that long—but again, nobody else needed to know that, because no student was aware of the fact that Minho and Jisung were, in fact, married and madly in love with each other since they were teenagers. This gave them the perfect opportunity to spice things up a little. Likewise, nobody was prepared for the chaos that was soon going to unfold…
The area quickly became increasingly noisy as the teenagers made their way into the building, because classes start at 8 in the morning. The school hallways were soon flooded with the exasperated faces of tired students, whose stares were basically saying “I wanna go home.” Such buzzkills!
Minho has already grown used to this view, since the subject he teaches wasn’t liked by many. Understandably so, not a lot of people enjoyed studying biology first thing in the morning. He did manage to make his lessons the least bit enjoyable thanks to his unique sense of humor—the least he could do to try and mend the problem. It seemed to be working well so far, but he had to put in a bit more effort if he wanted to become the favorite teacher of the school.
Jisung, on the other hand, was already cooking up a plan that would liven up the atmosphere; he was the music teacher, after all. Even though he’s more on the introverted side, he has always loved interacting with the younger folk and being the life of the party; and today was the perfect day to show it off!
The sound of the school bell reverbated in the corridors, and all the students rushed into the classrooms. All the teachers were already in their respective rooms, so the lessons started right away. Minho’s biology class began with just the usual stuff; explaining the grading system, the educational program, and so on. Every teacher is expected to demonstrate the regulations in the beginning of the school year, no matter if they were teaching freshmen or senior year students; this was nothing new.
“Welcome everyone, please settle down,” he spoke eventually, his stern voice causing everyone’s attention to shift onto him. “New year, same old regulations; even if you’re all familiar with the rules, I still have to explain them to you,” he continued. In Minho’s opinion, this was probably the most boring and mundane part of teaching.
“As you all already know, I’m well aware some of you don’t really care about my subject, so I’m not going to put too much pressure on you and make your lives harder for no reason. I only expect you to pay attention and stay awake in class,” he stated, accentuating the last few words.
Minho had a very special and unique way of teaching, which was surprisingly very effective. His wit, extraordinary humor and strange demeanor might seem confusing and off-putting at first, but combined with his methods of tutoring, it worked like a charm. He was very accommodating towards his students, but he was also strict and serious in his own way; for example, Minho absolutely hated it when they disregarded the subject completely, expecting him to just brush it off and let them pass.
“...And that’s all for the grading system. Any questions?” Minho asked before moving on to the next section after a brief period of silence. “Great. As for the curriculum, it has been slightly reduced, so there’s less topics to study this year, since you have less hours of biology classes weekly. You might’ve noticed this already when looking at the size of your books.”
Despite the normalcy of this situation, a certain someone seemed to be finishing clarifying all that gibberish remarkably fast, which was quite unusual; Minho realized this fact when he suddenly heard music leaking from the other room in the midst of his speech.
“It mostly consists of topics revolving around genetics, mutations and evolution, such as–” he paused, the sound cutting him off. Well, that was going to be a problem for sure. The students only laughed in response.
Considering Jisung’s area of expertise, he had much more freedom when it came to conducting his lessons—unlike Minho, he wasn’t that limited to following a strict curriculum. Thanks to this, he was allowed to play around, experiment and have more fun with his subject; maybe this was one of the reasons why he loved music so much.
Anyway, this had to stop. With this level of noise, doing any kind of work was basically impossible. Jisung was aware of that, which was exactly why he decided to blast the song on full volume in the first place.
“Please excuse me,” Minho snapped, trying his best to hide his anger, and proceeded to go confront Jisung. As he opened the other classroom’s door, a group of students gathered in front of it, trying to eavesdrop on the two teachers’ dialogue.
“Hello Mr. Han, I have come all the way here to your noble abode with a humble request. Would you be so kind as to conduct your lesson in a quieter manner? I would greatly appreciate it,” he inquired with a passive-aggressive tone in his voice.
Jisung was smirking the whole time as he listened to what Minho had to say. After the other finished, he replied in a more or less similar demeanor. “Of course, Mr. Lee. I totally didn’t realize I was disturbing you. I will make sure nothing of that sort happens ever again,” Jisung scoffed. Minho doubted these words, but didn’t drag this out further.
“I certainly hope so,” he responded, closing the door on the way out. He returned to his own classroom along with the nosy teenagers who had been listening in on the exchange outside.
As he suspected, this wasn’t the end of it.
Roughly three hours after the conversation, Minho was interrupted again by loud music coming from the other room. Jisung definitely thought he had the upper hand in this competition by now—but Minho was two steps ahead.
Having failed to get a reaction out of Minho, Jisung reduced the volume of the tune and continued teaching; he wasn’t too surprised about Minho ignoring him. What he didn’t expect though, was how the tables have turned against him. After mere minutes, he started hearing farm animal sounds ringing in his own classroom. That was even more annoying than the music he was playing! Minho must’ve hidden a portable speaker in Jisung’s room during the confrontation. Or worse, before the classes had even begun!
Jisung had no choice but to start searching for the source of the noise. He was already envisioning the evil smile Minho must have on his face right now, while Jisung struggled to find and turn off the device disturbing his lesson for a good few minutes. At least the students got a good laugh out of this whole situation…
He wasn’t sure who won this round, but one thing was for certain—he had to try a lot harder if he wanted to beat Minho, the mischievous master of sneaky jokes and tricks.
A week and a half has already passed since the speaker incident. Jisung and Minho have been regularly throwing small jabs at each other. As a result, they swiftly became the center of attention, which greatly boosted their chances for victory. Many students started picking their preferred teacher, and some even started betting on who would win in the end!
This anticipation and engagement from the students only motivated the two school celebrities more and more to continue their shenanigans. Jisung, the creative soul that he was, already had plenty of ideas waiting to be revealed at the right moment.
Today, Minho had a very pleasant surprise when he entered the school. As it turns out, some mysterious identity had put biased posters on the walls—ones that were in Jisung’s favor, of course. The designs were varied; some compared the pros and cons between attending Jisung’s and Minho’s classes in the form of a checklist. This version in particular was bright and colorful, with satirical images of their faces at the top and the differences written at the bottom. It was made in a cartoony and playful way.
The other layout was more elegant and minimalistic. It had a deep, navy blue background with a spotlight in the middle. Of course, the bright beam of light was highlighting a stunning figure of the one and only Han Jisung. He shined vividly as if he was on stage, wearing a white shirt, a black tie and dark trousers. The outfit was decorated with silver chains and gleaming jewelry. The guitar that fit nicely in his hands played the role of the finishing touch.
Minho had to admit—it was a really sexy photo. He stared at it for a tad bit too long for his own good, considering he was at work right now. But wait, where was it even taken? Who was behind all these posters? The last time he checked, the school halls weren’t adorned with such beautiful illustrations; that was yesterday, and he was certain he had left the premises with Jisung.
He was instantly brought back to reality once he laid his eyes on the text written below, which said: “Mr. Han gets on stage to give a show, while Mr. Lee only gets on your nerves.”
Silence, followed by a sigh.
Well played, Jisung, he thought as he made his way towards his classroom. In the hallways, he could see groups of students analyzing the posters, as well as hear them chuckle. Most of them found the stunt hilarious; some greeted Minho and asked for his opinion on this topic on the fly.
“Good morning, Mr. Lee!” a teenage girl exclaimed, striking up a conversation. “May I ask how you feel about the posters?”
If he was being honest, he’d say that he wasn’t too bothered by this; after all, he and Jisung teased each other all the time. But he had to maintain the rivalry somehow; that’s why he allowed himself to sneak in a little lie—because he was totally truthful on the daily, especially about his relationship with Jisung.
“Wonderful,” Minho mumbled, stopping in his tracks to talk with the student. “Mr. Han knows he’s a lackluster musician, so he had to make these pitiful posters to boost his confidence. But don’t tell him I said that,” he asked, even though he knew she wouldn’t keep the promise.
“I won’t!” the teenager giggled. Minho smiled in return and went to his classroom, hoping that his actions enhance the disarray that was currently reigning over the school.
On the way, he somehow managed to bump into Jisung.
“Well, well, well. Look who we have here. The wannabe rockstar? The failed songwriter?” Minho teased with a smirk on his face.
“I’m very successful actually, thank you very much,” Jisung pouted. He looked like he wanted to say something else as well, but Minho cut him off.
Before they knew it, huge crowds of students had gathered around them to listen in on the drama, like moths to a flame.
“And that’s why you ended up as a high school teacher? That’s hilarious,” Minho retorted, his voice calm and collected, even though he was on the verge of bursting into laughter. Thankfully, the audience did it for him.
“Look, you can’t use this argument when you’re also one yourself. Especially since you teach such a boring subject. At least students have fun in my class. At least I have fun teaching my own class.”
“What makes you think I don’t?”
“Dude, have you seen yourself and how you look after all the classes?” He mocked the other, taking advantage of the fact that Minho can’t expose Jisung for being the one who’s usually more tired when he gets home after a long day of work. Even though he adores his students and loves interacting with them, he always needs his sweet alone time. “Also, your subject sucks. No offense. Wait, actually, full offense.”
“No offense taken; everyone knows you’re just too stupid to learn about more complicated matters, so no wonder you can’t appreciate such an essential subject,” Minho remarked cockily, checking the time on his watch. “Recess is ending soon; I recommend everyone gets to their respective classes so nobody’s late.”
“Wow, running away just like that? Not cool.”
The atmosphere at school had definitely improved a bit—it was almost 8 AM, but all the students seemed to be more awake and lively thanks to the quarrel. Even though this verbal duel turned out to be a success, Jisung was a bit pissed at this point; more at himself than Minho. How was he so good at this? How was he planning to overcome this obstacle? Minho was definitely winning; but only for now.
Maybe it’s time to change strategies , Jisung thought. As much as he enjoyed pestering his husband, clearly, it was barely working. Minho’s comebacks were just too witty, so trying to beat him in an endless war of insults was basically sabotaging his own chances of victory.
There was no time to rest—Jisung had to come up with another genius plan immediately. His subject was definitely the most entertaining, so he had to live up to the expectations. That’s how he came up with the plan to organize his own event. That would definitely boost him in the rankings. He needed to prove that he’s the better and more fun teacher.
Jisung had received the principal’s approval, and after a two week period of sign-ups, a karaoke contest took place instead of classes—students were allowed to enter the school hall with their teachers to check it out, and obviously, nobody in their right mind would pass up the opportunity to take a breather and just relax once in a while.
The hall itself was incredibly spacious—the stage was oval-shaped, the platform connecting into the wall halfway. The floors were made of wood, while the walls were pitch black. The entries to the backstage were located on the sides, hidden by a maroon red curtain. On the right, there was a giant grand piano, and in the middle stood a microphone on a stand, which would be necessary for today’s competition; whereas the lyrics would be displayed on a giant screen on the left. This was a karaoke contest, after all.
The chairs were placed all around the stage, but there wasn’t enough space for everyone to fit in—as a result, crowds started forming in the back of the auditorium. Some were standing on the sides, others planned on spectating from the corridors. Either way, the occasion was so grand, even the gigantic hall was overflowing.
Beside the audience, loads of people were interested in participating in the competition as well—both students and the teachers. Of course, Jisung was the host of today’s festivity. He really hoped Minho wouldn’t try to purposely spoil the fun. Still, he knew he was probably overthinking; after all, Minho is the sweetest human being on earth; all his fooling around was a result of love. Jisung didn’t fall for him all those years ago for no reason—that’s why he still trusted that nothing major would go wrong. He even talked it out at home the day before. Just to be safe. But nobody truly knows what goes on in the man’s wicked brain.
“Hello wonderful students, hardworking staff and (mostly) brilliant teachers!” he began, already attempting to pick a fight with Minho. “I welcome you all to the first ever karaoke contest at Jejudo High School! My name is Han Jisung and I’ll be your host for today’s event!” As he continued, he heard loud rounds of applause in between his speeches.
“As the very experienced and talented musician I am, I’m very honored to be standing here and being able to organize such an incredible event–” Jisung said with pride, trying to ignore the booing that suspiciously sounded like Minho’s voice. He cleared his throat and continued the introduction. “–that can showcase the skills of our talented youth. Anyway, enough talking, let the show begin!”
“Performing first can be very anxiety inducing; I know that all too well. But there was one participant kind enough to kick things off,” Jisung announced, trying his absolute best to keep his composure. “Everyone, please welcome our favorite biology teacher—Lee Minho!”
Well, that was certainly unexpected! Or not really. It’s not like Jisung took Minho completely by surprise, because he did apply to participate. He just didn’t think he would be singing first, that’s all.
As Minho made his way to the stage, he received a roaring ovation from the public, which quickly made his worries dissipate. Such was the fate of the soon-to-be favorite teacher of the school. Well, Jisung was definitely shaking in his boots now!
He walked steadily to the middle of the platform and waited for the track to play, marginally turning towards the screen where the lyrics would appear. It’s not like he needed it, because the song he picked was originally written and produced by Jisung—and Minho knew all of his tunes by heart. But how would the crowd react if they heard him sing his greatest rival’s music from his memory? The choice itself was enough of a shocker.
He was glad his habits weren't known to the world. Nobody ever noticed the fact that Minho knows Jisung’s entire discography like he knows basic biology facts. Nobody ever noticed that Jisung’s music accompanies him daily. Whenever there’s a silence waiting to be filled, Minho makes it fade away by humming his husband’s melodies whenever he’s alone in his classroom in between lessons, or when he’s holed up in his office doing work. Jisung’s songs are also the ones playing on Minho’s headphones every day. It’s simple secrets like those that made their relationship much more intimate.
Minho was taken out of his thoughts when the song had finally started playing—Han Jisung’s “twilight”. Earlier, when he stood on stage in silence, he could already feel the stress kicking in, since he never had the occasion to share his vocals with the world—but when he heard the familiar piano notes, they put him at ease.
He soon began singing and got lost in the song. His soft, high-pitched voice made it sound like it was a lullaby sung by some sort of angel. He vocalized each word carefully and passionately, as if his life depended on it. Minho tried his best to do the song justice, and he knew he succeeded once he saw the listeners’ facial expressions. At that moment, Minho could bet money on the fact that Jisung probably teared up from behind the scenes.
Unsurprisingly, Minho ended up winning the whole thing; the dream of him getting announced as the favorite teacher of the year seemed to be getting more and more realistic as time went on. Jisung wasn’t upset about it at all though—he made a mental note to make Minho sing more often. Who knows, maybe they’ll even release a song together when all is said and done.
“So far, are you rooting for Mr. Han or Mr. Lee?” a member of the Newspaper Club asked one of the students. The association was carrying out an opinion poll, interviewing lots of different people one by one. Everyone was curious to know the current rankings.
Still, considering the fact that Jisung and Minho’s rivalry was the talk of the town right now, the club members were mostly inquiring about the famous duo.
“It’s definitely Mr. Han for me,” the girl answered immediately. “I just really dislike biology, and music classes are way more fun. It’s also easier to get better grades there,” she continued.
“What about you?” they asked, directing the question to the boy standing next to her.
“Probably Mr. Lee. He’s funny and he wins almost every argument he has with Mr. Han,” he explained.
Many other students kept being interviewed by the club members during breaks in between lessons.
“Between the two, I’d say Mr. Han. He’s just so sweet,” replied one of them.
“I can’t decide yet! I really like both of them,” responded the other.
“Mr. Lee—he has always been my favorite. Also, I love his sense of humor.”
“I think it’s Mr. Lee. He teaches really well and made me love biology.”
“I’m definitely cheering for Mr. Han! His classes always make my day.”
Obviously, the experts’ opinions were divided. Some made their picks purely off of the subjects that the two teach, others took their bickering into account. A few even voted based on looks! Either way, Minho and Jisung had equal chances of winning thus far.
But the Newspaper Club’s work didn’t end there.
Their job was to make sure that as much of the school society as possible was engaged with the ongoing event. Besides conducting the opinion polls, the circle supplied the students with juicy rumors. That’s why Jisung and Minho had to be careful so that their marriage doesn’t get exposed.
So far, the club has been delivering the most recent news about their beef—the headlines written by them looked like this:
“Mr. Han is making noise again—the neighboring classroom has had enough.”
“The entire school is covered in posters! Does Mr. Lee still have a chance?”
“Mr. Lee sang Mr. Han’s proprietary song in the karaoke contest! Was it out of spite or out of love?”
Minho had already gotten used to these headlines a long time ago. Somewhere along the way, Jisung stopped caring as well. But there was one caption that caught their eye, which completely took them by surprise:
“Enemies at school, lovers after hours?! Mr. Han and Mr. Lee were seen entering the same house, hand in hand!”
Well, someone spoke too soon.
This particular title has already garnered loads of attention, despite it being published merely an hour ago. It was only a matter of time before they both got swarmed with groups of curious students who were dying to know what’s up. Things were already bad enough, but it only got worse when it turned out that someone had taken an incriminating photo of them going home together. There was visual proof. Alas, the covers Minho and Jisung spent so much time and energy perfecting have been blown, just like that.
Thankfully, this upcoming inconvenience related to gossip-hungry crowds of students could be postponed until tomorrow; classes were almost over for the day. Minho was certain he and Jisung could slip out of the building swiftly without getting held back by anybody. Nevertheless, contrary to popular belief, this was not a zoo—Minho trusted that the teenagers would all behave like humans and respect each other’s boundaries, so maybe there was nothing to worry about, after all.
As soon as the lessons ended, the now exposed married couple left the school premises promptly, hoping nobody would be crazy enough to stop them in their tracks. They looked forward to being able to finally relax after a long day of work, but first things first—there was an elephant in the room, waiting to be addressed.
“So,” Minho immediately spoke up as both of them entered the car and rushed home. “Do we have a plan B?” he asked, eyes focused on the road.
“Obviously, we fake a divorce. You no longer have a husband,” Jisung replied immediately, seemingly satisfied with himself.
“I don’t think it’s a good idea to say this while I’m literally driving you home. I could drop you off in the middle of this random street, you know,” he warned jokingly, yet his tone implied something else.
“Come on, we all know you wouldn’t do that, you love me too much. Also, you have to admit, that’s a pretty good idea!” Jisung exclaimed, waiting for his husband’s approval.
“How do you even plan on making this whole act believable? We were married and we’re suddenly getting a divorce just because someone ratted us out?”
“That’s easy—we just have to say that we’re rivals because we’re about to get a divorce. That stuff takes a long time, so it makes sense why you haven’t moved out yet,” Jisung explained. “You know, the process takes a few months.”
“Oh, so I’m the one who’s moving out? Jisung, get out of the car.”
“Hey!” he froze up for a split second. “Completely unrelated, but the cheesecake you baked yesterday? Phenomenal—it’s the best cheesecake I have ever eaten. Shout out to you,” Jisung muttered out hastily. “Please don’t kick me out,” he continued after a brief period of silence.
Minho only let out a hearty laugh in response, safely getting them both home in the end. Teasing Jisung was truly his favorite pastime; the fact that his reactions haven’t changed one bit ever since they met all these years ago made this even better.
The next day, the famous couple was ready to stir up some chaos once more. Their competition, which initially started off as a silly little joke, has now reached insane amounts of absurdity—it’s been blown way out of proportion, and it was too late to back out now. But that made things even funnier, and they both loved it.
At that moment, the current school year was fairly close to its conclusion—it was the first of April, and the last day of school came 2 months after. Still, Minho and Jisung wanted to focus on the fact that today was April Fools; this special occasion, combined with the fake divorce fiasco, was guaranteed to be a real rollercoaster. To be fair, they’ve been having their own April Fools for the past 8 months, but that was beside the point.
The two decided to start wearing black every day, so as to emphasize the period of grieving caused by the so-called split. There’s no way nobody notices the change of the color theme, right? After all, both of them rarely ever wear fully pitch-black, semi-elegant outfits.
Not only that, they decided to feign severe sadness and sorrow that would accompany them for the next few days, or even weeks. At first, everything started with Jisung goofing around, annoying Minho, and him returning the favor. Now it was time to switch gears and utilize a different strategy.
In his classes, Jisung was stripped of his expected joyful presence. His lessons were more boring, and he was way less energetic. It’s only natural that his students would be worried about him; well, his marriage did just get exposed, but was it the final nail in the coffin?
On the other side of the wall, there was Minho, who decided to be harsher than normal, which was a huge deal for everyone involved—he has always been a teacher who took his subject very seriously, but he was also understanding of his students and didn’t pressure them too much. This wasn’t the case today, seeing as he began every class with unannounced pop quizzes. Strict and scary—the bane of every teenager’s existence. He felt a bit bad for them, but he at least hoped the act would be believable.
Most students decided not to bother the two teachers, since they clearly had something difficult going on in life. Nobody wanted to make it worse, except for the brave association of daredevils, who decided to strike while the iron was hot—the Newspaper Club.
During recess, the group approached Jisung first and decided to interview him; it was most likely because he seemed more approachable. After all, delivering fresh gossip was their job.
“Good morning, Mr. Han. We were hoping to talk to you about the recent rumors. How are you feeling? Is it true that you and Mr. Lee were secretly married all along?” the president of the club asked, a confident smile flashing on her face, as if she knew this was all a ruse.
“The cat’s out of the bag,” Jisung confessed. “To tell you the truth, we’re in the middle of getting a divorce right now. It’s been a very difficult time for both of us, and we decided to take it out on each other by fighting,” he muttered, trying to look at least a little bit upset.
The acting classes he took in high school might have proven themselves useful. Jisung realized that when he had a phone recording him lying through his teeth with a cheap earbud microphone in his face.
“Oh my god, I’m so sorry to hear that. I hope this question wasn’t too intrusive,” she panicked momentarily, feeling a tinge of guilt washing over her. She wasn’t sure whether she should trust his words or not, but this story was pretty sad nonetheless.
“It’s alright—I understand everyone is very curious. I’m open to questions, but I ask everyone to keep a little bit of decency and not go too far. We’re all human,” he replied with a frown on his face.
“Very well. Would you like to share any more details with us? What caused your falling-out?” the association pressed further, trying to get as much information as possible.
This was a great opportunity for Jisung—as long as he played this out well, he could redeem himself and his chances for victory by taking advantage of this conference. This is the moment he has been waiting for the entire two semesters; the perfect chance that would turn things around, and the only thing at stake was Minho’s reputation, which was basically nothing.
A tear fell down Jisung’s cheek as he searched for the right words to say. He was aware of the fact that this behavior was very unprofessional of him, but he was too far gone to even care at that point. He planned on using April Fools as an excuse for whatever happens next.
“I kicked him out of our house after he has cheated on me time and time again with one of my best friends, a teacher from this school,” Jisung cried, faking a stutter and going for the lowest of blows. “I don’t want to reveal their identity for now, though.”
Actually, he just didn’t know who he wanted to betray the most. He reckoned nobody else wanted to be a part of this mess, but it had to be done eventually—just for the plot.
“We understand—we’ll give you some space. Thank you for answering our questions, Mr. Han,” another Newspaper Club member acknowledged, ending the interview. The school bell rang shortly after, making the crowds of students dissipate.
This was probably one of the most awkward situations Jisung has ever been in. Now he had to pretend he was absolutely heartbroken; he kind of dug his own grave back there. He was wondering what his students were thinking right now.
Because of these events, he decided to show his students how to write and compose a song; and what better way to do that other than making one himself and explaining the entire process? Over the course of today’s lessons, Jisung decided to create a depressing, gut-wrenching song about his “divorce” with Minho, telling a tragic story about heartbreak and cheating, in front of over a hundred teenagers.
Maybe Minho’s reputation wasn’t the only one at stake.
Approximately three hours later, during the lunch break, the Newspaper Club approached Minho, with the intention to hear his side of the story. Obviously, Minho didn’t know any of Jisung’s schemes. He wasn’t there to hear his apparent ex-husband’s conversation with the interviewers—as a result, he had no clue how to continue the tale.
“Hello, Mr. Lee. I hope this is a good time to have a little chat, away from the noisy crowds of students,” the club president greeted Minho politely.
“Of course. I assume you came to talk about the rumors?” Minho asked, despite already knowing the answer.
“Precisely. In our previous interview, Mr. Han accused you of cheating, which allegedly made you file for divorce,” she reported. “Would you like to share your experiences with us and try clearing your name?”
“It’s true,” he lied, his manner remained stoic and calm, carefully analyzing his next move. He determined that playing along with Jisung’s version of events would create even more drama.
And he was right, because the looks on the spectating students’ faces were absolutely priceless.
“Wait, are you serious?!” she shouted—the interviewer lost all of her composure in the blink of an eye.
“Yes. There’s no point in hiding this anymore,” he announced. “At first, we were just friends—I thought it was nothing serious,” he began.
“And then…?” the club member questioned further.
“Soon, we got even closer until we’ve reached the point of no return. And one day…” Minho purposefully kept everyone in suspense, speaking slowly and dragging this out for as long as possible. “Well, you can probably imagine what happened next.”
“Who is it?”
“My ex-husband, Felix,” he finally admitted. Yeah, that was utter fiction too—but given their surnames, he thought it would be believable enough.
“Wait, so your last names weren’t a coincidence after all?! What a plot twist!” she exclaimed in shock. Her excitement was caused by the rumors that took place a few years ago, when Felix officially began teaching in Jejudo High School—he had already known Minho for a long time then, so their visible friendship and similar surnames caused the students to go wild.
In all honesty, Minho felt a bit bad for dragging Felix into this drama. The guy has the kindest and sweetest soul, and now he has to deal with the tomfoolery he and Jisung have created. He had to make it up to him one day.
That’s how he made the decision to explain everything to his friend. He went to the teachers’ lounge, because that’s where Felix can usually be found. On the way, he also sent Jisung a quick text, asking him to do the same thing. The situation was dire, and he was sure that nobody else (except Jisung) was aware of the things Minho had just said.
And he was right—Felix was indeed hanging out in the faculty room, eating fried chicken and talking with the rest of the teachers; he’s probably taking a well-deserved break from grading English essays.
As Minho opened the door, the attention shifted onto him. Jisung hurriedly followed, trailing behind.
“Hello everyone. I’ve got news, specifically for you, Felix,” Minho started, trying to sound as collected as he could. What’s the worst that could happen? “Do you want the good news or the bad news first?”
“Hi! Nice to see you both!” Felix greeted the two, who walked over to the table and were now sitting in front of him; they were here for business, it seems. “I guess good news?”
“You’re the star of the school.”
“Umm, thank you?” Felix was visibly puzzled; he knew he was one of the most liked teachers, and he wasn’t sure why bringing this up was necessary. “...And the bad news?”
“Buckle up,” Jisung commented, stifling a laugh.
“Shush.” Minho retorted and took a deep breath before continuing. “So, I might’ve told the school press that you were my ex-husband.”
“You did what ?!” Chan, who was busy doing other work in the background and was just listening in on the conversation, yelled and turned around to face Minho.
“Funny joke. Happy April fools to you too, hyung,” Felix replied nonchalantly, not falling for his tricks one bit.
But Minho’s face was telling a different story, and so was Jisung’s.
“I know how bad this sounds, but he’s not joking this time—a rare occurrence.” Jisung stated, whispering the last part. “Pinky promise.”
Okay, maybe Jisung’s pinky promise was convincing enough; Felix was speechless, with his jaw dropped and eyes like saucers. He was more bewildered than angry, but he still wasn’t pleased at all.
“Listen, it’s not my fault if you think about it. Jisung told them I cheated on him, so I had to play along,” Minho tried to justify his actions. He had a soft spot for Felix, and he was slowly starting to think that maybe that wasn’t too good of an idea. The only thing he could do right now was try to convince Felix to help them out.
“What do I get from this?” he asked. He was not going to do all that for free.
“If you don’t help us out, I’ll expose your marriage with Chan,” Jisung blackmailed Felix as a last resort. He knew Felix liked to stay out of drama and rather keep things to himself, so that should do the trick.
“...Fine.” Felix hesitated, but he didn’t want to leave a friend in need.
“Genuinely, why do I still put up with you all?” Chan muttered a rhetorical question under his nose; he was already tired, and this day felt like it just lengthened by another few hours.
“Good for you! Please don’t fire us,” Jisung cheered. “Also, Felix, word of advice—expect the Newspaper Club to be onto you.”
Their incredibly pleasant conversation was (thankfully) interrupted by the school bell, forcing everyone to leave and get to work; it was probably for the best.
Jisung was right, Felix thought, as he was caught off guard by the Newspaper Club the next day. At least he got a warning from one of the culprits.
“Good morning, do you mind if we take a few minutes of your time? We’d like to talk with you,” the club president requested politely, with another member recording the interview right next to her. They were also surrounded by lots of students who wanted to know what was going on.
“Sure. What would you like to know?” Felix responded, trying to sound gloomier than usual. He had a part to play, after all.
“First of all, are you okay? How do you feel right now, with all the chaos surrounding you?” she asked worriedly.
“I have to admit, I’m not too fond of drama. Honestly, I wish I wasn’t dragged into this, but I’ll be alright,” Felix smiled weakly in order to reassure the crowd.
“Sorry to hear that. Can we still conduct the interview?” the member asked. She didn’t want to overstep any boundaries.
“Yes, please go ahead, I don’t mind.”
“Alright. Is Mr. Lee really your ex-husband? How did you two split up?”
“I’ll keep this short and simple—he left me for Mr. Han. I got cheated on, too,” Felix lamented, somehow managing to let out a singular fake tear. His efforts didn’t get unnoticed, though—the atmosphere definitely shifted, and he could see all the teenagers feeling bad for him.
“That’s horrible. How are you holding up now?”
“I’m doing better now, thank you. Still, there are some things I would like to keep to myself, so I hope everyone can give me some privacy during this time,” he said quietly, putting on a happy expression again.
“Very well. We’ll respect your wishes and end this conversation right here. Thank you so much for your time,” the group bowed respectfully and left.
That day, many new headlines and articles were revealed to the public:
“Mr. Lee cheated on Mr. Han?! Shocking discovery!”
“The secret romance between the biology teacher and English teacher! Is it dead, or still alive?”
“The craziest April Fools in the history of our high school—surprisingly filled with only the truth!”
Everything was going well—no student suspected any teacher of lying, and Minho and Jisung successfully persuaded Felix to help them continue the spectacle. Thus, the play would reach its climax soon.
The final dance began when the exam period had passed, which meant the voting was finally open. The winner would be announced during the school year ending ceremony, taking place in 3 weeks. Jisung and Minho were vehemently fighting tooth and nail to get the students’ endorsement.
For starters, they continued to bicker on the daily, which was fun both for them, and the teenagers. For example, they made nasty remarks about the other in classes and discouraged students from voting on their opponents.
But there was way more where that came from.
One day, Jisung decided to make some memes about Minho, print them out and hang them up in the entire school—sort of like the poster incident, but a cheaper, faster option. To this day nobody knows about the fact that Hyunjin and Felix had made these posters for him.
Minho wasn’t too bothered by this; he’s gotten used to Jisung’s antics. He decided to print his own memes and stick them next to Jisung’s. The Newspaper Club was already archiving all of these great images.
But Jisung’s pestering didn’t end there; whenever Minho was absent from his classroom, Jisung also started writing taunting messages on his chalkboard. It was more of a minor inconvenience, because he had to wipe it off before every lesson took place.
As revenge, Minho began sticking small notes with mocking messages in Jisung’s room. There were a lot of them, everywhere. Some were difficult to find, too, so it was even harder for Jisung to even get rid of them.
They started stealing markers and chalks from each other, making it increasingly troublesome to teach. This also happened with other supplies and things. They loved annoying each other like this—they hoped it would boost their position in the favorite teacher rankings, too.
At some point, they chose to start giving out free things to the student as a means of promotion. Jisung gave out adorable quokka keychains to every student he taught that day, whereas Minho decided to make some snacks, since he’s remarkably good at cooking—normally, Jisung would confirm, but the current circumstances forbid him from doing so.
Many people started wondering whether this was classified as bribery. Was it even allowed? Maybe Minho and Jisung were doing too much. The hunger for victory, combined with the tension caused by the time ticking away, made the two teachers become desperate, which in turn caused them to do unexpected things.
The day that everyone has been awaiting has finally come—the end of the school year. The hall was packed with students and faculty members, waiting for the official part of the ceremony to end, so that the outcome of the contest would be announced as soon as possible.
Finally, Chan, the principal, who was standing in the middle of the stage, moved onto the next part of the event, inviting all the teachers to the platform.
“And now, dear students, I will announce the results of the Favorite Teacher Competition,” he said enthusiastically, riling everyone up.
All the teachers were positioned in a line, Minho and Jisung standing in the middle. They’ve been fighting a war, trying out different strategies to sway the students and shift the spotlight onto them. Whatever came next would be the result of all the work they’ve been putting in for the last 10 months. They were finally here, at the finishing line of this long race. Both of them were ready to celebrate their hard-earned victory.
Felix stood in between the two, dividing them, so they wouldn’t cause any unnecessary issues. He was calm and collected—he didn’t really care about the results. He knew he was loved by the youth, and the feeling was mutual. He didn’t need any additional endorsements to prove his worth.
“You’re all fantastic teachers, with their own quirks and charms. There’s at least one student who considers each and every one of you as their favorite teacher,” Chan continued, holding everyone present in eager anticipation. “But there can only be one winner. This year, the teacher who received the most votes was…”
A pause.
Silence took over the hall for a good few seconds, creating an uncertain atmosphere.
Finally, the principal opened the envelope and read the paper with the name written in it.
“Our beloved English teacher, Lee Felix!”
The auditorium was quiet for a beat, before reverbating with loud roars and cheers from the audience. Jisung and Minho only looked in each others’ directions as Felix walked forward to receive his trophy, accompanied by clapping in the background. They were speechless, eyes wide open, overcome by disbelief. All their efforts have gone to waste, just like that?
Chan handed his microphone to the winner, letting him deliver his victory speech.
“Thank you everyone! I have to admit, I did not expect this one bit. I think I should thank Mr. Han and his husband for paving the way for me. You heard it—the divorce was all a stunt,” Felix informed proudly. “I hope you two don’t mind me exposing your little secret; after all, the game's over,” he said, glancing in their direction.
Felix still wasn’t sure why this award was achieved by him in the first place. Maybe people felt bad for him and his little sob story, in which he played the role of an ex-husband who got cheated on. Or, some might’ve felt bad because of how he got dragged into this mess in the first place. Heck, they might’ve voted for him just because it would be funny to see Jisung and Minho lose. He thought it could’ve been a mix of all three reasons.
The crowd laughed and awarded him with an applause, before Jisung quickly snatched the microphone in order to add his two cents.
“This is staged, and the votes were falsified! After all, he’s married to the principal!” he yelled.
Minho tried to stop him, but it was already too late. He swiftly took the microphone, apologized and returned it, dragging Jisung away. He had to admit—the whole situation was hilarious, and the crowd seemed to think so, too. That doesn’t change the fact that it was incredibly humiliating.
Chan only sighed in response, stuck at a loss of words—Felix spoke for him. “Did I mention I liked keeping some things to myself?” he chuckled. “There’s no need to pick a fight with me—I’m the winner whether you like it or not. Anyway, good luck next year; you’re going to need it.”
And that’s when Jisung understood—Felix was never the pawn in their play.
He just made them think that they were the game masters.
Nevertheless, it was a great 10 months—he made loads of great memories with the students, the teachers, and even Minho himself. But next time, he’s going to be the one who comes out on top.