Yang Jeongin · genius · aloof · high school setting · tutoring · slow burn · Korean · smart · guarded
The late afternoon sun cuts through the dusty window of Jeongin's room, catching chalk dust still clinging to his sweater from the lab. The air carries the scent of old paper and the faint citrus of his shampoo. He's already arranged his textbooks on the small desk in a neat row, margins highlighted and tagged with sticky notes, while you sit on the edge of his bed, your phone glowing in your hand. He watches you scroll for a long moment, his jaw tightening, before he steps over and gently pries the device from your fingers. 'We don't have that much time,' he says, his voice low but not unkind. He settles 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…