I love you

Mona struggled to focus on Mr Ken's lecture. Even when she tried her best to concentrate, she couldn't help but daydream about him every time she looked at his face.

However, she would snap out of her thoughts whenever he gave her a stern look, and she would quickly lower her head.

"And that's that under the topic of longitude and latitude!" He exclaimed to the class. "You all understand, right?" He asked with his gaze, especially on Mona whose head was still bowed as she was playing with her feet.

After having a light conversation with the class he took his books and began to lead his legs to the door.

Mona wasn't concentrating on his movements or actions. All she wanted to do was to sit on her chair and take a nap but he called her attention and she had to look up.

"Meet me in my office, Mona, lunch break in my office." He didn't wait for her comment before leaving.

Mona went back to her seat and wondered what Mr Ken had in store for her. What was she going to do with him in his office?

Well, no matter what it is, Mona was excited to be close to Mr Ken again. 

As she waited for the next teacher to arrive, she pulled out her phone and noticed the Discord app she had installed for her school's academic server. She hadn't been interested in the app before but decided to open it anyway. 

Upon opening the app, she discovered an unread message from an unknown sender.

Mona found a mathematical equation sent to her by an unknown sender, then she knew it was Mr Ken. 

It read, "You ask about my age, solve that simultaneous equation and you will know my age, good luck." 

Although she tried to check Mr Ken's Profile, it was blank, and she felt disappointed by his outdated approach. 

Mona pouted and kept her phone in her bag as the next teacher arrived, interrupting her plans for a nap. Despite her efforts to pay attention, she couldn't stop thinking about Mr Ken, and it was unsettling.

During the lunch break, Mona sat with her friend Gina by the window.

Since Mr Ken became a part of her life, she hadn't been as close with her friend and wasn't sure what Gina thought of her. 

However, their lunch was interrupted when Derrick joined them without asking for permission, he just nudged Mona with his butt on the chair, so she moved for him to have enough space.

Still thinking of Mr Ken, she recalled that he sent an equation to her so she could know his age.

Mona turned to Derrick and asked if he was free after school. "Sure, what do you want me to do for you?" He asked, ignoring the conversation he was having with Gina. Gina was upset about it but swallowed and focused her attention on her meal.

"You'll find out when you get to my house," she answered. Derrick nodded.

Mona spent one out of three of the time they had for the lunch break. She drank enough water and departed from the cafeteria. 

Mona headed toward the office of the mathematics teacher. Each subject teacher had their own office, so Mr Ken's office was shared only by the math teachers.

When she reached the corridor that led to his office, her heart lost its rate and began to beat randomly. 

Mona slapped her cheeks and took deep breaths before walking forward to the mathematics teacher's office. She placed her fingers on the doorknob and pushed it down with a pounding heart.

Why was she shivering and scared? 

It was just Mr Ken, perhaps it was because of the other teachers in the room. 

After bracing herself, she opened the door slowly and pushed it slightly before entering and closing the door behind her. "Good afternoon," she bowed her head at the teachers who were having a nice conversation. 

Mona glanced around the room and saw Mr Ken in a corner with a female teacher. He seemed to be working on a computer while the lady was vying for his attention.

However, he managed to multitask by listening to her and making gestures while still working on the system.

'Too handsome' Mona frowned, still rooted to that spot. Mr Ken heard her mind and looked up because he felt she wouldn't move. The moment his gaze touched her, she flinched and lowered her gaze.

"Miss Mona," he sought her attention, hence she walked closer to his desk. Her head was still lowered.

Before Mona reached his desk, the female teacher had left. She wasn't even a mathematics teacher. "Sit down." He patted the chair he placed close to him for her.

Mona settled down, unable to resist sniffing his smell, "You asked me to…" He cut her off.

"Yes, you'll leave this office after grading these." He handed her millions of scripts and stared back at the computer system.

"Mr Ken."

"Here is the marking guide." He handed that to her too.

Mona looked up at him with a vulnerable look. She wasn't lazy to do as he told but she didn't want to grade any test. What if she does it wrong? Mr Ken gazed at her.

"What is it?" He asked, "Why is your heart beating faster?"

She lowered her gaze and saw the marker used for grading. Mona stood up to get the pen, it was by the man's right so she had to stretch to reach his other side. Mr Ken watched her movement and smiled.

Mona got the pen and began to grade according to the marking guide. Mr Ken watched her for a while before returning to what he was doing on his system. "Your class is next," he announced to her.

"Huh?"

"Test."

"Huh?!" She widened her eyes at him. "Mr Ken," she called in a pleading tone. The other teachers were busy with their conversations, so no one placed full attention to them.

"What? You are lucky to see the answers to the questions." He sighed. "Why am I telling you this? This is cheating."

"Thank you, Mr Ken. I love you," Mona had said before she realized that she did say those words. 

What had gotten into her? 

She lifted her grimace face at him and gave an explanation. "It's not the way you think Mr Ken, I'm used to saying I love…you to my parents whenever I say thank you to them. I take the words back." She looked away when all he could give as a response was the expression on his face. How could she be so ignorant?