"What are you doing here, Professor?" Sari could only ask that as she was still surprised to see Professor Soohoon inside Gangbeodeul University and within the office of his sister, at that.
Professor Soohoon sighed as he put down the letter that he was reading and soon approached her and Professor Geunhee.
"It looks like the news has reached you so fast, huh?" Professor Geunhee commented.
"Since this morning. And we all know who's behind this just to get back at me and use this to make sure the principal would lose face."
"But why would they include the principal in this?"
Professor Geunhee faced Sari. "I did tell you before that the principal had rules here that other students and professors weren't accepting, right?"
She nodded.
"The truth is, they've never liked someone like Principal Chan Kangchul to be the principal of this university, to begin with. But the board of directors unanimously decided that only he could change this university's rules. He might look benevolent to you. But to those who had truly seen him show his true colors, they knew that the board of directors were right about their decision."
Even if Sari hadn't seen the principal act the way that Professor Geunhee mentioned, she could already imagine that it would be chaotic. Silent chaotic, was the best way to describe it.
"And I think it's going to happen again now that this rumor has started," Professor Soohoon said, breaking the silence among them. "Even Haigen University's principal doesn't like these people pitting these two universities against each other like it was nothing. They're childhood friends, for goodness' sake."
"I didn't know the two university principals were that close," Sari commented with a smile.
"It was never a common knowledge. Only a few people knew them." After that, Professor Soohoon sighed. "So what's going to happen now?"
"Principal Chan assigned me to prepare the materials needed for the confrontation and also to call the other professors who could verify a few things for him without prejudice."
"I guess you're going to get busy, then."
"Don't worry, big brother. I'll be fine. It's Yoon Sari I'm worried about at this point."
Both the professors looked at Sari who shot both of them a confused look. It was only for a short while, though. She then bowed to the two of them and smiled gratefully.
"I'll be alright, so please don't worry."
"You kept on saying that, but I can already tell that this is also starting to weigh on your mind right now," Professor Soohoon said. Sari lowered her head after that.
The atmosphere between the three of them wasn't tense nor awkward; in fact, Sari felt comfortable around the professor siblings, to be honest. Not even their smiles were forced and instead, they showed that they were actually really genuine. It was almost like talking with two old friends, but not really.
"We'll make sure that you will continue working as my assistant even after this matter is dealt with. And I'm sure that Principal Chan is aware of the help that you've provided for me all this time," Professor Geunhee assured, which made Sari smile and nod.
"Thank you, Professor. I really appreciate it."
When Professor Geunhee left afterwards, Professor Soohoon remained in the office with Sari. He looked at her and then at a piece of paper that he took from Professor Geunhee's office table once again.
"Miss Yoon, do you want to read this?" he asked.
"H-huh?"
Professor Soohoon chuckled and soon approached her. "You're not afraid of me, are you?"
Sari frowned. "Why would I?"
"Because we're the only ones in this room."
This time, it was her turn to chuckle. "But that doesn't contribute to any reason as to why I should be afraid of you, right? Besides..." She trailed off and looked outside the window. She saw the sky turning gray, signifying a possible rainy afternoon that could last till evening. "There are plenty of things that I should be more scared of than a man who had done nothing but helped me get over my worries in the most unexpected times even though he doesn't know it."
Sari smiled and faced the stunned Professor Soohoon who was only looking at her. He must not have expected those words to come out of her mouth at such a troubling time.
"Also... you're an amazing person, Professor. And I bet you don't know that."
That caused Professor Soohoon's cheeks to slightly redden and for a moment he couldn't speak a word to answer. Finally, he managed to regain control over his thoughts as his gaze returned to her. His expression then turned serious as he spoke.
"For someone who's dealing with this kind of trouble, you still managed to find words to compliment a person." Professor Soohoon nodded after that. "But I like that. Not many people can remain calm when they're faced with such a predicament."
Sari could only smile sadly and proceeded to clean her vandalized table. But she did so after taking pictures of them to have evidence that she could use. Specifically, the handwriting. She knew she once saw that handwriting. All she needed to see was a sample of it and she'd be able to know who did this.
Once everything was cleaned up, she sat on the chair next to the windows and began watching the raindrops running down the glass panes. It seemed like she wouldn't be able to sleep tonight and so she wanted to take some advantage of that until it stopped raining later.
"I'm still here, you know. You can talk to me," Professor Soohoon said, breaking the silence between them.
Sari faced the professor with a troubled expression before taking a deep breath. "I don't know if I could face you with this kind of trouble going on. And they really have to include you in it, too."
The professor smiled reassuringly and placed a hand on the back of her head. Her eyes widened at the gesture but did nothing to stop him.
"You don't need to worry about that. I'll handle all of this with care."
She then raised her head and faced him. "You know you don't have to. It's obvious that they're using you just as much as they're using me. They're making things up to make everything hard for the two universities, for some reason. Just because they didn't like the principals being friendly with each other. Just because they didn't like Principal Chan leading them."
"Well, yeah. That much is obvious now. But I'm not about to give up that easily. They can say whatever they want to conclude about seeing us together. But I don't think there's anything bad with what we've done. We've only confided in each other's worries that day."
"But that's not what they think at all."
"That's their problem already. Not ours."
How could this guy be so confident about saying this? When Professor Soohoon faced her, he smiled and removed his hand from her head. As much as she wanted to deny it, his touch felt warm that she missed them almost immediately when he removed it.
'What's going on with me? Why am I thinking this way?'
Sari was snapped out of her musings when she heard a thud from her table. She saw a green expanding envelope fall from her shoulder bag. That was when she remembered that she brought the package she received from the man who turned out to be the same person who gave her her father's cryptic letter before saying that she should head back to Huijin to find the answers.
"Is that yours?" Professor Soohoon asked and looked at her.
She nodded and approached her fallen bag on the floor. Funnily enough, it was only the envelope that came out from the bag. Did some force make this happen?
Then again, she found something that could help her get distracted until Professor Geunhee came back with any news about the principal's plans.
With a sigh, Sari decided to open the envelope while she was still in the office. She took a seat and looked for the cutter that was in a drawer. Once she found it, she cut the tape that sealed the flap completely. It almost seemed like the tape was placed there to fully secure whatever was in the envelope.
As she did all this, she was aware that Professor Soohoon was watching her in curiosity and interest. But she chose not to pay attention at the moment.
Moments passed and she finally got to open the envelope, only to frown at the sight of three sketchbooks inside. All of them looked quite worn out.
"Sketchbooks?"
"Do you know where they came from?" Professor Soohoon asked, making her raise her head from the envelope.
She hesitated for a moment before speaking. "The man who handed me a letter from my father before was the one who sent this to me."
And that was when she recalled an old memory from when she was a kid. Her eyes widened.
"Wait... I remember that my father used to bring sketchbooks with him whenever he would travel. And she would show everything he drew there to my mom."
"Could they be from your father, then?"
She shook her head. "I can't be so sure."
"Oh," Professor Soohoon answered, not having anything else to ask.
After she took one of the sketchbooks from the envelope and started flipping through them, she gasped. Her eyes opened wide.
"What in the world?" She continued flipping through the sketchbook. But shock and confusion remained in her expression that only made Professor Soohoon worry.
"Miss Yoon? What's wrong?"
Instead of answering, she flipped back to a certain page and showed it to the professor.
"Wait a minute...!"
How come the sketchbook had the same sketches like the ones she saw in Professor Geunhee's collections? Specifically, the sketches that Professor Soohoon drew.
"How did this happen?"
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