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focusing the rest of that day on his classes was almost an impossible task. taehyung would glance at the small window framed on his classroom door, every time a student passed. the thought of catching a glimpse of the orange-haired just made his heart race.

even if another student confirmed her existence, he couldn't help but think it was still a product of his imagination and that maybe she wasn't ara but a girl who looked pretty similar to her instead.

he had suffered plenty in the recent years. hallucinating visions of her around him. every country he visited he would see fragments of her in other women faces. it was useless. he knew she was gone, and he's been running from the cruel fate of being alone, without her, the past 225 years. 

he thought maybe living in other places, going as far away as he could from the place where he met all the aras in the past, would relieve his pain and eventually all his memories of her would vanish away but he was wrong. time only made it worse, to the point he would wake up in the middle of the night bathed in sweat after having a nightmare with one of them.

taehyung was tired to the point where he even stopped sleeping for a couple of years but it brought big consequences to his body. he had to go under treatment and he finally got his sleeping habits back after a long battle against depression.

without a doubt, the vision of han ara in the present had triggered something inside him. he couldn't believe his own eyes and ears but still, deep inside his heart, a little hope remained at the thought of what han ara said to him in the past, about humans having four lives, he really wished it was true, because if it was, that meant he had met all previous aras in the past and this was probably ara's last life. 

he cleared his throat once the bell rang. "you can go now." he said to his class as he turned around, taking his glasses off, closing his eyes and trying to control his breathing.

it was lunch break and that meant one thing, if ara was truly real and not just a product of his imagination, he might catch a glimpse of her at the cafeteria or the school's backyard. he breathed out as he gathered his stuff and did his way to the teacher's building to leave those books on his office and to collect the ones he needed for the second period after lunch.

he went inside the cafeteria and grabbed his lunch, looking around he noticed how crowded it was, especially the teacher's area. since taehyung didn't know any of them for it was his first week at school, he decided to have his lunch outside. 

there was a quiet area on the school's backyard, on the steps of the football field. the beautiful beach of busan could be seen further, right in front of him. the horizon had a beautiful warm yellow, almost orange tone that quickly brought him memories of someone in the past.

he grabbed his ramen and took a bite of the hot noodles as his eyes were lost in the scenery. when he chose busan, he thought it was the perfect place for him to start again in south korea, since he never lived there before and he never met any of the previous aras in busan. thinking of hiding away or just running away from his fears by going to busan at first was a good idea, but once he arrived and he started seeing visions of her again, his thought of a good idea soon vanished and he found himself trapped in that place, he thought the only beautiful thing was the beach and the view. 

as he was lost in thought he didn't notice when someone was standing a few meters from him, at the entrance of the footbal field's steps. "professor!"

taehyung stopped chewing his noodles as he turned around, looking for the source of the voice calling him. he wasn't used to be called professor yet but he knew if he heard it in the halls or there, it could be refered to him.

his face froze, mouth open and eyes widened when he noticed the orange-haired waving at the bottom of the steps. taehyung swallowed hard the mouthful of noodles but the impression of seeing the girl walking towards him, made him choke on the food. the girl noticed the teacher struggling and ran towards him as she took a bottle of water from her backpack.

"professor kim!" she exclaimed once she arrived his side, handing him the watter bottle. taehyung grabbed it from her hands and quikly took a big sip of fresh water to ease his aching throat.

her big brown eyes were worried, she had never witnessed someone choking and the only thought just frightened her. "are you okay?" her sweet voice awakened taehyung's senses. he cleaned his mouth with the back of his hand and looked up at the girl standing in front of him with a worried expression, he just nodded.

"thank you." he simply said, feeling stupid for a moment. he thought he was probably talking with a hallucination and probably none of that was real, just his old mind playing tricks on him again. taehyung returned the water bottle but she moved her hands, rejecting it. he frowned. 

"no, keep it. i have another one, you need it more professor kim." she said with a sweet smile. taehyung felt goosebumps as his own eyes couldn't believe the resemblance between this han ara and his han ara.

taehyung remained silent, now looking at the noodles between his hands. he had lost his appetite just thinking about han ara or any ara or just simply because of the resurgence of her vision. he remained silent, shaking his head, thinking about the waste of the noodles.

"aren't you hungry anymore professor?" her voice made him turn around. she had taken a sit next to him. she was expectantly waiting for him to finish his lunch. taehyung glanced at the noodles and then back at her. "i am not." he simply said, feeling stupid for answering her questions or just talking to her in general. 

there was no one else in the football field but them, he thought he was just going crazy. he shook his head and left the noodles next to him, between him and ara's vision.

"professor... i think you should eat. it'll give you energy to teach the rest of the classes-

"what are you doing?" taehyung turned around, facing her. a bit of annoyance on his voice, jaw clenched. he just wanted to be in peace and alone. the girl leaned back, eyes frightened.

"i-i... - she swallowed hard, ashamed now and feeling like a burden to the new teacher - i am sorry- i didn't mean to-to be disrespectful i just... i thought you should eat." she said stammering, looking down to her hands. 

taehyung sighed heavily, cursing himself on his mind. even if she was a product of his imagination there was no need to be that rude, but he was tired, tired of the destiny always playing tricks on him, giving him false hopes and dark endings. "actually... i am sorry. i didn't mean to come off like that." he said looking away, throwing a piece of bread far away.

the girl remained silent, looking down to the floor, not even daring to turn and look at the new teacher. "did you want something?" taehyung broke the awkward atmosphere he had created himself. the girl almost forgot the reason why she approached the brown haired man in the first place.

"ah...y-yes." she said, looking into her pockets, pulling out a golden pen and putting it next to the noodles in the space between them. "you dropped this earlier professor." she said avoiding the eye contact with the teacher. 

taehyung grabbed the pen and examined it. it wasn't like anything he had owned, he was 100% sure it wasn't his. "this isn't mine." he said returning the pen where she left it. the girl looked at him, eyes almost glassy. he had lived long enough to know she was in pain and probably because of him and the way he treated before.

"it is yours, you dropped it when you left the cafeteria."

"i can't remember having a pen like that." taehyung said looking at her, trying to figure out if she was lying or if maybe his memory was really that bad. 

the girl looked away, avoiding taehyung's dark eyes. "then you should keep your mind oxygenated since you look young to be forgetting things at such an age, sudokus might help... professor kim." she added the honorific respectfully at the end after her savage start.

taehyung's mouth dropped at the sudden outburst of the girl. he never expected her to say something like that to him or any teacher. surely some of the sass of the previous aras was present in her as well. taehyung couldn't help but laugh, a genuine laugh, something he hadn't have in a long time. the girl looked at him confused but taehyung's laugh was contagious so she started laughing as well. the both looked like fools laughing in a desserted football field.

"i can't remember the last time i laughed." he whispered, shaking his head. she heard it but decided not to ask since the teacher had always a melancholic aura with him. "well... either way it is pretty so... i'll keep it until i find the rightful owner." he said grabbing the golden pen and putting it on the pocket of his jacket. the girl immediately smiled, a triumphant smile that she tried to hide to the teacher's eyes.

"professor kim... may i ask you something?" taehyung just nodded.

"what's your name?"

he tilted his head, confused about her question. he remembered introducing himself the first day but then the memory of her arriving late, flashed on his mind.

"because i arrived late for the introductory class and people just told me your last name was kim, but nothing more."

"uh... kim taehyung."

the look on the girl's face changed, just as if she had listened to bad news. the name surely sounded familiar but she couldn't remember from where. taehyung noticed the discomfort on the girl's expression. "is everything okay?"

she just nodded. "it sounds like a drama lead's name." taehyung couldn't help but laugh again. she thought maybe that's from where she had heard that name before. "where are you from?" 

taehyung glanced at her, thinking about why this student would ask him such personal questions. "daegu." she tilted her head as she listened taehyung's voice. she thought it was the most soothing voice she had ever listened. "we have class next week right?" she asked out of nowhere.

his eyes widened at the sudden statement and he just nodded robotically. "alright... i'll see you then professor kim taehyung." she said sweetly as her full lips flashed a sweet smile. taehyung just nodded as he looked at her walking away from him.

he noticed the same blonde boy waiting for her at the bottom of the steps, as his eyes darkened shooting deathly glares at him. he recogniced this student as the one who called her name earlier. he couldn't help but wonder if all that was a product of his imagination and that boy just represented himself, either way, he was lost. 

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