Yun Mi silently put on her little rabbit robe, grabbed her workbook, and went into the reception room.
She tiptoed in and immediately met Chen Yiyang's gaze.
The boy had changed into casual clothes, with a denim jacket thrown on loosely, giving off a unique youthful crispness.
His elbows rested on the edge of the desk, his dark eyes clearly reflecting her image.
Like a grim-faced Yama.
"Good evening, Chen Yiyang."
Yun Mi feared she might cry from fright.
The light fell on the boy's sharply defined face, with dark circles under his eyes from lack of sleep.
Yun Mi silently averted her eyes guiltily.
Chen Yiyang, having been threatened, showed no good expression. After she sat down nervously, he lifted his eyes and said in a steady voice with some coldness, "Which problem?"
"..."
Every problem.
Yun Mi didn't have the nerve to tell the truth.
She slid the notebook over and negotiated, "Not many. Just five or six."
She circled the hardest ones and pushed it toward him.
Chen Yiyang scanned the problems, then lifted his eyes. His gaze landed on her face lightly, with a hint of knowing but not exposing, and said slowly, "Are you sure?"
"Sure about what?"
"That it's really just these few?"
"..."
At the calm question, the tips of Yun Mi's ears flushed instantly.
"Of... of course."
Yun Mi pretended to be calm, staring at the scratch paper in front of her.
Chen Yiyang lightly drew with his black gel pen: "This problem, if you understood the seventh one earlier, it wouldn't be hard."
"..."
"One solution, and the calculation is much simpler."
Yun Mi was still staring at the scratch paper, but more intently, almost burning a hole through it. She murmured a soft "oh," thinking this guy had no social skills at all, but then heard him casually add, "I'll write out the steps. Ask me if you don't understand anything."
Yun Mi said "oh" again.
Chen Yiyang lowered his eyes and wrote quickly on the paper. This time he was much more patient than when he just gave answers before. The steps were clear, and he even marked which section the key knowledge point belonged to.
The warm desk lamp rested beside his hand, casting a gentle glow on this small space.
In total, there were six problems. Yun Mi followed along and wrote them out, and the basic logic was all clear.
By the time they were done, her ears were burning red.
She stared at Chen Yiyang's hands. His hands had distinct knuckles, a cold pale skin tone, and clear veins on the back—strangely sexy—but no matter how she looked at them, the hand that wrote problems was very clean, with only faint calluses on the fingertips.
His handwriting was lean and upright, with sharp strokes.
Did he hate her now?
Yun Mi looked away.
Chen Yiyang stood up and said, "I'm going back to sleep."
Yun Mi quickly lifted her head. "Um... thank you for explaining the problems."
Remembering Du Yun's attitude, she tentatively whispered, "Chen Yiyang, can you do me another favor..."
Chen Yiyang stood still, his expression calm, but a hint of understanding flickered in his eyes.
He knew it too well: whenever she called him by his full name, it was never anything good.
Last time, when she asked him to buy things at 7-Eleven, he hadn't wanted to help, but Wen Liangyu had messaged him again to "not bully your sister."
Including that time in PE class when he went to check on her, he actually thought something serious had happened.
It wasn't like she was his real sister.
Chen Yiyang just hoped Yun Mi wouldn't disturb his sleep.
His sleep quality was terrible.
Seeing that he hadn't immediately turned her down, Yun Mi carefully said, "I heard Teacher Du Yun... really likes you."
Before the second half of the sentence could come out, Chen Yiyang glanced sideways and cut her off, rolling a single word from his throat, "No."
"?"
What happened? It was fine just now.
Yun Mi stammered, "You haven't even heard what it is."
Chen Yiyang glanced at the European-style wall clock by the bookshelf. It was already 4 AM. Not early.
Good thing Saturday had no classes.
A hint of impatience flashed in his eyes. He stuffed his hands in the pockets of his denim jacket.
He was tall, looking casually like he had just survived a disaster, his tone lazy and certain: "Not listening. I'm going to sleep."
Yun Mi wanted to try again: "I..."
Chen Yiyang left the reception room. Yun Mi chased after him.
Hearing footsteps, Chen Yiyang suddenly stopped and faced the girl who had caught up. He lazily paused by the doorframe, tone flat: "Begging me is useless."
"..."
She hadn't planned to beg him yet.
The next second, the boy lowered his eyes slightly, his final words almost languid, adding an extra infuriating line: "Even if you call me 'brother,' it's useless."
"..."
Author's note: none.