The locks is dark chocolate and shiny. Trimmed fringe in front just below the eyebrows. Small reddish freckles fill. from the cheeks and a single or two on the nose which on the bridge, perches a polished round spectacles.

The  installed lights inside the library reflected on the spectacles. She can feel the dark orbs staring her, who stares back at him for two second.

'No, I don't remember knowing nor meeting him. '
Airiqa lowers her eyes as she shrugs the thought off. The creature will just walk past the table she chose to sit on.
Then, he sits. In front of her.

Her lips form into an "o"

He holds out his right hand to her. "I'm Nigel Hayden."

Just like how the light reflects on his big round spectacles, it shines slightly on the braces he have onto his teeth.

Airiqa almost chokes on her own saliva. "You're my tutor? "

Hesitating, she accepts the hand shake slightly by the tips of her fingers.

"Yes, I am."

"I'm Airiqa Sreward." She pressures the family name because most people who heard the name for the first time will mis-said it as Steward.

He nods.

"Let's begin with the circles." He opens the textbook exactly on the right chapter.

Airiqa didn't budge. "I thought my math tutor supposed to be a female. Madame said 'she'. I remembered clearly. "

"Apparently, I'm not a female and Madame Adethia Grim was hospitalized yesterday. The doctor said her blood pressure had risen quite high."

He looks up to her from his textbook for a second before blinking at her. "I visited her yesterday and she assigned me instead. "

'Geez.. so my marks were really scary.' Airiqa sighs and then opens her textbook.

The time flies.

"Are you focusing? "

"Yup, I am. "

"Then, how does this work? "

He points to an 'x'.

Airiqa mentally groans. 'I hate 'x'. '

"Well, erm.. Add? Okay. I'm sorry for not focusing. Can you explain again? "

As an answer, he lifted his textbook and hit the girl's head.

"OUCH! Hey!"

"Focus."

With annoyance, she opens her eyes wide and takes a great look at the question.

THUD!

"OUCH! "She glares at him.

"I just focused! "

"Oh? Really? Until you didn't realize that we already moved from that question." His staring makes her falls into silence.

"I'm sorry, miss Sreward, but you're wasting my time. Let's just call it a day." He stands.

Airiqa checks her watch.

It's 4:30 p.m. and starts to feel guilty. It hasn't even been an hour but he already gets mad at her because of her attitude.

"Don't you want to go home? "

'He's being sarcastic.' She eyes his movement of picking up the books he used as reference to put them back on the shelves. She bites her lip.

"It haven't even been two hours. I'll focus this time." She gulps.

"I'm sorry".

Nigel puts back the books neatly, and takes a slight look at Airiqa's guilty face. "It's alright. Just take this as I've something else to deal with anyway."

She utters an 'okay' since her mind can't think of anything else to tell.

"Till then." He bids her goodbye and she watches him until he's out of the library.

Airiqa leans against her seat and tosses her gaze upward as she flings her face facing the white ceiling.

"I just make a nerd, who talked formally at first, talked so coldly after tutoring me for an hour and thirty minutes. Congratz you, myself." She mutters. under her breath, almost whispering.

<7p.m. >

Airiqa whistles the whistling tune of BlackPink, a Korean music group, as she walks home . She decides to take different route to pass the time and to loosen her guilty feeling by passing over some new view.

It really works. Over working in fact.

Three hours has passed by since she walks from school towards home. The sky have turned golden orange. Dawn was coming forth.

"And here I am, with an out of battery phone.. with not a single regret. And look! A creepy looking road." She speaks to herself, bored.

Her eyes widen. "Wait, the other side looks familiar." Indeed. She goes in the silent road. Just when she's about to step furtherer, she feels the need to look at her right.

A male.

Flying in the air.

And crashes on the empty boxes made of cardboards.

In front of her.

She gasps. The male have had his nose running with blood and a shoe trace stamped on his swollen with bruises face. She brings her gaze to the sound where footsteps were coming closer to them.

A group of males looking like high schoolers based on their uniform halts a few metres from her.

A red haired male comes forth from the back, the others move aside to make way for him.

As he came closer, she shifts uncomfortably in awe as she feels him glancing at her with his red orbs.
She almost shriek in horror when the red haired male sends a kick on the 'flying' male's face.

He faints.

The red haired male turns his eyes to her. He mocks. an eyebrow towards her.

"I'll just go past this road and pretend nothing had happened." Airiqa hurriedly avoid the bunch of thug like males.

Her larynx lets out a soundless shriek as a firm hand grabs her arm. Her voice came out slow. "What..? "

The red haired male's held clenches  firmer. "No need to pretend because there's nothing ever happened."

He releases her. "You may go. "

The group eyes her.

Airiqa suddenly feel so small and timid while the tall males seems to her to be very tall and horrifying.

Not sparing a second, she sprints.

"Just look at her running." One of the males says, chuckling, bringing grins on others' faces.

"Are you sure, she won't give trouble?"

Said another to the red haired male.

The red haired male turns his sight from Airiqa's disappearing silhouette towards the one who asked.

"She won't dare."

-A/N-

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