Jayden's POV
Time flew by before we knew it, and soon enough, the holidays had arrived.
Which also meant a lot more tutoring sessions.
On Saturday morning, she was already standing at my front door by eight.
Early bird, huh?
I invited her inside, served her some cookies, then headed upstairs to grab my things.
By the time I came back, she was already completely absorbed in a topic.
And...
She was breathtaking.
Her slender fingers absentmindedly twirled a strand of her hair.
Her fair, delicate face looked impossibly cute.
Everything about her practically screamed beautiful.
I quickly snapped myself back to reality.
My rule wasn't that hard... don't think about her.
...Though maybe I'd let it slide this once.
Because she was far too pretty not to.
I knocked twice on the desk to get her attention.
She looked up at me...
...and smiled.
Ah... damn.
That smile again.
"Shall we begin?" she asked.
I simply nodded.
Great.
Just... great.
She adjusted her chair and placed her notebook between us.
As always, she came prepared.
Neatly written notes.
Colorful sticky tabs peeking out from the edges.
A couple of pens lined up beside her notebook as if she'd planned every second of today's lesson.
Meanwhile...
My own notebook looked like it had survived a storm.
"Let's continue from where we stopped yesterday," she said.
I hummed in response and opened my book.
She picked up her pencil and began explaining the topic.
Slowly.
Patiently.
She never rushed through anything.
Whenever I looked confused, she'd explain it again without the slightest hint of annoyance.
Sometimes she'd even come up with the weirdest examples just to make sure I understood.
"...See?" she said with a small smile. "It's actually pretty easy."
Easy for you, maybe.
I nodded anyway.
"Yeah... I get it now."
"Really?"
"Mhm."
She stared at me for a moment.
Then narrowed her eyes.
"You don't."
"...I do."
"You've been looking at the same page for the last five minutes."
I blinked.
Had I?
She let out a quiet laugh.
Not loud.
Just soft enough to make the corner of her eyes curl.
There it was again.
That smile.
I looked away before she could catch me staring.
"You're doing it again," she said.
"Doing what?"
"Drifting off."
"I wasn't."
"You were."
"...Was not."
She smiled, shaking her head.
"Then tell me what I just explained."
Silence.
"...Exactly."
I sighed and leaned back in my chair.
"I swear, you make this look harder than it is."
"I don't," she replied, resting her chin on her hand.
"You just stop listening halfway through."
"I do listen."
"Mhm."
"I do."
She only smiled.
Why was she smiling like that?
It wasn't even a teasing smile.
It was gentle.
The kind that somehow made the room feel warmer.
I cleared my throat and forced my eyes back onto the textbook.
Focus.
Just focus.
After all...
She was only here to tutor me.
Nothing more.
...Right?