Joanne laughed joyously, “That kid’s playing games again.” Joanne stopped and gave a long sigh. “That kid’s just lonely. His parents are always off. You know yesterday he came home ordering me to get him his school uniform again. Did he decide to go to school again?”

Selina became quiet recalling Jiro’s strange mumbled words. She figured he must have been talking about returning to school.

“I’ll leave you alone to dry up. Make yourself comfortable,” Joanne said and left.

Selina glanced around the large room admiring everything within. The large velvet curtains, the polished floors, the tables, elegant furniture.

“So he’s a rich kid,” she mumbled to herself then her eyes dropped over at the sofa to Danson’s sweater.

Selina walked around a bit by herself until she found a large bathroom. Finding a sink she twisted his sweater up to get the water out.

“What are you doing?” Jiro’s voice echoed through the bathroom.

Selina turned to look at him, “Oh…I was…I just wanted to dry Danson’s sweater. I want to give it back to him in the same condition when it was given to me.”

“You look pretty ugly in it, no wonder,” Jiro reprimanded while watching her.

Selina ignored him. Jiro watched as Selina unrolled Danson’s sweatshirt.

“You really live with them?” Jiro questioned.

“It’s a ‘Have to’ for now,” Selina replied and turned to Jiro suddenly asking, “what?”

“I have stuff for you to do,” Jiro told.

To Selina’s surprise, she found herself sitting in Jiro’s desk with his homework sitting in front of her.

“I’m pretty sure you know how to do it right?” questioned Jiro. “After you’re done I’ll get the chauffeur to send you home.”

“This is why you brought me here,” Selina thought to herself.

Selina stared at the blank sheet and grabbed his pencil quickly filling in the blanks.

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-

Jiro watched as Selina scribbled for a few minutes then set the pencil down.

“May I go now?” she wondered.

Jiro stared at her with an uncertain expression. It didn’t bother him that he was using her, he just wanted have something else fill in the empty void that always occupied the atmosphere.

“Alright, I’ll go get the chauffeur,” Jiro turned to walk away.

Jiro watched as his chauffeur ran to get the car from the front door and he turned around to see Selina standing not too far away. He glanced at Danson’s sweater clutched tightly in her arms. He started walking toward her watching her neutral expression, which still bothered him so much. He averted his eyes as he walked passed her and headed up the stairs. As he opened the door to his room he found Joanne inside organizing the mess on his desk.

“Has your friend gone home?” Joanne questioned.

“She’s not my friend,” Jiro answered as he made himself comfortable in his cushioned chair.

“I thought she was. You’ve never brought a friend home before,” Joanne pointed out.

“She’s my tutor,” Jiro suddenly answered as a mischievous idea entered his mind.

“Tutor?” Joanne repeated in a confused tone.

Jiro rubbed his chin with his thumb, “Yes, I think I’d like to start learning again.”

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-

Selina walked down the steps and got into the car as the chauffeur held the door open her. She thanked him and entered. It had been a silent ride, but she found it surprising that the driver didn’t ask for directions. Selina kept things silent until the car stopped in front of the Tang house.

“Thank you,” Selina thanked and got out of the car.

When Selina opened the door Danson came charging at her.

“Are you ok?” Danson question worriedly. “How’d you get home?”

“Jiro’s chauffer sent me,” Selina explained.

“What?” Danson asked shocked. “Jiro? You were with him?”

“Not really…” Selina began.

“That jerk! Did he do anything to you?” Danson loudly asked.

Selina shook her hand as she glanced at Danson’s hand clasped around her arm. He followed her eyes and quickly removed his hand apologizing.

“I dried up your sweater at his house. Here,” she said handing his black sweater to him, “thank you. It helped keep me warm.”

Danson took the sweater from her staring at it then returned his gaze to her.

“Are you sure you’re ok? You’re not feeling sick or anything? Do you feel cold? I’ll get a maid to make something warm for you,” Danson quickly offered.

Selina smiled at him, “Thank you for worrying, but there’s no need. I’ve always been a rain person so there’s no way I’d get sick.”

Selina opened the door to her room and climbed onto the bed. Suppressing her sigh she laid down to rest her head against the soft pillow. There was a feeling about Danson. Something familiar about him she couldn’t recall.

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-

Danson watched as Selina climbed the steps to her room. Sighing, he followed and paused in front of her door wondering if maybe he should talk to her. When nothing came to his head he decided it was best for him to retreat to his room. Closing the door behind him he dropped the sweater onto his bed and walked over to his desk to sit down. He knew that if only Fei hadn’t been so impulsive and if only Fei wasn’t so insistent about getting him together with that friend of hers, he would have been able to spend some time alone with Selina. And maybe Jiro would have left her alone. He knew Jiro never took anything seriously and just by looking at him, Danson knew Jiro just wanted to provoke Selina in some way. Danson sighed regretting having come home early for nothing.

It had been 11 years since he’d seen her…how much the both of them have changed. He quickly turned around as something occurred to him. Getting out of his seat he opened his closet and removed a bunch of his books. Below old shoes at the bottom of the closet he found a small box. An anxious smile appeared on his face as he removed the heavy lid off. Inside were a few pictures and a few letters. Danson found pictures he and Selina had taken together when they were 7 years old, the times when his family had lived with hers in Taipei. He set the pictures aside and unfolded the letters. He couldn’t help but chuckle as he recalled the silly childish love letters they’d written back and forth.

Suddenly a knock at the door brought him back to reality.

“Who is it?” Danson questioned.

“Mom and dad are home. They want a chat with you,” it was Fei.

Danson sighed as he shoved everything back into his closet. Opening the door he found Fei standing there with her arms folded.

“What’s that noise? And what took you so long?” she commanded.

“Where’s mom and dad?” Danson asked ignoring her question.

“In the dining room,” Fei answered.

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-

She watched as Danson walked away and curiously looked into his room. She looked back to make sure that Danson had gone then crept into his room. Fei looked around and found his closet half open. As she walked over to it she found a tin box sitting on top of a pile of shoes.

“What’s that?” she questioned to herself as she reached for it.

Fei found herself flipping through the pictures and skimming through the letters. When she heard Danson’s loud talking in the hallway she quickly put everything back in the box and shoved it into his closet. Making sure everything was in the same position as before she quickly sat at his desk pretending to look through his homework.

“What are you doing?” asked Danson as he opened the door.

Fei turned around acting surprised.

“Oh…I was just looking through some of your homework,” she lied. “Interesting. I never knew b equals x.”

Danson frowned at her.

“I’ll leave now,” Fei quickly excused herself and left the room.

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-

Selina followed Danson into school the next day. After the teacher walked in everyone quieted.

“Take out your homework everyone. I’ll walk around to spot check to see if you’ve done your homework then we’ll correct,” Mr. Zhen began.

Jiro watched as Danson and Selina started a slight conversation and once Mr. Zhen walked over to them, Jiro smiled.

“Mr. Zhen! I did my homework!” shouted Jiro loudly as he held up his worksheet. “It’s all filled up! Did you see it? Mr. Zhen!”

Everyone silenced and turned to stare at Jiro. Jiro laughed childishly and set his paper on his desk. Mr. Zhen cleared his throat and pushed up his glasses. He then walked to the front of the classroom.

“We’ll begin then,” Mr. Zhen started.

After they received the last sheet of homework for the day everyone rushed out of the classroom and started for the front doors. Danson waited for Selina to finish packing up her stuff and they walked out together. While waiting for their ride the two chatted, but quieted when Jiro stepped toward them.

“Waiting for your ride?” questioned Jiro, his eyebrow raised.

“What do you want?” Danson asked suppressing his annoyance.

Jiro glanced at the expressionless Selina and smiled.

“We’re going to my house,” Jiro told Selina, but kept his eyes on Danson.

“She’s going home with me,” Danson stated in a rougher voice.

Selina quickly glanced at Danson then returned to look at Jiro.

“Did you not get enough sleep last night? Lack of sleep can affect your brain severely,” Selina said.

“That better be a plain joke,” Jiro muttered quietly so only Selina could hear.

“Don’t you think you’re being childish?” Danson frowned.

Jiro turned to look at Danson, “I think it’s fun getting you mad. Besides the most precious thing to you should be your sister right?” Jiro then turned his attention toward the doors. “My ride’s here. See ya Danson. I’ll let Selina back in good shape!”

As Danson took a step forward, Fei’s voice stopped him. Glancing back at his sister he quickly turned to see that Selina was gone.

Selina had stayed silent throughout the whole ride. It wasn't as if there was anything to say anyway. When the car stopped in front of the mansion she got out of the car and followed Jiro inside. Once again she was amazed by the sight of the house even though she’d been there already. Taking a quick look at the polished ceiling she stared at Jiro’s back. He was already heading into the other room. She followed him calmly and found him sitting on the sofa when she finally entered the room.

“Do you like picking fights?” Selina questioned. “Fights are out of Danson’s interests.”

Jiro didn’t turn to look at her except he continued to nibble on his thumb silently. After a few seconds he turned to look at her.

“Shut up,” he snapped coldly, “from now on you report here everyday after school. Even if I don’t come home with you, you’ll have to come here. I’ll have the chauffeur pick you up.”

“I’m not your maid,” Selina pointed out.

She stared back at him determined not to lose the staring battle.

“Tutor, ok? Tutor,” Jiro said emphasizing the word carefully before turning away.

“Tutor?” Selina repeated. “Why?”

Jiro didn’t respond.

“Couldn’t you just hire a tutor?” Selina questioned.

Everything was silent for a while. Selina took a few deep calm breaths exhaling and inhaling quietly. She glanced over at Jiro feeling frustrated and irritated when she should be doing her own homework back at the Tang household.

Then Selina spoke up, “You know the word that suits a dropout best?” Jiro made no motion to answer. “Crazy. Do you know what I mean by that?” Selina glanced at Jiro before turning away. “You’re crazy if you’re forcing a person to tutor you.”

Selina waited for some reaction from the aggressive Jiro, but when she received none she turned around and started for the door. Before she could get any closer to the exit she felt Jiro place his hands on her arms wheeling her around toward the stairs. Before Selina could do anything she found herself standing in a large study room. Nothing but bookshelves lined the walls and a large round wooden table sat in the middle of the room.

“Lets begin,” Jiro started tossing his backpack onto the table and sat down.

Selina turned around still expressionless and watched as Jiro stared at his blank sheet of paper.

After a moment of silence Jiro asked, “So would you like to tell me how to begin this?”

Repressing her sigh Selina took a seat next to him and grabbed his pencil. Jiro tried to watch and listen as Selina explained but before he realized it his head was lolling forward already. Selina set the pencil down and took out her homework to finish them. After an hour and a half or so passed by Selina turned again to see the Jiro was asleep.

“What a way to waste time,” she murmured, even her voice was expressionless.

She got up from her chair and grabbed her school bag prepared to leave when the door opened. Selina recognized the woman as Joanne. Her eyes seemed to brighten as she saw Selina.

“Ah! Jiro said you’d be here today! So how was the first lesson?” Joanne asked excitedly.

From her tone of voice Selina guessed she must have not seen Jiro sleeping.

“First lesson?” Selina repeated then she turned around.

Joanne follow her gaze.

“Oh! That boy!” Joanne exclaimed disappointed then turned to Selina. “But at least he tried, right?”

Selina didn’t respond, but felt extremely surprised when Joanne tugged her arm.

“Follow me,” Joanne insisted.

Selina found her legs walking after the woman. Once they were outside Joanne turned to Selina. To Selina Joanne’s face expression softened as she spoke.

“Jiro has always been alone,” Joanne started, “since young his parents have never been around. They’re so busy with their business they can only find time to come back every few months for so. Even if they stay for two days Jiro is always so happy, but his presence is obviously always ignored. I have to apologize to you if he’s been arrogant or rude in anyway, but you have to understand that he’s just lonely. That boy probably just wants to have a few laughter before coming back to this boring…place.”

Selina remained silent. She had realized that Jiro somewhat seemed lonely through the tone of his voice when he’d spoken to her about his family. He envied her family…she had no more family now so what’s there for him to envy about her now? Selina suddenly found herself with this train of thought and she turned to Joanne to snap out of it.

“He is rude,” Selina agreed.

Joanne smiled, “I’ll go prepare something for dinner so why don’t you stay? It’s alright, right?”

Selina watched the woman and figured that she must feel lonely in some sort of a way too. To be able to stay here all her life and watch after Jiro.

“It’s not a problem,” Selina told.

“Then go back in,” Joanne urged.

As Joanne left down the stairs Selina opened the door and walked into the room to find that Jiro was still sleeping. Surprisingly she found herself standing there just staring at him with a dozen thoughts flying through her mind.

Living alone, being alone, talking with only a maid all day, but Jiro still had parents at least. Even Selina would rather have something like that than no parents at all. It made Selina wonder what Jiro had done all his life. Selina had a life, a nice one with her family, but she’d joined into Jiro’s world now. Though her uncle, aunt, and Danson were kind, she knew they looked down upon her in a way too. She knew it as a fact that she would be lonely just as Jiro was.

However she didn’t want to live the way he was living.

“Stared enough?” Jiro questioned through closed eyes.

“You’re faking?” Selina narrowed her eyes.

“Your footsteps are darn loud,” Jiro complimented sitting up and yawned stretching his arms out.

“You sure you really need a tutor?” asked Selina.

Jiro looked at her with lazy eyes, “Sure I’m sure. If I make a decision, I’ll do it for sure.”

Selina walked over to him and set her hand on the table making a small smacking noise.

“Lets begin,” Selina demanded looking down at him from where she was standing.