I immediately feel out of place as I stare at the mansion in front of me. It is double the size of Tiffany's place which means my house is four times smaller than the enormous figure towering over me. I let out a low whistle. The neighbourhood is obviously for the rich but this household is definitely the most dominant. My eyes sweep across the spacious courtyard; freshly cut lawns line the mansion and a small fountain is set near the main entrance. I estimate the front yard to be about one hundred metres and I snort. What's the point of having that much distance? Did the family have marching parades or something?

I am hesitant to step onto the property of the Byuns, as if I fear my converse will leave a dirty footprint on the cobblestone. One glance at my watch and I know I am going to be late if I continue to mull on the sidewalk. Repositioning my shoulderbag, I lift my head confidently and casually walk up and past the fountain, reaching the steps to the main entrance. I try not to notice how small I feel compared to the mansion.

Whatever you do, stay calm and composed. I think to myself and press a white button next to the grand doors. Your attitude will reflect on the Byuns. First impression is everything. A few seconds later, a gruff voice sounds from the little speaker. "Hello? Who is it?"

I clear my throat. "Hello, this is Kim Taeyeon. I am to tutor Byun Baekhyun today." I am met with silence until I hear a click from the big, opague doors.

"Yes, please come in," the unfamiliar male voice sounds. I hesitate a little before grabbing hold of the doorknob and opening the brown doors. I walk inside and quietly shut the doors as I survey the small corridor. From the outside, the house gives me an ancient feel and I figure in the inside, everything would be brown and maroon. Boy, am I wrong. As I slowly walk into what I guess is the living room, everything is. . . white. The walls, couches and carpet are white. Decorations, lamps, windows and mirror frames are white. The only other colour visible is brown, which is so dark it could pass for black. It contrasts the other furniture perfectly. The room is so elegant and gives a cold yet inviting kind of atmosphere.

There is no way a playboy lives here.

I hear a door shut from upstairs and turn my head to the direction of the stairs. Soon enough, I hear heeled shoes plonking down the curved white staircase. A beautiful lady comes into view and gracefully descends while gripping the black railing. She smiles warmly at me and seeing the wrinkles next to her eyes, I immediately know who she is. While making her way towards me, her eyes move up and down my casual wear in a quick motion and I do the same to her outfit.

The elegance of her dress really does make me feel out of place. Her hair is neatly made into a bun and her make-up isn't as overkill as I expect since that's the stereotype of wealthy females; time plus money equals perfection.

"Taeyeon, hello." The lady widens her smile as she comes up to me. "I'm Baekhyun's mother."

"Hello Mrs Byun." I politely bow.

"Oh no need with the formalites," she playfully chides and I can't help but smile. "Just call me Ji."

"Oh. . . Um. . . Okay." I blink at her as I am not used to greeting parents with their full name. Ji laughs at my uneasiness and surprises me by slipping her arm through mine.

"I don't like it when people address me as Mrs Byun." Ji gently guides me through rooms as I am still trying to get over the fact that Baekhyun's mother's arm is looped through mine. We are walking at a moderate place and I am surprised how easily Ji manages in her pink, strapped high heels. I would no doubt trip at my first step and sprain my ankle. "I want to be the woman people would feel comfortable to be around and not have to put on an entirely different personality, just because I'm Mrs Byun." Her voice is sad and I am not able to look at her expression because her head is only a few centimetres away from mine. "There is only one true friend I have," Ji's voice softens, "and that's your mother." My heart warms hearing this. I've always known my mum is a good person. Our family is really strict about honesty so it makes sense that my mum wouldn't lie to others, no matter how wealthy they are. But I also feel a bit excluded because the way Ji puts it, it sounds like she and my mum are really, really close, yet my mother never once mentioned their bond to me.

I shake away my thoughts and realise that Ji is slowing her steps. We have come into a small room, which is a really tiny one for a mansion. It has a simple glass table with a vase of flowers and cushion chairs surround it. She breaks away from me and says in that warm voice of hers, "I think this room is the best for you to teach Baekhyun. Your mum told me you like simple and I thought this room would be good enough."

"It's perfect." I smile at her.

Ji blows out a sigh of relief. "Oh thank goodness, I thought you'd think of it as too plain." I shake my head. "Good, good. Have a seat please, would you like something to drink or eat?" I shake my head again. "Alright. Before my son comes, I have something to say to you." She laughs at my dumbfound expression and waves her hands in the air. "Oh it's nothing bad, I just want to thank you for agreeing to tutor Baekhyun." She slides in the seat opposite me, her expression suddenly serious and she clasps her hands together, displaying her perfectly manicured nails. "And one more thing. I am well aware of the. . . happenings that Baekhyun gets himself involved into at school, and the image he has created with it." Her big brown eyes stares intently into mine. "Taeyeon, I want you to answer this honestly and I'm okay with whichever answer." My body tenses. I don't know where to begin in guessing her question.

"Do you, perhaps, fancy Baekhyun?"

My eyes widen and my jaw goes slack. I stare at Ji like that for a few seconds before she her head to the side and asks, "Is that a yes?"

"No!" I force my answer out a bit too harshly and Ji jumps. I exhale to release the tension in my body and give a small smile. "No, I absolutely do not."

Ji chuckles. "Well that's good I suppose, I am just afraid you might get a little side tracked during the tutoring lesson." She gives me a wink.

What did that mean?

Ji gives me her warm smile and stands up. "I'll go get Baekhyun now. And once again, I am sincerely grateful you agree to this. I hope this wouldn't be too much of a bother." My mouth itches to ask why Baekhyun needs tutoring lessons from a schoolgirl if he is rich enough to feed a family of twenty, but I clamp my mouth shut.

"Oh, it's no bother," I reassure Ji and she smiles.

"Your mother is lucky to have such a wonderful daughter like you." Ji leaves and I hear her heels walk up the staircase which makes me wonder, how many staircases does this mansion have? I wouldn't be surprised if they had a hundred.

I take out the textbooks I have stashed in my black shoulder bag and only when I finish placing my resources on the glass table do I realise where I am. I am sitting on a white cushioned chair, in a mansion known as Baekhyun's house.

Sweat form on my palms and I hastily wipe them on my jean shorts, dreading the moment when the popular boy himself appears in the room before me. What should I do, what should I say? Should I act cold, friendly, hostile? What does he expect from me as a tutor? I bite my lip and am startled to hear faint footsteps on the staircase. I don't have to think twice to know it is him.

Quickly, I think of what position I should be sitting in. Back straight, legs neatly tucked under the chair, arms on the table. I listen to my rapid heartbeat as the footsteps become louder and louder. Then it hits me, why am I acting so nervous for him? I immediately relax my body and lean back in my seat, legs comfortably crossed and arms resting on my thighs as I stare at the textbooks I have brought along. First impression is everything.

I feel his presence hovering in the doorway but I keep my eyes on the textbook. There is a moment of silence yet I fight the urge to look at him. Once he appears opposite me, I let my eyes casually wander to his face. It could be the fact that I am sitting down, but he is unreasonably tall and I have to tilt my head back up a little for my eyes to meet his. He is wearing a simple brown shirt and jeans. I watch him as his eyes travel slowly down my body, pausing at my chest area and stopping completely at my legs. Baekhyun's eyes run down my legs, back up and then down again. I mentally frown. Is this how he usually greets people? Why is he just focusing on my legs?

Then I realise I am wearing my jean shorts and a long t-shirt. I guess that my t-shirt is covering most of my shorts and so it may look like I am not wearing any pants at all. Damnit Taeyeon! I curse. Why did you choose to wear this out of all clothing! I perfectly recall waking up really late this morning and had to rush in order to not miss my bus. I had thrown on whatever was closest to me. Looking at Baekhyun now, he probably thinks I want to dress to impress which is quite the opposite of what I was orignally planning for. The worst thing is, Baekhyun is expressionless and I can't read his emotions no matter how hard I try.

A minute passes and his eyes are still raking my body. I decide that I am a little uncomfortable with the scrutinisation and so I speak up harshly, glad that my voice isn't croaky like I fear. "I didn't come here for you to check me out. There are plenty of other girls that are willing to actually waste their time with you." Baekhyun is surprised at my comment and I evenly stare back at him. Inside, smugness leaps from vein to vein. Baekhyun narrows his eyes at me and I honestly don't know what he is going to do. I've never talked to a playboy before, let alone confront him. Baekhyun simply sits down in the chair opposite me and relaxes in his seat. I wait to see if he is going to say anything and he stares right back. Not wanting to look like a fool, I stretch my wrist and glance at the textbooks. "So what exactly do you need help with?"

Baekhyun puts his hands behind his heads which causes his shirt to stretch and I can't stop my eyes from straying to his biceps. I make sure my movement is casual and I avert my eyes back to his. "I don't know."

I raise my eyebrows. "What is that supposed to mean?" I keep my tone expressionless.

"It means," Baekhyun removes his hands to let them rest by his side and sinks lower in his seat so his head is lying on the top of the chair, "that I think my marks are fine and I don't need a tutor."

I narrow my eyes even though his eyes are closed. I shoot back calmly, "I'm not excited to be here either. Regardless if we're doing something productive, I'm still getting paid for this. So if you just want to sit here for two hours every week doing nothing, I'm perfectly fine with that." This is a lie. I would hate sitting here without making any progress but if I take the time to prepare all these test papers only for him to dismiss me, I'm going to give him negative attitude right back. Just in a calm perspective.

Baekhyun opens his eyes as if he thinks of an idea and sits up, staring intently at me. "How about," he says in a low voice, "I'll pay you extra to not come in my house and tutor me." 

The offer is tempting. It really is. But then I think back to my mum's desperation and Ji's kindness. They are hiding something from me and tutoring Baekhyun will give me a higher chance of figuring it out than not tutoring him at all. I eye him evenly. "How about you complete these sheets that will tell me where you are at, so I can teach you what you need to know to pass the exams and then we can all live our happy lives afterwards."

Baekhyun's mouth twitches in annoyance which clearly tells he despises me. We continue to have a tense staring competition for a minute.

We are such great time consumers.

Finally, he lets out a low growl and spits, "Fine."

I innoncently smile at him and he growls again. I slide some test papers to him along with a pen. He closes his eyes and I see his hands clench through the glass table. Is he that mad for not getting things to go his own way? I watch him grit his teeth for a few moments and then his body relaxes. He opens his eyes which are blank but his muscles are no longer tense. He doesn't look at me as he takes the pen and stares at the questions.

After three minutes, he is still reading the questions and I can't help but tap my foot. The floor isn't carpeted and my converse are only making faint taps but Baekhyun still glances up at me. His eyes are blank but his look tells me to cut it out. I nearly roll my eyes but stop myself nonetheless. I rest my chin on my hand and stare at the upside down questions. I start mentally solving them and in five minutes, I am finished with all the problems I provided. Unfortunately, there is still no ink visible on the paper.

"Do you have any idea how to solve the first one?" I try to keep my tone light.

Baekhyun just stares at the paper. I sigh and begin guiding him through the question. I feel like I am talking to myself because Baekhyun never once speaks a word and just stares at my solutions. I have to concentrate on writing upside down since I don't want to sit next to him.

"Do you get it?" I ask him.

"No," he says bluntly and I groan.

"How do you not know this, it's Year 9 Maths." He just shrugs in return. How is he going to score over eighty percent if he can't even get the basics right? I sigh again and proceed to slowly solve it out again. We spend fifteen minutes on the first question before he nods that he understands. I doubt that he does but I just really want to get through the damn paper so I go onto the second question.

"This is really boring," Baekhyun comments as I am drawing a table out.

Without pausing from my work, I reply, "Sorry, fun wasn't in the criteria."

"Oh aren't you a funny one." Sarcasm drips from his words.

I ignore his remark. "Complete this. It's similar to the one I was just explaining to you, just a little more difficult." Baekhyun picks up his pen and I look out the window to observe their lawn, thinking that he will take a while on the question. Just ten seconds after I hear Baekhyun say, "Done." 

"What?" I say and look over to him.

"I said done," he repeats and rolls his eyes. Thinking he probably just doodled over my question, I glance at the paper and am shocked to see the table I drew up half a minute ago accurately completed. I re-scan his answers twice and scowl to myself as they are all correct.

I narrow my eyes at him. "Well, isn't someone a fast learner."

Baekhyun snorts. "I'm not a pre-schooler. Just what kind of crap questions do you prepare?"

He was playing with me right from the start, faking that he didn't know the questions when all along he could complete them in ten seconds flat. I grit my teeth at his smirk and take out another piece of paper.

"Let me give you another set of 'crap' questions," I say in a quiet voice. I am tempted to just give him four unit maths, the stuff I myself am stuck on, but what would have been the point of that? It would have looked like I am showing off.

I simply hand him questions that we are studying in school. "Just keep in mind that whatever we do in these two hours, I'm not going to lose anything." I look at him square in the eye. "You can choose whether to cooperate or not. I'm going to benefit either way." Baekhyun stares back at me before dropping his eyes on the paper. He starts to draw out his solutions and I can see half of them are right, half of them aren't. I don't know if he's playing with me or not but honestly, I just want the last hour to fly by so I can get myself out of here.

Surprisingly, he fills out the paper and relying on the fact that he isn't bludging again, I can see where his strengths and weaknesses are. I start working on his problem solving and for the next fifteen minutes the room is filled with just my voice. I don't look up at him but in my peripheral vision, I see his eyes straying forward. I look up to see him staring at my legs through the table. I suddenly dislike the glass table. I know telling him to stop staring at my legs is just going to be pointless.

I am not used to being stared at so I start to feel self conscious. I vow to never wear shorts again, no matter how hot the weather is; winter is coming up anyway. Honestly, I don't know why Baekhyun can't take his eyes off my legs. I have to admit, they're not skinny nor are they toned and I have developed a tan that I quite like. My legs aren't really that attractive.

But then again, I don't know how guys define hot.

I stop talking and pretend to read a question. Playboy in front of me doesn't notice my abrupt stop. He isn't even half listening. I slide the vase to the edge of the table and shove the paper in the middle to hide part of my legs from his view. Baekhyun blinks hazily and looks up at me. I raise my eyebrow at him and he just diverts his eyes and stares right at my chest. My shirt is baggy and so nothing hugs my curves yet he doesn't avert his eyes elsewhere. I gasp when suddenly he his lips and I place my arm over my chest.

Baekhyun gives me a smirk and props his elbows on the table. "You want me to complete this?" he asks in a smug tone, referring to the paper. Just what game is he playing at?

"Yes," I reply in a small voice and concentrate on trying to get the blush away from my cheeks. Baekhyun dips his head down like nothing out of the ordinary has happened.

Finally, the two hours are over and I hastily shove my papers and textbooks in my bag. I seriously need to get out of here. Baekhyun stands up and stretches, and I try not to glance at his toned stomach peeking out. He doesn't say a word to me and turns to walk off. My shoulders slump in relief. Then I realise something.

"Wait," I call and bite my lip as he turns back, looking confused and annoyed. He raises his eyebrow. "I. . . don't know the way out." From the look he gives me, I think he is going to leave me in this labyrinth. Why didn't I pay attention when Ji was walking alongside with me?

Baekhyun smirks and walks towards me. I tense at his approaching figure. He is a head taller than me. "Sure, I'll show you the way out," he says in a low voice at my ear and I shiver. This is getting really weird.

I nervously follow Baekhyun room after room and I am starting to think that maybe Baekhyun isn't leading me to the front door. Maybe he is leading me somewhere else. . .

Then we hit the white room where I first met Ji and I blow a sigh of relief. He stops in the opening of the small corridor and I walk past him muttering a 'thanks'. I feel Baekhyun's gaze at my back and exit the mansion as fast as I can.