He entered his so called dreaded room after parting with Luhan and Chen on the hallway. He took a deep breath as he waits together with his classmates for their professor to get inside. While he is busy calming his heart, a lady took the empty seat beside him. He whipped his head only to be startled to see Fei.

“What are you doing here?” he asked, blinking back the confusion.

“I am Professor Cha’s Student Assistant so I can ask him to transfer to any section I want if I want to. Besides, the first quarter haven’t started yet,” Fei replied.

“Oh, right, I forgot,” then he picked up his notebook to check over the previous lesson.

Sooner, Professor Cha came inside and beamed the class regarding the result of the previous long quiz. Tao’s eyes widened in fear. ‘What would my classmate say when they learn that the Nation’s First Son got a D-?’ he thought as he started to get uneasy in his seat.

The results were soon distributed and to his relief, their Professor called them alphabetically instead of ranking them. He let out a sigh after receiving his paper. One classmate of his asked about his score, but he just replied with a thrifty smile and hurried to get to his seat.

All throughout the two hours class, Fei kept on reminding him of some notes regarding the equations he can’t quite get. They made it discreetly so that no one gets to notice them. When the bell finally rang, he let out a relieved sigh as his classmates started packing up their things to leave for the next period.

As the room started to get deserted, his phone disturbed him.

“Hello?” he answered without checking the caller’s ID.

“Xiumin’s having his first try in making some coffee, everyone’s already here in Kris’s studio so how about coming over?” Luhan’s gentle voiced stated over the other line.

“It’s scary to note that you just don’t look feminine but your voice even sound so feminine,” Tao chuckled as he saw Fei exiting leaving him the only one inside the room. He is aware of his guards outside the room upon seeing their heads showing up on the windows.

“Yah! You better get that lazy panda of yours in here or I will really tell Fei that you like her,” Luhan threatened.

“That won’t work on me Luhan gege,” he chuckled, slinging his bag on his shoulder.

“Then how about telling Jia that you are already dating Fei?” the doe eyed replied on the other line.

That statement made him stop, and with gritted teeth he replied back.

“I will get there right now,” then he hung up.

His guards followed him as he exits. His next class will be by five so he has more or less than three hours of free time. He instructed his driver to get him to Kris’s studio which is located near the university on the third floor of his apartment. Kris basically rents two floors in the building.

When he arrived, he heard the happy laughter inside and the faint smell of coffee leaking on the holes of the door. He twisted the knob and got inside.

“The Nation’s First Son is here! Xiumin gege, make him some of this coffee latte you made. Looks like Luhan really dropped the bomb a while ago that he rocketed right away in here,” Chen turned to look at Xiumin on the nearby bar.

Kris’s studio is not just about his so-called passion in drawing. It is complete with a well-equipped bar where Xiumin can make some short meals and drinks for them, a space for the grand piano which Lay loves to play, another corner for Luhan’s shelves of different types of rubics cube and his so-called personal couch; one corner for Chen who loves to sing which has a large screen TV and a larger shelve for CD’s and DVD’s plus a microphone. The other corner is for Kris; a larger portion of the studio where he would draw, paint, practices (in vain) the guitar and the drum set. His ‘masterpieces’ were stuck on the wall that soon served as the wallpaper of his corner. Tao’s corner is just a plain space with foams where he would practice his wushu skills and often meditate, but would always be disturbed by Chen and Luhan who would sing as Lay plays the piano.

“So have you two started your tutorial session?” Kris asked, leaving his table where he is drawing again.

“Yeah, we finished late but then it was nice. I made it past the first level,” Tao sighed, leaning on the couch near the bar.

“I’m sorry Tao. I shouldn’t have said that,” Luhan avoided the younger’s eyes as he plays on one of his rubics cube, acute blush evading his cheeks.

A ghost of a weary smile appeared on Tao’s lips, “It’s okay.” Then he just stayed silent as Lay started playing the piano with Chen singing in the background.

**********

It was around seven when Fei arrived on his apartment again.

“Hello!” she greeted, surprising him

“Oh, do we have another tutorial today?” he asked.

“Yeah, we still have classes tomorrow and if I remember, we agreed on weekdays tutorial which would start from Monday night down to Friday night,” she smiled.

He finally let her in after remembering their agreement.

“Have you had dinner already?” he asked as she starts clearing the center table.

“I am fine,” she replied, laying out the books and her notes.

“That’s not healthy. I’ll go make you some dinner. You can make some equations for me to answer while waiting,” then he left her to get prepare the food.

It was after twenty minutes when he emerged from the kitchen holding a tray. A large bowl and a saucer were placed on it, together with a glass of water.

“Here, you can have this first while I go over my notes before we get to answer those equations,” he handed her the tray.

She wants to refuse but the call of her tummy is persistent so she received the tray and placed it on the side table to start her meal.  A large bowl of jajangmyun and a serve of kimbap welcomed her sight.

“I don’t think I might finish this,” she picked up the chopsticks.

“Well, you have to do so since I placed some effort in making those,” the he leaned on the sofa, lifting his notebook with him.

She started mixing the jajangmyun, “Can I ask a few questions, if you don’t mind?”

“Sure.”

“How is it being the Nation’s First Son?” she asked right away, starting her meal.

“It’s both a gift and a curse as for my opinion. A gift since I get the chance to have what I want; the fame, the attention, material needs, gets to some high class university and security. A curse because I have to watch every move I do and bear in mind that there are thousands of eyes that watches me, narrowing my freedom,” he relayed like he had been saying that countless times before.

“I thought those things only happen in movies,” she said in between chewing.

“Well, the media presented it wrongly,” he let out a tired sigh.

“Oh, I remember! I have this cousin of mine who likes you. She’s from a well-off family and when I say she likes you, she is literally head over heels over you,” she chuckled.

“I am not surprised,” he let out a smirk.

“Boosting up your ego?” she rolled her eyes and continued on her meal.

“How did you and Kris meet?” Tao asked.

“Well, we were classmates on one of our subjects in arts. He was actually nice and cool. Then when he learned I am good in Math so he offered me the chance to tutor you. Then perhaps you know the rest,” she replied and resumed on her meal.

It was about twenty five or more minutes before she let out a modest burp of satisfaction. “That was so nice of you. So let’s get back to those numbers?” then she squatted opposite him on the table and started teaching about the new set.

Their session ended by around ten thirty since he had a problem getting the formula right and getting confused of the negative sign as well. When he placed his pen down, he looked at her and saw her sleeping. He let out a sigh and grabbed the solution sheet beside her to check his answer and he got almost all of it correct. He noted those he did not get. The numb feeling started to crawl on his arms as he stretches them.

‘It’s already late,’ he thought then stood up to lift her, bringing her on his room. After tucking her under the sheets, he grabbed some spare pillows and an extra blanket and moved to make himself comfortable on the couch by the living room.

“Good night Fei,” he whispered then closed his eyes.