august 13
5:46 p.m.

"do you think we're rich or something?" a stern voice stated. "i didn't give you money for you to buy things like this."

"sorry, but i didn't—"

"no, i don't want to hear it," her mother raised a hand to stop her daughter from speaking.

"well then? what have you been doing today? have you studied? if you have time to go out and buy junk food, you surely have time to study right?"

"yeah, i did—"

"good. then i better see an A on all your tests."

all?

"that's too much... you know i'm bad at math—"

"if you actually studied hard enough, you will pass. you're just being lazy."

"..."

"now stop standing here and wasting your time. go do something productive for once." the woman waved her off, not even glancing at her.

without replying to her mother, the girl made her way up to her room.

it was a saturday. she didn't feel like studying. but the woman downstairs was preventing her from doing so.

grabbing a tod bag, she placed her math textbooks and homework inside. taking her phone and wallet with her, she left her room and went back downstairs.

"did i not just tell you to study? where do you think you're going?"

"i'm going to the library to study," she explained.

"with who?"

"no one."

"then go, be back by nine."

"okay."

leaving her house she let out a breath she didn't know she was holding.

a place where she was suppose to feel at ease and comfortable, made her feel suffocated. could she even call that a home anymore?

shaking her head, she made her way to the library not too far from where she lived.

entering the quiet building, she found an empty table in a corner and took a seat there.

she took her math textbook out, along with her writing materials and a notebook.

with a tired sigh, she started studying.

6:53 p.m.

"this is getting kind of weird..."

"it really is."

the girl stared up at the familiar boy in front of her.

"uhm, may i?" he asked, pointing to the empty seat in front of her.

"sure."

"thank you," he pulled the chair back, sitting down.

"math?" he asked, taking his own notes out.

"yeah, i'm really bad at that subject."

"that's funny, that's my best subject."

"oh."

the two went back to minding their own business, studying their own subjects.

"right, the money," she remembered, taking her wallet out, she took out the amount she owed and handed it to him.

"you actually don't have to—"

"no, please take the money," she insisted.

"but—"

"it makes me feel bad knowing i owe someone money."

the boy let out a sigh, reluctantly accepting the money.

as he kept the money, she went back to doing her work.

he couldn't help but watch her, the way a few strands of her brown hair fell over her face, the way she would furrow her eyebrows when she didn't understand a question, the amount of times she'd let out a sigh out of the blue. she looked tired.

"you should find the annual amount first," he finally spoke after noticing how she was stuck on a question for almost seven minutes.

"huh?"

"the annual amount that's given," he leaned towards her, pointing to the number on the piece of paper.

"use the formula," he explained, taking his own pencil, he wrote down the formula for the question.

"there, and once you do, just add them up and you'll get your answer," he smiled.

"you make me feel stupid."

the boy's eyes widened at her sudden statement.

"oh, come on," he smiled, running a hand through his hair. "it's not that hard once you remember the formula."

"i have terrible memory," the girl replied.

"i can tell." he joked.

"oh..." the girl sighed, looking into her bag.

"hm? what's wrong?"

"i forgot to bring my water bottle," she sighed again.

"don't worry, i can go buy one for you, there's a drink store opposite the library."

"oh, i can go—"

"no, it's fine, just focus on your revision, okay? i'll be right back," he got up from his seat and left without another word.

7:58 p.m.

"sorry, that took me quite some time, the drink store was closed—" he stopped talking once he noticed she had fallen asleep.

her head was rested on an arm while the other was still holding onto her pen.

he took a seat and placed the bottles on the table.

she looked much more relaxed than she was before. as if she hadn't been getting enough sleep for the pass few days.

well, she always looked tired to him, even when they first met.

he layed his head down on the table, keeping his gaze on the girl in front of him.

a small smile making its way onto his face.

"you gotta stop overworking yourself you know?"