Studying for chemistry was a hassle. Especially when I had an exam at the end of the week.

My phone kept buzzing every few minutes and every time I checked the notification, It would be another argument written by one of my friends about the date of our soon-to-be hangout.

At one point, I shut off my phone just for the sake of not hearing the vibration noises emitted by my device.

Finally, I was back in focus. I revised the pages on the exam's topic and rewrote a resume on blank papers. I read and reread my revision notes and completed a couple of exercises to ready myself.

Unexpectedly, the door swung open and came in my brother, gasping for air as if he'd ran here, even though his room was right next to mine. "What is this I hear about you having a crush?!" He yelps out.

Reminded by what happened with my friends, I squint my eyebrows in concern. "How do you know?" I ask. "And no, I don't have a crush on him." Crossing my arms, I tell him.

"So why is Isabella telling me that?" He raises an eyebrow, leaning on the doorframe.

Isabella, that traitor. I didn't think she'd ever tell my brother. This was unexpected from her.

"Why'd she tell you that?" I ask lowly.

He looks around my room for a while before sighing. "She told me this because you weren't answering your phone or something." He shrugs.

How petty. I didn't even see the message for me to answer her.

"Of course she'd do that." I roll my eyes and glide my chair backwards, towards my bed. "But I don't have a crush on him. I just didn't want to disappoint her." I reply.

Waiting on me to continue, Cristian looks at me expectantly.

"She just looked so excited when my friends started talking about how I was crushing on this boy." I continue. "There's nothing for me to like about him anyway."

He squints his eyes at me before nodding, letting his shoulders relax. "Good. Don't ever settle for a man who gives you the bare minimum."

Feeling awkward by hearing these words coming out of his mouth, I clear my throat. "Besides," I pronounce clearly. "I've got trouble with another boy already." I spit out before realising the big mistake I'd done.

Curious, Cristian enters the room fully and goes on to sit on my pink blanket, surrounded by plushies. "Go ahead." He waves with his hand.

"Well..." I begin slowly. "You know tia Maria? She has a son..."

As the final words left my mouth, Cristian went in to answer right away. "Well, Ariana, as a licensed psychologist, I think that this man had a very problematic past. So, as a response, he probably pushes away any person who tries to come closer to him in order to protect himself from the pain of losing someone." He nods, proud of his chosen vocabulary.

I stare at him with a confusedly disgusted expression. I wasn't aware he was able to come up with such amazing sentences.

"Right." I shake my head.

Getting the wrong hint, he goes on to open his mouth. "For instance, if you use yourself as an example-"

"ANYWAY," I yell out, changing the subject. "I told you what's up in my life, it's only fair you tell me about yours."

He stiffens at my request and looks down at his hands resting on his lap. "Well... there is this girl..."

Intrigued, I rest my chin on my palms and wait for him to go on.

"...But she has a boyfriend."

"What?!" I scream. "Why are you going after girls in relationships?" I whisper-shout.

"No, no," he shakes his hands. "Her boyfriend's an asshole." He explains. "She doesn't understand that what they have going on isn't how a relationship goes."

"How so?"

His eyes go dark. "He's always insulting her and I can't confront him because she doesn't want me to." He breathes out before looking up at me with determination in his eyes. "Ariana, promise me you will never go for a man who doesn't value your worth."

His words warm my heart and, for once, I feel very grateful to have a brother like him.

For the rest of the evening, he decided to stay by my side while I studied for my exams.

If there was one thing I knew about my brother, it would be that he'd always make sure that I was heading in the right direction. And for that, I was thankful.

◆◈◇

The birds in the park were chanting mesmerizing tunes while the breeze cooled us all down. Many times, me and my friends gather together to play a sport, and today, we decided to play frisbee at the park.

We spent almost two hours running around and fighting as an excuse to take a break every once in a while.

"Okay, I'm done." Bella threw her arms in the air in despair.

Laurie chuckled while smirking. "Of course you are, when your team is losing all the time."

My cousin huffed and gave a pointing look at Layla, who was still trying to catch her breath. Giving up, she goes on to walk towards the table we set our stuff on and makes herself comfortable on one of the benches.

Since the teams were now uneven, we followed her to the table and sat down around her.

Laurie laid her head on the table and sighed.

"I wish we could do this everyday."

I nod my head in agreement, looking around, trying to spot the chanting birds. "Right..." I breathe. "But we can't."

"That's only because you're too busy studying, you're too busy making dresses or whatever, and you're too busy..." Isabelle lets her sentence fall.

"Hanging around with boys?" I suggest, stabbing Laurie in her side with my elbow.

My friend shoots me a worried look, in fear that I might've spilled too much information.

When I look back at my cousin, I remark that she is squinting her eyes at me, trying to evaluate my expression.

"No, I think that's more like you now." She nods in my direction.

I raise my eyebrows in shock. "Me?" I ask.

Rolling her eyes, she speaks in a flat tone. "Yeah, you."

Laurie, who seemed to be as shocked as I was, straightened up her posture and cleared her throat. "Why do you say that?" She leans in.

The corner of Bella's mouth lifts up in amusement. "No reason really. Just the fact that she's talking to that one Ethan guy."

"I do not-"

"Listen," she lifts up her hands in surrender. "I wouldn't judge you. He's a good looking guy."

I stop before opening my mouth to reply.

Should I try to convince them that I don't like him? I really didn't.

"Guys, I don't like him. He's two faced-"

"Ari~" Layla chuckles in amusement. "I saw the way you looked at him. Just admit that you like him." She says as she rests her chin on both her palms.

Suddenly, I remember something important. I had a tutoring session with Lisa and I completely forgot about it.

"Wait, what time is it?" I ask in worry.

My cousin squints her eyebrows. "3:10, why? I thought you didn't have anything to do today? Didn't you finish your last exam for the week?" Bella questions me.

"No, no. I forgot I had a tutoring session at three." I shake my hands.

At my words, they all turn to each other and smile knowingly.

"Look at her trying to escape the conversation." Laurie chants in. "Go off then. Go tutor that high schooler." She waves me away with her hand.

I roll my eyes at her and walk off while waving behind me.

Thankfully, the library wasn't too far from the park so it would take around ten minutes to walk there. I was late as it is, so I decided to head to the same cafe I went to last time, to grab her a drink to make up for mistake.

The time I was finished from the coffee shop, it was already 3:25. With two iced teas in my hands, I opened the double doors of the library using my foot. The same familiar smell of fresh books entered my nostrils as I made my way down the hallway of novels. The moment I spotted Liza, my worries withdrew from my mind. I was anxious that she left because of how late I was, but thankfully she was sitting at the same table we'd been using since the beginning.

The moment I sat down, she looked up at me and smiled.

This novel's true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.

"Sorry, I was late." I apologized awkwardly. "I bought you this to make it up to you." I acknowledged while placing the cup of cold tea in front of her.

She raises her eyebrow in confusion. "Oh?" She mumbles. "I didn't even notice." Lisa goes on to say.

I chuckle in amusement. "Were you so focused on your studies?" I laugh.

Her eyes wandered around the room while she answered hesitantly. "I was rather focused on someone..."

I shrug off her confusing statement and make myself comfortable on the chair. "Alright, so what do we have going on today?" I ask.

She whines exaggeratedly before pushing a textbook towards me. "This shit," she complains.

looking at the cover, I squint my eyes. "Didn't we do this last time too?"

She sighs and rests her head on the table. "Yeah, but the stupid math teacher is telling me to step up my game if I wanna pass the year."

"Oh yeah? I guess we gotta prioritize math more than-" I stop myself when I notice her mouthing things to something or someone behind me.

Turning around, a large figure blocks my way. I slowly glide my eyes up along the defined body to see the face of the person. My eyes widen when I lock my gaze on Andrew's. His messy black hair created fine shadows on his face while a small bruise sat on his lower lip.

His dark eyes searched my face before finally settling on breaking the tension. "So you're the tutor she's always talking about..." He mumbles lowly.

Huh?

She was talking about me?

And, to him?

Who was he to her? And why did they know each other?

I turned back around and examined her skeptically. She showed disappointment rather than enthusiasm at his presence, just like everybody else.

"I'm sorry. I tried to tell him not to come. He didn't want to listen." Lisa told me while staring at her hands under the table.

Andrew walked around our table and took a seat right next to Lisa. His usual frown plastered on his face while he examined her displeased expression.

"I told you to stay five meters away from me. Why don't you ever understand?" She scolded him while whispering. "Every time you meet one of my friends, you scare them away." Lisa continues on, scoffing loudly.

Andrew doesn't say a single word but simply pushes away a strand of hair that was messing with her vision. I internally cringe at the action.

Hesitating to ask a personal question, I settle on risking it. "Are you guys... dating?" I try to keep a neutral expression on my face despite being disgusted by the fact that if the answer to my question was positive, Andrew would turn out to be seeing a minor.

Lisa surveyed me in shock while Andrew's frown only deepened. Lisa turned to look at him with a distasteful look on her head. "Ariana... that's my brother."

"Okay good," I sigh in relief. "Because I genuinely thought that Andrew was a pedophile." I chuckle nervously.

Gaining no reaction from him, I lower my head uncomfortably.

I really shouldn't have said that.

"Andrew doesn't like anything, I doubt he would ever be that. Plus-" She laughs out but cuts herself off the sudden moment she realizes something. "Wait... how do you know his name?"

Glancing at him for a split second, I decide to play it safe. The way his cold eyes stabbed my head reminded me of the day he stormed out of the nurse's office. "He's in one of my classes," I answer blankly.

Nodding her head slowly, she switches her attention to her drink and sips on it. Reminding me of the other one I brought for myself, I pause before deciding what to do with it.

Give him the drink, I tell myself.

No, why should I give it to him? I bought it for me.

Even things out with him. Get rid of the grudges.

But why should I be the one to do that? He's the one who doesn't want to interact with me.

Remember what Cristian told you? He's also a human being.

Okay.

I glimpsed at Andrew, who was eyeing his sister. When I cleared my throat, his attention finally landed on me. Gliding the cup down the table, I shifted awkwardly. "Here," I splurge out. "this is for you."

Andrew examined my hand around the cup while a muscle ticked in his jaw. "I thought this was for you?" He asked, his question sounding like a statement.

I press my lips in a straight line as I think of what to say. "No, I already had a drink before coming here."

He glances down at it for a brief moment and sets his eyes back on mine. "I don't want it." He claims.

Lisa swiftly turns her head around and digs her eyes into his skull. "Isn't that your favourite drink?" She questions before shaking her head. "Just take it."

He hesitantly grabs it from my hand and eyes it. My eyes refuse to move from him and it takes Lisa talking, for them to finally get out of the state they were in.

"Anyway," she starts, while my eyes redirected. "My math teacher really wants me to get better." She sighs.

My heart warms in empathy as she explains the lecture the professor put her through.

"She said that you're doing well as a tutor..." Lisa tells me. "... But that the problem is with me." I hear her say with heaviness.

"How come?" I question softly.

The high schooler observed my face with a wondering expression until she finally decided to reply. "I have no motivation." She admits.

I glanced over at Andrew and noticed how half his cup of iced tea was empty. He seemed as if he wasn't listening to our conversation but it was obvious that he was, due to the way his eyes expressed subtle emotions at every said sentence.

"I went through that same situation... so don't think you're alone." I chuckle. "If it weren't for my dad, I never would've gotten into the program I'm in." I continue, thinking about the many times where my dad insisted on me being a doctor.

While it wasn't really an option for me, it was still a career I wanted to be in. How could I ever ask for more than having the ability to help people and get paid at the same time? In the end, my father convinced me enough that my only motivation was to get into medical school with extraordinary grades.

"Did you ever think about what you want to be when you're older?" I ask, intrigued.

Her empty silence answers my question.

"Well why don't you start with that." I tell her, leaning in towards her. "What do you want to be?"

She observes my face for a while, thinking about an answer. "I don't know... but I want to do something that has to do with art." She continues while she gives her brother a couple glances to see if he approved or not.

"Okay, well..." I trail off, holding my chin in reflection. "What about a graphic designer?" I suggest.

As she was about to answer, Andrew rushes to do so before her. "Art won't pay the bills, Lisa." He states, glaring at her and then landing his piercing black eyes on mine.

As a reaction, Lisa nodded subtly, looking down.

The moment I realize that this was the same man who kept shutting down her ideas, I frowned at him.

"Lisa don't you dare listen to your brother." I spit out harshly, still glaring at him.

Feeling my glare, he looks up at me and squints his eyes.

Before he could say anything else, I continue with what I was going to say. "My brother is a graphic designer. And he is getting paid well." I cross my arms.

"40k a year is nothing," Andrew replies, leaning in.

Lisa who was listening carefully, observed me with curiosity, as if to tell me to continue arguing with him.

"Listen to me, Lisa." I order her with keen eyes. "If you're gonna spend your whole life running after money, then you wouldn't have lived at all. Get a job that you love, because you're gonna be doing that for at least half your life."

The girl stared at me in daze and flickered her eyes between mine and her brothers. "I don't know." She replies flatly.

I understand. I wouldn't feel the same way if someone shut down my dreams every time I wanted to address them. Although my situation wasn't very different, it's not like I don't want to be a doctor. Lisa on the other hand, seemed as if she really wanted a career that collides with her skills. I didn't want her close minded brother to turn her down that way.

"It doesn't matter, Lisa." I comfort her. "For now, focus on passing the year with high grades so that you'll have everything you need to be able to be something you want." I smile in empathy.

"Something that hasn't got to do with art." A deep voice adds up.

I send him a discouraged grimace as I sighed. "Don't listen to your stupid brother. He thinks the world revolves around him and that if things don't go his way, then they shouldn't go anywhere." I look him up and down.

In a huff, he gets up from his chair, accidentally bumping the table harshly while he did so.

Once again, he was leaving the room because of something I said.

We both follow him with our eyes until he was out of view.

"Don't worry," she tells him. "He always does that when he's mad."

"I've noticed..." I mumble in thought.

"To find the value of x here, you have to do to use the Pythagorean theorem." I point out on the paper with a bunch of triangles scribbled on.

"Got it," she replies while she continues to draw on a paper, not looking up once.

I lean back into my chair and cross my arms. "Are you sure you got it? Cause the guy you're drawing looks more interested in what I'm teaching you than you." I chuckle in amusement.

"It's natural," she tells me. "He's a scientist, so he's obviously going to like this." She continues, like this was something I was supposed to know already.

I roll my eyes. "Fine then, why doesn't he explain it to you?" I express with my hand.

Finally, she looks up at me with a raised brow as she smirks. "Ari, he's a drawing." She points out like I didn't know.

"Yeah well you're giving more attention to the drawing than me, the tutor who isn't even getting paid to be here." I say ironically.

She sighs, rolling her eyes and putting her pencil down. "Fine, fine." She gives up. "Attention seeker." I hear her mumble lowly.

"How dare you," I bring a hand to my chest, offended. "Fine, then. Since I'm an attention seeker, I'm going to go tell that guy that you like him." I whisper while smiling evilly.

Her eyes widen in fear as she waves her hand around. "No, no! I was just joking." She laughs nervously.

For a second I stay quiet, before finally bursting out of laughter. "I'm joking, I'm joking." I laugh.

"I know."

Her statement makes me look up at her in shock. "Well, you didn't seem like you knew." I say with a raised eyebrow.

"What can I say?" She tells me while throwing her arms behind her head. "I'm just that good at manipulating people."

I look at her amusedly. "Wish you were this enthusiastic in math." I chuckle.

The moment my words hit her, she makes herself comfortable on the chair and gets to work straight away, attempting to prove me wrong.

Her action makes me giggle and I get back to mine as well.

From the corner of my eye, I could see Andrew staring at us from the table he was at. After he left, he came back only five minutes later and decided to sit somewhere further away from us.

The thing is that every now and then, i would catch him staring at me. I knew he didn't like me very much but the numerous times he glanced at me made me feel like I wasn't going to wake up tomorrow.

I look up at him to see if he was going to look away the moment we lock eyes or not. Just as I thought, he kept the eye contact and I was the one who had to look away.

"You know..." Lisa brings me out of my thoughts. "I really like you, Ariana."

I turn to face her as she looked at me eagerly.

"Please don't leave, you're like a sister to me."

Her words warm my heart and I wonder what she's been through for her to be telling me this.

"Until you've graduated," I begin. "There's no way in hell I would ever think about leaving you." I laugh, gaining a smile from her.

Just as I thought, her brother was staring daggers at me, making me self conscious.

Suddenly, I get a text from my brother, telling me to come outside.

"I have to leave. He's here." I warn her.

"Okay." She nods at me with a smile.

I get off my chair to pack my things up and throw my bag over my shoulder.

"See you in a couple days." I smile at her.

She waves me goodbye and I march off into the hallway. The moment I grab the handle of the door exit, I feel a hand wrap around my wrist, sending warmth throughout my arm.

Swiftly turning around, I expect to see Lisa, but to my surprise, it was her brother who showed up. His obsidian eyes bore into my face as I waited for him to say what he made me stop for.

"Who's here?" He suddenly asks me.

I frown at his question.

He came all the way here to ask me that?

"My brother." I answer. "I have to go now." I declare, ripping my wrist out of his grasp.

"Wait, I-" he starts but I don't allow him to continue by opening the door.

I didn't want to cause more problems than I already did.

Before I get to leave out the door, he yanks my arms and pulls me towards him, cornering me against the wall. His right arm was placed on the wall next to my head while he put his left hand on my shoulder, not letting me escape.

"Tell me how you did that." He demands.

My heart bumped in my chest while the close proximity made my cheeks burn in embarrassment.

He looked down at me, his black hair running down his forehead in a messy manner and his eyes glistening in a way that they expressed both frustration and sadness.

"How did you do it?" He pressed.

Suddenly remember what he cornered me for, I ask in confusion. "Do what?" I say quietly.

He huffs in frustration and looks away from me. "How did you get so close with her."

Oh. Of course he'd ask me that.

I roll my eyes in annoyance. "It's really easy you know. I just listened to her when she spoke. Gave her my advice when she asked for it. Kept myself open minded and I didn't turn down her hopes." I frown at him while my eyes glimmered in determination.

His eyes flickered between mine, unable to comprehend what I was implying.

Suddenly, he seemed to notice the short distance between our bodies and cleared his throat, stepping away from me.

Trying to break the awkward silence, I elaborate on what I told him. "Look... this isn't just about her career, it's a motivation. You can't just destroy everything she dreams of like that."

"That's not the point," He argues back. "She doesn't talk to me the way she talks to you. How did you get her to open up to you."

I ponder on his question. "You just have to listen to her."