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Hunter found girls annoying. When they chattered beside him, it was noisy and bothersome. If it were a boy, he could have just told them to piss off with a kick, but since he couldn't do that to a girl, he would swiftly dodge them whenever they seemed likely to cling to him.
Like himself, Rex didn't seem to remember who he had talked to once he turned away. However, because Rex dealt with them in a smooth, slippery manner, the girls mistakenly believed he had a great personality.
‘Is that why Jewel Parker became one of Rex's groupies?’
Come to think of it, Rex didn't play any mischievous pranks on Jiyu. If anything, he was kind to her. He had been that way since they were young, and even now, he acted far more friendly toward her than toward other girls.
‘What. Are those two actually dating?’
Gross.
Just as the unpleasant question tickled the back of his throat and was about to burst out like a sneeze, someone slapped his shoulder.
Hunter turned around with a fierce expression. It was Rex. He had momentarily forgotten that Rex was hanging onto him.
[Hey, Triple. Didn't you hear the music change?]
[Piss off.]
He brushed Rex's hand off his shoulder and turned his head away coldly.
[It's my turn, you blockhead.]
[I said piss off.]
Hunter spat out the words without looking back.
Rex snorted and popped his head out from beside Hunter's shoulder with a smirk.
[Liv, I'm right, aren't I? If you don't believe me, why don't you just ask her?]
Hunter frowned, wondering what on earth he was talking about, but for some reason, Jiyu was staring at him with wavering eyes.
As if amused, Rex brushed his hands off and moved behind another student. Then, he promptly snatched the partner away.
Just before the final song began, Walter ordered another partner change. However, Hunter silently gestured with his chin for the boy approaching him to go elsewhere. He had something to ask, so he couldn't let go of Jiyu just yet.
But this guy, who looked like a shriveled-up anchovy, couldn't take a hint and kept hovering nearby, hesitating.
Hunter pushed out his lower lip and let out a short, sharp sigh. The hair falling over his forehead fluttered slightly before settling back down. He glared down at the "anchovy" with a scowl. Only then did the boy flinch and retreat.
Right on cue, the final song began. Hunter relaxed his shoulders, pulled Jiyu closer, and resumed the steps.
‘What should I ask. Would it be weird to just bluntly ask if she's dating Rex?’
Just then, she, who had been silently led along by him, called out to him in a small voice.
[Um, Hunter?]
[What.]
[Maybe... no, it's nothing.]
She shook her head and lowered it as if to hide her face.
‘Is Jewel Parker hot too?’
Her cheeks looked a bit flushed.
[What is it? Why stop mid-sentence?]
[It's nothing. Don't worry about it.]
[If it's nothing, then just say it. Don't make me wonder.]
Hunter snapped brusquely. Jiyu seemed to contemplate for a moment, biting her lip. Then, with a face mixed with embarrassment and curiosity, she slowly opened her mouth.
[Um, this is... just, I'm asking just in case...]
[What? Just say it!]
With a complex expression, she swallowed hard.
[You... you don't happen to like me, do you?]
Hunter missed a step. His footing became a tangled mess, and he stepped hard on Jiyu's foot.
[Ow! That hurts, Hunter!]
Flustered, he took a step back.
[Me? You? Are you crazy?]
He shouted loudly, but his face felt hot and his heart raced wildly. It felt as if those slender fingers had strangled his throat; he was breathless.
He had felt this way two years ago when he had recklessly challenged an opponent whose UTR score was four points higher than his and lost the first set 6-0.
When he realized he was this flustered by something said by someone like Jewel Parker, his mood plummeted.
[I-I mean, that is, Rex said—]
Jiyu stammered an excuse, her face turning bright red.
Hunter cut her off, pushing every single word he spat through his teeth off a cliff without mercy.
[I, hate, this, damn, class, and, more than that, Jewel Parker. I, hate, you, more.]
Then, before the waltz had even finished, he stormed out of the room. Left alone on the dance floor, Jiyu's face turned a pale, ashen gray.
Rex, who had been waltzing nearby, noticed Jiyu standing alone and approached, looking around.
[Where did the troublemaker go?]
Standing there blankly, Jiyu glanced at Rex with eyes brimming with tears and quietly shook her head.
[Far from liking me, he said he hates me more than the cotillion class. So don't ever bring up such ridiculous things again.]
He clicked his tongue.
[Ugh, that's not it... That dimwit. He spends all his time playing tennis, so maybe his brain is just muscle. I practically laid it out on a silver platter for him and he still couldn't take it.]
Just then, loud-beating gangster hip-hop poured out of the speakers.
While Walter and Megan scrambled in surprise, the other children burst into laughter and cheers. The students, who had been dancing the waltz with bored faces, began shaking their hips vulgarly to the hip-hop music.
Standing alone in the center, Jiyu crumbled like a dried flower stripped of all its moisture. She hadn't noticed while dancing with Hunter, but the heel of her shoe had rubbed her foot raw, and it stung unbearably. That was why the tears kept coming.
With her head bowed, she quietly blinked her bloodshot eyes, surrounded by Upper East Side private school children who were loudly singing along to lyrics about a rough and impoverished ghetto life.
✾ ✾ ✾
Once a week, after school, Jiyu took math tutoring with Hunter in the playroom.
This was because Lauren had chosen Jiyu to be her son's math pacemaker. In truth, Rex would have been a better opponent for Hunter to grow through competition.
However, Lauren judged that her son had not yet entered the sphere of influence of puberty. He was a child who naturally didn't have a wide emotional range, and since he spent 90 percent of his waking hours on tennis, puberty seemed to be arriving a bit late.
On the other hand, Rex seemed to have entered puberty in earnest. Rumors circulated that he was severely rebellious toward his father and was getting into trouble by clashing with people everywhere.
At an age where one is easily influenced by friends, Lauren feared that if she paired Hunter with Rex, Hunter might also be corrupted.
In contrast, Jiyu was quiet, well-behaved, and excelled in her studies. Unlike other girls her age, she didn't obsess over her appearance or clumsily imitate adults. Even if Jiyu were better at math than Hunter, they attended different schools, so she posed no threat to his academic standing.
Actually, it wasn't a bad thing that Jiyu was better at studying than Hunter. It could stimulate her son's competitive nature and make him put in effort on his own.
Based on these calculations, the two children received two hours of tutoring every Wednesday from Dr. Shreya Patel, a tutor with an Ivy League PhD in mathematics. She was one of the hottest tutors on the Upper East Side, and her rate was 400 dollars for one person and 500 dollars for two for two hours. Thanks to Lauren's consideration, Jiyu received the tutoring by paying only 100 dollars.
And as Lauren expected, Jiyu was ahead of Hunter at first. However, the gap between the two was narrowing as time passed.
The playroom had also undergone quite dynamic changes over the past few years.
The monkey bars and house line were demolished, and large exercise equipment took their place. Instead of toys, mats and foam rollers were scattered haphazardly across the floor, and a weight tower with dumbbells organized by weight stood in one corner.
The library was still full of books, but the beanbag chair that had been Jiyu's designated seat was gone, replaced by a large conference table.
[Let's talk.]
As soon as the lesson ended and the tutor left the room, Hunter abruptly spoke up.
[…….]
Without answering, Jiyu gathered the notebooks and math workbooks scattered on the wide table and stacked them neatly. Using them as a shield, she hugged them to her chest and stood up.
The two had been in a cold war for about two months since the first cotillion class. Far from talking, they didn't even glance at each other, acting like strangers even when in the same space.
Come to think of it, they had never been close, so calling this a "cold war" was almost laughable.
Jiyu thought she knew what Hunter wanted to talk about. She had thought it was about time, and that it was strangely quiet. But far from granting his request, she didn't even want to exchange words with him.
Jiyu intended to hate him just as much as Hunter hated her. Therefore, there was no reason to listen to him.
Pretending not to hear, she lowered her head, pushed in her chair, and turned away. Her long, straight hair swayed sharply and settled softly against her slender back.
[Jewel Parker, I said I have something to say.]
Hunter stopped her, his voice sounding a bit urgent, yet still overbearing.
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