Chapter 1 #2
Brent thought that Jaylin wanting to be a paralegal was “cute,” and he was willing to entertain Jaylin’s stupid little dream, as long as Jaylin entertained him.
He sometimes made comments about how paralegals were expected to be able to read court cases and documents, but so what? It wasn’t like he was wrong.
Jaylin was well aware he didn't have it in him to try law school. Not with how he could barely read. But he wanted to do something in law. Act as a support in a Family Law office that actually tried to do good work. Maybe do his best to make a difference in some kid’s shitty-ass life.
The kind of difference he’d never gotten.
He wasn’t going to be working for a lawyer like Brent, he knew that for absolute certain. Jaylin spent enough time under people like Brent as it was.
He slowly scratched out the steps to what he hoped was the right answer, taking his time to make the numbers as neat as possible, doing his best to keep from writing any of them upside-down or backwards.
He just had to make it to graduation. He’d been out of school for almost three years trying to scape by without an education before he’d started at Oakland Community College.
Now he was working his ass off to keep up with his classes, muddling along as best he could in the face of a deluge of reading and writing assignments.
In his first semester he’d been able to manage a 3.
6 GPA. It had taken hours and hours bent over notebooks and computer screens trying to make the letters and numbers he was reading stay still long enough for him to read them, gritting his teeth against tears of frustration. But he’d done it. All by himself.
He’d been kind of proud, at the end of his first semester, to get that letter in the mail letting him know he’d made summa cum laude status by getting over a 3.
5 GPA. He’d shown the letter to Brent, because Brent insisted on seeing all the correspondence Jaylin got from school.
Brent had given him that smirk-smile he always got when he thought Jaylin was being amusing.
“Very good, pet. You’ve managed to keep up with all the students fresh out of high school.”
Jaylin didn’t care that Brent was right, that all he’d managed to do was keep up with the high school kids. That letter was proof that he was actually sort of capable, even if only a little bit.
If he could just finish out community college with a good GPA, he could take the test to become a certified paralegal.
If he passed that, he could actually work in the field.
It wasn’t too much of a stretch to think that he could manage some sort of entry-level job somewhere. Leave Brent behind. He could do it.
He just needed to last for a couple more years.
And make sure Brent didn't get bored of him in the meantime.
“You’re doing that thing again,” Aditi said.
Jaylin tore his eyes away from his notebook. “What thing?”
“The thing where I can’t tell if you’re concentrating or spacing out,” Aditi said, chewing on the end of her sleek black braid. “Like, I don’t care which one it is, but just let me know when you’re done, cause I have something to tell you.”
Jaylin fought the urge to shake his head. Fuck, he was so tired. “You could tell me now.”
Aditi nodded, but now looked a little guilty. Jaylin tried not to let his hackles rise. “You know how I said I’d help you find someone to help you with your business law classes?”
Jaylin gave her a confused look. “No, you didn’t?
” He had mentioned that he was having trouble in his business law class, but it wasn't because of the class itself. That was kind of fun, doing the logic of figuring out how to make the law work in his favor. It was just that reading all the text was a struggle for him. Which was something he definitely hadn’t mentioned .
It was bad enough he was so stupid he could barely read. He wasn't about to share just how dumb he was to the literal smartest person he had ever met.
“No, no,” Aditi said loftily, waving a hand and looking incredibly suspicious now. “I totally did. I said, oh yeah, I bet I could figure out a way to make it easier. And then I said I knew a guy who could help.”
“You... definitely didn’t do that,” Jaylin said, staring at her. “I would have remembered us having this conversation. Also I would have said something along the line’s of, no, it’s fine, I’m good figuring it out on my own.”
“Anyway,” Aditi continued, completely ignoring him. “My brother’s friend is a lawyer, and he said he’d be happy to tutor you.”
Jaylin’s cheeks heated, at once embarrassed and ashamed. A part of him appreciated Aditi wanting to help. He’d never had anyone really want to help him before without wanting something in return.
Still. “Look, that’s—that’s really nice,” Jaylin started. “Thanks for thinking of me. But I couldn’t ask for that kind of help.” Certainly not from an actual lawyer, not before Jaylin knew a bit more about how to work around his reading issues. All he’d do was make a fool of himself.
“It’d be good practice,” Aditi said reasonably. “He’s all fancy and stuff. He like, has to wear a suit to work and everything.”
That was exactly what Jaylin was afraid of.
He wanted to work for lawyers, sure. But after he knew enough to not flounder and look stupid.
People talked, he knew that. If this guy didn’t like him, he could make all sorts of trouble for Jaylin in a couple years when Jaylin was actually looking to enter the field.
He already had concerns about what Brent might do, once Jaylin was in a position to end their arrangement.
“Look,” Jaylin said, a bit desperately. He didn't want Aditi upset with him either. “I’m grateful, I am. Thank you for trying to help. But I’m fine. Really.”
“Oh,” a smooth voice from behind him said. “So that’s a no on the tutoring, then?”
Jaylin flinched and turned.
Nothing came out of his mouth as he took in the man before him. A tall, broad-shouldered Asian man with a personable smile, and Jaylin’s throat clicked as he swallowed, in the face of that smile.
It was close-mouthed, but the man’s eyes were crinkled at the corners, a real smile, one that looked…
kind, somehow. Maybe a little bemused, but open and friendly, without a hint of annoyance.
Like it didn’t matter that Jaylin was turning him away.
Like he wasn’t upset to come all this way on a Saturday only to be told “no.”
The man’s dark hair had a streak of white, but he didn’t look weathered in the way a lot of the older men Jaylin had experience with did.
Mid to late thirties, maybe? And going gray young?
He was standing there in the study room holding his coat over his arm, with one hand tucked in his pocket, exuding an easy-going confidence. Like he knew he looked good.
He didn’t look like a guy who heard the word “no” a lot.
But he—he didn’t seem upset to hear it now.
Still, Jaylin sucked in a breath through his nose, trying to regroup.
It was one thing to turn down a guy in theory.
It was another thing entirely when he was already here, when he’d taken the trouble to come to some random community college on a weekend, all for Jaylin’s sake.
Jaylin didn’t want anyone to think he wanted trouble. He’d spent his whole life trying to not rock boats, so he didn’t get tossed overboard.
Somehow life always still made him feel like he was drowning.
The man’s smile didn’t dim in the face of Jaylin’s silence. “Aditi said you were really smart,” he said, voice warm and friendly. “I was looking forward to working with you.”
Jaylin suddenly felt over warm at hearing such nice things said in that voice. He tried to cover it, clearing his throat. “I—oh.” Stupid, he berated himself. He tried again. “I’m sorry, I-I didn’t… know she’d told you something like that.”
Aditi huffed, crossing her arms. “Only cause it’s true.”
He sent Aditi a startled glance, and she tilted up her chin, raising an eyebrow. As if to say, Well? What about it?
“My name’s Hirohito Miyazaki,” the man said, pulling Jaylin’s attention again. He held out a hand. “But you could call me Hiro. I really am happy to help.”
Jaylin couldn’t stop his flinch back at the hand reaching for him, and he stared at it for a beat too long before the words registered, that this guy was happy to help and not angry with him for wasting his time.
Before he could make himself move properly to shake the offered hand like a normal fucking person who didn’t mind letting large, strange men touch them, the man did a little wave instead, then stuck his hand in his pocket.
Then the man’s name sunk in.
“Hirohito Miyazaki?” Jaylin stammered, desperately trying to look less like a fuck-up. This was Hirohito Miyazaki? “Are… are you the same Hirohito Miyazaki who worked the Temporal Inc. vs Russel Center case?”
“Oh! Yeah,” Miyazaki’s smile grew, and he seemed willing to ignore Jaylin’s floundering.
“Yeah, that was me. Well, my whole team. I couldn’t have won it without the support I had at my back.
” His smile, somehow, got brighter. “Aditi said that’s what you’re in school for.
You want to be on a team and make a difference. ”
Jaylin swallowed. Russel Center had won that case, which had reversed Temporal Inc.
’s claim on all patent rights for electro-neural prosthetics, allowing the technology to go open source.
It had revolutionized the market, which had, in turn, forced the company to stop charging an arm and a leg for prosthetic arms and legs.
It was one of the cases Jaylin had studied last semester.
Brent had been awful about it, when he’d read through Jaylin’s notes. As a lawyer for Temporal Inc., he’d put in a lot of hours on that case, and had been furious to learn that people were studying how his team had lost.
Jaylin could only imagine the shit Brent would give him if he ever found out Jaylin had even been in the same room as Miyazaki.