Chapter 47 - Trust Me
When she spoke, she stared at the phone with intense focus.
Her eyes would open wider than usual. Clear pupils replaced her usual haughty indulgence. She looked almost docile.
But Jax knew very well this was an illusion.
Luna was a person who had nothing to do with the word "docile."
"Math." Jax said.
Luna propped her chin on her hand. "Why?"
Jax kept it brief. "I've seen your past scores. Your math foundation is better than your physics."
Luna: "..."
Her ears turned red.
From embarrassment and annoyance.
As far as she knew, Jax's math score had never dipped below 145. His physics was basically perfect.
She couldn't imagine what face Jax made when he saw her low scores.
Jax picked up a black pen. On camera, his fingers were long and pale. He seemed to notice something off about her. "What's wrong?"
Luna cleared her throat. "You've seen my scores. Do you think they're too low?"
Jax didn't answer directly. "Everyone's different. Everyone has their strengths. Your English is much better than mine."
Luna pouted. "Not by much."
She was a perennial 140-plus scorer. Jax hovered around 120 to 130. Different levels, but the gap wasn't actually that wide.
Jax tapped the scratch paper with his pen. "It's fine. There's still a year. You'll improve a lot."
Luna was skeptical. "Really?"
She'd been bad at math since she was little. She'd studied physics for nearly six years and still didn't understand a thing.
"Trust me."
His voice was calm, assured.
Just a simple sentence, but Luna found herself almost believing him.
No wonder he'd built himself from nothing in his previous life and became a corporate director. The way he said it was like a cult pitch. Pure brainwashing.
It was obvious Jax had prepped for the lesson.
Luna listened and listened, and her attention drifted.
She stared at the hand holding the pen on camera. Jax was tall, so his fingers were of course long. The callus on his middle finger was prominent. His skin was fair, but the texture wasn't smooth.
A hand used to hard work.
Rory's hands, on the other hand, were very soft.
She thought idly, could it be that his nominal stepfather treated Jax poorly?
"Luna."
A crisp voice snapped Luna out of her chaotic thoughts.
She came to, responding guiltily, "Huh?"
The pen tip had stopped on the scratch paper, leaving a black ink dot.
"What were you thinking about?"
Jax finished speaking and let go of the pen.
His hand disappeared from the frame.
His gaze was like a wet, viscous, shapeless liquid, fixed on Luna's face through the camera.
Luna's eyelashes fluttered. Her face felt a bit hot. She didn't speak.
So Jax asked first, "Were you thinking about Hayes?"
"What?"
Luna's eyes went wide. She nearly bit her own tongue.
"What the hell?" She instinctively rubbed her face, asking in disbelief. "What does this have to do with Hayes?"
Jax: "You seemed like you were spacing out."
Luna's mouth twitched. "...I was spacing out, but why would I be thinking about him?"
Jax instinctively leaned back. The wooden chair creaked. "Don't you... like him?"
"That was before." Luna said. "I don't like him anymore."
Jax: "Really?"
"Really." Luna rubbed her hair. "My eyes were broken before. They're fixed now."
As her words fell, the sound of chair legs hitting the floor came from the other end of the phone.
That hand reappeared in the frame. He picked up the black pen, the barrel resting against the callus on his middle finger. "Got it."
Luna thought for a moment, then said, "Professor Jax, I didn't expect someone like you, such an aloof genius, to ask that kind of question."
"Of course I had to ask." Jax's voice went a bit low. "If you two were together, and he found out about our current arrangement, he probably wouldn't be happy."
"Wait, wait, wait." Luna felt there were too many things wrong with that sentence.
She asked, shocked, "Is our current arrangement something to be ashamed of?"
The black pen spun between the boy's fingertips. He said, "It might be that I'm not likable. He's always had a problem with me. Naturally he wouldn't want you interacting with me."
"No." Luna leaned closer to the screen. "Can you see my face?"
Jax's throat bobbed. "Yes."
Luna's eyes were wide, her pupils bright under the desk lamp. She said with utter sincerity, "He dislikes you because you study better than him. He's incapable and petty. That's his problem, not yours. Please don't think it's your fault."
The pen paused. The corner of Jax's lips lifted, barely. "Is that so?"
"Yes." Luna nodded furiously. "You're way better than him."
"Am I?"
"Yeah, by a lot. You're better-looking, you've got a better personality, and you're kind."
As Luna spoke, she felt a wave of deep regret. Regret that in her previous life, she'd helped Hayes give Jax a hard time.
Such a poor, handsome, sweet guy.
"You're the first person to ever compliment me." Jax said. "Thank you."
Luna paused. "Really?"
"Really." Jax said. "I don't have many friends. I'm not close with my family either. So you're the first person to compliment me to my face."
For a hot-tempered heiress like Luna, who had grown up obsessed with armor-hero and beast-legion type battle cartoons, Jax's whole thing hit right at her soft spot. A protective instinct surged up.
"Then I'll compliment you more from now on." Luna said.
"Thank you." Jax gripped the pen and drew an unconscious circle on the scratch paper. "So what were you just thinking about?"
"I..."
Luna obviously couldn't say she'd been staring at Jax's hand. She grabbed a random topic. "I was thinking about whether to sign up for an event at the sports meet."
"Oh."
The topic passed easily.
Jax said, "Listen carefully. Don't zone out."
Luna nodded vigorously. "Okay."
Jax had compiled all the key problem types from three years of high school. He could get through a full review in about a month.
That night, Luna's dreams were all battles with math problems.
-
The next morning had two periods of math.
Since her rebirth, Luna could rarely follow along with the teacher's logic.
But this time she could.
One problem in particular was the same type as one Jax had explained last night. Same problem, different packaging.
Luna even knew the next step before the teacher wrote it.
A strange sense of accomplishment.
At lunch, Mila said, "Let's go get a big meal. I need to refuel properly."
Luna laughed. "What's wrong?"
Mila was green in the face. "Two periods of math. Mr. Huang sprayed spit all over my face. One moment of distraction and he'd glare at me."
She sighed, feeling that math class was pure torture.