PAIN - CHAPTER 9:
Good student, teach me.
Those four words were enough to make Bai Xun Yin’s calm heart ripple.
She lowered her eyes for a moment, silent, then wrote with her pen.
Your grades are already good, aren’t they?
Why would he need her help?
Her words made Yu Luo Yin’s mouth curl slightly,
a trace of amusement flashing through his dark eyes.
And how do you know my grades are good?
When she froze, he leaned forward, deliberately teasing.
What, have you been paying attention to me?
He was insufferable.
Afraid of being misunderstood, Bai Xun Yin bit her lip and pressed harder as she wrote.
I heard it from classmates.
Oh? Which classmates?
He was impossible.
She gave up answering and steered the conversation away, writing.
Which part of the question don’t you understand?
He was asking for help with a problem, nothing more. She could handle that.
Yu Luo Yin watched the delicate curve of her cheek as she bent over the paper.
Her skin was pale as porcelain, her lips set in quiet determination.
Everywhere, he said lazily, I don’t understand any of it.
She let out a small sigh, helpless but patient, and
bent over the page to study the problem he’d circled in red.
Her fine brows drew together slightly as she read.
She had always been top of her class in math and physics.
Usually, one look at a problem and the solution would start forming in her mind.
But this one…
This one was actually hard.
Her curiosity woke up, the spark of a challenge lighting behind her eyes.
She glanced at the booklet Yu Luo Yin had brought.
The cover was blank no publisher, no title.
Where did this come from?
He caught her questioning look before she could even write.
This isn’t sold anywhere, he said casually. My mom made it for me.
She’s a university professor. Chemistry.
Ah.
Bai Xun Yin’s pen hovered over the paper, a little embarrassed.
With a mother like that, why would he need her to teach him anything?
Still, she couldn’t help admiring the booklet its problems were strange and fascinating,
the kind that lured her in like puzzles half-whispering to be solved.
Yu Luo Yin smirked. Chemistry professors don’t teach good physics, he said lightly.
What about you can you solve it?
After a pause, she wrote honestly.
I can’t figure it out right now. Sorry.
No problem, he said with a soft, easy laugh. You can take it home.
Solve it at your own pace. When you’ve figured it out, teach me.
Her eyes brightened at that.
Yu Luo Yin noticed.
She had such beautiful eyes clear and bright, soft at the edges like watercolor.
She rarely smiled, always quiet, almost detached.
Yet when something sparked her interest, she came alive for a heartbeat
like a cherry blossom blooming in sunlight.
It was the joy of a scholar who’d found a worthy question.
She hesitated, then wrote.
Are you sure I can take it home?
He nodded, picked up her pen, and wrote his reply on the same paper,
as if joining in some secret code.
Same time tomorrow. Bring me the solution.
She blinked, then slowly nodded.
It was almost funny. She couldn’t say no not to a question she couldn’t solve.
Yu Luo Yin watched her flipping through the pages of his exercise book with
something like reverence. He almost laughed.
Was he really sitting here, and yet that book had more of her attention than he did?
Lu Ye had been right this girl was not easy to chase.
But Yu Luo Yin wasn’t the kind of person to stay in the background.
He tapped his long fingers against the table, eyes glinting.
Do you like it?
She nodded obediently.
So obedient it almost made him want to tease her more.
I’m sitting right in front of you and you won’t even look at me, Bai Xun Yin.
Do you dislike me that much?
Her head jerked up, startled. She shook it hard, then scribbled on the page.
No!
For the first time, she even added an exclamation mark.
He laughed, his shoulders trembling slightly.
Alright, I’ll stop teasing you. See you tomorrow.
Then he left, light as wind book bag slung over his shoulder, disappearing into sunlight.
Bai Xun Yin sat frozen for a long while, the exercise book warm in her hands,
still carrying the faint, clean scent of sandalwood that clung to him.
If not for that scent, and the weight of the book,
she might have thought the entire encounter a dream.
The library was silent again, filled only with sunlight and dust motes,
her quiet breathing and the soft turning of a page.
That summer began to feel like a dream too.
After that first meeting, Yu Luo Yin started inviting her to the
library two or three times a week.
He always had more problems for her to teach him.
And since Bai Xun Yin hadn’t yet finished exploring that
mysterious exercise book, she never refused.
She wrote more than she spoke, of course she couldn’t
speak anymore but writing was easy enough.
Every session was the same: his focus fixed on her as she wrote,
the curve of his lips when he smiled, the occasional lean closer to read her notes.
It shouldn’t have made her heart beat faster. But it did.
Not out of dislike just discomfort, a restlessness she couldn’t name.
Before she lost her voice, back in middle school, she hadn’t minded being near boys.
But after everything that happened at Third High,
she had grown wary especially of closeness.
And Yu Luo Yin was… Yu Luo Yin.
Too sharp. Too present. Too near.
White Xun Yin’s fingers tightened around her pen.
He seemed to notice her stiffness and smiled slightly.
Bai classmate, he said, are you afraid of me?
She froze, then wrote quickly.
No.
No? Then why won’t you ever look at me? Is my face that scary?
Why would she look at him?
She muttered it silently in her heart, though she didn’t dare write it.
Still, his words challenged her, and she lifted her eyes to meet his dark ones.
He laughed softly at her stubborn expression.
Still so guarded after all this time. Clearly, tutoring alone wasn’t going to work.
He stood suddenly, his energy shifting bright, restless.
Come on.
She blinked, confused, typing on her phone.
Where?
He narrowed his eyes, that familiar lazy smile curling again.
I’ll take you somewhere fun.
Somewhere fun?
She hesitated. Unknown places made her uneasy.
Come on, he coaxed gently. You’ve been tutoring me for days.
Think of this as my way of thanking my good teacher.
His voice lingered on the word, the tone light and teasing,
the kind that slipped right past her defenses.
And somehow, she wanted to go.
She didn’t know why. She only knew that if it had been anyone else, she’d have refused.
But it was Yu Luo Yin.
And when he said come, she followed.