(Kyles’s POV)
Tahimik lang kami pareho after that.
Xena pretended to write, while I stared at the board, trying hard not to notice the way she kept twirling her pen, the way her leg brushed against mine every few seconds.
I told myself to focus.
Pero paano kung bawat segundo, naririnig ko ang mahina niyang paghinga, at tuwing napapatingin ako sa gilid — nando’n siya, nakatingin din pala sa akin.
“Stop staring,” sabi ko, hindi tumitingin.
“I’m not,” sagot niya agad, though I could feel her eyes lingering on my face.
“You are.”
“So what if I am?”
That did it.
I turned to her, my patience thinning. “You’re making this harder than it has to be.”
“Harder?” she echoed, her tone mischievous, lips twitching upward. “Define harder, tutor.”
I exhaled sharply, pinilit kong magpaka-seryoso
