Rai got to his latest unfinished question and started to focus intently on it. Maybe if he answered it a bit quicker than he usually did, Big Brother Lang would be impressed even more!
Minutes passed and slowly, Li Tian's face contorted in disgust. The formulas written down were absolutely abhorrent! Where did this kid get the idea to mix up the derivatives in such a way!?
Rai finished the question and continued on to the next one on the other page. His fingers were swift, and his handwriting quite exquisitely practiced. If one didn't understand what he was writing, they'd think him a sophisticated young genius.
Unfortunately, Li Tian wasn't one of those people.
He couldn't stand to watch any longer.
"Rai."
Rai's heart jumped hopefully. Maybe he managed to impress the big brother already. He turned to look with expectation. "Yes, Big Brother Lang?"
Revulsion.
That was the expression he saw on Big Brother Lang's face. His hopes swiftly drowned out and were replaced with anxiety, an occurrence quite common at home with him.
"...Why would you do that?" Li Tian asked in a clearly annoyed low tone of voice.
Feeling slightly nervous, Rai managed to squeak a reply, "I... I don't understand."
It wasn't anything he should have been afraid about. If it was anyone else, he could have easily shrugged it off too. But after the big brother had gained a place of respect in his heart, he felt yet again a need to be perfect before him.
As it always happened with his father as well.
The consequences of failure still affected him subconsciously.
Li Tian's mind was rolling in frustration. Seeing the many false answers in that workbook and how plainly the child ignored his mistakes as he skipped through the next pages aggravated him. Was the kid just trying to annoy him even more than he already did?
Was gallivanting how much of an idiot one was that gratifying?
His biggest fixation wasn't seeing the wrong answers. It was having to keep his mouth shut after seeing them!
Li Tian wanted so much to oppose, criticize, and mock the kid for the horrible derivative formations he had written. But he knew letting out his anger or any sort of emotion for that matter, would eventually expose him.
He was a superstar. Something that gave him great pride, and also some lingering sorrow. The aftermath of commoners finding out his identity while also being near him... never again.
That being said... Seriously what ๐ธ๐ข๐ด he ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ?
The equations being used by Rai when paired with the variables supplied in each question were rudimentary at best! And even then he managed to make mistakes halfway!
Differential and Integral Calculus were direct opposites of each other, meaning they could be used to correlate in a graph of function. The kid was making no use of the fundamentals at all!
Yet he dared to flaunt such inferior methods before the Li Tian, a man who had polished his knowledge of said level.
Who the heck taught this kid? A dog?
A quick glance at Rai's disheartened pale face caused Li Tian to twitch and click his tongue.
Fine. If he couldn't scold him, he'd just show him instead.
After all, he was not Li Tian. Now, he was Xiaolang. And Xiaolang wasn't a man of words, he was a man of action.
He ushered Rai to pass him the book and pencil.
Although confused, Rai felt relieved the big brother didn't act out on his negative emotions. He complied cooperatively and watched as Big Brother Lang began flipping through the pages one by one as if to check something.
Something he immediately noticed was that the big brother was doing it on his lap instead of the table compartment of the seat in front of him.
He made a swift realization that maybe Big Brother Lang didn't know how to open it, like how it was with the trolley. He had kind of guessed in the beginning that maybe the big brother had never been on a flight before due to being poor.
The clothes he wore was also hardly something any normal middle to upperclassman would be caught dead wearing, hence the assumption.
"Umm..." he uttered carefully, gabbing the big brother's attention. "Let me open the table for you."
He unclipped the table in front of the older brother and sat back into his seat like a good boy.
He noticed how Big Brother Lang's face remained unchanged the entire time, causing him to feel slight regret until the big brother suddenly nodded to him as if saying thank you.
๐๐ฆ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฉ, Rai giggled to himself. His usefulness was accepted.
However, in that moment, all Li Tian felt was complicated. The plane was just so inconvenient.
He continued to flip through the book, trying to understand the consistencies within the many answers. By doing so, he could better correct them and strike the core of Rai's entry-level understanding.
After a short few minutes, his left hand began to move. The first place he started was page one. Having amongst the most simple calculus problems, it was also where Rai had made the fewest mistakes.
Unsure of what Big Brother Lang was trying to do, Rai watched as the older man suddenly began to cross off a handful of his answers before jotting down a series of derivatives he had never even seen or thought possible before. The linear approximation was extracted so brilliantly!
As the big brother got further and further towards the later answered problems, Rai's eyes began to widen with stars. He'd be a fool to not understand what he was doing.
"You can answer the workbook problems?" Rai asked with a face full of anticipation.
What he got back was a lofty look as if Rai had just stated the complete obvious. What his face implied was undeniably; of course I can!
Big Brother Lang... just became ten times cooler!
Rai knew just how difficult the book was. Even with money to spend, his father would never blow money on getting him, an unwanted son, a good tutor, so he had to bust his butt off just to get where he was today. The boarding school he was shipped off to was also merely a gathering of snobbish toddlers in big boy pants. They neither had the motivation to learn nor the need to. Thus the severe lacking in strict teaching provided.
It was also still an elementary school, so the level of education was nowhere near where he wanted it to be.
Anything Rai wanted, he had to work hard for.
Now, seemingly out of nowhere, he managed to meet someone that happened to be very proficient in it. Although Big Brother Lang appeared to be cross with him, there was no violence or cruel words involved, which meant a lot to Rai.
If he didn't take this chance now... he might never get the opportunity again.
"B-big Brother Lang!" he tried to quickly sit up properly but the sudden fast movement ended up with him hitting the open table in front of him harshly in the process instead. He held back the grunt of pain from his bout of clumsiness, and instantly fixed the table while trying to keep his attention on the big brother.
Li Tian raised an eyebrow at the weird kid's antics, especially for disturbing him as he was fixing all the ghastly mistakes.
Rai finished stumblingly latching the table and looked straight into the big brother's eyes, his face slightly red from his random blunders. Taking a deep breath to steady himself, he begged, "I- I don't have much but p-please... teach me!"
๐๐ฆ๐ข๐ค๐ฉ? ๐๐ฆ๐ข๐ค๐ฉ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ข๐ต? Li Tian thought in confusion. He wasn't quick to understand normal human emotions unless it was told to him directly. Besides, he was proficient in many things. ๐๐ฆ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ๐ฏ'๐ต ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฆ๐ข๐ค๐ฉ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ฎ ๐๐ซ๐๐ง๐ฎ๐ฉ๐๐๐ฃ๐ ๐ ๐ฌ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ธ, ๐ค๐ข๐ฏ ๐ฉ๐ฆ? ๐๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ด ๐ช๐ง ๐ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ธ๐ข๐ฏ๐ต ๐๐ฃ๐ฎ๐ฉ๐๐๐ฃ๐ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฐ๐ง๐ง๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ข๐ฏ๐บ๐ธ๐ข๐บ.
Noticing the older brother's furrowing eyebrows, Rai began to worry that maybe seeing his workbook answers, Big Brother Lang thought he wasn't good enough to waste his time. If he really wasn't as good as he thought he was, then he ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐บ needed a proper teacher to help further his studies. He would never be able to prove himself to his family otherwise.
"I'll do my very best! I definitely won't disappoint you, Big Brother Lang!" Rai pleaded uneasily. His cloudy eyes slowly became wetter from his high strung emotions.
Li Tian's face just scrunched further and further. ๐๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ธ๐ฉ๐บ ๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐ถ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ด๐ญ๐บ ๐ค๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐ด ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐๐ช๐จ ๐๐ณ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐๐ข๐ฏ๐จ? ๐๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ข๐ฏ๐ต๐ด ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ญ๐ช๐ต๐ต๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ??
That was just too big a commitment. Not to mention the situation he was in at the moment. How did the beginning of a three-hour commercial flight end up with a strange kid trying to be his underling!?
Even undercover dressed as a loser, was he still really THAT charismatic?
He was just about to say no when he noticed a single tear give away from Rai's eye and streamed down his cheek. The young boy immediately wiped it away, but it was enough for Li Tian to realize how much pain Rai was actually hiding... It reminded him of his Grandmama.
He sighed in defeat. "Okay."
Rai's face instantly flushed red from the reply. Surprise, vigor, excitement, gratitude; a myriad of emotions went through his small heart. The big brother agreed to teach him! No one had ever actually acknowledged him before!
Unknowingly, the tears he'd been trying to hold back started to fall.
This couldn't do! He lowered his head to cover his face, wiping away his tears on his sleeves. Even with his unwarranted showing, he was thankful that Big Brother Lang still continued to not comment on his embarrassing displays. It was great having been accepted by a teacher that wouldn't judge him!
๐-๐ธ๐ฉ๐บ ๐ช๐ด ๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ณ๐บ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ?? ๐ ๐ข๐จ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฅ๐ฏ'๐ต ๐?? Li Tian fuddled in his mind. ๐ ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฅ๐ฏ'๐ต ๐ซ๐ถ๐ด๐ต ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ถ๐ฑ ๐ต๐ข๐ฌ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ข ๐ค๐ณ๐บ๐ฃ๐ข๐ฃ๐บ ๐ข๐ด ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ญ๐ช๐ต๐ต๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฅ ๐? ๐๐ถ๐ณ๐จ๐ฉ... ๐ ๐จ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฌ ๐ค๐ถ๐ต ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ฎ๐ฆ. ๐ ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ง๐ช๐ฏ๐ช๐ต๐ฆ๐ญ๐บ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ฎ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ด.
Rai finished wiping his tears and steadied himself. "Thank you! You won't regret it!"
๐ ๐ง๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ญ ๐ญ๐ช๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ ๐ธ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ...
"Where do we start?"
๐๐ฉ๐ข๐ต? ๐๐ฉ๐ข๐ต'๐ด ๐ต๐ฐ๐ฐ ๐ง๐ข๐ด๐ต! ๐ ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ถ๐จ๐ฉ๐ต ๐ข๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ช๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด ๐ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ด๐ฆ๐ต ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ญ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ.
Rai, of his own volition, took big brother's silence as a test for himself. He thought to himself, ๐๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ถ๐ด๐ต ๐ธ๐ข๐ฏ๐ต ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ง๐ช๐จ๐ถ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐ฎ๐บ๐ด๐ฆ๐ญ๐ง ๐ง๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐'๐ท๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐จ๐ฆ๐ต๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ช๐ต ๐ธ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐จ. ๐๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฅ ๐ด๐ต๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐จ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ค๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด ๐ง๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐จ๐ฆ๐ต-๐จ๐ฐ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ช๐ค๐ฉ ๐ฎ๐ถ๐ด๐ต ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ฃ๐ข๐ด๐ช๐ค๐ด ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ด๐ด๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ถ๐ฑ.
Again he embarrassed himself in front of Big Brother Lang by proudly flaunting his inferior knowledge. However, at the same time, he felt even more adoration knowing the usually indifferent big brother showed such intense reactions towards his mistakes. Plus he made Rai think for himself instead of for him. Big Brother Lang must be incredibly caring!
Rai flipped the pages in the book in Big Brother Lang's hand all the way to page one. "Seeing how I'm not as good as I thought I was, let's start from the beginning. Teach me from the basics please!"
๐๐ข๐ญ๐ค๐ถ๐ญ๐ถ๐ด? Not what Li Tian had in mind as the first lesson but the kid finally said something right. After what he'd seen so far, the kid really wasn't that good, and to be his little brother, he needed to be smart enough to at least get something as easy as calculus.
So he agreed with a small smile. "Okay."
Seeing that small smile made Rai beam in happiness.
It was an adorable and innocent smile. Something that yet again made Li Tian forgo his disgust with human contact so he could rub little Rai's head.
Maybe having a cute little brother wouldn't be as insufferable as he thought it would be.
It was an innocent and blissful misunderstanding between two individuals.
.....