Jane carefully slid the classroom door open and peeked inside, her breath catching in her throat as her eyes landed on Vernon, typing away on his laptop with a serious, yet serene look on his face.
Every time she saw him work, he seemed so intensely immersed that it never failed to send a shiver down her spine. Having spent some time together during their tutoring sessions, she had come to realize that his passion for coding knew no limits.
Why couldn't she ever be like that? She wondered with a hint of sadness in her big blue eyes.
I've noticed it before, but now that I'm watching him from a distance, that serious look of his really suits him. When he is working… something about him changes completely––it's like he is turning into an entirely different person altogether. That unapproachable coldness fades away. He still looks aloof and detached, but being so engrossed in what he's doing makes him even more attractive.
Catching herself praising the guy, Jane flinched and shook her head as if to dispose of those strange thoughts.
Today, however, Vernon's appearance was unusually disheveled—more so than usual, she noticed.
His short, dark hair, which he rarely styled, looked slightly greasy. His skin appeared dry and pale, and even the reflective surface of his glasses couldn't conceal the dark circles under his eyes, a clear sign of countless sleepless nights that had already taken a toll on him.
And yet, despite the evident exhaustion etched into his face, he sat upright, his movements steady and unwavering, with not a single trace of resignation in his demeanor.
The Spring Expo is coming up… On top of his graduation assignments, he must be pushing himself to the brink. I feel a little bad for him now.
Jane quietly stepped into the classroom, closing the door behind her with care. She weaved through the rows of desks until she reached the teacher's desk, where Vernon was seated. Carefully, she placed her laptop next to his.
"Late. Again," he muttered, adjusting his glasses on the bridge of his nose. He didn't even glance away from his laptop screen as he said the words—as if her presence barely registered in his mind.
Jane pouted slightly. She wasn't particularly offended by his behavior anymore; for better or worse, she'd grown used to being treated that way. Still, today's tardiness wasn't entirely her fault.
"P-Professor Austin asked us t-to stay after class t-to get the project assignments. It c-couldn't be helped."
Vernon ignored her explanation entirely. Finally tearing his eyes away from his laptop, he pushed it aside to the edge of the desk. Without a word, he grabbed Jane's laptop, pulled it closer, and inserted a small black flash drive into one of the USB ports.
"Wh-what are you doing?" she asked, arching her elegant eyebrows as she watched him type a long password into the installation window that popped up on the screen.
Still sparing her as little attention as possible, Vernon replied, "Professor Austin's projects usually involve writing simple applications or games. This is one of the debugging apps I wrote during my first year in CS. It will help you understand the process better."
Jane's big blue eyes grew even wider—she couldn't believe what she was seeing and hearing. "You already knew about t-this?!"
"Austin is lazy," Vernon replied, finally turning to her with a calm yet distinctly arrogant expression. "He doesn't bother changing his assignments. He prefers when students copy from past years' submissions so he doesn't have to spend too much time grading."
"Oh…" Jane nodded, her face lighting up with an expression of silent triumph. "D-does that mean you're g-giving me your completed p-project?"
Vernon frowned, clearly unimpressed. "A person is supposed to get smarter when they study, not the other way around," he said, shoving her laptop back to her side of the desk. "I was hired to teach you, not to hand over my work."
Jane bit back the urge to mock him, deciding it wasn't worth the effort. Instead, her attention shifted to the application now open on her laptop screen. Grabbing the mouse she had set beside her, she pressed the spacebar to start it.
"It's a g-game?" Her eyes widened once more as she turned to Vernon. He gave her a curt nod.
"Play the game to the very end," he instructed in a firm tone. "Solve the tasks it gives you along the way. You'll have to debug the broken code inside it to advance to the next level. Fail even one level, and the game will erase itself completely. So just don't screw up."
"What?!" she nearly yelled, her voice rising in panic. "B-but how can I––"
"You'll just have to not fail, princess. Good luck."
Jane's heart pounded wildly in her chest, like a horse galloping out of control. A thin layer of sweat coated her palms. It had been a long time since she'd felt this kind of pressure—so intense that her muscles ached from the sheer tension.
Reluctance gripped her, keeping her frozen, but Vernon's patience was wearing thin.
"I'm not going to sit here all day, princess," he scowled, tapping his fingers impatiently on the desk. "You've got one hour—that's sixty minutes. Press start."
Without waiting for her response, he grabbed his phone, opened the timer app, and set the countdown to precisely sixty minutes.
Jane swallowed hard. The moment she saw the seconds ticking down on his screen, her gaze snapped back to her laptop. Her right hand tightened around the wireless mouse, her grip steady despite her nerves.
Alright. I can do this, right?
Vernon had a strange effect on her. Every time she was in his presence, she wanted to be better––not better than someone, but better than her present self. Was it the way he himself exuded power because he was confident in what he knew?
Jane had more power than he did, but when Vernon looked down at her with his dark eyes behind the lenses, she couldn't help but feel helpless. It unsettled her, but at the same time... She wanted that power too.