Chapter 21
I 55 vouchers
Kaia lifted her brows slightly, thinking she caught something different in Tobias’s tone.
“I had to tell my family I’m moving out, so it took a while,” she said, dragging her suitcase toward the stairs.
“Here, let me get that,” Tobias said, taking it from her.
Kaia blinked, caught off guard by the sudden change in attitude. He’d been grumpy earlier, and now he was being nice.
“It’s fine. It’s not heavy. I can carry it,” she said, reaching for it.
But Tobias didn’t hand it back. He carried it upstairs straight to her room.
That was weird–he’d said before he wouldn’t set foot in her room.
Once they were inside, Kaia gave him a polite nod and said, “Thanks.”
“You’re welcome,” he replied evenly.
A quiet beat passed before Kaia noticed he was still standing there. She frowned. “You can go now.”
Tobias frowned and didn’t move. “Let’s play another game of chess.”
Kaia got it—so that was what this was about.
“It’s late, and I have school tomorrow. Maybe next time,” she said, making an excuse.
Tobias glanced at his watch. “You’re right. It’s late.”
The silence stretched again. Kaia looked at him, wondering why he still wasn’t leaving.
Just as she was about to say something, Tobias blurted, “Did you tell your family everything?”
I told them I’d be gone for a month,” she answered.
“They were okay with it? Didn’t they ask questions? Weren’t they worried about you living alone?” he asked in quick succession.
“I lied. I told them I needed a quiet place to study for the SAT,” Kaia said.
Tobias hesitated. He thought she was supposed to be a bad student. After a moment’s thought, he offered, “I graduated a while ago, but I still remember high school stuff pretty well. If you need help, I can tutor you. I’m especially good at foreign languages.”
“No, thanks. I can manage,” Kaia said coldly, giving him a faint smile. She wasn’t the terrible student everyone thought she was.
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Tobias took her refusal the wrong way. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to imply you’re bad at school or hurt your feelings.”
Kaia’s mouth twitched. “My grades are fine, and no one’s ever hurt my feelings. Mr. Moreno, you
can leave now.”
Still, Tobias didn’t move.
So Kaia flopped onto her bed and gave him a teasing smile. “If you’re not leaving, are you planning to sleep here with me?”
That lit something in his eyes. His gaze slid over her curves, her inviting smile–a mix of innocence and temptation.
Heat crept up his neck, his ears turning red. Then, without a word, he left, his expression frosty.
The next morning, Kaia came downstairs and spotted Caden scratching his head, looking nervous.
She walked over and saw he was hunched over his homework. “Didn’t you do it yesterday?” she
asked.
Caden quickly put a finger to his lips, panicked that someone might overhear.
‘Oh, got it,” Kaia said, catching on.
Caden looked embarrassed and nervous. “You’re not gonna stop teaching me boxing just because I skipped my homework, right?”
‘Of course not. Back when I was in school, I never touched homework. I didn’t even bother filling in test papers,” Kaia said casually.
She’d always thought that stuff was too easy–she’d rather work on real research problems.
“That’s awesome,” Caden said, giving her a thumbs–up.
Then he frowned. “I can’t talk now. This problem is tough, and I need to finish before the teacher
chews me out.”
Seeing him so stressed, Kaia said kindly, “If you’re stuck, I can teach you.”
“You? Would you help me? This one’s so hard–how would you even know the answer?” he blurted
out.
“This is just elementary school stuff. Are you looking down on me?” she said, raising a brow.
“No, no, don’t take it the wrong way. I’m not looking down on you. You know, I go to the best private school in Morganburg. All our teachers have PhDs, and the stuff they give us is so hard that
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even college students can’t solve it,” he said in a rush.
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“Watch and learn,” Kaia said. She took his homework, barely glanced at the problem, and started
writing.
Seconds later, she slid it back to him. “Done. Take a look. If you don’t get it, I’ll explain.”
Caden stared at the neat, logical solution, totally stunned.
Kaia got up from the couch. “I’m skipping breakfast here. Heading to school now.”
Caden watched her go, still in shock. “I thought she was supposed to be bad at school, right? Even high schoolers couldn’t solve that.”
Before he could say more, a deep voice came from behind. “What are you mumbling about?”
“Kaia is awesome. I can’t believe she-” Caden stopped short.
He couldn’t let Tobias know he hadn’t done his homework yesterday.
“Oh, uh… What was I saying? I forgot.” He scratched his head and wandered to the table. “It doesn’t matter. I’ll just eat. I’ve gotta get to school after this.”
The word “school” made Tobias think of Kaia’s face. “Have you seen Kaia?”
“She already left for school,” Caden said.
“Without breakfast?” Tobias frowned.
“Yeah.” Caden nodded.
Tobias didn’t ask anything more, but the frown deepened.
***
At school, Kaia stepped into her classroom, hearing a mix of studying and gossip.
“I heard from my dad that Morganburg’s most eligible bachelor is off the market,” one girl said.
“You mean the owner of Moreno Group? The head of the Moreno family?” another asked.
“Yeah, him. I wonder which lucky girl’s marrying into the family.”
“I’m so jealous.”
“What’s there to be jealous about? Guys like that are way out of our league. We’re just regular people–it’s not like the super–rich have anything to do with us. I’d be happy if I found someone like Mr. Snyder, like Casey did. That’s more my speed for jealousy.”
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Hearing her name, Casey smiled smugly. Philip was her ticket to brag.
EX 55 vouchers
She glanced at Kaia, who was standing by the window, and her eyes turned calculating.
“Kaia, I’m curious,” Casey said in a sharp tone. “How exactly did you meet Miss Crawford? You didn’t get close to one of her uncles, did you?”
The whole class turned to look at Kaia.
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