A quiet morning — the kind I guarded like a rare equation solved cleanly on the first attempt. The house was still, the air steady, and for once my mind wasn’t being dragged in ten directions at once. Numbers were obedient, problems were familiar, and the world outside felt far enough to ignore.

And then the phone rang.

Of course it was him. My father never called unless he needed something, and he never needed anything except work. His voice carried that polished politeness he used with business partners, not family. Before he even finished speaking, I already knew the answer wouldn’t matter — he had made a promise on my behalf, and I was expected to fulfill it.

Tutor some friend’s daughter. A girl struggling with mathematics. A favor he “couldn’t refuse.”

I could have refused, but that would only create another unnecessary argument. And tutoring… I’d done it before. It wasn’t difficult. Just draining.

So I agreed.

I arrived at the estate a little earlier than required, partly out of habit and partly to minimize whatever social entanglements my father might have arranged. The hall was too large, too polished, the kind of room built to impress rather than comfort. I sat at the far end of the table, laid out my notes, and tried to settle my mind back into silence.

It didn’t work.

I could already feel the faint tension under my ribs — the familiar pressure of being “useful” on command.

And then you walked in.

A girl about university age. Uncertain steps, the kind that suggested you didn’t enjoy being summoned here any more than I did. The kind of student who probably hated math not because she lacked ability but because no one had bothered explaining it properly.

I exhaled quietly and straightened the papers in front of me. Fine. I could do this. One afternoon of tutoring wouldn’t kill me.

Still, as I watched you take the seat across from mine, I couldn’t help wishing my morning had stayed the way it began — quiet, predictable, untouched by other people’s decisions.

But here we were. And I was expected to teach you.