Yui exhaled noisily as she pushed the messy strands of hair out of her face. She had just run 10 rounds round the track, and felt immensely refreshed. She was feeling a little stressed out by the mere fact that the exams were just around the corner. Never mind the fact that people said she worried too much or that she would score anyway even without studying, she still had to push hard. She would not allow herself any room for slack which might jeopardise her academics.

She grabbed her dark-blue duffel bag and headed off to the showers to get cleaned up. Half-an-hour later she was slowly making her way to the school cafeteria. Glancing at her watch, it read 5.57pm… Just nice. She settled down at a table near her. The cafeteria was almost empty by now, except a few students studying or chatting over drinks.

6.30pm, and still no sign of the 'Carrot-head'. He was LATE. Great, when he comes, I'm gonna give him extra homework! Yui gritted her teeth as she constantly glanced at her watch and looked around the canteen for a certain carrot-top.

"Looking for me?" A deep voice boomed behind her as she jumped in surprise and turned around only to face…

"Oh hi, Kazuhiko, what are you doing here?" Yui asked pleasantly, masking the deep feeling of dread very well.

He smiled, which only made Yui more worried. "Why, I'm here to take you out for dinner!"

"Erh, that's very nice of you, but… I'm actually meeting Tasuki! For tuition, you know… Heh, sorry."

What shocked her was the wider smile on Kazuhiko's face in response to her rejection. "Then, there's no problem I guess, I can bring you out after all. Tasuki's not gonna show up, you know," he grinned as he grabbed her bag and her arm, and began to steer her towards the school's exit.

"Uh… I think I'd better call him!" Yui smiled nervously back as she fumbled with her bag to retrieve her mobile phone.

"Well, Tasuki's tired. So he asked me to come meet you… which is not a bad arrangement at all… I've been trying to spend some time with you all week but you were just too busy. So now, great! We can have some quality time together." Kazuhiko pulled her hand away from her bag. "So let's go, ok?"

Yui blinked, panicking for the slightest moment. "Uh… Quality time? ERM… Since he's not turning up, then GREAT! I get to rest! So I'll go back to my room and have an early night's sleep then! Goodbye!"

"Aww, c'mon! Dinner?"

"I've eaten."

"A movie?"

"Nothing interesting."

Frowning slightly, Kazuhiko persisted. "Then, since you were going to tutor Tasuki anyway today, so why not you tutor ME instead?"

"Uh… But you don't have a problem with your studies!" Yui protested weakly.

"Well, I just don't get this chapter… I really don't. So can you coach me on this chapter?" Kazuhiko smiled smugly, knowing jolly-well that she wouldn't be able to talk her way out of this one. "If you don't want to leave school, then fine. We can always just go to the school's library."

"But… Uh…" Yui muttered helplessly, seeing no way out without hurting his feelings. Finally, she let out a loud sigh and shrugged her shoulders as she walked off with him towards the library. What was Tasuki thinking? She wondered, frustrated.

(In the library which is by the way, close to empty due to the late hours…)

Yui couldn't shake off the feeling that she had just walked into the lion's den. She knew he hadn't really wanted her to tutor him—he didn't even bring a textbook! And at the rate they were going, only half-a-page in 30 minutes, it was going to be one long night. Suddenly a wicked thought came to mind. If he wouldn't let her leave, then she would just have to make him leave on his own!

"Ok… so you understand this page?" Yui asked.

"Not exactly," Kazuhiko responded carelessly, leaning closer towards her.

"Oh dear! Then I guess I'll have to refer you to our history teacher for extra lesson! I'm sure she wouldn't mind!"

Kazuhiko gulped. Sure, their history teacher was good; she knew her stuff from front-to-back, but that was if you could stand her yelling the entire time. "Uh, actually, I sort of starting to get it!" he said brightly.

Yui smiled evilly, covering the notes. "Ok, name me the major events that occurred during the Cold War."

"Uh… The events include the Truman Doctrine, the Marshall Plan, the Berlin Blockade, the Berlin Airlift, the formation of NATO, the Warsaw Pact, the division of Germany, the Arm Race… And there's the Korean War and the Cuban Crisis as well..." Kazuhiko recited, almost effortlessly.

Bingo, Yui thought, grinning even broader now. He had fallen into her trap. "Well! That's excellent! You've got almost all of them down, and even in order! Seems like you don't have much problem in this topic afterall! So I guess we can both have an early night retirement!" She simpered, gathering her stuffs quickly, eager to make an escape. "Adieux!"

Kazuhiko's face visibly darkened. "Look, I didn't wait all week just to see you for like what, half-an-hour? And what about the present I gave you?"

"What pres-" Then it sank in. "Oh, the necklace. So it was you." She pulled out the envelope containing it from her side pouch, handed back to him and continued, "I'm sorry it's very pretty and all, but I can't accept it."

He narrowed his eyes. "Oh and why not? You can't accept the present or you can't accept… "

"Both. So erm, I've really gotta go!" Yui responded quickly, feeling rather frustrated but at the same time a little scared, as she dashed out of the library. She had never seen Kazuhiko acting this way before. Even though the thought of going out with him never crossed her mind, she had always thought him to be 'rather nice and decent'. Now, his angry stare and tightened jaw sounded an alarm in her mind, debunking whatever good impression she had had of him before.

"Don't walk away from me like that," he growled, pushing the door angrily, fast on her heels. He spun her around to face him, pushing her against the railing, the angry glint in his eyes never fading.

She raised her hands in self-defence as she let out a low cry. This was it, he was gonna hit her. Or so she thought. It all happened so quickly—He pushed her hands away and pressed his lips down on her hers roughly. Horrified, Yui shoved him away as hard as she could and gave him a hard slap. "How DARE you!" she yelled at him and turned and ran away.

"Wait!" he shouted. But Yui did not stop and continued running towards the hostel block, and judging by the loud thumping behind her, he was chasing her still. Faster, faster, she pushed herself, and it was lucky that she was in Athletics. Though so, it didn't really give her an edge since Kazuhiko was also from sports, namely, soccer. Finally, she reached her corridor. Her key! Where WAS the freaking key? Yui thought desperately, searching her compartments.

"Looking for this?" Kazuhiko smirked, dangling the key in question right in front of her.

Yui stared disbelievingly.

"You dropped it while running." He explained lazily.

"Ok, then thank you very much!" She lunged for the keys but he easily switched hands.

Shaking his head he stared down at her, "You look really cute being so discomposed and flustered. I'll give you your keys back so don't be so impatient, Yui. Oh, shall we go for dinner first?" He reached his hand to touch her cheek, but she slapped it away.

"Look," Yui spoke furiously, "I don't appreciate what you did back there. And I'm not interested in dinner. Can you just give me back the keys?"

He narrowed his eyes. "It's just dinner… Is it so hard to comply? Or are you just playing hard-to-get? Well then, I know the game, now let's go." With that he pulled her towards the staircase, gripping her hand firmly.

"LET ME GO!" Yui yelled hysterically as she struggled against him, though not really succeeding.

Now, the racket they were causing was penetrating the rosewood doors, dragging irritated roomers out on their feet. Irritated roomers like Tasuki.

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author's note:
okies, a longer chpt to make up for my long absence.. how's that? )