Alexia’s POV

        My lips pulled up into a tight smile. “Of course Mother, you know I will get a perfect score on my upcoming calculus test.” My mother nodded, her face expressionless at my answer as she ate her dinner. Internally, I was freaking out. I hadn’t had time to study yet for it, and I had other things to work on tonight too. So much homework.. not to mention I still have to plan a few things for science club and mathletes. 

        I couldn’t stop the frown from appearing, and I felt someone grip my hand from under the table. 

        “Don’t worry so much Lexi, I’ll help you study if you want,” Lee whispered to me, rubbing small circles on the back of my hand. I looked at him and smiled, thinking of how grateful I was to have such a nice fiancé. 

        “So Lee,” my father interjected, “how’s your father doing?” 

        Lee released my hand, smiling at my father, brown eyes bright. “My father is doing great, thank you for asking Mr. Chong. He’s a bit busy with this new deal he’s trying to secure with an agency from Japan, but luckily he’s also taking the time to train me to become the next CEO .” 

        My parents nodded in approval. 

        “I see,” my mother hummed. “And would it be possible to tell us this big deal your father is working on?”

        “Well, since we’ll soon be family,” Lee paused and smiled down at me, eyes filled with adoration, “I guess it couldn’t hurt to tell you. He’s trying to buy a couple of firms in order to establish the company more firmly in Japan. Our sales have been steadily growing there, so my father wishes to be sure that there is enough product for everyone. Along with that, he’s also working to get another manufacturing plant in China. The company is growing larger by the day, and we need all the help we can get.” Lee chuckled, pride shining through at the mention of his father’s company. His father ran a very successful electronics company that designed many things from phones and laptops to robotics. I knew Lee was very excited to be working with his father, and I was happy for him. 

        “Ahh, that’s good. How are your studies going, Lee? When will you be returning back to Stanford?” 

        Lee was a junior in college, and three years older than me. He was twenty years old, where as I was seventeen.

        “Sadly I have to go back in a couple weeks, but I’m planning on making the most of this break with Alexia,” he said, wrapping his arm around my shoulder. I leaned into him, brushing stray strands of black hair out of my face. 

        You could tell that my parents were pleased Lee had taken such a liking to me, they had been planning this family merging for years. I’ve pretty much been content with Lee, he was so nice and caring, who wouldn’t want a guy like him?

        “Aww, that’s too bad. We’d love to keep you here forever,” my mom joked, chuckling a bit. While she made it sound like a joke, I wouldn’t doubt if my mom really tried to keep Lee locked in the basement or something. He was nearly perfect, with a great personality, absolutely perfect scores, and he comes from a powerful family. That was basically the reason my parents liked him so much, and as much as they like to deny it, I’m pretty sure that they like Lee because he was also Chinese. 

        My parents don’t think they’re racist, but they are. They look down upon anyone who isn’t Asian, claiming that they’re not ‘smart’. 

        There are plenty of kids at my school of all nationalities that are smart, some are actually really close to catching up to me. 

        “And I wish I could stay. But I’m here now, and I promised Alexia that I’d help her study for Calculus. May we be excused so that we may do so?” Lee put on a charming closed mouth smile, and I could practically feel my parents melting. 

        “Of course! We’ll clean up here,” my mother responded, shooing us off. Lee shot her another grateful smile before pulling me towards the stairs leading up to my room.

        Once inside, he closed the door and flopped onto the white blanket neatly covering my bed. I went to my desk, my book bag sitting on the floor next to it. 

        I reached down and pulled out my calculus book and binder, flipping it open to the unit we had just completed and were about to be tested on. 

        Grabbing a pencil and a piece of paper, I started doing some problems from the book, applying what I had learned. 

        “Hey, need any help with that?” I could feel his lips right next to my ear, and I jumped.

        Turning to face him, I said, “I think I’m okay.” My voice sounded small and quiet, and I was really uncomfortable. We had technically be engaged for a year, but I still never felt completely comfortable with him. 

        Maybe it was because I was just sort of plunged into this situation without any say, or maybe because I never really got to know Lee beforehand. Either way, the fact that he was a college student and I was a high school senior also played a part in it. He was just so much.. older than I was, more mature, had more life experience. At least, that’s what it felt like anyways. 

        “Aww, come on Lexi, I like Calculus. It was my favorite subject in high school.” Lee bent over the desk, his dark eyes analyzing the problems I had just done. “Ah, look here. You made a mistake. You have to distribute that number before substituting it in for lambda.” 

        Going over the problem again, I realized that he was right. 

        “Oops,” I mumbled, erasing that part of the problem before re-doing it. “Better?” 

        He nodded, smiling. “Yeah.” 

        We worked like that for a while, me furiously solving problems while he watched me like a hawk and corrected any mistakes I made. Luckily there weren’t many. 

        Afterwards we moved on to my AP physics homework and working together, we had it done fairly quickly. 

        Soon enough, my large amount of homework was reduced to nothing and we were laying on my bed, relaxing. Now I’d just have to do a bit of planning for the clubs I was in and then I’d be golden. 

        “Thanks for all your help, Lee,” I told him honestly, a huge weight lifted off my shoulders. School always seemed to stress me out so much, but that stress had slowly just become a part of my everyday life. Of course, it still felt great to know I didn’t have to worry. 

        “Of course, Lexi. You should know by now that I’m willing to help you with anything you need. We are getting married you know.” There he goes, bringing up the marriage again. It was supposed to take place in a year, after I graduated high school and was well into my first year of college. He gave me a smile and I couldn’t help but smile back. 

        There was an awkward silence for a minute or two, when Lee asked, “Do you want to see a movie or something? We could go to the cinema and see any movie you want.” 

        I looked at the time, it read 9:25pm. I bit my lip, unsure. “Uh, it’s a little late, don’t you think?” 

        “Come on Lexi, we’ll be back at like 11:30 and I haven’t seen you in forever.” He pouted, giving me puppy dog eyes. 

        “It is the first day you’re back…” I trailed, him slowly convincing me. Finally I gave up. “Fine, let’s go see a movie.” 

        His entire face lit up, and he quickly stood up. “Yes! I haven’t been able to go out and have fun in forever. My dad keeps me pretty busy, and between that and college I have like no time.” His voice was bright and chipper, and you could tell he was really excited to go and do something. 

        He held his hand out to me, and I grabbed it. I was actually surprised at how easily he pulled me to my feet. 

        “What theatre are we going to?” I asked, feeling exhilarated just by how giddy he was. It was as if his excitement was palpable, intoxicating me, and making me feel like we were children off to play at the playground or something. 

        “We should go to the one close to the mall, that one is always relatively pristine.“ Just then, his phone beeped and he took it out. Then he frowned, letting out a frustrated sigh as he ran his hand through his hair in agitation.

        “Sorry Lexi, I can’t see the movie anymore. My dad wants me to meet with one of his associates to discuss some financial stuff. It’s part of my training to become CEO.” He looked genuinely crushed that we couldn’t see the movie, and that actually made my spirits sink lower for a few minutes. 

        Then I gave him a strained smile. “Oh, it’s fine. I have stuff to finish up here anyways. I have things to plan for the science club and mathletes. Events and stuff like that. I didn’t really have time for a movie anyways.” I gave a nonchalant shrug. Even though what I said was true, I was somewhat surprised to find myself unhappy that we couldn’t hang out. I really did want to get to know Lee better, and the sooner I get over this awkward phase the better. 

        “I really am sorry about this, but I can’t exactly say no,” he mumbled an excuse, and I nodded in understanding. 

        “It’s fine, really Lee. I’ll see you tomorrow, okay?” 

        He nodded, walking over and placing a light kiss on my forehead. “You’re seriously the best Lexi, I don’t know what I’d do without such a great fiancée.” 

        I simply smiled in response as he left, the door closing softly behind him. Then I heaved a sigh. 

        “Well, I might as well work on planning stuff. I have the science fair and I have to make sure we’re entered into the mathletes league so we can participate in the competitions.” 

        Going back to my desk, I opened up my light blue laptop with my name engraved onto the cover. It was one of the many gifts given to me by Lee, and of course this one was manufactured by Zhang Inc., the company owned by Lee’s father. 

        I spent the next hour and a half, filling out forms, taking notes, and recording dates for the clubs. I rubbed my eyes, stretching while letting out a yawn. 

        My clock read 10:32pm, and I decided that it was time for a break before I planned out the rest of my week. I still needed to find time to volunteer at the local retirement home as well as the Children’s unit of the hospital. The kids loved when I came to read stories and play with them a bit.

        Crawling over to my bed, I lay down as I grabbed the book on my nightstand. It was a young adult fiction book about a rebellious girl who was trying to escape a reformatory. It was a really enticing book, and I had to constantly check the time to make sure I didn’t read for the entire night. 

        I was probably about ten or so minutes into reading when I heard a soft knock on my door. 

        “Alexia? Are you still awake?” It was my mother. 

        Stifling a groan, I got up to open the door. “Yes, mother?” 

        “Do you have a minute? Your father and I would like to talk to you about something.” She turned and went back downstairs, leaving me with no choice but to follow. I couldn’t stop my heart from pounding as I followed her, nervous to what they would ask me to do now. Last time they wanted to talk to me, it was about joining a couple extra clubs and adding on more volunteer work. I ended up getting less than two hours of sleep a night, and a coffee cup seemed to be permanently attached to my hand. Not to mention my grades started to drop slightly, which freaked my parents out and they finally agreed that I didn’t have to be in those extra clubs. 

        “What is it that you wanted to talk to me about?” I asked after we reached the kitchen and I sat down in the chair opposite them.

        “Well, your father and I have been talking and we decided it would be best if you were to pick up one more extracurricular activity.” My spine stiffened at the words extracurricular activity. 

        “What kind of extracurricular activity?” I struggled slightly to keep the suspicion out of my tone.

        “Tutoring,” my mother stated. 

        “Tutoring?” I repeated, slightly confused. They wanted me to find a tutor? Why? My grades were close to perfect.

        “Yes, we would like you to sign up to tutor someone,” my mom clarified, and it clicked.

        “Oh.” I blinked a couple times, trying to quickly mentally calculate how to fit that into my schedule. Well I guess I could either do it after school on Tuesday, or maybe after one of my clubs. “Okay, I can do that,” I finally agreed, albeit somewhat reluctantly. I had so much on my plate already, but I could probably handle one more thing. 

        “Good. I’m glad we had this talk Alexia.” Then my parents left, and I went back up to my room. 

        Immediately I lay down in my bed, feeling the stress rise up in me again. 

        “Tutoring someone? Great, just what I need.” 

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Here's the prologue!:D longest thing I've written in a while haha, but this is just to give you a feel for some of the characters and a bit of background c: the real fun starts next chapter with the tutoring :D

what do you think so far?