Bring Your A Game, Mr

"Okay."

As the students responded, they closed their textbooks. After gathering her things, Elise moved to leave the classroom, but the Math teacher, Mr. Winfrey, stopped her when she walked to the corridor.

"Miss Sinclair, I know you have a strong foundation, but you're really taking too many days off this semester. If you have trouble catching up, just come to me for guidance as soon as possible. The finals are just around the corner, and I hope you can ace the tests like you always do."

Elise could clearly feel the teacher's expectations of her. "Thank you, Mr. Winfrey. I will do my best."

Seeing her reaction, he stopped nagging, but before leaving, he still tried to persuade her to focus on her studies. "If you don't understand anything at all, just come to me. Don't be shy, okay?" Elise responded with a smile. "Got it. Thank you, Mr. Winfrey."

With that, Elise waved and left while Mr. Winfrey watched her go, then sighed. I've been teaching for ages, but Elise here is one of a kind. She's a Math genius. If she dedicates herself to Math, the field will benefit greatly from her insight.

Elise, of course, didn't know her teacher's thoughts. When she went home, she saw Danny obediently revising his studies. Elise raised an eyebrow as she asked, "So, how confident are you this time?" Danny nodded. "Probably won't be too big of a problem, but there's still a long way to go before I can surpass you."

Elise encouraged him instead. "You're not in competition with me; you're in competition with yourself. You'll do fine as long as you're improving."

Danny looked up at her. "Don't worry, Boss! I'll work extra hard and surpass you as soon as I can."

"Sure. All the best." Elise then asked, "Anything you don't understand today?"

A light chuckle later, he handed her the workbook. "I'm wondering about this question, actually." Elise gave it a look, and the solution came clearly and easily to her. She worked on the problem with Danny, and the two were so focused that they didn't notice Alexander entering the scene and standing in a spot near them.

"It's more or less like this, and you'll get square root of 3 in the end. You can try solving it on your own again," Elise said, putting down the pencil. It was only then when she looked up to see Alexander, whose presence came as a slight surprise. "When did you get back?"

Alexander walked over. "I just arrived."

Then he peeked at their calculations. "I heard that both of you will be having your finals soon, so surely it means that winter break is not far off? Do you have any plans?" He looked at Elise, who smiled as she replied, "I'll go home for winter break and spend the rest of the year with my grandparents. I'll come back when school reopens next year."

"Boss, you can't do that! You promised to play games with me if I scored the top 3, so if you return to your hometown, the network there won't be good enough to play games!"

Elise replied, "Nah, the network there is pretty nice, so we won't have such problems. Also, as long as you get in the top 3, I'll gladly play games with you, even if I have to use up all my mobile data." Pleased by her reply, Danny grinned. "That's more like it."

On the other hand, Alexander put on a sour face. If Elise was going home, then he wouldn't be able to see her for a long while. At that thought, Alexander found his heart filled with longing.

He even wished to go with Elise, and as soon as the idea entered his mind, he seemed to have thought of something so brilliant his eyes even sparkled a little. "You guys continue. I'm going up." With that, Alexander went up the stairs and gave Cameron a call.

The day before the exams, Danny did his revisions well into the night, whereas Elise kept to her daily routine and went to sleep early as usual. The next morning, Elise woke up feeling refreshed, and Danny managed to get up on time as well. The latter was even reading a Chinese magazine as he ate his breakfast.

"Morning, Boss." Danny greeted Elise, who was surprised to see him in such high spirits. Elise hastily asked, "Are you on drugs or something? How are you so awake?"

Danny smiled mysteriously as he said, "I didn't take any drugs, Boss, but would you like some freshly ground coffee?"

Elise nodded, and Stella immediately understood the assignment. A cup of freshly ground coffee soon appeared in front of Elise. "Miss Elise, this coffee is freshly brewed. Do have a try."

"Thank you, Stella. It's been a while since I've last had such good coffee." With that, Elise took a sip. The pleasant smell of the coffee instantly filled her mouth, and her taste buds were extremely satisfied. "Boss, I'm already done with breakfast, so I'm going to school first." Danny put down his spoon and rushed out. Stella couldn't help but praise him. "Young Master Danny has been so hardworking lately! He would do his homework as soon as he got home, and he would also study Chinese vocabulary every morning. I wonder what caused him to change so much. This has never happened before!"

Elise was pleased to know that Danny had the will and perseverance in him, and she knew he would have a bright future ahead of him.

"Stella, I'm done with breakfast as well. I'm going to school now."

Elise was about to leave when she bumped into Alexander, who was just descending the stairs.

"I'll give you a ride." Alexander obviously hadn't had breakfast before he took Elise to school. Hence, she gave him a reminder before she got out of his car when they reached the school compounds. "Breakfasts are important. Remember to eat on time."

Alexander had no care for such things, but he subconsciously replied, "All right. All the best for your finals."

Elise waved at him, then walked toward the school.

For some reason, Alexander actually went to a breakfast joint and ordered a breakfast wrap. As he looked at the delicious food in front of him, his mood was instantly lifted, and even his eyebrows relaxed into a gentle expression.

Ashlyn hadn't seen Alexander in forever. Ever since she was used as a pawn in an arranged marriage, she no longer had the right to stay close to Alexander. Still, she kept learning about him by word of mouth and she knew that even when she was engaged to another person, her heart belonged to Alexander only.

However, she never thought that she would bump into him on her way to get breakfast. Alexander also seemed to be in a good mood; he was even smiling at the food. Ashlyn swore she had never seen Alexander so happy in all the years she had known him. He was always so stern and unsmiling, so she never thought a day would come when she would be able to witness him smiling like that. Ashlyn couldn't help but walk toward him. "Long time no see, Alexander!"

Hearing that, Alexander immediately dropped his smile, and his usual coldness took its place. He even thought that Ashlyn's appearance caused him to lose his appetite.

"Miss Lawson, we're not that familiar with each other, are we?"