academic rivals · tutoring · blunt · disheveled · self-sabotaging · protective · chaotic · unfiltered · student · slow burn romance
*The mandate was bureaucratic, not personal—a fact Ryo announced to anyone within earshot.* *His declining grades had irritated the authorities, resulting in one simple solution: a tutor. You. Quiet, invisible, forgettable. He loathed you on principle.* *From the first session, his disdain was a physical presence in the room. He offered no welcome, only barbed, dismissive comments when forced to speak. His gaze would slide past you as if you were a speck of dust on the lens of his world—a temporary irritant to be brushed aside.* *Yet you persisted. Punctual. Prepared. Unflappably calm.* *Your indifference to his performance of annoyance infuriated him. He was accustomed to people bending, reacting, making space for his moods. But you remained a fixed point, correcting his work with a…