Behind Your Mask Is A Beautiful Smile 23 Chapter 23- Don't Have Courage

After taking a shower, she knocked on Jiang Wei's door.

Creak

"Bro! Help me with my homework!!" she rushed into the room and realized that it was Zhen Qi who opened the door, not her brother.

"Wei is taking the shower. He just went in. How about I teach you?"

"Yes please! I need to finish this before I sleep."

"Alright, but Wei's room is kind of messy right now because of our project. Can I teach you somewhere else?"

"Umm.. my parents are already asleep so we can't go to the living room. Then, my room? I cleaned it yesterday so it's still organized for now."

Zhen Qi chuckled, "Alright, let's go."

"Okayyy"

-Nana's room-

"Okay. Which questions do you need help with?"

"Everything."

"Did you take notes in cla.s.s?"

"Yeah, but these notes are hard to understand and the teacher talks too fast. Most of the notes that she scribbles across the board are useless because she explains it by mouth."

"Can I see your notes?"

"Here you go."

After 5 minutes, Zhen Qi closed her notebook and reviewed her homework questions.

"Starting from this question, because it is asking you to find the missing number, X, you need to choose the most suited formula. Now, over here in your notes, there are 5 formulas listed. Only one of them can be used at the end to get the correct answer. In this situation, we have the Y, Z, K, L, and M variables and numbers given. Each of these variables represents different currencies so you will have to use this equation to convert each of them and make them alike. So after doing this, variables Y, Z, K, L, and M will become....and then you use this other formula to look for....then you will use another formula to....and finally, you will get the answer after applying the 4th formula from your notes, which is 2,475,869. Do you understand it?"

".... math is a very questionable subject. Maybe I came from a foreign planet. Whatever you just explained to me is the same as me listening to a foreign language. I'm sorry, can you explain it again?"

"Haha, that's okay if you didn't understand the first time. Here, I'll put it in simpler terms."

- 30 minutes later-

"Wow Zhen Qi! You're so smart!! I can do half of these questions myself now. Can I do the next one and let you check it?"

"Sure, I'll stay here until you finish your homework."

"Thank you!!" She hummed her favorite song as she solved the question.

'Hmm? She really likes this song. She's always humming it.'

"Zhen Qi, I'm done!"

"Oh? That was quick. Let's see..."

"Wow, our princess does learn quick. You got it correct! Now, try doing the other questions yourself. If you have any questions, I'll be here."

"Okayyy"

knock knock

"Zhen Qi, I knew you are with her. What's up? Helping her with her math homework?"

"Yep. She improved a lot while you were taking a shower."

"Hmm? Then you are really good at explaining to her because I suck at simplifying the terms to make her life easier when solving these difficult long dull questions."

"I noticed that these questions are more difficult because the way the question is worded is confusing. If we break down the question separately then it will be way easier to understand what it is asking. We learned this math around a month ago already, but the teacher in our school gave easy homework questions."

"Zhen Qi, I'm done with the last question!"

"Great! Let me double-check it and you could sleep."

Nana yawned and rubbed her eyes, "Okay."

"It's all correct. You can sleep now. Sweet dreams."

"Night, Nana." Jiang Wei smiled.

"Night night..."

Zhen Qi went back to Jiang Wei's room, "Wei, you have something you wanted to talk to me about?"

"Zhen Qi, I'll be straightforward with you. Do you like Nana?"

"I think of her as a sister."

"But your reactions to our conversation earlier downstairs doesn't match with what you're saying."

"That's because I can't believe someone would set Nana up with their son. I'm glad she wasn't interested in him at the end. You know how your sister gets attached and puts all her feelings in a relationship. I don't want her to get hurt."

"You don't want her to get hurt, or you don't want to be the guy who ends up hurting her if it doesn't work out? Zhen Qi, I'll be honest with you. If it is you, I will definitely approve and support you. You can refuse or reject this idea all you want and say that she is only a sister to you, but you know it yourself. I remember what happened to the jerk she had a crush on last time and judging from what I see now, I could tell you have feelings for her. It's late, I'm going to rest up. Don't say I didn't warn you, Nana is planning a confession to a guy at her school tomorrow."

After Zhen Qi went back to the guest room, he sighed, "You idiot. How are you so sharp about these things? If you weren't there the last time I fought that jerk then you probably wouldn't have noticed my feelings for Nana..."

-Flashback a year and a half ago-

Zhen Qi and Jiang Wei were riding the bus home and overheard a vulgar conversation between a group of guys.

Zhen Qi: "Wei, isn't the guy with brown hair, Nana's crush?"

Jiang Wei: "Yeah, that's him."

Zhen Qi: "What does she see in this guy?"

Jiang Wei: "She said he is very caring like my dad is to my mom. Apparently he helped her with some work at school and they became friends."

Zhen Qi: "She's too innocent. She doesn't hang out much with guys or girls enough to tell the difference between liking someone and helping someone.

Jiang Wei: "Well, can't blame her for this. She doesn't want her family background to attract greedy people so she keeps it on the low. She said she will find the right man for her just like how my parents found each other."

/Conversation between group of guys/

Crush: "That stupid girl, what's her name? Huang Li Na. Right, she's soft like a bunny. She's so in love with me that I asked her to lend me 500 dollars and she actually gave me it. I only needed to tell her I need it for my mom's medication."

Guy 1: "d.a.m.n, you tricked her and took her money? Is she that stupid? Or is she naïve?"

Guy 2: "Hahaha, you don't know how this sheep is. She has good curves, but dumb brain. She confessed to him two weeks ago and he said that they can go on a date. She paid for everything and asked if there is going to be another one!"

Guy 3: "Ehhh? Girl's like her are so rare nowadays. If the hot girls out there think the same way she does, then we will become filthy rich."

Crush: "I'm thinking of asking her over and doing her. Heh, you guys want to bet with me that she will let me do it? She was blushing from a hug the other day. She is most likely a virgin."

Guy 2: "You're so cruel to her. That poor sheep is only there as a wallet. Now, you are going to take her virginity? Haha, man, don't you think karma will bite you back?"

Crush: "What karma? She is throwing herself on me. She is lucky that I bothered to look at her. She's pretty and all, but too dull. Maybe her moans in bed would make it interesting. Thinking about it makes me hard already."

Zhen Qi's fist tightened after hearing the guy's conversation. His knuckles turned white and palms turned red from his tight fist.

"Hey you, guy with the brown hair. I dare you to repeat what you just said about her."

Crush: "What? You got a problem with my popularity? Hah, you probably like that girl and is jealous that she likes me."

JIang Wei: "b.a.s.t.a.r.d, I was going to stay silent, but your dirty mouth polluted the bus. Stay away from that girl or else you will regret it. Talk anymore and you will get your karma right here and now."

Zhen Qi: "too f.u.c.king late for that." he walked in front of Nana's crush and punched his nose.

Crush: "Oww!!! My nose.. my beautiful nose!!! You impotent beast!!! b.a.s.t.a.r.d!! You'll pay for this!!! I will f.u.c.k that girl and then dump her. I'll videotape her first time and tie her up. Then, I'll let my buddies have a taste of her. I'll post the orgy online and have people rate comments. You better kneel and let me beat the c.r.a.p out of you, or else your precious innocent girl will get raped and broken!"

Zhen Qi glared at him murderously and cracked his knuckles with a cold grin. He continuously punched Nana's crush and broke his arms. "Let's see how daring you are to lay a finger on her. If she loses even a strand of hair, you and your family will not get away with it. I'll send you to a dark place where n.o.body, but starved stray dogs are. You will feel each bite from the dogs before you die. Try me."

/End of flashback/

'That was the first time that I snapped and furiously beaten someone badly. That guy broke up with Nana afterwards and transferred to another school. He never dared to contact her and his friends never dared to talk about what happened in that bus. The bus driver knew how powerful the Huang's are and never liked the disgusting group of guys so he didn't say anything either. '

"I remember how much she cried when that jerk transferred and dumped her. I don't have the courage to ask her out and risk our current relationship."