*Knock!*Knock!*Knock!*

“Kindly come inside.”

I heard her monotonous voice coming from the other side of this thick wooden door. So I pushed it open and greeted her cheerily.

“Hello~ Good morning po ma'am Iris~ Yours truly came for a help~”

“Good morning Mr. Reverren.”

She greeted me looking rather stiff. Or is that her normal pose? That's rather tiring.

But I don't think so.

“Did I disturb your lunch?”

“No...”

“Oh really? You have a rice grain on your lips after all.”

She looks surprised and then immediately wiped her mouth with a tissue.

“What help do you need Mr. Reverren?”

Fufufu. She didn't show any signs of getting embarassed from that.

“Before that, can you please stop calling me by my surname? And if possible, please drop the ‘mister’ part. It feels rather embarassing to be referred as like that by an older beautiful woman.”

“Alright ‘Mr. Reverren’. Please take a seat.”

“Uh-huh, very well thank you.”

I sat on her guest's seat and leaned my elbow on her desk.

“You're welcome. What could I help you with?”

“I just like you.... po ma'am... uh..”

I squinted my eyes at her and spoke in a low pitch with that sentence.

“........”

But she didn't show any slight changes on her expression.

“....to teach me your lessons earlier. I kind of wanting to clarify my own understanding.”

Our topic this morning was fairly simple and easy so what I said might sounds like an excuse.

“Do you still remember what does it mean to evaluate an function?”

But she took me seriously.

“Evaluating a function is to replace the variable in a function.”

“Then please try to evaluate this.”

She pulled a sheet of paper from the the shelf of her desk and offered me her pen.

I deliberately touched her skin when I took the pen from her but she didn't reacted on it.

I know it's normal.. but.. well nevermind it then.

“In this example, we have: F(3) = 2x - 1. Here, the value from the function's domain is 3. I'll evaluate it by simply replacing all the X's in our range which in this case is 2X - 1.”

“......”

She looks at the paper I'm writing on intently and seems to be listening to me carefully.

“Therefore, our function would become F(3) = 2(3) - 1. Did I get it right ma'am?”

“Yes.”

“Fufu. Then why don't you give me a star ma'am? I see no stamp here so just please draw on the back of my hand.”

I gently waved my wrists at her. But she just ignored me.

“Kindly compute it then.”

“Alright. F(3) = 2(3) - 1 to.. F(3) = 6 - 1... So the answer would be F(3) = 5.”

“Good. Then kindly tell me what you know about the operations on functions.”

“Will you give me po a kiss if I can say it correctly?”

“........”

She just stares at me.

“.......”

I did the same.

“Oh hell. You're no fun po ma'am.”

“You came to me to learn Mr. Reverren. Kindly take this seriously.”

“Well my bad. Ehem, operations on functions refers to the rule of addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, and composition of functions.”

“What's the four step problem solving of George Polya, Mr. Reverren?”

“Ohh. I don't remember.”

I lied to tease her but she took me seriously and didn't respond like how it should be: ‘What do you mean you don't remember? It's fairly simple to memorize Mr. Reverren.’

“Please listen to me then.”

“I will always listen to you po ma'am. Like how I would listen to my mother and to my wife. Would you like to be the latter, ma'am?”

“First step is to identify the problem. In order to understand the problem, read it carefully and determine what the problem requires you to do.”

My current problem wants me to date you po, ma'am.

“Secondly, devise a plan.”

I already did.

“Find the strategy you'll use to the problem. Setting up an equation, drawing a diagram, or any other ways of solving a problem.”

“Sleeping.”

“That's just running away.”

“But I was just joking po ma'am.”

“Kindly be more serious.”

“Oh alright po ma'am.”

Uwaah, she's too serious.

“The next step is to evaluate and solve. And lastly, assess your answer. Look back and check if you used all the informations correctly. Also make sure that you write your final answers with the correct labeling. Do you understand?”

“I understood it clearly po ma'am!”

“Prove it to me then. Solve this problem please.”

She pulled another sheet from the stacks of paper on the side of her desk.

[A tricycle rides in town and charges ₱8.00 for the first 4 Km. And each additional integer kilometer adds ₱1.50 to the fare. How much will you pay if your destination is 7.5 kilometers?]

“You can do it right?”

“I have a great teacher so of course I could do it ma'am. But will you please cheer me?”

“.......”

Like earlier, she just stares at me.

Please stop ignoring me, ma'am. I am starting to pity myself.

“I'm asked to calculate my fare for a distance of 7.5 Km under the conditions of: 8 pesos for the first 4 Km; added by 1.50 pesos for every additional kilometer. I'll let ‘d’ be the kilometers travelled.”

“......”

“I already identified the intervals for which different rules apply. So next is to determine formula that describes how to calculate an output from an input in each intervals.... And oh.. I need to use floor function applied to d.. then..”

Things are starting to get complex so I started using the scratch paper ma'am gave me earlier.

—A minute later.

“.....the minimum fare is eight pesos for 0

I put the pen down and I noticed that ma'am just stares at me blankly.

Oh hell! I got caught up and solved it properly. Did she now noticed that I was just playing dumb?

“Uh. Did I do well ma'am?”

“Ohh.”

She came back to her senses.

“Yes you did. And it makes me wonder what did you even needed me for.”

“I can't explain it well. But you made things clearer for me po ma'am. You are such a great teacher anyway. So of course, learning is easy—”

*BAM!*

“Really?”

Eh? That surprised me. She didn't shout or anything, just slightly louder than usual. But her suddenly slapping the table shocked me.

“Yes po ma'am Iris. You helped me greatly.”

She seemed to have realized what she just did but her expression didn't changed. She just sat back gently and tidied up her clothes.

“I'm glad then. Is there anything else I can help you with?”

“For the meantime, nothing po ma'am. However, can I come back here again?”

“Of course it's my duty. But make sure it's my free time.”

“Well then, thank you po ma'am. I shall take my leave. And you should resume your lunch fufufufu.”

I giggled and teased her again but she didn't respond or anything.

“Uhh..”

So I just left and closed the door...

“She's so harsh on me you know. Why don't you comfort me?”

She frowned and glared at me.

“You're not allowed to touch me Mark.”

“Right. I know. I remember the deal. But comfort doesn't necessarily needed to be physical.”

“You lied to me again. Ma'am Iris isn't one to be cruel.”

She's pretty cold you know. So, it's kinda cruel for others.

“I did.”

She lowered her head.

“Of course. Who am I anyway?”

“Still, I do trusts you you know.”

*Pam!*

“Shut up! I don't want to hear it.”

She slapped the stone table. That will hurt my palm if I was her.

“Alright very well~”

“So when will you invite her?”

“I don't know. Perhaps tomorrow, perhaps next week, or perhaps next month.”

“Do it fast.”

“Fufufu. Are you that eager to leave?”

“.......”

She didn't answer but just turned sideways.

“Anyway, I needed to do it slowly. I haven't really showed any romantic interest for her despite me teasing her in the past. Suddenly inviting her for a date will make it seem creepy with an obvious ulterior motives— even though I have none.”

“........”

“Let me lay down the foundation first. It could take a lo~t of time.”

“........”

“Unless you decided to stop with this game of yours.”

“This isn't a game Mark.... This is for your sake.....”

She whispered the latter but I heard it.

“For me? Fufufu. Very well.”

“This conversation is over.”

She stood up and prepared to leave.

“Where do you think you're going?”

She stopped.

“We're going home together Eli-chan.”

“I'll come to you later.”

“Very well. See you later then fufufu.”