𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐨𝐥𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 | ✓

11

"Because I know things that you don't." With one eyebrow slightly raised Mason states.

I sigh and stare at him. "I want to know more about him."

"Why?"

I groan and throw my head back, squeezing my eyes shut.

"Don't tell me you're failing."

For a moment I stare at the ceiling. White, with chapped paint and multiple yellow stains. "I'm not failing failing," I say after a prolonged moment of silence and my gaze jumps to him.

"What's that even supposed to mean! Rae why don't you ever listen. We kept telling you to not interfere with our current matters, to just focus on graduating. Can't you for once do what we ask you to do?"

I straighten myself and study his features. He can't possibly be serious. After the hell we went through, how did Mom and him both think I can go on, and remain absolutely unaffected.

Worry smears his face. "Are you failing all of your classes?"

"No," I drawl as I survey his room.

A heavy sigh falls from his lips. "Gracie..." he starts but I interrupt him.

"No, you can't just tell me to focus on myself while you guys are living in this shithole, and you are..." my voice trails down and I look away. Shame and guilt halt the words that were seconds from spilling from my mouth.

"It wasn't your fault, stop blaming yourself for it. Pull yourself together and get back on track, what would you earn with ruining your life? Nothing!"

I focus on the windowpane on my right. There isn't much to see with the brick wall directly in front of it, covering the view.

My mind goes blank as I struggle to align words. Finally, I mumble, "I just want to know more about Wright, can we please stick to that?" Hesitantly, I turn to him and meet his sky-blue eyes.

"What are you planning on doing?" he squints. "Gracie, Spencer is not someone to mess with." The edge in his voice and the warning his comment carries, makes me wonder if snooping around his office, finding a question he was working on and solving it; and then finding a way to make him give up solving it himself and hand it to me instead and be my supervisor for the paper, can be considered messing with him.

"How much can eleven grand help us?" I quietly ask.

Mason gapes at me. For a solid second his mouth hangs open, taking the opportunity, I add another question, "Can it make any differences?"

"What the hell are you planning to do?" he breathes out, but I ignore it and quirk an eyebrow at him.

And our staring competition begins. We challenge each other just by glaring at one another without sharing a single word, refusing to back down and look away.

Finally, Mason gives in after over thirty seconds. "It can be helpful," he admits softly.

I grin. So no matter how hard it'll be, it'd be worth it.

"Tell me about Wright, everything that you know about him."

He narrows his eyes, "You're not going to do anything illegal, are you? Because Dad is not the condition to save your ass."

I huff and scoff, "I'm not a kid, I know what I'm doing."

He sighs and his tense shoulders slightly loosen up.

Ever since we were kids, I always used to get whatever I had my mind set on, and this time was no different. I won't be leaving until I get what I came here for, and thankfully Mason has realized that too.

With a sharp inhale, Mason starts, "Spencer is a genius in maths. It was impossible to keep up with him in classes, and as annoying as it was to have him make the professors teach all the higher lever nonsense shit, it was cool to witness that in classes."

Well that's obvious. "And?" I encourage him to go on.

"And you won't be able to impress him. In fact, I think it's impossible to impress a guy like him."

My shoulders drop as a sudden wave of despair washes over me but I refuse to let it drown me, instead I swim to the top and draw a breath of hope and determination. "That's it?" I tilt back and look at him with raised eyebrows. "You know no one will be charging you with tax if you be a bit more specific."

He chuckles and shakes his head. "I feel like you're planning something. By the looks of it, you're damn confident about it, which can only mean one thing, trouble."

I giggle, "Don't worry, I won't do anything that would get me sued. Besides," I bring my hand to my chin, and continue, "who can sue this pretty face." I smile.

Mason's eyes widen as though he just caught something remarkable, "You're not going to sleep with him to pass your class, and then blackmail him to get away with it, are you?"

My index finger automatically moves to my chest as I gape at him. "Me? Do that! What the hell, dude! Never in million years would I do that, jeez."

To my utter disbelief, he relaxes, as though he's relieved. "Good," he nods and I glare at him.

"I'm gonna ignore what you said, now tell me more about Wright."

Frowning, he stares at the wall behind me, like whatever he needs to remember from his college days is written over there.

"He used to be in every extracurricular... in any start-up that our classmates would come up with that had anything to do with numbers, and benefit him in any way or be profitable, he would have joined them. His brain worked like a computer, impossibly fast and creative with solving problems... but that's the problem, it's like he's a computer, a robot designed for working on mathematical problems only."

I tilt my head to my left and furrow my brows with confusion. What's the problem with that?

Mason sighs, "It's like... he lacks basic human emotions."

I chew my bottom lip and pinch Mason's bed's mattress. That explains why he was behaving like that the first time he called me to his office to tell me I was failing.

"Gracie," Mason calls, drawing my attention to himself. "Don't mess with him. You have no idea how vicious he can become if you get on his bad side. His father is too rich and powerful and one word from him can screw us all over again. He got three students expelled when we were in Harvard, just because they ruined his final project for one of his classes and got on his bad side. Don't get involved with Spencer Wright." Mason's wide eyes along with his tone laced with warning and sternness would have made me reconsider my plans.

But, I'm far too into this and I've already decided what I'm going to do. No amount of looks and words can stop me now.

"I won't," I lie with a sweet smile as I slide off the bed and get to my feet. "Don't worry about me, just focus on your physio and getting better."

With that, I sling my bag over my shoulder, leaving Mason's mouth hanging open with confusion as I stride out of his room.

Now it's time to plan something neat that will end up marking this solution under my name. And winning its prize.

∞ ∞ ∞

Thank you for reading this chapter, hope you enjoyed it.

Sorry for the errors/typos, I didn't get to edit this chapter.

Anyway, the next update will be up tomorrow =)

Till then, take care, lots of love, happy reading ^.^