I dug my fingers into my palm. The pain was the thread holding my rationality together, preventing me from screaming at Jasmine. Professor King gazed at her for a few seconds and chuckled. "Who am I to turn it down if this can guarantee the smooth operation of the project?"You know what? I shall bring this up to the college and let them decide." He gave a tactful answer. Deferring the problem to the college extricated himself from the difficult situation. The college would give Jasmine the final answer, not him.Jasmine nodded contentedly and smiled. Her eyes glimmered as she shook hands with Professor King while expressing her wish for a successful partnership. As her entourage escorted her to the door, she turned around and looked at Colin and me with a grin.There was so much behind the grin, most of which was mockery and confidence that she would obtain what she was after.What gave her the confidence? Like a protective girlfriend, I stood in front of Colin and returned her my
Colin said, "She's nothing but a conniving woman. There's nothing to fear."Professor King pointed at me. "You should wise up. Use your brain to think. Otherwise, it might get rusty."I blushed in embarrassment. Then, I asked gingerly, "What do we do, then? We can't let her win."Colin might be seduced if he had to work with a cunning woman like her for two years. While Colin knew to refuse her, who could say that Jasmine wouldn't pull any tricks to set him up? No one could put their guard up 24/7 for two years."The workload of this project is more than twice the workload of Dreamlight. There are a lot of details to take care of, and Colin might not be able to handle it alone.""Therefore?" I asked eagerly. Professor King was giving a cryptic statement. I wanted to pull his sleeves to ask him to hurry up, but he dodged preemptively. Then, he flicked his sleeves to rub my failed attempt on my face.It's not like my hands were dirty! This old geezer sure knew how to rile me up. He
Colin had long limbs. When he broke into broad strides, I had to jog to catch up to him. My legs were getting more and more sore. When we arrived at a quiet woody area, I lashed out, "Why are you walking so fast? Can't wait to work with her already?"Colin was stunned, and amusement quickly appeared in his eyes. Scrunching his nose, he sniffed. "Do I smell jealousy here?""Jealousy? You're a good-looking man, and women can't help but gather around you. Don't you know you have a girlfriend? Why are you practicing chastity, then? You can easily get all the women you want!"As soon as I finished my sentence, my face blushed in embarrassment. How possessive was I to go all passive-aggressive on him? But I soon found out that there was nothing wrong with being possessive. It was normal for a girlfriend to want her boyfriend to herself.Expressing her desire to own her boyfriend from time to time could let her boyfriend know how much she desired him. It might even make him feel more secu
My face puckered up. Colin, on the other hand, grinned instead of helping me. "I already noticed they were here. But what's wrong with a couple making out? Everyone does that."I was rendered speechless. Watching his shameless, haughty, I-know-I'm-right expression made me weak in the limbs. Colin was a lecturer. Shouldn't he set up a good example? Where was his decorum as an educator? I decided to ignore him.I turned around and wanted to leave, but he yanked me from the back. "Are you going back on foot or what? The car's over there."Oops. I must have gone the wrong way out of frustration. I swerved and headed in the opposite direction, but Colin continued to snigger. His grin widened as if he had won the lottery.Was it that enjoyable to be caught red-handed in public? Or did he have a special penchant for doing it in public? He might not care about morals, but I did.Pissed, I turned back to the direction I was originally pursuing, throwing a tantrum. "I'd like to walk back ho
In this vast world, there was no one I could talk to at the moment. Growing up wasn't as wonderful as I had imagined.My friends were all occupied with their lives. Hearing from them was already a once-in-a-blue-moon occasion. Gone were the days when they defied their parents' reproach just to keep a friend company. Bored, I took Blue Monster with me to the guest bedroom and lay on the bed, feeling frustrated and anguished. Among all of my good friends, half of them had had a disastrous relationship. Love was indeed a conundrum.As I moped, I accidentally fell asleep. When the soreness of my arms roused me, it was already nearly 1:00 pm. My stomach growled loudly. With a sigh, I put on slippers and shuffled to the kitchen to cook the only thing I was good at—instant noodles. Then, I ate it at the dining table.As I slurped on my noodles, I checked my phone for unread messages and saw that Jasmine updated her social media.She posted an old photo. In it was the silhouette of a man
I was doing the last painting of the eight-piece composition. The previous seven pieces were completed skillfully, but as the final piece, I put extra effort into the details.When I was engrossed in my work, a sudden bellow surprised me and made me shudder. Fortunately, I was quick enough to lift my brush before it could smear my work, preventing a fatal mistake."What's wrong with you, Winston?" Before I could finish my sentence, he continued to shout into the other end of the line.He was standing upright, and his chest heaved with anger. There was only rage on his handsome face. I didn't know who the caller was or what the caller did, but Winston was shooting flames from his eyes. Never had I imagined that he was this scary when he was mad.I put my brush down and wanted to tell him to calm down. There was nothing good communication couldn't solve. I wanted to tell him that he was at the college and that perhaps he should go take the call somewhere private or at home.But when
This was not her home. I had the right to sit wherever I wanted, live however I wanted, and do things the way I wanted. She could not tell me what to do."How can I help, Jasmine?" I cut to the chase."What would you like to drink?" She ignored my question and asked, swirling the content of her glass with a small spoon. It was fruit juice, but she made it look like it was coffee instead.I looked at our surroundings and smiled wryly. Drinking fruit juice with a small spoon, what combo was this? Did she think the cafeteria was a coffee house or a juice store? Her elegant behavior was incongruous with the setting. I found it hard to admire her gesture."I'm busy. If you invited me to have a drink with you, I'll have to let you down and leave," I uttered impatiently.Jasmine tensed up, offended by my bluntness. But since we were in public, she didn't continue to give me riddles. "You sure are very talented, Luna. I only learned yesterday that you have a project that is on par with th
"I appreciate your concerns, Jasmine. Whether he'll be in a difficult situation or not depends on who his choice is. I'm grateful that you care so much about Colin and I."Since we're friends, let me confide in you something—as long as I still live, I won't leave or break up with Colin unless he falls in love with someone else. If this is your goal, then there's no need to continue this conversation."As I wondered if getting up and leaving would be too rude, Jasmine spoke to me once again. My stubbornness must have riled her up because her expression had twisted into a grimace. Rage and hatred threatened to ooze from her eyes.She smacked the spoon into her glass, producing a metallic clank as two objects collided. The fruit juice spurted out of the glass, adding a few blemishes to her shirt. "Luna, know your place. I'm being nice by coming here to talk to you. When I stop playing nice, you'll be nothing but a rat in my eyes."Stay away from Colin if you know what's best for you.