CHAPTER 3

MINLYN VERMOSA

"MINLYN!

I turned to the man who called me. It was Ark, my blockmate. He ran to me.

I greeted him with a smile. "What's up?" I asked modestly.

He couldn't answer because he was still panting. When he caught his breath, he looked at my knee.

"Y-your knee is b-bleeding..."

I also looked there and winced when I saw that there was a lot of blood. I forgot that I had a wound because of my crash earlier.

"Oh...I-I got into an accident on my way here," I replied.

Concern immediately drawn on his face. "W-what? Why? Are you okay?"

I smiled a little. "Don't worry, Ark, I'm okay. I'll treat it later."

"B-but you need to treat it now. It might get worse," he said worriedly.

"I'm fine, Ark. It'll heal quickly."

He shook his head. "No, Minlyn. What if you get infected? That's even worse."

I bit my lower lip and looked at my bleeding knee. The wound isn't that big but it does have blood. Even if it's small, it's an open wound, so it's not likely to get infected if it's not treated right away.

"Come here, let me help you."

I looked up at him, surprised. "Huh?"

"I can carry you if you want me to do so. I will take you to the clinic. I will treat you there," he declared.

"D-don't, Ark...i-it's embarrassing a-and I can still..." I refused.

I don't want him to carry me. I might not make it home alive. I know because, even if I'm not looking, many sharp eyes are staring at me because I'm talking to Ark.

Ark is one of the famous students here in T. University. Everyone wanted to talk to him. So now that he initiated the conversation, I'm sure a lot of people are angry with me here.

And Nathalie was one of them who looked at me intently while walking towards us.

"Hey, Ark," she greeted the man with a malicious voice.

"What are you here? You were supposed to prepare for your husband's arrival later, aren't you?" Ark asked her, mocking what she said earlier.

I saw how Nathalie secretly gritted her teeth. She probably didn't think that Ark would give her such a rebate.

"Eh...He's not here yet anyway. I-I'll have some things to fix up first." Nathalie answered, stammering.

"Then go what you need to do so. Stop bothering me. I'm talking to Minlyn."

They both turned to me so I couldn't help but back away. They look at me differently. Ark with a soft expression, while Nathalie's was furious.

"Uh...I'll go first. You two just talk," I stammered.

Ark knotted his forehead. "But I'm still going to bring you to the clinic."

I smiled a little. "N-not anymore, Ark. I'm fine."

"But—" His words were cut off by Nathalie forcing him to face her.

"Let her be, Ark. We can just talk." She held Ark by the arm.

He looked sharply at Nathalie. "I don't want to talk to you. I don't want to have connections with you, nor even a single conversation," he said firmly.

I was surprised and my mouth dropped. Nathalie was taken back. She released her grip on Ark's arm.

"U-uh..." Nathalie shyly turned to me before facing the man again. "I-I'm s-sorry. I-I'll go now."

She left in front of us and ran away. I gulped before facing Ark.

"Why did you do that?" I hissed. I still can't believe he did that to Nathalie.

He snorted annoyingly. "She was irritating me. She must have thought that she could get me with her simple touch."

I clicked my tongue. "But still! That was rude. I wish you had said that in a better way," I scolded him.

Even though Nathalie is like that to me, what Ark did to her was not right. I can see how embarrassed she was.

Ark sighed. "I'm sorry, okay?"

"You should say that to Nathalie, not to me." I shook my head and turned away from him. I walked away. I could feel him following me.

"Hey! Minlyn! Stop!" he shouted as he chased after me. He succeeded and confronted me. "Fine. I will apologize to her. Just please, don't be mad at me," he said softly.

I stared at him. His eyes look so tender. His eyes were shining looking at me.

I sighed. "Don't do that again. That's rude."

He nodded like a child. "Do you forgive me now?"

"I'm not mad, Ark."

And finally, he smiled like a child.

"So, let's go to the clinic?" He offered his hand to me.

"H-huh? I wanna go to the library actually."

He looked at my knee. "You're bleeding like hell. Let's treat your wound first, then I'll bring you to the library."

I didn't do anything when he took my bag and helped me walk. He was holding my arm and one of his hands was wrapped around my waist. I can feel the sharp eyes of the students here. I'm sure to be their target again.

We immediately went to the clinic and sat me on the bed. We met the school nurse.

"Oh, what happened to her?" she asked Ark while pointing at me.

Duh, she could've asked me. I have a mouth.

"I was hit by a car, nurse," I answered.

She looked at me badly. "I wasn't asking you."

"But you're referring to me. You even pointed your finger at me," I fired back.

She was silent and rolled her eyes on me. I know this nurse has a problem with me too. I don't know why but she always irritates me. She even likes Nathalie more than me.

Well, I guess, same birds flock together.

"Enough." Ark came between us. He confronted the school nurse. "Just give me the first aid kit, nurse."

"Huh? Why?" The nurse asked dumbly.

Ark clenched his jaw. "Do you want to get kicked out of this university? Hand me the first aid kit and stop asking dumb questions."

Like Nathalie earlier, she also recoiled at Ark's tone. I sighed. I want to prepare for my report. I'm running out of time. And not to mention that my wound is starting to hurt.

The nurse turned her back on us and went inside the room to get the first aid kit. Ark sighed violently.

"I'm sorry about that. I just can't help myself when they treat you like that," he apologized.

I smiled a little and just nodded. After a while, the nurse arrived, frowning while carrying the first aid kit. Ark took it quietly and sat in the chair next to me. He took the stool and gently placed my thigh on it.

First, he took alchol and cotton to clean the blood from my wound.

"Just tell me if it hurts so I can stop, okay?" he softly reminded.

I just nodded. I pursed my lips when he started to dampen the cotton with alcohol in it around my wound. He slowly dabbed it on the edge of my wound to remove the dried blood.

I winced secretly every time he hit my wound. He always checks on me to make sure I'm okay.

When he cleaned my wound, he took the betadine and another cotton ball to apply to my wound. The first smear made me wince in pain.

He looked at me worriedly. "I'm sorry. I'll do better next time."

I shook my head, motioning for him to continue what he was doing. "N-no, i-it's fine, so it's over."

He nodded and rubbed my wound again, but now more slowly. I can't even feel the cotton because he moves so slowly.

And finally, it's over. He just took gauze and covered my wound. They said it would prevent the bacteria from entering my wound, it would also prevent infection.

I smiled as we exited the clinic. "Thank you for helping me, Ark," I sincerely said.

He smiled sweetly. "Don't mention it, Minlyn. You saved me back then. I was just returning the favor."

I smiled as I remembered how I had saved him before. That is also the reason why we are close. Although we are not always together, we are inseparable when we meet. That's also one of the reasons why many people don't like me here.

"So we're even now, huh?"

He winked. "Let's call it quits. But if you insist on expressing your gratitude, just say the sentence 'can you go on a date with me?'" he joked.

I chuckled. "Maybe at some other time."

"Hmm...I'll look forward to that."

Then we both giggled. We talked for a while before we parted ways. I went to the library to find more research for the presentation. Nathalie and I will definitely not have a fair fight later, especially since her fiancé is coming here.

I sat in the corner and opened the textbook I got. Besides the internet and our books, there are also many textbooks here in the library. Most are here doing assignments and doing research. It's really convenient for us, especially since students don't have to go far just to do school works.

I opened it and looked for some keywords, definitions, and some info that I can release later in case Nathalie does something bad.

My topic? It's 'How the place and environment affects the sales of a certain product and a company?'

Since I took the course of Business Administration, I always dealt with business. In this school, I need to be wise. I have to put aside my shyness especially since most of the presentation takes place here. There are a lot of debates, research, presentations, and etc. We need to be able to justify what we did and not just a simple presentation. Especially later because a CEO will watch our presentation. It is more likely a research presentation with a hint of debate.

Unfortunately, my opponent is Nathalie, the fiancé of the CEO.

Guess I need to prepare myself for some dirty games.

AFTER I did my research, I went downstairs to go to the cafeteria. I need energy for my brain to function properly. I can't be myself later.

While crossing the road, I turned my back when I felt someone staring at me. But I frowned when I saw nothing.

"Yeah, maybe I'm just hungry that's why," I whispered to myself. I shook my head.

HENDRAKE JEIZ THOMPSON

"Bro, who are you staring at?"

I was startled when Lou suddenly jumped beside me.

"The fuck, bro," I annoyingly hissed because of shock.

He chuckled. "Sorry. I didn't mean to startle you."

"What is your problem?"

He looked down before looking at me. "You've been staring at the grounds. Who are you staring at?"

As I had been doing earlier, I looked down to observe the woman. I make no mistakes and my eyes are clear. She was the woman earlier in the coffee shop that I caught fighting with her co-worker. I don't know her name but based on what I heard, she was 'Lyn'.

When we left the coffee shop to go here to the university, I had a meeting with the head professors of this school. We talked about the set-up of our visit here and watching the presentation of some students here. We have prioritized the students of one of the famous professors here, Miss Abandon.

After the meeting, we went back to the coffee shop to drink coffee again. But I know for myself that there is another reason why I want to go there again. Lou was still surprised by my sudden decision but he was left inside the car. And that's when I caught up with two women fighting. I knew one but I didn't know the woman who was fighting with her.

I don't know why but I suddenly felt a raging anger in my heart when I saw 'that' girl being hurt by her co-worker. I immediately attended to her and caught her when the woman pushed her. Then as if on cue, my heart started to beat fast when I grabbed her waist. It was as if something clicked my heart. It awakened the unexplainable soul inside me.

I turned to the other woman. I don't know but I am very angry with her Who is she to hurt this girl? I was even more angry when I found out that this always happened to her. But why doesn't she even retaliate? Why does she let others hurt her? Is she weak? Because if she is, I'm always here to strengthen her. To protect her. If this is what she always suffers in this shop, it would be better if she just works with me.

Fuck. This isn't me. Why am I saying such things?

"Bro?"

I was back in reverie when Lou tapped my shoulder. I was in deep thought again about that girl.

"Let's go. We still need to fix something," I said and went ahead of him. I never saw the woman again.

We entered the dean's office and stayed there first. We both talked and he told me about their other plans to make this university better. She also mentioned something to me about one of their top students who caught my attention.

"Really?" I asked, interested.

"Yes." The dean nodded. "She was very excellent in class. In fact, she was really one of the leaders here in the entire university."

"Who is she? I want to know her."

"She is Minlyn Vermosa, top student under the class of Miss Abandon, 19 years old, first year college. In fact, she is also one of those who will present to you later."

My mouth gaped in sudden realization. Hmm...