Chapter 6

"Hey, open your eyes and eat."

I tightly closed my eyes because the last thing I wanna see right now is him. Seriously, I'm trying to keep my patience long here or else I might punch him. All I wish for is a nap but he's ruining it already.

Are we even friends for him to dictate to me what to do?

"Your breath is heavy so I'm certain that you're still awake."

"Can you just leave me peacefully? I wanna sleep," I lazily said, too tired to start an argument with him.

"You need to eat first."

I annoyingly opened my eyes and nudged his face. Why is he even close to me?!

"Are we friends, huh? Don't you ever disturb me, Mr. Substitute-slash-busker!"

Without any counterattack, he made me stop by just putting the lunchbox right in front of me. I looked at him; poker face checked, and put back my eyes on the lunchbox.

"Eat."

My brows furrowed. "Give that to your girlfriend, not to me. I don't wanna eat, I wanna sleep!"

I can clearly recall that he is the reason why I don't have enough sleep. He's giving me headaches. And yeah! He has a girlfriend yet he's giving me that lunchbox? What an assh*le!

"I don't have a girlfriend."

"Wow!" I held my chest in amazement. "That girl isn't your girlfriend? So you only grabbed someone to kiss and to display to the world that, 'Hey, I'm a young hottie who can get girls to kneel for me'. Na-ah! Negative for you, dude."

"You find me hot?"

My eyes widened. "That's not what I meant—"

"I mean…well, considerably, she's my ex now. She broke up with me after the kiss you saw, and chose a richer one to date."

"W-well—" I swallowed hard because of his intense gaze. "—I don't really c-care. Let me rest! Stop bugging me, Mister."

"You will not sleep until you finish this food." He opened the lunchbox and there, the aroma of a lyonnaise potato overran my nose in an instant. He also unzipped his bag and brought out a fork and a bottle of water.

Why is he doing this? He didn't know me, right? So why?

"What's your motive for all of the kind deeds you did for me?"

He shook his head. "Nothing, I just find you interesting."

I rolled my eyes and snatched the lunchbox that he was holding. It smells delicious, and it made my stomach growl in craving.

"Did you cook this?" I asked and started munching the potatoes. "Have you eaten? Don't tell me you haven't because I'm already eating this food you brought, and don't even think that I'm gonna share this with you 'cause that is not going to happen, period."

He just stared at me as if he couldn't hear me. I rolled my eyes and kept on eating. Afterward, he walked me to my room and left without saying a word.

Really, Lushiane? What just happened?

Time flies so fast but it is dizzying for me to continue this day. I feel really sleepy, my thoughts are in a haze.

When the professor announced the magic word, "Class dismissed!" I immediately put back my stuff inside my bag and walked out of the room without bidding goodbye to my friend. All I want now is to go home and hug my stuffed toy, be relaxed on my bed, and slumber for the next 24 hours of my life.

I'm currently walking in the field in urgency, not looking out for any kind of accident when an unexpected thing hits my head, making my view a bit shaky.

Finally! It's slumber time.

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The next day, I woke up with a bandage on my head at home. It's already Saturday and all I can remember is that someone threw a monoblock chair, and it struck me directly in the head. That made me dizzy, then I lost consciousness.

For the first time in my entire life, I finally experienced a stroke of bad luck for a week. What a nice remembrance to keep, right? The time that I met those hazel brown orbs, bad luck started running my way. If only I knew this would happen, I would gladly avoid him from the very beginning.

The door swung open, and a doctor entered my room with a stethoscope on her neck. She smiled at me and explained everything that happened. From the moment I blacked out to a guy who abruptly brought me to the hospital because of panic. But since I don't have any severe damage to my head, my father transferred me immediately to our house.

And! I've been unconscious for fifteen hours.

"We can remove your bandage now that you're already awake," the doctor said and assisted me to sit on the chair.

She slowly removed the bandage on my head and applied some kind of cream which made me groan a little.

"Just keep on applying this cream to your lumps to lessen the swelling."

Lumps?

"I'll go ahead. Just call me if you feel something is wrong in your body."

I nodded and grabbed the mirror on my study table to check what really happened on my forehead. My brows furrowed as I saw devil-like horns on my forehead. This is it? I look damn great! Well, note my sarcasm. The lumps are visible on my forehead like I am some kind of a baby demon.

How can I hide this stupidity of mine? And how the hell did the chair make these? I lightly touch it. Well, it still stings a bit. Regardless, I'm still grateful to have a light injury in my body tho.

It's just insane to hit upon a riot at the academy. But what is the reaction of my dad?

I was startled when my phone rang. The call was from an unknown number so I hesitated to answer it or not, either way, I tapped the green button. What if it's dad or any of my relatives with a new phone number, right?

"Hello?"

No one responded or greeted me back, which made me pissed. Is this a prank?

"Hello?!" with a touch of anger.

"Hey, you from the other line! If you're bored and wanna make fun of me, well guess what?! I'm totally messed up right now and you're making me irritated! For your information, I don't have time for a caller that doesn't know how to speak. Well, you can enroll back in your kindergarten and practice your communication skills. Goodbye!—"

"Don't hang up."

I was astounded by a deep husky voice. Is he?

"How are you?"

How did he know my phone number? This guy is full of surprises, huh? I bit my bottom lip to suppress my smile—wait, what?! Smile? Me? Because of him? No effin way!

"Hey, I thought you don't like a caller who doesn't know how to speak. But it seems we're likely the same—" I heard him chortle. "—c'mon, I can definitely hear your soft breathing. I just wanna know if you're fine or does it still hurt?"

"I-I'm fine!" I blushed and ended the call quickly.

I held my chest to calm down. My heart is beating rapidly and seemingly don't know how to get back to the right tempo. Also, my palms become cold and sweaty because of him, and! I can't control my hands, it's terribly shaking in nervousness and excitement so I tossed out the phone somewhere in my bed.

Why did he call me? And when did he start caring for me?

I glanced at my reflection and began to wonder if I should go out and take a fresh breath or just stay here because I look stupid with lumps on my forehead.

But if I stay, I will lose my sanity by thinking about him.

My thoughts got interrupted when someone knocked on the door. "Come in!"

The door slammed open that made me startled. Who on earth has gone nuts to almost wreck my door?!

"Sis!"

I rolled my eyes. "Hey, Dey. Why are you here?"

From Manhattan to France? I thought I would be the one who will visit her, but it looks like all the plans I made were canceled because she's here. It's a good thing that I stumbled to tell dad when he asked me to book a plane ticket for Manhattan.

"Duh! I told mom that I'm gonna have my vacation here for our semester's break." She grinned and hugged me. "I really miss you, my lovely cousin."

"Oh, it's already your vacation?"

She only nodded at me and scanned my room then eyed me back from head to toe. But the lumps might have caught her attention and made her eyes squint on my forehead.

"Oh goodness, Lushiane!" she shrieked and exaggeratedly pointed out my lumps. "Well, you deserve it because I'm a hundred percent more beautiful than you. Those lumps made you uglier, sis." She smirked and flipped her hair.

What a caring cousin we have here! Such a witch.