Chapter 8

I'm still jotting down the notes on my book when the lecturer finishes the first class of the day. I don't want to miss anything important.

“I expect you to send the case study report by the end of next week. You can work in a group of two or three.” The lecturer said before walking out of the classroom.

Now that I think about it, I don't have a partner to do the assignment with. I'm new here - an exchange student - while other classmates have already formed into groups.

“Have you got a partner for the case study?” A voice asked behind me, and I turned towards it to find a girl sitting behind me. She has medium-length black hair, brown eyes, and pale Ivory skin. A smile spreads across her lips.

“Would you like to join our team?” She asked. “It will be three of us.”

Among my classmates, she was the first to reach out to me, and I appreciated her kindness.

“I'm Martha by the way.” She extended her hand to shake hands with me, and I accepted it with a smile.

“I'm Happy.” I told her.

“I know.” She grins. “You're the second exchange student for our major this semester. You're well known. Do you want to join us for lunch?”

“Sure, I'd love to.”

“Oh, there she is.” Martha looks up and stands up from her seat as another black haired girl walks over to us.

“Happy, this is my best friend, Ash.” Martha said. “We’re going to do the assignment together.” She introduced me to her friend. “Ashley, this is Happy.”

“It's nice to meet you. I hope we can be good friends.” Ashley smiled sweetly, and it melted my heart.

“Nice to meet you too.” I smiled.

“Let's go get lunch. I'm famished.” Martha groans, and the three of us exit the room together, heading to the cafeteria.

My eyes travel around the cafeteria as we stepped inside it. There are so many people, and the food counters look good.

“What's your favorite food?” Ash asks. “We have almost all types of food here. We have a very popular burger counter over there, but damn, look at the queue.” She huffs, pointing to the counter.

“I love cheeseburger.” I told her.

“You guys go ahead. I'm going to find a table for us to sit.” Martha walks off.

After Ash guides me through all the counters, explaining the menu one by one, I end up with a plate of Chinese food on my tray.

While Ash is still waiting for hers, I caught sight of Martha waving her hand from a table.

“Over here.” She calls.

I'm walking towards her when I bumped into someone quite hard, causing my tray to slip out of my grip.

Before I can cause any mess on the floor, a strong arm helps me regain my balance and saves my tray from falling. I quickly grabbed my plate, and looked up to the person. Only to find a familiar pair of bespectacled blue eyes staring at me.

“Are you stalking me?” He asked.

“Wwhat?” I stuttered, and he replied with a smirk before walking off. I resumed my steps but found people still staring at me.

“Are you okay?” Martha asked with concern, as I dropped my tray on the table.

I take a seat beside her. “Yeah,” I said breathlessly. “I had a collision.”

“I see Drake saved you just in time,” Ash hums, arriving at my side.

“Drake?” I asked, thinking about the guy who saved me yesterday and today.

“Yeah, Drake Fallyn. He's the head of the student council.” Ash adds.

“And he's a smart guy. People say that he's a genius.” Martha said, apparently finding this conversation more interesting than grabbing lunch. Her hunger suddenly disappeared.

Genius? That piques my interest. Smart guys are attractive.

“And he's looking at you right now.” Martha tries to bite her smile, focusing her gaze on the guy.

My curiosity kicked in, and I can't help but turn my body around, only to find that Drake is indeed staring at me from another table. He averts his gaze, and his friends laugh at him.

“You see, you're not supposed to turn like that.” Martha chuckles as I turn my attention to the table. “You shouldn't just turn around like that. You should do it slowly, as though it's not intentional.”

“Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't know.”

I curse myself for being clueless about this kind of thing. This is the time I would blame Dad for ruining my love life. I should have listened to Nadia well.

“Anyway, he's whipped.” Martha chuckles. From the spot she's sitting, she's the only one who can still see what Drake is doing. “Totally whipped.”

“I'm sure he's not. He accused me of stalking him.” I told them.

“Do you know him from before?” Martha asked.

“No, I tripped over his leg yesterday at the library yesterday, and he helped me up.”

“Ohh.” Martha hums. “So it's not a coincidence then. Could it be fate?”

“Ffate?” I stuttered.

“Don't mind Martha. That's how she does every time.” Ash said. “Martha, won't you eat? The burger is almost finished?” She faced Martha.

“Oh my goodness, the burger.” She stood up then rushed to the burger counter to get her food.

“You see, that's how she does. Drake is probably annoyed that this is the second time people are seeing you with him. He's a bit of a snob.” Ash said, going back to her food.

***

Walking into Mason's home office this evening wasn't part of my plan for today, but after the professor's announcement of a book quiz feew days from now, I can't help but find something good to read in his library.

Ash and Martha told me that the professor likes to throw questions we can hardly find the answers in our course book – that's not fair. And we couldn't find something better in the school's library, we got there late. Maybe Mason could lend me some books on this topic, since he used to be a successful business man himself.

I knock on the door, and his voice echoes, “Come in.”

He's sitting behind a desk. He's still working but not in his uniform, instead he's wearing a simple black t-shirt. He looks like he didn't expect to see me.

“I'm sorry,” I said reluctantly. “I don't want to disturb you. I'm just looking for a book.”

“What book are you looking for?” He gets up from his chair, and approaches me.

“Business economics.”

He walked towards one of the shelves, and I followed him.

“It's over here.” He scans the title of the books, shoving his hands into his pants pockets. “What do you want to study? Market demand? Pricing? Cost analysis?”

I bite my lower lip, scanning the books too. “Market demand.” I find it hard to choose from the options in front of me. “I need one that explains more about the case study.”

Mason nods, and picks a book from the shelf without a second thought. “This one is good, you can try it.”

He handed me the book, and when I flipped through the pages, my eyes widened in surprise. Holy moly, this is complicated, much more than the ones in our course book.

But then, my course mates said that the professor likes to torture us with difficult case study and examples. So I can't say I'm not interested in reading it.

Mason seems to notice my lack of response. He glances at his wristwatch. “I'm still waiting for a report, so I have some time now if you want me to explain the book to you?”

I stare at him in disbelief. Would I skip the chance to get tutored by him? Hell no.

Now that I look into his eyes, I find myself hypnotized. His eyes are so beautiful, so mesmerizing.

“Mason…” His eyes darted to my lips, and he moved closer till my back was hitting shelves.

“Happiness,” He groaned, caging me in his arms. His head moved closer to mine till I could feel his breath. I don't know who closed the gap, but the next second, our lips were brushing against each other, fighting for dominance.

I really hope I'm not imagining this right now because this is much better than I imagined. My body was on fire as I moved my hands to his hair tugging on it gently. He growled, plundering his tongue in my mouth.

The feel of his lips were intoxicating. There was only him, the warmth of his body pressed against mine, the wetness of his mouth, the sound of his heavy breath. He made me forget everything. My Dad, the stalker, and even the fact that we are not supposed to be kissing.