CHAPTER EIGHT: Proposition

After we had successfully gotten rid of most of the flowers, keeping just a few, Ashley refused to let me go to my classes without telling her all the details of the ball. I told her everything that happened but kept some details to myself, mostly my conversations with Roman. I didn't know whether she would appreciate his arrogant and highhanded nature.

"So what? Are you guys like dating now?" Ashley asks me.

"No, we are not." I say strongly.

Ashley packs her stuff into her drawer before turning back to me, "But he's called you his girlfriend on countless occasions."

"And yet, he still hasn't asked me out. Heck, we've barely even gone on a date, excluding the ball." I say to Ashley.

"Would it be so bad to date him?" Ashley asks me.

I'm quiet for a few minutes, pondering my answer. No. It wouldn't be so bad to date him. Beneath the bad boy exterior lies a very caring young man, which I won't stick around long enough to acclimatize myself with.

I flop back on the bed, not concerned about rumpling my recently-ironed black skirt. "Not really, but how do we know he wouldn't cheat on me the first chance he gets?"

"That's the thing, Aella, you can never be sure. You just have to trust him." Ash says.

"It's the same thing as setting yourself up for heartbreak. And that, my dear, is a risk I'm not willing to take." I respond.

"Love is a risk on its own, and you can't love someone without trusting the person." Ashley says while applying matte lipstick to her lips.

"Oh my God! Who knew? That Ashley could become a preacher of love." I say sardonically.

"I will become anything for you, just to see you happy. And I feel like Roman is the best thing that could happen to you right now, not the worst." Ashley says with a small sigh.

I'm quiet for a few minutes, not wishing to bust her bubble, but it gets to a point where I can't hold it in anymore. "What if I tell you he doesn't give me any choice?"

She says nothing, and so I continue. "That, he is arrogant, high handed, and demands my total submission?"

"What if I tell you that I told him I didn't want to go to that ball, but he still forced me to anyway?" I ask finally.

I rein myself in, cursing myself stupid for almost spitting out the fact that he had used my family and my friends to threaten me into submission. I didn't want her to go all macho and annoy him, I didn't know what he would do then. I'm very sure there is a blackmail rule out there that does not encourage snitches.

"Great, he's not just smoking hot, he's dominant as well." "Girl, you are one lucky motherfucker, so stop sulking." Ashely says.

I don't disagree with her nor do I agree with her. I just keep quiet, I feel like I've said too much yet a certain part of me knows I haven't said enough.

In my head, it's like I should put up more of a fight. I feel like a coward whenever I let him tell me what to do and what not to do. I guess it's not really in my nature to be a docile, calm girl.

"As much as I love having this conversation with you, if I don't leave now, I will be late for my classes." Ashley says air kissing me goodbye.

The moment she steps out of the room, I hurriedly get dressed with the intention of leaving the room before Roman arrives. We don't have any plans today, but I know him well enough to know that I can't stop us from seeing today. The least I can do is choose the location for our meeting, and my dorm room is a big fat NO.

Just as I had expected, I come face to face with Roman's signature wrangler jeep the moment I'm down the stairs and out of my hostel. I notice all the girls staring at his car, probably wondering what it was doing there, steaming idly.

I contemplate ignoring him totally, but my dream is nipped in the bud by a single text message from a number saved as 'MINE'.

The text message simply said, 'Get in.' The authoritative tone of the message leaves no room to ponder who the sender might be.

I clench my fist tightly as I make the short walk to Roman's car. I ignore the eyes on me, knowing full well that before the day was over, pictures of me getting into Roman's car would be everywhere.

"You just have to make my life harder, don't you?" I say snarkily as I shut the car door.

"Good morning to you princess." Roman says leaning over the center console towards me, I lean back as far as I could go, causing Roman to chuckle softly.

"Where are we going?" I say, while clearing my throat in order to diffuse the tension in the vehicle.

"To your class, of course." Roman says in a self assured tone.

At his tone, I take a very good look at him and notice his weird attire, like he was coming directly from the gym.

I eye his large hoodie with admiration, already envisioning myself wrapped up in it. I look down and notice he's wearing shorts of some kind. I gulp at the sight of his thighs. They were every woman's wet dream, that is if we were to ever have a wet dream. He looked so good to eat, especially with his hair looking ruffled like he had run his hands through it many times.

"Like what you see?" Roman asks with a smirk.

I immediately turn my head away, not appreciating the fact that I was caught staring. I feel my cheeks turn red as I wonder what he must think of me. I pinch myself in anger, wondering why I can barely concentrate, talk less function, whenever he's around.

"Don't you have stuff to do today?" I ask him.

"I do, but you are a priority, so nothing else matters." Roman answers.

I'm stunned. I immediately start rearranging my bag for lack of what to do in my nervous state. I've never met anyone as intense as Roman, he takes intensity to a whole different level.

Roman takes a turn, leading us away from the building I was supposed to attend my class in. He stops us at a food truck and gets me a burger and a milkshake and coffee for himself. I'm floored by his generosity and thoughtfulness. If this was a plan to get me to like him, then it was working very well.

"I would've preferred coffee." I say as I eye his cup of coffee longingly.

"It's not healthy little girls." He says while taking a large sip of his coffee.

"I will have you know that I'm by no means little. In any way." I say in complete shock.

He eyes me with a smirk and starts the car and within a couple of minutes, I'm in front of the building my class is scheduled to take place in.

"Meet me out here when your class is over." Roman says before doing the most shocking thing ever. He leans over the side console, and with a hand on my cheeks, he pulls me in for a kiss, not as deep as the one we shared the previous night, but it was nerve-wracking all the same. His lips were warm and soft, slanted over my lips, slightly parted but not wide enough for my tongue to slip in.

A loud horn coming from behind us, brings us back to reality.

"I could do this all day."He groans heavily, all the while not taking away his bodily heat from me.

"I have to get to class." I say in a shaky voice.

"I know princess, I do." Roman says and closes his eyes like he's trying to regain control. "Off you go."

I don't wait for another minute, I step out of the car hurriedly. Once again I feel peoples eyes on me, probably wondering why I was stepping out of Romans car. I don't waste any time outside, I hurriedly make my way into the lecture hall and I choose a seat just I'm the corner of the hall and out of the prying eyes of not only the professor but also my fellow coursemates.

When the class starts, I try to keep up, I really do. But I keep losing track, with my mind going back to the kiss I shared with Roman. I place my fingers on my lips and squeeze them softly, hoping to feel an iota of what I felt in the car with Roman, but nothing comes, no spark, no tightening in my abdomen and most of all no heady feeling.

Beyond frustrated, that I couldn't take any notes in class, I pack my books into my bag and head towards the door, making a mental note to ask a friend for her note.

"Aella, may I have a word with you?" The professor calls out from his place at the front of the class.

"Of course." I say as I move towards him.

He nods his head and doesn't say anything after that. He continues packing his bag until all the students are cleared out, and we are the only two people in the hall.

"How have you been Aella?" He asks me.

His question startles me, considering the fact that we have not spoken before prior to this.

At my look of confusion and disbelief, he continues, "What I mean is that are you having any trouble at home, or anything that is getting you distracted?"

"I don't understand sir." I say while fiddling with the straps of my bag in nervousness.

Rather than respond, he picks up a paper from his table and hands it over to me. I take note of my hand writing and my name, but when I look I also take note of a very big D at the top right corner of the paper.

I don't understand what I'm seeing, because I had put in so much effort into this test, and seeing a D is just plainly discouraging.

"If you continue down this path, you will be getting a C- at most and that's the same thing as going back home because you will lose your scholarship." He says with pity in his eyes.

"What can I do to bring it up sir?" I ask in a shaky voice. I once heard that there was something called extra credits, where you can take on other assignments and coursework to bring up your grades.

"I really don't do extra credits. But the real question is how much do you want this scholarship?" The man asks me.

I don't even know where to start from, if I lose my spot here, I might as well be moving into my husband's house because my dad and stepmother will definitely see to it that I'm married off.

"I really, really want it sir." I finally answered.

"Then you know what to do about it." The man says with a straight face.

"No, I don't sir, if I did I wouldn't be here. " I say to him.

"Surely you must have heard a rumor or two." The man says, looking at me with distrust 8n his eyes.

It comes back to me at a rapid speed. I remember that last session, some rumors were flying around of professors sleeping with students in order to increase their grade, and if I remember correctly, they were all sacked but there was a particular professor who was called back and I knew without any doubt that he was the one standing in front of me right now.

"You expect me to sleep with you?" I ask in a very shocked tone.

"If you want your scholarship that bad." He says with a smirk.

Him asking for sex, I could handle, but his cockiness while doing it, like it's a foregone conclusion that I'm going to be sleeping with him, has that thread in me snapping.

"How dare you!!" "Even if the only other option is to be killed, I would never ever sleep with you." I say angrily while clutching my bag tightly, preparing to storm out of the building.

"Well, that's just too bad." He says before gripping my arms tightly, and coming into my space, crowding me. I notice his intentions to kiss me and immediately turn my face away, making him drop a very loud and equally disgusting kiss on my left cheek.

I start to fight him in earnest but he refuses to let up, I move to knee him the balls but he already anticipated my attack and moved out of harm's way.

"WHAT THE HELL?" Roman shouts from where he's standing at the door.

I turned my face to look at him, so happy and excited that someone had come to my aid. However, for the first time since I met him, that venomous look of his, that I imagine is saved for enemies, is directed towards me and me alone.

He charges towards us and for the first time in months, I pray to whichever God there is in heaven, that I will still be intact by the time Roman was done with me.