"They had this dressing code to enter the top floor of Emerald Tower. You must wear formal attire," Niel said, yet wasn't making any particular point."So? I have a lot of formal dresses at home too.""You don't get it, do you? I wanted us to wear matching attires. And I wanted you to wear the latest dress collection. Not just some old stuff we bought a few months ago," the guy finally said what was in his mind.Haylee gasped slowly and nodded in understanding. She was silent, having no words to reply to that. A few minutes later, they were inside Niel's Lamborghini Aventador heading to a high-end shopping mall located in the middle of the city. Niel brought Haylee to enter an exclusive formal clothing boutique and they bought their attires for the night there. Niel got himself a slim-fit navy blue suit and Haylee on the other hand, got herself a dark blue long evening dress adorned with tiny sparkling diamonds that shone whenever in contact with the light. They returned to the pentho
"I'm sorry to interrupt, but I could get a better picture of both of you with the whole metropolis view as the background," Mr Sandler explained respectfully."That would be great. Here," Niel was tempted with the idea immediately that he handed over his phone to the host.Mr Sandler then beckoned the couple to stand by the glass wall window while the waiters served their meal on the table. Niel and Haylee did the same pose before, having their faces close to each other. He put his left hand at the back of her neck and his right hand circled her waist."Miss, put your left hand on his chest and your right hand on the side of his bottom," Mr Sandler instructed Haylee when he sensed that she didn't know what to do with her hands."Perfect!" The host said while taking the pictures of them a few times from different angles. After a while, he gave back the phone to Niel."Thanks. You seemed experienced with this thing,' Niel remarked."Oh, it's just the things that happened here normally.
"I keep wondering... what if I ask my other friends to help me instead. What if I just stay with Helen or Melly. What if instead of getting myself involved with Niel, I choose Mike instead, that boy who took me to the amusement park and made me ride the Ferris wheel with him. What if instead of following Niel that day when I was chased out, I call my teacher instead. Maybe she'll help me get to a shelter for the homeless. In fact, I think my teacher would have let me live with her for a while if only she know first that I'm in trouble-""Miss Johnson..." Ben cut her off before she said a whole lot more of her past regret. He felt bad inside because he was part of Niel's accomplice."It was too late now, wasn't it, Ben? I can't make a U-turn now, can I? I'm stuck with... him..." her voice sounded so depressing.Ben took out his handkerchief from his suit and wiped his eyes slightly and he just stayed silent, giving no response to Haylee. He did not know what to say to her. He did not k
Weeks passed and they finally started college at the end of February. After the orientation week ended, all the undergraduates at Kingston University started their first class the following week. Haylee and Niel pretty much acted like strangers at college. Niel drove by himself to class even though they were going to the same destination because he sometimes would need to go to the company during his free time if his presence was necessary there. So, Haylee too was the same. She drove by herself to classes using the red Ferrari car that Niel gave her during Christmas last year.After coping with her depression about not going to Hudson for a few weeks, Haylee slowly learned to accept her fate of going to Kingston. She tried to look at the bright side. Home was not far, so she didn't need to think about paying to live in a hostel. And surely, if she was somehow in trouble, Niel was around to help her fix it. Her life was easier that way.She attended her first lecture wearing designer
"He was the one I'm talking about before. He's my former classmate during high school," Haylee said."Damn, girl! You got into the wrong gang. We're obviously out of your league," Bruno quipped at her and the rest just chuckled in agreement."Are you together with him? He seemed close with you," Lily asked. She suddenly turned into this kind of over-friendly girl to Haylee."We're just normal friends," Haylee avoided telling them the truth."Bring us together for lunch. Introduce him to me please..." Lily begged. She never would have imagined it getting an opportunity to know Niel in person."You don't even want to know his name first?" Haylee teased her and the girl laughed shyly."His name was Nathaniel Anderson. We called him Niel during high school," Haylee said deliberately to let them all know.A while later, the lecturer came into the lecture hall. He was Professor Damien, an old man in his late forties. As soon as he entered the hall, he went directly to Niel and had a handsha
"Anyway, your food looked tasty. How long had you known Haylee?" Lily asked more. Her questions were all over the place, non-relating to each other."Hmm..." Niel was about to speak but the woman asked him some more."Haylee said her brother was rich. You're close with her, so you must know her brother too, right?""Brother?" He knitted his brows in confusion and instantly looked at Haylee. She met his eyes and made a poker face at him, silently sending a signal to that guy to go along with her lies."Yeah. Haylee brought a lot of expensive makeup to class, so we asked her how she was rich. She said she had a rich brother," Lily explained cluelessly."Right..." Niel nodded while giving Haylee a playful glare. 'So now I become her rich brother,' he muttered internally."Of course, I know her brother. We're partners," Niel added the lies."Partners?" Now Lily and Haylee said in unison."Yeah. Haylee's brother worked with me. I sent him abroad to handle some projects. He won't come back
"Do you really think that I won't have a spare key card?" He ridiculed her and took out another key card from his pocket.She scoffed at him instantly. 'I knew it. He would never let me have my own privacy,' she muttered inwardly and just put the key card inside her backpack."That's not fair. I thought it was supposed to be my own place," she said deliberately to show her dissatisfaction."How is that not fair? You had access to my penthouse as well," Niel replied with a chuckle."Is this mean that I'll be living alone for real now? Can Martha live with me?" Haylee asked. Deep down inside, she was anticipating for that to happen for real. "No. I never said that. You're going to still be living with me, in my penthouse, our house. That condo unit was just for emergency. We're going to be studying here for three years. I'm sure at some point your friends or my friends would want to visit our place. So we need a split residence for that. Aren't you the one who didn't want people to kno
Haylee could feel her cheeks turn hot due to the embarrassment. The hall turned silent for split seconds with a lot of eyes staring at her. Niel boldly beckoned her to come to him. Haylee slowly walked down the stair pathway to go to the front. But then she noticed the mad looks Ashley and Linda gave her. She stopped unconsciously, reevaluating her choice whether she should go to Niel or not. It was obvious he wanted her in. In fact, it was not just Ashley and Linda who were looking at her hatefully right now. Haylee noticed that some other students were looking at her disdainfully too, probably those who had asked Niel to take them into his group before but got rejected."Why are you just standing there? Come here," Niel rebuked her gently, beckoning her to come to him again."Niel, how about if we just take Linda? Haylee didn't seem like she wanted to be in our group," Ashley suggested bravely."Why are you deciding for her?" Niel rebuked her coldly, totally a different treatment co