"To the mall," Niel answered her casually.
"Again?"
"Yes, again. Why?"
"I thought you said we will go eat lunch."
"There are restaurants at the mall too."
"Why are we going to the mall anyway?" Haylee was curious.
She was penniless anyway. She couldn't possibly have fun going to the mall if she wasn't able to buy anything. She would just be going to waste her time and energy.
"To buy clothes for you," Niel answered her.
"Again? You just bought me like fifty clothes two days ago," Haylee was surprised.
"Yeah, but that's for you to use at the lakehouse. Now, we'll buy clothes for you to use at the penthouse as well."
"What?! Why?" She was astonished by his words.
'Is he planning to make me live in the penthouse with him now?' She pondered in her mind.
"So you don't have to bring clothes if you ever need to go to the penthouse again. I mean... you only stay four days at the lakehouse, and th
"Whether I want to come to the mall by myself or shop through a fashion magazine, it's none of your business," Niel snapped at him. The man smirked at him. He then turned his gaze to Haylee who was standing beside Niel. "Who is this beautiful lady? I thought you had said before that you will never get involved in a relationship because you didn't trust in one." Haylee was puzzled by the man's words. 'Niel didn't want to get involved in a relationship? But he had dated a lot of girls at school before,' she was confused. She looked at Niel and the man alternately. "I'm sorry. It's quite rude of me to not introduce myself properly. Hi, I am Patrick Anderson. Niel's second cousin. And you are?" The man said to Haylee while stretching out his hand to offer her a handshake. "I'm Haylee John..." "You don't need to talk to him!" Niel cut her off before she could finish her words. Niel brushed off Patrick's hand, wasn't allowing him to
Niel's POV: "Who's Patrick?" Her question managed to make me gaze up and pay attention to her. This girl dared to ask about that moron after seeing how much I despised him. "Haven't you heard what he said before? He's my second cousin," I replied sternly to her. "How are both of you related actually?" She kept getting curious about that moron. Did she like him? "My late grandpa had a younger brother, my great-uncle. Patrick was one of his grandchildren. My father and Pat's father are cousins. So, Pat and I are second cousins." She nodded lightly then looked on her phone again. I stood up and took her phone immediately. And my guess was right! This girl was searching for some articles about Patrick on the internet. "Why are you looking at stuff about him?" I was bewildered, feeling dissatisfied at what she did. Haylee stood up as well and snatched her phone from my hand. She sat down again and ignored me. "Do you
Haylee's POV: He didn't even care if I date another person. Then, what was that about last night? Why did he do that with me if he wasn't interested to make me his girl? Did he just want to take advantage of me? "Why you didn't want to date me?" I asked him bravely. I wanted to know his true intention. He stopped eating and gazed upon me. Then he just gave me a ravishing smile. "I don't want us to have any attachment or commitment," he answered simply. "Why? Don't you like me?" I asked more. "Of course, I like you." "Do you love me?" My bold question made him halted. He didn't answer it. He took a deep breath and then stared at me intensely. His face turned serious. "Baby Girl, I'll make this clear to you at once. I hope you won't ask me again after this. So, make sure to listen carefully to each word that I'm about to say to you." He took a moment of silence. I could felt my heart skipped a beat when he
Niel and Haylee left the restaurant after about thirty minutes. After what he said inside the restaurant VIP room, Haylee couldn't help but felt disturbed. But she remained her expression reserved, wasn't showing anything unusual. She still couldn't grasp the whole thing that Niel meant, so she decided to just observe the later situation. After all, Niel did say that he loved her. He just didn't want to have a relationship with her, but she could have anything. So, how hard could that be anyway? "Why are you silent?" Niel asked in suspicion. He fixed his eyes on her and looked at her with his solemn face. Haylee just shook her head lightly. She got a sudden feeling as if she was intimidated by him. Niel dragged her around the mall, entering almost all the fashion boutiques that were available. In just two hours, their hands were full of shopping bags. Niel didn't buy anything, he just took pleasure buying things for Haylee as if she was his doll.
The clock showed after three. Niel and Haylee arrived at the penthouse again. He put down all the shopping bags inside his bedroom. Truthfully, he never really carried shopping bags on his own before. There was always someone who would carry it for him. He was the big boss after all, his servants wouldn't even dare to let him carry a single thing. But he humbled himself when it came to Haylee and carried her shopping bags since they were inside the mall to the penthouse. 'She didn't even know how well I treat her,' he grumbled internally after seeing her sit on the sofa in the living room right after she entered the penthouse. "Baby Girl, go change your clothes. We're going to swim upstairs," he ordered her. "What should I wear?" Haylee asked in confusion. She didn't know what should she wear. She was too ashamed to wear a bikini in front of him. She unconsciously shook her head while trying to brush off the unpleasant thought. Niel furrowed a bit as
Niel giggled in excitement as he heard her speak tantalisingly to him. He got worked up for no reason and started banging her hard as if trying to give her complete pleasure and satisfaction. By the time they finished, it was almost dusk already. Niel helped Haylee get out of the hot tub and covered her body with a towel. He too did the same as well. They went downstairs together and entered the bedroom directly. They put some clothes on and went out to the living room again, waiting for the chefs and the maid to come at seven to prepare dinner as usual. After dinner, Niel took Haylee to the fourth floor. It was the top floor of Niel's penthouse and it was an open space hall with a roof made of glass. It was the penthouse observatory. There was a grand piano on one corner of the hall and a queen-size bed in the middle of the hall. There were also long sofas aligned against the walls to create an open lounge area. Two small rooms were at the other corner of th
Haylee turned her body to face Niel on her left side, and Niel did the same, turning his body to the right to face her. They stared at each other as if trying to read each other's minds. Haylee grabbed his shirt collar and pulled him closer to her. Niel complied with her and put his right hand around her shoulders while his left hand was on the top of her body, resting right above her chest. They started cuddling on the bed as if they were a normal couple when the truth was they weren't even a couple to begin with. They just agreed to be together. She slowly moved her lips closer to him and he didn't even avoid it. Instead, he too moved his lips closer to hers and they kissed naturally. Niel grasped her head in between his hands and he steadily moved his body on top of hers. After a while, he released his kiss and pressed his body onto her. He hugged her tightly and Haylee's hands started to pull his shirt upward to take it off from him. As predictable, Niel didn't avoid her
Haylee obeyed him without question and went into his bedroom without delay. She got into the bathroom to take a shower. After she had done with the shower, she got out of the bathroom and put her clothes on. Just at that time, Niel entered the bedroom and went directly to the bathroom to wash up as well. Haylee checked the time and it was just eight-thirty in the morning. It was still early. She packed up the stuff that she brought from the lakehouse. She left behind the new clothes that Niel bought for her at the mall yesterday and organized them into the wardrobe inside his bedroom. 'It really felt like we're a married couple. Why did Niel didn't want to be in an official relationship with me?' She started wondering again in her heart. After a while, Niel came out from the bathroom wearing a robe. He walked into the wardrobe and blatantly took off his bathroom robe in front of Haylee, showing his fully naked body, while his hands scanned the clothes he wanted to we
After Haylee was done cleaning herself up, Niel finally brought her up to the top floor again. It felt truly uncanny when he saw her smiling, laughing and even making some jokes to him while they were inside the elevator. He felt horrible inside because he remembered what happened to her last night. The fact that she forgot all about it was clear proof that her mental health was deteriorating.They entered the penthouse again and Niel's eyes swiftly went to look at the living room. The television was gone and the mess there had been cleaned up. The food was also had been served on the dining table."Where's the TV?" Haylee asked. She was weird that the television was gone. She tried to recall what happened last night but her head felt hurt instantly. She cried out in pain while holding her head with both arms."What's wrong?" Niel grabbed her body from falling. The woman looked like she was about to faint."Aspirin..." she said and Niel helped her to sit at the dining table first befo
Upon seeing her leaving the open kitchen and entering the bedroom, Niel rushed to the elevator and went up to his penthouse again. He took his spare key card of the condo unit and went down again. He just left his laptop on the floor in front of the condo. It only took him less than five minutes to return and he quickly went into the house.The first thing he did was go to the open kitchen and grabbed all the knives and cutleries. He put them inside a black plastic bag and hid them inside a bin. Then he carried the bin and put it into a cupboard inside another bedroom. He threw a bunch of towels and a blanket inside the cupboard to hide the bin even more.Then he came out to the living room and slowly went to the bedroom that Haylee entered before. He carefully twisted the knob to check if the door was locked. It was and he just stood there thinking about what he should do next. There was not a single sound from inside and that made his heart race. He didn't know if she was okay or hu
Seeing her become speechless, Niel smirked and just walked towards his bedroom again. She was so frustrated that she grabbed an empty wine bottle and threw it toward the television in the living room. The cracking sound of the screen made Niel panic and he ran back to the living room to check on her. He saw her grab another few wine bottles and try to throw them on the television again, just like before. She was acting like a lunatic and so he quickly hugged her body from behind, locking both her arms from moving to stop her violence. "You don't know shit! You don't know what it's like to be me! You don't know shit about me! I'm fucking tired of you! I fucking hated you! I fucking hated living with you!" She shouted frantically while struggling to free herself from him. Niel grabbed her body firm and even tighter, slowly had his eyes reddened and his cheeks felt hot. He didn't know why he was so angry at her yet felt hurt at the same time while looking at her losing her sanity. Hayle
Ashley gasped in disbelief at her words. She stared at Niel and saw the change in his expression. He looked absolutely grim. But Haylee simply looked relaxed as if she was not even in trouble.'So, what would happen if Haylee fails the subject?' Niel thought. Surely, one thing led to another. She would probably deliberately fail the other subjects too so she would need to repeat the first semester. If that happens, she would be moved to a new batch of students next semester and she won't be in the same class with him anymore for the next five semesters. And if somehow Haylee refuses to repeat the first semester and quit Kingston, she could appeal to get into Hudson University for July intake. She was being clever to him. She knew how to threaten him now too. In short, Niel could not afford to kick her out of the group and make her fail the subject, or else he would be the one at loss here. Slowly he released her arm and let her go reluctantly."Exactly," Haylee said arrogantly and wal
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
"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
"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
"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
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