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
Like a gentleman, he opened the car door of the passager seat beside the driver seat and Haylee entered the car swiftly. Then he walked around the car to enter the driver seat. He started the engine and drove the car leaving the area. After about thirty minutes, they finally arrived at the lakehouse. Haylee could see Ben and Martha were standing outside on the front porch near the front door as if waiting for them to arrive. She quickly got out of the car without waiting for Niel to open the door for her. Niel stopped the car engine but still sitting inside the car. He looked through his phone again and typed something on it with a firm look on his face. Haylee on the contrary already set foot on the front porch approaching Ben and Martha. "Good morning, Miss Johnson." Both Ben and Martha greeted her in unison. "Good morning," Haylee replied to them with a smile. "How was it at the penthouse? Was it fun?" Martha asked her leisurely. Haylee jus
Martha went out of the lakehouse and called out for Ben at the guest house. Within minutes, both of them entered the lakehouse again and went to the dining room. They could see Haylee was standing while holding two empty plates and a few cutleries in her hands. "Oh my dear, Miss Johnson. You don't have to do that for us. We are just servants," Martha said to her and speedily took the plates in her hand. "No, it's okay. Sit, please. Let's eat dinner together. And please just talk to me casually. Both of you can just call me Haylee," Haylee replied politely. She felt a bit uncomfortable that Martha and Ben treated her like the madam of the house when actually she was just Niel's guest and nothing more than that. "How can we do that, Miss Johnson. Mr Anderson will be mad at us if he knows that we call you by your first name," Ben joined the conversation. Haylee just chuckled at his words, feeling ridiculous by them. That matter wasn't really a bi
After dinner, Haylee helped Martha clean the dishes even though Martha insisted on doing it alone. Haylee just didn't feel that it was right for her to live easily and not do any house chores. She was used to that kind of lifestyle after her father died. So, Martha couldn't reject her kindness since she was so eager to do it. Ben, on the other hand, left the house right after they finished eating dinner. When Martha and Haylee had done cleaning at the kitchen, Martha too excused herself and left the lakehouse. Haylee locked the front door and went straight to the bedroom. She took her phone and lay on the bed. It was still early for her since the clock just struck ten at night. She was thinking about calling Niel but she was worried that she might interrupt him. He said that he was busy all day, so she thought that he was probably resting right now or getting ready to go to sleep. After all, there's school tomorrow. Hence, Niel probably wanted to sleep early tonight.
The next morning, Haylee prepared herself to go to school as usual. Martha cooked her breakfast and Ben sent her to school like before. Ben drop her off two blocks away from school and she walked by herself again to the school area. When she arrived in front of the school, she saw Niel's red Porsche already parked in front of the school. Like always, till now there were still female students fangirling his car and surrounding it like it was a thing. They even started a trend and posted pictures on their Inst*gram social media accounts about Niel's car. The girls were crazy enough to shoot selfies of themselves with the red Porsche and started a trending hashtag #NielTheRedHottie on their Inst*gram accounts. Haylee knew about it because she too followed her classmates' Inst*gram accounts. It was not really a new thing to Haylee, because Niel had been popular since the day he entered the school. It was just that this time it seemed different because now she had a thing
Haylee felt like she got a heart attack when Niel pointed his finger at her. The rest of the female students inside the class had their jaws dropped when Niel boldly chose Haylee to become his partner and they started to stare at Haylee with dissatisfaction, feeling jealous that the school hottie chose her for the presentation. Haylee looked around her, trying to check if Niel was pointing his finger at someone else. But there was no one who locked their eyes to Niel, proving that he was indeed pointing at her. She unconsciously pointed her finger at herself, feeling baffled by the situation. "Me?" Haylee was in disbelief. "Yes! You! Haylee Johnson. I want to do it with you," he announced loudly. 'Is he crazy? Why is he so brazen?' Haylee turned red in an instant, feeling extremely shy and she lost for words. Mike stood up and pushed Niel's chest a little. "Hey, how about me? Partner up with me. Why do you want to do it with her?" Mike
Came to think of it, Haylee just realised that she had been away from home for five days already. 'How mom's doing?' She wondered internally. It was strange that her mother didn't try to find her at all. If her mother really wanted her home, she would have come to school to find her, or at least made a police report stating that she was missing. Usually, the police will try to find a person after twenty-four hours of being missing. It had been five days, but nothing happened. No one tried to find her. 'Did mom really throw me away like garbage? Did she really didn't want me back?' Her heart turned sorrow by the thoughts. She wanted to go home again, but she was afraid of having to face her stepdad. That abusive alcoholic bastard always tried to find chances to take advantage of her. She was traumatised by what happened to her in the past. Even so, she actually missed home because that house was the only place that held all the beautiful memories that she had with her late fa
The school bell rang again indicating that the recess time was over. Haylee and her friends quickly cleaned up their lunch boxes and sat at their respective tables again. The teacher came into the class and the study session resumed as usual. Haylee still couldn't get her mind out of what happened before. She stared at Niel from afar, watching at everything that he did. He acted like his usual self as if he wasn't at fault at all. But then again, when Haylee thought deeper about it, she couldn't even find a solid reason to be angry with Niel regarding his action of flirting so openly with Brianna right in front of her. 'It's not like I'm his girlfriend. He made it clear before that there won't be any relationship between us. So what am I then? His sex doll at home?' Haylee felt a sudden dread with the thought. "Haylee, turn to the next page. Haylee?" Helen called out for her. They were sharing their textbook but Haylee's mind seemed wandering around somewhere else.
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