CHAPTER 6

"Girlfriend?" Harold and Celine, and I asked the man who suddenly appeared.

I also got confused because I don't know him so why would he just say that I am his girlfriend? Is this man crazy?

"Excuse me--"

He smiled at me. "Let's go?" He held my hand and was about to drag me out there but he stopped. He looked at Celine while being calmed. "Make it a hobby to listen to your boyfriend's explanation before jumping to conclusions, huh?"

And we walked away from that place... Still he's holding my hand. As much as I wanted to walk away from this strange man, I couldn't. I lost my strength because of what happened, my brain just couldn't process things easily as of the moment.

"Thank me later," as he stopped from walking, he started talking. "I deserve it, don't I?"

"Why did you do that?" I went straight to the point. "I don't even need your help, so why did you do that? We don't know each other in the first place, so what right do you have to interfere in my life?"

“Is that the way you thanked people?" He smirked at me. "I saw that there was a disturbance going on, so I came closer. It's not my job to interfere with others... But because I feel that the girl doesn't know how to listen to the explanation her boyfriend is trying to say, I've come up with that… way."

"And that's the way you’re saying and acting like you did a big favor to me?!" I asked. "You told them I’m your girlfriend and you think the problem has been solved?"

"Exactly!"

"Do you think it's funny?" I rolled my eyes. "What you did was not a good idea, stupid! What if Harold asks me about you? What am I going to answer? What-"

"Why do you tend to make everything a big deal, Miss Beautiful?" The smile on his lips was indelible. "Just go with the flow, the problem will be solved. But if you don't want to lie to your friend, we can make this work into reality."

My jaw dropped at the last thing he said. What he said sounded serious, but... His annoying grin made me think he was just tripping me.

"By the way, my name is not Stupid." He held out his palm in front of me. "I'm Israel Villagas… honey bunch, sweetie pie for short."

I shook his hand. "I guess you don't recognize what is long and short, huh." I rolled my eyes at him for the nth time. "We shouldn't cross our paths... Again."

I immediately turned around and walked away from that man. Even though I wasn't completely away from him, I still heard the last thing he said.

"We'll see each other here, right? I'm studying here, too!"

I didn't choose to pay attention to it anymore and left the campus completely. I don't have anything else to do there other than find out which place I'm going to do OJT. Even more unlucky because something unexpected happened... And I even met that man. He's handsome... however I don't like the aura of his personality... Smells like a playboy.

"Hi, Irene!" When I finally got out of campus, I met Magi with a girl I didn't know. "Do you also study at this school?"

I nodded. "You also?"

"We've graduated here." She looked at the woman beside her. "By the way, it's Delancy, my friend."

"Hi, I'm Irene." I extended my palm to shake hands with Delancy, she reached for it before smiling sweetly at me.

"Are you going home?" Magi asked. "We are planning to invite you for coffee first. Is that okay with you?"

I would have liked to say no because I really had to go home. I want to rest at home because the bed is dragging my body. However I’m afraid I might look rude if I reject Magi, while I owe them and Dylan so much.

"Sure," I agreed.

They put me in the car and definitely took the road to the coffee shop they were talking about. Magi also insisted on taking me to our house after that. I just agreed and it's still the same... they will drop me off at the exit of our village.

I'm quite amazed that Delancy was driving the car because Magi doesn't know how to drive. I'm just in awe of women who know how to drive a car. 'Cause one thing I wanted to learn in life is to drive a car. But… How can I learn to drive a car if I am not allowed to use our car?

"Delancy and I are secondary teachers at the public school. We just passed by the campus to pass some requirements that we didn't pass last year," said Magi, while I was busy drinking coffee in the middle of the day.

"You? What is your course, Irene?" Delancy asked.

"Uhm, BSHM," I answered, "and I'm in my 4th year as an HM student. Next week, I'll be participating in OJT."

"That's great!" Magi exclaimed. "One of our friends is your batchmate. He's in his fourth year now, he's in engineering."

I just nodded at what Magi said and continued drinking the coffee I was holding.

"Irene, do you have a boyfriend?"

I almost drowned in the coffee I was drinking because of Delancy's question. Because of that, I suddenly remembered the incident earlier that I was trying to forget.

"N-None," I answered. "Having a boyfriend or getting into a relationship is not on my priority list. I promised my father and my mother in heaven that books before boys."

"Because boys bring babies?" Delancy chuckled. "Just kidding. But seriously, you haven't been in a relationship yet? Are you NBSB?"

"NBSB?"

"No boyfriend since birth." Magi laughed. "It looks like nothing really... She's a good girl, Delancy."

"But I had a crush," I uttered. "Just in case, he has a girlfriend now. I couldn't admit to him that I have a crush on him because I'm afraid of rejection."

"Rejection is always part of our life, Irene," Magi replied. "If you won't experience being rejected, you will fail to innovate to become the best version of yourself."

"How do you know your shortcomings if you don't get rejected? How will you know the things you should change about yourself if he doesn't like or reject you? People should set their mindset of not taking as negative things if someone rejected them. Be motivated and accept the rejection, so you could be able to change yourself for the better," she added.

"I was once afraid of being rejected. Who wouldn't be afraid of that, right? It's a pain to be rejected," Delancy spoke. "But you know what, Irene? Even though it was difficult for me to accept his rejection... Still I managed to accept it."