[Music Recommendation: "Tiptoe Thru The Tulips" by O'Neill Brothers (instrumental only)-available in Youtube or Spotify] ~ Please listen to it in a loop while you read this part to experience the utmost beauty of this chapter ~

I slumped my head on the table trying to hide my embarrassment. How I wanted to disappear right there and then.

'Hora, I swear once you have a lovelife, I'll make sure to embarrass you in front of that person, too.'

Being a virgin was truthfully great in my opinion. The problem was that Kaiden, a man, had to hear it out loud. If only Hora would zip her mouth or he could forget all he just heard—but that's just my wishful thinking.

"Oops… sorry. Don't mind us, Kaiden," Hora chuckled.

"R-right," he nodded and put back his earphones, burying his face back to his phone. His ears were still red though.

An awkward silence shrouded our table.

"See how he blushed with hearing something simple like that?" Crystal whispered sneakily to Hora. "I'm putting my bet on one year or more."

"Alright then," Hora whispered back. Seriously, these two just wouldn't drop it. "I'm still betting for six months. My guts tell me that's more than enough."

They fist bumped after like they're some brothers from another mother and snickered mischievously.

A few moments later, Callan and Verrill arrived.

"Sorry, everyone," Verrill immediately apologized when they arrived. "A bunch of girls just kept on pestering us along the way."

"Hmf! Pestering?" Crystal scoffed. "Maybe you mean 'flirting' instead." Her eyes rolled from east to west.

"Fuuuu… Is our queen pissed off?" Callan whistled and sat on the arm rest beside Crystal. He patted Crystal's head much to her annoyance.

"Shut up, Callan," Crystal sneered and pushed Callan off of the arm rest.

"Ouch. That hurts."

"Stop pretending. I doubt that hurts with those sturdy muscles of yours."

"Ahhh, so you like my muscles, huh?"

"One more word and I'll kill you."

"Ha-ha! My queen is so feisty."

Meanwhile, Verrill sat beside Kaiden and in front of Hora, leaving enough space for Callan to transfer to his left side. Once done bickering with Crystal, Callan sat down, and a waiter came to us asking for our order.

'A waiter? Then this is not a school cafeteria but a restaurant! But why are they all calling it a cafeteria? Just because it's inside the school?'

We told him our orders afterwards. Looking at the menu, they had a variety of cuisines to try. I'd probably have a go at them little by little as I continue my college life. For now, I settled with potato gratin and salmon steak—I could never get tired of salmon. The guys ordered steak, Crystal got some filling salad with chicken and Hora ordered shrimp pasta.

After we had our fill, we chatted for a bit and went back to our next class. This time, I made sure to tell Kaiden not to ditch his class to which he agreed reluctantly. They all dropped me to my next class since I was the closest, before they went to their own.

Kaiden kindly reminded me to tell him if anything happened while shooting glares at my classmates who were mostly the same people I was with earlier. Because of that, my second class was more peaceful than the first. No one dared bother talking to me, or even look at my direction. Finally, some peace. I always preferred to be left alone than being the center of attention.

The next professor was entertaining. He taught us "Fiction Writing I" which was perfect for me since the new book I'm writing was fantasy with a bit of romance. I made sure to jot down those I found important—which was basically everything. I did have my laptop with me but somehow, writing it down improved my retention of things so I opted to hand write instead.

Hours passed and before I knew it, it was already late in the afternoon and classes were over. I waited for everyone at a bench near our department. Our department building was the closest to the parking lot and entrance gate so we all decided to make my area the meet up place. Lucky me, I didn't need to walk much if I wanted to reconvene with them.

"Hmmm… I wonder what's taking them so long?"

"Senara," a soft and gentle voice whispered to me.

I turned around, smiling—it was probably Hora.

But then… there was no one.

Just the wind blowing hard.

"Get out of there, now!"

There it was again! I stood up from my seat and walked around, searching for the mysterious voice.

"W-who? And how—"

SCCCRREEEEEECCHH!!!

Suddenly, an irritating noise of car tires screeching on the ground could be heard from behind me.

'Seriously! These teenagers don't know how to drive properly! Their licenses should be revoked.'

BAAANGGG!!!

DUUUGGGSHHH!!!

CRAAASSHHH!!!

Hearing those sounds, I quickly turned around to see what happened. My eyes widened in surprise as I gasped in shock. My heart hammered like never before and I could feel my whole body tremble…

How could I not?

A car suddenly lost control and crashed towards a stone bench!

And not just any bench!

It was the bench I was sitting a few seconds ago!

And half of the bench got destroyed severely!

"Ahhhh!" the other students nearby screamed in fear.

People started gathering around the car to check the driver. Security and staff arrived one after another. They helped the student driver out of the car and checked his injuries.

But none of those happening registered to me…

I was frozen in my position.

If I didn't stand up from that bench… I would have…

I would have died.

Or if I somehow got lucky, I'd survive with great injuries or a handicap.

Realizing that, my heart thumped louder.

"… nara"

"Sena—"

"Senara!"

I didn't know anymore who was calling me. I tried to turn around but my body wouldn't cooperate.

[Music Recommendation: "Stay With Me" by Chanyeol - Goblin OST (instrumental only) available in Youtube or Spotify] ~

Then, a warm embrace enveloped me from my side.

"Haaaah…" I breathed deeply.

"Senara… it's okay. You're safe."

This scent… and voice…

It was Kaiden.

As soon as I realized it was him, I broke out in tears and buried my face on his chest.

"Hu-hu-hu-hu…"

I didn't wail or shout but I cried hard in silence.

He kindly patted my back and tightened his embrace.

"It's alright. You're safe," he whispered gently to me. "It's all over now."