"I'm cooking," I abruptly say. "I'm cooking, Dad. My hands are full right now." I nervously laugh.

"What are you cooking, sweetheart?" Mom chirps in, and my gaze drops on the food on the table.

Meanwhile, Aiden is still watching me.

"Pancakes."

"Always your favorite," Dad says, and I can imagine the smile on his face.

"Did you get the maple syrup I placed on the kitchen for you?" Mom asks. "I know you like to eat with lots of it."

To my surprise, a small smile forms on Aiden's lips. He pours the remaining maple syrup on my pancake, leaving nothing for himself.

I'm stunned, but then I realize that I should answer Mom's question. "I got it. I got it, Mom."

"And the cereals?" Dad asks. "I bought a lot of packs of Lucky Charms for you, remember?"

"I had to stop you from buying all the stocks in the grocery store," Mom speaks to Dad with amusement, and I can imagine her shaking her head in disbelief.

"She loves it," Dad says, sounding hurt, only to receive a chuckle from Mom.

Ian comes back to our table to place Aiden's coffee, and that's when Aiden whispers to him, "Lucky charms for Nevaeh."

Ian raises his eyebrows.

"The cereal," Aiden whisper shouts, and Ian quickly nods before walking back into the kitchen to prepare it for me. I don't even have time to stop him.

"I'm so excited for your first day, honey." Mom indeed can't hide her excitement. She knows how eager I am to join the business classes.

"You remember our deal, don't you?" Dad asks, and I feel like pulling my hair out.

Please, Dad. Not again.

"Stay away from guys who--"

"I know, Dad," I cut him off. "Anyway, I gotta hurry. My first class is pretty early today. I'll call you later. Love you." I hang up before Dad unknowingly spills unnecessary information to Aiden.

I'm sure that Aiden isn't interested to hear about my love life.

Dad must be staring at his phone with opened mouth now, but I'll text him later.

"Sorry," I say, feeling embarrassed. "They're always so nosy."

"I'm sorry that you had to lie to them." Guilt is visible in Aiden's eyes.

"It's okay. My Dad... He's just too overprotective." I let out a sigh of desperation.

The guilt I'm feeling worsens too. I can't imagine if Dad knows all about this.

Ian comes back with a bowl of my favorite cereal, while Aiden resumes his breakfast.

A few moments pass in silence, and just as I'm about to start a conversation, Ashton arrives at our table. Aiden turns to him, only to find an apologetic look on Ashton's face.

"I know that we haven't reached office hour, but it's urgent," Ashton says. "I had a call from the branch office in Singapore that they were told to cancel the deal due to the government's policy. They wanted me to pass this message to you."

Aiden sighs, takes out his phone, and walks off to call someone that seems to be very important and most likely resides on the other side of the world.

Based on what Ashton just said, Aiden has a bilateral deal to close. I have no choice but to keep my mouth shut, looking down at my plate.

Compared to the important matter that he has to handle this morning, my question will definitely sound stupid:

'What's your favorite cereal?'

I'm still jotting down the notes on my book when the lecturer finishes the first class of the day. I don't want to miss anything important. Damn. I'm indeed taking this too seriously.

"I expect you to send the case study report by the end of next week. You can work in a group of two or three." That's the last thing the professor says before she walks out of the classroom.

Now that I think about it, I haven't got a partner to do the assignment. I'm new here -- an exchange student -- while all the other classmates have already formed into groups.

"Have you got a partner for the case study?"

I snap my head toward the girl sitting next to me. She has medium-length black hair, brown eyes, and pale ivory skin. A smile spreads across her lips.

"Would you like to be in my team?" she asks. "It will be the three of us."

Among my classmates, she's the first one to reach out to me, and I appreciate her kindness.

"I'm Ash, by the way." She extends her hand to shake hands with me, and I accept it.

"I'm Nevaeh." I return her smile.

"I know." She grins. "You're the only exchange student for our major this semester. Do you want to grab lunch together?"

"Sure. I'd love to."

"Ah, there she is." Ash looks up and stands up from her seat as another black-haired girl approaches us.

The girl totters down the stairs of the lecture hall and yelps as she stumbles. A few papers slip from her books, and one of them falls right in front of me, on the desk.

I stare in awe at a piece of drawing. It's a sketch of butterflies, so beautiful that I can't take my eyes off it.

I don't know why, but butterflies have a special place in my heart. It reminds me of Mom and how much I miss her.

"Sorry." The girl abruptly snatches the paper from my hand, looking flustered. "It's just... I was bored during the lecture."

"Come on, Maya. Did you actually pay any attention to the class?" Ash chuckles.

"I can multitask," Maya retorts.

"Well, Nevaeh, this is my best friend. Maya," Ash says to me. "We're going to do the assignment together." She then introduces me to her, "Maya, Nevaeh."

"It's nice to meet you. I hope we can be good friends." Maya smiles sweetly, and it makes my heart melt.

I'm so happy to meet such friendly people on my first day here.

"Let's go get lunch. I'm starving." Ash groans, and the three of us exit the classroom together, heading to the cafeteria.

"Your drawing is beautiful," I say to Maya, who looks surprised to hear my compliment.

Her cheeks blush crimson. She's so cute.

"Thank you. I just like to draw, and paint. It's my comfort thing."

I ponder at that thought.

Drawing. Painting. It reminds me of someone.

A soft smile forms on my lips. Aiden surely finds comfort in painting too. It somehow makes me feel a bit relieved.

My eyes travel around the cafeteria as we step into it. There are so many people, and the food counters look good.

"What's your favorite food?" Ash asks. "We have almost all kinds of food here. We have a very popular burger counter over there, but damn, look at the queue." She huffs.

"I love cheeseburger," I say matter-of-factly.

"You guys, go ahead. I'm gonna find some tables for us to sit at." Maya walks off.

After Ash guides me through all the counters, explaining the menu one by one -- she's an awesome culinary guide -- I end up with a plate of Chinese food on my tray.

While Ash is still waiting for hers, I catch sight of Maya shooting her hand up from a table.

"Over here," she calls.

I'm walking toward her when I bump into someone quite hard, causing my tray to slip out of my grip.

Oh, shit.

Before I can cause any mess on the floor, a strong arm helps me regain my balance and saves my tray from falling. I quickly grab it back, and when I look up at my savior, I find a guy staring down at me. He's still holding my arm.

He has beautiful grey eyes -- even his glasses can't make them any less captivating. His hair is light brown, with messy bangs.

He's quite...handsome.

I'm snapped out of my trance when I realize that all eyes are suddenly on us. The guy looks stunned too, and it takes a few seconds before he completely lets me go.

"Thanks," I say, and the guy responds with a small smirk.

He nods slightly before walking off, and I find it amazing that I can still feel people staring at me even though I've already resumed my steps.

"Are you okay?" Maya asks with concern as I put my tray on the table.

I take a seat across from her. "Yeah," I say breathlessly. "I just had a...collision."

"I see Kai saved you just in time," Ash hums, arriving at my side. As soon as she places her food on the table, she doesn't wait to devour it.

She's indeed hungry, but she took the time to guide me through all the food counters. God, bless her heart.

"Kai?" I ask, thinking about the guy who saved me just now.

"Yeah, Kai Walker. He's the head of the student council," Ash says.

"And he's a smart guy. People say that he's a genius," Maya adds, apparently finding this conversation more interesting than grabbing her lunch.

Intelligent guy? That piques my interest. Smart guys are really attractive.

"And he's hot," Ash adds.

"And he's looking at you right now." Maya tries to bite her smile, focusing her gaze on the said guy.

My curiosity kicks in, and I can't help but turn my body around, only to find that Kai is indeed staring at me from another table.

He averts his gaze, and his friends laugh at him. It's obvious that they're talking about me.

"You see, you're not supposed to do that." Ash chuckles as I return my attention to them. "You shouldn't just turn around like that. You should do it slowly, as though it's unintentional."

"I'm sorry," I blurt out. "I didn't know why I did that."

I curse myself for being clueless about this kind of thing. This is the time when I would blame Dad again for making my love life doomed.

Kai's gaze fills my mind again, and I feel something in my stomach.

Butterflies?

Is this a sign?

"Anyway, he's whipped." Maya chuckles. From the spot she's sitting, she's the only one who can still see what Kai is doing. "Totally whipped."