"Nevaeh?" Kai's brows furrow as he notices my shocked expression. "What's the matter?"

I shake my head lightly. "I'm sorry. I just..." My mind is pushing me to talk about something else. "I forgot to return a book to the library today."

That's a lie, Nevaeh.

Kai laughs, ruffling my hair. "Don't think too much about it. You looked like someone was about to shoot you in the head."

Actually, I was about to shoot myself in the head for what I just realized.

Kai smiles again. "Where do you want to do the assignment?"

I can't decide. Anywhere is fine with me. "I don't know," I echo.

Before I can mention any coffee shop nearby, Kai asks again, "Do you want to go to my apartment? I have the book there, the one that covers our assignment."

"Yeah, I'm okay with that," I say.

I'm sure that with that book and Kai's help, we can finish the assignment before the deadline.

I spot a familiar black car parked near the gate of my campus and add, "Can you wait for a moment? I just have to tell someone that I'll go with you."

Kai nods, and I speed up my pace toward the car. Since my car is still being repaired, Aiden has ordered Sam to pick me up.

Sam rolls down the window when I arrive.

"Hi, Sam." I pant. "I'm sorry that I kept you waiting, but I don't think that I can go with you now. I'm going to my friend's place to finish our assignment first. I'll be back at night, and you don't have to wait for me."

Sam squints at me, looking unconvinced. "How are you going to go back home?"

"I can take a cab or uber from my friend's place." I shrug.

"I'm sorry, Ms. Nevaeh. But there's no way that you're going to take a cab or uber," Sam says in a serious tone. "Aiden has ordered me to drive you home, and he wouldn't be happy if he knew that I let you take those options."

I sigh. Poor Sam is just doing his job.

I look over my shoulder and see Kai watching us. He's waiting for me.

"Don't worry about me," I say, more like pleading. "I'm with my friend. I'm going with him. I don't know how long it will take to finish our assignment, and I don't want you to wait--"

"Him?" Sam almost shouts, and it startles me.

To my surprise, he gets out of the car. He snaps his head around frantically, looking for the said person. The moment he spots Kai, his eyes widen.

"You mean, that guy over there?" Sam asks in disbelief. "The one who walked you here yesterday?" The color drains from his face.

"Yeah." I nod.

"You're going to his house?" Sam squeaks.

"His apartment," I correct, as though it makes any difference.

I don't understand why Sam is panicking. It's not like I'm getting kidnapped.

Sam turns to face me. His face is as pale as a white paper. "Ms. Nevaeh." Sam gulps. "I don't think that this is a good idea."

"Why?" I squint at him.

"Because Aiden wouldn't like this," he says. "This is against his order for me. He wanted me to drive you back home from college."

I stare at Sam as confusion clouds my mind. But then, the realization hits me.

"Ah, he wants you to drive him somewhere after this, doesn't he?" I finally get it. "Is it that urgent? Is he waiting for you? Then it's all settled. I'm going with my friend, and you can go now."

Sam looks even more horrified after hearing my suggestion. "No, that's not what I mean." He looks like he wants to pull his hair out. "I just don't think that this is a good idea, I mean, about you going with that guy. Aiden wouldn't want it."

I frown. "Why?"

"I just know." Sam swallows, and I scrutinize him.

He knows that it's not a good answer, so he adds, "Because Aiden let you call him da--" Sam stops before he can finish his sentence.

"Call him what?" I urge.

Sam stares at me like I'm crazy. Right. I might be going insane because of how confused I am.

Sam opens his mouth, but there's no sound coming from it. He tries again, "Call him..." Again, he pauses.

I raise my brows in question.

Sam shuts his eyes and sighs. When he opens them again, I can see how desperate he is.

"Please," he begs. "I don't want to lose my job. Just...don't go to his apartment. Please, Ms. Nevaeh."

I sigh. I still think that there's nothing wrong with going to Kai's apartment, but Sam looks like he would fall off a cliff if I did that.

I shuffle over to Kai, who has a frown on his lips.

"Why is he panicking?" The question leaves Kai's lips before he turns to face me. "You know that I'll drive you home, right?"

I nod and let out another sigh.

A coffee shop. That's where we end up in.

Even though Kai and I are not doing our assignment in his apartment, we're still working on it in this coffee shop. Sam insists to wait for me and drive me home from the coffee shop, so there's nothing I can do about it.

I feel terrible because of two things.

1) I've made Kai feel like a bad guy.

2) I'm not doing anything bad, so why can't I do whatever I want?

Still, this is not entirely Sam's fault.

Kai comes back to our table with two drinks in his hands, one is his coffee and the other is my hot chocolate.

"I thought that you would order tea." He sits down.

I stare at my hot chocolate with wonder too. Usually, I would have ordered my comfort drink. But today, I just feel like drinking hot chocolate. I don't know why I suddenly miss drinking it.

Kai's gaze darts on Sam, who's slurping his strawberry milkshake at another table in the corner of the room with his eyes set on us.

Bingo. Sam is right here in the coffee shop too, watching us.

"Is he your driver or is he your bodyguard?" Kai asks in irritation. He sighs, leans back against his chair, and slurps his coffee.