"Can't you see that we're not done?" Kai shakes his head in disbelief. "You're not even living together." The last sentence is barely a whisper, said with disgust.

"I'm waiting for her answer, not yours," I speak through gritted teeth.

My mind, however, rewinds Kai's words. Nevaeh must have told him that we're not living together, just as I expected. What else could she possibly tell him?

Nevaeh still doesn't say anything, and my heart sinks.

A frown touches her lips. She squints at me. She must be wondering why I'm acting this way.

Please say yes. Come home with me. Please help me get rid of this restlessness. I fucking hate this feeling.

"Kai is still teaching me something," Nevaeh finally says.

I can see the disappointment in her eyes when she looks at me, as though she's seeing a different person, not the one she knows.

I'm being a jerk. I know that I'm acting like an asshole, and it pisses me off even more.

She looks down, pressing her fingers on the page of the book. There's a graph on it.

"What are you studying?" I ask.

"Marketing," she says without looking up at me. "Mapping brand strategy." She's deep in thought. It's probably about my selfishness and not about the book.

"I can help you with that," I insist.

I'm not trying to brag, but I'm sure that I can get her an A+. She doesn't have any idea how much research I've done about that subject. I've even published my own paper.

"Sorry, but we're good," Kai interrupts again, now standing up. He thinks that I have no idea about what I'm talking about. "It's a specific theory that the professor taught us this morning. It would be impossible to map the brand strategy before conducting relevant case studies."

It's my turn to scoff. "Try me."

Kai tilts his head, eyeing me with a look that says I'm going to lose.

Does he think that I'm going to back off from this stupid challenge?

Nevaeh looks up at Kai and then at me. She must have not expected that we would be taking this too seriously.

Kai takes the book from Nevaeh and rotates it on the table so that I can get a clear view of the graph on the page. I narrow my eyes and bite my smirk.

For other people, it might seem complicated. But for me, I know it like the back of my hand.

It's game over for you.

"Do you have time to explain that?" Kai asks calmly, but I know that he's laughing inside.

He must be thinking that it would require days -- or even months -- for me to master what he must have studied before.

"Do you have time to check the source and contributor of the business model?" I retort.

Kai squints at me, not expecting that response. His eyes fall on the information below the graph, written in small letters. The words are so small, I'm thinking about suing the book after this.

Source: Aiden Klein

"I invented it," I say.

Kai freezes. Nevaeh senses the war between us and stands up too.

"I'm really sorry, Kai. I really didn't expect this interruption." There's so much guilt in her voice, and it irritates me how much she cares about him. Her eyes squeeze shut as she balls her fists on the table. "I'm really sorry, but I have to go now."

She throws me a glare, and that almost makes my heart stop. She grabs her bag and storms outside the coffee shop.

I run after her and push through the door. "Nevaeh."

She keeps walking, ignoring me.

Shit.

My heart rate kicks up a notch. What have I done?

Shit. I'm sorry.

I'm sorry, Nevaeh.

"Nevaeh," I call again, following her along the pavement.

When she turns around to face me, I stop. Her eyes are filled with anger.

"What is wrong with you?" She tilts her chin up.

Fucking great. We're fighting now?

My chest heaves up and down. I've never wanted to make her angry, but I did. Because I couldn't control myself.

"We still hadn't finished what we were doing," she talks about Kai and her, it sickens me. "Why did you do that? Can't you just go home without me? Why did you ask Sam to follow my every move? I might not have my car with me, but I can take care of myself."

I don't know what to say. She's right. I shouldn't have done what I did.

But it hurts to imagine her with someone else who obviously wants to be with her. I don't want to see her walking away, but that's exactly what I just made her do.

"Didn't you notice how he stared at you?" The words leave my lips before I know it. "He looked like a creep."

I'm such a hypocrite because I would be called a creep too.

I'm selfish, and I'm jealous.

I'm fucking jealous.

Nevaeh stares at me in disbelief. A drop of water drops on her forehead, and I look up at the sky. It's starting to rain.

Fuck. Perfect timing, huh?

"He didn't," Nevaeh says firmly. She takes a deep breath, trying to control her emotions. "Kai and I were just studying together. He's not a creep. He's my study partner," she defends him, ignoring the rain that starts to turn from drizzling to falling harder.

"Everything can start from a study partner," I hiss.

That's what happened to Olivia and me. That also happened to Olivia and Roman.

Nevaeh looks even angrier, turns her back at me, and walks away.

For fuck's sake.

The rain is now drenching us. People scatter, trying to find a shelter. But not us. We don't care about it.

I don't care about anything else. All I can think about is her.

"Nevaeh," I shout her name again while she speeds up her pace. "I'm sorry." I rush to her.

She doesn't deserve this. I admit my stupidity. It's just fucking hard for me.

I feel like my heart is about to shatter if I continue this feeling.

"I'm sorry," I say it again, louder this time.

Nevaeh comes to a halt and turns around. The sight before me is breaking my heart, because she's shivering due to the coldness of the rain.

I pant. I want to pull her into a tight hug and embrace her.

I can't.

Instead, I yank off my suit jacket. I spread it above her head, sheltering her body from the rain. I don't want her to get sick.

"I'm sorry," I whisper, ignoring the cold rain myself. It's nothing compared to the coldness I feel inside when she doesn't want to look at me. "Please come home with me."

Nevaeh stares at me for long seconds. When our gazes lock, her sky blue eyes glint with something that I can't make out.

She looks like she's about to break, and I hate myself for causing that.

Silently, she nods.