Chapter 2

“Hey”

Hearing Kai’s voice made me fidget in my seat unknowingly. It becomes worse when he takes a seat beside me. Why did he need to sit next to me when there were empty chairs at the table? I don’t know why I'm so annoyed with him. I noticed he took a glance at me before talking with the others.

“I don’t care if you want to join or not, but you’re already on my basketball team,” Andrew says sternly.

I heard Kai heave a deep sigh after that.

“You have to ask first. What happened with asking people’s permission, bro?” he says, clearly annoyed with Andrew.

“You knew him very well, Kai. Since when does he ask for other people’s permission?” Luis added calmly.

“Come on, Kai. The girls are crazy about basketball”, Dylan says with a grin.

“Correction, not basketball, but you guys. It seems like those leeches don’t have much on their hands. I keep seeing their faces at your games, cheering and squealing nonstop as their lives depend on it,” Luna chimes in sourly.

I know why. She’s jealous because the girls won’t take their eyes off Asher whenever there is a game. By the way, Asher, William, Andrew, and Dylan are on the team. I went once before, and it takes everything for Luna not to rip one of the girl’s hair out when she catches her giving a flying kiss to Asher. That is the scariest Luna I have ever seen, and I shudder at the sight. The girl should be grateful that she is sound and safe until today.

Jealous Luna is scary after all.

“Relax, Luna. Who on Earth is in their right mind to take Asher away from you? No one is crazy enough to be killed by you”, Kai teases. I may not like him, but I’m on the same page with him. Before Luna opens her mouth to counter his words, he quickly adds, “Besides, it’s not like the girls are not impressed with me if I’m not joining the team”, he says smugly before turning away to wink at the girls beside our tables.

Their reaction? They are squealing in their seats happily as if they are their fans and he is their idol.

Luna ‘Tch’ at him disgustingly, making him laugh loudly. Dylan nods his head while looking impressed at Kai. Andrew shows a disapproving look, clearly dissatisfied with the lack of attention from girls since Kai got here.

Well, I’m not surprised by their reaction. I admit he is a good-looking man. Everyone is talking about him, including my classmates, so I’m practically hearing his name almost every day. The girls have been so excited since day one when he got here. He is everyone's ideal type. Excluding me.

He is too good-looking, too tall, and too rich.

He is overwhelming, too much in everything. Besides, he is a weirdo and, don't forget, a playboy.

I prefer someone nice and caring. The one that isn’t in the spotlight the whole time. Just sitting beside him like this suffocated me.

“What do you think about it?”

It takes me seconds to realize that he is talking to me. At first, I ignored him just because he didn’t have to ask my opinion about him joining the team. But, when the others are looking at me expectantly, I reluctantly turn my head toward him. As soon as our eyes met, his eyes shone brightly, and a small smile lit up his face, reminding me of a mischievous kid.

"What do you think of me joining the basketball team?" he asks again when I don't give him an answer.

Confuse.

I was so confused that I was unable to say a word. Why is he asking me? I mean, I'm sure my opinion won't matter to him anyway. Besides, I didn't even think of anything when Andrew asked him to be on the team. He can do anything he wants to. It doesn't matter to me.

Instead of answering him, I look at Luna.

"I think I have to go now." I sound as if I’m asking for permission.

It must be because I’m so desperate to take my leave.

"Yes, of course. Take care of yourself", Luna says cheerfully.

She seems happy when I say I want to leave. Without wasting any time, I grabbed my books on the table and walked away after waving goodbye. It is rude of me to leave Kai unanswered like that, but I shrug off the guilt that is slowly taking over me.

Don't think about him. He's no one.

***

Luna’s POV

I avert my gaze from Hanna’s back to Kai. My eyebrows furrow in displeasure when I see the mischievous grin on his face as he looks at Hanna, although she is already far from us.

"I warn you, Kai", I start, managing to gain his attention. "I warn you to not do anything stupid to Hanna. Go and find any leeches you want; I don't care. Just don't you dare mess with Hanna", I say sternly, stressing every word I say so that he understands that I’m dead serious.

The grin on his face disappears. He seems to be thinking about something. It scares me, to be honest.

"Am I that bad?" Kai asks, and before I answer, he makes a gesture not to speak to him. "I know, I'm that bad. But, Luna, it's not what you think, alright? I don't have any bad intentions towards her. I swear."

Kai looked so sincere, but I couldn't trust him yet. He changes girls like he changes his clothes. As easy as that. The others are looking at me back and forth. Asher just stays silent, as usual.

"You think I will believe that? Listen, Kai, if you do something bad to her, I swear I..."

"Ok, stop right there. I just want to be her friend, alright? I mean, can't I? She's your dear friend, so of course I want to be one as well. Is that wrong? Does that look bad to you?" Kai says, the grin on his face disappearing.

"Kai, Luna's right. Hanna is not someone you can mess with. Go and find other girls", Asher says, to my surprise.

Most of the time, he just doesn't care about anything, but for him to speak up about this, he must be concerned about this matter too. I give him a grateful smile, and he smiles back at me. This moment makes me realize why I have fallen in love with this man over and over again.

"Seriously, Ash? You too? You should know me well. You think I'm that bad?" Kai seems angry at both of us.

Now, I feel guilty. They have been best friend since they were in diapers, and I don't want their friendship ruined because of my suspicion about Kai's weird attitude towards Hanna. It is weird actually to see how desperate Kai seems to get into Hanna's good side when he has never chased a girl before. I know he is a good man, but he had never cared about a girl's feelings. He tosses them away when he doesn’t want them. He didn't bat an eye, even when they knelt and begged him. That is the reason why I’m so worried about him.

Hanna is the nicest and modest girl that I've ever known. Her shyness and quietness make her seem so vulnerable, like a porcelain china doll. I don't want someone as innocent as her to get hurt by him.

She will break, that is for sure.

"Kai's right, Luna. It's not like he dares to do anything stupid to Hanna", Evelyn chimes in after observing us.

"Kai just wants to be a friend. I'm sure he's not silly enough to do something bad to Hanna", Violet tries to calm the tense situation.

"Maybe put a bit of trust in him?" Luis persuades me.

William nods his head eagerly at me; meanwhile, Andrew and Dylan seem not to care about it. I sighed before looking at Asher.

"If this jerk tries to do something funny to her, I'll kick his ass", Asher assures me while stroking my hair gently.

He always knew how to calm me down.

"Fine", I say to Kai, and I receive a bright smile in return. "Remember, no funny business, Kai", I remind him, and I get a thumbs up as a response.

I try to shake off the uneasy feeling in my stomach when I see the smirk on his face after that. Maybe it is just me and my over-protectiveness. I should have put more trust in him.

***

Hana’s POV

I’m jotting down my notes when I hear the screeching sound in front of me. Putting down my pen, I raised my head, and my eyes widened as soon as I saw him, Kai. He grins at me before sitting in front of me casually like I reserved the seat for him.

"What are you doing here?" I ask, unable to hide the unpleasantness and shock in my voice.

The other people around me are fake coughing in response to my loud voice. I smile apologetically to them when I realize I’m in the library.

"To see you", he replies casually.

What?

"How do you know I'm here?" This time, I lower my voice. He took his sweet time before answering my question by grabbing my reference book and flipping its page. When I conclude that he doesn't want to answer my question, I heave a small sigh. "Kai..." I stop talking when he suddenly looks at me with a bright face.

"You know my name", he says excitedly.

Of course, I knew his name. He even introduced himself to me several days ago. Playboy, weirdo, and silly. What else?

"Seriously, what are you doing here, and how do you know I'm here?" I asked softly, trying to suppress my anger.

"I told you, I'm here to see you", he replied, still dodging my second question.

For what? For what to see me?

Also, I couldn't think of the names of people who would be kind enough to tell him about me. I bite my lower lip and try to think about it. Luna? Impossible. Not in a million years. Violet? I don't think so. Evelyn? I want to say 'no' confidently, but I doubt it. But why? I become more annoyed when he stares at me with a grin on his face. I desperately want to wipe off that annoying smirk. Ugh! Why is he so annoying?

It is then I notice that several people are looking straight at me or should I say, us? Some of them even whispered among each other. I could feel their hateful gazes on me. Crap! Kai is here, in front of me. The celebrity of the university is here. The realization hit me, and I looked at him panickedly.

"You should go now, please!" I begged him. The last thing I want is another weird rumor about me. Instead of considering my words, he let out a loud laugh that gained uninvited attention towards us. Great, now, more people know he is here with me. "Kai, please, you should go now. People are looking", I beg him, and once again, he just laughs at my desperation.

I am anxious. I don't like the judging eyes on me. They are everywhere, and it suffocates me. I look at him, trying to make him understand that he shouldn't be here. It looked like my desperation didn't reach him as he was still laughing loudly. I feel like a joke here, so without wasting time, I stand up and grab my things harshly. He finally stopped laughing, and panic was written all over his face afterward.

Hanna, I'm sorry. I don't mean to laugh at you. It just..."

I ignore him and grab my tote bag. Before I could walk away, he grabbed my wrist to stop me. I widen my eyes, and I pull my hand away from his grasp in an instant.

"Can you just leave me alone?" I raised my voice at him.

"I'm sorry, Hanna. I..."

"Please?" My voice almost broke, and I suddenly wanted to cry once several people took videos of us.

I don't know what will happen after this.

He doesn't say anything. Only guilt was written all over his face. I took this chance to escape from there. From him. From everything.