CHAPTER 46: SO CLOSE!

Natasha immediately hid the mop stick she held behind her, then forced a wide smile when she noticed it was Jayden.

"Hey," she said, waving a hand at Jayden.

Both of Jayden’s hands were occupied with bags, so he smiled and said softly. "Hey, can I come in?"

Natasha gave him a polite look up and down before stepping away from the door.

Jayden stepped in, glancing around, pink, pink... pink... everything was just pink, even down to the tile on the floor.

Jayden waved at Ella, who was sitting at her reading desk, also dressed in pink pyjamas, and then looked back at Natasha.

"I didn’t see you guys at the cafeteria today."

Natasha scratched her nape, "About that, we decided to skip lunch today."

"Any big occasion, cuz I bought these for you guys.

Natasha and Ella looked at each other, then back at Jayden.

"Seriously?" Natasha hopped on her feet, "It’s nothing, we can’t skip for the food, thank you, thank you."

"That was so thoughtful of you" Ella passionately said while holding Jayden’s arm. "How are we gonna repay such kindness?"

Jay handed the bags to them. He smiled and shook his head, "No, no. There wouldn’t be any need for that. By the way, where’s Zoe?"

Natasha bit her lip softly. "Oh, your bae is asleep," she said, nodding towards the California king’s bed behind them, which was also pink.

’Shit... who knows if I’ll ever get this courage again?’ Jayden cursed in his thoughts, then said, pointing towards the door, "Okay, then, I’ll just leave and come back later.

"No, no.... sit" Natasha pulled Jayden to Ella’s reading desk.

"Hey, you’re handsome here", Ella tapped Zoe from sleep.

Zoe shifted uncomfortably, mummuring with her face against the pillow, "I thought you’d learn not to play pranks on me, most especially on days like this."

Ella hissed, "It’s not a prank."

Her words planted some doubts in Zoe. Zoe knew her roommates feared her too well to oppose her, let alone persistently prank her.

Zoe lifted her head, cleaning off her eye mucus before giving the room a look.

Her face flushed red.

"The fuck!" She rasped, crawling backwards on her bed with her blanket wrapped around her. "What the hell are you doing here?"

Jayden slanted his head with a narrowed gaze, ’Why’s she acting so terrified? Is she na*ed?’

"Em... We had a chat and room 3 was the venue, right?"

Zoe exhaled a deep breath, "Wasn’t that two weeks ago?"

"Em... something came up," Jayden said, while trying to avoid eye contact.

Zoe raised an eyebrow, "Seriously? Your excuse isn’t even good enough. Get out and come back when you have a better excuse."

"I—" Jayden tried to speak, but she pointed at the door and sharply said. "Out!"

Jayden stood up, dropping the food he got for her on the desk,

"These are yours", he whispered, bowed his head and headed for the door.

Natasha and Ella had pitying looks on their faces, but they couldn’t oppose Zoe.

"You beastless idiot, you’re really leaving. Come back here!" Zoe shouted.

Jayden turned around, folding his arms without saying a word, but in his mind, he was screaming, ’Are you playing with me?’

Zoe stood up from the bed, pushing her spaghetti-sleeved dress up her shoulder, and her hairy fox tail swaying behind her.

She trailed a finger down his chest, whispering with the heat of her voice lingering on his face, "Thanks for the lunch."

Jayden shivered from every inch of her touch, while forcing a smile.

Zoe shot her roommates, who were mummuring to each other, a dangerous glare. "Please leave the room"

They tensed, "but—"

before and I’m not gonna do that again."

Natasha and Zoe swallowed hard, packed their lunch, and left the room.

Zoe smiled as the door closed, then began pacing slowly around Jayden, "So, where do we start from, where you went for two weeks? Why you have a top-secured drive, and most importantly what do you see me as?"

Jayden’s heart tensed, ’How did she get to know it’s a top-secured drive?’ Both Draco and Jayden rasped in thought.

He wanted to ask immediately, but that would be risking coming off the wrong way.

Jayden smiled, exposing his white thirty-two, "How about we talk while watching a movie, I brought popcorn."

"Alright, we’ve got all day after all." Zoe went and sat on the bed while streaming a movie on her laptop.

A cold current ran down Jayden’s spine, ’the bed? Why the bed? We could just use the reading desk.’ Sweat had begun crawling down his face.

Zoe glanced at him, "What are you still doing there, come over here."

"Oh. Yeah, sure" Jayden swallowed and sat with legs crossed next to Zoe at the heart of the bed.

"Hmm, Last Man Standing (Part 2), I haven’t really watched Part 1, so this might be a spoiler, and why’s a girl watching such a blood-filled movie?"

Zoe threw her hair behind her back, "To know exactly how to kill you when you talk out of turn.

Jayden laughed softly. But within he was reconsidering if Zoe was more crucial than Azure.

"So... I wanna tell you I’m sincerely sorry about the other day."

Zoe shook her head, "If you give me a cogent reason I’ll consider accepting the apology."

Jayden bit his lips, "It’s kinda complicated."

Zoe leaned into him with a hostile voice, "Where did you go for two weeks?"

Jayden crawled backwards on the bed until she was right on top of him, and her terrifying gaze seemed to pierce his soul.

He swallowed heard, pressed below her weight and feeling the heat of her breath, "Em... so I got kidnapped and it took me two weeks to escape."

Zoe narrowed her gaze at him, "Do your parents know about that?

Jayden shook his head, "No, the kidnapper didn’t demand ransom, he just wanted to kill me, but got caught up with other problems, then I got lucky to escape. I don’t think he’ll be bothering me anymore."

Zoe drove her hand over his body, "You’re Okayyy, did he hurt you, I could ask my dad to investigate it."

"I’m fiiine, there wouldn’t be any need for that, the dude is no harm anymore, trust me."

"If you insist," Zoe wrapped her hand around his neck, "so down to the next question."

"Hmmmm", Jayden thought, recalling the question, "Oh yeah, about the drive, how did you know it’s top secured?"

"Well, since you weren’t giving me a reply, I just asked my dad."

Jayden’s heart skipped, "Wha—What did he say?"

Zoe placed a hand on her chin, "he said it’s a business project he’s working on, but damn, persisted on how I got it."

"So what did you tell him?"

"Ohh, I didn’t wanna implicate you, so I just told him it got transferred the last time he used my Laptop, but really, what is that thing?"

Jayden exhaled a deep breath, "I don’t know either, just stumbled on it while searching for stuff underground."

"Now you’re sounding like some treasure hunt adventure hero"

They both laughed warmly but now it was time for the last question. Silence swallowed the room with just two pairs of eyeballs looking into each other.

"So Jayden..." Zoe whispered running a hand around his chest, "What do you see me as?

"Em... what do you mean?" Jayden asked.

Zoe leaned in, her lips were almost at his, "Stop playing dumb, you know what I mean now, answer me!"

Jayden looked into her eyes for a moment, unsure of what to say. He never planned things to go this way, but there he was, caged under her arms and demanding answers he was too shy to speak.

His heart raced while forming that poetic long speech in his mind, if he was going to say it this way, then he certainly wouldn’t come off too plain.

Jayden smiled, "I don’t know—"

"You what?" Zoe jumped off him with an embarrassed look, "You don’t know?"

"No, no, that’s not what I meant" Jayden sat up, trying to urge her to calm down.

"So I’m not good enough even for a beastless boy? What is it that I don’t have?" Tears streamed down Zoe’s face.

"No, you’re getting me wrong!" Jayden held her arm.

"Get out, leave my room!" Zoe roared.

"Wait, I can explain," Jayden pleaded, but Zoe still protested out of an emotional outburst.

"Get out!" Zoe screamed while throwing pillows at him.

"Bro just leave!" Draco advised.

Jayden stood up from the bed and looked back before stepping away.

’Gon dammit, I was going to say ’I don’t know if she’s an Angel or human but...

No, those speeches are useless now. Fuck!"