"I should leave before I say something I regret. Or worse"

Those cold words play around in my mind and I'm still stunned. What could he possibly mean by, "or worse"? Was that some kind of threat? And even if it was a threat, why the hell did he get so mad? It's not like I told his wife! For goodness sake.

And, since were talking about his wife, what the hell kind of bombshell was that yesterday? What the hell kind of completely inconsiderate behavior was that yesterday? I mean, this man sends someone to come find me, devours me in his office, somehow brings me into my room with some sort of trance, tells me his whole wife is waiting for him at home and then has the audacity to get mad at me? Real-ly? Really Mr. Grayson?

"Who are you talking to?" Daisy laughs. She's leaning at the bathroom door-way with her arms crossed, wearing a floral print jumpsuit.

"How long have you been standing there?", I turn, embarrassed.

"Long enough to know that you're clearly not handling this whole 'Mr. Grayson having an actual wife' thing very well"

"It's not that I can't handle it", I lie

"It's exactly that Nai. And you know I'm right"

"I have to go to the library and study", I say, trying to avoid the conversation that I know will end in me crying for a man that doesn't belong to me.

"Alright then....just run from your problems"

"Goodbye Daisy," I scream as I close the door behind me while I leave the room.

As I walk down the pathway leading to the campus library, I'm taken back by a body pounding onto the pavement right in front of my feet.

"Oh my gosh", I scream, dropping my books to help the person stand up. "Wha...Kayden?! What the hell?"

"Hey Nailea", he squirms, squinting his eyes and trying to find his balance

"What happened? Are you okay?"

"I'm fine thank you. It's just, I was running to try and catch up with you.", he tells me, "I was screaming out to you. Didn't you hear me?"

"Oh...no. I'm sorry I guess I was a little bit checked out"

"Hm", he cocks his head, "what's wrong Nailea?"

How does he know that there's something on my mind? Is it that obvious or am I just easy to read? "I guess I'm just kind of...stressed out"

"Were you going to go and study?", he asks me. I nod my head yes.

"Why don't you take a break for today? You uh...you can come with me and I could take you somewhere", he says softly as if that was supposed to be a thought.

"Where do you wanna go?", I ask

"Anywhere...as long as I'm with you", his lips quirk up and he faces the ground. Oh Kayden. Sweet, sweet Kayden

"Alright", I agree readily and smile up at him.

"Really?", he perks up in a sort of I-can't-believe-you-said-yes way and it makes me giggle. I don't understand why he gets so nervous around me. It's just...me, I mean, what's all the anxious energy about?

"Well, are you coming?", I smile, pushing past him and walking to the car park.

He follows me behind and when we reach his car, he opens the door for me unexpectedly and I climb in. The only reason I was even able to recognize the car was because the first time I slept with Mr. Grayson; Kayden was there to pick me up. But you know what? Not today. The last thing I need right now is to think about Mr. Grayson and all of his drama.

I'm snapped out of thought when Kayden slides into the drivers seat and starts the car. "Would you like me to drop the roof?"

"No. It's fine"

"Well, it's time for an adventure", Kayden smiles at me and starts to ease the car out of the driveway. The traffic is low and within moments, we're greeted by the warm sun. I reach towards the radio and flip through the channels quickly before stopping on the station playing The Beatles.

"Really?", Kayden grins, his eyes locked on the road. "We're really gonna listen to the Beatles in the year two thousand and twenty?"

"What's wrong with the Beatles?", I playfully get offended. Well, only partly

"I didn't say there's anything wrong with them, it's just not something you hear everyday, I mean, we're not that old. Are we?"

"You don't have to be old to listen to good music", I continue, "that's the beauty of this kind of music, it's timeless, you know?"

I lean back into the seat and smile. At the corner of my eye, I see Kayden turn his head to me and grin. "You're a different one Nailea Tembo. You really are a special one"

Special. Oh great, now I'm thinking about...him, again.

We drive for a few minutes before stopping by a roadside and buying some goofy sunglasses. Kayden takes pictures of me and tells me repeatedly how nice my smile is. His kindness is refreshing and I can't help but blush at his compliments. Soon after, we're back in the car and driving to a nearby restaurant to get some food.

The restaurant is called 'Beach Burger and it looks like it's probably only one star out of the whole five. The atmosphere is cold when we get there and it smells like spoiled meat. The scary thing is that I don't even know how spoiled meat smells. We find a table next to the entrance and sit down across from each other.

"What will you have?", he asks me

"Uh... I'll have a veggie burger and some sweet potato fries. You?"

"Why a veggie burger? Are you vegetarian or something?"

"No. I just seriously don't trust the meat in this place", I laugh and so does he.

The waitress comes to our table and takes both of our orders. I notice her flushing when she sees Kayden and smiling shyly. She must like him. For some reason, that makes me kind of upset.

"She likes you", I say dryly when the waitress walks away

"What?", my words make him flush

"You heard me. You should get her number. Maybe she's like, your soulmate"

"I highly doubt that."

"You don't believe in soulmates?"

"I do...it's just, there's no way she could be my soulmate. I'm almost certain I already found my soulmate and it's not her", he says with a wary voice

"Oh? Who is it?", I ask. Genuinely Intrigued

He nods slowly, frowning a little as if he's battling something inside. Then he glances up at me, burning his eyes into mine. "Well Nailea...I was hoping...actually. Well, I think...sorry, I know that.... its you"

"Oh", Is all I'm able to say when he stuns me with his admission. My brain is practically frozen now.

The waitress brings us our food, interrupting me and Kaydens eye contact. "Here you go. Please let me know if you need anything else", she smiles. More so at Kayden than at me.

I take a large gulp of my Fanta as the waitress leaves the table once more. I'm completely taken back by his revelation; it's causing to be too much to think about right now. I reach out for my burger and force myself to take a small bite even though I'm not really interested in eating it anymore. It doesn't help that it tastes like sand either.

We soon finish our food, just barely, and walk back to the car in silence.

"I'm sorry if I made you uncomfortable", he tells me. The sincerity and regret burning in his sweet, kind eyes.

"Yes"

"Yes what?"

"Yes...I did sleep with someone that night, at the kappa party and well, the person I slept with...well, I'm sort of occupied by him right now"

"Oh". He sounds defeated

"I'm sorry Kayden", I try and he doesn't respond. Understandably so.

Our drive back to campus is quiet and tense. By the time he parks his car, it's almost 7pm at night. Or is it evening? He turns off the engine and lets out a long sigh that feels like he's been holding it in since the restaurant.

"Bye Nailea"

I climb out of the car without saying a single word and close the door behind me, knowing that I broke his heart today. I turn and gaze at him midway but he's al-ready disappeared. Why do I feel so terrible about this?