Tracy hearing me out and accepting my offer to assist her makes me so happy. That was all I could ask of her.

As I approach my motorbike, I'm sure you're thinking about my whip, I miss her as well, but I have to do what I have to do.

I suddenly hear an unknown feminine voice calling to me.

"Michael,"

When I turn around to face the voice's origin, Tobi is walking up to me. She is dressed up and coming via the hostel's main gate, indicating she is simply returning from somewhere.

"Hey, what's up?" When she gets closer to me, I welcome her.

"I'm OK," she responds.

"Great!" I say with a smile.

"Have you and Karen spoken since then?" I sighed in response to her question.

"She's not returning my calls or texts, and yesterday I saw her with Nicholas..." I give up trying to finish my statement and shrug helplessly.

"I know you like her straight from your birthday party," She says, and I sneer a bit.

I'm not sure why I remained to speak with her. Does she even care? She supposedly doesn't want Ren with me, according to my last check.

"I don't think I should be having this conversation with you," I express concern. "Understanding how you reacted and left your friend that night,"

She squints her eyes.

"Don't be ridiculous, Mike, everyone has a crush on you, and the luckiest girl has you," She explains, putting my mind at ease.

"I don't deserve Ren," I declare emphatically.

"Yes, what you did was horrible, but you can't give up on her simply because you saw her with Nich,"

"What should I do?" I ask, seeming distressed.

"Find a way to communicate with her," She retorts, and I clear my throat.

Probably I should have gone to visit her and apologized before she went back to being with Nicholas. Gosh! I am a rookie at this.

"It's never too late, man," She continues, and I grip my jaw in surprise.

She acted as though she could hear me thinking.

"She's at IUL right now, go see her."

IUL is the acronym for Imperial University Library, which is our college library.

"Of course, I have to," I admit as I hastily mount my motorbike.

"But, do you have your Library ID card?" She asks, her face furrowed in uncertainty, and I indicate no.

I can't even recall the last time I used it to get to the Library, let alone remember where I put it.

"May I kindly have yours?" When I demand, she scrunches up her face.

I continue, adding, "I'll find a way to sneak in, concealing your name and photo,"

She smiles slightly in agreement.

"OK," she responds as she starts rummaging through her purse, while I continue to smile.

She eventually hands it to me, and I mumble my gratitude.

"She's on the third floor," she says, and I nod in agreement.

To get to the IUL, I start the bike and set out.

******

I ran into the school librarian when I arrived at the library, and I showed him the back of Tobi's ID card. He seemed a little skeptical but restrained himself from requesting to see the ID card. After signing in, I quickly make my way to the elevator and get off on the third floor.

I enter and glance around, but I can't see Ren on the seats. I then move toward the bookshelves and notice her checking out some textbooks while wearing sweatpants and a t-shirt.

She has a beanie on over her hair.

We haven't spoken in about a week, and my goodness! I miss this cutie so much.

Before approaching, I take a deep breath. Someone should wish me luck since now is the very moment I need it.

When I approach her, she is tiptoeing to get a massive textbook off the top step of the shelf. I walk behind her and assist her in obtaining the text after observing that she is focused on doing so.

She is unaware that I am the one standing behind her.

"Thank..." When her eyes catch mine, she stops mumbling. She had a surprised look on her face.

"What are you doing here?" She pulls the text from me while whispering.

"I want us to discuss," I mumble back and she scoffs angrily.

I tightly hold onto her arm as she tries to walk out on me.

"Please, you have to hear what I have to say," I exclaim loudly with my imploring eyes causing many who were seated near the shelf we were in front of to stare at us.

I roll my eyes as I don't regret saying it out loud.

I instantly follow Ren as she enters the corridor that goes to the other shelves after heaving a sigh. She comes to a halt between two shelves and turns around to face me.

I sigh and stop moving as well with only a few feet separating us. I can't take my eyes off of her despite her beautiful eyes being set aggressively on me.

"So, what are your explanations for wanting to play my heart and then dump me?" she asks, clearing her voice.

"No excuses," I reply truthfully. "I just want you to know how sorry I am. I was stupid to want to do that, and I really apologize."

"And you expect me to believe you're sorry? How am I to know you are being honest?" She asks, appearing disturbed, and I could tell she was afraid of being tricked once more.

"Because I genuinely fell in love with you along the process, which was not what I expected,"

"How about Tracy? You stated that there is nothing between you two."

What the heck? Did Tracy also mention us to her?

She continues, "You even lied that you don't do relationships."

"What I meant was that I don't do long-term relationships," I attempt to explain. "When I returned from Paris, I discovered Tracy was having an affair with my father. I became so enraged that I resolved that nothing ever happened between us."

"Why would I even worry about it when there is nothing serious between us in the first place," She replies and I sneer a little at that.

"You lied to me, and that's all I was furious about," She continues, turning away from me and folding her arms around her chest.

"I'm sorry, and I know I don't deserve you," I say. "But I cherish our friendship so much, please, I don't want to lose it," I add and she remains silent.

"Please," I say as I approach in front of her to address her.

"Is there anything you're keeping from me that I'm entitled to know?" I'm shocked when she eventually lets out.

I struggle to look into her eyes as I start to feel bad for keeping what transpired between our fathers from her. She also deserves to know that I paid a visit to her father in prison.

This is something I cannot do, I can't tell her about it.

"I..." I struggle to think of what to say as I open my mouth. "I didn't make the toasted bread and coffee the morning after the night you were drunk" I confess.

"What!" She responds, her brows furrowed in surprise.

"Yes, Maria made it," I respond and she giggles a bit.

"You jerk," She reacts, hitting me in the shoulder, and we both stop talking as I hear her stomach rumble. I look at my watch while she clears her throat and holds her tummy.

It's past twelve.

"Who studies when starving?" I grimace.

"I've been here since five in the morning, and understanding this course is getting harder. It's causing us headaches, and even Tobi had to return to the hostel because of it." She gripes and I hold her shoulders to calm her down.

"When are you going to write the paper?"

"By 8 a.m. tomorrow," She responds with a pout. "It's also my final paper."

"Whoa," I exclaim. "Come on! I think we should grab something," I continue, giving her shoulders a soothing rub.

"Fine!" She agreed, taking a deep breath. I release my grip on her shoulders, and she places the book she is holding in her hand on the shelf before we leave the library.

"So, are we buddies again?" When we enter the elevator, I let out.

All I want to do is make a real request this time, something serious more than just being friends, but I'm not sure if she'll wind up with Nicholas again.

"Friends don't keep secrets from each other. If you blew it this time, you might not have another chance."

"Yes, ma'am," I reply, and as soon as she smiles and flashes her adorable dimple, I realize how much I had missed seeing it.

When we reach the first floor, she grabs me and stops me from going outside as I was about to do so.

"Won't you sign out?" She asks, smirking at me, and I say mouth oh!

"Are you even a student at this school?"

"Uhm, I don't think so," I say, and she smiles a bit, shaking her head in disbelief as we begin walking back to meet the librarian.

A few minutes after, we arrived at my motorbike parking spot and I realized I had forgotten to wear my helmet while rushing to meet Tracy.

I swallow and clear my throat.

"No helmet," I shrug as I stare into her eyes, and she sighs.

"Do I have choices other than continually bending the law with you?" She cracks a joke, and I laugh.

"I'm a bad influence," I joke as I hop on my bike. She follows suit and climbs up behind me, holding my waist in her arms.

A sincere smile beams over my face as I whisk her off somewhere.

Guess the location?