Chapter 37

**KAIA**

Adrian stood leaning against the doorway, a white towel wrapped around his lower body, his hair still wet from the shower, and water dripping down all over his chest and abs.

I quickly pulled my eyes away and dusted my hands on my thighs before slowly standing up.

"I uh... lost my school ID somewhere around here, so I thought I'd come by and have a look around."

He slowly strolled towards his dresser and turned his back towards me.

"Well, did you find it?" He asked coolly.

"No. I'm still looking."

He scoffed.

"I'd appreciate a little heads up next time if you're going to come over and turn my stuff all over the place, looking for a stupid ID card."

I immediately glared at his back.

"It's not stupid. I need it for school. Hell, we all do. But I'm not surprised you're taking this lightly."

He slowly turned around to face me and leaned back against the dresser.

"That's because I don't give a fuck. But what I do care about is my privacy, and I don't appreciate the fact that you just walked in here without telling me to look for something that you lost due to your clumsiness and stupidity from last night."

That's it. This is exactly why I can never like the guy.

One minute he's making me feel weak in the knees, and the next he's making me want to use the same knee to kick him in the balls.

"If you were so bothered by me, then why did you even help me last night? You could've just left me there to pass out at the party and let someone else help me."

A dark look immediately passed across his face, but it was quickly gone before I could understand what that was all about.

He pulled his arm away from his back and showed my ID that he was holding between his fingers.

"Drink responsibly," he said while glaring at me.

I walked over to him and snatched the card off his hand.

"That's my problem, not yours. So just stay out of my way."

"Only if you stop getting in mine." He snapped back.

I glared hard at him. Something in the back suddenly caught my eye, and I looked away and saw it was a neck gaiter.

A very familiar one.

Memories from that night suddenly filtered in through my brain, and my stomach dropped in realization.

I looked at him again. He was still staring at me with coldness in his eyes, and my heart started to race.

I scoffed while glancing at the neck gaiter again.

"So that was you?"

He frowned in confusion and finally followed my gaze. After seeing what I was looking at, he turned back to me with a smirk on his face.

"Took you long enough."

I shook my head while narrowing my eyes at him.

"I appreciate the help, but next time, let's just stay out of each other's way."

He remained quiet, and I turned around and started to leave.

"We'll see if you can really stay away from me."

I paused at the door and clenched my jaw.

That won't be a problem mister.

**OoO**

I knew I didn't need to go through the trouble of having tutoring lessons for English 404 the minute I saw the questions on my test.

My confidence led me to believe that I was going to pass with an A+, but my anxiety had me thinking that maybe I should've given Adrian a chance to tutor me so that right now I could at least rest easy knowing I was going to get a good grade.

The results don't come back until at least a day or two after our professor finishes grading, but the longer I stared at the screen of my laptop, the more convinced I became that if I refreshed the page one more time, I would see whether I had actually passed or not.

At least then I could go to sleep without thinking too much about it. What's worse than feeling anxious all night is sleep deprivation. I know what it's like to be sleep deprived after staying up late studying and researching materials just for this test.

Thanks to Adrian giving my school ID back, I was able to get those booklets from the library and spend hours of my free time studying.

I hate the feeling of not being good enough at anything. Whether it's a class I'm potentially failing or something I have yet to learn, I was determined to pass this class to avoid another embarrassing visit to my professor's office.

I finally gave up and closed the lid of my laptop just as a notification pinged on my phone. I flipped it over and saw it was a DM from Amy asking me to meet her at the Playland arcade.

I hadn't stepped out of my dorm room once in the past few hours and hadn't gone out to do anything for the past few days.

Amy's invite felt like a much-needed opportunity to step out and get some fresh air. So I seized the chance and texted her back agreeing to meet up.

I quickly changed, fixed my hair, and put on some perfume, mascara, and lip gloss before locking up my room and leaving campus. I didn't need a ride to the arcade; it was just a few minutes' walk from campus.

Plus, the walk at night and the light breeze felt more refreshing than I had anticipated. I found Amy standing outside next to the candy floss stand.

She was standing frozen, admiring how the guy working inside was whipping up the soft, wispy candy floss on a stick. I almost wanted to burst out laughing at how she was staring so intently at the process.

I hooked my arm around hers, and she jumped in surprise while I joined her in watching the candy floss maker.

"I bet this is the most interesting thing you've seen all day?" I teased, and she chuckled.

"Girl, I wasn't even aware I was staring that hard till you approached me. I was busy thinking about something else."

I immediately sensed the way her tone dropped after the last sentence. I withdrew my arm from hers, and she turned to face me.

"You okay?" I asked softly, and she gave me a small smile before nodding.

I figured her asking me out of the blue to meet her here was a bit weird, and judging by the way she was acting a little down tonight, something must have happened.