64

64
Chapter 64

Derek Woods

My stomach sparked with anger as I gazed at the picture displayed on my phone screen. It was really him. Lucien.

My jaws clenched as waves of anger spurred through me.

"Seriously?" A dry chuckle tore through my throat. This was really ridiculous. Of all the men in the universe, and the person Scarlet chose over me was a mere old man? Wow!

I left the rooftop and headed back to the class, and there she was, sitting on her seat with her gaze on her phone.

My heart tightened as waves of jealousy hit me hard. My skin crawled at the imagination of what they must've done together, but even with the anger in me, my feelings for her didn't falter. Not even for a second.

"Hey!" My heart melted in my chest, and I found myself smiling as she waved at me from her seat, smiling.
I walked over to her.

"Hey!"

"I'm sorry I walked off like that. I had something to deal with." I smiled at her, and she nodded.

"Have you sorted it out yet?" She batted her eyelashes, her cute eyes boring into mine confidently. It felt like she was seeing right through me.

"Hmm." I nodded.

"Do you mind having lunch together later? Bills on me." She proposed, and my eyebrows creased as I was hit with shock again. It felt like Scarlet was suddenly different. She would never do something like this.

"Sure. Let's have lunch together." I nodded, smiling at her.

"See you around later." I walked over to my seat.

"Hey! Good morning, buddy." Josh was already waiting for me by the time I got back to my seat, and I rolled my eyes.

"Hey!"

"I've been waiting for you. I was worried about you. It's unlike you to come this late to school. Didn't you get my missed calls?" Josh said almost in a single breath, and I shot him a glare.

"Breath, Josh. Breath." I smirked at him, and he rolled his eyes.

"I'm not your girlfriend. Why would you be worried about me like that?" I shrugged.

"We are friends." He reminded me, and I looked at him. The question is, do I really consider him my friend? Well, I wasn't sure of it.

"Well, thanks for your concern. And as you can see, I'm fine."

"Do you have plans later? I was wondering if we can-"

"I have plans." I cut him off, and he nodded.

"Alright buddy. I'll see you around." He patted my shoulder before leaving, and I exhaled. It felt like a heavy weight was just lifted off my shoulders.

The exam started shortly after, and I could barely concentrate as my eyes kept wandering off to Scarlet, many thoughts lingering on my mind.

Once we were done, and the supervisor had gone out of the class, I went to Scarlet.

"Hey! Are you ready?"

"Hmm." She nodded, her gaze softened as a smile spread across her face. I wish she would always smile at me.

"How about outside school? I know a good restaurant that sells delicious food." I proposed as we headed out of class, and she looked at me briefly before nodding her head.

"I love trying new things."

We headed to my car and drove out of school.

I could barely concentrate on driving the whole time that we were on the road, as I would always find myself glancing at her and smiling to myself. Fuck! I'm really lovesick.

We arrived at the restaurant which was just twenty minutes away from the school, and we headed inside.
It wasn't a five-star restaurant, but I've been here before, and I love their meal, so a part of me was sure that she would love it too.

"Waiter!" I called out, and a slim young lady of about the same age as me walked up to us.

"Good day-"

"May I have your menu?" I demanded, cutting her off while trying to sound polite.

"Oh..." she mouthed as she passed the menu to me.

"Ladies first." I passed it to Scarlet, acting like the gentleman I was... Only for her though.

"Thank you."

The waiter left to go get our food after we placed our order.

My eyes were glued to Scarlet, and the only thing I could think of at that moment was how to get her to be mine. What could I do to win her heart over?

"I heard the school is going for an excursion after the exam. Are you going too?" I broke the silence, and she furrowed her eyebrows.

"Excursion? How come I haven't heard about that?"

"It hasn't been announced yet. I'm the only one who knows about it as the class president. Was just wondering if you'll come with us." I explained to her, and she slowly nodded.

"Isn't that supposed to be confidential though?" She batted her eyelashes.

"I mean-"

"We are friends, Scarlet. Is there anything wrong with telling my friend about something?" I chuckled embarrassingly.

"Not really." She shook her head, and that made me a bit relieved.

The waiter served our food, and we began eating.

An awkward silence assumed the atmosphere, the only thing making sounds were the cutleries we were using to eat.
I lifted my gaze to her, and she was focused on her food like nothing else mattered.
The way she moved her lips as she munched on the food. Damn! Everything about her was just so fucking cute.

The sound of my ringing phone disrupted my thought, and I almost cursed at whoever was calling me before I noticed that it was my mom.

"Give me a minute, please. My mom is calling." I told Scarlet, and she nodded before I picked up my phone.

"Hey, mom!" I pressed the phone to my ear, a smile spreading across my lips.

"Hey, darling." Her calm voice sounded through the phone.

"Quick one... I was wondering if you can come over later? I'm going to bake banana bread, so I wanted to eat it with you."

"Alright, mom. I will be there later. I'll call you later."

"Alright, darling. I'll be expecting you." The call ended with a beep, and I dropped my phone back on the table, turning my attention to Scarlet.

"I'm sorry about that."

"No, it's fine."
She went silent again.

Five minutes barely passed when my phone screen lit up with a text, and I quickly picked it up when I saw Ruse was the sender.

"One minute, please." I told Scarlet before clicking on the message.

'I followed Mr. Ronnie, boss. Here are pictures of him'
I lifted my eyes to look at Scarlet briefly, and once I confirmed that her attention wasn't on me, I clicked on one of the attached images, and a picture of Ronnie stepping out of the car in front of a private villa in the outskirt of the town, popped on the screen of my phone.
He wasn't alone in the picture. He was with a lady.

I skipped to the next one, and they were just walking into the villa.

"Are you okay? You look...tenses."

I lifted my gaze to Scarlet, and her worried eyes welcomed me.

My gaze softened as I nodded.

"Oh... yeah. I'm fine."

She stared at me suspiciously before going to resume eating.

'Find out the relationship between them'
I texted Ruse before dropping my phone.
God save that bastard, because if he dares cheat on my mom, I'll so fuck him up...