Chapter 8 Let's Spend Time Together

• -Corrine-
• We stopped after leaving the department building. I turned around, slinging my bag over one shoulder, and pointed at him. “You made me skip class.”
• Andrew cracked a smile. “Between you and me, who dragged someone and took them out of the classroom?” After that, he perfectly arched one eyebrow.
• Hearing the word “drag” made me realize that I had still been holding onto his arm. I quickly let go and clasped my hands together.
• “What do you want?” I asked, turning my face away.
• "Haven't I already told you?" Andrew tilted his head. That annoyingly sexy little smile appeared again. "You."
• "And what exactly do you want from me?" I pressed.
• "I want to spend time with you."
• "First things first," I shot back. "If you're trying to seduce me, you’re really suck at it."
• "There's no harm in trying," he shrugged. His expression showed that he found my behavior amusing, and I felt like a helpless child in front of him.
• I glared at him, telling him to shut his mouth, and continued speaking. "And second, I don't want to spend my time with you."
• “Why? You don’t even know me.” Andrew crossed his arms. The next second, his facial expression turned harder. “Did Eva say something to you?”
• His accurate guess made my body tense. I darted my eyes. “No,” I lied. My voice was too soft and shaking, making it clear that I was lying.
• “She doesn’t know me,” Andrew muttered. “We’re not close.”
• “But she knows you better than me.” I squinted, gazing at his handsome face through my eyelashes. “And she warned me to stay away from you.”
• Andrew clenched his jaw and stared towards the street. “How about this?” he said after a moment. He took a deep breath. “Spend the day with me, and by the end of it, you can decide if we should spend more time together or not.”
• “What do you really want from me?” I asked. “You can’t just approach me without any ulterior motives.”
• He laughed, a low, short, condescending laugh that made my heart race. “You have a sharp mind,” Andrew paused to run his hand through his hair. “I need your help.”
• “What kind of help?”
• “I’ll tell you later tonight after we spend time together.” Then he added, “My revenge offer still stands. In case you need it.”
• The revenge offer.
• I shook my head. "No," I refused. "I told you I don't want revenge."
• "Then help me."
• "Okay, enough with the chit-chat," I said, my curiosity as great as my wariness. "Tell me now or I'll leave you." I then took my bag off my shoulder and opened it, took out a jacket, and handed it to him. "Take this, so you have no reason to come back for it."
• Andrew took the jacket, but his eyes remained fixed on me. I hugged my bag, using it as a shield and an attempt to stop my hands from constantly wanting to touch him.
• "Fine," he said. "It's about Eva."
• I furrowed my brow, not expecting the help he wanted to involve Eva. “Eva?” I echoed. “What’s wrong with her?”
• “I want you to persuade her to talk to me.”
• I shrugged. “I saw that she still talks to you.”
• Andrew laughed bitterly. “I prefer to call it arguing. We always argue every time we meet.”
• “Then maybe you should take a look inside and find what’s wrong with yourself, so she behaves like that towards you,” I spitted. My words were sharp, but as usual, Andrew responded with a calm look, as if I had just soothed his heart.
• Something was wrong with him.
• “That’s the problem,” he said. “I don’t know what my mistake is.”
• “Is it because there are too many of them?” I said nonchalantly.
• He chuckled and turned his face away. The next moment, he looked at me and said, “Has anyone ever told you that you have a sharp tongue?”
• “You’re the first,” I said, pulling back my lips and holding my breath. “Everybody loves me.”
• “Oh, really? Then why did your boyfriend dump you?”
• “Hey!” I exclaimed, pointing my finger at his face. “You have no right to comment on my personal life. Because you don’t know anything about me.”
• “Then let me spend my time with you, and you can tell me about yourself.”
• My gut feeling told me that he wouldn’t stop until I agreed. I had no choice but to go with him, and after it was over, I would tell him that I didn’t want to meet him again.
• “Promise me,” I said. “You will stop bothering me if, at the end of the day, I tell you I don’t want to spend time with you anymore.”
• I raised my pinky finger, and he frowned, focusing on my finger.
• I thought he would refuse or say yes, but not hook his pinky finger with mine. But he gave me his and hooked it with mine. "Promise."
• My hands froze, feeling the vibration where our skin touched and my heart beat uncontrollably because of it. Quickly, I pulled my hand back and looked down while slinging my bag over my shoulder. “Where are we going?” I asked, trying to divert attention so he wouldn’t notice my nervousness.
• “Do you have a place you want to go? You’re not from this city, are you?”
• Because I had been too focused on preparing for college, I hadn’t had a chance to find out about interesting places in this city and where I should spend my weekend.
• “Any recommendation?” I asked him back, and he shook his head.
• It seemed he was already trained to be cool and charming without much effort. “I’m not sure you’ll like the places I usually visit.”
• His words sounded like a challenge in my ears. “Try me.”
• He smirked. “Are you sure?”
• “Ye-yeah,” I answered as I walked. I looked at some people passing by and felt uneasy, worried that one of them was Eva. “We should go now.”
• Apparently, Andrew realized my concern. He nodded and took my hand. “Okay, let’s go.”
• He led me to the parking lot and handed me a black full-face helmet. “Put this on.”
• I glanced briefly at his motorcycle.
• I had never ridden a motorcycle before, and Trevor said it was dangerous. But, to be honest, I thought motorcycles were pretty cool, even though my heart sank a little at the thought of having to ride one.
• “Scare?” he teased. He was already sitting on the motorcycle, waiting for me to get on.
• I shook my head, refusing to appear weak in front of him. My hand gripped Andrew’s shoulder to maintain balance as I got on the motorcycle.
• “Okay,” I said. My breath came out a bit ragged. “I’m ready.”
• Andrew’s body shook with laughter. He reached for my hand, which was still gripping his shoulder. “Not here,” he said. Then he lowered my hand and placed it on his waist. “But here.”
• The curve of his waist and his hard muscles felt real in my palm. For a moment, my body tensed. I wanted to move my hand, to reach further around his stomach and wrap my arms fully around him.
• “Hold on tight."
• As the motorcycle jerked and sped away, I screamed and had no choice but to hold on to him tightly.