SINFULLY YOURS

Chapter 16: Chapter 16. Jarring Shifts

Chapter 16. Jarring Shifts

Rosa Lin’s POV

”Okay, that was absolutely weird, wasn’t it?” Mia asked.

”Tell me about it. Seemed like he was scared of Mr. Don.”

Mia nodded. ”True.”

I glanced back at the entrance of the cafeteria, chuckled, and shook my head. ”Well, not like he hasn’t been weird from the beginning.”

I turned around. She smiled. ”How are you feeling about him?” she asked.

I looked up to see the smile on her face. ”Don’t do that,” I said.

She chuckled. ”Come on. He was cute actually. And this is literally the first time I’ve seen a guy actually approach you and make a move towards you. You see, the outfit I picked for you is working. Maybe if you hadn’t been such a wimpy kid from the very beginning, you would have had dozens of guys approach you. You are hot, Rosa. You have that banging body and that goddamn beautiful personality, but you have always been hiding it. I don’t know, where you keeping it for Mac?” she asked.

I snapped my eyes towards her. ”Don’t you dare,” I said.

She grinned. ”You can’t blame me for saying that.”

And there, at that moment, I breathed out, collapsed back against my chair, and glanced in the direction where Mr. Don was, only to see that he was not there anymore. I frowned. My eyes raked all over the cafeteria, wondering where he had gone.

I felt the silence that fell over our table as Mia’s words were abruptly cut short, like someone had made her quiet. I turned around back to my table to see Mr. Don standing right before us with a frown on his face, holding what looked like a fruit juice. He glanced at the chair where Tim was previously sitting with a frown creasing his forehead. Then he turned his head and looked around the cafeteria like he was looking for something. I saw the confusion in his eyes—the uncertainty, the suspicion—then he glanced back at the chair.

”Um, sorry, who was here?” he asked, glancing at Mia.

Mia blinked. She was gazing at him, stunned. I groaned and slapped my palm against my forehead.

Oh my God, there she goes again, I thought to myself. She was obviously not in the right state of mind right now, completely entranced by Mr. Don’s stupidly cute face. I felt annoyed; I felt angry.

She chuckled and smiled at him, brushing her fingers through her hair behind her ear. ”Um, I don’t know. It was just some random guy who came to ask Rosa out,” she suddenly said.

My eyes snapped wide. I glared at her.

I saw Mr. Don tilt his head to look back at me. ”Who?” he asked, his voice a little bit harsh, like he was displeased.

I ground my teeth. ”Why do you care?” I snapped and turned away with annoyance.

He didn’t reply for a while.

I felt the tension surround me as I picked up my burger and took a bite out of it once again, stuffing my mouth with it, dropping it against my plate, and dusting my hands. I kept my head to the side, trying to forget he was standing beside me.

”I can see you’re still pissed at me, shorty,” he said.

Then I heard a sharp thud. Turning my head, I saw the canned fruit juice in his hand as he pushed it close towards me. I frowned and glared up at him.

”Don’t call me that,” I said.

He smiled. ”Why not? You’re short.”

I gritted my teeth together, looking at him with a red face.

I heard Mia snickering opposite me. I glared at her, pointing a finger. ”It’s not funny.”

She blinked and turned away, suddenly finding her own food interesting.

I glared back at Mr. Don, sliding his drink back to him. ”I don’t need it. Take it back,” I said.

He chuckled. ”Why not? You need it. It will help you grow taller.”

Mia’s snickers became louder opposite me, and I clenched my fists. ”This is not funny,” I said, glaring up at Mr. Don. ”Do you think I’m joking with you?”

He smiled. ”Well, wow... I never knew you were this stubborn, adamant, and arrogant,” he said, leaning against the table while smiling at me.

He pushed the drink back to me.

I pushed it back at him. ”I said, take it back.”

”I said, nope.” He pushed it back to me.

I ground my teeth. I pushed it back to him.

He pushed it back to me. ”Don’t be stubborn, shorty,” he said.

Mia’s snickers grew louder. I tilted my head to glare at her. Her eyes moved from me back to Mr. Don at intervals, and I could see the amusement dancing on her lips. What the hell was wrong with this girl? What was so funny? She was supposed to be helping me here. She was supposed to be kicking him away from my life.

I took a deep breath and turned back to look at Mr. Don. He smiled at me.

”Look up at me,” he said.

I scoffed, rolled my eyes, and turned my head away.

”I think I asked you to look up at me,” he ordered.

Still leaning against the table, I grabbed the fruit drink and pushed it back to him.

He chuckled beside me. ”Your friend is really stubborn, isn’t she?” I could tell he was talking to Mia.

I glared at Mia. She quickly tilted her head away, gazing at the ceiling and scratching her neck. ”Well, I don’t know about that, Mr. Don.”

Oh my God, I so hated her right now. She was the one who agreed we were not supposed to befriend him. She was the one who agreed I should avoid him with my whole freaking life. Why was she acting like this?

Fuck Mr. Don and his stupid cute face. He really did know how to manipulate girls and turn them to his favor. I hated this.

I folded my arms with a huff as I felt his hand tapping the top of my head.

”Are you seriously going to hold a grudge against me because I was correcting you?” he asked.

I felt the steam leave my ears at his words. I tilted my head to glare back at him, sharp daggers piercing straight at his pupils.

He smiled. ”Well, looks like I have your attention now. Come on, drink,” he said, pushing the fruit drink back to me. ”Perhaps this will help you calm the flame raging in your chest.” He smirked. ”And also help you grow taller. Shorty.” He placed his palm on top of my head, rubbing it vigorously like he was petting a child.

I swatted his hand away. ”Don’t you touch me!”

He chuckled. ”Wow, never knew you’d gotten this feisty. You’ve always been so quiet.”

”You can’t blame her,” Mia added. ”She’s a very quiet person, but when she’s angry, oh, she has a whole different personality.”

I glared at Mia.

I saw Mr. Don smirking at her with amusement. ”Oh, is that so?” he said, turning back to me. ”Well, in that case, I should probably annoy her more.”

I turned my focus on him, my eyes blazing with heat. He chuckled.

I huffed out a breath and looked away. Suddenly, I felt his fingers against my jaw, tilting my head to look back at him as he smiled down at me. Oh my God, he was so close. I heard Mia gasp opposite the table as my eyes widened.

Whispers suddenly filled my ears. I could feel heated gazes from the rest of the students in the cafeteria.

”Well, well, well, look what we have here. The slut is at it again,” I heard someone say from the side.

I saw Mr. Don freeze, a frown creasing his forehead. The smile on his face instantly vanished, and back again was the monster I had encountered in his office. I saw his eyes blaze.

”I can’t believe the slut is done with Mac, and now she’s focusing on the Dean,” somebody else said.

I swallowed hard. Oh, great. All because of him, it was freaking happening again.

The moment he frowned, keeping his focus on the table, he slowly pulled his hand away from my face and stood upright, glaring down. His composure had totally changed. God help me. Who was this man?

Maybe it was because I was so young back when our families were together, that was why I hadn’t had the time to get to know him very well, but his sudden personality shifts were jarring. My mind couldn’t keep up.

The anger on his face was clearly dangerous. I even felt myself shiver from the heat emanating from him.

He looked at me for a while. I thought he was actually going to shout at me. My body shook uncontrollably; I couldn’t keep it together.

Oh my God. I quickly got up from the chair.

I felt his hand come down against my arm, forcing me to freeze, my body visibly shaking. Mia stood up as well in shock—she probably wasn’t expecting my reaction. I slowly tilted my head to look back at him.

The anger was still clear on his face, but he stared at me with a certain warmth in his eyes.

”Relax,” he said, his voice deep and calm. ”Sit down, okay? It’s fine,” he reassured me.

I blinked. ”Um, what?”

He didn’t say anything harsh like I had expected him to. The warmth in his eyes made me obey. I slowly sat back down in the chair. He kept his hand lingering around my forearm, staring down at me before calmly pulling it away.

Then, he placed both hands into his pockets and swiftly turned around toward the girl a few meters away who had said those insulting words about me leaving Mac and sticking with him. He glared at her, and I saw the moment the girl flinched, shifting in her chair with fear and avoiding his gaze.

”What did you say?” he asked, a coldness in his voice that made the temperature in the cafeteria drop.