Chapter 11: You And Me

'I'm gonna make you fall for me even if it's the last thing I do.' Rhyland vowed.

With a purposeful glint in his eyes, Rhyland strode to where Aubrey sat in the library engrossed with her homework.

She was so focused on solving her math problem that she didn't notice Rhyland had already been standing beside her for several seconds.

"Ahem."

Rhyland cleared his throat.

On the other hand, Aubrey furiously scribbled on her notebook. Why does calculus have to be so damned difficult?

"Ahem."

The sound was only met with silence.

Rhyland was beginning to get embarrassed. Just what is it that was just so interesting that has the girl fully riveted. He turned to look down and his mouth went slack. He couldn't believe his eyes.

Aubrey could hardly be bothered by her surroundings. She needed to have her homework done before her next class. And being the introvert that she was, Aubrey hadn't made any friends with her new classmates. Aiyah. She should have asked Ricky about her homework the night before but she didn't want to waste their time hanging out together on some math questions.

A soft tapping sound came from beside her before a shadow loomed over the young woman hunched over her work. Then Aubrey's pencil was gently but abruptly pulled from her fingers. And the formula d/dx(arctanx)=1/(1+x^2) was then neatly written on the piece of paper in front of her by a masculine hand.

"What the?!" A surprised Aubrey looked up to see an attractive pair of smiling amber eyes staring back. It was the one person she had spent the past few weeks avoiding. The one she didn't want to see.

"Hi." Said the insufferable man.

Rhyland Leslie Darling.

Ugh. Why did this man have to be so dazzling?

"Use that." Rhyland said before calmly pulling up a chair beside her.

"What are you doing?!" Aubrey immediately asked, looking askance.

"Taking a seat." Was Rhyland's soft reply before he opened a textbook and pretended to study. In truth he didn't need to do any such thing. He was blessed with a spectacular memory and though it was by no means considered photographic memory, he could still easily get A's just through listening to lectures in class. Yes. Life was easy for Rhyland Leslie Darling.

"Yeah but why here?!" A flustered Aubrey was unable to control the volume of her voice and the bespectacled young woman at the other table shot her yet another angry glare for the upteenth time today. Why are these people coming to the library to date? She grumbled.

"Shhhhh!"

Rhyland hid a smile. He lifted a finger to his lips in a gesture to keep quiet before continuing to read his textbook.

The girl beside him frowned unhappily.

To be honest, all of this was a refreshing change of pace for Rhyland. Having a girl blatantly show her dislike for him was a first. Aside from the people of his clan who excluded him, women, especially humans of the opposite sex tended to fall in love with him. But this girl, Aubrey Young obviously wanted no part of him. Everytime she laid eyes on him, she would scrunch up her face into a frown. Rhyland was actually somewhat offended.

Yet a large part of him is tickled at the potential for a new challenge. He even nearly forgot his primary purpose of finding the origin of that unusual scent. The hunger has come back now, in fact he had hunted the night before. This was obviously the more pressing matter so why was it that he was so focused on this woman for a different matter right now? His interest in her at the moment had nothing to do with the scent but more so in order to figure out why it was that she hadn't fallen for his charms like others did.

What is it about her that makes her so special?

Aubrey decided that it was best to focus on her homework instead. After all, she only had half an hour til the next class and she still had three more questions to go. Aubrey nodded with determination. As she looked through her questions, she quickly realized that the formula the man had given her was the correct one.

Damn! Rhyland wasn't only shiny he was also smart. She had been mulling over that question for the past 15 minutes! Now onto the next one! Her excitement was quickly replaced by gloom. How to do the next one? She was stumped.

The man beside Aubrey scribbled something on a post-it note and slid it towards her. It was the formulas for the last three questions of her homework. Aubrey looked up in surprise. What the heck?! How long had this man been observing her? Her cheeks reddened with embarrassment. Did she look like an idiot back then? Wait a minute, why should she be embarrassed? She wasn't the one acting like a stalker. Besides, calculus was inherently difficult. Aubrey started muttering to herself.

Unaware of the woman's inner conflict, Rhyland smiled benignly at Aubrey who began furiously jotting down the answers to her calculus homework.

"Thanks." She mumbled to Rhyland who was twirling his pen around his fingertips.

Rhyland beamed. "You're welcome." He responded as he held out his hand to the woman.

"Huh?" Aubrey asked confusedly. She stared at Rhyland before looking at his hand and then back again.

"We're friends now." Rhyland said matter of factly in a low attractive voice.

Aubrey's jaw dropped. What was this man saying?

"Who— who is friends with who?" She sputtered.

"You and me." Rhyland said with a cheeky grin.