-10-

"Such beautiful eyebrows, eyes, nose, and lips…" Nathan said while praising every feature of her face. "God must have created you while He's in a good mood." He grasped Dinda's chin and pulled her face into his.

SLAP!!!

Nathan pushed back and his umbrella fell off his hand. Meanwhile, Dinda glared at him with her fiery eyes. Nathan never thought that he would have a girl slap him across the face like that. This has been the worst insult he had in his entire life. Not even once, he had a girl that rejected him, but now…

"Stop exploiting the situation to your advantage. Know your place, you rotten masher!" Dinda yelled at him. "You think I'd fall for you like those dumb bitches of yours? Nope, you are targeting the wrong prey!"

Nathan placed his hands on his waist, then he smacked Dinda on the forehead. He squinted his grey eyes and it emphasized how enchanting his eyelashes were. He couldn't take it when he had his pride squashed under a girl's heel like that. Nathan would defend his dignity at all cost.

"You're thinking too far. There was something in your eye! Why would I want to kiss a ferocious beast like you? I'd be woken up in the ER if I do that!"

Dinda quickly walked away from Nathan as he tried to catch up. He glanced back for a moment, he saw his car still parked there. Actually, he could just drive his car home or give Dinda a ride so they didn't have to be soaked like that. But Nathan being Nathan, he loved a challenge. This was his first challenge as a womanizer to approach a girl. She proved to be challenging as she would always reject him at each and every one of his attempts.

He was smiling as he closely followed Dinda. He synchronized his footsteps with Dinda's, be it wide or small steps. For the first time in his life, he was willing to be caught in the rain just for a girl that inexplicably drove him forward. Especially when he actually didn't like to be caught in rain.

"Why are you always mad at people around you? Do you have a genetically inherited hypertension or what?" Nathan asked, "Just so you know, hypertension is one of the leading causes of death in Indonesia because it leads to many other diseases such as myocardial infarction, cerebrovascular insult, plegia, and ultimately…death."

Dinda glared again at him and then ignored him. She walked as fast as she could to reach her apartment. That smartass boy really got on her nerves. She despised a boy like Nathan, she wanted to be as distant as possible from a guy like Nathan. Unfortunately, that boy kept messing around with her. She felt like being stalked by a predator that would drag her into the same pit she tried to forget all this time.

All this time, Nathan hugged himself and sneezed several times. Dinda glanced at Nathan. His lips went blue, his palm went pale, he was shivering violently as if this was his first time to walk in a torrential downpour like this. Dinda never knew someone would overreact to the rain like this as if he was walking topless in the north pole.

Dinda felt pity toward him but she did not know what to do because she was chilled to the bone as well.

"Where's your home?" Dinda eventually asked. The pity she felt for him finally got the best of her. She didn't want to be blamed if something happened to him.

Nathan looked back then smiled at Dinda while answering "My home? Far away from here."

Dinda looked to the right side of the road. The fences of her apartment building were seen very clearly. Should she have invited him to stay until the rain subsided? Or this was nothing but his plan to earn her pity? Dinda was confused, should she trust Nathan or kept thinking that this was nothing but a trick.

Dinda stopped walking in the middle of the street and glanced back. Nathan seemed confused at whatever Dinda was doing.

"Why are you standing here? You didn't feel wet enough or what?" Nathan asked.

Dinda took some time to see whether he was freezing or not. She saw that he was getting even more blue than before. Thus, she believed that he was not pretending to be cold. He was not lying.

"It's still pouring heavily. Stay in my apartment for a while." Dinda reluctantly invited Nathan to stay for a moment

"You live in this apartment?" Nathan asked. Dinda nodded. They walked toward the apartment building in their school's area. One of the exquisite apartments around here. The tenants really had to dish out a hefty sum of cash to live here. Since prestige is the name of the game around these parts, they still wanted to stay here despite the high cost of living.

Nathan entered the gate. A security guard stared at him, almost as if he was scrutinizing the guest. That was to be expected since this is a female-only apartment.

"Nathan Alfaro, sir. Dinda's friend. I need a roof above my head until the rain stops." Nathan smiled at the guardsman. Dinda glared at him since he was exhibiting his most despised trait; that was pretending to know everyone. From her experience, this kind of boy would exhibit a cool, arrogant, haughty attitude because they thought they were the best kind of boy on the planet. But she was wrong, this particular specimen was different.

"Miss Dinda, the new student?" Eko the Guardsman asked.

"Yes, sir. That young lady over there. Hehehe." Nathan replied gleefully,

"Correct, sir. He's freezing cold and it's pouring heavily. Can my friend stay here until the rain stops? He will stay in the lobby. He won't go anywhere." Dinda tried to ask the guardsman permission

"I will need to call Miss Ambar first. I need to file a report to the landlady. Lest she will scold me, so…"

"Yes, sir. Please take your time." Dinda and Nathan interrupted him simultaneously. Had they not interrupted him, he might going to keep talking until the rain actually stopped.