Chapter 1

*Dafina's POV*

I was an orphan since the day I was born. I didn't know who my parents were. I was hoping that one day they would come and find me. And I wanted to ask them why they didn't want me. It had been over 20 years and there were no signs of them. It didn't bother me much whether I would find them or not. Since they were not concerned about me, why should I be concerned about them? I was happy with my life and I would be happy in the future as well.

I had Auntie Clara with me. She adopted me when I was 10. She treated me like her own child, with care and love. Auntie Clara was single and I always wondered why she had adopted me. She could have dated a guy, get married and get pregnant with her own child. Why would she want to adopt me? I asked her that question before. She said she always wanted to have a child but since she didn't meet any potential man to be with and conceive a child, she decided to adopt one. I had some reservation towards her reasoning but well... I was glad that she adopted me. She gave me a home. She was my family and I wasn't complaining about it.

What was I supposed to do now? Oh yes. Today marked the first day of my university life. Although I didn't really sound excited but trust me. I was excited. I could meet new people, new friends and probably... a boyfriend? I wasn't desperate or anything. It was just that I have this good friend of mine having a boyfriend. They have been together for around 3 years. They met during junior college. I was envy of her.

"Dafina!!! I'm heading out for work. You should be getting ready for school already!!!" Auntie Clara shouted.

"Yes!! I'm ready!!" I picked up my bag and walked out of my room. I swiftly grabbed 2 pieces of bread from the table and shove it into my mouth.

"Bye Aunt Clara!!" I took my bicycle out and rode away. I loved this feeling – The feeling of carefree. I felt the breeze sweeping through my face as I rode. It felt so refreshing.

"Meow." I was too engrossed in enjoying the breeze and I didn't see a cat running out of the bushes. I hit the brakes immediately. My bicycle tumbled over the stones that were on the ground and I went flying out.

"Ow." I moved my hand slowly and tried to stretch my legs. I stood up from the ground and patted the dirt from my jeans.

"Ow." I whined in pain when I tried to move my right lower arm. I took a peek at my arm and found a deep cut stretched across my lower arm. I hissed and a frown formed between my brows when I felt the pain shooting up from my arm each time I moved it. I couldn't clean my wounds as I didn't have any first aid kit with me. Guess I have to wait until I reached school and asked Chloe for help. School!!! I took a look at my watch and realised I was late.

Ignoring the pain I was getting from my lower arm and my sore legs, I paddled my bicycle and sped away. I locked my bicycle in the school compound and took out my timetable from my bag. I ran as I searched for my classroom. I was panicking and didn't really look where I was going.

"AH! Ow!!" I knocked into some group of girls and went falling backwards. My timetable flew out of my hand when I fell.My butt landed on the ground first, followed by my right lower arm. Pain shot up from my injured armimmediately. How unlucky. Falling down twice within the hour and get wounded on the same spot.

"LOOK WHERE YOU ARE GOING!!!" The girl who was standing in front of me, shouted at me. "DAMN GIRL!! YOU DIRTY MY CLOTHES!!!"

"I'm sorry. I was in a rush and I didn't see where I was going..." I quickly stood up from the ground while clenching my teeth. My whole body felt so sore.

"SO? GET OUT OF MY WAY!!" That girl pushed me hard on my shoulder, causing me to lose my balance and I went tumbling backwards. I took a few steps backwards before I felt my back hit something hard. People who were standing in front of me with their eyes widen and their jaws hanging opened.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I..." I turned around and lifted up my head. He was there, looking at me with his pair of icy ocean blue eyes. It was so mesmerizing and attractive. I didn't know how long we have been staring at each other. I could feel people around us starting to leave.

"Ahem." I heard someone cleared his throat and I quickly snapped out of it. It was so embarrassing.

"I'm sorry!" I took a step back from him and looked up at him once again. This time, his eyes turned darker shade and he clenched his fist tightly. I cowered away in fear.

He's not going to punch me for crashing into him right?

"I'm sorry." I apologized to him again, hoping that it would calm him down.

The guy stood beside him patted on his shoulder. He closed his eyes briefly and took a few deep breaths. When he opened his eyes once again, the colour of his eyes have returned to its previous shade of blue. He took a last glance at me before walking away.

The moment he was out of sight, I let out a breathe that I realized I have been holding onto. I spun around and looked towards the direction that he has headed to. I can't help but wanted to get closer to him. What was this feeling? It was kind of strange. I have never ever experience this before. I wasn't that kind of girl who would attract guy's attention. Hence, I never fan over any guy and wouldn't get curious over a stranger. What was happening to me?

I shook off the image of him that was printed on my mind. I hurriedly picked up my time table from the ground and dashed off after realizing I was super late for class. I stood outside of the lecture hall, trying to catch my breathe before entering quietly. I looked around the hall to search for Chloe. When she spotted me, she waved a little trying to catch my attention. I headed towards her and sat down beside her.

"Hey, Aiden." I greeted Chloe's boyfriend, Aiden who was sitting beside Chloe before I shifted my attention back to Chloe.

"Why are you so late?" Chloe asked. Before I could even reply, Chloe lifted up my arm. "OH MY GOD!! What has happened?"

"Had a rough morning." Although I think it wasn't an entirely bad morning as my thoughts drifted to him. Oh god! What was I thinking?! Snapped out of it, Dafina!!

"Let's get your wound clean up." Chloe insisted on bringing me to the school nurse and get my wound bandaged.

"What exactly happened, Dafina?" Chloe asked while the nurse bandaged my arm.

"I was riding to school and I fell off my bike while avoiding a cat." I told Chloe.

"The wound looks more than just merely a scratch. Did you fell off your bicycle more than 10 times?!" Chloe asked.

"No. I fell once only. But when I was searching for the lecture venue, I knocked into this group of girls. They got so angry and shoved me to the ground. My injuried arm landed on the ground again so it kind of worsened it." I explained to Chloe. I could never lie to her. She was like a lie detector. She would know whether I was telling the truth.

"Damn. Must be Brittany." Chloe cursed silently.

I looked at Chloe, feeling confused. "How do you know her name?" Both Chloe and I were new students and it was our first day at school. How did Chloe know her?

"Erm... Aiden told me. Yea! Aiden told me. He overheard people saying that the girl is a bad news." Chloe seemed a bit nervous while answering but why would she feel nervous? I simply shrugged it off. Probably it was nothing and I was thinking too much.

"Oh." I nodded.

"Done. Be careful the next time." The nurse told me and smiled at me.

"I will. Thank you." Chloe and I walked out of the room. Aiden was standing outside waiting for us. When he saw us walking out of the room, he came to us immediately.

"Dafina, you ok?" Aiden asked.

"Yea. I'm fine." I said and smiled warmly.

"Shall we have lunch? My friends are joining us too." Aiden said.

"Sure. New friends?" I asked. I didn't see Aiden talking to other people during lecture just now. When we were in junior college, Aiden also introduced some of his friends to me. However, they were not coming to the same University as us hence he couldn't be referring to them.

"Oh. They are friends I know since young and they are studying in the same school too. Some of them are older than us." Aiden explained.

"Oh Ok." I nodded. Out of the corner of my eyes, I thought I saw Aiden heaving out a sigh of relief when I stopped asking questions. Sometimes I felt that Chloe and Aiden were both acting weird but I couldn't understand why. Were they hiding something or was I over thinking it?

"Hey, guys!!" The 3 of us walked over to a table seated with 7 guys and girls. I assumed some of them were couples as they were sitting closely to one another.

"Dafina, this is Chase." Aiden pointed to a guy sitting right at the very end. "And his ma.. girlfriend Ava." I smiled politely at them. What was the word he was trying to say instead of 'girlfriend'?

"Alexander." Aiden pointed to the guy sitting opposite Chase. "And his girlfriend, Madison."

"HELLO!!!" Madison waved at me excitedly.

"Maddy, cool down. You are going to scare the girl away." Alexander sneaked his arms around Madison's waist and tugged her closer to him. Madison pouted at Alexander. He smiled at her lovingly before giving her a peck on the lips. Awww.. They were so cute. Envy!!!

"Hello." I waved back at her and her face lightened up slightly.

"This is Jayden." I looked over to where Aiden was pointing.

"Hi." I managed to squeak out. He simply nodded at me without saying a word. I took a few more glances at him. I could a powerful aura emitting out from him and I felt a little intimidated by him.

"That is Nathan." Aiden pointed to the guy who was sitting on the other side of Madison.

"Hey, beautiful!" Nathan winked at me and planted a cheesy smile on his face. As soon as Nathan greeted me, I heard this low growling sound coming out from my left. Everyone on the table turned to look at the source of the sound. I turned around slowly and looked at the direction that they were looking.

"And this is Kayden."