Chapter 4 Flirtations

• He was so close to her that she could see her reflection in his eyes and feel his breath on her face which was burning bright red.
• Yasmin wasn’t one to fall for handsome faces, but Lionel’s attractiveness was on a whole different level, especially when he was up close in front of her.
• She felt her ears burn up too as she found herself enveloped in a cloud of his masculine scent.
• It took about ten seconds for Yasmin to realize what she had just heard. Wait... Did he just say that he is the scumbag named Lionel? He did, didn’t he? This is bad...
• The smile on her face froze in place as she instinctively took a few steps away from him, but that only encouraged Lionel to keep advancing until she had her back against a wall.
• Oh my god... He looks really dangerous... What is he going to do? I shouldn’t have gotten into his car, d*mn it! Little did she know, her timid behavior only served to pique his interest in her even further.
• “H-Hello...” It took every ounce of strength in Yasmin to force an awkward smile at the man as she felt his breath on the tip of her nose.
• Lionel stopped smiling at her after a few seconds as he returned to his usual haughty self. Yasmin struggled to maintain her composure while she tried to think of what to say. Right when she was about to say something, Lionel snorted coldly and walked off, leaving her confused.
• Feeling as though a huge load had been lifted off her chest, Yasmin rubbed her nose and heaved a sigh of relief.
• “Ms. Jones,” Matthew walked up to her and urged with a smile, “Let’s go.”
• Yasmin felt tempted to tell them that she wanted to take a taxi home, but the words were stuck in her throat whenever she looked at the intimidating guys who were in the car with her.
• She did just call him a scumbag to his face, after all.
• “Where do you work, Ms. Jones?” Matthew decided to break the tension.
• “Miller Corporation,” she responded.
• “Oh? Really?” Matthew raised an eyebrow at her.
• “Mhmm!” Yasmin stole a glance at Lionel and saw him looking at her when she said that.
• However, his gaze was shrouded in mystery as it sent a shiver down her spine.
• Why do I feel like I’ve heard his name somewhere?
• Matthew kept silent after asking her a few more questions. When he finally stopped the car outside her residential area, Yasmin had never felt so relieved to see the familiar building in front of her again.
• She bolted straight out of the car, eager to get away from the awkward tension that was becoming increasingly unbearable.
• Had she looked back, she would have seen the fancy Bentley that was still parked in the same spot with its window rolled down as Lionel kept his gaze on her.
• “She’s got pretty eyes!” Matthew couldn’t help but compliment her.
• “Drive,” Lionel ordered, completely ignoring his comment.
• “You know, that incident has nothing to do with you,” Matthew uttered as the Bentley slowly disappeared into the darkness of the night.
• In Novus Residence, Yasmin had only just reached home when she got a call from her mother. After hearing how excited and nervous her mother sounded on the phone, she let out a sigh and asked, “Mom, could you stop setting me up on dates with every single guy you come across?”
• She then told her mother about her experience on that blind date with Fennick, intentionally leaving out the bits involving the crazy woman and getting into the wrong car. After all, she didn’t want to worry her mother.
• Naturally, Mrs. Jones got really upset when she heard about Fennick’s appearance and his ridiculous conditions. She then hung up the phone immediately and went off to give her old friend a piece of her mind.
• Yasmin’s phone rang again shortly after, and she saw that it was Jane, her roommate and classmate from her university days. Jane had graduated from university a year ago and had remained in the university as a lecturer, teaching most of her classes at night.
• Assuming that she was calling to ask about her blind date, Yasmin felt eager to tell her all about Lionel, but what she heard next surprised her.
• “Yasmin, I saw Linda just now!”
• Hearing the name seemed to have triggered some painful memories of the past, and Yasmin felt a sharp pain in her chest as she looked out the window.
• “Yas? Are you there?” Jane called out to her when she didn’t hear a response.
• “Yeah, go on,” Yasmin mumbled in reply.
• “On second thought, maybe I shouldn’t be telling you about this...” Jane hesitated when she noticed that something was off in Yasmin’s tone.
• “It’s fine.” Yasmin opened the window to cool off in the chilly night breeze. “Our paths are going to cross sooner or later anyway. Thanks for the heads-up, Jane.”
• “There’s something else that I need to tell you, Yas.” Jane paused for a moment before she continued, “It’s Henry... He might be coming back next month.”
• Yasmin felt as if something had snapped inside her as she merely stood at the balcony, staring blankly at the lights of the city.
• She didn’t even know what she had told Jane, nor when they had ended the call.
• I’ll never forget that day from six years ago... The day I found out that Linda was my paternal half-sister... The day that Mom and Dad almost got a divorce as a result... The day when she told me that she was pregnant with Henry’s child... Henry was Yasmin’s childhood friend as well as her first love. The two of them grew up together and started dating ever since they graduated from high school. They had even attended the same university after that.
• As such, one could only imagine the impact that it had on her when Linda revealed that she was pregnant with Henry’s child. She claimed that she loved Henry very much and requested for Yasmin’s blessing to be with him, going as far as threatening to take her child’s life along with her own if Yasmin refused.
• However, none of that could compare to the pain caused by Henry’s words when he saw Linda kneeling before her.
• Yasmin stood by the balcony for a very, very long time that night.