Chapter 73 - Kind Of Cute

Prisana happily fiddled with her fingers as she sat in the car next to Bailey. Bailey offered to drop her off. It was beginning to seem as if Bailey was her mother who was dropping her off at her first day of school. Not even her own 'father' did this as he had always hired someone to drive her to the all girl's Christian academy.

This was a sweet first.

She peered through the window at XXX University, where Dane enrolled her for orientation. The campus both alarmed her and filled her with needless anticipation. XXX University stood as exquisite tall grey buildings surrounded by acres of trees. There were students outside talking to each other and zipping through with the bikes or skateboards.

"...Nana," the name still seemed odd to roll on her tongue. "I'll be off now. Thank you for being so sweet and kind to drop me off."

Bailey squeezed her hand lovingly.

"Dane's wife is my beloved daughter too. I've also told Cleo to come fetch you since I have to go back and take care of things back at the Iron Horse."

"Do let me come visit soon!"

"...That depends on Dane. It's probably not a place you should frequent alone. You're not even of age yet, are you?"

She shook her head, "I'll invite you next month to come over and celebrate."

"Next month huh?" Bailey's eyes darkened and Prisana wondered why.

"Why the long face?"

"...It's nothing. Have fun dear!"

When Prisana was signed up for orientation, she recieved notice about signing up with a group based on a similar field of interest. She read the directions from the orientation chatgroup and marched onward to the center of campus where a large fountain with stone angels sprung out with water.

She turned her head to look out for the large sign like others who held out numbers like Group 2 and Group 8. Hers was Group 10 and so far, no sign resembled it.

"...Hmm, I think this is it but no one is here yet," she mumbled to herself.

"Excuse me..."

"Me?" she asked while turning to the owner of the voice, pointing to herself.

The boy in front of her nodded. He was almost as tall as her, with a long lanky body. There were at least two of his friends giggling to themselves off to the side. She felt a little uncomfortable but nevertheless, offered a friendly smile.

"If you're going to ask me for directions then I'm afraid that I can't help with that since I'm a new student here too."

"No, it's not that," the boy sheepishly scratched his head. "Can I get your number?"

Her number?

Prisana blushed. The elite gentlemen of New Jersey never approached her for something like this as she was always stuck closely beside Giovanni. Rather, no one has ever asked for her number before. If she were an unmarried woman then perhaps it would have been alright to give out her number but she was already married to that brooding yet sweet beast.

"...I'm flattered but sorry, I can't give you my number."

Suddenly, his two friends walked over to them.

One of them smirked, "What? Too pretty you can't even consider going on one date with my friend?"

The other friend boldly snatched her phone away. Prisana was so confused as she did nothing to deserve such treatment. She glared at them and trudged over agrily. Just as she tried to reach for the phone, the boy lifted it up even higher.

A hand firmly gripped onto her shoulder. The stranger from behind, swooped in and snatched the phone from the boy.

"Tsk Tsk. I leave you alone for one second and you've already attracted pests?" his caramel colored eyes met hers as he winked, then turned to the three boys. "Leave my girlfriend alone."

"...I didn't know she had a boyfriend..."

"Or what?" one of the boy's friends dared to shout.

"Or," the stranger continued, showing them his phone screen as something played in the background. "I'll post this to the Dean and have you all ridiculued or expelled for bullying a girl. I think I can pull at least one or two witnesses here to prove my point, boys."

By now, they were recieving dirty looks by those in the near vicinity. The three boys shuffled away the moment they finished watching the video. When they disappeared from sight, the stranger sighed to himself.

"...They make the male population at XXX university seem like thirsty wolves preying on lone women—" he looked at his hand on her shoulder and pulled away. "Sorry, I was only trying to make this lovers act beliveable. You're not hurt, aren't you?"

Prisana sighed in relief as she observed her phone. This phone was something Dane gifted to her. She cherished it with her life.

"I'm okay. I'm really thankful for help just now. Honestly, I don't know how to deal with these kinds of situations."

"Really? It's natural for a beautiful girl like you to get hit on."

He quickly continued on even though Prisana bulged her eyes out at him from the sudden compliment. That was almost too smooth but he made it more of a statement than a compliment.

"Anyway you know, you have the right to refuse men. It seemed like you were just standing there passively without refusing which was why no one stopped to help. I only came to rescue the day because I notice more than the average person."

"Well, I did refuse to give them my number but things just kind of...escalated."

"Is that so? Well in that case, I should find those boys and teach them a lesson about chivalry...Cripes. Now they're long gone. Anyway, my name is Theodore."

"Prisana," she returned with a smile.

The man then began to inspect her closely. It was painfully difficult to not look at another man right there before her an inch away. As he looked at her closely, she couldn't help but notice he had a beauty mark right around his right cheek. There was even a slight dimple she'd only ever really seen on a woman but on him, it was somewhat attractive.

He was kind of cute.

Cute?

She stepped back, not liking how close the proximity between them faired and that she was forsaking her own husband. Surely it wasn't a crime to think of another man as good looking. It was only due to the fact that she had no time to oogle men other than Giovanni while growing up.

By god, she swore her heart belonged only to Dane!

"...Prisana. Ah! You're one of my students," he held up the a poster that read 'Group 10 Music and Theater Arts'.

Well, that explained why he was examining her so closely like a hawk.

Theodore flashed her a bright cheeky smile and extended out his hand to her. She took his hand. So this was Theodore. Prisana recalled him texting most of the instructions on the group chat. She hadn't realized him since his profile picture was of a cute dog.

"Let me reintroduce myself. Theodore Vaughn. I'll be your group's assigned leader today."