Chapter 6 Six

"OMG, this is the first time I've actually enjoyed being in class! Why does he only teach us three credits? Why not just go full twenty-four credits while we're at it?" Divya rambled as they walked out of class and headed to the cafeteria.

"Are you sure all the material he's covered has actually sunk in?" Gio asked in a sarcastic tone.

"Of course!" Divya replied proudly. "In fact, I'm so sure that if he taught all the subjects, I could graduate with a GPA of four point zero with lots of accolades." She continued, her tone full of pride.

Elara just shook her head in response to her friend's exuberance. Deep down, she wasn't convinced that Divya could graduate with a GPA above three point five.

Not that she was underestimating her intelligence, but her friend clearly took a laid-back approach to all her courses and exams. She often said she had no intention of studying, that she was in college because her father forced her to be.

They arrived at the cafeteria, which was filled with students from their previous class. Again, all Elara heard in the cafeteria was praise from the female students about their handsome, macho new lecturer, and all the blah blah blah that made Elara genuinely sick of hearing it.

Elara reached for her phone, which she had stored in her messenger bag, when she felt the familiar vibration of a message. She was shocked to see that the message was from the man who had just taught in her class. Elara was initially reluctant to open it, but fearing that the message might be important, she decided to check her chat app.

Annoying Uncle: Your last class ends in two hours. Wait at the bus stop; we'll go home together.

Elara furrowed her brow. She clearly wanted to be angry, but she tried to hold herself back. How could her uncle know her class schedule? Did he use his power as a professor to peek at her information?

If he did, did he see all her grades? Isn't that rude? Would he tease her if her grades were bad?

But no, all of Elara's first-semester grades were definitely perfect. She felt proud of that.

The question now is, why does Elara have to go home with Rayyan? Doesn't she already have Alfred, who is accustomed to picking her up and dropping her off?

Since moving in with the Altezza-Ada family, Elara had not been allowed to take public transportation. Whether it was to campus, a friend's house, or the mall, they required Elara to go by car with a personal driver.

At first, Elara didn't accept this. She felt embarrassed about inconveniencing others because having a personal driver meant making someone wait. But Granny Ada told her that Elara could contact Alfred thirty minutes before she finished if she didn't want the middle-aged man to wait.

Elara had another reason for not wanting a driver: she wanted to be free. She had already persuaded everyone that she could use public transportation. Even her parents had allowed her to do so because they considered it a form of independence for Elara. However, Granny Ada firmly rejected that idea.

Elara was not allowed to use public transportation for safety reasons.

Reluctantly, Elara had to accept when she was introduced to Alfred, a man who had served Grandpa Altezza for twenty years.

Remembering her uncle's message, Elara replied:

Elara: Why do I have to go home with you?

Annoying Uncle: Alfred has diarrhea. He went home early!

Elara stared at her phone with her mouth agape. Diarrhea? Really? Or was that just an excuse her uncle made?

"What's wrong? Who is it?" Divya asked curiously while glancing at Elara's phone.

In a hurry, Elara tucked her phone away into her bag, fearing Divya might find out who was texting her.

"Just someone annoying," she replied flatly.

They finished their food and walked back toward the building to prepare for their next class. After the lecture ended, Elara glanced at her phone again, only to see a message from Rayyan saying he would be waiting for her at the bus stop, even though the parking lot was much closer than the bus stop.

Elara wanted to be angry, but she knew that would only make her uncle happy. She even felt like throwing the book in her hand at him when she saw him chatting with a senior student in the lobby of the campus building.

Looking at her watch, she realized she had been at the bus stop for five minutes, yet her uncle still hadn't shown up.

She was frustrated, tired, and thirsty. The walk from her classroom to the bus stop wasn't short, especially with the scorching weather, heavy traffic, and the fact that there were no available seats at the bus stop. Elara's empty water bottle only added to her rising emotions.

Elara could have easily bought a drink at the convenience store, but remembering her mother's advice-who had always encouraged her to buy cold, sweet drinks at the supermarket-she hesitated. Instead of letting her buy drinks from outside, her mother had trained her to bring water from home. This was also used as a measure of how much water she consumed each day.

"You can have sweet drinks, but make sure to balance them with plain water," was her mother's constant reminder to her and her siblings. "Kidney health is important," she would continue when Elara or her siblings resisted bringing water bottles.

Fortunately, Elara only had to carry a 750-milliliter water bottle. Imagine if her mother had asked her to bring a one-and-a-half-liter or even a two-liter bottle to meet her daily hydration needs!

Elara glanced at a student next to her drinking cold water and then at the convenience store located not far from where she stood. She was really thirsty, and she just wanted to buy plain mineral water. Only mineral water, not flavored water that looked tempting, especially with the delicate droplets on the outside of the bottle.

Just as Elara was about to take a step forward, a car she didn't recognize stopped in front of her, and the passenger window rolled down.

"Get in!" ordered the man in the shirt sitting behind the wheel, his dark sunglasses perched on his prominent nose.

Elara furrowed her brow in confusion. She felt torn between asking her uncle for permission to buy water first or getting into the car and enduring her thirst.

"Hurry up, it's hot!" the man urged again, making Elara grimace.

Irritated, she walked over to the car and reached for the back door, but before she could grab the handle, Rayyan automatically locked the doors from the inside.

"Who do you think I am? Alfred? Sit in the front!" the man commanded, causing Elara to scowl in annoyance and shift her hand to the front passenger door handle.

Rayyan might have assumed that Elara preferred sitting behind the driver given her status as a passenger and Alfred's role as the chauffeur. But Rayyan's assumption was incorrect. Except when using ride-hailing services, Elara was used to sitting next to the driver, regardless of who owned or drove the car, including Alfred. She didn't want to differentiate between people based on their roles as drivers or anything else.

However, Rayyan was a special case. She didn't feel entirely comfortable sitting next to him, as being close to him made Elara feel uneasy. That was why she wanted to sit in the back earlier-so she wouldn't have to be near him.

Elara pulled on her seatbelt just as Rayyan closed the window and locked it automatically. He turned on the car's air conditioning to a comfortable temperature and began driving.

"I'm thirsty. Can we buy something to drink first?" Elara asked, her tone pleading.

Without any comment, Rayyan reached to the right, opened the glove compartment, and pulled out a small bottle of mineral water. Elara glanced at the bottle and then back at Rayyan.

"You said you were thirsty," Rayyan remarked when Elara still didn't take the bottle.

She reached out her hand, accidentally brushing against Rayyan's hand as he shifted gears.

Even though it only lasted a split second, Elara felt a strange jolt of electricity when their skin touched. She tried not to jerk her hand away and grabbed the bottle. Leaning back, she twisted off the cap and took a long drink until her thirst was completely quenched.

"Are you done?" Rayyan asked, to which Elara nodded in response. The man then extended his right hand toward her, causing Elara to furrow her brow. "I'm thirsty too," he said, taking the bottle from her hand and drinking until it was empty. Elara, taken aback, could only stare at him in wide-eyed disbelief.

She quickly turned her face to the left side of the car. For some reason, her heart suddenly raced, and her cheeks felt warm.

"It's just a normal reaction," Elara told herself internally.

For some reason, watching Rayyan drink from her empty bottle suddenly made Elara's mind flash with the phrase "indirect kiss." She had never thought of such terms when Divya or Gio shared straws or the same glass with her.

Elara turned when she felt a light jab on her upper right arm. Rayyan was handing her back the empty bottle, causing her to frown again.

"Why are you giving me an empty bottle?" Elara asked sharply.

Rayyan glanced at her with one eyebrow raised before responding, "Cap it, crush it, and then toss it when you see a trash can, Ela dear." His teasing tone only made Elara feel flustered when he called her "dear."

"I'm not your 'dear,' Uncle," she retorted, which made Rayyan chuckle. "Besides, why do you still call me Ela? I don't like it," she complained, once again met with Rayyan's laughter.

"Well, remember when someone would ask, 'Sweet child, what's your name?'" Rayyan said in a teasing tone, mimicking a doting mother talking to a toddler. "You always answered, 'Ela, Auntie,' just like that."

"Yeah, but that was because I was a kid and had a lisp. You're not a kid, so why do you have to act like one?" she said, still sounding annoyed.

Rayyan shrugged. "Just because." His tone was nonchalant. "Ela dear." He continued with that teasing inflection again.