The world spun around. She could see notebooks flying everywhere and she heard people's the people shouting in panic. It all happened in few seconds and the next thing she knew, she was already in the warm embrace of someone. She could hear the sound of his heart beat – fast and loud.
"Didn't the professors told you to stop playing in the hallway!" The voice wasn't loud but Serina could feel the anger and threat in the timbre of baritone voice. She could sense danger coming from him. For a moment, she felt like she was in a territory of a large predator. "If she ever got hurt because of what you did, you'll definitely pay for it."
"I'm sorry man. I didn't mean – "
"I don't need your apology! Scram!" Serina was still in his arms, not daring herself to look at him. If she did, she would have seen how his eyes glowed in anger.
The students, who played soccer in the hallway, ran away as fast as they could. They have never been so afraid in their whole life until the moment they witnessed what kind of person Nicholas was when he gets angry. When they reached to their clubroom, they felt so weak and their knees wobbled.
There were other students in the hallway who witnessed what happened and they finally sighed in relief when they found Serina safe. Nicholas has always been amiable and friendly to everyone, although he put a little distance between him and other women. They never heard him shout or yell. He was always composed and calmed.
But today, they witnessed how intimidating he could be when he's angry.
Nicholas finally pulled away from Serina and let her go. He looked at her from head to toe and turned her around to see if she was really alright. "Why were you spacing out?" He asked as he gave her forehead a light flick. "Don't look down. Look at me." He pinched her chin with his finger and tilted her head to make her look at him. "What now?"
"What do you mean what now?" Serina swatted his hand away and rubbed her chin. "I wasn't spacing out, okay? I just had something in mind in that crucial moment. Also, how would I know that dumb people will play soccer in the hallway?"
"You just said it yourself. They're dumb. A lot of people are dumb so watch out for yourself."
"Oui, je comprends." Serina replied in French and rolled her eyes at him. She bent down to pick the scattered notebooks near her and when she stood up again, a female student from Nicholas' class handed the other notebooks that have been picked up already. "Thank you." The lady only smiled and went back inside their classroom.
Nicholas looked at the notebooks in her hands and jumped down from the window to the hallway. "Let me help you."
"There's no need. I can handle them on my own." Serina stated and started walking away from him but Nicholas followed her suit. "I said it's fine!" Serina exclaimed as she watched him took almost 80% of the notebooks she was holding. "You hoodlum! Give it back."
"Can you just continue walking without making a fuss?"
"I'll make a fuss when I like it."
"You haven't even thanked me yet and besides, why didn't I know your plan of going to Europe?"
"And why should I tell you about it?"
"Aren't we friends?"
"Friends your face."
The students looked outside the corridor one after another and watched Serina and Nicholas bickering back and forth as they went to the faculty office. They were shaking in disbelief to what they have just witnessed. In their class, Nicholas would always respond to their female classmates whenever they try talking to him but there's this invisible barrier around him that made people wary of approaching him beyond one-meter distance. Whenever they conversed with him, they'd always stay one-meter apart from him.
When they saw how angry he was few minutes ago, they finally realized his bottom line. They always thought that he was just playing around because he had this look of a playboy but they were wrong.
Nicholas was the serious type of a person who will only dedicate his hear to one woman.
"Hey! I heard you almost got hit by a soccer ball." Hillary mentioned as soon as Serina came back from the faculty.
"And you were saved by your Mr. God-damn-se-"
"Stop right there." Serina covered her friend's mouth and pulled them back to their chairs. "I'm fine and yeah, he saved me."
"So, what are you planning to do now?" Brigette asked with a face of a gossipmonger. She's really excited to find something that she can teased Serina about.
"What plan are you talking about? There's no plan. Go back to your seats. The teacher will be here in a minute. Stop gossiping about me."
"Hmp! Such a kj." Brigette retorted but still went back to her own seat.
Since she was saved by him, Serina wasn't really that heartless who didn't know what gratitude is. She had something to do during lunch so, she invited him to have dinner with him instead. And because it was her who asked him out, Nicholas didn't hesitate and accepted her invitation.
For the very first time, the two of them were having a meal with just the two of them. Serina invited her best friends to come along but they all found solid excuses to refuse her invitation thus; she's left alone with him.
She's living in the dorm so, Nicholas chose a restaurant that was near the university. In that way, they didn't have to hurry back.
"Are you really going to Europe? Aren't you going to change your mind?" Nicholas asked while waiting for their food to be served.
"I have wished to go there for a very long time now and this opportunity came. I couldn't ignore it at all."
"I see." Nicholas muttered while looking at the cup glass of ice in front of him. "I hope you'd still be single once you get back."
"Wh-what…what the heck are you talking about? I will be studying there, okay? I have no intention of getting a boyfriend."
"Oh! I feel relieved."
"But it has nothing to do with you, though."
"That's fine." Nicholas looked at her straight in the eye but Serina was the first one to look away after five seconds. It's not because she felt awkward looking at him but because she found his eyes to be so familiar. She didn't know why but even though there's dangerous aura coming from him, she could tell that she's safe with him as long as she sees those eyes.
"By they way, I have never asked you this and I'm sorry if I appear to be intruding but I am just really curious."
"What about it?" Nicholas placed his elbow on the table and put his chin on the heel of his palm. He was warmly looking at her but Serina was very quick to calm herself when she felt blood was rushing to her head. She looked at his eyes once again and contemplated if she should really ask him about it. "Just speak your thought. I won't bite you."
"Well, your eyes…are they…are your eyes real?"
"Huh? Ah! Yeah." Nicholas chuckled after realizing how bothered she was with his eyes. "These are real. My parents and my sister have the same blue eyes but mine is a little darker than theirs. You thought I was using contact lenses?"
"Yeah. I was wondering how can someone have such beautiful eyes? And I don't know why but I found them very familiar."
"Are you hitting on me?" he teased and grinned widely at her.
Serina really wanted to smack his face at this moment but she held the urge back since he was her savior. "I'm not trying to flirt with you, okay? I don't have that luxury of time to flirt. I just can't stop thinking where I saw the same kind of eyes."
"Maybe it was in your dream." Nicholas retorted to keep teasing her. It was just an off-hand comment but it actually brought some memories in Serina's mind.
"A dream…I don't think it was a dream but it was definitely – ah! Right. I remember. I saw it from a wolf!" Serina exclaimed happily when she remembered it but opposite her, Nicholas and Kiro were both stunned. Human and wolf in one body, both were shocked to the core with Serina's news.
'Do you remember meeting her somewhere in our wolf form?' Nicholas asked Kiro internally.
'I don't. I have no recollection of this woman at all. And we have never transformed ever since coming from this city.'
"Nicholas? Are you okay?" Serina asked when the man stopped responding to her. The teasing grin on his lips was gone and he looked surprise about something. "Are you shock about the news of wolf? Let me tell you something, I've always love to watch wolves and read about them. Maybe I saw the same eyes as yours from a wolf movie, documentaries, books or something. I definitely have seen them but I just can't recall where it was exactly."
"That could be from your imagination. After all, you have liked wolves and you read so much about them. But still, I am happy with that news." Nicholas replied. Now, he was no longer teasing her but showed her a genuine smile instead. 'I firmly believe that she's our mate.' Nicholas told Kiro but his wolf didn't say anything to him.. 'Snobbish.'