"Mr. Hastings Senior did ask me for help, but I want you to go back too," I said as I lowered my gaze.
"Why?" Alex asked.
"Well…" My hands nervously gripped the edge of my clothes. "Mr. Hastings Senior's health has been quite bad. He looks so haggard nowadays. You're his only child, so I think that you should go back."
"I might consider it if you agree to follow my arrangements," Alex said almost immediately.
I looked at him in surprise. I couldn't discern his expression through the haze of the cigarette smoke.
But Mr. Hastings Senior was suffering at that moment. I felt that Alex using that as leverage was quite childish.
"Are you really so against going back to the Hastings residence?" Alex asked in an incredibly gentle voice as he flicked his cigarette butt away.
I looked down and said, "It's not that I'm against it. It's just that I was never meant to be a part of the Hastings family anyway."
My eyes were starting to sting, and I was choking up. So, I didn't say anything more. I didn't want to show any weakness in front of Alex.
There was a long silence before Alex took a deep breath and said, "I'll drop you off at your dormitory."
"No, no, no." I hurriedly waved my hands in rejection.
He frowned slightly.
When he came to my university to back me up last time, it caused a huge commotion. It turned me into a campus sensation. Even now, the other students would whisper among themselves when they saw me. If it happened again, I would probably become a celebrity.
I didn't want to be famous.
"I don't want the whole campus watching me," I coughed slightly before telling him the truth. "I'm about to graduate soon. Just let me graduate peacefully, okay?"
She sighed with relief. "As long as he didn't scold you. By the way, I've been thinking about it, and I realized something serious. I feel that Kevin has some strange obsession with you."
I suddenly recalled the eerie feeling I had at the university gate earlier.
"When I was at the gate earlier, I felt like someone was watching me," I said. Suddenly, all my fatigue was gone.
"At the university gate? Was it the one by the coffee shop?" Lila's eyes widened.
Alarm bells were ringing in my mind.
Kevin had been working the same shift as Lila, but Lila was already back. So I assumed that Kevin had already left work too. But he hadn't left after his shift and instead waited at the university gate.
He must have been watching me the whole time—before I even got into Alex's car.
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