When the next break came, I handed him a bag with drinks, snacks, and even some ice cream.

    He took a bite of the ice cream, then gave me an intense look.

    “You were gone so long, I thought you’d fallen into a manhole or something. What took you?”

    “Oh, I just have your baby in my belly,”

    I blurted out, not thinking. The second I registered what I had just said, I clamped a hand over my mouth.

    Oops. That drama totally seeped into my brain—gah, why did I say that, wah.

    Ziff froze as everyone else stared at me like I had sprouted a second head, wah!

    “What did you just say?” he asked, ice cream falling from his mouth.

    “I—I’m three months pregnant. Ah, wait, no, I misspoke, wah!!”

    "What nonsense are you saying!"

    Ziff suddenly grabbed me, covering my mouth. I could not tell what expression he wore, but everyone else looked utterly shocked and bewildered by the ridiculous words I had just blurted out.

    "Wha... what did you just say, Panya..."

    someone asked, and I tried desperately to say that I had just made a slip of the tongue. But Ziff's hand stayed clamped over my mouth.

    "Oh, nothing really. We just had an especially sweet night together,"

    he added, his voice dripping with fake sweetness, while I, meanwhile, was practically dying. I flailed my hands in the air, trying to grab on to something, but perverted Ziff would not let me get a word in.

    This evil man... I already said I misspoke, didn’t I, wah.

    "Huh, you said what now!"

    Ziff’s friends all chorused in unison, staring at me with wide eyes.

    I felt tears welling up. Not only had I accidentally said the wrong thing, but this idiot Ziff had me in a headlock so tight I could barely breathe.

    "Just like I said. Pfft~ sweetheart, maybe you should go get checked just to be sure. I know how much you love me, and want to keep me from straying. But saying it out loud like that, in front of everyone, you've got me blushing,"

    he said in a syrupy tone, making everyone around us burst out cheering. Arghh!

    "Ahh-mmnff!" was all I could manage, with Ziff’s hand still pressed over my mouth.

    I wanted to die—just bury me right here, please!

    "Alright, alright. Go wait for me in the car. We’re done here anyway."

    Finally, he let go of my mouth, and I took a deep breath, ready to set the record straight. But before I could even start, Ziff leaned close, touching my lower lip with his finger.

    "Eep!" I gasped, his nose mere inches from mine.

    "Stay quiet now. One more word, and I’ll find a different way to keep your mouth shut."

    I clammed up instantly as Ziff shoved a heavy backpack onto my shoulders, heavy enough to feel like it was packed with rocks, and nudged me in the direction of the car by the field.

    "Should’ve just said you wanted one. I’ll get to it later."

    Even as I tried to pull away, Ziff did not let up, his teasing burning me up inside.

    Sometimes, I was confused by my feelings toward him.

    Sometimes I liked him.

    But at this moment, I hated him with every fiber of my being, sob...

    "I am NOT pregnant!"

    I did not know how many times I had said this already, but Ziff’s friends just keep laughing and shaking their heads as if they did not believe a word.

    "They say the first thing that slips out is usually the truth."

    "I keep telling you, it was just a slip-up! I was watching a drama, and it just came out," I groaned, but no one seemed convinced.

    And now, all my anger was aimed at Ziff, this heartless scrap metal who seemed totally unfazed. He was whistling and flashing me smiles as he attached a heart rate sensor to a giant watch.

    His face practically begged for me to bare my teeth and bite him.

    "Come here a sec," Ziff called, beckoning me with his hand.

    "Or should I come to you? I won’t be coming over there just to talk, though…"

    "Fine, I’m coming!" I jumped up before he could finish, stomping over to where the brute sat.

    He gave me a pleased smile, one so irritating in my eyes. I did not know if I had mentioned it before, but whenever he wore a neutral expression, he would seem cold and arrogant, like he did not care about anyone else—just like when I first met him.

    But the moment Ziff smiled or laughed… he became the ultimate cunning villain.

    Smile or no smile, one thing was for sure: Ziff was a born troublemaker.

    “Let me test the watch,” Ziff said, and without further ado, he slipped the watch onto my wrist.

    “Your wrist is really small and skinny, but it does make the veins show clearly here, see?” Ziff commented, turning my hand palm-up.

    My veins were quite visible, just as he mentioned. He adjusted the watch he had just roughly assembled so that it fit snugly over my wrist, aligning it with the vein just right, and on the watch face, I could see my pulse rate graph.

    “It’s still not perfect; there’s a lot to improve,” he added, adjusting the watch further to fit better.

    “Your wrist is even smaller than I thought—it’s way too loose, isn’t it?” He fussed over it, tightening the strap carefully.

    “You made the band too long,” I countered, while watching the graph of my own heartbeat.

    I was not sure why... but the closer Ziff got, the faster my heart seemed to beat. The watch clearly showed the increase, and from his perverted smile, Ziff noticed it too. So, I twisted my wrist away and shot him an annoyed glare.

    “Are there any lights flashing on the watch?”

    I glanced down again. The watch’s face was blank, with no colors, so I shook my head as an answer.

    “Alright, let’s try a test. Hmm… should I start with making you blush?” Ziff said, a sly grin spreading across his face as he leaned in closer.

    Seeing the flirty look in his eyes, I instinctively backed away, but Ziff held onto my shoulders, pulling me even closer.

    “Come on, get a little flustered,” he coaxed, as if I were a robot he could program to feel whatever he wanted.

    “The more you act like this, the more you scare me,” I muttered, trying to scoot away,

    but Ziff was anything but compliant. He caught my wrist, pulling it back to see the watch. I stared wide-eyed, surprised and intrigued.

    The once plain white watch was now flashing brown, and shortly after, it changed to yellow. Wow… I had not expected Ziff to be capable of pulling off something like this.

    “Blasted. Hey, Ek, what do brown and yellow mean!” Ziff called over to his friend, glancing at the blinking colors.

    “The brown means the wearer feels fear, and yellow is for surprise,” Ek explained, pushing up his glasses as he checked his notes.

    “It’s not always exact, but still…”

    Ziff then turned to me with a look of dissatisfaction.

    “What? You’re supposed to be flustered. You’re supposed to blush when you see me. Is this watch broken!” Ziff grumbled, tugging at the watch on my wrist like he was about to rip it off.

    Take a look—this was Ziff, the true definition of a total nutcase.

    “No, no, I need to see pink. Where’s this brown even coming from?”

    Yeah, it was coming from you, genius.

    Could he not see how intimidating he was right now?

    Our argument was interrupted when a photo slipped from somewhere and landed in my lap. It was a picture of a chubby cat hanging onto a log, looking like it was hunting prey.

    Its expression and demeanor was so funny that I burst out laughing.

    “Haha, look at Min. He’s hilarious. Haha, wahh... I can’t stop laughing~”

    While I was cracking up, Ziff was only getting more annoyed. He snatched the picture from me, frowned at it, and then stared at me in total bewilderment.

    “What’s so funny about this, huh? The green light flashing on the watch must mean you’re amused, I take it?”

    “Oh no, Ziff, my stomach hurts—haha~”

    “Hey! Stop laughing right now.”

    It looked like Ziff’s watch was actually working, even though I had not tested every possible emotion on it. While wearing it, the green light flashed intermittently, whenever I looked at that picture—it just made me laugh so hard my stomach hurt every time. Ziff, frustrated, said I was way too easily amused.

    Most people found the photo cute at best, maybe smiling a little, but I laughed so hard I nearly died. He compared my laughter to being hired to laugh—I was paid twenty, but I laughed two thousand’s worth. I thought he was overreacting.

    “Pfft~” Just thinking about that picture made me laugh.

    Ziff, walking beside me, had had enough and quickly distanced himself away. I scrunched my nose at him, annoyed, and followed a little farther back.

    Somehow, without noticing, going to and coming back from university together, eating together, and even taking turns staying over at each other’s place had become part of our routine.

    Like last night, he stayed over at my place. I still was not sure when he had gotten the keycard and key for my apartment, or when I had gotten one for his.

    Even now, I was not sure what exactly we were.

    Just research teammates, or something more…

    “Do you have plans tonight?”

    I asked casually as we walked out of a small restaurant near my apartment. He had driven me here and joined me for dinner, a daily routine.

    “What’s with that question?” he replied, tilting his head, an ice cream stick still in his mouth.

    This was one of Ziff’s endearing quirks—he liked ice cream but hated coffee, and, well, alcohol might as well have been part of his bloodstream by now.

    “You usually go out drinking late, don’t you?” I pointed out, recalling what I had seen so many times.

    “Guess so. Tonight, some of the upperclassmen are taking us out for drinks. Oh, and there was a freshman who lives in your building,” Ziff said, waving at someone behind me.

    I turned to see a girl in a similar engineering uniform to Ziff’s—a cute, delicate girl who also happened to fit his type perfectly.

    After a little digging, I had found out what kind of girl he was attracted to, and the answer had left me feeling discouraged.

    He liked girls that were everything I was not.

    Like this girl right here.

    “Ah, I see,” I replied, my voice faltering. Ziff raised an eyebrow at me.

    He did not say anything, though, instead reaching out to pinch my cheeks until they stretched. Ow! He always hurt me. This guy never understood how heavy-handed he could be.

    “Make sure to lock up tight when you get upstairs.” He jostled my head a couple more times before turning back to call over his junior.

    She approached, politely greeting me with a wai (Thai greeting), and I returned a small, weak smile.

    “Alright, I’m going,” I told Ziff, stepping back to leave for my room.

    Ziff nodded with a smile, then turned his attention back to his underclassman. I looked at him, then hung my head and turned away, but just when I thought I had left, the stupid, heartless Ziff pulled me back and whispered something in my ear that made my face go completely red.

    “You’re the mother of my child. I don’t need anyone else...”

    “You’re so stupid, Ziff.”

    I mumbled, flustered and frustrated, as I rubbed the ear he had just exhaled into. Pulling away, I felt relieved when I saw that the freshman girl had another guy standing beside her.

    “You’re one jealous type.” Ziff teased, making my face burn even more as he ruffled my hair.

    “See you later.”

    This time he had to really be gone.

    But just a few hours later, I heard a knock at the door and opened it

    to find none other than Ziff.

    “I’m drunk. Can’t drive back. Mind if I crash here, Miss Bland...”

    “I’m not staying over tonight,”

    I told Ziff after we got back from the engineering department.

    There were still a few bugs with the results from his watch experiments—the watch had not displayed any colors for anger or excitement yet. So, Ziff needed to stay at the department overnight to continue working and would not be back to his place.

    He offered to drop me off at my apartment, saying he might swing by later, and asked if I wanted him to bring anything back for me.

    I quickly turned down the offer, not wanting him to tire himself out running back and forth. Besides, I was not staying in tonight either.

    It made me blush, actually—I felt like a complete wild child these days, either staying over at a guy’s place

    or having one stay at mine. Not once had I spent the night alone lately.

    It was more than just embarrassing; I felt guilty, like I was letting my parents down.

    Sure, nothing beyond friendship was happening between us, but still…

    “And just where do you think you’re going?” Ziff’s voice was suddenly tense, cold even.

    Could he please stop looking at me like that?

    “Um… I actually have plans to grab dinner with someone.”

    I kept my face neutral, curious to see if Ziff would show any jealousy—because, surprisingly, his jealous side was incredibly cute.

    If he thought I was going out with someone else, he would get all riled up. Sure enough, his expression darkened as soon as I said I had dinner plans.

    “With who?” he asked bluntly, and my grin widened,

    just as his face grew even stormier. Honestly, he was adorable when he got like this.

    “Joshua…”

    I said, watching his expression go utterly blank. Maybe I had gone too far. Just as I started to smile, ready to explain,

    Ziff quickly turned his back on me.

    “Ziff! Wait a sec.”

    “What? Aren’t you having dinner with Joshua? Or were you just kidding?”

    He turned back around, smiling.

    It was a smile that was strained, and practically begging not to be let down. But the truth was, I was going to celebrate with my dad, Daddy Joshua, and Mama Yaya.

    “I’m really sorry, Ziff. I actually do have to go. But Joshua is my Daddy…”

    But I barely got the word ’sorry’ out before Ziff walked away.

    Why was he acting so mad? I had just told him Joshua was my dad.

    I watched his back as he made his way to the car, completely baffled. He was actually this irritated, even though it was just my dad. Was he too sensitive or what?

    Then again, he always got like this.

    I scrunched my nose as I watched him go. My dinner plans with my dad and mom were almost starting, and I figured I could patch things up with Ziff tomorrow.

    He was easy to calm down, anyway.

    I think.

    But as dinner went on, I realized I was restless, unable to keep my mind on anything. My dad had to ask me if there was something on my mind.

    Ziff really had a bigger hold on me than I had thought.

    This was not funny…

    ...

    When late morning rolled around the next day,

    I hurried to buy Ziff’s favorite cake to try and make up for yesterday, hoping he would not still be upset.

    But there was one problem—I could not go up to his department’s building since I was not in engineering myself.

    Thankfully, fate stepped in just in time, and I bumped into King, as usual.

    “Funny, we always seem to meet like this,” I laughed and handed him one of the cake boxes.

    “Guess you could call it fate?” he joked, waving as he headed off to his group.

    I took a deep breath to gather the courage I would need to face Ziff, then made my way to the research area, where he and his team were engrossed in their work.

    It seemed Ziff had not slept; I could see a hint of stubble shadowing his jaw.

    He had not noticed me yet. As usual, when Ziff was focused on something, he tuned out everything around him.

    “Ziff…”

    I was about to call his name but stopped short when I saw the tension on his face. He seemed more stressed than usual, and his teammates looked like they were caught in some heated debate.

    Were they arguing? I hesitated, unsure when I should approach.

    “We’re just supposed to get the project done, right? It was almost finished. So why are we still talking about that bland girl, Panya?”

    Ziff’s voice cut through, and I blinked, hearing him mention my name.

    They were talking about me, and Ziff did not sound happy about it.

    “Is that seriously how you feel?” one of his teammates asked,

    and I stayed rooted in place, waiting to hear more.

    “Yeah. Besides, I’m sure she’s got a dozen other guys lining up to take her out. We’ve got all the data we need from her, so we don’t need to bother contacting her anymore.”

    A cold wave washed over me, chilling me to the core.

    “But you like Panya, don’t you? So why would you say that...”

    “Like her? Are you kidding? You know my type. I go for attractive girls—like Susie. That frumpy, frizzy-haired girl? Even if she’s not wearing glasses anymore, I couldn’t force myself to like her. I’ve only been spending time with her to finish this research!”

    With those words, I turned and walked away, my tears falling in endless streams.

    What a fool I was. The most pathetic girl in the world.

    Even though his words cut deep, I could not deny to myself that somewhere along the way, I had fallen for that man.

    “Oh! Look who dared show up.”

    The voice of a woman greeted me. I looked up, wiping my tears.

    “...”

    It was Susie, standing there with two other girls who looked like they belonged in some high school movie—where the main bully always had her minions following close behind.

    “Listen to me. I’m talking to you!” Susie snapped, grabbing my arm as I tried to walk past her.

    I stumbled, my balance thrown off, and tumbled down a couple of steps, landing in a sitting, just as Susie and her friends gasped.

    “You like Panya, Ziff. Come on, just admit it already,”

    someone’s voice echoed down the hall, nearing this way. Ziff was probably heading here too. Not wanting him to see me in this sorry state, I tried to stand up, but I could not.

    “I told you, I don’t. At this point, even if she got hurt right in front of me, I wouldn’t care one bit. Oh, Susie, what are you doing here again...”

    Ziff walked over and stopped next to her.

    I held onto my injured ankle and forced myself to remain expressionless.

    Was what he just said... something he wanted to tell me.

    I knew he was looking at me, but I could not see his expression.

    “Don’t get in the way.”

    And with that, Ziff simply walked down the stairs and right past me...