บท 4: CHAPTER 4

CHAPTER 4

"Sure." Aurora's instant reply. She moved a bit closer to the glass wall to make space for him. "How about your group?" She looked at his friends that were standing up.

"They're about to leave. They want to know you. Would you mind if I introduced you to them?" He sat down beside her, and his cologne was prevailing over the smell of food. Which, surprisingly, she didn't mind at all. It's not aggressive to the nose, just enough for her senses to be allured.

She shook her head. "Is it okay to refuse? I really don't feel like mingling with a lot of people right now." Exhaustion was clear in her voice. And she was stifling a yawn.

"Signorino, if she's like that, she's tired enough. She drove by her own car to get here. And she hasn't had time to rest yet because she came to get me at the train station. And from there, we drove here directly." Ade filled in the details for him.

His friends were about to approach their way, but Max raised his hand for them to stop, and he shook his head. "La prossima volta. Lei e `stanca." 'Next time. She's tired.' He said, and his friends just nodded at them then.

Aurora glanced at them with an apologetic smile. When she withdrew her gaze, she heard one of the girls comment something about her.

"Akala mo naman kung sino." 'Who does she think she is?' There was a scoff in the girl's tone. They were exiting the shop.

It seemed like her tiredness vanished. She also noticed that the other two on the table went still. Aurora smiled, and she was about to look back to the group, but Max scooted closer to her and put an arm at the back of her seat. It seemed like he was putting an arm around her. While Ade called her 'signorina' so that she wouldn't look at them again.

She turned to Max. Their faces were close, and he was staring at her. "Don't." She didn't know if he was pleading or warning her. Her nose caught a whiff of his scent again, but that wasn't enough to make her forget what she heard.

She gave him a sweet smile. "I would really like to meet them next time. I'll take the first step. I'll make it up to them. Don't worry." And she picked up her orange juice to take a sip. It was just then she looked in Ade's direction.

Even if Aurora didn't see who said those, she already had the idea. There was only one girl who had Filipino features, and she wasn't wrong. Did the girl think that she wouldn't understand her? She may not have the idea of who she is. And it was obvious that Max did not say anything about her when he got back to his group earlier. Should she be happy that the girl thought she didn't understand? But there was that upsetting feeling deep inside her that Max did not bother to mention her, that she's not important, or worse not someone he knows that's even worth mentioning. Her mind was overreacting. She wanted to give herself an eyeroll.

She leaned back to the seat, and it really looked like Max had his arm around her because she could feel his arm on her. She looked outside and saw that the group was walking towards their car. She thought of something silly that made her smile.

She acted like she was about to stand up. "Let's go. Maybe I can catch up to—"

"—Signorina!" Ade exclaimed at her.

She was not able to stand up though because Max held her forearm, which made her sit back. And his arm was truly around her now. Securing her on the spot. His grip wasn't that tight, but it was enough to stop her from moving. "Aurora."

She never thought that hearing her name from him with his growling tone would sound so sexy in her ears. Their faces were closer this time, and those forest green eyes of his were making him lost in the wild. His thick and long eyelashes were like dark clouds on top of the greenery. She's lost in that forest with the storm approaching. That's not good.

She can feel the warmth of his hand, or she was just feeling hot in herself. She let out a giggle from the reaction of the two. And to herself that she can't understand why she suddenly became too conscious of the guy's actions and his effects on her.

"Relax you two." She turned to Ade. "You know me. I was just kidding." And she looked at Max. He hasn't let her go yet. She pushed herself closer to him and looked back directly into his eyes as she put her hand on top of his. She felt how big his hands were in her touch. His long and powerful limbs. There she is again. She wanted to pull her hair because of the strange feelings when she held his hand. "I'm too educated for that kind of trouble. We are too educated for that. So, please, would you take off your hands from me?" She moved her lips close to his ears. "They would think that we were flirting with each other." She inhaled his scent, and it clouded her mind. "I don't mind though." She breathlessly uttered. She felt him went still. Aurora moved her face away from him and gave him a smirk.

He instantly let go of her, as if he was burned by touching her. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to—"

"--It's okay. I get it. You don't know me that well even if our parents were best friends. She chuckled at his character change when he was being dominant just a second ago. Then now, he's like a deer caught in a headlight. How cute. "Let's go? We still need to settle everything." She said to the two.

Max glanced outside and was relieved when he didn't see his friend's car anymore. Aurora followed his gaze and looked at him again. She rolled her eyes at him and shook her head. She folded her arms as she playfully said. "Com'on, Maximus. Don't you trust yourself that you can restrain me if I attack them? What were those muscles for if I was stronger than you? Hmm?" She raised a brow at him.

That made the man chuckled and she felt his tense body had loosened. She doesn't want to look at him but she was all ears when he laughed. She was looking down at her phone while savoring the sound of his laughter. It was like her irritation towards the girl vanished.

She raised her eyes to look at Ade in front of her. And she caught her staring at her with wide eyes. She groaned internally because she knew she won't stop teasing her then when they were finally alone later.

Her eyes caught the bill pad at the corner of the table. She wanted to slap herself when she almost forgot to pay. She unconsciously glanced the man beside her. The cause of her distraction. Then she turned her attention at the thing on hand. She opened the bill pad.

"Cameriere!" 'Waiter!' Max called the waiter and he grabbed the bill pad from her palm. "Let me pay." He put some bills and closed the pad.

Aurora did not fight for it. "Thank you." She said in a shy small voice that she never thought she could hear it from herself.

"It's nothing." He shook his head with the reply and the waiter approached their table. He handed the bill pad to him. "Tenga il resto." 'Keep the change.'

"Grazie, signor." 'Thank you, sir.' The waiter nodded and smiled at them before leaving.

Ade grabbed the take-out they ordered. Max stood up first so Aurora can get out of their seats. Ade followed them.

Aurora told Max their dorm address when they were exiting the restaurant and he nodded. They separated ways to get into their cars.

When Aurora was close to her vehicle, she gave the car keys to Ade. "You drive. I'm a bit sleepy. It's almost the same with my last car."

Ade instantly snatch the keys from her hand. "Sure, signorina. Let me take care of it." She exclaimed excitedly. Of course she was thrilled. She got to experience driving a Rolls Royce car and let her signorina had some rest at the same time.

Both get in the car and after settling their seatbelts, Ade typed on the monitor the address Aurora said and they drove away.