Irate, and rightly so, Amber settled her arms against her hips, brows drawing together. To insinuate such a thing... she didn’t know whether to feel insulted on behalf of the sleeping young man or more for herself. Either way, her tone turned silky. “My boyfriend is not dating me because I can afford him expensive technologies.”

Amber took the last remaining steps until she stood right behind the young man, protecting him. How did it come to this with her defending a complete stranger in the campus library? She initially came to check out a couple of books and then leave as quickly as possible. Was it too much to hope for some peace while she was at it, especially before her sophomore year? After all, it would officially begin tomorrow.

“He’s quite the man,” Amber continued, emphasizing the last part. “In fact, he’s much better than the little boys around campus. He knows how to treat me right and...,” a pause for effect before blatantly lying, “... he’s red down there.”

The girls gasped, realizing Amber overheard their entire conversation and now to reveal such personal matters! Amber was apparently the shameless one when they discussed it so openly. The tinted pink and blue-haired girl turned a shade of red, which was surprising, granted her wild attitude and brightly colored hair.

As for Amber, she couldn’t care less what she revealed, especially since this guy was still sleeping. She could probably make up more stories about their so-called sex life, and he would sleep through it all. Talk about a heavy sleeper. They could sleep through everything, even a burglary alarm.

Amber was a believer now as she eyed the back of the young man’s head. Internally, she stuck out her tongue at him. Take it as payment for saving you, she figured.

Even after all of that, these girls persisted.

“Since he’s your boyfriend, does that mean he’s the rumored heir?”

“Does it matter if he’s the rumored heir or not when he’s got a girlfriend like her?”

“Of course! They’d be a power couple if that were the case!”

Amber wondered if the girls knew she could catch their conversations despite their murmurs. But then again, maybe they wanted her to hear them.

“Do you really think I’d be dating my rival?” Amber made a fist with one hand and smacked it against her other palm.

The girls’ faces paled as they heard the crack of flesh against flesh. A warning to shut up and get going, but evidently, they were as slow as they appeared because no one moved.

“Think about it. If this is the rumored heir,” Amber continued lazily, as if she had all the time in the world despite wanting to take a heel to their behind. “Do you think he’d be here sleeping in a library? I’m sure someone of that caliber has more important banquets and parties to attend to.”

“Then I guess that means you’re not that important either since you’re here with the rest of us,” once more, it was nose ring girl.

Two girls chuckled nervously while Panda girl paled at the comment.

This time a deliberate cold smile formed across her lips. “But then I never said I was all-important—did I?”

The girls stopped chuckling.

“Besides,” Amber took a couple of steps towards the girls. They took a couple of steps back. “I never said I was as important as this so-called heir. Remember? We’re rivals.”

“Does that mean you’ve never seen him?” they sound disappointed.

“I’ve never seen him.” Amber shook her head. She began marching towards them. “Who knows, maybe the rumored heir is actually a girl,” she pointed to herself, “like me!”

“No way! It’s definitely a guy!”

“It can’t be a girl!”

“Then he must be ugly or deform,” Amber stopped, inches from them now. “Otherwise, why would they go through so much trouble to hide their one and only heir? Are you guys interested?” Her face darkened. She smiled, showing teeth as she raised both her arms above her head, her fingers spread out in front of her like claws, “I hear…” she made a low, inhuman growl,”… he consumes hyenas like you for breakfast!”

The girls scattered like the hyenas they were. Mainly because they thought Amber would hit them or claw their eyes out. Nose ring nearly tripped on a chair in her race to reach the entrance first. Guess all that courage earlier was just for show.

Amber laughed softly, watching them disappear through the library door without turning around, barely containing her laugh. “Hohoho, Mr. Heir to Pro Securities, whoever and wherever you are, you better thank me one day for giving you such a bad rep. You certainly don’t want any of those hyenas coming after you!”

Amber turned around, chuckling, eyes twinkling, and... froze.

The sleeping young man was now in an upright position, rubbing his eyes and yawning, at last waking up after she had scared off everyone.

Did her shout finally wake him? Or maybe it was the rackets those hyenas made at the end as they ran off?

“What is going on here?” His voice was low and husky, still very drowsy.

Amber crossed her arm, examining him under the faint light of the library.

He didn’t look too bad. While not quite up there on the handsomeness scale yet, he was still pretty cute. Red-brown curls fell, covering half of his forehead, with the rest combed back. His profile was more square than round, with a developing jawline and concrete cheekbones still in its youth.

Yes, cute was the word because he still had a lot of growing to do, as most young men his age. They never really mature until their late twenties, even early thirties. Once fully developed, though, he would probably break more than a few hearts.

Unfortunately for Amber, she was all done growing. Fortunately, she didn’t want to be one of the many broken hearts affected.

“Go back to sleep.” She took a few steps before pausing again. “Next time you want to sleep in a public area, make sure to put away your phone. Don’t leave such important things in plain sight.”

He blinked a few times, still disoriented. The young man looked up at her from where he was sitting, and Amber’s heart skipped a beat. Just for a second because she had never seen such green eyes before, even at this distance. What would they look like up close?

A moment of silence descended between them.

“Were you planning on looking through it?” He finally ended the silence, a slow smile spreading, heating up the room faster than a wool blanket ever could. She saw the way his eyes widened in surprise before taking a second—no, third—glance at her. Those deep-color emerald eyes explored her, glowing like gemstones under the light of the moon. He wasn’t shy about it either, letting her see how his eyes wandered ever so slowly.

Down.

Down.

Down.

All the way down to the soles of her shoes before climbing back up.

Amber held her breath as his eyes lingered briefly between her legs, her breasts. She could have sworn his eyes even stayed to her hands as well, though god knows why.

It was only minutes, but it felt like a lifetime before his eyes met hers again. Before Amber could breathe again, like a fish released back into the water. And his smile broadened, almost daring her to call him out on what he just did.

Provoked because she wasn’t immune to what just happened, Amber glowered, “Actually, I was going to look, but then you woke up. Otherwise, you’d be waking up to me going through your phone.”

“Here,” the young man chuckled as he picked up his phone, where it sat on the table, and handed it to her. Daring her. “You can look through it if you have my fingerprint—or know my passcode.”

Obviously, it was her own fault for getting involved in the first place. Amber ignored the teasing sparkle that had suddenly shown up in his eyes and shook her head. Done for the night and more vexed at herself and her reaction to him, she turned away, her back to him.

She would have to come back to check out her books another time.

“You’re right. Do whatever you want next time,” Amber waved her hand in the air at him, walking away and letting him have this war. The campus was enormous; more than a thousand students would come, and they would go. He was just one of them.

With her luck, she would never see him again.

“You never gave me your name.” His voice stopped her in her tracks, the deep quiet tone stroking the atmosphere. Amber could almost feel the words against the base of her neck. It was a challenge, beckoning her to turn around and grant him his wish.

An ask, or a provocation, that Amber dismissed. She didn’t turn around because one look into those eyes of his and she would give. “You know it’s rude to ask someone else’s name before giving out your own?”

He laughed softly again, and this time Amber’s toes curled as his voice deepened, bringing to mind stormy tides and cool soft breezes. “You’re right—my mistake. The name is Hunter. Hunter Eton. Now may I have your name, please?”

The quiet chuckle and’ please’ at the end there from him affected her more than she cared to admit. Surprised that he admitted defeat without so much as an argument, Amber began walking instead, thinking. Trying to come up with something other than her name. Usually, there wouldn’t be an issue in providing a name. After all, her company name was well-known enough in the news and around the campus that he would know by tomorrow if he wanted to, but warning bells were resonating.

“My name is Goodbye. I’ll Never See You Again.” It was what she was thinking and what she believed would happen.

Amber pressed forward, never increasing or decreasing her pace, and she never looked back. Even after turning the corner, she could still feel his eyes burning a hole through her.

She was right about this one. The young man would grow into a dangerous heartbreaker, and Amber didn’t want to be around for that.