Chapter 1: Crazy Man

“Belinda, you are not married yet. Do you want to be single for the rest of your life?”

The family event should have been enveloped in a warm atmosphere, Belinda felt her body stiffen at the taunting words that had been uttered so many times. It was sickening to be adopted by a well-established, but demanding family. Since she did not like her family much, she preferred to live in her own style. 

But how long would it take to be teased like this? All her cousins were married and had children, while she herself had never even dated, how could she get married? 

Belinda clenched her hands into fists as she gripped the glass tightly. “Why does my family love to see their children get married!”

“I want to set you up with a well-established and handsome guy but you still don't want to. What do you really want, Belinda?” her stepfather snapped, raising Belinda's blood pressure even higher. 

Belinda folded her arms across her chest. “Whether the guy is handsome or ugly, I don't care! I'm still in college, how could I get married at this age!”

“You ungrateful child! It's a good thing we adopted you in the first place! Otherwise, you'd starve to death in the middle of the road!”

Belinda chuckled in annoyance. “Why do you want me to get married instead of doing well and making you proud?”

“Are you one hundred percent sure you can make me proud, huh? Last semester you failed to get a scholarship. Even though you promised.”

“But that's because-”

“I don't care whether you get a scholarship or not. I just want you to get out of this family!” The father gripped the glass tightly as if he wanted to throw it at his stepdaughter. “If you're still stubborn, I'll set you up with an old man!”

*****

Belinda was in a bad mood after fighting with her stepfather all night. As a result, she wanted to vent her anger to someone to relieve her heart a little. Especially if there was someone who made her angry this early in the morning, she was determined not to forgive that person who made her mood worse. 

Today was the first day of class. Belinda is a 5th semester student who is known as one of the smartest students in the class, despite failing to win a scholarship. Besides being known as one of the smartest children, she is also the most diligent student who always comes to campus the earliest. Actually, it was because she didn't want to stay in her foster family's house that made her breath always short. 

Because she usually arrived on campus when there were not many cars passing by, Belinda casually walked in the middle of the campus parking lot while listening to songs using earbuds, deliberately turning on K-pop songs while spinning around to entertain her heart. 

“Do you think it's good to live with an old man? I don't want my husband to be a sugar daddy! I'd rather not get married!” she grumbled while dancing around. 

Tin...tin... 

Who would have thought that a black SUV would also enter the parking lot at such an early hour. The driver kept honking, but the girl was too engrossed in the song to realize that she was blocking the road.

Tin...tin... 

Again the driver honked, this time louder than before. Belinda, who still didn't know what was going on, was still dancing around and grumbling to herself while playing with her cell phone. 

“Hey!”

Still not realizing there was someone shouting. Belinda was still indifferent as she walked towards the campus lobby. Just as she was about to take a step towards the main door of the campus lobby, someone tapped her on her right shoulder. She was forced to turn off her iPod as she lazily turned her body backwards. 

At first Belinda thought that the person who tapped her shoulder was her best friend, but instead a handsome young man made her body freeze in place and her eyeballs rounded. This handsome young man managed to make her heart blossom when she was down, especially the appearance of this young man wearing a shirt with sleeves rolled up and having a muscular body. She kept praising him in her heart and thought of him as a prince on a white horse. 

On the one hand, this young man also looked surprised at this girl until his eyes bulged. Staring at this girl's appearance, although casual, made his body freeze. 

“Who are you?” asked Belinda in a nervous tone while removing the earbuds. She was also nervous standing in front of a handsome man. 

The young man rounded his eyes, extending an index finger pointing at himself. “You don't recognize me?”

Belinda looked at this handsome young man from head to toe with narrowed eyes. “You seem to be my senior.”

Hearing this girl's answer, this young man's blood tension immediately overflowed. The answer he heard was far different from his expectations, making him want to take revenge on this girl until he was satisfied. He laughed lightly while girdling his waist. “You are so insolent. I've been honked at so many times, but you still don't want to move!”

Belinda rolled her eyes as she folded her arms across her chest. “If you want to nag me, you can talk nicely.”

“Look at the road with your eyes, don't plug your ears! You study at an elite university, but your ethics are not elite!”

If the argument continued, Belinda really couldn't control her anger that had carried over from last night. Stomping her foot irritably, she left the young man behind. 

“Where are you going?!” the young man screeched, making Belinda turn around spontaneously. 

“Going to class! You freak!” Belinda walked quickly into the campus building. 

Seeing that this girl's behavior irritated him even more, the young man clenched his fists and gave her a smirking look. “Watch out if we meet again!”

On Belinda's side, she continued to curse as she gave her head a quick glance and pressed the elevator button. “God forbid if I have a husband like that.”

*****

Before starting class, Belinda told her best friend Yena what she had experienced all night until she had a fight with a young man in the parking lot. Hearing her best friend's story during the parking lot scene, Yena disagreed with her best friend's attitude and advised her that if the young man was a lecturer, then her best friend would not be forgiven. 

As the clock struck 8am, the classroom door opened wide. A young man entered the classroom carrying a laptop bag, a textbook as thick as a dictionary, and a class attendance book. 

All the students cheered loudly to welcome the arrival of the lecturer, including Yena who was so surprised that her mouth opened wide while patting Belinda's shoulder. 

At first Belinda still looked gloomy, now she was also shocked until she almost coughed. It wasn't until the first meeting that they had been insolent.  

“I'm ready.”

The young man revealed a charming smile in front of the class. All the female students' eyes lit up looking at him, not Belinda who was a little nervous seeing that smile. 

“Before we start class, I'd like to introduce myself first. I am Brandon Jonathan, who will be teaching you in the management strategy course. While I'm just starting to teach on this campus now, I hope you'll take the class well.” 

Belinda felt her legs start to cramp. For some reason, the gentle tone of voice gave her goosebumps. Because there had been so many lecturers who looked gentle, but were actually killer lecturer. 

“Oh yes, before that, I want to tell you the class rules first. Actually the rules are simple. Because I like disciplined and exemplary students, you are not allowed to come late. One minute late, your grade will be deducted 1 point. So your grade will be deducted per minute.”

At first all the students were gazing at this handsome lecturer, but now they looked away and were busy reading books, even though they were actually playing on their cell phones to gossip in the group chat. Especially Belinda who was scared to hear it because it was the first time there was such a strange rule, although she would not break it. 

Brandon opened the class attendance book. “Belinda Felicia.”

Belinda spontaneously raised her hand quickly. “That’s me.”

Recalling the scene earlier in the campus parking lot, Brandon revealed a sardonic smile while looking at Belinda with focus. “So your name is Belinda.”

Belinda swallowed saliva nervously while trying to stop her legs from trembling even more. “Yes, sir.” 

Brandon closed the attendance book for a moment while looking at his watch. “During break time, meet me in the lecturer's room.”