Haylee blinked her eyes multiple times as if she couldn't believe what she just heard. Did he just say that he would buy her a house? 'This guy seems like having some split personalities. He wasn't like this when he was at school,' she thought.
Niel dragged her out of the luxurious clothes boutique and then he stopped. He was scanning her again from top to bottom, then to top again.
"Right! You need some magic here," he said while pointing his finger to her face.
He then dragged her to a beauty salon just three stores away from the clothes boutique just now. As usual, he entered the salon without hesitation and pulled Haylee inside too.
"Corry, help me with this one," He said casually to one of the men inside the salon. Apparently, this 'Corry' was the manager of the beauty salon.
"Mr Anderson, how rare! Who is this?" Corry asked with his face full of surprise.
"This is Baby Girl. I just came up with her cute name just now." Niel answered playfully.
"It's Haylee Johnson," Haylee said softly instead, trying to introduce her real name.
"Okay then, Baby Girl. Let see..."
This time, Corry was the one scanning her from top to bottom. 'What is it with them? Why are they calling me Baby Girl?' Haylee felt annoyed by the sudden nickname.
"Did you got drenched by the rain just now? Is that why your hair is wet, Baby Girl?" Corry asked her seriously like it was such a big deal.
Haylee just nodded. Then she saw Corry gasped in disbelief and putting his hand on his mouth, such an exaggerated reaction.
"Oh my, Baby Girl! You need to wash your hair or else you going to get a fever. Assistant! Assistant! Come here! Help me with Baby Girl here. Or else someone's going to get fired again by Mr Anderson." Corry screamed in panic.
Within seconds, a few female workers came rushing to Haylee and escorted her to the washbasin. Corry himself washed Haylee's hair and the female workers were doing some facial treatment on her face.
"Did Niel owns this shop too?" Haylee asked Corry who was focused on washing her hair.
"Yup! That's so funny. Why did you ask something so obvious?" Corry chuckled as he answered her.
But seeing that Haylee kept silent, he couldn't help but wonder.
"You don't know?" Corry asked Haylee in surprise. Haylee shook her head lightly.
"Oh my, Baby Girl. I'm sorry. Mr Anderson must have not told you yet," Corry was somewhat worried and he reduced the volume of his voice.
"Tell me what? What is it? Tell me," Haylee whispered to Corry wanting to know what it was Corry trying to hide from her.
Corry leaned closer to her and then he whispered to her ear, "Mr Anderson owns fifty percent shares of this mall. Half of the stores in this mall belonged to him."
"What?!!" Haylee was so shocked that she jumped out of her seat. Her hair was still wet and full of bubbles as Corry was still in the process of washing it. Her face was covered with volcanic mud facial. She looked like a monster.
Niel quickly ran towards them, feeling nervous by her sudden scream.
"What happens?" He asked out of worry.
Instead of feeling scared by her monstrous look, Niel cupped Haylee's cheeks and examined her face to find if there was something wrong with her. He didn't even care that his hands got dirty by the mud facial.
"What is it, Baby Girl? Did you get hurt?" He asked worriedly.
Haylee blinked her eyes multiple times, feeling disbelief. First, she couldn't believe that Niel was that rich, he was just a teenager, seventeen years old boy. Second, she couldn't believe that Niel was pampering her right now with his money. Third, she couldn't believe that he's touching her face again. Today was indeed the weirdest day of her life.
"Relax, Mr Anderson. Baby Girl here just got shocked because I told her that I will be giving her the most expensive grooming service that we have," Corry covered the real reason why Haylee got shocked.
Niel looked relief and he quickly released Haylee's face. He then noticed the mud facial that spread on his palms.
"Eww... what is this?" Niel put his hands to the washbasin and Corry helped him rinsed his hands. Then he went to the front area of the salon again, sitting on the sofa for waiting customers, took out his phone and spaced himself out again.
Corry and his assistants were somewhat speechless by Niel's sudden action and all of them looked as if they wanted to laugh. But they all held it in, not wanting Niel to hear it or else someone's going to lose a job.
Haylee on the other hand was still baffled by the whole situation. She laid down and relax again on her seat, allowing Corry and his assistants to groom her.
After finished washing her hair and done with her facial treatment, Corry blow-dried her hair and styled it by giving a few curls on the side of her head. Her hair was perfect already so he thought that she didn't need much of styling help.
Then, he called one of his female assistants to do some makeup for her.
"Honey, what makeup do you usually wear?" Corry asked Haylee casually.
Haylee was just silent, not knowing how to answer because she never wore makeup before. She couldn't afford to waste money on makeup because she and her mother were tight on money.
Seeing her wasn't answering, Corry asked her again.
"Do you mean to say that you never wore makeup before?"
Haylee nodded. Corry was somewhat surprised again.
"Then, Mr Anderson must have really like you," he muttered slowly.
Although, Haylee was indeed pretty enough with her fair and flawless skin, but his boss wasn't really the type of person that would go out with women who weren't grooming. So, he figured that his boss must have really cherished this one particular girl.
"Then, I'll just give you a natural look. Not too much makeup," Corry suggested and Haylee just nodded in agreement.
"Did Niel always bring other girls here too?" Haylee asked in wonder.
Corry shook his head immediately, without hesitation.
"You're the first." He said.
'That's strange,' Haylee muttered in her heart.
Before leaving the salon, Corry packed a lot of cosmetics, skincare and beauty products for Haylee. Haylee refused them, but Corry insisted for her to take them, afraid that Niel might get angry if she left empty-handed. She had no choice but to accept them instead.
After Haylee was done cleaning herself up, Niel finally brought her up to the top floor again. It felt truly uncanny when he saw her smiling, laughing and even making some jokes to him while they were inside the elevator. He felt horrible inside because he remembered what happened to her last night. The fact that she forgot all about it was clear proof that her mental health was deteriorating.They entered the penthouse again and Niel's eyes swiftly went to look at the living room. The television was gone and the mess there had been cleaned up. The food was also had been served on the dining table."Where's the TV?" Haylee asked. She was weird that the television was gone. She tried to recall what happened last night but her head felt hurt instantly. She cried out in pain while holding her head with both arms."What's wrong?" Niel grabbed her body from falling. The woman looked like she was about to faint."Aspirin..." she said and Niel helped her to sit at the dining table first befo
Upon seeing her leaving the open kitchen and entering the bedroom, Niel rushed to the elevator and went up to his penthouse again. He took his spare key card of the condo unit and went down again. He just left his laptop on the floor in front of the condo. It only took him less than five minutes to return and he quickly went into the house.The first thing he did was go to the open kitchen and grabbed all the knives and cutleries. He put them inside a black plastic bag and hid them inside a bin. Then he carried the bin and put it into a cupboard inside another bedroom. He threw a bunch of towels and a blanket inside the cupboard to hide the bin even more.Then he came out to the living room and slowly went to the bedroom that Haylee entered before. He carefully twisted the knob to check if the door was locked. It was and he just stood there thinking about what he should do next. There was not a single sound from inside and that made his heart race. He didn't know if she was okay or hu
Seeing her become speechless, Niel smirked and just walked towards his bedroom again. She was so frustrated that she grabbed an empty wine bottle and threw it toward the television in the living room. The cracking sound of the screen made Niel panic and he ran back to the living room to check on her. He saw her grab another few wine bottles and try to throw them on the television again, just like before. She was acting like a lunatic and so he quickly hugged her body from behind, locking both her arms from moving to stop her violence. "You don't know shit! You don't know what it's like to be me! You don't know shit about me! I'm fucking tired of you! I fucking hated you! I fucking hated living with you!" She shouted frantically while struggling to free herself from him. Niel grabbed her body firm and even tighter, slowly had his eyes reddened and his cheeks felt hot. He didn't know why he was so angry at her yet felt hurt at the same time while looking at her losing her sanity. Hayle
Ashley gasped in disbelief at her words. She stared at Niel and saw the change in his expression. He looked absolutely grim. But Haylee simply looked relaxed as if she was not even in trouble.'So, what would happen if Haylee fails the subject?' Niel thought. Surely, one thing led to another. She would probably deliberately fail the other subjects too so she would need to repeat the first semester. If that happens, she would be moved to a new batch of students next semester and she won't be in the same class with him anymore for the next five semesters. And if somehow Haylee refuses to repeat the first semester and quit Kingston, she could appeal to get into Hudson University for July intake. She was being clever to him. She knew how to threaten him now too. In short, Niel could not afford to kick her out of the group and make her fail the subject, or else he would be the one at loss here. Slowly he released her arm and let her go reluctantly."Exactly," Haylee said arrogantly and wal
Haylee could feel her cheeks turn hot due to the embarrassment. The hall turned silent for split seconds with a lot of eyes staring at her. Niel boldly beckoned her to come to him. Haylee slowly walked down the stair pathway to go to the front. But then she noticed the mad looks Ashley and Linda gave her. She stopped unconsciously, reevaluating her choice whether she should go to Niel or not. It was obvious he wanted her in. In fact, it was not just Ashley and Linda who were looking at her hatefully right now. Haylee noticed that some other students were looking at her disdainfully too, probably those who had asked Niel to take them into his group before but got rejected."Why are you just standing there? Come here," Niel rebuked her gently, beckoning her to come to him again."Niel, how about if we just take Linda? Haylee didn't seem like she wanted to be in our group," Ashley suggested bravely."Why are you deciding for her?" Niel rebuked her coldly, totally a different treatment co
"Do you really think that I won't have a spare key card?" He ridiculed her and took out another key card from his pocket.She scoffed at him instantly. 'I knew it. He would never let me have my own privacy,' she muttered inwardly and just put the key card inside her backpack."That's not fair. I thought it was supposed to be my own place," she said deliberately to show her dissatisfaction."How is that not fair? You had access to my penthouse as well," Niel replied with a chuckle."Is this mean that I'll be living alone for real now? Can Martha live with me?" Haylee asked. Deep down inside, she was anticipating for that to happen for real. "No. I never said that. You're going to still be living with me, in my penthouse, our house. That condo unit was just for emergency. We're going to be studying here for three years. I'm sure at some point your friends or my friends would want to visit our place. So we need a split residence for that. Aren't you the one who didn't want people to kno