Chapter 1

“WHAT the—” Ronald dropped his phone on the floor when a rushing woman suddenly bumped to him. He looked at her and was welcomed by her glare. “Excuse me?”

“Watch your steps!” The woman shouted angrily at him as if it was his fault that she bumped with him.

Ronald’s brows furrowed. What the fuck? “Excuse me, Miss. It was you who bumped to me,” he said, annoyed. “I was talking on the phone, can’t you see? You’re like a car driving in the wrong lane.”

The woman’s brows furrowed. “Excuse me—”

Ronald turned his back at the woman and walked away. He was having a bad day, and he doesn’t want to worsen it because of a careless woman.

“And, the bastard didn’t even bother to apologize? Such a jerk!”

Ronald heard the woman shouted from his back, but he didn’t care. He put the phone back in his ear.

“Who’s that, Ron?” his sister asked from the other line.

“Nothing,” he answered and glanced back to the department store, but the woman wasn’t there anymore.

“Nothing? But I heard a woman shouted at you,” she said and laughed. “So, have you seen the café that Mom told you?”

Ronald raked his fingers through his tousled hair. “I can’t find it, Trish. I looked everywhere. I even asked the mall’s connoisseur, and they said that there’s no such café here. Are you sure it’s inside the mall?”

Trisha took moments to answer. Ronald has a feeling that she wasn’t sure too. “Mom told me the café was in Intramuros. So, I thought that maybe it’s in the nearest mall. Hey, Ronald, can you search it on the internet instead?”

Ronald heaved a sigh. “Okay, I’ll get back to you later.” As soon as he lowered his cell phone, he typed the coffee shop’s name on the search bar. His brows furrowed instantly when he saw the results. “Inside the Intramuros?”

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“THAT guy is such a jerk,” Raquel muttered as she walked back to the bakeshop. “He even snarled at me, my gosh!”

She was in the middle of the road to her café when a royal blue pickup truck stopped and noisily honked its horns. Because of shock, Raquel dropped all the shopping bags that she was carrying.

“Shocks!” She hissed and glared at the black. “Hey! You stupid driver, are you going to kill me?!”

A few seconds later, the driver’s door opened, and a familiar man got off the car. A line appeared between Raquel’s brows when she recognized the man coming out from the vehicle.

“Oh, it’s the jerk again,” she muttered and remembered the commotion a while ago.

“It’s you again?” The man spat the words in a low voice while shaking his head.

Raquel bit her lower lip as she tried her best to hold her temper. This man was testing her patience. She can’t be mad; She doesn’t want to see her doctor again. But, fuck, this is a different case…

As the man walked closer, Raquel studied him from head to toe. He looks like a doctor—or a scientist who just went out to get an organism for his experiment. But, hell, he’s a little attractive with that undisciplined jet-black hair—

“Hey!” The man snapped his fingers in front of her face. “Are you just gonna stand there?”

Raquel blinked twice, and the stars surrounding the man disappeared. “You are trying to kill me, aren’t you? Or, maybe you are following me? Are you a serial killer?” she said frustratingly. This man was getting on her nerves.

To her surprise, the bastard just frowned and threw her a questioning look. “Are you out of your mind, Miss?” he asked.

Raquel caught her forehead, shut her eyes, and took a deep breath. When she opened her eyes again, she glared at the man. “What did you say?”

He looked straight into her eyes as if confirming something. “Are you under the influence?”

Her mouth fell opened. She can’t believe that an arrogant and stupid man like him existed. “Bastard,” she snarled. “Maybe it was your intention to hit me!”

“Wait for a second, as far I can remember, it was you who crossed the road without watching your steps again,” he said sarcastically.

“And, how about you? You’re driving fast in a residential area as if the road is yours!” Raquel was fuming mad. “And, why are you looking at me like that?”

“You don’t know me…?” he asked, surprisingly calm.

Raquel arched a brow. “Why should I know you? Are you a celebrity? A politician?” she sarcastically asked.

But, the man didn’t buy it. The line between his thick brows and the annoying expression on his face was back again. “Can you go out of the way now?”

Raquel shook her head. She was really pissed off. “I can’t believe there are people like you,” she muttered as she picked up all her shopping bags scattered on the road.

When she’s almost done, the man turned his back, got in his car, and drove away. Raquel was left standing beside the street and wondering. She took deep breaths to calm herself.

“It will pass…” she told herself. “Don’t mind that bullshit, bastard, jerk, ugly scientist—” She caught her head. “Darn! I should have twisted his neck!”

***