171: WHO IS THIS RICH GIRL?

WHO IS THIS RICH GIRL?

I truly believe that every single person has to go through something that absolutely destroys them so they can figure out who they really are.

-TheMind&Journal-

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They arrived at the entrance gate of the University after twenty minutes driving. They were neither early, nor late. The time was just right.

Their black sports car drew people's attention, making them glance even for the third time when they saw it. The car was the rarest type from the brand, suggesting that the owner must be someone out of the ordinary.

Some of the girls out there even flocked together, wondering who the person was inside to own such a car. They were waiting for the person to come out of the car. If it was a guy, he would surely be popular, especially among the girls. But if it was a girl, the same thing would happen to her too, but of course it would likely be followed with a slight addition of inconvenience, which was the jealousy from other girls.

"Don't you want to come out?" Torak looked at Raine, and tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear. "Or, do you want us to stop right in front of the lobby?" 

"No. No." Raine waved her hands frantically. She was wearing a dark purple sweater, jeans, and a pair of sneakers. Nothing was special with the way she dressed. But, if she came out of the car now, she would instantly, and unnecessarily be the center of these people's attention.

And being the center of people's attention, wasn't in the list of her first exam day. Above all, it wasn't part of her plan of the day, "Can you instead, drive the car a little far? Over there?" Raine pointed at the corner of the street.

"That's too far my love…" Torak frowned. "You'll be late."

"No, I won't be. Of course I won't be late." Raine retorted. "There's still twenty minutes left before the exam." She checked on her expensive watch that Torak bought her. She didn't want to know how much it cost him, because she would end up not using it. 

[Alpha, I think she feels uncomfortable with the attention.] Calleb mind-linked Torak, but the Alpha growled in replied. 

"Alright, Calleb will drop us there, but then I will walk you to get here." Torak said calmly, without showing any slightest hint in his voice that suggested the fact that he just scolded the Gamma through the mind-link. 

Of course Torak knew that Raine was uncomfortable with all the attention. But he wanted those people to know that his mate wasn't someone ordinary. He needed to make them see, so that they wouldn't mistreat her in the future. 

Torak's statement surprised Raine even further. It was not only her, Calleb also needed to turn his body to see Torak's seriousness. He wouldn't seriously do that, right?—the Gamma thought.

It was fine to appear in the business news. But, if he was insisting about walking Raine on the street, going to the University's entrance exam, then he would indeed be on the headline. Not on the business section, but on the gossip section instead. And for sure, he would appear there, and remained there as the hottest topic for days.

"Oh, please…" Raine turned her expression into a pitiful one. "You know better than anyone else, I don't like this…" She hugged his neck and whined. 

[Let's make a bet.] Calleb mind-linked Raphael beside him. [I'm going to give up my one month salary for you, if Raine ends up successfully making the Alpha yield.]

Before Raphael could even answer the Gamma's ridiculous bet, Torak opened his mouth, and said, "Drive somewhere with less people." He said.

"Got it." Calleb said happily. [You owe me your one month salary!] He mind linked Raphael.

However, as an answer, Raphael slapped the back of his head again. "Stop that!" He growled.

The people outside who were looking at the car, and waiting for someone to get out from inside, were slightly disappointed when the car drove away.

"Probably they got to the wrong place." A girl said to her friend.

"Yeah, I think so…" Her friend replied.

"There's no way someone that wealthy would stop at the entrance gate, instead of going inside to stop at the lobby." The other girls commented.

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Calleb stopped the car at a less crowded corner on the street, under a maple tree. 

"Okay, I'll go now…" Raine took her backpack, and gave Torak a brief kiss on his cheek. She waved goodbye to both Raphael, and Calleb before she got out from the car.

"I will ask someone to pick you up." Torak reminded her again.

"Alright." Raine replied cheerfully, and closed the door.

Inside the car, Calleb was about to drive the car away because they had a meeting to attend, but then Torak decided to stop him.

"Wait until she enters the gates." Torak rested his back against his seat, watching Raine who was walking slowly towards the entrance.

If he could, he would have kept Raine by his side, and he would never let her walk alone like this while disappearing from his sight. 

Torak was worried, thinking if ever something unexpected happened to her during the period of time when he wasn't around her. Learning from his experience, Raine would always be caught on something problematic whenever he wasn't around. 

However, no matter how strong his desire to protect her, Torak couldn't possibly be forcing his own will on her. That would be an abuse, and it absolutely would hurt her. Meaning that it would hurt him too in the process.

Torak had been treating Raine like a fragile flower petal all this time. And she was now fluttering so brightly, and gently in his hand. He didn't want to crush her with his petty worries.

If this was what Raine wanted, there was no reason for him to go against it. He would only need to take another measurement for her safety. 

"You have arranged everything, right?" Torak asked Raphael. This was the fourth time that he asked the exact same question. He had been asking his Beta about this since earlier in the morning. 

"Yes, Torak. I have." Raphael said patiently. "Everything is going to be fine." And he reassured him again. He knew his Alpha was getting nervous with the thought that he would part with Raine.

After all, Raine had never left his sight for the past three months. And it was only because she had to enter her college life now, it was inevitable. He had no other choice, so he must accept the parting condition. 

Torak stared at his little angel who disappeared into the crowd of people after she entered the gates.

"What time is the meeting going to start, before the representative from the de Medicci family comes?" Torak glanced at his watch, it was 07.30 a.m.

"Ten o'clock, and the de Medici family will come after lunch." Raphael replied.

"Rearrange the morning meeting, and make it earlier." Torak said, and closed his eyes. "I'm going to pick her up myself."

Although earlier Torak said that he would ask someone to pick her up from the university, in the end he felt disturbingly restless that he decided to come.

[I knew it! As expected! I knew this would happen.] Calleb mind-linked Raphael.

[Just shut up, and drive!] Raphael shut him up, and continued with his work. 

Getting things done, especially for an almost collapsed business plan, was beyond tiring. Cleaning up the aftermath made Raphael's hands full with so much paperwork to do, even more than any other things that were in the Beta's agenda. The business must stay running just because the Alpha needed an excuse to stay in this place, no matter how much money they had lost.

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Raine looked around her, and at the same time, she was enchanted by the university building. The atmosphere was so different there. Even the air that she breathed didn't feel the same.

She would have never thought that she would be able to enroll in a college. Back when Raine was in the orphanage, she always had one plan in her head which is to work. She always thought that she would do that immediately right after she came of age, and graduated from high school. Never had the word 'college' ever crossed her mind. 

But now here she was, taking an entrance exam, together with the other people. Not only that, she was completely feeling blessed of being in her proper clothes, and new backpack today. Raine couldn't express it into words, of how excited she was right now. She felt like she wanted to grin from time to time, but that wouldn't do her good. Because people would see her with weird stares.

Speaking of weird, one thing was also kind of weird. Ever since Raine was together with Torak, she tended to see less supernatural creatures around her. Not one, let alone the hostile one.

She once asked Calleb about this. And he said that it was because she was always with Torak, making his intense, distinguished scent attached all over her. His smell on her was distinctly strong that it could repel whatever creatures with lower rank around her. With that smell alone being on her, there would be no creatures in their right mind to try to mess with her. At least based on Calleb's explanation.

Although after hearing Calleb's explanation, she was still confused because of how complex this new concept was for her to understand entirely. But then again, she liked the part about Torak's scent that attached on her could protect her.

Even so, whenever Raine sniffed her hands, hair, and shoulders, she didn't think that she smelled like Torak. Because she smelled like pine wood. Shrugging her shoulder, and stopped thinking about it. Then she walked lightly towards the lobby.

She took out her exam identity, and started to look for her class. The place was so huge, and there were a few long corridors. Raine was thinking about asking someone, in case she got lost and couldn't make it to her exam room in time. But then, suddenly someone snatched the paper from her hand.

"It's over here." He said boringly. 

Raine gasped. She caught the man's face right in time before he turned around, and led the way for her. She knew him. No, actually they had met once. And that wasn't something pleasant for her to remember.

"Why are you still standing there?" The man realized that Raine remained where she stood, instead of following him. He turned around to face her. "Don't you want to take the exam?"

Raine looked around, and was thankful that there were many people around her.At least with being in a crowded place like this, he wouldn't do anything atrocious in front of so many people.2

"Ah! I forgot, you are mute." He slapped his forehead regretfully. "Come here, hurry! The exam will start in five minutes." He waved his hand toward Raine, but she still refused to come closer.

The man was a dragon shifter. The first time Raine met him was when Torak brought her along to their manor. But the question was; what was he doing here?

Raine felt uncomfortable with the situation. She kept the distance between them, as she was standing three steps away from him.

"Hey, I won't bite, come here." Stephan said agitatedly. And when he looked back at Raine, he realized that the girl didn't even move an inch. Only then, he took the initiative to approach her.

This gesture made Raine startled, and backed away. She didn't like being too close to him.

"Oh, please!" He sighed ruefully. "I'm here because I was ordered by your mate!" He hissed under his breath, so that other people around them that started to glance twice at them, couldn't catch his words clearly. 

Raine frowned because Torak didn't say anything about this. If Stephan was there because of Torak's order, he would tell her beforehand, right?

"You have a phone, make a call to him!" Stephan was at the edge of losing his patience. He told her to make a call to confirm his statement. "I know. He said that I should only look after you secretly. But honestly, I don't see if anything would go wrong by approaching you directly." He mumbled to himself, as he waited for Raine to make the phone call.

Actually it was Calleb who delivered him the order. Because at that time, Torak had something else to do, and couldn't meet him in person. Thus Stephan didn't take it as seriously as if it was Torak himself who told him. 

That was why, when he found Raine was looking for her room to take the exam, he couldn't help to approach her. Ever since the first time he saw her, he found himself attracted to her. Her innocent face, and timid nature were what drew him to her.

However, the girl in front of him didn't make any movement. She stared at Stephan with creased eyebrows. And out of frustration, Stephan was about to snap at her. But then suddenly, Raine started to walk towards him, slowly and warily. Her eyes were alert, when she took back the identity paper from Stephan's hand. She looked at him, waiting.

Confusion appeared in Stephan's expression. He frowned in an unnecessary puzzlement, before the understanding fell down on him. Raine was waiting for him to show her the way. 

He came back to his senses, "Over here." He walked ahead, and this time Raine followed.

Raine didn't see any reason for Stephan to attack her with dozens of people around. Didn't supernatural creatures have their own rules about not revealing their existence in front of humans? Especially after whatever Torak had done to him, and his brother. That time when they left the manor, Raine could hear a roar that was full of agony. 

She would ask about this later once she got back home, and met Torak. 

While Raine, and Stephan were having a one side argument, with Stephan who had done all the monologue because Raine didn't speak at all since the beginning, some girls around them noticed what was going on between her, and Stephan. 

The two looked outstanding among the crowd. Stephan was a good looking man, who would draw attention from the opposite sex. Meanwhile, they only noticed Raine's backpack, as they didn't have any interest in Raine's face. The backpack that she was carrying, turned out to be a limited item from a famous brand.

Who is this girl?

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