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"Are you sure you don't want me to drive you?"


Gabriella turned around, looking at the man in the plain black V-Neck shirt in front of her. One eyebrow raised, as the woman finally chose to lean in. "Don't you see that I'm driving my own car or pretend you don't?"

Ken chuckled. He shoved his hands into his pants pockets, then shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly. "There's such a thing as formality in this world."

"I don't understand what you're saying."


Gabriella's blunt attitude, which was very different from most women, impressed the man. Since the beginning of their meeting, Gabriella always had a plus point that made her stand out when compared to other women.

"Yeah... I'm just worried that you still feel like jumping off the Mall," Ken said carefully. His eyebrows knitted together, then slowly, he continued, "Maybe you want to take a walk with me first. Wherever, it's up to you."


"No, thank you. I'm busy," Gabriella replied briefly.

Before Ken could respond to Gabriella's words, the woman had already opened the car door behind her and entered without a signal, as if Ken was not there. Ken furrowed his brow as Gabriella rolled down the window after being in the vehicle for a while.

"What's wrong, the car broke down?"

Gabriella sighed in annoyance, before finally getting out and girdling her loins. "I don't know, let me check first."

Leading the way, Gabriella walked in front of Ken. While the man followed with a curious look on his face. The car that Gabriella managed to buy on credit was not as good as the salesman had promised. This was the woman's fifth year using the car and it was evident that there had been some problems.

The woman lifted the hood without waiting for Ken, and looked around the interior of the vehicle. "Duh, I don't understand cars anymore."

"Let me check," Ken said with initiative.

The man then checked the engine of the car and inspected it one by one from the outside. Looking at the appearance, smell and possibilities, Ken finally came to a conclusion,

"I think it's the car battery that needs to be replaced."

Gabriella's brow furrowed. "Should we call a repair shop now?"

"No, tomorrow is fine too. Just leave the car here, and I'll call the garage to tow your car."

"So what should I take back? An online taxi?"

"How about coming home with me?" Ken offered without preamble. He closed the hood deftly, then patted his palms to make them clean again. The man's small eyes now looked at Gabriella. "It's getting late too. Aren't you afraid to take an online taxi alone?"

Suddenly the woman wrinkled her nose, giving an expression of disgust that Ken could immediately catch. Ken rolled his eyes lazily as Gabriella finally revealed the ultimate words that were always on the tip of her tongue. "I'm more afraid of you than the grab brothers!"

"Don't you know what time it is? Twelve o'clock at night, man! Plus, it's a Sunday night. There are a lot of motorcycle gangs hanging out on the street. We don't know if the online taxi driver you took is one of them or not."

Hearing Ken's reassuring tone made Gabriella falter a little. The confidence that previously stood firmly, now seemed to be swayed by the wind. There was doubt, but at the same time the woman felt absolute at the offer made by the man in front of her.

"I'll take you to the front of the house. How about it?"

"But I don't have a house," said Gabriella.

"Huh?" Ken eyed her. "How do you have a car but no home?"

"I'm a boarder."

"Alright, I'll take you to your boarding house now." Ken held back his annoyance at being played by Gabriella.

But it wasn't easy for Gabriella to leave her car just like that, especially if she had to give him a lot of trust in the only vehicle she had.

The problem was, the car had only been paid for last month.

"I promise to take you straight back."

"Who would have suspected that you would kidnap me first?"

Ken smiled broadly like a toothpaste commercial to show his annoyance at Gabriella. "Look, Gabriella, you didn't say anything just now, but your expression, your face, your comuk, your comuk, it's as if you're judging me to kidnap you before you actually get to the boarding house."

"Don't you think so?"

"Yeah, no!" said Ken quickly.

The woman shrugged her shoulders for a moment, then threw the car keys in her hand to Ken. The suddenness of the move made Ken reflexively lower himself to catch the keys that Gabriella had thrown. He held his breath, only after successfully catching the key, could he exhale monoxide with relief there.

"You're in charge of my car. Okay?"

"Okay." Ken nodded his understanding. "Let's go, we'll be too late. My car is over there."

"I already know."

"Dih, are you secretly watching me?"

Gabriella glared sarcastically at Ken. "You're the one with the fancy car here. You're the boss here, so what!"

"I'm surprised you're getting angry," Ken protested as he walked to his car. He took the car keys out of his pants pocket and started the car. "Sit in the front, so I'm not like the driver."

"Yes, nag."

Without waiting for another order, Gabriella immediately got into the car and sat in the front seat as requested by Ken. Gabriella drew in the vanilla scent coming from the man's air freshener before finally saying, "Your car freshener smells really good."

"Yeah, you do." Ken closed his car door and chuckled. "You must be using a cheap scent, right? The one that makes your head swim when the car is running?"

"Dih, you're really like a mom," said Gabriella, not to be outdone. Over time, the two of them had become like tom and jerry who kept arguing without being able to make up. "I'm just talking because you offered me a ride."

Ken chuckled, before finally bringing his face forward, to Gabriella who was now frozen in shock at Ken's sudden behavior. The woman's eyes widened, she looked shocked. Especially when a masculine-scented fragrance touched her sense of smell. Ken's eyes were now fixed directly on Gabriella's gray eyes. They locked eyes and made the woman's heart race very fast.

The man gave a short snort, then smiled a little, "First rule if you want to ride in my car, you must wear a seat belt."

CRACK!

Ken pulled the seat belt and tightened it, before the man slowly backed away.

"If you don't wear a seat belt and something happens, I guarantee I won't take any responsibility for you."

Damn, how could Ken relax like that after making my heart almost fall out of place!

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