Blair shook her head. "No, because I did just the opposite. I was always taking the initiative and was never inactive. I was often impulsive and eager to give and was never able to play cool. So, he didn't fall in love with me."
The smile on Joslyn's face faded. She patted Blair's shoulder and comforted her, "Remember, your nickname is Bless. Good fortune will always follow you. Don't be frustrated."
Blair wasn't going to give up yet. "I need to change my strategy. I'll keep a distance from him. He is so used to me following him around. If I stay away from him for some time, he might feel a void in his life."
"You go, girl! Do you need my help with anything?"
Blair put her arm around Joslyn's shoulders and said, "I can handle it. You just focus on locking down my cousin." Joslyn chuckled.
They walked into the canteen. The cool air from the air-conditioners blew on their skin, cooling them off a bit. But since the place was so crowded, the air-conditioners weren't very helpful.
At a large table not far from them, several military instructors, in their camouflage uniforms, were having their meals. They were very conspicuous among the students. Blair saw them as soon as she and Joslyn walked into the canteen. She also spotted Wesley, who was about to have his lunch.
He was sitting opposite a few other military instructors. Talbot, who was next to him, noticed Blair and Joslyn walk in.
"Hey! Look! Isn't that Blair and her friend?"
The others turned their heads to look, except Wesley. He remained indifferent as usual.
"Talbot, how do you know her name?" one of the military instructors joked.
Talbot bragged in a low voice, "Smooth, huh? I just found out that she is a top student here and is pretty famous in the university."
Lenard Niu leaned towards the table and cut in, "Does she have a boyfriend? If she doesn't, why don't you fix us up?"
Wesley, who was eating, paused for a second without looking up. Then, he continued eating without saying anything.
Bowman, Talbot's younger brother, slapped Lenard Niu's hand and retorted, "What are you thinking? If I'm going to fix her up with somebody, it would be my brother. He doesn't have a girlfriend either."
When Blair looked towards the group, Talbot waved at her cheerfully.
She smiled at him and went to line up to buy their food.
Joslyn bought three drumsticks and put all of them onto Blair's tray. "Oh, my! Why did you buy so many drumsticks?" Blair asked, looking at her filled tray.
"For you, silly. You need nourishment."
"I don't—"
"Don't argue with me. Look how lean you are. You are my responsibility till you find yourself a boyfriend."
"Okay, okay. As you wish, my lady." After filling up their plates with everything they needed, the two girls turned to look for a table, with their lunch trays in hands.
Before they could find one, Talbot ran to them and took Blair's tray. "Blair, Joslyn, there are two vacant seats at our table. Why don't you two join us?" he asked, pointing to their table.
Blair looked over there and saw Bowman and Lenard Niu shifting seats to make place for them.
Neither of the two girls knew what to say. They looked at each other, trying to figure out what to do.
In the end, under the other students' envious gazes, they followed Talbot to their table. Talbot put Blair's tray next to his, opposite Lenard Niu's. Joslyn's seat was next to Blair's and opposite Bowman's.
After Talbot sat beside Wesley, Blair sat next to him and said hello to the rest of the group.
She and Joslyn hadn't expected Talbot to be so warm to them. He had a pretty smile.
Lenard Niu noticed that Blair didn't greet Wesley. To impress the girls, he started to introduce Wesley to them. "Blair, Joslyn, this is Wesley Li, the military instructor who trained you for the five-kilometer run the other day. He is our chief officer. Although he is around our age, he is much more successful than us, and his position is a few ranks higher than ours." Seeing that Wesley was still eating silently with his head lowered, Lenard Niu called him in a hushed voice, "Chief, there are two beauties here."
Wesley cast him a sideways look and continued eating.
Lenard Niu didn't mind. He knew his superior very well. He was always cold.
Blair and Joslyn exchanged looks. Then an idea popped up in Blair's head when her eyes landed on the drumsticks. She picked one up and gave it to Talbot. "Thank you for saving me last time in the library. Here, have a drumstick."
Talbot and Bowman had not only ambushed the kidnapper, saving her life that day in the library, but had also taken her to the infirmary afterwards.
So, Blair gave the brothers each a drumstick with a thankful smile.
Lenard Niu envied the two of them.
Bowman stole a glance at Wesley and then told Blair, "Our chief had directed that operation. He kicked the thug's ass."
Blair was aware of that, but since the man had been ignoring her, she didn't want to give Wesley the last drumstick. The rest of the group were waiting for her response. She bit into the last drumstick and said, "Oh, I already ate the last one. I'll thank Officer Li properly some other day."
The others were confused. They sensed that something was off between them, but they didn't know what it was yet.
They resumed eating. Instructing the freshmen wasn't a big deal, so they ate at a leisurely pace.
During the meal, Blair felt thirsty. "Excuse me," she said to the others.
"Where are you going?" Joslyn asked.
"To get some soup."
The guys at the table wanted to help, but Blair left the table quickly, without even giving them the chance to offer their help.
After a short while, she returned carrying a tray with the hot soup on it. Since Wesley's seat was nearest to the place where the soup was being served, Blair had to pass him on her way back to the table.
Just when she was walking by him, a boy, who was fighting playfully with his friend, accidentally stepped on a banana peel and fell towards Blair.
"Shit!" the boy cried as he collapsed onto her.
"Aah!" Blair screamed as the hot soup spilled all over her bare arm.
The bowl and the tray thudded onto the floor.
The loud noise attracted everyone's attention.
Someone had grabbed her arm in time. She looked back and saw that it was Wesley.
If it weren't for him, the entire bowl of soup would have spilled all over the upper part of her body. And probably all over her face too. Thanks to Wesley, only one third of the hot soup spilled onto her arm.