Melvin took in a deep breath. He had enough drama in his life already, and he knew for sure that he didn't want to add this crazy person to it.
"You should go home. And please, don't leave the house without taking your medications next time," He advised her before automatically unlocking his car.
Seeing that he was about to leave, Kimberly hurriedly stood between him and his car door to stop him.
This was the first time she was meeting him at the club without a girl by his side, and she had finally made up her mind to approach him that night. She wasn't sure she would get the chance to do so again if she allowed him to leave now.
"I know I probably sound crazy, but believe me, I'm not crazy. I promise," She quickly assured him.
"Of course. No crazy person ever admits to being crazy. Please get out of my way. I need to leave," Melvin said politely.
"You always get into scandals very easily, so why are you refusing to get into one with me?" She asked with a frown.
"Okay, since you care to know. First of all, I don't do ladies that wear tennis shoes. Second of all.."
"I don't think that is a very correct English. Shouldn't it be secondly?" She asked, interrupting him with a frown.
"I don't think secondly makes any sense either. Give me a second," Kimberly added as she took out her phone and went on Google to confirm her claim.
"What are you doing?" Melvin asked in disbelief.
"I'm trying to see which is correct," She told him without looking into his face. Melvin turned to look in the direction of his friends, who were still watching them from a distance.
"I need to leave now. Let's talk..."
"I said it! It's not correct," She said with a brilliant smile as she flashed her phone in Melvin's face to show him her discovery.
"Do you always believe everything you find on Google?" Melvin asked with a scoff.
"Not always. So, back to what we were saying. I can ditch the tennis shoes for the duration of our scandal. What is the other reason you were going to give?" She asked curiously.
"Aside from the fact that I don't get involved with ladies who lack a proper dress sense, I only date celebrities."
"Yeah, that is right. That is the exact reason I want the scandal," She said with that sheepish smile again.
"I'm not sure I get what you mean," Melvin said with a confused frown.
"Don't you think doing the same thing all the time is boring? Having a scandal with an average citizen will be an even bigger scandal than all the ones you've been involved in, and then people will get curious about me, and then I'll have so many followers on my blog when they realize I'm a blogger. And voila! I become a celebrity too!" She said excitedly, gaining more confidence as she shared her plan with him.
"You are telling me to my face that you want to use me to achieve stardom?" Melvin asked in disbelief.
She managed to surprise him every time she opened her mouth to speak.
"Well, you don't have to put it like that. But yes. I want to ride on your coattails. It will be a win-win for us both," She said with a nod.
"Win-win? What do I get to win from having a scandal with you apart from sex?" Melvin asked curiously.
"SEX? What do you mean apart from SEX?" She asked with rounded eyes as she blinked at him.
"What do you mean by 'SEX?'? Don't you realize that sex is always a part of my scandals?" Melvin asked impatiently.
At least he had gotten that part right. She was as naive as he had imagined her to be.
"I didn't think..."
"Don't bother. I have no interest in having sex with you anyway. So, now that I know what you want isn't a sex scandal, what kind of scandal did you have in mind? And what do I stand to gain from it?" He asked again.
"Mel?" Ruby called as she touched his shoulder, snapping Melvin back to the present.
"Ruby," Melvin said with a sigh.
He couldn't believe he had been so lost thinking about the past that he had not noticed Ruby's presence.
"What were you thinking about? And why are you out here? I saw you walk into the club earlier. Did you forget something?" Ruby asked, choosing not to mention that she had seen him with Kimberly.
"I suddenly have a headache. I just want to go home and rest," He said, and Ruby raised a brow.
"A headache? Are you sure it has nothing to do with her?" Ruby asked knowingly, and Melvin raised a brow.
"Her, who?" He asked, and Ruby said nothing as she held his gaze, waiting for him to give in.
"You saw us! Of course, you did," Melvin said, and she shrugged.
"I saw you talking to her, and then you stormed out, and she followed. I wasn't sure what was going on," she said, and Melvin sighed.
"Did Nath and Stefan see us, too?" He asked, and she shook her head.
"No. What did she want?" Ruby asked, and he shook his head.
"I don't want to talk about it," he said, and she nodded, respecting his decision.
"Alright. I won't tell them you showed up. Be good, alright?" Ruby said, and he nodded.
"Yeah. Thanks," Melvin said as he opened his car door.
"And if you need to talk, I'm only a phone call away. Don't forget that," Ruby said, and he smiled.
"Sure. Now, go back in. I need to see you head inside before I leave," Melvin said, and she rolled her eyes.
"If I were Stefan or Nath, would you do that?" She asked, and he shook his head.
"Nope. But you're a lady, and I don't want anyone harassing you. Now go in," he said, jerking his head to the door.
"I can throw a punch as well as any of you, you know?" She asked, and he nodded.
"Yeah. But we don't want you to hurt your pretty hands. Please go in, Ruby. I'm exhausted," he said, and she sighed.
"Alright then. I will see you tomorrow," Ruby said with a wave before walking away.
Melvin waited until she disappeared from view before getting into his car.
His thoughts switched to Kimberly again, and he shook his head. He wasn't going to consider her request or think about it any more than he had done already.
He couldn't believe that three years ago, she had approached him in the guise of wanting a scandal to grow her blog, and now, three years later, in the same place, she was asking him to marry her.
Just what was her plan this time? He shook his head again and reminded himself that he wasn't interested in knowing her plan. He wasn't going to think about it.