[26]

I lock eyes with the person opposite of me, my stomach sinking.

I should've thought this through more. Why didn't I just text Riku and ask which apartment exactly he lives in?

"Uh- I . . . " I try to form a proper sentence but all that leaves my mouth is a gibberish mess. My anxiety sits heavily in my throat, adding to the sudden mutism that has taken control of me.

In front of me, eyes locked with mine, stands a guy not much older than me - he was probably born only a couple of years earlier than me. His hair is a mess of white strands that are intermingled into a mop of black hair, styled in a way that reveals his forehead. What catches my eye, is the loop-formed piercing in his right eyebrow that shimmers in the dim light of the ceiling lamp above me. It adds to his somewhat edgy look.

On top of that, he's wearing a pair of dark jeans and a black hoodie with a jeans jacket on top.

I gulp visibly as his striking blue eyes travel my body up and down. He raises his eyebrow. "Who are you?" he asks, his voice a few octaves lower than I had expected.

"C-Chester," I reply with a shaky voice. I want to face palm myself all over again as soon as I process that I just told a stranger my name. A stranger whose door I had just attempted to knock on, may I add.

"And what are you doing in front of my door?" I avert my eyes, heat rising to my cheeks.

"I g-got the wrong door, sorry," I mumble under my breath before I spin on my heels and try to race down the stairs, but the hand that suddnely grabs ahold of my arm prevents me from doing so. I flinch in surprise as the cold fingers wrap tightly around my wrist, forcing me to turn back around as they pull me towards the guy.

"Aren't you the guy who ran out of here like some fucking bitch on steroids last week?" His words cause me to freeze, the room suddenly becoming a lot smaller. "Yes. Yes, you are, right? You stormed out of that psycho's apartment," he adds, spitting out the word 'psycho' as if it was poison.

I lower my gaze to his chest, all the confidence that was left getting soaked out of me with every second that passes by.

"Look at me," he orders. Refusing to listen to him out of fear, I settle my eyes on the guy's necklace. It's hanging loosely around his neck, its key-formed pendant dangling around as his chest heaves up and down.

All of a sudden, I feel his fingers grip onto my chin, forcing me to look at him. "I said, look at me." Hesitantly, I meet his gaze. But I instantly regret it as his eyes pierce into mine sharply.

"W-What are you doing?" I squeak as he pushes me against the wall.

"How do you know the psycho?" he whispers next to my ear, his hot breath sending an unpleasant shiver up my spine.

Riku's touch feels so much better than his.

"S-School." Tears unwillingly well up in my eyes despite my attempts to swallow them down, gaining the guy's attention almost immediately. His grip on my wrist tightens when one of the tears escapes my eye and rolls down my cheek with an excruciatingly slow pace, clinging onto my jaw for a few moments until it finally drops down onto the ground.

"Stop crying," he snaps, almost irritatedly.

I try my best to push the stinging in my eyes away, but it's already too late. More tears start running down my face, agitating him further.

However, before he can even attempt to say anything, the creaking of a door echoes through the building. My breath gets stuck in my throat.

Seconds later, a familiar figure comes strolling down the steps, making me let go of the breath. As soon as he spots us, he comes to an abrupt halt, his movements stilling.

Riku.

I try to wiggle myself out of the other's grip, wanting to get to Riku, but the stranger only tightens his grip further and pulls my back into his chest. "So, this cutie really is your little bitch, huh?" I feel his breath on my neck, spreading goosebumps on my body.

Riku's eyes darken and his jaw clenches, his agitation seeping through. I watch him walk down the stairs with graceful, almost scary, strides, his hands curled into fists. The second he reaches us he grabs my arm and rips me away from the other guy, pulling me behind him.

"Don't fucking touch him," Riku all but growls out with a dark voice.

The stranger just rolls his eyes and clicks his tongue, seemingly angering Riku even further as his grip on me tightens. "Fuck you," he hisses and sends the guy one last glare before he practically drags me up the stairs.

As soon as we are standing in front of another door, a few stories higher, Riku turns around and pulls me into a hug. His arms snake around my waist as I entangle mine behind his neck, giving in to his touch and leaning into it. His grip on me is almost possessive, his head in the crook of my neck, inhaling my scent.

A soft gasp escapes my mouth when I feel his lips come into contact with my skin.

"Why does it make me so fucking mad whenever they touch you?" he mumbles, his hot breath fanning my neck.

"I don't know," I reply in a whisper. I can hear his heart beating at a rapid pace, but I don't know if it's from the anger or if it's because of the same reason why mine is thundering inside of my chest.

"Don't move," he husks into my neck when I attempt to untangle my arms from him, stilling my movements. "Just stay like this." He pulls me even closer to him, his warmth embracing me, his scent invading my nostrils, and nuzzles his head into the area between my head and my shoulder.

We stay like this for a while, until he eventually lets go of me and meets my gaze. The rage in his eyes is gone, replaced with the familiar emptiness and a hint of something undecipherable, which - I noticed - appears to be dancing around in his brown orbs every time he hugs me.

"Who is he?" I question, glancing at the stairs.

"He's lived here since before I moved in. Just ignore him, he's an asshole." I hum in response and turn my attention back to Riku.

Just then, when my eyes lock with his once again, a thunder roars through the sky, followed by a lightning bolt that illuminates the dim-lit staircase for a friction of a second, before the hallway grows dark again. Flinching in surprise at the sudden vibration of the floor and the eardrum-shattering noise, my eyes never leave Riku's.

"Let's go in," he then says, inviting me into his home as he opens the door we are standing in front of with a key that I didn't notice before. The door emits a small squeak as he pushes it and ushers me inside.

Instantly, my eyes wander around the familiar hallway, the exact same one I had been standing in a week ago, hoping to find a way out of here. This time though, the storm that keeps me caged in here doesn't scare me, the idea of having to stay over at a stranger's house by far less terrifying now that Riku isn't that much of a stranger anymore.

"You hungry?" he asks, breaking the silence that had - unbeknownst to me - embraced the room.

"Not really," I murmur softly, the words leaving a bitter taste in my mouth.

I was asked that so many times already, and every time I had to say yes, just so nobody would become suspicious. But with Riku, I don't feel the need to do it - to hide it. I feel like I don't have to fear that he'll shove food down my throat or judge me for not feeling the need to eat anymore after getting starved for the entirety of my life.

"Okay," he simply replies. No questions asked, no judgements said, no food forced down my throat. Just a simple 'okay'. The thought of it paints the tiniest of smiles on my lips, which immediately grabs Riku's attention. "Why are you smiling?"

I shrug, the smile fading.

For a moment, we just stand there, enveloped by an awkward silence, gazing into each other's eyes while I'm biting my lip nervously. But then, Riku speaks up, "Want to watch a movie?" He scratches the back of his neck, studying my face for any kind of reaction.

"Yeah," I reply with a soft expression, the tension that had my body stiff slowly easing away.

He gestures to a door, telling me where to go and I comply, walking into the room that had taken my breath away the first time I entered it. I glance at the couch, this time empty. The sun is sneaking in through the window from that perfect angle again, making images of Riku's peaceful face pop up in my mind.

"Sit," he says as he lets himself fall onto the couch, its feathers squeaking in protest under his weight.

Trying to push away the image, I set my backpack down and take a seat next to him, the feathers not even caring about my-lightweight-self. Riku grabs the remote that is residing right next to my thigh, brushing his fingers against the fabric of my sweatpants, and turns the TV on without another word.

"What do you wanna watch?" he inquires, his eyes locked to the screen.

"I don't know. You choose." He lets out a small hum before he starts scrolling through all the movies that Netflix has to offer.

After a while, he stops on some random movie, his expression showing his annoyance of not finding anything interesting, though it's just the small frown between his eyebrows. He starts the movie and leans back into the couch, unfortunately ending up in a position in which the sun is able to do its magic again, illuminating and highlighting every right feature on his face.

I gulp when I notice that I can't take my eyes off him, that they're too focused on trailing over every inch of his face. The light stubble that has grown out around his dry lips, which have a small crack in the center of them; the slight crook to his nose that seems to have become more prominent since last week; the sparkle in his eyes that the sun is at fault for - it all sends my heart into overdrive, hammering against my ribs to a point where breathing becomes difficult.

"You're staring again," Riku states, not even averting his eyes from the screen.

Immediately, I turn my head away, heat rising to my face. How does he even do it? And why does it make my heart skip when he does?

All of a sudden, he wraps his arm around my waist and pulls me into his body, my hands shooting up to his chest to prevent my head from crashing into it. A pathetic squeal escapes me, almost sounding like the one that had had been the cause of my bullying in third grade when that paperplane hit me.

Thereupon, my cheeks instantly turn bright red, embarrassment blooming in the pit of my stomach as old memories come crawling back into my mind. But before they can get through to me, they're chased away by Riku's hand that suddenly grabs ahold of my chin, capturing my full attention.

"Don't ever make that sound again, you hear me?" A shiver runs up my spine at the deep husk in his voice, causing my mind to come clear of all thoughts, the only thing on my mind being the look in his brown eyes.

They are dark, the sparkle of the sun overpowered by an undecipherable expression. They bore into mine with an intensity that leaves a weird sensation in my stomach.

"Don't ever," he pauses, his gaze travelling down my face as my heart picks up its pace, "...make that sound again." When his eyes arrive on my lips, I let my own wander down to his ones as well.

It feels like time freezes when he slams his lips into mine, hundreds of tingles erupting in the area where our lips are connected with one another. His arm pulls me closer to him and through my palm that is resting on his chest I feel his heart beating at the same rapid pace as mine.

At first, it's a slow and soft kiss like the ones we had shared at the beginning of the week, but then, unbeknownst to us both, it turns into something more passionate - something more intimate.

The rain is pattering down on the window, a few thunders ripping through the air once in a while, and the sounds of the TV are growing quieter, becoming an unimportant background noise, as our kiss deepens.

When Riku tries to pull me closer once again, I follow the urge in my stomach, my senses confused and my mind a dazed mess, throwing one of my legs over both of his I end up sitting down atop of him.

"Chester," Riku manages to get out in-between our kiss, heaving for air.

But, despite the plea in his voice, he makes no attempt to stop this, whatever it is, and instead places both of his hands on my waist. And before I know it, his lips are on mine again, his teeth nibbling slightly on my lower lip.

I cup his face with my hands as I lean deeper into the kiss, our noses crashing into each other with every tilt of our heads.

We shouldn't be doing this. I shouldn't even be here, let alone kiss him back. Then, why is pulling back so impossible? It shouldn't be, should it? It should be easy, I shouldn't be attached to him.

But it isn't. But I am.

His hands travel under my hoodie, a whirlwind of emotions raging through my stomach. This time though, I make no attempt to stop him as they come into contact with my skin, the hair on the back of my neck standing up.

We shouldn't, but we are. I shouldn't be here, but I am.

I shouldn't like him . . .

But I do.

Hey there.

Welp, the sexual tension exploded in this chapter.

Was it too fast?

I don't care, lmao.

Anyway, I know I'm a bish for stopping here, but I didn't want the chapter to be too long, so yeah.

Also, I don't know if all of you read the 'prologue-chapter', or rather the 'caution-paragrah' in it, so for all of you who didn't:

There won't be smut in this book. Only scenes like that one up there.

Sorry, not sorry, but I really don't do smut and I'm not a fan of it, so yeah, lol.

Stay safe! Love ya guys!

❤

P.s: Thank you for reading this crap that I produce <3

- L I S A