Dedicated to

made up the next day.

They acted like nothing had happened the day before, and Emery didn't want to let me in on the reason for their argument.

I didn't want to pry since it was none of my business, but I was dying to know what happened between them. I thanked the heavens I wasn't some cat because curiosity killed the cat and my hunger for answers was on another level.

I still hadn't apologized to Caelum about my behavior and whenever I decided to speak to him about it, I was either interrupted by somebody, or I chickened out.

Melanie was turning seventeen in three days, and she was excited. Yes, I changed the subjects, sue me.

So like I said, Mel was super pumped for her birthday party, and she had already printed out the invitation cards. When did Melanie print them? I had no idea. All I knew was she came to school that morning with a large bag filled with cards. It seemed she was planning on inviting the whole school, but what did I know?

"The three of you are my bestest friends in the entire world," she said, resting her weight on the hood of Clara's car. "So, y'all don't need no invitation card to step into my partay."

"Okay." Clara eyed her warily. "Can we like go into the school or something? I'm freezing out here."

"Yeah," I agreed. "Can we not stay outside here?"

She grinned, shaking her head. "I'm turning like seventeen guys, so I give the shots here."

"Shut up Mel." Emery yawned. "I'm older than you."

Melanie sighed. "I'm still older than Daesyn," she said, "and Clara."

I groaned. "I don't think anybody here cares, can we go in before we all freeze to death?"

She stretched her arms out wide. "The smell of December is amazing."

Though December smelt thickly of fog, it was really amazing. The rain had fallen more than it had fallen at the end of November, and the angry skies and fierce winds promised snow. I hoped it wasn't going to disappoint.

Clara narrowed her eyes at her, clearly annoyed. "Do what you want Melanie," she said, gesturing towards the school building. "I'm going in. And because you made me mad this fine morning, I sure as hell won't be attending your party."

"What?" Melanie jolted up from the hood. "Let's go in, please. I'm sorry!"

Clara jutted her chin out, placing a hand on her forehead. "Too late Mel, you already broke my heart."

"I'm sorry Clara." Melanie picked her bag and chased after Clara. "I was just joking!"

Before they both disappeared into the building, Clara sent a wink over her shoulder and I realized she was only messing around.

"Daesyn?" Emery called, and I turned away from our friends. "You know I wouldn't do anything to jeopardize our friendship, right?"

"I know Em." I nodded slowly, a confused look taking over my face. "What happened?"

Shaking her head, she wrung her hands together. "I just want you to know that no matter what happens, I cherish our friendship too much."

"Tell me what's going on!"

She gave a small smile and gestured toward the school building. "Let's go in."

I narrowed my eyes at her, but when I saw she wasn't budging, I nodded and let her lead the way. What was up with Emery?

Seconds flew by, minutes passed in a blur, and classes were eventually over. I looked like a person on crack, but to hell with looking normal.

When I left the exam hall, I was surprised to see Caelum waiting outside but I assumed he was there for something else. He called my name when I was about to walk past him, so I stopped in my tracks and turned to him.

"Hi."

"Hey, Daesyn." He gave a small smile, and my heart melted. Damn, I was really fucked.

"What are you doing here?" I asked.

He motioned towards my school bag. "I wanted to talk."

I eyed him suspiciously, before removing my bag and giving it to him. "Oh."

"Yeah."

"Cool then," I said. "I'm sorry."

"What?"

"I said I'm sorry, Caelum," I repeated with a sigh, fiddling with my fingers. "It was wrong of me to pry into your life when you didn't want me to and not consider your feelings. I was just really curious because you didn't have many friends, and you were very mean, and I... I don't know, but I was selfish, and it wasn't right."

"Well, I'm sorry too," he said, chuckling and I glanced at him through my peripheral in shock. "For all those times I treated you like crap, it wasn't right. Do you forgive me?"

With a smile, I nodded and made way for a student passing. "I do. Do you?"

"Yup," he said.

Whew, that was easy.

My face flamed when he opened the door for me, and I turned the other way so he wouldn't see it.

"You look cute when you blush," Caelum said, pinching my cheeks, and I froze at the physical contact.

He awkwardly dropped his hand, and I backed away—looking like a tomato—before gesturing towards my car. "I should go."

He nodded. "We should hang out sometime?"

"Uh..." I rubbed my sweaty palms on my skirt before dragging my bag from him. "You said you were sorry the day I told you I liked you. But do you like me? Like, like me?"

His jaw dropped, and I realized how stupid my question sounded. "No need to answer that!" I squeaked. "See you later."

When I got home, I sent a text to the girls asking what they were up to.

Melanie was the first to reply—which wasn't surprising because she and her phone were like bees and honey. I blinked repeatedly when I saw the details of her text, and I knew Emery had hope.

Melanie:

u shld lyk totes com 2 my houz 2moro bc cla and em will b dere. we av 2 lyk prep for my partayyyyy. lyk daes, u av 2 com or else i wont b hapy wit u.

Daesyn:

What the fuck is that text? I'll be there tomorrow though :

Her response was a 'gud,' and I didn't bother replying to it.

Clara responded next, and her text was straight to the point. She also added a smiley face to her 'see you tomorrow,' and I did the same.

Emery took her time to respond and when she did, I grinned.

Emery:

I'm glad u n my bro said sorry 2 each oda. My daelum ship is abt 2 fly ova d horizon ;;;)))

My reply was a 'shut up Em,' and even if I didn't say it, I was glad things were eventually falling into place.

Or so I thought.

Friday came around, and it seemed like Father time played with time.

We were hanging out in Melanie's house, and hot damn... I didn't know they were loaded.

Her house was situated on top of the hills—not in the secluded area, but it stood on its own and overlooked the other non-identical houses there. Hers looked like those houses that had been passed down for generations. Large and almost intimidating.

The paintwork was all white. Brilliant and flawless. The windows were similar to the ones in the 1800s, not fashionable, but they were beyond gorgeous, I couldn't take my eyes off them. The furniture, the modern designs, the artworks, the shiny equipment, everything. They were something only a high-end interior decorator could do.

"What the fuck!" was what I had said as I took everything in.

Now, I know I said Emery's house and Wyatt's house looked like something from the front cover of a magazine, but the difference was that their houses were the ones rich people bought when they didn't want to show off too much money. I couldn't say the same for the Byrne's though. They weren't at all afraid, and they sure as hell knew how to spend their money.

"Have you guys watched secret admirer?" Melanie asked when we were lounging in her room.

"Nope," I said, still staring at the white sheepskin on the floor. It looked so soft like it hadn't been stepped on before.

"Isn't it that old movie?" Emery asked, and Clara hummed in affirmation, I think.

"Yup," Melanie said. I raised my head to look at her. "I watched it last night when I got home, and it was pretty messed up."

"How?" I asked.

"I really can't explain it," she said. Melanie didn't not know how to explain it, she just didn't want to. "But have any of you received a letter from a secret admirer before?"

Clara snorted. "I wish."

Emery giggled. "I haven't, but I know somebody who wrote those letters one time."

I stretched my arms above my head, positioning myself fully on the large king-sized bed to face the girls. "I have."

"Really?" Melanie asked, taking her eyes off her phone. "What was it like?"

"Uh... I really don't know," I rubbed my elbow and Clara snorted. "Okay, I started receiving it in the fifth grade—like twice a week, down to seventh grade, but I just suddenly stopped receiving it."

It was true. The person kept sending these really cute letters and it was really sweet, but I didn't find out the reason why the person stopped, or who the person was. As stupid as it may sound, I really did like that dude even if I didn't know him, and it broke my heart when he stopped.

"So, you didn't find out who he was?" Clara asked, and I shook my head. "Wow."

"Wow what?" Melanie quirked her brow. I couldn't help but notice how flawless her eye makeup was.

"Wow that he still didn't reveal his identity."

Emery coughed. "Enough about the secret admirer thingy, what are we doing tomorrow?"

We all turned to look at her, and I didn't miss the abrupt subject change. I shrugged and went back to staring at the sheepskin on the floor.

When I got home, the first thing I did was bring out the box of letters from under my bed. I hadn't looked at it in so long, and if Melanie hadn't brought the topic up, I was sure I wasn't going to look at it anytime soon.

The first letter I picked read;

Dear Daesyn,

Do you think we're still too young to talk about all of these? Because I don't think so.

Anyway, I wish I could just man up and tell you how much I like you. Like face-to-face. But whenever I get close to you, my heart beats faster than a person falling from a 64 storied building. Plus, we rarely ever talk which isn't surprising because I don't think you know me, but it'd be weird if I randomly come up to you and tell you I like you.

I'm gonna stick with my written letters for now.

Lots of love.

Dropping the letter back in the box, I realized that a part of my heart still liked him even if I didn't know him.

And so, I decided to reread every letter I'd received from him. In the middle of my reading, I had no idea if it was the handwriting, the words, or the approach, but something about those letters felt familiar.

The last letter was enclosed in an envelope, and in the envelope was a drawing, and on the drawing was a calling card at the bottom right corner which I never noticed before, and on it was a signature as well as the initials of a name on it, and the name was ACJ.

ACJ

I couldn't help but wonder whose name had the initials ACJ in it.

-

I feel so accomplished; writing a chapter in a day, but who cares?

So, I'm trying to speed things up, because I can't wait to mark this book complete.

I read a book on Monday/Tuesday, and my jaw dropped in disbelief when the crippled man got married to the blind girl.

I rest my case.

Don't forget to leave your votes and comments, I love reading them I swear.

lo_ove you bubs <33