"I'm sorry I got you into this mess." I said embarassingly. It felt really uncomfortable since the room was so small, we were barely a few inches away from each other. I could catch her scent, a vague mix of flowers and fruit. 

"I should be the one apologizing, I agreed to this in the first place." she replied with a tone of regret. 

The room had a wisp of the smell of men's cologne - expensive cologne like something from a Beckham brand. The clothes on display were full on designer custom made varieties of attire, from tailored suits to casual flannels and jeans which I guessed cost no less from everything else. 

"I knew Jeno was rich, but I had no idea he was this rich." I mumbled. 

Riley chuckled, "What else do you not know, Mark Lee?" she looked around. "How much more time do we have left?" 

"No idea, they took my phone..." I groaned. "I hope we'll get back in time, I'm so sorry I got you into this Riley."

She stood so near to me, "Hey, what are friends for?" she joked. Then we grew silent, the quiet was bothersome to me - I knew it bothered her too. She sighed, "To kill time, why don't we ask each other questions? Deep rhetorical questions to rebut philosophy."

I grinned, "Why not? Me first - what did you actually think of me when we first met? 'Cause I know what you said earlier were total lies."

"No it wasn't!" she protested. "I was being honest. I really did think you were a nice, polite and considerate guy."

"And the thing after that?" I quickly asked. "About me being, you know, boyfriend material?"

"Well...they all agreed with me. But enough about you, it's my turn," she didn't answer my question, not really. "What did you think me when we first met?"

I thought you were like a starlight symphony, I had the urge to say that to her. But I didn't. 

"You seemed like a nice person," I blurted. "A total nerd, which you still are after getting to know you. And I couldn't help but notice our height difference and how much of a study freak you are-"

"Oh really?" she kept on punching me playfully at my chest. 

I tried moving away, then I realized there was not much space to move away to. "Next question and this is a big one, have you ever dated before?"

She laughed softly at that one, "The answer is no and even if I did - I don't think they were even serious to begin with. Why are you so curious to know?"

I shrugged, "I just wanted to know."

"My turn, have you ever dated before?" she raised an eyebrow.

"No, that's a definite one," I answered cooly. "And why are you so curious to know, Andrews?"

She shrugged, "Just felt like knowing. Okay, your turn."

I nodded, "My question is, do you like being my friend?" I didn't look at her and looked straight at the pair of Timberland boots on display. 

She frowned, "Of course I like being your friend."

"I haven't finished," I said. "So if that's the case, do you want us to...stay friends?" 

She blinked, "What do you mean?"

I was too anxious to look at her, "Riley, you know what I mean." I hoped she did.

There was a long silence, and I almost believed I really had messed up the whole situation. Then she answered. 

"Do you want us to stay friends, Mark?" she whispered, her eyes wouldn't meet mine. "If not, what are we?"

"Do you really want to know what I think, Riley? Because to me, this's just like a never ending game of chess with none of us wanting to make the next move. Maybe I'm just rambling nonsense. Just - just forget what I said. Your turn now." 

She didn't say anything. 

"Riley," I said quietly. "Ask. Me. A. Question."

"Tell me again," she answered with her head held high now, her eyes staring right into mine. "Tell me again what you think about me."

I couldn't hold it in, I had to tell her. 

"The moment I saw you in Miss Bennet's English class, I thought you were different," I said to her. "The way you spoke about Harry Potter like it was some sacred message - I wasn't imagining that glimmer in your eyes. I like that. I like that whenever you need to talk about something, you say it with so much passion and energy even though it won't mean much to others - you still carry on doing it."

"I like that you don't mind being around me, for a mess that I am. Everyone has their own history, even me - and you have no idea what a whirlwind of a past I've had, and it still is with you in it; But the thought of you in this whirlwind doesn't sound so bad." I pursed my lips. "I'm beating around the bush, so listen here and you won't hear me say it often." She looked at me like I was holding up the universe. "I am in love with you."

Her lips quivered, "Mark,"

"And you are not going to deny me my right to say things true to heart, Riley Andrews. Your existence granted me an epiphany in which I realized you were already part of my life, and I'd start missing you if I did't see you sooner. Even with just a whisper, to me it sounds like lullabies that could sing people into salvation. You are a starlight symphony - Riley - and I don't want it to stop, not ever. I made it sound so complicated when it's just a simple sentence, because I am complicated - I am in love you, and I don't want to keep pretending like I don't."

I didn't realize her hand was still fixated on my chest, above the place where she had been playfully punching. Shaking, I held it. 

"Riley..."

And we were kissing.

I didn't know who leaned in first, or how the stereo in the closet started playing music that seemed to be perfectly on cue - but we were kissing and that was all that mattered. This was my first time and I was terrified of doing anything wrong. She had her hand on my chest so she could feel the rapid thumping of my heartbeat, and while kissing her I could taste a hint of strawberries too. 

It seemed short, since the door opened just when it should not have. I had my arms around her waist, and hers hung around my neck. In the condition we were in, Rebecca and everyone else outside had caught us in the moment. Oh crap.

"I knew it!" Rebecca declared. "I knew they would give in sooner or later! I think this calls for a celebration on the new couple!" and she glided away for another drink. 

My face turned red as we came out. Jeno chuckled, "I'm happy things turned out fine, and seems like you two are a thing now?" he smirked crookedly whilst giving back my phone. 

I snatched it back and looked at the time. "Dammit, it's almost eleven." and I took Riley by the hand as we left the lounge.

"See you on Monday!" I heard someone say from behind.

So much for having a climatic moment, and to get it spoiled seconds later. I tried avoiding the speed limit, but we were almost running late. Both of us didn't know what to say to each other at first, was this how first kisses were? We would keep to ourselves thereafter?

"Hey make sure there's no alcohol smell on you." I reminded her.

She rolled her eyes in response, "Now you're worrying? If that's the case, why did you break the rules in the first place?"

By the time she asked that question, we had reached the front of her house. I sat in the driver's seat as I looked at her, "Because a wise person once told me, that breaking some rules didn't matter if the outcome matters more than following them. I'm starting to think that it's right." 

I opened the car door for her and I knew her parents were already looking from behind their curtains. I checked my watch, "What do you know - we're early five minutes." I eyed the house. "You better get back inside, I don't want them to misunderstand."

She raised an eyebrow, "What's to misunderstand?" she held my right hand. Was she really doing this?

"Er, they might not like it - that we're, you know..."

She gazed into my eyes, "Know what, Mark Lee?" and she kissed me again. I had to double check to make sure she was really doing this, in front of her house with her parents watching from inside. I couldn't help myself and was drowning in her world, I kissed her back before chuckling.

"Who are you and what have you done to Riley Andrews?" I murmured. 

She caressed my face, "Remember when you said we were like a game of chess - checkmate." and she broke away from me after planting another kiss on my cheek. She didn't seem to care anymore. 

"Say hi to your parents for me, if they aren't thinking about murdering me yet." 

She grinned, "See you on Monday?"

My heart was pounding, "Y-yeah, Monday."

I didn't expect the news to spread to the whole student body. 

Donghyuck and I had just arrived, we were walking in the hallway and people just started looking at us - or more specifically me. Donghyuck was oddly quiet recently too, his words had limited to give short answers when it was necessary for him to reply. I understood Aunt Tiffany when she said he was having hs teenage angst phase, but this was going too far. 

"What's up with everyone?" I frowned. 

He snorted as he crossed his arms, "How about you ask yourself, Mark Lee?" he said it as he checked his phone. 

He knew something. "Donghyuck, seriously I have no idea."

He showed me his phone, "How do you explain this?" It a picture of me and Riley, on the night at the party - in the closet, kissing. The caption wrote 'School's cutest couple' with heart-eyed emojis. Oh no.

"Godammit Rebecca..." I muttered. I scrolled throught the comments, which thankfully were nothing harmful. The first class of the day was English, that made me excited all over again. Donghyuck and I were at our lockers, and I was taking out my books when someone came and hugged me from behind. 

"Hey," I said the moment I saw Riley's face. She was already holding her English books. "What are you doing here?"

"Well since we have English together, I thought maybe I should go with you." she said.

"Sounds great," I heard Donghyuck clear his throat, I was completely unaware he was still looking at us. "Oh, er Riley - this is my stepbrother Donghyuck. Donghyuck, Riley."

She smiled, "Hi Donghyuck."

He didn't return that smile, he only looked uninterested. "Pleasure." he replied flatly. "I suppose you're Mark's girlfriend, since the whole school knows by now after Rebecca Dunce spread the word online. Now if you'll excuse me, I have classes to attend alone." and with that, he his heel and left.

His attitude was really getting on my nerve, we needed to talk about it. Riley only looked surprised, and maybe a little confused. 

I laughed nervously, "Don't mind him, he's just having a mood right now. You know how angsty teenagers can get, right?"

"Aren't you a teenager, Mark Lee?" she questioned, she seemed unfazed by it. I grinned and kissed her on the cheek. 

"Come on, or do you want to run late?"

"Mark, can we have a moment?" Miss Bennet said to me after class. She usually never makes people stay behind, so this was a first for me. Soon the class was empty with the two of us left.

"Yeah, sure Miss Bennet." I answered. 

"Good, please have a seat." and she took something from her drawer. It was a poem, the poem I wrote for Riley. "Your work is very versatile, Mark. From nothing you can create one whole poem about Harry Potter - a wonderful poem at that. You have natural talent in writing."

I frowned, "But that's not my poem, Miss Bennet. That's Riley's."

She made a face at me, "You don't have to lie, Riley told me everything. She handed in her own work - which is far from being as good as what you wrote. She knew what was the right thing to do. For the last year I taught you, you've never failed to impress me again and again. I can know when someone is gifted for writing, words are complicated things and rarely do people understand them. You'll be really good if you pursue it, Mark."

I felt honoured to be complimented by her, and this was the first time anyone had ever praised me for something I liked - and Miss Bennet seemed genuine. She took out a leaflet from her bag and showed it to me. "There's this writing program at UVA, and I'm close with one of the professors there. I was thinking maybe you're interested in taking part?"

This seemed like the next big thing to me, this was the next thing for me. For once I was being handed chances to be good at something, something that I actually liked besides music. The process of how I started liking poetry was actually because of Donghyuck. 

After the events of his obsession over Catcher in the Rye that almost killed him, I had started to develop a desire to know more about why he wanted to do what he did. Without him knowing since I didn't want to trigger him, I bought Catcher in the Rye and started reading it when he wasn't around. After that, I started being interested in other works - more towards poetry books like A Lightbulb Symphony by Phil Kaye and Milk and Honey by Rupi Kaur. I was fascinated by the way of how words could convey feelings, and the fact was that everyone knew the importance of metaphors but no one was really sure why they were important. 

"Thank you for believing in me, Miss Bennet. I'm honoured." I answered. 

"So I believe that's a yes?" she clasped her hands together. "Wonderful! I'll inform the board immediately that you're participating. Keep the leaflet, you can do more research into their pre-college courses online."

"I will, thanks again Miss." I said before leaving the classroom.

This was really happening, I couldn't believe it.