A smile played on my lips as I sneaked a glance at Myungsoo.

"You're beautiful."

No one had ever said those words to me before. But what endeared me even more to him were the words that followed right after. Words that flowed into easy conversation and instead of creating a predictably awkward atmosphere, made the night air a little more comfortable to breathe in. 

The party was dying down, but Myungsoo and I were already in our own world. While he walked me to the hostel, we shared stories of each other's families. I was a little taken aback upon finding out that Myungsoo was of royal lineage. He seemed unfazed about it and was far more interested about my boring days in school. 

"So you shifted here... when?" he asked. 

I tucked my hands inside my pockets and sighed. "A year ago. Mama wanted me to get the best 'higher secondary education'." I rolled my eyes. "Easy for her to say. Being eligible for the full scholarship almost made me go bald."

I played with my short hair, making Myungsoo smile a bit. I looked towards him and smiled. 

"I'm not a fan of cliches but... belonging to royal blood.... sure has it's perks. Right?"

Myungsoo gazed at me for a while. His lips parted and closed. Finally, he said, "Not really."

                                                                            ***********************************************************************

How could I tell her what I was feeling?

How could I tell her that back home, there was a girl waiting for me to officially ask her for her hand? A girl I had never met?

How could I, as crazy as it sounded to myself, tell Amber that within two hours, I had fallen in love with her?

There were no violins playing around me. Nor was there the expected trembling of the heart, butterflies in the stomach. All I felt was something so natural, so inherent, that it made my being with her even more enchanting.

Breathe. With Amber, I could breathe. Breathing seemed easier. Breathing seemed precious. Suddenly, life seemed worth it. 

Amber waited for me to speak. I hesitated. "Not really." 

"There's more to it than golden wallpapers and silk canopies," I continued, smirking a bit. Amber nodded with a grin, acknowledging my humour. "There's a whole lot of pressure. As a kid, I was always told how 'they' would say something, how 'they' would not like it. I always wondered, why should I care about 'them'? But time passed and... I still don't understand."

I shook my head and let out a chuckle that sounded more snarky than nonchalant. Amber was looking at me with pursed lips, her eyes a little somber. She looked past my shoulder and sighed. I turned around, my thoughts caving in. We had reached. I turned back to face Amber and that's when I realized.

When Amber looked back at me, I knew from the bottom of my heart that she too had felt something. Chances were it was the same as what I was contemplating over. Both of us were so sure of ourselves, of each other. From the peripheral view of my mind, all my worries seemed light years away. She was smart, funny, down-to-earth, kind, had an infectious smile and eyes that spoke. She was everything I had never dreamed of. That was it. She was everything I had never expected of life and now that she was here, I wondered why I hadn't. 

"Best of luck," she blurted out. She bit her lips and started shifting her gaze from here to there. 

"What?" Her words had jerked me back into... no, not reality. She was reality. Our moment here together was reality. She had brought me back into something else altogether, a world I had believed was reality. A world belonging to 'them'. 

"Tomorrow...." she murmured. "The race." She smiled a little widely and lightly punched my arm. "I know you'll win."

I blinked. She laughed at my expression, then suddenly, took hold of my hand. 

Now THAT I felt. Those electric sparks that sent shivers down one's spine -- I had read about them, heard about them. I was feeling it and that miniscule of a second could not have been made more beautiful had Amber not been there. 

"I have class tomorrow," she said, holding on to my hand, struggling to maintain eye contact. "I'll miss your race but... thanks. I had a good time."

I pursed my lips and nodded. "Me too." 

                                                                       ***********************************************************************

I let go and taking a deep breath in, rushed inside the hostel. This was... I was...

I was going crazy. 

Why?

Because right when I had held onto his hand, a thought had struck my mind. A wistful whisper that said, "I want to spend the rest of my life with this man."

I walked inside my room and found Krystal draped on her bed like a cloth rag. I could smell something uncannily familiar from the bathroom and sighed.

After the short cleaning session, I sat on my bed and switched off the lamp. The curtains were half-drawn and though the moon was covered by the clouds, I could see the faint light teasing the darkness. I shifted my gaze to the ceiling where my Manchester United poster had been neatly stuck. I had to take a special part-time job just to buy it. Our town was too small and too remote to know the difference between Man City and Man U. But I was one of the kids who knew. When the first stationary shop had opened, I had been their first 'expensive' customer. 

As I thought of this little memory, a tear ran down my cheek.

"Myungsoo," I whispered. I said his name again and again, knowing fully well that our worlds were not meant to meet. I was Amber Liu, a student on scholarship, a small town's academic representative. He was Kim Myungsoo, descendant of a royal family, his life already chartered out for him. 

I said his name again and again and fell asleep. For I knew that once morning light broke, I would never get to say his name again. 

                                                                                  ***********************************************************************

"You're alive," I joked. Woohyun cursed under his breath and drank the last few sips of his coffee, muttering something about a 'Catholic gold-digger'. 

All the racers were aligned next to the track. Our cars were in their position, the mechanics giving them their final check-up. Our war-horses, Woohyun and I would call them. Their mane being brushed, their hooves getting tested, their saddles tightened for the riders' comfort. They were being prepared for battle.

Loud music was playing from the speakers, mixing with the chants of the crowd. Flags were being waved here and there, the reds and yellows clashing with the pristine blue sky. I took a deep breath in and once the announcement was made, walked towards the car. 

"See you on the flipside," Woohyun grinned, bumping his fist against mine. I rotated my neck and heaved a sigh, letting myself seep inside the leather seats.

"Racers...." the man announced. "Countdown of two minutes starts now!"

A gigantic digital clock started ticking and the cheers grew louder with every passing second. I tightened my grip on the wheel and glanced at the helmet sitting next to me. I looked around and watched all the racers fixing their jackets and safety pads. Woohyun knocked on his helmet and pointed at me, questioning it's absence on my head. One of the supervisors tapped on my window and waved at the clock. 

"Get ready kiddo!" he shouted. 

I narrowed my eyes and looked straight ahead. There were ten seconds left now. It was too late. Too late to change my mind. Too late for 'them' to tell me what to do. 

I had already made my decision.

"Five! Four! Three! Two! One!"

The engines roared to life and as my foot stomped on the accelerator, exhilaration of a different kind ran through my veins. 

                                                                                             *********************************************************

"You should have at least taken his e-mail address!"

Krystal and I were sitting on one of the benches in the front lawn, our sweaty PE uniforms sticking to our bodies. We had just ran across the town and returned and the sight of the race preparations had only made me run faster. Krystal begged to know what had happened and when I told her, I mentally kicked myself. 

"You won't get it Krystal," I said, genuinely meaning it. Despite the number of times I had used the phrase, this was the first instance when a part of me had sighed out the words instead of laughing through them. I closed my eyes and threw myself on the grass, curling up into a ball and trying to catch up on last night's lack of sleep.

That's when I felt the Earth move.

The ground growled and my eyes flew open as I recognized the sound. I looked up to see Krystal's jaw slack open, her eyes widening at whatever had stationed itself by the front gate. I stood up and like the hundred curious schoolgirls around me, waited. Chaos erupted when a sleek white car drove through the gates and spun on it's wheels to freeze infront of me. The girls started screaming when one of the doors flew open, revealing none other than Myungsoo behind the wheel.

I shook my head in confusion. "Myungsoo what--?"

I stopped talking the moment I saw the huge grin on his face. As crazy as he looked, the look in his eyes told me something else. 

He knew what he was doing. And as I ran past Krystal to jump inside the vehicle, so did I. 

"Where to?" I asked. Myungsoo clasped my hand and shrugged.

"For now? The courthouse will do."

"I'm dead."

"That's okay. I'll be joining you too."

                                                                                                                  THE END                                                                              

A/N : They're a happily married couple now. 

The real life couple that is.

The marriage was a scandal for two reasons. Number one, the elopement. Number two, they belonged to completely different communities. There are diverse communities in India, spanning from religion, to caste, to class, to region, to language. These two were different from each other in each and every of these aspects. Despite the differences, they obviously seemed to have found something in common. Number three, the girl still hadn't completed her graduation from high school and was only seventeen-eighteen years old. The guy was a sophomore in college.

No one will know what went through their heads when they decided to just race to a courthouse and get married on a whim. But looking at their personalities and the kind of life they had led, I can only make an artistic assumption that the two had all their life never acted on impulse, always gone according to plan. Maybe meeting each other had sparked off something, a need that they had never recognized. Whatever it was, and I don't want to go too deep into it, this story never fails to amaze me and make me believe that no matter how scared I might be of committment right now, no matter how hesitant I might be to trust anyone, I know that one day I too would meet someone who would break through my walls within seconds and help me find a fearless me. 

Hope you all enjoyed the story! Remember, it's my entry for the Sounds of Melodies 2012 contest! *Fingers crossed*