"You know, you're always taking me somewhere."

  For more than a dozen times now, I'd wanted to hold her hand to make her walk faster - or just be able to hold her hand, although I was still denying that to myself - but every time I pushed the urge down. This time, however, I stopped and walked back toward her.

  She stiffened when I approached her, but I just smiled. "Then next time you take me somewhere," I suggested playfully, covering up the eagerness in my voice. "Come on!" I grabbed her blanket to release her arms of some weight because apparently, she must've decided to sleep over up on the roof or something and had brought lots of stuff.

  When I finally heard her sprinting behind me, I unconsciously snuggled a little into the blanket that was given to her from her brother- but no matter what, was hers.

  She didn't need to say anything; it was written all over her face.

  "You brought me to the... gym?"

  I tried not to let my smile waver. "You're disappointed."

  "No! It's not..." she shook her head, "it's not like that. I just... thought that by the way you made it sound, our destination would be somewhere more..."

  "Like a theme park?"

  Her cheeks turned slightly pink. "O-of course. As if someone as famous as you would want to have some fun with someone like me."

  "I'm always having fun with you, Evie."

  The sudden silence that came next was longer than awkward, and while silently cursing myself for saying that out loud, I bent down a little to grab her wrist. Her gaze snapped back to me. "Mark-?"

  "This isn't just a gym," I explained, pushing open the door and half-dragging her into the empty plaza. "It's the place where I learn my magic."

  She laughed at my dramatic, whispery 'magic.' "I didn't know you had magic," she said, emphasizing the last word as I had. "Or does the ability to charm every woman count?"

  "You think I have the ability to charm every woman?" I asked. Then what about... you?

  She almost tripped over her foot as we went into an empty room further down, the room I always used. "Well... uhm... your popularity says so."

  "Right. Then does it also say that I am the flying boy in our group?"

  "You mean because of your flips? Yeah, there's even a fansite for you called Fl-" she stopped short, watching me take my shoes off. "Oh my god, is this where you learned them?"

  "Bingo," I smiled. "Now take off your shoes and come in."

  "B-but you're not gonna like, teach me how to flip, right?"

  I shrugged. "Maybe."

  "Mark-"

  "The mattress is soft and bungy-ish so you won't hurt yourself."

  "But-"

  "I bet you also have life insurance."

  "But-!"

  I laughed. "You keep saying 'but,' Evie, but you've already taken your shoes off!"

  Hesitantly, she trudged over to me, her balance a little off because of the mattress underneath. "This is like-" she flapped her arms a little, "-those jumping little houses at parties and-"

  She lost her balance. Before I could even think, my arms shot out and caught her before she could fall flat on her face. As I propped her up, my hands still on her upper arms, I could hear her fast-paced breathing.

  And mine, along with the loud thumps of my heart against my ribcage that threatened to make me deaf.

  Evie in a quiet gasp, her hands on my arms warm, the space between us small enough to only allow a single sheet of paper in. Movement around us stopped, our surroundings stopped, everything stopped, as I looked down at her and wished she could just look up at me under those long eyelashes with those beautidul brown eyes of hers, and then what, I didn't know, but just maybe just lock gaze with me and -

  As if she had heard my thoughts, she looked up into my eyes. And that was all I needed to confirm my thoughts.

  I like you. I like you, Evie. Do you like me, too?

  "T-t-thank you," she managed to breathe out, the shock still evident in her voice. "Mark - "

  For a split of a second I thought she was thanking me for liking her, but then realized therre was no way she could've heard my thoughts and was actually thanking me for catching her before she fell. As she lowered her gaze, something inside me stirred.

  "Did you really think I would teach you something so dangerous?" I whispered in her ear. I could feel my gaze on her softening, could hear her sharp intake of breath, and could see her struggling to look up to the mere centimeters of distance between us again. "I would never let you get hurt, Evie. Never."

  A moment of stillness passed, before I let go of her and lowered my hands; however, they still hovered over her waist because I was afraid she would fall again.

  "S-so," she cleared , backing a few feet away from me. "You've successfully gotten me to take my shoes off. Now what?"

  One hour and two minutes.

  "So. Uhm. Thank you for today, Mark."

  "Finally!"

  "?!?!!!??"

  "I've been waiting for your text, Evie!" Only one exclamation mark because three would seem too eager.

  "Uhm... sorry for making you wait?"

   "I've been wanting to ask you for your number in return but then I realized I didn't have your number to ask you for your number and realized how stupid that was and" Please don't feel sorry it's not like I've been sitting here checking my phone every minute. Which is actually what I've really been doing but nope I'll never tell you that.

  "Oh um oops I just hit the send button before I was done"

  "Am I babbling again"

  "My bad"

  "It's not my intention to blow up your phone Evie I'm not that kind of person who send others like ten texts every time I swear I'm really not"

  "... I'm still doing it aren't I"

  "I'm so sorry Evie"

  "Don't be, Mark! It's fine hahaha, anyway, uhm well, I guess here's my phone number, it's uhm, yeah it's the number I'm texting you with"

  "Yeah"

  "Okay :) Thanx, I guess?"

  "And you're welcome"

  "I had a great time today, too"

  "Remember next time it's your turn to take me somewhere!"

  "Don't forget!"

  "Remember!"

  "And it better not be your Writing Room!"

  "Or Mr. Jeon's office!"

  "OK MR. TUAN STOP WASTING TEXT MONEY THESE THINGS ARE EXPENSIVE"

  "... ddid Ms. Evie just go full-on captions on me"

  "Mark."

 "Okok, I'll stop"

 "Bye :)"

 "See you next time"

  "See you."

  The smile that had been stuck on my face for two hours faltered a little, even when it didn't when I had been chewing on my dinner. It wasn't that my mood had changed - I still felt like this was the best day I've had for a long time. Something was just nagging at me.

  "Hey, Jackson?" I asked as we both kept our attention on the laptop screen before us. "Could you click on that link?"

  The man in question turned to me with a serious mocking face - or a mocking serious face. I wasn't sure anymore, and never had I been wrong about my roommate ever since we've started living together.

  Well, never had I invited a girl to my training room, make actions that made me believe I was out of my mind, and had three hours with a girl just fly by, making me want more, either.

  "Okay. You said you wanted to improve your writing in lyrics, right? Then let's play a game, Mark. I'll start by naming a noun - in English - and you have to make a new sentence with at least two adjectives describing that noun. If you can't come up with two adjectives - "

  "I do a flip?"

  Evie shook her head firmly. "No... I don't want to make you feel tired." Was it just me, or had her cheeks turned faint pink? "When you get back to your dorm, write down the noun and look up enough words to describe it. Or okay, do a flip. Either one. And if I can't come up with two, then - "

  "You must say the Korean for that noun," I finished for her. "It's a great opportunity for you to learn Korean, too. And I can teach you."

  After a moment of consideration, she nodded. "Okay. That sounds fair. Deal."

  I smiled at her. "Deal."

  "Don't tell me what to do, you sneaky little dimsum."

  "I - "

  "Am not sneaky? Please." Jackson perfected an eyeroll that could be labeled as 'the classical eyeroll.' "Little dates with Evie, wiggling into her heart just like that, leaving Seyi and I worried as hell when you just ran away, only to find you hours later with Evie laughing in our training room? Bro, you're finally making moves! I'm so proud of you! But no that does not mean you can boss me around."

  I studied him for a moment. "Why are you so cranky?"

  "I told you, you left us waiting - "

  "That's not it. Did something happen between you and Seyi?"

  For a moment I thought he was going to break the one unspoken rule we had - to tell each other everything, to share what's on our minds even if it's embarrassing, because we're roommates; we're friends; we're brothers. But then I saw his face crumple. "She's going to be in some stupid cf or drama with this stupid boy," Jackson complained, throwing his hands up in an I-don't-likeit-but-what-can-I-do way. "And they're gonna play as stupid high school lovers but you know what it's not like I'm not happy for her finally getting to step outside in the world I just think it's stupid like don't you think that's stupid too and what's even more stupid is Seyi thinks that stupid actor she's acting with is 'the most beautiful boy she's ever seen' and well you know what that's the most stupidest thing I've ever heard - hey. I know that girl." Jackson pointed at the picture that had popped out after I had grabbed the mouse and clicked on the link that had caught my eye. "That's that girl I once told you about, that kicked several men's asses that time in the International Teen Fencing Competition! What's her name again, I remember it started with an A..." his eyes lit up when I scrolled down. "There! Aria! Aria Skye! That's her name..."

  Jackson's voice faded into the background as I read the news of this particular female fencer, skimming through the article. We both did this every once a week, reading news on the Internet because we didn't really have time to watch TV due to our hectic schedule; besides, I missed my family and was always curious what was going on there. I didn't know why this particular article caught my eye, and it definitely wasn't because the girl was pretty -

  My eyes stopped on a name. It was merely just mentioned, but it struck something in me, and it took me a few seconds to remember where I had heard it before.

  Kayden Catcher.

  But it couldn't be. It was just a coincidence, right? Millions of people in the world were called 'Kayden.' Evie's brother was just one of them.

  Even as I thought that, the mouse controlled by my hand hovered over an external link given to 'learn more about Kayden Catcher.'

  And I clicked on it.

[Author's Note]

/hands and arms over head/ I AM SO SORRYYYYYYYY. I am so terribly sorry for disappearing for more than two months now, letting you wonderful readers wait for such a long time TTTTTTTTTTTT. I could blame it on college since it's my first semester, but I won't because it's also because of my laziness and lack of motivation, I'm sorry ;;

Thank every one of you who are still willing to read this, I know the ultimate purpose is me sharing my imaginations with you all who love the same things and people as I do and share the same passion, I am just so very grateful and honored to have you as my subscribers, I swear, YOUR SUPPORT IS MAKING ME CRY TEARS OF JOY NOW ;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;; I can't promise that I'll be updating veery soon, but I'll try hard to again regularly (and maybe even before Thanksgiving!) Hope you enjoy this chapter, and I'd love to hear what you all think!!!

Love you all and thank you!!! <3