In my twenty years of life, I can proudly say that I've never done any bullying in my life—that stuff is just messed up. Whether it be direct insults, gossiping, blacklisting—just nothing and never. I've worn this invisible badge of honor on my shirt for as long as I can remember. My friends said I was a bit cuckoo for even establishing that kind of idea, but that's just the way I roll, and nothing was going to strip my badge away.

Well, the whole gist was kind of ruined when that unusual, nerdy kid transferred into my biophysics class in the second semester of my sophomore year in college.

"This is Sora, hope you treat him nicely," my professor mumbled quickly, not too enthusiastic that another kid was going to join his class. It was clear that he didn't want any more baggage on his load to carry. I wonder why the professor even opted to teach in a private college; you were bound to be engulfed with student interactions anyway at such a place. Wrong choice in career options, buddy.

I didn't really pay attention to the introductions because I wasn't interested. There were literally around seventy kids in the room, and I wasn't going to memorize all of their names anytime soon, much less some transfer kid. However, my plan was cut short when he suddenly sat next to me. It wasn't his presence that caught my attention—it was the super large space he purposely put in between us. The dude was like stealing three kids' spots like this, c'mon.

Nonetheless, I casually checked him out, wondering what kind of person my new seat neighbor—can he even be called a neighbor?—was. He was an odd and awkward-looking guy. His brown hair was an array of spikes shooting out of everywhere, and the strangest thing was that it didn't even look gelled; gravity was obviously not by his side. Body skinny, but not too skinny, he also had a lean figure. However, despite all the stars in those categories, his whole stature screamed "nerd" as he crouched forward into his books, pushed his full-rimmed glasses back up on the bridge of his nose with a finger, and got his pencil ready in his hands to write when the lecture didn't even start yet. I sighed before looking away.

I could already tell it was just going to be the most fantastic semester ever. Hey, if he was super smart, maybe he could help me survive this class. Biology and physics together? Hell no.

I found it amusing how he scribbled every single thing the professor said. What was even more amazing was how he seemed to keep up with the professor while my fingers were racing across my keyboard in a seizure. I thought his handwriting was going to be utter shit at the speed he was writing at, but when I took a long glance over out of curiosity, my eyeballs nearly shot out of their sockets.

It was heavenly writing. If I wrote like that, then I could just get a full-time job and spend the rest of my life as a calligrapher. Forget science.

We never exchanged a word with each other, and I wasn't interested anyway. I've met a few in my life before, and don't get me wrong—they were one of the nicest people on earth. However, all they ranted about was how the quantum mechanics of whatever became this and that and—I don't know, just things that they took in as English and I took in as complete gibberish. However, words had been exchanged one day when we had a unit exam for the class.

When the teacher started the timer for the test, I wasn't panicking yet; I panicked when I realized that I didn't have a pencil on me, out of all days. That adrenaline rush you get when you find out how doomed you are really smacked me right across the face as I looked into my backpack discreetly when the professor wasn't looking. When my search was in vain, I was ready to cry—yes, cry—and belittle myself on how stupid I was to forget my pencil at home, but in the next second, a pencil rolled itself conveniently over to my area. I instantly darted my eyes to where it came from.

"Here you go," he mouthed, also handing me an eraser. He didn't stick around too long to see my response, for he delved right back into the exam as he scribbled furiously onto his paper. I didn't waste any time on my exam either and swiftly started to prevent anymore lost time.

When the bell rang, he rapidly got his books into his slender arms and hugged them to his chest, hurriedly scuffling down the stairs that led to the professor so that he could turn in his exam. Still in possession of his eraser and pencil, I tapped him on the shoulder before he fully left the aisle.

At my touch, books became anchors as he dropped all of his books, a few of them tumbling down inelegantly down a few steps.

"Whoa, are you okay?" I let out, stooping down to help him collect his books. My hand reached out to one book while his stretched out towards the same one. Our hands touched slightly, which I didn't find at all to be a big deal, but it was a different story for Sora. The moment his fingers brushed against mine, he pulled away as if he just contracted the plague. A bit offended, I was about to give him a piece of my mind about how he shouldn't show his rudeness so clearly, but the words died in my mouth when I took a look at his face.

His cheeks were burning red as he tried to collect the other books. Dumbfounded, I didn't say anything as I picked up the remaining books near my side.

"Here." He didn't say anything as he accepted his books, carefully avoiding contact with my hands that carried them from beneath. I quickly settled the pencil and eraser on top of the stack before he made his little escape down the flight of stairs, leaving me perplexed at what just happened.

It took me a while to admit the fact, but I did eventually: his reaction was freaking cute.

Oh no.

I could already feel the devil inside me awaken.

~.~.~

On another day, I saw him fumbling clumsily with the papers in his hands as he attempted to stuff all of them in his locker. A few snickered at his horrible dexterity, me included. I usually felt bad whenever people like him existed, but for some reason, I was anything but. From the back view, he didn't look like a scrawny nerd at all. He wasn't as tall as Giant One and Giant two (Riku and Axel), but he wasn't shorter than the taller girls either. His height was just right.

However, he needed to ditch the glasses if wanted a real evaluation.

Curious and wanting to straight out bother him just because I could, I decided to strike up a conversation with the transfer kid, who was now trying to close his locker without anything falling out.

"Hey," I said casually. Not expecting my presence at all, he jolted at the sound of my voice so close. He turned his head towards me and, realizing I was a bit too close—I wouldn't even call it close, there was a good five-foot distance between us—took two huge steps back. Pushing his glasses back up, he furrowed his eyebrows.

"Hi," he said skeptically. He must've thought that if he greeted me back, I would leave. Sorry sir. "Is there something you need?"

I smiled at him. "I just wanted to say hi."

He shut his locker with a slam as he shouldered his bag. His whole entire body screamed tense as his knuckles colored white with the way he held the strap of his bag so tightly.

"Well, hi." The way he regarded me was as if he had never seen me before in his life, which irked me. I tilted my head to the side slightly in confusion and took a step towards him to be a bit closer. In response, he took another step back.

"Do you know who I am?"

He frowned. "Yes? Kairi?" For some reason, hearing him say my name made my heart leap a bit. Whoa, what's up with you, Heart? Transfer Kid didn't look comfortable at all; his discomfort just kept increasing exponentially the more he was forced to stay and talk to me. Was this dude a loner or something? Was society too much for him? "You sit next to me in biophysics."

"Yeah." Even though I was the one who started the conversation first, I wanted to leave already; the guy was just too awkward for me. "I just wanted to say hi. See you later?" Transfer Kid didn't even respond, for the moment he heard my "see you later" he turned on his heels to skedaddle. However, I stopped him one last time before he disappeared completely from the corner. "Wait."

"What's u—" he froze in his speech, mouth parted slightly, when my hand skimmed to pull out some of his bangs that were clamped by his glasses on his nose.

"There, does that not bother you? It sure bothers...me." I trailed off, lost for words when I watched the blush rise to his cheeks once more. He roughly stepped back, and before I knew it, he was gone in a flash.

Then I finally remembered his name: Sora Hikari.

~.~.~

It took a couple more observations when I finally found out an interesting weakness of his: females.

He couldn't stand them.

"Sora, I heard you got a perfect score on the history exam," one of my female classmates cooed as we packed our stuff to leave. Xion, the biggest flirt in the nation, just couldn't quit it with the batting of those eyelashes. She had taken the seat next to him, trapping him between me and her. However, Sora didn't seem to be fazed as he tightened his mouth into a thin line.

"Um, yes. And?" I thought he would keep up that facade, but the assumption was completely chucked out the window the moment Xion ran a hand down the side of his arm to coax him under her spell.

"I would appreciate it if I could borrow your notes for my exam next week?" For the third time ever since I encountered this kid, I saw his face burn like a fire hydrant.

"O-okay, you can. Just," he pushed her hand away from his arm and scooted to the right to remain out of arm's reach. However, the right was where I was, so his side intimately bumped into mine. Right away, he pulled himself away before standing up, unable to continue being sandwiched between two females any longer. Before he left, he rummaged through his backpack and slid two thin notebooks over to Xion, who took it gleefully.

When he came back from, I presume, the restrooms, he made sure not to make eye contact with me. By then, I was honestly not insulted anymore, just intrigued. I wasn't the type to be interested in a man when I never really talked to him, but this Sora Hikari guy was seriously hooking me. I wanted to see more of his reactions, more of his flustered self, because it was so interesting.

Aw, crap.

I could already feel my badge of honor disappearing.

~.~.~

"Hey, Sora, do you get this problem?"

Since the guy, I found out, was ridiculously smart, it didn't hurt to ask him for help. However, since it was my first time ever asking for his assistance—I usually preferred doing things myself—I wasn't too sure about what his response would be. The professor was currently dozing as the class took five minutes to solve the two questions on the board, apparently too tired from all the young-adult pheromones—he always did complain about youth being too youthful.

Sora was in the middle of scribbling his usual scribbles and didn't even stop when he heard me.

"What problem?" he replied blankly, eyes never leaving his paper. I pushed my paper over towards him so that he could have a closer look. Forced at this point to stop whatever he was doing, he leaned closer to my paper, following my pencil as I led him through my calculations. As he did so, a strange thought occurred to me—his spiky-haired look kind of fit him. Although, it deeply contrasted with his nerd look; take off the glasses and he might pull off the whole biker look. Maybe. Focus on the biophysics, Kairi, biophysics. Not boy.

"I don't get it," I simply said. Sora ruffled said hair in some sort of thinking motion before gesturing me to hand over my pencil. I complied, and I watched as he began to write on my paper in that beautiful handwriting of his.

"If you want to figure out the force expended by this muscle contraction, then…" he thoroughly explained, writing all over the problem. I had to pull my head closer so that I could see what he was even freaking writing—he started to lose me with all the Greek symbols I wasn't prepared to see yet. "So if you do this..."

As he explained to me, I noticed how he had gotten a lot closer to me. Sora would've normally—and instantly—backed away if he noticed, but he was too absorbed in the problem to care. His watch glinted in the light as he moved his wrist along my paper while he explained to me words I was not listening to anymore. His scent, which was some sort of lemony smell, wafted underneath my nose as I sat in his proximity.

I wouldn't mind smelling this for the rest of my life.

Kairi Lockhart, you're seriously starting to become some sort of pervert. But then I corrected myself: what's wrong for liking a smell? Nothing, of course.

"Do you get it now—oh." Sora dropped the pencil in his hand as he finally took note of how close our heads were as we crowded around one single piece of paper in between us. He immediately flushed and pulled away, creating an even larger space between us than ever before. However, too curious for my own good about his fear of females, I reached out and tugged him back by the elbow, whether he liked it or not. His shoulder bumped against mines roughly—not that I minded.

"There's something that has been bothering me for a while," I admitted, not letting go of his elbow. What if he just decided to run away? Sora swallowed nervously as he eyed the hand that was anchoring him, wanting nothing more than to pry it off. However, he restrained himself, which was unexpected.

"What?" By now, the flush spread to his ears. However, his expression did not match the shy, physiological reaction at all. He looked more pissed than anything. I might've been sadistic for a moment there, for I just found everything kind of adorable—adorable to mess around with.

"Do you dislike me?" I actually wanted to just straight out ask if he had some sort of girl phobia, but I found it a bit too rude to actually voice that out, so I just settled with this question instead. Knowing fully well how mean I was, I let him go so that he can actually take a breath. He instantly let out a noticeable sigh of relief, but it took him a good five seconds before he actually regained himself.

"What makes you say that?"

Really?

"I don't know. Just the fact that you avoid me like I'm the real-deal walking pneumonia." To make my point, I moved my finger towards him so that I could poke him on the arm, but he bent in an awkward angle just to get away from it. I felt pretty bad; I was having too much fun. He scooted so much to the left that he was now sitting on the edge of the aisle, putting the maximum space possible between us.

"I don't dislike you," he answered, and I was caught by surprise at how certain he sounded. "Sorry if I came off like that." Well, you did, but whatever. "I just have a problem with...stuff."

"Girls?"

"I mean, by now it's pretty obvious, isn't it?" I widened my eyes slightly; was that sarcasm I heard?

"May I ask why?" Sora tugged at the collar of his navy-blue button up—did I mention that this guy dressed super fine too?

"I have five older sisters in my household." Well, shit. "They have scarred me since childhood." They must've been from some sort of witch cult if they managed to damage his mentality this bad. "Well, yeah." Sora didn't want to explain anymore, so he just left it at that.

"So you can't stand females?" When he saw me trying to touch him again, he dodged it and shook his head.

"I don't have an actual phobia if that's what you're thinking, but I'd prefer it if you don't" he dodged another one of my attempts to touch him, "come near me." His tone wasn't rude or biting; it came out more as a genuine request. However, that wasn't going to stop me. If he thought a genuine request was going to get me to stay away from him, he had another thing coming.

I didn't even think twice before the words spilled between my lips.

"I think we can do something about that."

~.~.~

"I'm not comfortable." Sora squirmed in his seat in the cafe, looking around everywhere except my eyes-he made sure he didn't make eye contact with me. I don't know what I was doing, but I knew one thing.

I was being a freaking bully.

The jazz music that played in the background wasn't soothing for him at all as he drummed his fingers nervously on the table. Constant chimes of the door rang as customers went in and out of the door while the constant buzzing of the coffee machines kept the place lively. However, none dissolved the uneasiness in the air as I watched with amused eyes his composure.

"I'm going to help you out, boy."

"I never agreed to it, though."

"It's okay, it'll work out. Slow and steady wins the race. Always." I felt pretty insensitive for dragging him out during his precious weekend, but tough luck. When Kairi Lockhart has her mind set on a goal, it will be fulfilled. "I'm going to teach you a valuable skill you will need in life: interacting with the opposite gender." Sora did that geeky move of pushing his glasses up as he parted his bangs back to the side so that it wouldn't fall over his eyes, although it just fell right back.

"If I've lived twenty years without 'interacting' with the opposite gender, I can continue living for another twenty."

"Yeah right, go marry yourself in the countryside then."

Sora awkwardly looked away and scratched the back of his head in embarrassment. I just sighed, shaking my head in the process. "Plus, you're going to rub people the wrong way the more you keep avoiding them. You're a grown man, suck it up." I stuck out my hand from across the table, which he eyed very carefully.

"Hey, nice to meet you! I'm Kairi." My whole demeanor changed as I morphed myself to become one of those social and approachable girls. I quirked an eyebrow up at him though when he refused to even inch from his spot, questioning what he was waiting for.

"And what exactly do you want me to do?" he bluntly asked.

"What do you think?" I saw absolutely no harm in my gesture. If the guy couldn't introduce himself through a handshake, then he might as well just give up on finding any sustainable career in life.

"I'm not comfor-"

"Yeah, and my arm is about to fall off the longer this hand is waiting for you. Stop being a little pussy." Away, my badge of honor went. I could see it fly off into the distant skies.

Sora looked at my hand one last time before he ultimately gave a huff of defeat. His hand—which was a lot bigger than mine—reached out slowly towards mine. Once our hands were loosely clasped, my hope in the guy revived. However, right before I could even give the damn hand a shake, he immediately pulled away as if my hand came out toasted straight from the oven, a slight blush crossing his features once more. At this point, the whole situation was supposed to get old, but not to me.

"Hey, we're getting there. It's okay," I encouraged him, feeling a bit warm myself for whatever reason. They really needed to pump up the air conditioner in here. Sora rubbed the back of his neck as he checked his phone; the whole time, he had not made eye contact with me at all. A bit upset, I did something else that really threw my badge of honor off the cliff.

With a swift motion, I took his glasses off, catching him completely by surprise. He reached over the table in an attempt to grab them back, but I was quicker.

"Kairi," he pleaded, one hand half hiding his face. It was as if he really didn't want anyone to see his bare face. "Stop messing around, please." From the neck up, I could see him flaming. What did I discover now?

"What's wrong, dude? Do you have some sort of complex with your face as wel—" I couldn't finish my sentence because when he put his hand down to look me straight in the eye to show his seriousness, I just could not believe it.

He was fine.

I always knew that he was good-looking beneath these flimsy glasses, but holy smokes, someone get the fire extinguisher here already.

"Stop it, you're resorting to public harassment now," he muttered, taking advantage of my surprise as he swiped his glasses back from my hand and back onto the bridge of his nose. I cleared my throat, regaining myself from the temporary bombshell I just got hit with.

"Sora, you're surprisingly very good looking."

"Stop it."

"Okay, let's go to the park now."

"…Why?"

I rolled my eyes, as if the answer was the most obvious thing in the world. "To take a lovely stroll, of course!" Then I stretched out an open palmed and used my other hand to point at it. "With you holding onto this."

Sora furiously shook his head. "What the fuck happened to slow and steady?"

"Whoever said that?"

And so, I would force him to partake in activities that he really did not want to do. I didn't feel bad 'cause what was there to lose anymore? I mean, my honor badge was nearly and completely disintegrated, so what's the point? It was just barely hanging in there. Plus, his girl phobia was seriously bugging me. Seeing a pitiful guy like that—no one could leave him alone, can they?

I would force him to go hang out with me somewhere, whether it be the cafe, library, or some fast food restaurant, so that he could get used to a feminine presence. I learned that he had absolutely no friends on this campus because he just recently transferred, so that therefore meant that he had no social life just yet.

Which also meant he possibly couldn't be busy in any of those days. That was probably another reason why I didn't feel too bad for wasting his time—he had a lot to spare. Most of the time, he would just bring a book to read so that he could entertain himself while ignoring all possible conversations that could erupt between us. I got the fact that he didn't dislike me, but he could at least show some interest, even if he really didn't want to be with me.

"You must really like that book you're reading," I muttered plainly, rapping my fingers on the table. We were currently at some weird crepe place where only a cute old man ran it. Sora insisted in coming here, since he said he was pretty acquainted with the elder, but he probably just wanted a quiet place to read.

Rude.

"Yeah" came his reply. A bit irritated at his bland response, I decided to pick on him some more like I always did. When he least expected it, I took his book away from his reach, causing him to frown slightly and questionably.

"Why do you even agree to hang out with me if you're just gonna read a boring book?"

"Kairi, you drag me out here by calling me at five in the morning every single Saturday. I don't know about you, but I see no prior agreement here."

Guilty as charged, I'm sorry.

"We are here for a reason."

"I can live without the reason."

"You are pitiful."

"I don't care if I'm pitiful."

"It's for your greater good, though." To emphasize the fact, I took out my hand again for our "weekly" exercise. Surprisingly, I was met with hesitance rather than opposition, so that didn't mean he was a completely lost cause. With the book in my other hand opened at the page where he had it a second ago and my other out on the table expectantly, I challenged him with his pride on the line. No man had zero pride; they all had at least a little bit of it.

Sighing at first, he tentatively placed his hand on mine, testing the waters carefully. After doing it many times before thanks to my brute force, he probably got used to it already. Although, he still lost his composure whenever he did so; I never got tired of the blush that appeared on his face behind his glasses.

"Hey, you're getting better."

"I'm not sure if that's a good thing."

"You're cute. Like a puppy." I usually say what I think out loud in a very straightforward and blunt way, and I honestly had no shame in doing so, but whenever I talked to Sora, I always had to say something else that would kind of hide my true meaning. For example, I thought he was cute, but not like a puppy—oh hell, not at all.

The reason? I didn't know.

He used his other hand to rub a finger on his temple, as if too tired from the whole ordeal to even answer. I was, for some reason, nervous to hear his response. For the past six weeks, I've been feeling a bit funny around him, and it agitated me because I didn't know the reason why. Every time he was nice to me, which was quite often in a very lowkey way with how he paid for my coffee wordlessly, it made my heart flutter.

Maybe I should go to the doctor.

"Stop calling me cute. It makes me uncomfortable."

"But you are." For a second, I thought I saw a slight pained expression cross his face, but the thought was quickly cleared when he shyly looked away from my gaze.

"I'm not. Stop." Then, shocking my heart out of my ribcage, he laced our fingers together. "If I get over my fear, then can we stop all this madness? Can you leave me alone too?" Even with the outrageous blush on his face that shouldn't have made me take his words seriously, I took his words seriously. A sense of loneliness kind of hit me when he said that.

I think I need to seriously go to the doctor; my mood kept changing.

As we continued our little session, I didn't notice that the book I took from him had been upside down the whole time.

~.~.~

"Sora, I don't get this problem."

"You don't get any problem. What is it?" He finished up what he was writing on his worksheet and leaned over to my side to take a glance at the problem I was referring to. Again, his scent entered my nose again as every word he said went out the other ear. Our professor was out absent again for some reason—probably overloaded with the young-adult pheromones—so we were left on our own again to finish the huge ass packet he assigned us since he couldn't find a replacement lecturer. A faculty member watched us instead, but it was obvious that half the class was just plain missing.

I wasn't unintelligent, but physics was seriously my worst subject. I thought the combination of biology with the damn subject would magically make it easier, but I was dumb in the first place to even believe in that.

In the middle of his very hazy explanation, I felt someone suddenly swing their arm around my shoulders. The moment I felt the movement, I instantly knew who it was and sighed.

"Riku, can you buzz off?" Riku was my other seat neighbor, but he was usually a bit farther to the right. Sometimes, he would scooch over to my place and bother me, but I didn't really mind it. He was a fun guy to talk to, but he was a bit too touchy sometimes—like right now. "Knowing you, you probably didn't even start on a single problem on the packet."

"You know me," he grinned, "I'm the king of procrastination."

"And the king of sad and lame jokes," I retorted back, smiling a little. I swatted at his arm in an attempt to remove it from me, but it didn't budge. Instead, he leaned in closer to whisper something in my ear.

"Who's that guy?" he whispered, eyes darting warily at Sora who had returned back to his work. "Didn't know you talked to such a guy." I narrowed my eyes at Riku at his hidden meaning, even if I had to agree with him on some parts. Sora looked super dorky.

But it was a cute dorky.

"Whatever, Kai." I was hoping for his arm to finally detach itself from me. When it didn't, I was about to do it myself and rip the thing off of me.

"Kairi," Sora voiced out smoothly, tapping me on the shoulder.

He tapped me on the shoulder.

He fucking tapped me on the shoulder.

He tapped me on the shoulder—the shoulder. Physical contact!

"Y-y-yes?" I stuttered dumbly.

Riku noticed that he was no longer wanted and slunk away, going over to the other side to mingle with the other ladies. "What is it?" Sora blinked as he looked at me, as if he didn't know the answer to that question, but he cleared his throat and pointed a finger at the problem he was previously showing me.

"I got the answer."

~.~.~

"Sora, did you eat some courage pill?"

"Stop." I smiled at him as I leaned over the table in the study hall of the library to pinch his cheek like a total mom, but he pushed it away with a hand. His other hand was too preoccupied with holding mine, something that had been making me feel hot ever since he started to hold it without having a breakdown.

It worked out pretty well on the table. Since he was left-handed and I was right-handed, we didn't have difficulties interlocking our fingers without any weird twists of our arms to make it work while we did our homework. I didn't know when he was able to touch me without getting all fidgety, but when he did, I felt accomplished.

However, I felt a bit sad; he had pushed the idea that once he semi-got over his girl phobia, this whole thing would end. It kind of brought my mood down a bit, but I still didn't know why. I would still see him in class and all...

After around ten minutes of silence with only the sounds of pencil scribbles dancing in our ears, Sora asked a weird question that had caught me off guard.

"Am I really that dorky looking?" I widened my eyes at his question, not expecting it at all. I did think he was dorky looking, but I honestly thought it was adorable. Being the blunt person I am, I told the truth.

"Truthfully, yeah, but it's not a bad thing." I tilted my head to the side, showing him my curiosity. "Why?" He looked away from me and returned his gaze on his books.

"No reason." I frowned slightly, really wanting to know where his question originated from, but I dropped it. However, Sora didn't seem to drop the subject at all as he asked his second question. "How do I look like without my glasses?" I shrugged.

"I don't know. I forgot," I honestly answered. The only times I saw him without his glasses were when he took them off to rub the sleep out of his eyes or to wipe them clean, but I never had the chance to get a good look at his face. All I knew was that he looked fine based on my reaction weeks ago when I took it off of him. "I never really saw your face without them?"

"Here." With a smooth movement, he took off his glasses and settled them on the table. My breath hitched as he opened his eyes and looked straight at me, tilting his head cutely in a way to inquire my answer. Most of the time, his glasses glare would always hide some of his eyes away from view, but now that I was able to see them in its full essence, it was nerve-wracking. He had that type of stare that would really get you lost when you returned it.

"Um..." Truthfully speaking, he looked ridiculously handsome without his glasses, but...

I liked his little glasses self more. It just suited him more to me.

"I'm thinking of getting contacts actually."

"You look good without your glasses. You should!" However, just because I liked him with glasses more didn't mean I actually wanted him to follow my preference. This whole thing was to help him out with his whole girl phobia and, quite possibly, earn him a social life—and looking good made that ultimately easier.

"Really, now?" He bit his bottom lip before nodding slightly. "I see."

"Any reason why you're suddenly so concerned about it?"

He put his glasses back on and didn't try to hide his discomfort at all at my question.

"There's a girl I like, actually."

...

What?

"Oh!" I exclaimed, frowning slightly. I was totally not expecting that at all. "Really, huh? Is that so?" This guy had a freaking girl phobia.

Let me repeat: girl freaking phobia. He literally just threw a grenade at me when my back was turned, completely obliterating me. I couldn't think of anyone on the top of my mind; he didn't hang out with anyone at all. Who the hell could it be? But then I corrected myself: I only saw him in biophysics. What made me jump to the conclusion that he didn't talk to anyone else?

"That's why," he detached his hand from mine, which made me feel a pang in my chest, "I think I'm done now."

"With what?" Why was there suddenly a lump in my throat?

"This whole thing." And, for the first time ever, he genuinely smiled at me as a form of thanks. I wasn't even sure if he was truly thanking me, since I literally dragged his butt out every time against his will. "I guess you were kind of right about the whole sucking it up thing. It actually bothered me, and to be honest, I think it's going to take me a long time before I actually get over this weird avoidance of mine."

"So it didn't help at all?" He bit the inside of his cheek.

"It did. Kind of. I mean,it's not going to vanish in a day. Sorry that I wasted your time, but I think I'm fine without all this." No, it wasn't a waste of time. "Uh, yeah," he started to turn a bit red again. "I'll see you later?" He stood up from his chair and gathered his books, as if eager to finally leave the table. I felt my heart suddenly sink down, but I had to force a smile so that it wouldn't show on my face.

"Leaving already?"

"Pretty tired. Need to catch up on sleep before studying, or else I'm going to knock out on my desk," he joked. "Catch you later." He offered her a small wave before pushing his chair in and disappearing behind the bookshelves as he made his way towards the exit. I placed the side of my face on my hand as I tried to unravel the complicated feelings that were all tangled in my stomach.

I think I fell for Sora Hikari.

Oh no, when did this happen?

~.~.~

Sora still talked to me during class, but only on the work we needed to do—nothing else. It felt a lot lonelier now, but I wasn't too tilted because of it.

However, the whole shebang was flipped upside down when Sora suddenly came to class one day with contacts instead of his glasses. The way he dressed was a bit different too with his black skinny jeans and navy-blue long sleeve. I didn't know if my eyes were playing with me, but he looked a bit sexier. The shirt really showed those lines on his body that was never seen before. Instantly, I could hear the girls buzzing as he, with only one book in his hand instead of his five, walked up the stairs and towards our aisle.

"Whoa, is that Sora?" I heard a girl say behind me in hushed excitement. "Holy shit, I never knew he was that hot." Sora took off his backpack when he finally reached his seat and settled it on the ground while placing his textbook onto the table. I greeted him, trying my utter best to not reveal the shock on my face.

"Hey," he greeted back, taking a seat beside me. "Did you do the last problem for homework last night? I didn't do it." Whoa, I wasn't sure if my ears were working properly either. Sora hikari not finishing his homework? Was the world about to end soon or something?

"Um, yeah, I do," I replied dumbly, looking specifically at his cheeks instead of his eyes so that I wouldn't get all flustered. "But I don't think you should trust my answers, since you're asking the wrong person for biology help."

"Eh, no worries, I just need something down on my paper," he then rolled his eyes, "Let's be realistically here, prof' doesn't even check it thoroughly—all is good." I quirked an eyebrow up at him, silently questioning his sudden risk-taking attitude, but I didn't voice it out as I took out my packet. He clicked his pen and leaned over to my side to scribble down the answers real fast. As he did so, I couldn't help but study his appearance when he wasn't looking at me.

"Nice new look," I teased, unable to stop myself from at least commenting about it. "I can finally see your eyes without the glare." He chuckled a bit as he continued to copy with lightning speed.

"And I don't have to push them up every second anymore. Aw, shit," he cursed when he wrote a mistake. He crossed it out with a big fat x mark before continuing.

"Dude, are you sure you're gonna be okay?" I asked warily, knowing pretty well that even if his appearance changed, the nerd inside him was still alive and raging. "What if the professor does check it?"

"Trust me, he doesn't. I've seen him correct stuff before." He took my paper to have a closer look before writing down the last few sentences. When the professor came in, he quickly handed me back my packet and flipped his closed. "Thanks."

"No problem."

And so, our period of biophysics cruised by like it always did every day: lecture, work, and dismissal. Then, for the rest of the day, I would not see his face anywhere on campus. However, it was slightly different today. Today, I actually heard people talk about Sora, which wasn't a frequent occasion, since no one really ever noticed him since his transfer.

"Did you see him today?"

"Who's 'him'? It's who I think you're talking about, right?"

"Yeah, that nerdy guy! Oh my God, at first, when he walked into the room, I thought we had another transfer student, but when he got closer, I realized that it was actually Sora."

"Same!"

I felt irritated at all the attention he was getting; I found out that I was a pretty jealous person. I tried not to feel like that though, since he wasn't committed to me in any way, shape, or form.

Ouch, that thought kind of pricked me.

During lunch, as I hung out with my two best friends Namine and Selphie, I spotted Sora at the corner of my eye. I usually didn't see him in the cafeteria, so I wasn't expecting his presence at all. He was currently talking to a few male friends that I didn't know he had. I scratch everything I said about him having no social life.

He did have a freaking social life. I sighed.

I was just too ignorant to realize that and just went ahead and dragged his butt off to deal with me on Saturdays. Feeling the embarrassment and shame overwhelming me, I let out a low groan as I thought about my badge of honor. It was now probably in the ocean, whisking away into the dark mass where no one could find it. A fish would eventually eat it anyways...

"Hey, your seat mate is pretty cute," Selphie said, eyes always active in order to scan cute guys. "I actually always thought that he was pretty good looking, but wow," she blew a low whistle, "Hot damn."

"You're making me cringe, Selphie," Namine grimaced, shaking her head slightly. "You have a boyfriend too. Calm down, girl." Selphie smiled a silly smile before continuing her lunch. However, she didn't stop her assault on me, unfortunately. I always knew her to be observant, but not to the point where she would hit every single bull's eye there was.

"How are you and Sora? Any progress?" I rolled my eyes at her, not exactly knowing where she was getting at. Well, I take that back—I did, but I didn't want to say anything that would further her suspicions.

"He's super smart in biophysics. He helps me out a lot," I replied plainly. "Nothing much, y'know." This was, obviously, a total lie. I still questioned why I suddenly was hit with the realization that I liked him. However, when I really thought about it, I somehow formulated an answer. He was just adorable and cute and really nice, and sometimes funny. Like, he wasn't humorous, but he was just funny. Add in the good looks too, which was just a plus to it all.

"Uh huh," she voiced out skeptically.

"It's true!" I wish I noticed Namine's look of fright a little bit sooner as she stared at what was behind me, but I was too caught up with Selphie to even notice.

"Um, guys—"

"Don't you think he looks good without glasses? I haven't really seen him up close to verify, but all the girls are going crazy over him. I even heard a few saying they're willing to hit him up! Don't lie to me, girl."

I thought that was a pretty shallow way of thinking, since they never really gave him a thought when he was still lame looking. Of course, I wasn't going to say that to Selphie, or else the girl wouldn't leave me alone, so I said something my stupid mouth shouldn't have said.

"Guys, he's righ—" All of Namine's attempts were futile.

"To be honest, I honestly don't know what the fuss is all about. They all seem to have forgotten that he was a gigantic, dorky nerd just last week."

"Guys, he's literally right the—"

"Selphie, just drop it. I don't like him that way. He's not my type." I knew I was just spouting nonsense, but I really got edged by the way Selphied kept looking at me with those big, gigantic eyes of hers that seemed like they could just dig everything right out of me. "Glasses or not, I don't understand what the whole fia—"

"Sora! Can you hurry it up and get over here?" I widened my eyes and internally died when I heard his name. I finally looked over at Namine, who only sucked her lips back in a way that said "I told you so."

Holy fucking shi-

"Coming!" came his familiar voice right from behind me.

I closed my eyes as I tightened my mouth, unable to believe that that just happened as I heard what I presumed to be Sora's footsteps. Namine merely placed a hand over her forehead as she ate her lunch while Selphie instantly quieted down. Out of all the days and times Sora could be right behind me for whatever reason, it had to be today.

Someone kill me.

When it was biophysics, I couldn't help but find it awkward as hell as we sat next to each other. There was always the saying that it's only awkward when you make it awkward, but there was seriously no way to diminish the feeling of it between us. Me and my stupid mouth, I swear. After he had kind of rejected me indirectly a few weeks back with the whole crush reveal, I tried not to get myself more involved with him than I should have, but the heart wants what it wants, man.

"Hey," he said his routinely greeting, offering me a small smile. Ah, he was acting normal with me.

"Hi," I replied, twirling my pencil between my fingers. I could feel my heart racing in anticipation as I wondered what his next actions were going to be. Instead of doing anything out of the ordinary, he just made himself comfortable in his seat as he propped his elbows on the table and began to start a new section of his notes before the lecture began. He was always studious, something I always found cute.

"Yo, Kai-kai." I rubbed a hand down my face when I heard that annoying nickname Riku gave me ever since he met me. He had a reputation for creating the crappiest nicknames ever, and I definitely didn't like mine at all.

"Yes, Ri-ri?" I mocked back. "What brings you over—please don't touch me, you freaking womanizer." I backed away when he attempted to swing his arm casually over my shoulder again. Riku pouted.

"How come you're resisting my charms?"

"Because we are just good friends. Flirt with someone else, you dweeb." Honestly, I'm one-hundred percent sure Riku just did it to mess with me and make my biophysics-learning experience more painful. I bet on my life that he had the real thing going on with Yuna, so I wish he could just stop bothering me. "Anyways, what do you need?"

"Do you have a few loose cash on you? I'm trying to find my bus fare home. Y'know, if I don't find some cash, you know where I'm heading."

"I actually don't."

"Well, not home, that's for sure. Anyways, loose change?" He clasped his hands together and leaned towards me, showing the power of his puppy dog look.

"Too close, too close, please get awa-"

"Here." I nearly jumped out of my seat when I felt something rub against my side. I watched as Sora stretched his arm out across my area of the aisle and slid a few loose change over to Riku. As he did so, the side of his arm brushed against mine, causing my heart to leap up my throat. "You seem pretty desperate, buddy. I know how it feels."

Riku's eyes lit up as he saw the money and put his head against the aisle.

"You are my savior. I won't have to sleep in the dumpster tonight."

"Excuse me?" I exclaimed, flabbergasted. Riku laughed.

"I'm just kidding. Geez, can't you take a joke?"

I narrowed my eyes at him as he slunk away, taking Sora's kind offer into his grateful hands.

"Thanks, Sora," I said, although I didn't know what I was saying thanks for.

"Ah," he let out, "No problem?" I looked over at him, jolting in my seat a bit when I realized how close he was. He seemed to finally notice too, so he took a large slide over to the other side to distance himself away from me. "Sorry."

"There's nothing to be sorry for." Silence. He looked away and resumed to his studying, having three different notebooks opened at the same time—I had no clue how he even managing that. I sighed; what was I expecting? I smiled a bit to myself as I gave another quick glance at his studious posture before heading back to my own work.

"So," he said all of a sudden after five minutes. "You get along well with a lot of people." I cocked my head to the side to silently question him. He shrugged. "I see you around talking to people a lot."

"Oh," I fought hard to keep myself from heating up slightly, "I guess I do. People say I'm a social person."

"Mhm. I see." Silence. If this was his attempt of sparking of a conversation, it was failing pretty badly. However, even if it was lame as hell, I was elated at the fact that he was even interested in talking to me. He was usually quiet and in his own little world, so such a chance never came by that often.

"How is you?" He quirked an eyebrow up at my weird grammar before smiling fully in amusement.

"Me is good. How is you?"

"I is good too," then I said something I wish I kind of didn't, but curiosity won over my reasoning. "How's your little girly crush?" At first, he didn't understand what I was referring to, but when I wiggled my eyebrows suggestively, he flushed a bit.

"God, you still remember that?"

"What, was I supposed to not keep it in my brain?" He shyly ran a hand through his hair before smiling sheepishly.

"You can say it's not good?" I knitted my eyebrows as I propped the side of my face with a hand while the other one twirled a pencil.

"Why not?"

He cleared his throat. "I don't think she likes me back, so it kind of sucks."

"And how would you know that?"

"I just do by the way she acts. Sucks, but it's okay." The way he brushed it off so easily was surprising; was that how all boys' brains work?

"I'm sure you'll get her if you charm her," I cooed, having no idea why I was giving him advice. However, I then figured that I might as well. My feelings for him weren't as deep as I thought they were; if I just distanced myself away from him, like he did with me, then the phase will just go bye bye soon. Heart, you better cooperate with me.

"Hm, we'll see," was all he said. I swore I thought he sounded pretty upset, but I brushed it off, thinking my ears were just being whacky again like it always was.

~.~.~

I said that I was a pretty jealous person. I wasn't wrong.

Another two weeks passed, and Sora began to become a huge buzz within the female population. I'll admit it: it pissed me off. Everyone just started to flock all over him after he became some hot guy, but completely ignored him when he was the nerdy guy. Not only was that, but the way girls just kept trying to talk to him just outrageously annoying.

Oh, and let's not forget to mention how he kept blushing like a tomato every time one of them physically flirted with him by the lockers. Sora was too nice to reject any of them, so I didn't feel bad for him at all. However, something that really made me a bit sad was that in biophysics, whenever we accidentally touched, he didn't show that usual reaction he used to show me back then. I kind of hoped that it was because of the "sessions" we used to do, but I doubted it.

His stupid fault.

I wonder if he's loving all the attention he's getting.

Tch.

Probably. And here I am glaring daggers at every girl who went near him.

Jealousy was indeed a power emotion.

When he was at the lockers fumbling with his books—I swear, he always had difficulties with his books and locker—I decided to pop in and spark up a conversation. I always liked the fluttering feeling in my chest whenever I did, even though I knew it was probably going to turn into a bad feeling if I got any deeper, but, like I said.

The heart wants what it wants.

"Hey, Sora," I said with a small wave. He was a little surprised at my sudden presence before giving me a tight-lipped smile and a wave as well.

"Hi, what brings you here?"

"What, I can't pop in to say hi?" For some reason, he looked uncomfortable as he shouldered his bag and fixed his fringe. Even though he hadn't worn glasses for a while, I still wasn't used to his appearance. I missed his little dorky-looking self. I mean, I appreciated his sexy image too, but. "How do you feel, Mr. Popular?"

"'Mr. Popular'?" He repeated quizzically. "What are you talking about?" I didn't know if he was playing dumb or not.

"All of the guys are jealous of you and your ability to attract girls by just existing. I'm proud of you, son," I said playfully, leaning my side against the lockers. He shut his own closed before turning around fully to face me. When he did, I immediately avoided eye contact and fixed my sight at the space between his eyebrows instead so that I wouldn't get flustered.

"You're funny, Kairi," he denied. For some reason, he sounded a bit agitated, and it kind of freaked me out a little bit. "Can you stop?"

"Huh?" I let out dumbly, not understanding where his sudden irritation was springing from. He frowned slightly before releasing a large sigh.

"You don't get it, do you?"

I gave him a clueless look. "What don't I get?"

He hit his fist lightly on the lockers, but it was enough to make my nerves jump.

"Kairi, can you do me a favor and not talk to me anymore?" he muttered. "I don't think it's good for both of us."

I started to panic.

Shit, did he find out my feelings for him?

I wasn't obvious, was I?

Holy mother of moogles, why was he suddenly throwing this at me? He never got upset with me before, so what did I do to get him all angry?

"W-what? Why?"

He bit his bottom lip. "I just don't want to talk to you anymore."

And so, after a week of kicking me off the curb, Sora returned to being a nerd all of a sudden. Well, all he did was wear his glasses again, but it didn't suddenly ward off the girls. Now that they knew his true appearance, they still didn't stop bothering them—Xion especially. She kept trying to hit him up, and I just wanted to gag just watching them talk.

The worst part was that Sora seemed to enjoy her company a lot too with the smiles and laughter he gave her. He never used to do that with me.

I spent a hard, long week wondering why in the world he suddenly threw that unexpected bomb at me once more. It was as if it was his thing—just throwing bombs and grenades to make me explode into bits. I had to admit, it hurt me, but I was more concerned on why he suddenly just stopped talking to me. Did I do something wrong? Because of what he did, I didn't even dare ask him for help anymore for biophysics. He still sat next to me, but he showed no indications of even wanting to talk to me anymore. Again, what did I do, what did I do, what did I do?

Sora Hikari, you're driving me freaking insane.

So, instead of mauling around like some lovesick girl, I freaking dragged his butt over to the back of the school one day after class because I couldn't take it anymore; I needed to know the reason.

When the bell rang, I quickly stuffed my things in my bag. When the professor gave us back our packets that we worked on last time, I was way too lazy to put it back into my bag, so I just opted in carrying it and, instead, rolled it up in case I needed to use it as a weapon.

"Sora, come with me." No, I didn't even wait for him to reply; I just gave him the command, and if he didn't listen to it, I was going to pummel him. No one does that to Kairi Lockhart without a reason.

No one.

He turned towards the person who called out his name, and when he realized it was me, he widened his eyes slightly. However, he regained himself and licked his lips nervously.

"Excuse me?"

"Come. Back of the school. Now."

"Wait, I have to go somewhere wit-"

"Come. With me. Freaking now, you asshole." His mouth dropped open at my vulgar language and brute force; the last time he heard it was when I called him at five in the morning every Saturday long time ago to wake his stupid butt off from his bed.

"Wait, Kairi, let me," he looked between me and someone. I followed my eyes at who he was looking at before hardening my gaze. Gosh, of course it would be Xion. "Okay, give me a second." He jogged down the stairs and went over to Xion to say something to her. I felt a vein pop when Xion made him blush again with her overly-touchy flirting. When he was done, he signaled for me to head down to the door of the classroom, which I did. Instead of letting him walk in front to lead us to the back of the school, I took the lead instead. I felt quite satisfied when I saw him all fidgety like the first time we met.

When we arrived at the back of the school, I went straight to the point.

"Sora, why are you shunning me all of a sudden?" I demanded, waving the rolled-up packet in my hand threateningly. "I've been thinking about it all week and tried to figure out what I freaking did to you for you to suddenly—oh my moogles, my blood is boiling right now because of you, do you know—"

"Kairi, calm down, you're really loud," he said uncomfortably, looking around the area. Indeed, there were a few people looking at us, but I could care less. I was about to continue my rant, but when I suddenly saw Sora's horrified look as he looked at something, I stopped in my tracks. Following his gaze, I realized that he was looking at the homework packet I had in my hands.

"What is that?" he asked, fear lacing in his voice.

"So now you're talking to me, huh? Quit trying to change the subject and—" With a quick movement, Sora snatched the packet out of my hands and flipped through the contents. His eyes scanned through every page and finally stopped when he saw something that he didn't want to see. In less than a second, his face turned horribly red as he rolled the packet back up.

"I'm going to keep this, okay?" What the flying flippers, I brought him out to talk about our destroyed friendship, and now he was just worrying about some flimsy freaking packet?

"Give it back. You're trying to ruin my studying now too? Oh hell, no," I hissed, attempting to take it back. However, being taller than me, he held it away from reach as he took steps back to avoid my bombardment. "It's my homework packet, why do you want my homework packet so bad?" I grabbed onto Sora in attempt to pull his arm down, and seriously, I didn't give a single flying fuck about his girl phobia anymore.

"Kairi, stop," he begged, desperate to keep it out of my reach. "There's something I really don't want you to see in here." That just made me want to see it more. With one huge jump and the help of pushing off his arm, I successfully snatched back my homework packet. It was the last page he was looking at, so I walked away swiftly with him on my tail as I frantically flipped to the back. "Kairi!"

"What are you hiding from me in my homework packet?" I questioned. I let out a squeal when I felt him grab onto my waist with one hand go stop me. With the other, he attempted to reach for the homework packet from behind me. Too close, too close, too close.

However, he was a bit too late.

Right after I read what he had been so desperately trying to hide, he snatched it back from my hands, but I didn't fight it this time.

"Please tell me you didn't s—you fucking saw, didn't you?" He had an expression of total mortification as he saw the shocked expression on my face. All the fire and rage I had in me died down in an instant to be replaced with utter surprise. Sora clutched the homework packet with one hand while the other tried to hide his super duper embarrassed expression. I remembered what was written at the bottom of the last page on my homework packet before flushing just as red as him.

I like Kairi Lockhart.

At first, I didn't understand how that had gotten on my paper, but my incredible memory never did fail me.

It happened during the time he copied the last problem of the homework from me.

"W-w-what is that all about?" I asked, stuttering horribly. My curiosity on why he was ignoring me was now replaced with the curiosity of why that mysterious phrase was written in my freaking homework packet. Sora couldn't take it anymore as he squatted down, covering his face with the packet.

"God, I didn't want you to find out like this." What? He shyly moved the packet so that he could look at me with one eye before covering his face again with it. "Stop looking at me like that. Please." I was about to question what was going on, but when I noticed a few people watching our little ordeal, I pulled him up by the arm and led him to a door that led to some room. I led him in and turned on the light switch.

And out of all the rooms I could've went into, I went into the damn cramped storage room. Only one lightbulb hung from the ceiling.

Sora freed himself away from my hold and leaned against the wall of the storage room, hands behind his back now as he looked at his feet. There was only one question that floated in my brain. No, scratch that, one demand.

"Explain." Sora looked up to make eye contact with me before darting his eyes back to the side. It was as if making eye contact with me caused his eyes to rot or something, because he just couldn't do it.

"There's nothing much to explain," he admitted. Then he shuffled his feet, took a step towards me, took a damn step back, took a step forward again, and, mustering all the courage he had in him, took my hand gently. My heart beat incredibly fast as I felt his thumb rub circles onto my palm. "There really isn't much to explain," he looked up and faintly smiled at me. "I like you." When he said those words, my breath hitched in my throat.

I think I really need to go to the doctor to get my ears checked because right now, I was beyond shocked at this sudden confession. I called him out so that he could answer my questions, not to give me a damn confession out of nowhere.

Haha, I wasn't complaining.

"I don't get it," I replied, shaking my head a bit. "Why did you suddenly ignore me-"

"I needed time away from you." The joy I felt at his confession suddenly disappeared as hurt resided in my chest. "You just kept messing me up, I couldn't take it anymore. I needed a break."

"What are you talking about-"

"I went to your Saturday outings with you because I was interested. I thought you were cute and pretty and nice, even if you were a little bit on the rough side," I frowned at this, "But then you just kept calling me 'cute' and 'good-looking' so easily as if you say that to everyone—"

"No, I don't, I don't just say that to every—"

"Then why did you say it as if—"

"Because I actually thought you were cute and good-looking!"

He shut his mouth, and so did I. Things became awkward pretty quick as the silence settled itself in our little half-argument in the storage room. Sora wasn't done yet, though.

"That wasn't the only thing that got to me," he exasperated, clutching my hand tighter. Momentarily, I questioned where his girl phobia went. "At first, I wasn't interested, but then I just did because you were just getting on me every single freaking Saturday. How do you think a guy feels when some cute and quirky girl calls him up every single freaking Saturday to go eat somewhere or—I don't know, you know what I'm talking about!"

"Oh," I let out dumbly, not expecting him to spill everything. I did not suspect any of the things he was saying; everything was all news to me.

"Then I felt hella lame because we only went to fix my girl problem, so I didn't want to do it anymore. I felt like some stupid loser, so I called it quits."

"Wait, who was the girl you liked? I thought you said you only quit because—"

"The girl I like is you, you freaking idiot," he interrupted, voice cracking in embarrassment as he laid all the cards on the table. "I hinted it so much. I hinted it, but you just didn't get it! I got contacts because you said I would look good in them and all. Then you just talked to me as if you were sending me away to the other girls I had no interest in. You made me go crazy."

"Wait, you hinted? If you did, you did a horrible job." Sorry, I couldn't help saying it. "All I got from you was agitation and anger."

"There were reasons why. Maybe because one, I heard the most depressing words ever during a certain day in the cafeteria." Oops, shit. "My crush thought I was doing all the contacts and clothes to woo other girls or something when I was trying to woo her. I got jealous over that Riku guy because he was way too touchy with you. And I was too shy to even talk to you sometimes, so you can say I was both angry at situation and myself. But I was never angry at you. And holy moly, what do you mean I did a horrible job at hinting? What kind of guy willingly holds hands with some random girl every freaking Saturday?"

Oh damn, he had a point.

"And I actually thought you liked me too, since it seemed pretty obvious, but then you would show signs that you didn't, and it just got me all messed up. It really messed me up when you mentioned that whole 'Mr. Popular' thing. If anything, I just wanted you to notice me, not everyone else."

"Xion?"

He frowned. "Why are you mentioning her?"

"I thought you liked her."

"And where did you get that garbanzo from?"

When I found out I had no basis to my conclusion, I laughed nervously.

"Nevermind..."

Sora sighed before letting me go, causing me to miss his warmth already.

"You gave me a hard time, but I didn't mean to cut you off like that. I'm sorry if it really bothered you."

"It did."

"...Are you still angry?"

I shook my head—of course I wasn't. When I realized again that everything Sora said to me was a full blown-out confession, I flushed a deep red as I felt the heat come off of my cheeks. Seeing my reaction, he did the same and turned around to face the wall and away from me. "Now you made me say the most embarrassing things ever that I never planned to say. I was planning to confess to you when I was ready, but not like this. Not at all like this."

Wanting to face him, I grabbed him by the arm and turned him around. Immediately his hand shot up so that he could hold the packet to cover his face again.

"Let me see you."

"It's embarrassing."

"Sora." At the tone of my voice, he hesitantly lowered it down. I took the packet out of his hands and dropped it on the floor—we wouldn't be needing that anytime soon.

"Kairi," he half-whispered, eyebrows knitted slightly. I smiled at him.

"Hi." My heart was thumping in my chest rapidly. I gazed into his eyes, which were so blue with swirling emotions. However, I couldn't quite see them in its fullness. "Can I take off your glasses?" I didn't want to be mean and suddenly rip it off his face again.

"Yeah," he consented shakily.

Slowly, I took it off the bridge of his nose and folded the legs. Without disconnecting eye contact, Sora gradually took it within his hold, but not without leaning down at the same time to close the distance between us.

"You're bold."

"I mean, I don't really have contacts on, so," he pressed his forehead onto mines, "I gotta be this close to see your pretty face."

"We're in a storage room," I whispered. He smiled.

"Yeah, I guess that's kind of weird."

"And your girl phobia—"

"Long gone when I met you."

"Really?"

"Your brute force scared it away."

I rolled my eyes.

"Want to prove it?"

To make sure he knew what I was hinting towards, I took a thumb and ran it across his lips with one swipe. I could feel him shudder slightly from my touch, which fueled me even more. He hesitantly slipped a hand under my hair, gently caressed my neck, and traveled up to cup my cheek. My heart rate was now pumping to the maximum without me dying as his eyes unconsciously darted from my eyes to my lips.

"But we're in a storage room," he said playfully, repeating my words. I shrugged.

"I don't really care. I mean, do you care?" Our lips were just brushing each other before he gave me another heart-melting smile.

"Not really," he said before he finally closed the gap between us. My breath went away as he kissed me fully on the mouth, meshing our lips together like lock and key. He pulled me tantalizingly close to him by the waist, securing me in an embrace I never wanted to escape from. Naturally, I slipped my arms around his neck and pulled him impossibly closer, kissing him back just as messily. I could feel him lose it with the way I ran my hands through his hair. It felt great.

"I like you, Sora," I managed to murmur in between our hot exchange. I felt him smile in our kiss.

"Finally."

~.~.~

"By the way, why the heck did you even write that in my homework packet?" I asked as we walked around the university together, hand in hand. "Did you do it on purpose?"

Sora just smiled.

"I told you the professor doesn't check our work."


Hey guys, this is just a oneshot I've always had. I decided to really edit it (since I don't really have time to actually write/update anything currently) and publish it! Please, please, leave reviews on how you think about this fanfic c: It's pretty long for a oneshot, so hopefully it didn't bore your guts out! Thank you, thank you c: