kaleidoscopic
Hatsune Miku took in a deep breath before she turned the doorknob, timidly pushing the door open. She peeked outside, heaving a sigh of relief when she realised that the living room was empty. Thankful for a moment of peace, she finally slipped out of her room.
He must have gone out. She didn't know where, and she didn't want to know either – she was just glad that he was leaving her alone. Again, she wondered how she had managed to end up in such a situation. She shook her head ruefully, pouring herself a glass of water in the kitchen and grabbing a bag of chips from her snack stash above the stove. She was getting a little hungry locked up in her room, but she didn't want to risk dealing with him – it was only when the hunger became too much to bear that she decided to come out at all.
She ripped the bag of chips open, grabbing an entire handful and stuffing them in her mouth. She let out a quiet moan of bliss – after six hours of not eating a thing, the salty flavour of baked potato chips tasted like heaven on her tongue. Setting down the bag of chips, she washed her cup in the sink and placed it carefully on the rack before picking up her food again, and heading back to her room. She had an assignment to rush out, and the deadline was coming closer and closer – she could ill afford to be distracted right now.
As she made her way across the living room, humming happily to herself – she hadn't felt so free in ages, despite the looming deadline she was facing – she suddenly heard the faint sound of metal keys jangling, and her heart abruptly dropped all the way to her feet. She stiffened up, head turning slightly towards the door – she could hear someone inserting a key into the lock, and before long that front door would be swinging open. Panicking, she tried to scurry back into her room before he could come in, but in her haste, she tripped over the edge of the carpet and fell, the bag of chips flying out of her hands. Bits of potato fell everywhere, and she groaned in despair, her earlier good mood completely shattered.
"Oh, I see the little brat finally decided to leave her room," a snide voice snaked across the living room into her ear. She flinched at the sound of that voice – like a dagger draped in silk, his velvet voice dripped with poison. There was no denying that he could sound nice when he wanted to, just that he never bothered to do so around her. "I thought you were dead in there, you were so quiet. Not that I'd be complaining if you really offed yourself."
She got up from the floor, brushing off her knees as she shot the newcomer a nasty glare. Kagamine Len glared right back at her, carrying two bags of groceries in each hand. He was wearing his thick winter coat and a woollen scarf, a black beanie jammed over his bright blond hair. She could barely see his face given how wrapped up he was, but there was no mistaking the sharp gleam of distaste that shone clearly in his deep blue eyes. She couldn't stand him, nor he her. "I wouldn't get your hopes up, Kagamine," she said sarcastically, hoping that he wouldn't be able to sense the tremor of fear that ran through her body. No matter how many times she interacted with him, she couldn't help but feel a little afraid.
He rolled his eyes, setting down his groceries and unwrapping the scarf from around his neck. Off came the beanie next, and then the winter coat, which he tossed carelessly onto the clothes rack beside the door. She took advantage of his momentary lapse in attention to scramble around the floor, picking up the fallen potato chips – the last thing she wanted was to give him yet another reason to pick on her. She wrapped the broken bits in some tissue, tossing them into the wastepaper basket next to the coffee table. Len watched her with an idle, almost poisonous kind of interest. "So, the clumsy oaf spilled some food again. Marvellous. As though the previous time we got an ant infestation wasn't enough for you."
"Can you just shut the hell up, Kagamine?" she growled, mourning a little when she found her bag of potato chips was now three-quarters empty. Half of it had already been just air, and another quarter of it was now in bits and pieces all over the floor. She'd have to vacuum the carpet later to ensure that she got rid of all the chips. "No wonder you don't have any girlfriend. It'd be a miracle if anyone other than Rin could stand your foul mouth."
Len rolled his eyes. "Oh, you shut up too, Hatsune," he snapped. "We both know that my relationship status is more a result of choice rather than me being unable to find someone. Which is more than can be said for you," he added pointedly, staring at her outfit. She felt the sudden urge to wrap her arms around herself and protect her clothes from his scrutiny. She knew she definitely didn't look her best – she was dressed in her favourite old pair of pyjamas, which were patchy in some places and worn-out in the rest. It was the kind of clothing that Len, the boy always clad head-to-toe in designer wear, would never be caught dead in. Even his sleepwear was fancy. She had seen his laundry enough times to know.
"Yeah, because all you have is an entire fan base of gold-diggers," she seethed, trying to ruffle his feathers. No matter what she said, he never seemed to care. She could hurl the worst insults she could think of at his face and he would just shrug it off, as though her opinion didn't matter to him in the slightest – and in truth, it probably didn't. Why would it? Kagamine Len, the son of the founder of Kagamine Corps, was one of the wealthiest people in their university. He hardly had to care about her insults. She knew she was just a nobody compared to him.
In fact, if Len's father had not been good friends with her own parents, she wouldn't even have met him, and they definitely wouldn't be living together. Her parents were fairly well-off, certainly wealthy enough to send her to the prestigious university she was now studying at without facing significant financial stress, but she had been concerned about housing since she did not intend to live in the university dormitories. Len's parents had been the ones who suggested that she move in with their son, an arrangement which took a great deal of persuasion for her to agree to. She had never been fond of the heir to the multinational company that was Kagamine Corps. In her opinion, he was nothing but a stuck-up brat.
His twin sister, Kagamine Rin, was the exact opposite of her brother – amiable, friendly and down-to-earth. But she was studying in an art school on the other side of the country, so it was impossible for Miku to constantly meet up with her friend to rant about said friend's irritating twin brother. Len was a constant reminder of Rin – they looked so similar that one look was enough to tell that they were twins. Rin was simply a shorter, more feminine version of Len. They had the same bright blond hair, the same deep blue eyes, the same angular bone structure, the same long, slender fingers…they were similar in so many ways.
But Len had a snarky, almost sinister kind of smile that his twin sister didn't have. It made her so uncomfortable, because it felt like the heir was always plotting something. As usual, Len ignored her jibe, running his fingers through his hair and shaking out the blond locks. He had hair that was slightly longer than his sister's pixie cut, long enough for him to tie up into a ponytail. He hadn't bothered tying it today, and the tousled locks framed his face in a way that screamed 'too-busy-to-bother-but-I-know-I-look-good-anyway'. She was jealous. She took ages to tame her long teal hair every morning, whereas Len could literally roll out of bed and walk out of the door with bedhead, and everyone would just think he was some kind of amazing trendsetter. Life was just unfair like that, but what else could she do?
"I got some groceries since someone kept staying home and eating all the food, so I'll just leave them here and you can go sort them out," Len yawned, tugging on the collar of his shirt. She glared balefully at said shirt – it was a plain, dark grey tee, but she bet that it cost more than her weekly allowance. Maybe even monthly. "I have lots of things to do now and appointments to set up tonight, so don't bother me. Run along and do whatever it is that plebeians like you do in your free time," he waved his hand, ignoring her splutter.
"Um, who are you calling a plebeian –" she shouted at his back, but he simply slammed his door shut and she found herself yelling at a closed door. She gritted her teeth, incredibly annoyed, but went ahead and looked through the groceries he had bought back anyway. She couldn't just leave them on the living room floor, especially not if he had purchased perishables like milk or cheese, which he might have since she was aware they were running low on milk. This was more or less the arrangement they had come up with – she would cook meals for the both of them, and he would get groceries when they were running low.
"One day, I'll make you regret everything you said to me," she muttered quietly as she looked through the bags. Well, at least he had bought everything they needed – he might be a spoilt brat, but he knew enough about how to survive on his own to not need a step-by-step guide to buying groceries. She couldn't help but suspect that Len saw her as a live-in maid, but at least she could stay in this house without paying anyone rent – which did kind of make her his servant, right? She shook her head, determined not to think about it.
Kagamine Len hated Hatsune Miku. Not because she was an innately hateful person – no, certainly nothing like that. Even he could realise that she really was…well, for lack of a better word, sweet. Perhaps not to him, but to her other friends, yes. She was a genuine girl who was trying her best to succeed in life, and she didn't have the wealth his family had.
She was doing pretty okay for someone who wasn't very rich, he had to admit. Though her clothes sometimes bordered on distasteful – you'd think someone who was good friends with his twin sister would know how to dress better – she was a sensible, diligent student the professors favoured, and her patience with him was pretty astounding. She may have been snappy, she may have lost her temper with him once or twice, but she never did so without provocation. He was the one who was fond of testing her limits, pushing her to see how much it would take before she lost control of herself. He loved testing her control.
Len hated her because the girl had no idea what she was doing to him, and he had no idea how to deal with his emotions. All his life he was raised to believe that he could only date another girl who belonged to his social class, simply because that was expected of him. He was the son of the head of an international conglomerate. He was raised his entire life in the eye of the press, his every action scrutinised by cameras and journalists. He gave regular interviews to tabloids and magazines. He attended galas and charity dinners, he hosted important businessmen when his father was unable to be present, he had been groomed from his very birth to succeed his father as the head when it was time for him to retire.
And his entire life, he had been told repeatedly that his partner would have to be someone used to the same life he was accustomed to, because there was no way a normal girl would be able to withstand the pressure of celebrity life. It would ruin them, he was told, and that was what he believed. The pressure almost certainly broke him. Sometimes, he would lie awake in his bed at night and wonder what life would be like if he had been a regular boy, not someone dealing in millions and billions of dollars ever since the age of sixteen.
Kagamine Len had been brought into the business world young. Even now, at the tender age of nineteen, he was already assisting his father with business meetings, contract signings and other more tedious, administrative duties that accompanied the glitz and glamour of a rich man's life. So, he was slightly bitter that his sister's friend got away with all that, with her dull dressing and her simple desires and her sole wish to do well in school. He wished he could enjoy the same kind of stupid, innocent lifestyle she had, but he knew he never could because that simply was not his fate. He was his father's son, and he had no other choice.
Rin could afford to escape their hectic family business and go to art school because she was a girl, and their parents were more lenient on her future career path than they were with him. He was the younger twin, but the one who faced the most pressure. He couldn't take it out on his sister, so he lashed out at the next alternative he had – his sister's close friend. It was a cowardly, pathetic thing to do, and he hated himself and her both for that, but the acidic feelings wouldn't subside no matter how much he told himself that he was wrong.
Though it was more than just that. Even in her dowdy clothes, Hatsune Miku was beautiful. She didn't even know that she was though, which was the most innocent, charming thing about her. Unlike the other rich socialites who paraded their looks around him, sending him sultry stares and soft whispers when they thought they got his attention, Miku was a girl who would rather wear her hair in braids and hide her face behind a book than get close to any guy. It was a very refreshing change, even from the other girls in university who were more likely to party their weekends away than get anything productive done. Len grudgingly respected Miku's work ethic, though he would never admit this to her out loud. It would kill him and his pride if he complimented her just a little bit, so he knew that he never could.
He exhaled through his nose, tapping his pen impatiently against his planner. The sleek, black leather-bound planner lay there, blank and waiting, almost as though mocking him. He couldn't help but feel like he was forgetting some important appointment, but there was nothing written in the pages of his planner and he couldn't, for the life of him, remember what he might be forgetting. Was it his birthday? It was entirely possible, since he never could be bothered to remember things as frivolous as people's birthdays…but checking the calendar one more time, he knew that couldn't be it. His birthday wasn't for another month.
Len needed a break. He had been working at this report for the past hour and he was cranky and tired. The earlier trip to the grocery store had brought some relief, but that relief was now gone and he was back to staring at financial charts and business plans. He needed to get started on his own homework, but he knew that it would take less than an hour to get his essay done – the things he was expected to do in school were ridiculously easy. He had to wonder why he decided to study business when he practically lived and breathed this every day. There was nothing the school could teach him which he didn't already know.
"Dinner's ready," there was a knock on the door and he heard a familiar, feminine voice calling for him. His lips twitched. No matter how much he riled her up daily, she would never forget to tell him when it was time to eat. Maybe she was just being foolishly kind, or maybe she thought that being nice to him might encourage him to bully her less. He would expect the latter. Miku was anything but strong – he could always tell, no matter how loud she was or how harshly she spoke, that she was nervous about talking to him. It was so obvious.
"Coming," he called back, pushing away from his desk and rising from his chair. Ruffling his fingers through his hair one last time, he straightened his shirt and went out of the room, flicking the light switch off as he did. Miku was in the kitchen, carrying plates of food out to the dining room, and he quietly went to help her – he was hungry, he told himself, and he was helping her because this would let him eat faster. It wasn't because he actually wanted to help her out of the kindness of his heart. He was not kind. Businessmen were not kind.
Miku gave him a look of surprise when he intercepted her and lifted the bowl of soup for her, but she didn't object. Instead, she went to collect the cutlery, and together they went to the dining area, the warm light overhead illuminating the spread in a soft glow. Miku was undeniably a good cook, which was one of the few positive things he could say about her. It appeared that tonight, she had made grilled chicken thigh with rosemary seasoning, miso soup and creamy spinach. It was extremely appetising, and as the tantalising scent of the food wafted up to his nose, his stomach growled quietly. Miku heard, and he didn't miss the faint smile that crossed her face, but he ignored her and sat, silently tucking into his meal.
He scarfed the food down, too hungry to think about his table manners – he hadn't realised how hungry he was until he ate his first bite. Miku ate delicately, just as quietly as he did – she would never speak to him unless it was absolutely necessary, for fear of setting off his acidic tongue. He ate until he felt reasonably satisfied, then grabbed a tissue and wiped his mouth clean, carefully studying his dining companion as he tidied himself up. Miku was still eating, though she kept her eyes focused on the food instead of looking up at him.
The gentle curve of her neck as she bent her lips towards her fork was mesmerising. Her fair skin glowed in the warm light. Her teal hair, which she had pinned up while cooking in the kitchen, was beginning to come loose, and faint wisps of fringe were now curling over her forehead. Her green eyes were intently fixed on her plate of food, as though she might perhaps find the meaning of life in the leftover bones on the ceramic. She was a lovely girl, and that was something he would never deny, at least not to himself. But that was part of why he hated her so much. Because he was horribly attracted to her, and he couldn't have her. What could he do to push away that unwanted attraction? Be mean to her, that's what.
If she hated him, then nothing would ever happen between them, and he could graduate and leave this school with no baggage to bear. It was not for the sake of sparing her feelings, but rather his own. Len was in no way sentimental enough to care about her emotions, when he already had such tenuous control over his. The best thing he could do, honestly, was to just move out of the house, but this building was in one of the best locations available near their university, and there was no way he would compromise on his own comfort just to avoid a girl who really meant nothing to him. They didn't even like each other.
Miku accidentally glanced up from her plate as she reached out to take another bowl of soup, and her breath caught – Len was staring intently at her, and for once there was no hint of hatred in his gaze. She thought she must be dreaming, for she never imagined that it was ever possible for Kagamine Len to regard her with anything besides a general disdain – but when Len continued to stare at her with that strangely penetrating gaze he had, she found that she had to look away, and she began eating at twice her original speed. His blue eyes were making her feel uncomfortable, and she wanted to go back to hiding in her room. Her room was the only safe haven she had in this entire house, and she treasured it greatly.
"I'll do the dishes," she heard him say, and she thought that she was hearing things now. She glanced up again, shocked, and saw that he was looking at her perfectly seriously, his fingers laced together to form a steeple. "I do know how to use a dishwasher, despite what you might believe. And even I know when to thank someone for an excellent meal, no matter who was the person doing the cooking. So, think of this as my gesture of gratitude – by no means does this indicate that I will do the same thing in the future," he barked.
Now that self-entitled snappishness sounded a lot more like the Kagamine Len she knew and couldn't stand. "Sure, do whatever you want," she muttered, still a little startled by his unexpected offer. She heard a faint chuckle, and couldn't believe that Len was finding any humour at all in this situation – but before she could say anything to him, he pushed away from the dining table and turned away from her, in the direction of his room. Before he started walking away though, he glanced back at her, sly humour dancing in his gaze.
"Let me know when you're done, Hatsune. Though given the rate at which you're eating your share, school would be over by the time you've cleaned off your plate," he grinned. It wasn't a very pleasant grin. She gaped at him, and by the time she could think of anything resembling a coherent response, he was back in his room, and the door had slammed shut.
Nowadays, Miku was avoiding Len for very different reasons than before. He was making her genuinely uncomfortable now. In the past, she avoided him because she knew that just showing her face before him would unleash an entire torrent of jibes and borderline cruel teasing, but nowadays…she had to wonder if Len had contracted some sort of illness.
For one thing, she definitely wasn't used to those penetrating blue eyes following her no matter where she went. And she definitely wasn't used to Kagamine Len holding perfectly normal, reasonable conversations with her that miraculously didn't devolve into all-out petty catfights. Maybe he had a near-death experience or something which convinced him to be a bit kinder to her, and she would normally be grateful for such a change in their relationship were it not for the fact that it was just…downright strange! She didn't want to complain about something she had been dreaming of for ages, but there was just something so unnatural about his abrupt change in attitude that she couldn't help but wonder.
Now, she could feel his piercing gaze on her again as she shifted from side to side, trying her best to read her textbook. She was curled up on the couch because she found her room to be slightly unconducive – she recently received an entire shipment of snacks and books from her parents, and the parcels were all still lying unpacked in her room at the moment, which generally made for an extremely distracting work environment. But studying out in the open like this made her feel very exposed, even vulnerable, especially when Len was just sitting there in the armchair opposite her, reading his own book, not saying a word.
She wasn't sure if he really was reading or if he was just pretending, because every time she dropped her gaze to her text, she swore she sensed those dark blue eyes piercing right through her. She was never able to catch him in the act of staring, but she was sure she wasn't just overthinking, and the more she thought about it, the more she wanted to bolt back to the safety of her room. Yet, at the same time she couldn't just abandon her work, and she knew there was no way she would be productive with her room in such a mess.
The past few days were tense, but it was a very different kind of tension. More than once or twice she had caught his gaze lingering on her face, on her hands, on her legs – basically on parts of her body where he had no business looking. Wasn't he the one who said that she had all the sex appeal of a cactus? Where had that statement gone, then? She blushed at the thought – or maybe Len really was getting frustrated with his singlehood. He hadn't had a girlfriend, or at least none that she knew of, in four years. Who knew what was going through his head? Maybe he had finally realised she was female. But she really didn't want that.
"Something on your mind, Hatsune?" his voice made her jump. She dropped her book in surprise, gaze flitting to him. Len was leaning back in the armchair, his book on his lap, watching her the way a snake might watch a cornered mouse. She swallowed, unsure how she was supposed to navigate this situation. Once again, she berated herself for moving into the same house as the Kagamine heir. This self-punishment happened on a very regular basis, but nowadays there was less and less conviction in her mental scolding, which made her afraid. Did that mean she was starting to not mind constantly being under his thumb?
"No, nothing," she muttered, scrambling to pick up her book again, hiding her face behind the cover. Len laughed. It was a rich, velvety sound, none of its usual poison dripping from it, and she gaped at him, unwillingly enchanted by the sound of his laughter. Why did he have to be so good-looking when he was downright evil? She had always known that he was handsome, but it was only recently that she really paid attention to that, and she was pretty sure that it was something to do with his weird behaviour. It was flustering her greatly.
"I know when you're lying," he whispered, rising from his chair, approaching her slowly, with all the languid grace of a feline predator. "We've lived together for slightly over two years by now, and I know you better than you think I do. I had to study you, you know. Figure out how to make you tick," he was getting way too close now, and she retreated back into the couch, her heart beating rapidly. There was a feeling of tightness in her stomach, and she wasn't sure if it was due to fear or some other, more anticipatory kind of emotion.
"You're getting too close," her voice came out as a breathy whisper. The book fell from her hands, forgotten, as the boy leant over her, one hand pressed to the back of the couch on either side of her head. He was so close to her that she could smell the familiar scent of his cologne – a light, almost floral kind of fragrance that was both enigmatic and masculine. Her mind was utterly confused. This was not how things between her and Len were supposed to go. For the two years she had known him, his pattern had remained consistent, never deviating from the cycle of malicious teasing and angry tears she had gotten used to.
"Am I?" he answered, tilting his head, something almost mocking in the way he spoke. She bit her lip, wondering if she should try to squirm free by ducking underneath his arm, but as though he could sense her intention, he suddenly seized her shoulder, making her yelp in surprise. "Things are changing around here, Hatsune – and I'm sure that even someone as thick as you would be capable of seeing that. I don't think my sister told you yet, since she knows how we're like, and she was right to keep her mouth shut. But I'll tell you now," his other hand reached down to trace her cheek, and she flinched, shocked by the action.
"I think you're ill," she answered, her words a vague mumble. She wasn't sure if she was dreaming or not. He had been acting strangely the past few days, but she never thought that it would reach this stage. He was actually touching her now, and it wasn't in the brief, brusque ways she was used to – Len was more apt to watch her fall down the stairs than to reach out and save her from slipping. And whenever he did touch her, his hands were hard and rough, almost enough to bruise, but not quite. He was never – had never been – gentle.
"Am I?" he repeated. She bit her lip, but kept her mouth shut this time, refusing to rise up to his bait if he happened to be baiting her. His thumb traced a line from her cheek to her jaw. "Yes, I don't think I've ever mentioned it…" he studied her, then he gave her a thin smile, one so insincere that it was almost empty. "My parents have arranged for me to marry the daughter of a property mogul. Since it's been so long since I've dated anyone worthy of my time, they decided to step in and take matters into their own hands. And my wedding is due once I graduate from university, in two years. There's no way for me to protest against this."
She blinked in shock – Len? Engaged to someone? She never knew that parents were still capable of arranging marriages for their children this way – wasn't this something that only happened in…other countries? Not in a place like this, and certainly not for people like Len. But then again, what did she know of the customs of the rich? More importantly, she had no idea why Kagamine Len was telling this to her, of all people. In what way did he think that this piece of news would be of any interest to her? She could hardly care at all about what he did with his personal life, as long as he didn't interfere in hers, and didn't mistreat her.
But she couldn't just say that she didn't care. He was Rin's younger brother – someone who harassed her nonstop at every single opportunity he got, but still someone she grudgingly cared about, just a little. She wouldn't be cooking for him or talking to him if she didn't care at all. It was simply in her very nature to care – she was warm-hearted, and she hated to see another person suffer. Kagamine Len probably couldn't cook to save his own life, and though she loathed to be his personal chef, she didn't want to see him trying to survive on a lifetime supply of instant ramen. "And what does that mean for you, then?" she asked.
Another thin smile. "What that means for me?" he echoed. "A marriage to a girl I would never love. A marriage of convenience, I guess you could describe it. But what can I say? I was meant to be the head of a multinational company, a position that others would kill for. I'm hardly in a place where I can complain about how unfair my life is," he continued, his thumb still resting lightly against her jaw. He had lovely fingers, the slender fingers of a pianist, and she wondered if he actually could play the piano. He probably could. She frowned, pulling away slightly from him, and he did not protest, much to her relief. But his hand remained there.
"Why can't you fall in love with her? You haven't even met her," Miku reasoned, part of her wondering why she was even entertaining him in the first place. She didn't have time for any of this – she had to finish reading her assigned readings and get to work. Len's personal family drama was none of her business, but she couldn't help but feel slightly sorry for him. If she was in a position where she was forced to marry someone she didn't even know, she didn't think she'd be in the best of moods either. Maybe it was the knowledge of his recent engagement which made Len behave so strangely lately – this actually explained a lot.
He gave her a sharp look. "Who says that I've never met her?" he retorted. She clamped her mouth shut – true, he never did mention that the girl was a stranger. "I know her, and I've known her for a long time. She's a gold-digger in the truest sense of the word. I know that she only has her eyes set on my money and fame, possibly my looks as well, I don't know. And there's no way I could fall in love with someone who only sees the benefits of being with me, when they look at me," he declared, narrowing his eyes. She felt like she was being drowned in their depths, he was so close to her. "Surely even you would agree with that."
She was affronted by the implication that she would support his money-loving, power-hungry fiancée rather than him – she may not be too fond of Kagamine Len, but she stuck fast to her morals and, even for his case, she would not think otherwise. "Yes, I agree with that," she tried not to sound too snappy, guessing that he wasn't in a very good mood at the moment. "Can't you convince your parents to call off the engagement? It's still your life, no matter how closely tied you are to Kagamine Corps. And your parents must love you."
Len rolled his eyes, and she was quite tempted to punch him in the face. It would be very satisfying, she was sure, but at the same time she didn't dare. "Yes, they love me, but they also love their business. I think it was a difficult decision for them to make, to basically sell off their only son, and no amount of arguing will change my father's mind. He's as stubborn as a dead log," he muttered. "I can live with that, really. I'm in a foul mood because of this news, but over time I'll get used to the idea. There's just one thing that I really want to do though, because I know once I graduate and I'm stuck with that hag, I won't have the liberty to do as I wish any longer. University is a pleasant escape from the lens of the paparazzi."
She frowned at his cryptic words. "What are you saying?" she questioned, forgetting about the fact that she was still trapped between Len and the couch. His hand suddenly touched her again, this time seizing her chin between three fingers and forcing her to look into his eyes. She swallowed. There was something unreadable in that dark blue gaze – he was so carefully blank that she couldn't even begin to guess what he might be thinking. But then he opened his mouth, and her thoughts fell silent, her heart racing away furiously in her chest.
"I'm saying that I intend to make full use of my remaining two years, pursuing someone I now know for certain cannot be mine," he held her gaze for a few seconds longer as she wondered whether he meant who she guessed he might be referring to – and in the very next moment, he leant closer, and suddenly his lips met hers. And her world stopped.