Author's notes: I am so sorry for the extremely long delay, people! I have no idea why I stopped updating this fanfic, especially since a lot of y'all really like it. I guess it was because I was either very lazy and/or had writer's block. I'd say it was the latter. Anyway, I apologize once again, and I hope that this chapter will be satisfying for your taste ^_^ I also re-edited and revised chapters 1 & 2, so now they are kind of different, but have the same plot nonetheless. So I really suggest everyone should re-read them, since I also have added and deleted some of the parts. And sorry if this chapter is too short. I wanted to end it the way I did and couldn't figure out what else to put in between. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: Don't own anything. Final Fantasy VIII belongs to Squaresoft.

The Promise in a Kiss

~Chapter 3~

Temporal Contentment

-*****-

The dark sky blazed gracefully with millions of bright stars covering the horizon. These tiny balls of fire burning billions of miles away were nothing compared to the happiness reflecting in a young woman's beaming eyes. She was absolutely manipulated by the masses of holler and applause. All this was directed towards one person.

Her.

Rinoa Heartilly had never felt so elated in her entire life. Not one person in the ample ballroom hadn't acknowledged the outstanding voice and performance she had revealed a few moments earlier. Her good friend, Selphie, was cheering wildly as the luminous teenager bowed and thanked the crowd. After doing so, she started descending the small flight of stairs.

Once squeezing in through the large amount of people praising her best bud, Selphie finally managed getting to her.

"Um Selphie, you can let go of me now," Rinoa choked out as the brunette embraced her tightly before letting go.

She grinned. "See Rinny, I told ya you could do it!"

Rinoa smiled shyly before replying. "Well, yeah, I guess. I didn't think people were going to like me that much. I nearly went deaf after all that noise."

Selphie giggled and patted her hand on Rinoa's shoulder. Before she got a chance to speak, her date appeared from behind.

"Hey shorties! Miss me?" the flirty cowboy said as he started taking his fedora off. "Oh and Selphie, your buddy here sure got one hell of a voice. Ain't that right, Rin?" he added before gently stroking Rinoa's hair. She blushed and smiled in return.

Selphie shoved Irvine's arm away from Rinoa's head before answering.

"Yes, Irvy, she does, but that does not mean you have to go touching people in front of your date," she said with a bit of disappointment in her voice.

Irvine smirked and put his arm around his girlfriend's shoulder.

Selphie sighed, defeated, and put her head on his chest. She rolled her eyes playfully and mouthed the word, "men" to a very amused-looking Rinoa.

When Irvine noticed this silent interaction between the two, he put on a sad, yet pathetic looking dogface.

"Are you bootylicious ladies cooking up some kind of scheme against me? Cause—" he was cut off by Selphie grabbing his scalp and engaging him into a passionate kiss. His eyes darted open at first, but then closed in pleasure almost as soon as the sudden surprise came. Irvine was in heaven, and the female standing before the couple was witnessing this fact utterly.

Rinoa shook her head at the couple's affectionate interaction with one another. However, this heated display reminded her of the time she encountered that gorgeous human. She sighed sadly to herself while touching the rings that hung freely on her necklace. She had totally forgotten to look for him while singing on stage. It was already too late to go back on there.

Who knows. Maybe he will show up as a new student to class next Monday.

Selphie interrupted Rinoa's thoughts when she grabbed her hand and excitedly told her that dessert was served. Rinoa agreed to go since her stomach was starving menacingly and therefore demanding food.

Please show up…

-*****-

As the night turned into day and the sun had once again conquered darkness, its powerful ultra-violent rays cost Rinoa Heartilly her awakening through the sole window in her dorm.

The young girl yawned and looked at her alarm clock. It read 7:14 A.M. Rinoa cursed under her breath while rubbing her orbs.

Damn you, Mother Nature.

She got up sluggishly and walked the short distance to the bathroom.

After coming out fully awake, Rinoa's eyes caught something foreign to her, lying reclusively on her wooden desk. She curiously gazed at the white envelope that had her name on it, along with a small note attached.

Rinoa took the note into her hands and read it to herself.

Howdy Rin! I found this envelope lying on the floor of the ballroom last night. It had your name and room number on it so I thought it was like your mail or somethin' like that. A love letter, perhaps? Hee-hee, good luck girl ;) --Irvine, the sexy ladies man.

Rinoa chuckled and reached for the envelope, still wondering who would send mail to her, since she never got any before.

What could this be?

She carefully unfolded the single paper inside after opening the supposed, "love letter" by Irvine.

And once her eyes read the opening line…

She froze.

-*****-

Author's notes: Please review and tell me what you think! I hope I haven't slacked off on my writing skills. And I don't know when I'm gonna post chapter 4 for this fic. I have to figure out in which direction it's going to go, depending on the reviews. I'm also going to go on vacation to Dominican Republic next Sunday (on the 10th) for a week so I dunno when I'll update. Who knows they may have computers with free Internet there lol. Well, see ya!