Here's chapter two, hopefully this chapter will give you some insights on what our lovely couple is thinking.

Chapter 2: Bound by true love and tested by fate

"Stupid Darien, he doesn't know the first thing about me," Serena huffed out loud to herself as she wondered around the rose gardens in the park, her favorite place to just be able to think.

She closed her eyes and let her mind drift. An image of the jerk's infamous smirk swam to the center of her consciousness. The same leer that had her either wanting to kiss those luscious lips or smack the smug smirk right of his face. Her mind wondered to his arms. She remembered with distinct clarity from having been crushed up against his strong, supportive chest from the innumerable times he had stopped her falling flat on the pavement that she couldn't deny the fact that she loved the feeling of his strong arms wrap securely around her.

How could she be thinking such lustful thoughts about him especially in light of the hurtful words he had thrown at her yesterday were a mystery. Regardless of it all she found it hard to suppress the other images that now flooded her head. She recalled the way his eyes lit up when he laughed – which in itself was a rare occurrence, or how his eyes would glaze over momentarily after he took that first sip of his morning coffee. That awful green blazer that he loved and Serena could no longer imagine him without and the way he looked right after he has taken off his motorcycle helmet off. Ruffled and windswept and downright delicious. Serena unknowingly let out a yearnful sigh.

Serena bent over to inhale the fragrance of a blooming red rose and couldn't help but smile at the thought that even the mere scent of roses reminded her of Darien. He carried a unique scent of roses that trailed him everywhere. How could she hate a guy that smelt like roses?

Serena laughed out loud at that thought and than her eyes snapped open when she realized just whom she had been envisaging.

"Oh, please. Anyone but him. I can't be falling in love with him."

'But you already have. Ever since the day he called you Meatball head to this present day you've slowly fallen more in love with him every day.' her sub-conscious answered.

"No way! He is such a jerk; he can't even remember my name!"

"Talking to your self again Meatball head?"

Serena yelped and twisted round to face the man she was just arguing with herself about. "Speak of the devil."

Darien laughed and self-consciously ran his fingers through his hair.

"Why are you here?"

He shrugged, "You know the park is a public place meatball head. Contrary to what your inflated ego might think I am not stalking you."

Serena snorted in derision.

Darien smiled wryly, "Truthfully though, I don't know, I just felt something calling me here,"

"Yeah, someone's telling you to jump into the lake and drown yourself,"

"But if I did Meatball head I know you would miss me too much,"

Serena snorted and shook her head firmly, "In your dreams maybe,"

"Bite me,"

"Eww, gross who knows what kind of germs are crawling all over you,"

Darien shrugged his shoulders, "Probably the same ones crawling all over you,"

After a beat he looked at her suddenly. His face had drawn serious. His cerulean eyes were intense before he quietly said, "Hey look Meatball head, about what I said at the arcade yesterday afternoon…"

Serena stared at him in disbelief, was he actually apologizing? Her heart started to thump hard against her breastbone.

"Well I guess I'm sorry."

She waited for him to elaborate but when he didn't she burst out with, "That's it? Darien you are an inscrutable jerk. Why do I put up with you every single day?" Serena asked looking up towards the sky, searching for a divine answer.

He breathed a sigh of relief that the apologizing part was over and let the watery insult slid down his back. Instead he answered her question.

"It's my charmingly devastating good looks and alluring mysterious attitude,"

"No that's not it. Hmm. I really do believe it's your annoying egotistical attitude that cinches it for me."

Darien gasped at Serena's statement and managed to look appropriately wounded. "And here I thought for the past three years I had been wooing you over,"

"I feel really sorry for the girl that falls in love with you," Serena declared suddenly after staring at Darien for what seemed like a decade.

"Well, I don't have high hopes for the poor sod that catches your heart either."

And so the ball was thrown up again and the two bantered and teased one another until they finally found themselves out on the grass laughing so hard that their stomachs physically hurt.

Serena looked at Darien in amazement when he let out another bellyaching laugh. His shoulders shook so forcibly that it gave the appearance like he was having a seizure. It astounded Serena the transformation in his face alone what a few laughs could do to soften his otherwise hardened demeanor. For once he didn't look like the man Serena knew, the one who was quick to tease her and often made her cry. Instead she saw the man she was already falling for.

Darien slowly realized that Serena wasn't laughing any more and looked into Serena's soft blue eyes and he smiled in response. Absentmindedly he tucked a lose strand of hair behind her ear. His simple touch shot a spark down to her toes. She sucked in a deep breath. She could tell by the weary look that had suddenly entered Darien's eyes that he had felt it too.

"What's happening?" Serena whispered mostly to herself.

"I don't know, but it feels good…right," Darien answered in the same hushed tone.

Serena felt her heart swell and at the same time felt a growing careen of emotion wash through her. It felt like her mind was pushing to expand outside her own thoughts. It was like she was trapped in a clear bubble. She could see through it but she couldn't break free from it. If only she could reach out just a little bit more. There was something just out of her grasp. Something she needed to attain. If only she could stretch out to her mind just a little bit more.

Darien suddenly jerked away. His face carried that shuttered look that over the years Serena had grown to despise. He quickly stood up and brushed off the seat of his pants before stammering a quick goodbye and disappearing from Serena's view.

Serena was left flabbergasted, her own thoughts muddled up. She suddenly felt empty and desolate. The warm glow that had filled her once Darien had arrived was suddenly gone and she was once again left alone with her own thoughts.

She realized then just how close she and Darien were and what it might have seemed to the people in the park. Darien was twenty-one and in the eyes of the law she was still a minor. If someone found out he could have been reported. But she didn't think that was what made Darien recoil like he was burnt. Serena sighed and stood up brushing herself down. There was no other way to describe it, without Darien's company she felt drained and exhausted. With no other reason to keep lingering in the rose gardens she quietly left in the opposite direction to the way Darien had gone.

As Darien hurried out of the park like the bats of hell were upon him. He mentally gave himself a firm set down. What in the world was he bloody thinking? Teasing Serena was one thing but laughing and rolling around on the ground was another. For one thing, he was much too old for her and she was far too young for him.

He knew though, that in the past two hours that he had spent in the younger girls' company, the barriers he had valiantly put up since he was a child; had broken down faster than he could put back up again. He could feel someone or something probing his mind, searching for something he didn't want or know how to give.

His heart was pulling him one-way and his mind the other. His heart screamed "Mine!" whilst his mind whispered "No."

Darien was torn. Serena was everything that Darien could've dreamt of, everything that anybody could have hoped for. She had proven on countless times that she possessed a big, generous heart that always sought the good in other people. She was nothing short of awe-inspiring. There was something that mesmerized her to him but yet perhaps it was her innate goodness that made him turn her away from him. He didn't deserve her. He was cold and reserved while she was nothing but warmth and goodness. Yet despite all his convictions there still remained an aching pain in his chest that he instinctively knew only she could fill.

When he had brushed her hair away from her face all his thoughts had been centered on her succulent lips that looked like they were just right for kissing and nibbling. He wanted nothing more than to have reached over and pressed his mouth against hers.

'She's too young Darien. She doesn't think of you that way. Give up now while you still can,' His mind taunted him.

"He is already trapped. Can't you feel the love that he feels for her? The desperation to protect her and the desire to kiss her" His heart fought back.

'Emotions are dubious. It is better for the mind to make the best judgments when it comes to matters such as these.' His brain shot back.

"You idiot. With love you don't think, you feel,"

'Darien, you know what happened last time you opened your heart. You got hurt and you still mourn,' His unforgiving mind reminded cruelly.

"Life is all about losing and gaining. You get hurt a lot but with love it's worth the risk,"

'No its not, happiness lasts for a mere fleeting second but pain remains behind forever,'

"Shut up! Just shut up. I feel so empty and so exhausted. Please just leave me alone," Darien finally screamed out loud. He didn't recall the actual walk back to his apartment but suddenly he found himself flopped on his sofa.

"I do love her," Darien muttered before sleep finally came over him.

OK that's chapter 2! It's a bit longer with both sides of the story. I'll go into even more depth next chapter and the prophecy. Keep it cool my peeps!