"Love, I've come to understand, is more than three worlds mumbled before bedtime." - Nicholas Sparks, The Wedding

Chapter 6

"Say it again." That was the first coherent sentence that came out of the heiress' mouth shortly after her lips passionately touched his. Her cheeks felt like they were on the verge of exploding. The insides of her head felt like they were densely mixed up like scrambled eggs. Her body felt like a living furnace, and no, she isn't having a fever. It's almost like she literally lived in the sun. And the funny thing is, no living thing could be strong enough to withstand its practically unlivable heat, yet one stolen kiss from an extremely dense beansprout made her subtly experience it. Strangely, it felt rather calming and exhilarating than painful. Heck, it isn't even painful to begin with.

The heiress was just exaggerating things at a undoubtedly devastating scale.

The black pupils which are imprisoned within her azure blue eyes dilated at a significant level, with the tips of her rich golden locks slightly standing up as if a mild electronic force was statically running through them like barbed wires. She could even feel her mouth drool up like a hungry baby's, much to her embarrassment.

I need to be sure...if he's actually serious about this. Chitoge frantically thought as she patiently waited for the beansprout's response. She would've swore her senses temporarily heightened as the anticipation setting out of her face gradually grew.

She looked a thousand times prettier than usual and he didn't really know what has actually caused it. Could the answer possibly lie within the kiss itself? That's physically impossible. Could it be the lingering rush of euphoria he felt during that particular moment? Such an impulse is characteristically instant, so it's highly improbable. It would most likely be his initial perspective of the adorable blonde after he chose to lock lips with her at the last-minute.

No. That's not it. That's definitely not it. It's because she already looks like that since day one, and he failed to deeply look into it until this very moment.

"Say it again." She blurted out after a series of unfinished words that nervously jutted out of the tip of her tongue. Raku's heart fluttered vigorously as her elegant voice lightly echoed through the shallow depths of his ears. Those reasonably embarrassing words aren't easy for him to just mutter out a second time, but he needed to clarify it to her. Taking the whole thing into consideration, she has every right to hear those important words clearly, without him having to be interrupted by anyone else in the world.

After all, true love knows no boundaries. And this time, he has to do his responsibility to set things right.

He needed to acquire the balls to utter such brief and affectionate words, as well as the courage to gaze at the fair maiden straight in the face without holding anything back.

"I love you." he blurted out as his lips lightly pecked the center of the heiress' forehead with his arms tightly holding onto her now flinching form. Chitoge had the dramatic urge to burst into joyful tears as she continued to unnaturally heat up like the ancient molten peak of Mount Vesuvius. "How many times are you willing to say it?" The heiress heartily chuckled, as her highly anxious tone gradually turned brittle. "As many times as I can." Raku valiantly answered, and this time, he didn't care if he was being too cheesy for her to handle. "I don't care if you'll eventually get tired of hearing it." The beansprout continued with a crooked smile etched on his face.

"Don't be so stupid, unoriginal pig!" At this point, her tired eyes couldn't seem to hold them no longer. Large, transparent tears abruptly flowed out of her watery tear ducts as the heiress continued to chuckle happily regardless of the misplaced gesture. "O-Of course I won't get tired of it!" Her slender body gently quaked, being overwhelmed by all of the strong combinations of emotions rapidly welling up within her rapidly beating heart. "And I will never ever get tired of you!" she sniffed.

"Hey, hey...you don't need to bawl your eyes out. You wouldn't want to get yourself prematurely old, would you?" The beansprout replied with the tone of his voice dipped with sheer concern as he gently wiped her continuously flowing tears with his thumbs. "Shut up! I couldn't stop myself, you know? Hearing those unbelievable words from you makes me extremely happy...try to understand that clearly, okay?"

"Gotcha, I'll take that to heart. By the way, why would you even describe it that way?" Raku calmly asked as he deeply stared into the heiress' stellar and captivating eyes. "W-What do you mean?" Chitoge responded rather innocently as her runny blue eyes immediately reciprocated his dark indigo gaze. "Why would you classify it as 'unbelievable'?" he emphasized. "Basing on your incredibly dull and dense personality, those words were the last I would expect for you, of all people, to say to me." The heiress skittishly puffed her rosy cheeks as she said it. "And hearing you confess to me feels like I've just witnessed the stuff of legend. Oh God, I feel really hopeless!"

"Do you know what else is unbelievable?" The beansprout paused as he waited for her answer. "What? Your confidence?" she meekly chuckled as her tears reduced into small droplets. Stop hurting my dignity as a man! "Hey, I'm plenty confident." Raku brashly muttered. "Show me." she relentlessly taunted. "Tell me." "I would, but I don't think it's the right time for me to say it." he snappishly scratched his tepid cheek whilst shying away from her prolonged and innocent stare. "I don't want to rush everything in one roll. It's just...not my style."

"I know." the heiress gently smiled as her eyes tenderly closed shut. "But that doesn't justify all of the exceptionally brave things you've done to me..." "Hey! Don't make it sound so perverted!" he frantically barked as his body heated up with the dirty thought swiftly racing itself across the complex plains of his mind like a stereo typically boring televised NASCAR race. "Sorry 'bout that. My mouth slipped." The heiress cutely teased as she playfully opened up one of her eyes with her tongue comically sticking out. "Nobody slips their tongue like that. You were obviously speaking fluently."

"Isn't that a word associated with how effortlessly good you are at speaking a certain language?" He could deeply sense Chitoge's sarcasm as she effortlessly blurted out that simple question.

"Please don't be sarcastic at a time like this. You should by emotional by now." he said.

"Of course I am." the blonde lass sniffed. "And you should get used to me by now, rice boy." she lightly laughed at how weird and awkward the pet name sounded.

"Where did that come from?" he lightly scoffed. Please don't call me that. "I bet on my savings that you don't know what it actually means."

"You can keep your money. I'm not a gold digger. And for your information, I do know what it means. It just sounds aborable." she muttered as if she was revoking an argument. And unintentionally racist!

"I was just joking."

"You always do."

"..."

"..."

And then, there was idle silence. No, it's not the kind of silence that deeply buzzes through your ears like the famed Bristol Hum, but a characteristically peaceful type where mundane minuscule noises still occupy the lit, desolate atmosphere. The star-crossed pair had probably ran out of randomized words to say to each other. Or maybe they've just realized that they have stayed completely still in that embarrassing position for over 10 minutes, with their bodies mutually pressed against each other, clearly hearing the jumpy rhythm of each other's heartbeats. "So, um...I guess we should go home." The nervous beansprout slowly loosened her grip around the heiress, who looked like she was enjoying it wholeheartedly, a likened to that of a 10 year old kid mounted upon a kiddie ride at a local carnival.

In a split second, her frantic nervousness quickly shifted into impatient annoyance. "Really?" she aggressively whined. "After stealing each other's first kisses when nobody's around, cuddling each other like teddy bears until our legs gotten numb and sharing an unfortunately brief session of lackluster wordplay, you would just end it all up in the most cliché way possible? Just...don't." Why am I being so...demanding?

"You're right, Chitoge." he immediately responded after taking a quick moment to ponder on her brutally honest words. "Maybe I should twist things up a little bit." Twist?! The heiress mentally gasped as her immensely sentient brain directly kick started itself to overwork itself in order to deliberately seek out the sole meaning behind the cracks and hinges of his sentences until her head eventually explodes.

"Raku?" she hesitantly called out to him as the beansprout continued to mull over the reckless idea of deviating from his natural drift. Aside from his heavily flustered cheeks, the formation of his eyes sharply narrowed as if he was aiming directly at something right in front of him without resorting into the common luxury of speaking a single word. With those absurdly rare features lit up like that of inconsistent taillights, one thing's for certain; he looked awfully focused.

"Let's end this fake relationship of ours."

"Sometimes I wish I could read your mind. But then, I wonder if I could handle the truth." - Nicholas Sparks, The Vow

Chitoge was utterly dumbfounded by his genuinely dangerous proposal. Dangerous? Yes, that's one effective way to describe that simple concept in a nutshell. Genuine? How in the world would she even know? There's actually no denying that there was a time the heiress desperately wanted to end the scripted relationship as soon as possible. Well, that was way before she deeply fell in love with him. It feels incredibly ironic.

..and cliche, like the majority of the corny and fluffy romance novels she usually buys at the local bookstore on a weekly basis. "Is that what you meant by 'twisting'?" she sounded like she had been afflicted by the inescapable urge to clock him so hard in the head with the blunt ends of her bony knuckles. Barbaric? Indeed. Violent? Characteristically so; but resorting into pacifism would seem slightly out of context for a wild child such as herself. Not that it really mattered to her anyway.

"Way to go, genius! You're only going to turn things into high-grade bullshit; not just for us, but for everybody else! If we would just...j-just fucking split up for no apparent reason, nothing in this city will remain standing like a bitch. You know that pretty darn well, right?" Profanity. Out of all the various speech patterns used to express one's feelings into words, she had the liberty to speak like a foul mouthed gangster.

Good Lord, it's like she's trying to rob herself a bank. Well, I guess being the sole heiress to a huge and complex criminal organization such as the Beehive Gang does have it's disadvantages. And that includes impulsively speaking like a natural born criminal. Or maybe the heiress felt incredibly bitter after hearing such a delicate sentence with the word 'end' attached to it. A sentence coming straight out of the beansprout's mouth, that is.

"Hear me out." Raku sternly commanded as he remained unfazed by her rather rocky response. "Jeez, you'll never learn anything if you'll continue to spontaneously conclude things without knowing the truth behind it. You see-" "Listen up, bozo. I'm not your average, stereotypical air-headed rich kid who doesn't know the meaning behind the world's most simple, commonplace sentences. You wanted to stop this relationship simply because you're tired of it, and you kissed me and spoke honeyed words right after that as a grand consolation prize in order to properly pursue Kosaki-chan." her tone gradually wobbled as her mouth ran through her own words.

"After all, choosing me is like picking the Joker in a card game. I'm not one of those traditional Japanese beauties you usually fawn over; in fact, I'm biracial, so I don't actually belong anywhere. I'm far from being girly and refined. If you would compare me to the likes of Marika and Kosaki-chan, I'm nothing but a brutal gorilla. I'm violent, careless, cowardly...and I both suck at cooking and cleaning..." she was practically spitting out her insecurities right in front of him, and it hurts like a bitch.

"That's the kind of woman I want." the beansprout declared, which immediately silenced the ranting heiress to no avail. "You see, the reason why I wanted to end our fake relationship right now is because it feels flat out stupid. Scheduled dates? Scripted acting? Strategic routines? Yeah right. As if I wanted to go on with a relationship that only lasts for 3 years."

Raku...

"I think it's time for us to do whatever we want and live happily." "I don't want you to!" she interrupted. "All of those sweet words I've said to you while the grunts were lingering around...aren't scripted anymore. I actually enjoy all of our dates together...and honestly, I look forward to them every single week. Please...even if it only lasts for 3 years...I just..."

"I'm asking you to be my girlfriend." he bravely brought out the bomb, as if it were his last resolve, with hopes that it would set everything straight. "Ah." Her mouth opened blankly as a gentle breeze silently swiped through her damp cheeks. "Why didn't you just say that in the first place?!" she loudly roared like a raging bull as her long, unkept hair rose and sprawled up like she was literally on the verge of going Super Saiyan. "I'm not the type who rushes things." he briefly explained. "Why would you go out of your way to say the most misleading and necessary things if your sole purpose is to dramatically ask me out?! Would it kill you if you would just blurt it out normally like how a normal person should? I could go on and on about this!"

"Why won't you stop complaining and whining about everything I've done and tell me your answer?" Raku inquired, looking rather impatient and vexed. "I deserve to hear a proper proposal without the presence of bullshit." Chitoge stated as she winced at him. Seriously, it's like they're arguing rather than confessing.

"Chitoge Kirisaki, I am the most idiotic, dense, senseless and frustrating guy you've ever met. I know I don't deserve to be called your boyfriend, and I know there are a lot of guys in this world who outclasses someone as pathetic as me. But I'm asking you this simple question. I don't know if you're going to take this seriously after all of the dumb stuff I've said, but I'm not hesitating to put it into words. Chitoge, will you be my girlfriend?"

Without even the slightest of sudden warnings, Chitoge quickly pinned him up against the wall like how a skilled predator corners its common prey. "Hey, Darling..." The beansprout couldn't move an inch as the heiress' face slowly leaned closer towards him. "Y-Yeah?" he nervously whimpered as he instinctively caught her sweet scent. "Since we're a real couple now...do you think it's time for us to...you know? Kiss?" she shyly grinned as her lips chillingly tingled as if the latter had just tasted the mild transparent kick of seaborne poison.

Raku couldn't completely process everything else she'd said in the back of his anxious mind right after she had deliberately uttered the word 'kiss'. "I-I know we've already done that a few minutes ago. It's just that I wanted to feel it a bit more...properly." Her cheeks deeply flushed as she noticed the young lad's blank, spaced out expression. Damn, if you could donate anything; and I mean anything for him to use, please, give this young man some legitimate balls. God, I'm so pathetic. The heiress thought to herself as she felt utterly embarrassed by her seemingly futile advances.

"Ah-Ah, never mind that! As long as we're official, there's nothing for me to get upset about!" Yeah, I do have a huge point about that...well, we do have a lot to go through before we would eventually decide to take it into the next level. Maybe I'm being too needy for him...I hope he doesn't regret choosing me. "Let's get on with it, then." he quietly muttered under his breath as his heart raced intensely. "Eh?! Are you really serious about this? Like, really, really serious about actually doing this?" she exclaimed.

"Why not?" the beansprout sheepishly shrugged as he found himself peering into the young heiress' eyes. "Don't act like I'm not the lucky bastard who kissed you back then." "Sorry, if I'm being too pushy for you." The heiress gently bit the bottom half of her lip with her head slightly tilted. "You've always been like that." he smiled in reaction to her apparent and unnecessary apology. "And you seem to be liking it, judging by the tone of your voice." The blonde lass snappily remarked. "Don't get me wrong, I don't actually like it, I love it. Those statements are two different things, you know."

"I thought you've stated that you didn't like to rush things? It's strange how a tiny beansprout like you could tolerate my impatience."

"To hell with that."

After a short pause, the heiress gradually leaned in closer towards his face and gently placed her soft lips over his. Once again, they could feel their warm breaths collide like conflicting winds as the same rush of euphoria completely invaded their bodies for the second time. His broad arms blindly wrapped themselves around her stiffening body as their proud, pounding chests pressed against each other. Chitoge ran her smooth, polished fingers through the surface of his face as the kiss gradually intensified by the second.

Hearing her moan softly was one of the most awkward yet amazing things he had ever heard, but he didn't take even the shortest moment to ponder upon it. The beansprout didn't possess the luxury of time to do so, and if in case he did, there's no way he would actually bring himself to do that. The heiress smelled like a luxurious bed of orange roses; faint yet sweet to the nose like the natural scent of fresh fruits. Her warm, damp lips unmistakably tasted like that of plump luscious cherries, as if she literally coated them with the actual fruit. Who would ever thought that the taste of one's lips greatly outclass all of the various desserts he'd eaten.

It feels like she's blissfully floating in the middle of space, without the intention of turning back from whence she came. Chitoge couldn't help but let out a few short moans as she vulnerably succumbed into the inescapable pleasure. She felt absolutely dirty; soiled, and deflowered. Deflowered, you say? Of course not, the lad couldn't afford to touch her just yet. (Though she secretly wished to, but that's highly unlikely, since it would only make things more difficult for them than they already are.) His warm cheeks felt vaguely smooth to the touch as her fingers mildly trailed through its surface like she owned them.

The heiress' heart couldn't stop beating as she felt his damp tongue intertwining with hers. At this point, she was completely lost in her own scrambled thoughts, and she didn't want the sensation to stop. But as the young blonde began exploring his mouth, that's when the beansprout abruptly opened his eyes.

He had crossed the line. He had definitely crossed the line right there. And now he couldn't stop feeling like a pompous pervert. What the fuck did I just do? he thought to himself as his lips promptly separated from hers with one wet smack. "Hmm." The young lass mumbled as if she was making noises in her sleep. "Hmm?" her brows raised as she immediately noticed the absence of his touch. "S-Sorry! I was too absorbed with what I'm doing that I..." How could he even explain it to her clearly? They've locked tongues, and that's what he could safely classify as adult grade content right there. "We could've lasted longer." she pouted as her head deliberately sunk to her knees. She...she enjoyed it?!

"Anyways, it was fun while it lasted." A nervous, embarrassed and crooked smile instantly formed on top of her lips. Fun; what a great and innocent way to describe the steamy moment. "Yeah...it was."

"Heh." They blurted out simultaneously as the illuminated hallways remained desolate as they were when they initially crossed each other. "It's late." Raku stated as he took note of the abysmally dark sky shown through the glassy rows of windows. "I know." Chitoge shyly nodded as she continued to look below her. "So, want me to walk you home?" he cheerfully offered as if nothing intimate between them has happened. "Let's go, darling. Can I truly call you 'darling' without feeling embarrassed, right?"

"As long as you don't call me 'rice boy', then I'm completely fine with it." That simple name never ceases to make him laugh for some reason.

"Great! So, since we're officially dating, we need to secretly inform our dads about this whole thing."

"Do you think that's completely necessary?" he blandly inquired. "Of course it is!" she protested like a little girl. "Well, it would greatly lessen the odds of us getting separated when we graduate...let's do this. But who are we going to tell first?"

"We could go at my place!" Chitoge eagerly offered as she swiftly snagged his arm like a glossy handbag. "What do you say? My place is fairly close to yours and the food's obviously great. We could talk to my dad after dinner too." she added. "Well, I'll have to look out for Claude and Tsugumi again." The beansprout cautiously reminded.

"Don't worry about that. I'll take care of them for you." The heiress confidently assured.

"Of course you will. We're the ultimate tag team."

"No, we're the ultimate couple."

"I'm deeply sorry, Kosaki. I cannot do anything else to help you get to him now. You've just lost him." A petite young girl with waist length dark brown hair stated as she adjusted the thin rims of her glasses. Ruri Miyamoto was hiding at one corner of the hallway, purposely spying at the two lovers as they walked together. The miniature lass slumped herself against the walls as she slid down to the floor. "Love, huh?" A strained, raspy sigh quickly escaped her mouth. "I wonder how it feels like?"

A/N

First off, I would like to apologize for the extremely long wait. I was dealing with a mild case of writer's block, so I had to edit a truckload of text to get the whole chapter flowing just right. After all, I do not want my beloved readers to get bored with my work just because I've failed to make it better than the previous ones. (In fact, this chapter is actually the second draft for the 6th one; Chapter 6.2, to put it more appropriately. What happened to the first one, you may ask? Well, I didn't really know where that one would lead to, so I completely scrapped it out and made the final edition after days of finding the right descriptive content for it to fit in.)

Yes, if you've noticed it, I've completely changed the summary and got rid of all the vagueness it displayed, and I'm planning to make my own custom cover if I only could find the perfect picture suitable to represent the story. (I'm looking right at you, Tumblr and Google Images. Don't disappoint me.)

I had a really long week. Just the other day, I thought I had a heart ailment; but it turns out I greatly lacked some of them good old exercise to the point that a good number of my muscles cramped up. (Thank God.) Setting that sad inconvenience aside, my 18th birthday just passed by last month and I got to say, I don't really feel much of a difference.

Anyways, I would like to thank you all for the- HOLY FUCK. 19 faves and 29 follows?! That's just...insane. Really, I've never even thought that this story would be able to even bypass 10. The funny thing is, this story greatly outclasses my very first fanfic, which as over 24 chapters, in a matter of 5. I could not properly express my thankfulness towards you all into words, but as corny and cliche as it sounds, I would like to say this over and over again; Thank you for reading and appreciating my story, it means a lot to me, you probably have no idea how important it is in my perspective.

I'm greatly flattered by all of the positive feedback I've been having lately, and I hope I would still pique your interests without the risk of getting a tad bit rusty in my writing. I would like to give my shout outs individually, but I don't want to leave anyone out...so...yeah.

I guess you're bored with reading this bold lump of text, so I'll just have to end it here. See you in the next chapter, and I promise I'll give an individual shout out to you guys in the next author's note.