A/N: I see this story is getting there. I just saw the traffic for this story and I was shocked. This story has the highest number of visitors so far this month. I never knew this story could get there.

Chapter 12

Fang POV

She looks at me with a serene smile on her beautiful face.

Her perfect angelic face.

So I kissed her. Damn it, it was quick like a blink. (That rhymed. Hee-hee.) Fine, it was more like a brush of lips. Not the French one, just a simple sweep of two soft lips. (I don't even know if my lips are soft. I just assume it would be.)

OK, so maybe a bit of my control threatened to break away. But it's good that it didn't! And Max immediately pulled away, anyway. (Good girl.)

So now, as I wipe my glasses clean, I look out at the window and wish that it's not cold outside.

Because I have to work.

As soon as I step foot at Deveraux territory, my eardrums pop. So I take out my earplugs and put them on.

I hear nothing. Yes. . .

I look up and I see Aya tapping her window and I nod at her. If only I'm rich then I won't have to work. But that's not my case and now I'm stuck here in the enemy palace tending to their precious plants.

It's a curse that I have the best green thumbs in the world. A curse, really. I can make dying plants alive again. I'm kinda like the doctor of plants.

Deveraux's garden shed is twice as big as my mom's apartment in Los Angeles. And her apartment is 1230 square feet. I take my gardening equipments and put on my very own gardening gloves. To protect my delicately shaped long fingers. (Wink-wink.)

I loop the gardening hose around my right shoulder and I walk to the back garden.

Along the way, I wonder what Max is doing right now. I hope she's not throwing darts to my face. I put down my equipments and I connect the hose to the nearest faucet. I twist it on and wait for the water flow.

As the water sprouts out of the hole, I cover it with my thumb and I spray the flowers. Flowers need gentle and soft treatments. I always picture them as little princesses who live a very spoiled life.

Next, I water the bushes. Beyond the garden is an acre of not-at-all fake grass. The sprinklers are on and I thank the faculty for that. It would take me a long time to water the whole area. This is going to be a piece of cake.

I turn off the faucet and I pick up my shovel. Time to massage the little princesses' feet and sprinkle them with fertilizer.

Now to trim the little princesses' cousins' hair. With huge garden shears. Aya specifically told me to trim the bushes to the shape of a circle. She said if the bushes were trimmed to personalized shapes, the shapes would give an impression that Deveraux is a snooty, for-rich-heiresses-only private school. (Well, I think Deveraux already is.) The circles would make Deveraux look like a sophisticated and formal private school. Whatever.

To tell you the truth, my part-time job is very boring. My part-time job is practically a routine! And I hate routines. So while I'm doing my job, I do random things.

Today, I stuff the holes in the sidewalk with mud. It would be really funny to see the girls shriek when their one-thousand-dollar dress shoes are ruined. Then, I take a piece of charcoal that I snuck out of the shed and write a jumble of letters on the walls of the dorms.

I finally realize that I actually wrote Max's name over and over again in one of the walls of the ninth grade dorm.

I drop my equipment and grab the hose. I sprint back to the ninth grade dorm and turn the water on as high as it can go. I wash off the charcoal writings with the speed of a cheetah. NO ONE CAN SEE THE WRITINGS ON THE WALL. ABSOLUTELY NO ONE CAN.

After I'm satisfied with the results, I go back to my abandoned equipments. I pick them up and I continue on to the senior dorm.

I hear the bells ringing in my brain. My Max-radar is acting up. Max is here. Max is here. Max is here.

I circle the dorm and I see her.

Max is sitting on the window seat, with her earphones on, writing some poem on her notebook and wearing only a gray tank top and matching sweatpants. I grin and back up ten steps. There's a faucet on my left and I connect the hose to it. I turn the water on and I run to Max's window. I cover the hole and point it to Max's window.

Next comes Max's high-pitched scream. I laugh hysterically and I feel my phone vibrating on my left pocket. With my free hand, I flip my phone and read the test I received.

In all caps, the text says: TURN THE GODDAMN WATER OFF OR I WILL SLIT OPEN YOUR THROAT AND YOU WON'T BE ABLE TO LAUGH EVER AGAIN. You and I both know who it's from, right?

So I turn off the water to save my throat from the painful slits. I toss the hose next to my equipment and I walk back to Max.

Impromptu, her window opens and she yells, "What did you do that for?" Her whole face is red from fury. She looks so beautiful even though she hasn't taken a shower yet.

I shrug at her. "I was bored."

"What are you doing here anyway?" She tosses her notebook on her bed. She jumps over the window and walks toward me. Before I can even answer, she continues to ask me. "What are you doing up so early in the morning?"

"It's ten-thirty in the morning." A corner of my mouth twitches.

"So? To me it's early. And I repeat, what are you doing here?" Her brown eyes are sparkling.

"I'm working."

Her eyebrows rise. "You work?"

I tilt my head. "Is the idea of me working so repulsive to you?"

She looks taken aback. "Why did you do that?"

"Because I need money to eat-" She shakes her head.

"No. I meant the water spraying."

"I repeat, I was bored."

She looks at me intently. "No. . . You did it to annoy me."

She knows me so well. "MnM, why ask if you already know the answer?"

"Because I know you won't answer me right away! And don't call me MnM!"

I laugh freely. "Walk with me."

"No."

"Please?"

"Sure. Let me grab a jacket." She goes back to her room.

"And your guitar!"

She turns her head at me. "Why?"

"Just bring it."

"Where are you taking me, my oh-so-fine kidnapper?" Her sarcasm is acting up again. Though my spirits became ecstatic when she mentioned 'my'.

"Patience, my very sarcastic grasshopper."

She throws her hand up. "We've been walking around for over an hour!"

I glance at my watch. "It's only been three minutes."

She grabs my wrist and turns me back. "Wait-"

"We are going to the pond and I have had enough of your wisecrack lines." She continues to drag me to the pond.

We reach the pond.

"Sit," she growls at me and I do. She holds up a finger. "Don't even talk. Just admire the view. And I don't mean me."

I sigh and admire the pond. The pond is ten feet wide and cat tails surrounds a half of the pond. A mother goose swims with her little children. Five feet away from the family, two swans are flirting with each other. Max gasps and hides behind me.

"What's wrong?" I ask her. Max is cowering behind my back and her whole body is shaking.

"Is it gone?" She asks in a small voice.

"What's gone?"

"The toad!"

I turn my head and I see the toad. It's resting on a white lotus leaf and croaks.

"Shit! It's still there!" Max wraps her arms around my waist and buries her face between my shoulders. "Make it go away!"

"You're afraid of toads?" I grin even though she can't see it.

Max punches my right shoulder. "Of course I am! Ever since that day when one almost sexually harrassed me!"

"When was that?"

"How can you forget?"

My grin fades. "You're right. I don't remember. We can go back is you don't-" Her arms around my waist tightens. She doesn't want to go.

"Make the toad go away." Max whispers, her breath warm against my shirt.

I pick up a small rock and throw it next to the toad. The toad jumps and hops away from the pond.

I reach behind my back and pat Max's shoulder. "It's gone."

"You're not kidding, right?" She still has a deadly grip on me.

"No. You're making it impossible to breathe."

She loosens her arms and finally lets go. "Let's go back. It's getting cold." I help her to her feet and we walk back to her dorm.

Max goes back inside her room and I hand her guitar back. "Why did you make me bring the guitar?"

I reach out and tuck her hair behind her ear. "Bellissima, it doesn't matter." I pinch her left cheek and I leave.

You want to know why I made her bring it? I was going to sing a song to her. But the whole toad thing was more intimate than the serenading.

I go back to retrieve my equipments, but I look back.

The window is already close and Max left the room.

I go back and pry open the window. I enter the room through the window and search for a pen and paper. I see Max's notebook and open it to the page where Max was attempting to write a poem.

"Those dark brown eyes are going to be the death of me."

Whose eyes is she talking about? I thought and smile.

"What's up with you and your eyes?
It seems like every time you look at me
With those eyes,
I want to get lose in your gaze.

Those mesmerizing pools drown me;
They're depthless like the ocean blue.
Warm and cozy;
They make me weak-kneed.

Those eyes give me mixed emotions.
They're so dark
And penetrating;
Listen to my heart beat faster.

When I close my eyes,
Your eyes haunt my dreams.

I wish this madness would stop.
They're bringing out
The worst of me.

Will your eyes ever stop making me feel this way?
Will yo"

And that's it. She was going to write another line but I interrupted her. Stupid me. I actually want to know what the last line is.

I rip out a page from her notebook and start writing.

After writing, I fold up the paper and write her name in front and leave her room.

Max POV

After breakfast, I sprint back to my room. I actually wished he was going to be there, waiting.

But no.

The room is the same when I left it. Except for the note on my bed.

THE NOTE ON MY BED.

I run to my bed and pick up the note. I unfold it. There's only one line written.

Does the sky ever leave the sun when it doesn't shine?

What does that mean?

I remember the feel of Fang's fingers on my cheek. My hand reaches up to stroke my cheek absently.

BFO.

I said his name. No, I thought of his name.

A/N: RnR? (I know there are typos in this chapter, but rest assured, I will fix them when I get to them.)