Chapter 1

"PRINCESS, WHY don't you come out and entertain everyone?"

"Mom, I don't want to," I nonchalantly refused the idea. I heard knocks for five minutes straight which I didn't mind. I found relief when she stopped bothering me. Finally, there was peace.

Sixteenth of May. Today's my twentieth birthday. I should be celebrating with the closest group of friends but it turned out that Mom created a big party, a surprise one, and I didn't like it! The crowd wasn't that huge, specifically more or less twenty, but still... they're not my real friends!

They were just here because they weren’t brave enough to reject the invitation that my Mom sent to them. They were here because Mom thought they were Rhyme and I’s mutual friends, but no. They were here for Rhyme. They were here to see him. They adored him. This wasn't even his day, it's mine! When I said mine, I mean I wanted myself to be the one who will organize every damn thing to happen now. It ruined my day. Things should be scheduled properly. Things should be planned accordingly in time. With those thoughts, I gritted my teeth.

I hate it. I just wanna sleep and postpone the real celebration for my birthday. Yes! My eyes widened as I sought an idea for tomorrow. So I stood to get my notebook but was taken aback when I heard four slow knocks. I narrowed my eyes as I glared at the door because I have an assumption about who made the prank on my special day.

"F*ck you, Rhyme! You can't enter my room!" Of course, my door was always open but when I said don't, they won't. That's the rule.

The continuous knocks suddenly stopped for a while but after a few minutes, it banged my door once again.

I hurriedly walked to the door and slammed it with both of my fists. "Leave me, asshole!" I gritted my teeth as I kept pointing at the imaginary figure of him angrily. I felt my heated cheeks and I almost gagged on my own words because of irritation but he's too persistent. I didn’t hear any response from here which made me think that he was laughing behind that door.

"So you really won’t stop? Seriously?!" I was not expecting any reply from him even if I heard whispers, I immediately ran to my bed. I chose a pillow that I could throw at him and grabbed it immediately. I ran towards the door, opened it, and without any hesitations yet full of force, I slapped him with my pil— "Mom!"

My eyes got widely opened as I realized the person I almost harassed in front of... the. guy. who. should. receive. that. throw.

"Sorry. It shouldn't be…"

"You really said that a-word to Rhyme? Do you know that he is just concerned about you?" I threw a glare at Rhyme but instead of making me control my temper, he even pouted to tease me.

"I don't think so, Mom. The guests, downstairs, they are waiting for someone else," I informed her.

"What do you mean, Hav?" Mom wrinkled her nose innocently.

I sneered in sarcasm then I gestured my hands toward Rhyme's position. He was laughing in front of my eyes to the point that he could even lose breath. How I wish.

"Princess, it is still your birthday. You should welcome and at least have a small talk with them. Manners. Your Dad will get mad if he is here and sees you act like this," she opened up that again.

I couldn’t help but shake my head. "You’re right, Mom. He’s not here. He’s busy working abroad," I rebutted.

"Because you didn't take a pre-med so he won't have someone to handle the hospital so he benchmarked and continued it in an economic tiger country," Mom explained with sincerity.

“What?” I reacted. “Mom, you don’t have to be like that if Dad is not around. Stop acting like a strict parent. You are not like that before, not until Dad helped you to study again. That’s when you always take his side and you change…”

“Enough. You’re following my order. Understand?" I sighed and rolled my eyes. I didn’t bother to answer her and decided to obey her so I went downstairs.

With pajamas, I welcomed everyone who all wear cocktail dresses. I didn’t care at all. This is our house and I didn’t force anyone to attend this party anyway.

"Hi, Havoc, happy birthday!" Megan greeted me. Her eyes roamed around the area. "Where is Rhyme?" she finally asked.

I faked a smile. "Not sure, eh. Why?"

She licked her lower lip and gave me a suppressed smile. "Nothing." She shook her head in a way like there's something playful in her head.

I took a sigh to make myself calmed. Here was the second person to ask me about Rhyme, instead of greeting me. Earlier, it was a girl named Natasha. They kept on looking for someone I had no business with and I didn’t even know where he was. So annoying.

I shook my head as I handed a drink to a high table. Bottom's up. I wasn’t sure about the drink I just took but it tasted like cocktail juice. I grabbed another glass with the same drink and walked to the next table I could reach.

"Hi, Haley!"

"Hello, Sis!" We greeted each other with other cheeks as if it was genuine. She even raised her glass to meet mine and smiled before she took a sip.

I noticed how her eyes roamed around the place and that made me smile in sarcasm. "Looking for Rhyme?" I asked.

She smiled at me as she bobbed her head. "Actually, I have been waiting for him since this party started. He passed by me but everyone approached him. Sadly, I was not able to give back the stuff I borrowed from him.” I creased my forehead as she handed me a pen. A familiar pen. Until I realized...

"Are you sure that he lent you this pen?" I asked with gritted teeth, trying to control myself.

She blinked more than enough which added much irritation to me.

"You know that this is not the usual ballpen, right? I mean, this one is expensive and you should only use this with drawing and stuff like that," I even tried to remain casual with my words even if I was too furious with the idea inside my head.

Haley's left hand raised. She bit her nail which was disgusting so I grimaced but still tried to focus on her. "Huh?" I uttered.

"I don’t know," she stammered. "If that’s the case, Rhyme is so kind. He let me borrowed expensive things."

I almost died with what she said. For Pete's sake, he wasn’t kind because that was mine! To avoid any commotion with her, I just excused myself and stayed away from her.

Where’s Rhyme?!

I looked for his face and I found one but… it’s the other one. They may be identical but even just the way they walked up to their personality, it seemed so different.

"Meter," I whispered his name.

Our eyes met. The same face features with Rhyme but he gave me a different effect. It ruined my system in the most enchanted way and I liked it. I like it.

Gosh. He didn’t take his eyes off of me. Slowly, a smile formed on his lips while he was looking at me. And I kept on moving backward. I hesitated to look somewhere else because... I didn't know! I might explode because I couldn’t stop my heart from beating so fast and loud. Thump. Thump.

I was looking for something to hold on to while walking backward because my legs were getting weaker and weaker until…

Shit.

After I screamed, the whole house was eaten by silence as they witnessed an embarrassing moment of my life. I almost threw myself at the ground. I broke the vase from the table I tried to lean on to but failed to support my balance. So here I was, on the ground. The spilled alcoholic drink was even in my pajamas. Great. Gross, Wow, Havoc. You really are a Havoc and it happened on your birthday!

I scrutinized my situation. I tried analyzing what to do with my mess while gazing at the chaos in front of me until I felt hopeless. "Embarrassing," I whispered. I felt like everyone was looking at me, especially him.

I looked up and met Meter's curious eyes. He was about to walk forward and would try to help me when his phone rang. Meter immediately stood straight and looked away as he accepted the call.

I looked at his eyes, the eyes that never failed to send shivers down my spine. He owned cold eyes but they gave me scorching stares that even my cheeks up to my whole existence would burn.

I heard how the visitors made me the subject of their gossips and that made me confused. I got teary-eyed as my left hand hugged my body.

I jolted as he looked back at me. His mouth was half-opened as if he was about to tell me something, but suddenly I was pulled by someone I never knew. I realized that we were about to go to my room. I retained a long face since I didn’t know how to react after seeing his broad shoulder from his back. I didn’t see his face but I knew who he was. I knew him from head to toe. I knew him from bones to his soul. Besides, he was the only person who could pull me from that situation.

Rhyme slightly pushed me on the wall. It was just beside my room. He faced me. He even caressed my arm as he was panting. "Are you okay?" I first creased my forehead then I shook my head but when I saw how serious he was, I immediately bobbed my head—I changed my response.

He gave me a short smile then he hugged me for milliseconds so I couldn't reject that gesture. I was about to fire words but was stopped when I heard him sigh. I could comprehend why would he give me such reaction. I tried guessing why while staring closely at him but those eyes never let me see the answer, those stares will always leave me dumbfounded. I blinked countlessly before he moved.

"You don't want here?" I didn’t answer him. I just creased my forehead. "Would you mind if I fetch you to your unit?" he added which made it clear.

I gulped after hearing that offer. Because honestly, I wanted to get out of here as soon as possible.