We could be friends?

He was not much different than he was outside the school gate, only the silver locks were not as wet as they were before but they were still plastered on his face like a second skin.

He was still wearing his pitch-black clothing, and his height was still as intimidating as it was before.

The only difference was unlike that blank expression, filled with nothing, but glints of curiosity, he was smiling. A small curl of his lips upturned, something that Harmony felt she would dub as a polite smile if it was anyone else, but on this person it was….. Sexy.

Seeing this person again, Harmony felt like she was thrown back to high school with those staring eyes at her, and those mouths whispering rumors about her…. Bastard…. Orphanage…. Creepy.

But there was only one difference…. His intense gaze was hot but it did not burn pain as those high schoolers did, it simply nipped on her chest and made her shudder.

'I am not…. I am not being dramatic right?' Harmony thought as she stared up, wide-eyed at the person, completely embarrassed by her past words.

She felt that her cheeks were already growing red and not from the cold weather but from the embarrassment of being seen spewing bullshit in front of this stranger.

She opened her mouth in a bid to speak but it seemed karma had not stopped punishing her because her saliva got into the wrong track as she sharply opened her mouth, instigating a loud cough.

'Ah Harmony…..' Harmony could only cry internally as she began coughing, her entire body was feeling the burn of embarrassment as she rubbed her chest while coughing.

The boy on the other hand did not seem to find the situation funny as his thick eyebrows dipped down into a small furrow and he asked, "Are you okay?"

Harmony managed to let out a small smile while she was subsiding from the cough. "I am *cough* fine!" She said in-between her sobering cough.

He didn't look relieved by her answer, instead, he took a small step in her direction, just a little so that it did not close much distance between them.

"Are you sure? It sounds serious. Do you want to sit down?" Every word was overflowing with politeness and concern, which was quite a contrast from his gravelly voice.

She took a breath as she sobered from the laugh. She might as very well lie on the ground facing her belly because Harmony felt as if this embarrassment was too much.

Still, she managed to reply, this time without instigating a cough. "I am fine…. I uh am allergic…..to….." She trailed off, not much of a liar trying to find something to fill her words.

While she was keeping her eyes down, unable to look at his face as she felt aggrieved and embarrassed, he would not stop looking directly at her, his pitch-black eyes even trying to find hers that evaded his face.

"To what?" He asked, eyes darting several places in a bid to follow Harmony's.

Harmony had never felt anything like it. When several people stared at her she felt her blood run cold, but just this pair of eyes on her was making her feel as if she was standing on hot coal. She was nervous, her heart was thrumming wildly, and her throat was dry.

Unconsciously shuffling from one foot to the other she blurted out, "Air!"

The way his eyelashes fluttered was a small giveaway but it said how much he was shocked by how she yelled the word.

Seeing him bend his neck ever so slightly and his eyebrow dipping even more she added. "I am allergic to…. Air."

It took several seconds but the confusion on his face dissolved, and a gleam of amusement resurfaced in his black eyes.

His lips looked as if they were in a small struggle not to tug up in amusement. "You are allergic to air?" He asked, his gentle voice had dents of vibrato in it, like a man quelling his laughter.

Harmony meekly pulled her hair behind her ears. "Yeah… I'm uh…. I'm allergic to air," Her hand roamed all over her forehead, to hide her eyes. "It's a real thing, look it up."

"I don't have to, I believe you," He responded this time with a clear voice. "It must be hard though."

That addition made Harmony abruptly raise her eyes toward his chest. "What's hard?"

"Being allergic to air."

"...." Harmony broke her split-second deadpan and let out a dry laugh. "Yeah it can be, but you know what they say, I can't put the oxygen mask on my face because I have no space."

'What the bloody hell was that?' Harmony immediately wanted to facepalm herself. She didn't know why she had abruptly added that joke…. If something that bad can even be classified as a joke.

Harmony couldn't resist and whipped her hand on her face. She just couldn't catch a break today, could she? "I'm sorry that was a really bad joke."

The person had his lips tugged up, the smile was still small but more apparent on his face, as well as his bottomless pitch-black eyes showed flashes of amusement.

He shook his head at her. "It's okay, I liked it." He said, this time his voice was a little hoarse.

Perhaps from the cold? Harmony shook her head right back at him. "No, you don't have to be polite…. That joke was just…." She groaned.

"I liked it." It wasn't her imagination, his voice had turned more hoarse, thus making it more menacing, she couldn't help but shut up.

"What's your name?" He asked.

The rapid change stunned her and caught her off guard. Name? Name? Was he asking for her name? Uh…. 'What's your name Harmonica?!' Yes, it was Harmonica.

"It's um…. Harmonica Saint, but my friends call me Harmony…. I…. I don't actually have ANY friends per se but if I had friends, they would call me Harmony,"

'What is this awkwardness?!' Harmony was bawling inside. The less awkward side of her shook her head in disappointment. 'You deserve to be smacked by a purse.'

Unable to control her weirdness she continued talking. "My family calls me Harmony. You can call me Harmony, not… not that I'm saying we're friends…. I'm just…. My family calls me Harmony." She added in a defeated tone.

The person now had his fingers against his lips. His eyes upturned as if he was smiling at the moment. "Nice to meet you, Harmonica….. Harmony, I am Rhett King. My friends call me King."

The name was a bit too fitting. Harmony agreed that his last name resonated with him. Not just his build but just the aloof aura he possessed. Even now that he was being nice, Harmony sensed this indescribable domineering aura around him.

Harmony nodded. "Can I call you King as well? I'm not saying we're friends… Not that you won't be a good friend…. I'm sure your friends love you….. Actually what I am saying is King is a really cool last name."

In the end, Harmony pressed her fingers on her lips subtly in other to stop herself from embarrassing herself with her awkwardness.

She was not the only one with fingers on her lips. The pers— Rhett had his fingers concealing half his lips but his dark eyes coupled with bemusement gave him away.

"You can call me whatever you want." He said.

She nodded, looking anywhere but at him. "I have to go now." That was all she trusted herself to say as she began to back away from him.

When the distance was noticeable and she was out of the umbrella she heard. "Harmony."

She turned back around, and heard him say, "Come here."

There were only two words. No matter how you'd hear it, it wouldn't not sound commanding in all respects. He said them in the gentlest of tones that one could be mistaken as begging, but the heavy words were indeed a command.

'Ah?' Harmony was dumbfounded. Not because of the order was because her legs were moving right toward him. The air around them shifted into a tense hot zone. She felt a crackle of electricity shock right through her from his order, it was painless, and much too sensational on her body that she felt embarrassed about how much she liked that feeling.

"Can I have your number?"

"...." The deadpan from her was unavoidable. Number…. He…. What…. Number?!

Harmony was scrambling in her head, trying to remember her number.

He must have mistaken her silence for something else because he said. "You're very funny, Harmony." His eyes darted to her feet which were shuffling all over the place.

She was uncomfortable? He raised his eyes back at her face. "I think we can be friends." He added.

She swallowed, before opening her mouth and casually giving her number to him with a shaky voice.

"It was nice talking to you." He told her, and the sentence instigated a slight smile on her face, but still, one that brightened her blue eyes.

As she turned her back on him the smile mysteriously broadened only to fall when she realized.

She had been the most comfortable with this stranger than she had been with anyone other than her family.