Song attached: Count on me by Bruno Mars (this was our jam back at school. I miss those days T_T)

The awesomesauce banner was done by my beautiful girl _capriciously_ as a Christmas gift!

Dedication to my bae Aspir < aestheticals > since her book 'Rosie' is so heartbreaking beautiful. I can give you my word that it'll touch a cord in your hearts, especially if you have experienced a situation where loved ones start drifting away from you (not just lovers, but friends and family). It is an awesome book and get ready with a box of tissues since the pain Rosie feels is real.

n i n e t e e n

[ a p p r o v a l]

Unlike popular belief of how teenage boys (or teenagers, in general) dream about stuff that parents aren't exactly fond of, I was a teenage boy who hadn't even imagined his first kiss.

So you could say I got a heart attack plus an alien invasion inside my stomach when something smooth and warm bumped my lips. Before I could confirm what was really happening, I pulled away as if I just tried to fondle a burning inferno.

The world started spinning. Everything seemed to go dark and the canopy of the trees just seemed to add to the effect. I could hear the swoosh of waves in my ears, which wasn't funny since our town was well tucked between land on all sides.

"Kiranya-"

Some groggy voice sounded awfully shaky and breathy, and before I could light some sort of fire or even turn my torchlight on, the canopy fell on me, engulfing me in a sea of cold and darkness.

All I could hear was a gasp before I passed out.

*

*

*

I bet ninety percent of you people who have way too much time in your hands to follow my life assumed that it was Kiranya who had gasped.

And with this statement, I bet almost all of you figured out that that wasn't the case.

"I ended up kissing her forehead?" I asked for the two hundred and eighth time after I had woken up. Yuvan shot me a scathing glare before nodding, and started sipping his iced tea.

I groaned, hiding my warm and probably red face behind my palms. And I passed out. I freaking passed out. After kissing her forehead. Her freaking forehead. Can someone kill me already?

"I'd love to but I'm not ready to deal with the cops. How about I pass you cyanide and you'll swallow it like a good boy?"

I narrowed my eyes as Yuvan turned the page of a magazine nonchalantly, ignoring my 'fiery' glare. He shrugged without sparing me a glance.

"You should stop talking out loud."

"I can't help it," I grumbled, surprisingly. Guess passing out in front of the girl I like takes a toll on me too. I mean, I never sound grumbling.

And that's when I realised that I kissed her (forehead) after confessing my oh so undying love. So manly of me. I bet that swept her off her feet.

"Nah," Yuvan muttered, turning the page again before taking a noisy slurp, "we both had to sweep you off the tree house. I wanted to throw you from the tree but Kiranya didn't exactly find the idea entertaining."

"Remind me why I'm friends with a psychopath again?"

Yuvan gave a rare laugh before sobering up. He pushed himself up from the stool he was lounging on beside my bed and dusted off the cookie crumbs from his trousers.

"You should talk to Kiranya," he said pulling my shoulder a little, urging me sit up. "Her father wasn't exactly thrilled to see me drop her off at her house with you passed out in the backseat."

"Oh skittles," I groaned for whatever-th time, face palming myself. And there went my chances of impressing my potential girlfriend's dad.

Yuvan rolled his eyes before yanking me from the bed, almost effortlessly.

"Call her," he said, thrusting my cellphone to my face.

I laughed before grabbing the phone. "Alright, alright mom."

He hit the back of my head before gingerly taking the magazine and saucer, and walked out of the room. I settled on the bean bag.

The five short rings sounding through the phone felt more nerve wracking than the time I had to go up against this one burly senior in my boarding school since I didn't want to give my toast to him. In my defence, I was cranky that day since my guitar string snapped.

But this time, I had no explanation.

"Yeah?"

Do you see that ugly purple thing being washed down the drain? Ah yes, that was my courage.

"Kiranya?"

"Yes?"

Okay, it wasn't like she talked to me sounding all upbeat and loving but again, she doesn't sound this curt ever. What should I say to her?

I'm sorry for confessing and making a big show of leaning in only to end up pecking your forehead since I'm a nervous airhead. And oh, the way I fainted was a demo of how your beauty makes me all lighthearted.

As if.

The line crackled and Kiranya's inpatient hushed voice filled it. "If you have nothing to say, I'll hang up."

And when I uttered the word 'wait' only the static was there to hum in reply.

*

*

*

I knocked on the door, trying to calm my nerves. I just realised that I was visiting Kiranya's house more often to visit her dad instead of actually visiting her. Her dad opened up, looking surprised. I shot him a stiff grin.

"Can I come in?"

"Sure," he replied, moving back and letting me pass him. He closed the door behind him, making me feel claustrophobic all of a sudden.

He sat down on the recliner while I took the couch. Straightening my plaid shirt, I took a breath.

"I'm sorry for being so irresponsible, uncle. I passed out and couldn't return her to you myself like how I promised," I said hastily and though I tried not to, my hand acted on its own and ran through my hair, ruining my effort to look presentable. Don't believe teen fiction books. Boys can't pull of the bedraggled hair nor a quiff without spending effort and time on it. If the author implies that that hair is a natural, beat the heck out of them for lying. Beat the heck out? I should probably stop reading rant books on wattpad.

"Can I ask you why you fainted?" Their family poker face was on and internally cringing, I tried to come up with a feasible lie. Admitting that I tried to kiss his daughter in the lips but failed and landed for the forehead wouldn't exactly earn me brownie points.

"It's... um, well it's... the - the altitude! Yeah, yes, yep, the altitude. The altitude," I said, huffing and shaking my head, my arms flailing around hopelessly. I knew I looked like an idiot. "Brrr, it was too cold and there wasn't any oxygen there so yeah, my lungs constricted and I passed out."

Seeing the look on his face, I knew I should've stopped at the altitude. Damn.

Kiranya's father narrowed his eagle eyes at me, studying and performing a virtual dissection of my brain and body just with his scalpel sharp eyes. Then, he burst out laughing loud, wheezing and masking his mouth behind loose fists.

Oh-kay.

"Son," he said between chuckles, "I've been a boy once too so I know. I just hope my daughter didn't reply affirmatively to you."

I didn't know when or how my mouth fell open, but when I looked down at the glass coffee table to distract myself, I saw my hanging jaw and my bewildered eyes. I looked like a cross between the ugliest owl and monkey, and no, it was not biologically possible. I'm just implying that I looked that shocked. And ugly. Okay, becoming a writer isn't exactly the best job for me. My comparisons, similes and metaphors are just too much for muggle standards anyway.

The older man stood up and walked to me. He thumped my shoulders and with a twinkle in his eyes, he bent down and whispered, "I approve."

Let's just say that yesterday and today had been the weirdest days of my life.

~✩~✩✩~✩~

Sadly, a filler chapter. I'm sorry for not updating for more than a month. Writer's block was awful and though I wanted to write, I couldn't. So I tried to concentrate on my other works hoping it'll help me overcome it but nope, it didn't. The writer's block still wouldn't go so I wrote down this chapter as a warm-up. Tell me how it was.

Knight with no Armour is completed and I've started a new story. It's called Nocturne Skies and it's my first romance story (full on romance anyway :P). It would mean a lot if you guys gave it a chance.

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