Zachary's POV

* ding dong *

They are here.

"Zachary could you please open the door for the Williams? Your dad and I are busy cooking in the kitchen."

"Alright mum!"

As my hand reached the door knob, I could feel a smile tugging at the corner of my lips. My smile weakened a little as I only saw Rachel's parents standing outside the door. Rachel's mum seemed to caught that as she explained.

"Don't worry, Rachel's here. She'd went to retrieve her mobile phone from the car."

I chuckled nervously as it's not my intention to do that. Rachel's parents went into the house and I stood by the front door to wait for Rachel.

I saw a girl wearing a pink dress walking towards my direction. When that girl came closer, there's a small smile on her face. It's Rachel. Wow. I've never seen her in a dress before. But, I like it.

"Hey, thanks for waiting."

"Zach?" Rachel was snapping her fingers in front of me.

"What?" I looked at Rachel confusion clouding my features.

"You were completely zoned out just now. Are you okay?"

Embarrassed with my actions previously, I rubbed the back of my neck and murmured a I'm fine. Great job, Zach.

"Come on in." I gestured for Rachel to step inside and closed the door behind us.

"Oh Rachel look at you, how adorable." My mum patted Rachel's cheek and gave her a bear hug.

Rachel was a little out of breath as she said, "Th-Thanks Aunt N-Natalie."

"Dinner will be ready in ten minutes!" My dad notified us from the kitchen.

"Yes, please make yourself at home. Zachary go get them something to drink!" My mum ordered me while tying her apron.

"Oh right. Are you all fine with apple juice?"

The three of them nodded and I went into the kitchen.

"Um, my mum told me to help you with the drinks." Rachel said softly as I was pouring the drink into the cup.

"Here hold two of these for me." I handed her the cups and shot her a grin. Rachel's face flushed bright pink as she took the drinks.

"Hey lat-" I turned around to find Rachel missing.

Couldn't she wait for awhile? I wanted to ask her if she could wait for me to get her birthday present. I quickly poured the rest of the drinks and followed her. Before I knew it dinner was ready and we were all seated at the dinner table. Dinner went well with the adults having their much needed catch up. As usual, Rachel ate quietly and refused to make eye contact with me.

"Zachary can you help me to bring in the utensils?" My mum asked me as she took some of the plates in.

"Hey, it's alright. I'll take those in instead, go have a chat with Rachel." Aunt Rebecca started to go around the table collecting the utensils.

Perfect, I could pass Rachel her present now. "Thanks Aunt Rebecca," I said with a smile of gratitude.

Rachel and her dad was sitting on the sofa watching some variety show.

"Uncle Jeff, if you don't mind, I'd like to borrow Rachel for awhile."

"Sure." Uncle Jeff grinned while gesturing Rachel to follow me. On the contrary, Rachel didn't budge and looked at her dad like he'd just lost his mind.

Trying my best not to roll my eyes, I walked over and pulled Rachel up by her wrist. A look of shock was evident on Rachel's face but she stood up anyways.

"Come on. I won't bite," I whispered and winked at her.
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Rachel's POV

What's wrong with Zachary and his winking today? Did something got into his eyes?

The area around my left wrist was a little hot. I glanced down at my wrist and gasped. Zachary was still holding onto my wrist and guided me upstairs. My heart was beating faster and I tried to extract my hand from Zachary's. To my surprise, Zachary actually tightened his grip.

We were standing outside of Zachary's bedroom and he opened the door for us to go in. Zachary didn't let go of my wrist for once as he went in to search for something. Oh and of course we left the door opened. I kind of like the feeling of Zachary holding my wrist. Looking around Zachary's room I was shocked to find that it was neat and clean. The whole room was painted in sky blue. I thought boy's room would be messy as they couldn't even be bothered to tidy up.

I smiled inwardly as Zachary spun around with a little box on his palm.

"Happy Birthday, Rachel," Zachary said with a sparkle in his eyes. My mouth formed the letter 'o' as I didn't know how to react.

Zachary lifted up my hand to get the present because I just stared at the box.

"Hey, you could open it now," Zachary commented while tapping on the box.

"Alright," I said in response.

"Wow.." I found a beautiful necklace in the box. The necklace has my initials R.F.W written in purple. This was when I know why Zachary asked me those questions before the exams.

"Do you want me to help you wear this?" Zachary asked, raising an eyebrow at me.

"Yes, please." Zachary chuckled lightly as he took the necklace from the box and put it around my neck. I could feel his warm fingers brushing against my skin. This caused me to suck in a breath. Zachary's hands lingered a little too long on the back of my neck. The butterflies in my stomach are waging a war right now. Butterflies, please stop. Zachary walked into my line of sight after he's done with the necklace.

I looked down at the custom made necklace and held it between my fingers. Feeling the cold metal, I felt a small smile played at the corner of my mouth.

"Do you like it?"

Our eyes interlocked as I glanced up. "Like it? I freaking love it! Thank you!" Out of impulse, I tip toed and embraced Zachary in a hug. I didn't realise what I was doing until I felt Zachary's hand touching my waist, hugging me back.

As we pulled away from the hug, there's an awkward laugh from the both of us.

"We've got to get back down. The adults will be wondering what are we doing," Zachary said as he took my hand in his and we went out of his room.
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The adults were having a great time catching up on their lives. As for me and Zachary you know when parents decided to talk about you in front of other people, it's awkward. Both of us gave an uneasy smile whenever they mentioned about us.

"Rachel, do you have a boyfriend?" Aunt Natalie asked innocently.

Without a doubt, I choked on my saliva and was caught in a coughing fit. However, the living room was really quiet it seemed that everyone was waiting for my answer.

I cleared my throat and said, "No, I don't."

Aunt Natalie looked relieved as she replied, "That's great!"

Great? What's so great about me being single? Zachary was smiling to himself and that's weird.

"Alright, it's time for us to head home. Thank you so much for the dinner." My dad stood up and swiped off imaginary dusts from his pants.

My mum agreed and followed my dad after giving Aunt Natalie a tight hug. "Yeah, thank you all for celebrating Rachel's birthday with us."

I thanked the Davis as they walked us out. We met Ella and her family when we were walking towards the car. Suddenly there's a mini gathering in front of Ella's and Zachary's home.

"Hey Rachel, I heard it's your birthday today. Happy Birthday!"

"Thank you, Mr and Mrs Chance."

Once again, Ella gave me a weird look before going in with her parents. I was finally able to relax after I got in the car. This year's birthday has been an enthralling one, wasn't it?

Author's note :
Hiii hope you liked this chapter! :) What do you think of Zach's present for Rach? ;) Thank you to those who patiently waited for my update :D Give my story a vote/comment/share if you liked it! ❤

Update
Hey guys! Just wanna clarify something.
Rachel and Zachary are not related at all. They called each other's parents uncles and aunties as a form of respect. This is what we do from where I live!

Rachel and Zachary's mums were BFFs from high school! So they are not sisters by blood! Thank you all for reading my book! Hope you're enjoying it thus far! :)