R Y D E R

TWO YEARS AFTER THE BREAKUP

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Ryder never knew that he would be one of those people who'd have a second puberty outburst.

He had stood at 5'11 tall when he was in highschool. He was tall. Not movie-star tall, but tall enough to make some people look up when they were talking to him.

As he started working more seriously on his woodcarving, though, he felt as if his clothes, shoes, and everything started to... shrink. He swore, one time, he went to bed with a perfectly fitted pants, and when he woke up everything felt tight and small.

Just as he reached legal age, Ryder Black shot up to 6'4 and had probably gone through three sets of whole new clothes and pants and shoes in the span of one year. If that wasn't magic or anyone tampering with his body, he didn't know what.

While before he had looked staggering with his 'not movie-star' height and his intense glare, now he was downright strapping with his A-List-Movie-Star-Height. He had suspicions that some people might have mistaken him for a wall or something, considering the amount of girls crashing into his chest in a daily basis.

But even armed with his newfound height, armed with his cultivated glare, and armed with his roaring yells, Grandma still stood strong right before him.

"You don't go back now!" she demanded with her shrill voice. Standing at probably 5'2, Grandma wasn't exactly a match to Ryder in terms of physique. In fact, he could very well step right into her and she would just topple over.

But something inside her eyes made him hesitate. What Alyssa Phillipe Black didn't have in volume (and youth), she made up with determination. And those eyes of hers were brimming with it.

"Let me see her," he spoke in harsh tone. Ryder had been particularly close with Grandma, even before the whole cancer thing happened to his family. Grandma was firm, but she also secretly cared to his wellbeing in a way only Grandmas could. Why else did she try to make ice-creams in the first place?

(Ryder was a number one fan of her dark-chocolate variant)

They did fight, just like all families do. But those were the kind of fights that got forgotten as soon as it was over. Five minutes later, they could watch some TV and provide complementary commentaries.

This felt different, sadly.

"You're a fucking idiot," Grandma hushed. "You're not doing this to her. Look at you! You're bleeding everywhere! She will fucking drop dead if she saw you like this!"

"Only about half of it is my blood," Ryder tsk-ed.

"Oh, perfect! That's a freaking relief, then!" each of her words came out as a yap. Grandma paced around him as she yapped even louder than what he thought her voice chords could manage. "I'M. HERE. TO. COME BACK. TO YOU. APRIL! AFTER. TWO YEARS. OF RADIO SILENCE! BY THE WAY, LOVE. THERE'S ABOUT. FIVE LITERS OF BLOOD. ON MY BODY. BUT MINE. IS ONLY TWO LITERS OF IT."

Ryder sighed, feeling his ears slightly pained due to the high decibels. He also was quite worried that his grandmother would hurt her voice. He gave her a glass of water.

"I don't call her 'Love', Grandma," he said.

"And that is beside the point here, you idiotic grandson of mine!" Grandma was still yelling. "I know you're sad. You're pained. And the reason why you only manage to socialize with me and those damned woodblocks of yours is because you're still hurting about the breakup. But this is not a good time for you to come back! Not yet. How many people jumped you last night? You were just going to the convenience store and they almost beat you to death-"

"Minor details, Grandma. I almost beat them to death," Ryder wanted to protest but Grandma was having none of it.

"You still need to finish the damn business before you can even think of involving her," Grandma enunciated every word, just like she did every other day when Ryder found his willpower weakening.

"I want to be with her," Ryder said in a raspy voice that was so unlike him it almost surprised him. "When I breathe, I breathe her smell. When I sleep, I dream of her. Everywhere I go, I see her! I'm going crazy, Grandma. I don't want to be separated from her for this long. My body can't stand it."

As soon as he clamped his mouth, he saw a saucepan smashing against his shoulder. There was a resounding CLANK as the metal hit his hard muscles, and as soon as he recovered from the stinging pain, he saw his grandmother raising the saucepan again, readying for the second hit.

"You're strong, Ryder," Grandma said.

"You don't need to do a literal demonstration for that. You just hit the place where they sliced me," Ryder was holding his shaking arm, where blood started gushing out of his previous gash.

His grandmother's face turned green, and she started scurrying around the house to prepare for all the first-aid medications (something that she should have done at the first place). They spent the rest of the evening tending to Ryder's wounds, which totaled to a staggering amount of 30 bruises, 4 deep cuts, 16 shallow cuts, and one particular nasty gash (those people had brought a fucking mace).

As soon as Ryder took a peek of his body on the mirror, he knew that his grandmother had been right all along.

Even if he were back, he wouldn't make her happy now. He couldn't even go to a convenience store and come back in one piece, goddamn it.

He needed to wait.

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2.29: a transition from like to love

Alex and I went back to the club, and then I saw Housemate's waiting for us right in front of the elevator, his eyes slightly red and his expression looked like he was ready to deal some serious damage towards a living creature.

I almost took a step back and retreated to the elevator because whenever Housemate had this kind of face, things wouldn't go well.

Alex grabbed my elbow and took me back to the lobby, and as the elevator dinged away, I prayed for the survival of us three.

My mind raced back to the duffel bag that I left on club's sofa just before I went to the suites. Oh no, if I were to die right now, I wished I had finished everything that I'd put on my Tupperware. I also really liked that mushroom soup...

Housemate was glaring, and the way his fists clenched and unclenched made me uneasy. Fortunately, the lobby was spacious and devoid of any bystanders. Because anyone would have concluded that Housemate was legit homicidal when he hissed towards Alex.

"Took you long enough."

Alex smiled, but he couldn't fool me. I knew that he was as nervous as me, probably even more nervous, because his lower lips were quivering in the slightest bit. "Ah, sorry to make you wait. We need to do this and that."

If anything, the words 'this and that' nearly made Housemate even more livid than before. "You took her to a hotel room!" and then he turned to me. "Why did you agree to go to a hotel room with him?!"

His eyes were so dark that it was almost black. He was standing so close in front of me, and when he started talking to me, his hand was lodged to the wall behind me.

"Don't you know how worried I was about you? This guy didn't exactly have the best records when it came to girls!"

I had always needed to look up when I talked to Housemate years ago. But right now, even if I looked up, I could only catch a bit of his eyes. He had grown even taller than before. His slim waist combined with his broad shoulder was giving him a proportion that could inspire thousands of artists all over the world.

Including me. Even though I wasn't an artist.

In fact, I was too inspired by his proportions, however, that I started seeing Yoda's with Housemate's body.

I blame my brain for this kind of imaginery.

"Business we did," I said. "Business important."

Housemate blinked. Then he stared at Alex. Then at me.

"You're doing that Yoda thing..." he said in a half-awe.

I lied to myself and then shook my head. "No. No."

Housemate grabbed Alex and then positioned him beside himself. Then Housemate alternated an index finger towards him and Alex.

"Is it because of me or him?"

I could tell that Alex was in the verge of laughing out loud, but thankfully he kept his mouth shut. I wouldn't dare to think about how many teeth he'd lose if he really dared laughing.

Now that I thought about it, Alex never affected my speech the way Housemate did. He made me think a lot about him, and he made me think a lot about him.

Sometimes he made me think twice about him without realizing it.

But never the Yoda, never the fainting, and especially never the sharp, short breaths that I was doing right now because Housemate's chest was on a very close-up view to me.

"No," I said. Maybe if I stuck with monosyllables I could avoid further embarrassing myself. From what Bella told me, I was supposed to be angry and vindictive towards Housemate, not fall head over heels on the first sight of close physical contact!

"So, me?" Housemate pointed at himself.

I nodded. "No."

"What? Is that a 'yes it's not you', or a 'no, it's definitely me that's making you all nervous and Yodaing'?"

There were about a thousand words lodged within my throat, but I didn't trust all those words to be advantageous in my position. I put a hand on my mouth and then croaked another monosyllable, "No."

"That's not answering anything, Housemate." The way he said Housemate didn't make think like he was thinking housemate when he said it.

The tip of Alex's lips curled up. "Do you want me to drive you?"

"I literally live in the same place with her, so why don't you save gas or something? The world could definitely do better without all that pollution from your Maserati." Housemate's was quick to deter Alex's offer.

"April's duffel bag?" Alex said. "She left the bag with you, right?"

At the mention of this, Housemate's face reddened. He wouldn't drink so much because he was our driver, but even then, the red on his cheeks were unmistakable. "Shit."

"It's very precious to her."

"I know, dammit."

"It contains all of her tupperware and her very precious thermos."

"I know! I saw her cleaning her thermos everyday!"

"Go-go find it," Alex said, smiling. "I'll drive her home safely."

Housemate was about to shout another protest, but Alex had already guided me away from the club. As soon Housemate was out within the earshot, Alex said to me:

"I just loved playing with him," he chuckled.

"I think you're the only one who consider that playing," I said through my teeth. "Housemate seemed like he was ready to combust into flame, and I was shaking like the AC was set on Antartica celcius."

Alex smiled, and then he touched my shoulder a bit. "He never needs to know exactly what we did upstairs tonight."

"You mean, the almost kissing and lots of hugging?" I asked.

"Yep," Alex said, popping the P. "Best never to mention it. Firstly, it'll drive him even crazier and I love seeing him all worked up." He gulped at the start of his next reason. "Secondly, if he really knew the details about everything, I'm not sure that I'll be able to leave this place with all of my limbs intact."

"Which limbs do you think Housemate will cut off first?" I asked.

"Very probably my heart," the smile on his lips was wry. "so that I'd stop having feelings for you."

-

I never got into Alex's car. I had just realized it, but during the course of our five years of friendship (and one day of almost something else), I never actually sit on his fancy, weirdly shaped car.

When I sat, I still saw the Storm Trooper bobbed-head on his dashboard. It was reminiscence of the first time he ever drove me, to Ryder's fight a few years ago (BOOK ONE, CHAPTER 26).

Alex didn't talk thorough the way, and I was so busy fighting off the sandmen* that kept whispering to me to close my eyes and sleep.

When we finally arrived, I already saw Housemate's car parked on the front garage.

I said my thanks to Alex before I exited the car, but then he stopped me.

"April."

"Yes?"

"You like him still?" he asked, his words barely a whisper. "Even after all these years?"

I never said the love word towards Housemate. I didn't know why. I certainly felt it, but I never said it out loud, and he never asked either. But right now, on Alex's car, just a couple of hours after his confession, I was overwhelmed with a lot of gnawing feelings all over me.

"I love him," I said. "I know it's stupid and Bella and my whole family will probably brainwash me if they had the device. But yes, I love him. Sometimes even more than I love my collection of first-editions Lord of the Rings books."

The smile on Alex's smile didn't reach his eyes this time. "I just had to confirm."

We hugged for the last time, and then I stepped into Housemate's apartment.

When I put my hand on my chest, I smiled as I felt the familiar drumming that my heart always did whenever I thought about Him. The knot on my stomach turned and I felt bodily sick. But this was all something that I'd felt before... Something that always plagued me whenever I was around him. It was inconvenient, yes.

But seeing him around me, just knowing that he was safe, made all those inconveniences worth it.

I love Ryder Black. Fiercely. Stupidly. Relentlessly.

Now I was even more sure of that. 

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ta-daaaa

IM VERY VERY EXCITED FOR THE NEXT CHAPTERS.

OKAY. SCRATCH THAT. IM EXCITED FOR THE REST OF THE BOOK.

IT'S BEEN SO LONG SINCE I'VE BEEN ABLE TO WRITE DRAMAS. AND I LOVE DRAMAS. IM ASIAN SO OVER-THE-TOP DRAMA IS LIKE INGRAINED IN THE LITTLE CREATIVE PART OF MY BRAIN. 

okay now that i've breathed a bit.

next week when i post the next chapter, i'm gonna be a half-married woman (because of the first marriage party)

TWO WEEKS AFTER THIS CHAPTER IM GOING TO BE SOMEONE'S OFFICIAL WIFE.

and yet I GET MORE EXCITED WHEN I'M WRITING THAN WHEN I'M PLANNING MY WEDDING. i feel like a freak. (or maybe im just so disorganized that marriage-planning is really not something that i do enjoy. it's so stressful)

i'm trying so hard to keep up with the story's schedule despite the wedding, but since i'm going to move in to another place, i can't promise regular updates. I WILL TRY, but if i miss a week or two, please understand. 

on the other hand, 

I WROTE MY FIRST NSFW CHAPTER AND I FOUND OUT I LIKED WRITING NSFW CHAPTERS. as of now, it's exclusive to radish only but i may upload this on wattpad as a PRIVATE chapter LATER as a bonus content (along with other bonus contents). 

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New Development:

1. Alex's story, aka THIS STORY: 

Pizza Delivery Girl VS the Rich Kids will start commencing on SEPTEMBER 10TH 2017. so please add the story on your library. it will have a more... chick-lit feel, with another 'quirky' main character. it's going to be part of the Quirky Series. 

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2: THIS STORY IS NOMINATED ON THE FICTION AWARDS!!

Please help me win by commenting +1 (YOU CAN SPAM HAHA) on the categories that I'm enlisted. 

Please help me win in 'THE BEST DIVERSE BOOK' since I identify April's story about a diverse character without being too preachy about a certain subject. The Best Diverse book award is FAAARRR DOWN the voting section, so you might need to scroll quite a lot to find it. 

(link for fiction awards is on external link of this chapter) 

https://www.wattpad.com/424908717-the-fiction-awards-2017-voting-is-open-voting-open

Thank you sooo much! 

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Don't forget to comment and vote. it makes me feel loved. <3