I invited Kite over Paula's apartment without her permission and the moment we got inside, I saw her narrow her eyes at him.

"What are you doing here?" she says, putting her hands over her hips.

"She invited me over," he replies, pointing to me.

I look at Paula sheepishly as she rolls her eyes at me.

"Where did you guys even meet?" she asks with an impatient look on her face.

"The usual place," Kite replies for me as Paula pulls out a chair for herself.

"The dumpster?" she says and I nod to confirm it. "You smell like cigarettes by the way," she tells me, sniffing.

"She tried it," Kite says as I shoot him a look.

When I looked at Paula, she was already approaching Kite. She slapped him so hard on the left side of his face, I flinched.

"What did you just make her do?" she says with a sharp tone.

"Chill, it was her decision!" Kite deflects, rubbing his face. "That stings," he mumbles and I can't help but feel guilty.

"I tried it on my own, Paula," I say and she just sighs, looking at me with concerned eyes.

"Are you sure you weren't pressured in any way?" she says, examining my whole face.

"Yes," I say without hesitation.

She sighs once again before leaning on the armrest of her couch.

"I can't believe the person who was just so against smoking has now officially smoked her first cigarette," she says, shaking her head with disbelief.

"Well, I can't believe I'd meet you again," Kite says, looking at Paula.

"Shut up," Paula says right away.

"You know each other?" I ask, looking from Kite to Paula.

"Don't you dare tell her, Akihito," Paula says and I just look at both of them with confused eyes.

"Akihito? Your name's Akihito?" I say, turning to Kite who was just grinning.

"But she's curious," Kite teases as Paula raises her face and threatened him with her widened eyes.

Paula's eyes turn to look at mine and that's when her face softens.

"You know what, tell her everything, I don't even care anymore," she says, letting her head fall down on the couch, her legs still dangling over the armrest.

"What are you guys talking about?" I say with much confusion.

"Let's take a seat, shall we?" Kite says, heading to the small dining area.

He pulls out a chair for me and I sit down as he seats himself across me. He opens a pot filled with instant ramen and sniffed it.

"May I have some of this?" he says loudly for Paula to hear and Paula just groans. "I'm taking that answer as a yes."

He grabs a bowl from the rack casually like he has been around here before. He grabs a pair of stainless chopsticks and uses it on the noodles like an expert.

"Wow, I can't even pick up a single sushi with chopsticks," I say, looking at him get some of the noodles.

"Really?" he says with surprised eyes. "Oh, shit, wait, do you want some? I'm so disrespectful."

He immediately grabs another bowl and gives me some.

"It's fine," I say but it was too late, he was already done serving me some.

"Too late," he says before continuing to get himself some.

"Thank you, anyway," I say before spinning the fork around to gather some noodles before putting it in my mouth.

Kite grabs some with his chopsticks and slurps all of them at once. Some soup even got splashed around his mouth as he laughs.

"Stop staring at me!" he says, wiping his mouth clean with his sleeve.

"I'm sorry, I just can't help but find it cool," I say.

"Find what cool?" he asks, grabbing the bowl and bringing it to his lips. He slurps some of the soup before placing it down again on the table.

"How people are so great at using chopsticks," I tell him before grabbing another bite and spooning some soup in my mouth.

"Well, I'm part East Asian after all," he says and before I could notice it, he was already done with his bowl.

"Oh, which race?" I ask.

"Japanese," he says. "My dad's Japanese, my mom's American," he adds, standing up to bring the bowl to the sink.

He washes it and places it back on the rack.

"Paula, aren't you going to eat?" he calls out at Paula who seemed asleep.

"I think she fell asleep," I say, slurping some soup.

"Well, whatever. That girl is always awake at night," he says before sitting down across me again.

"Okay, continuing," he starts. "Wait, do you even want me to continue?" he asks as I just nod.

He looks at me with doubt and I just laugh at him.

"Just go on!" I say as he laughs along with me.

"So, yeah, my dad had to go to States for some business when he met my mom. I was actually conceived even before they got married. In short, I was a result of pre-marital intercourse," he says and I can't help but laugh at how he said the last sentence.

"What's wrong?" he says, almost laughing.

"N-nothing," I managed to say through my giggles.

"How about you? What's your story?" he asks as my laughter subsides.

"Hmm."

For a moment, Chelsea's name was about to slip out of my mouth. I almost forgot that Chelsea was already dead. I kept silent for a while, trying to think of what to tell him.

"Hmm what?" he says, grabbing a glass behind him.

He places it under the faucet and drank the tap water casually.

"My dad's sensitive when it comes to me being with boys," I say as Kite gulps some of the water.

"Would he freak out if he found out about you being in an apartment with me?" he says, placing the glass down carefully.

"Probably," I reply, not so sure.

I finished with my bowl of instant ramen, so I placed it on the sink and washed it out of courtesy. I went back to my seat.

"How about your mom?" he continues to ask.

"My mom's fine with it. She's actually a teen romance freak," I say as Kite laughs at this.

We keep silent for a while as he rubs his hands against each other.

"My mom actually left us when I was just little," he suddenly says.

I just look at him, not knowing what to say.

"There's no need to say sorry," he says before I could say anything. "It's not like we were close. I'm pretty sure she regretted conceiving me."

I kept silent.

"I don't think that's true," I say, not knowing what I'm even saying.

"Well, after all, she was supposed to be studying medicine when dad got her pregnant," he says.

"How did you know about that?" I ask, feeling nervous for some reason.

"My dad told me all about it when he was drunk," he says casually.

"Oh, I see," I say.

"It's not like it's my fault for being there," he says, chuckling. "She decided to have sex with him, not me."

I just look at him. His eyes were empty as he forces to laugh. I suddenly found myself holding his hand. He looks at me with surprise. We just stay like that for a while when he suddenly talked once again.

"Paula was my ex-girlfriend," he says and that's when I yanked my hand away. "More like, just an ex-chick."

I look at him with disbelief. Who even is this guy? Why am I getting drawn into him?

"Okay," I softly say as he reaches out to touch my cheek.

He leans in over the small dining table, his face just a few inches from mine. I lean in closer and found my lips touching his. It wasn't a smooth kiss, it was rough and harsh. His lips were chapped and he kissed so hard I feel like my mouth was about to break.

I can feel him smile against my lips before letting out his tongue. He tried to get inside my mouth but I just pushed him away lightly.

"Sorry, you don't do French?" he says, leaning back on his chair.

"I'm just not used to that," I lie.

I'm not even used to kissing with just lips, how much more with tongue?

"Oh, shit, you should've told me," he says, crossing his arms.

"It's fine," I say and I can see him staring at me.

"Hey," he says, his eyes not leaving mine.

"Hmm?"

"Are you not single?" he asks and I just look at him. I don't know what to tell him. I'm not taken but at the same time why do I feel like I am?

"No," I firmly say and that's when his face broke into a smile.

"Want to hang out at my place?" he says, standing up.

"Sure."