—— [ PART ELEVEN ] ——

Mr. Cross never returned to her class after that day. And since he was absent,  Rys and her classmates had to wait for a substitute to dismiss them from school...  When the school bell finally rang, the blackhaired girl immediately stood up from her seat and fixed her stuffs. As she did so, someone tapped her on the shoulder, causing her body to go stiff.

          Is it him? Is he back?

          Rys turned around and saw her friend Pinkie. Ok. Guess not. She breathed out the air that she did not know she was holding. "Sorry if I scared you," Pinkie muttered with a soft apologetic smile. But still Pinkie was curious. Why did Rys look scared awhile ago? Rys was never the type to be easily shocked. Had she perhaps mistaken her someone? Could that someone be Mr. Cross?

          Hmm.

          "It's fine. I just thought it's someone else," Rys mutterd, confirming her friend's thoughts. So, she did mistake her, Pinkie thought before a sly smile formed. Wrapping her arm around Rys's shoulder, she let out a close-eyed smile. "Let me guess!"

         "It's Mr. Cross, right?"

         Her green eyes went wide as she immediately put both her hands on her mouth. "Hey! Don't be so loud!" Cheeks were slight pink; the girl was embarrassed to be caught talking about their hot teacher."And yes. It's him. How did you know?" Rys asked, her tone soft and kinda trembling.

         Duh. "It's so obvious." Pinkie rolled her eyes as she forced her friend's hands away.  How can she not guess it when Rys and their teacher were mostly alone together ... ever since Mr. Cross introduced himself yesterday? What was seriously going on between the two. Rys silently took a peek on their substitute;  the teacher seeming to be busy with something.

          "We should get going."

          Pinkie nodded, agreeing. "Yeah, we should."

*** PART ELEVEN ***   

As they both walked down the hallways, Pinkie could not help but finally ask the question that had been circling her mind all day. What did they really do yesterday? What did really happen earlier?Pinkie secretly pinched herself in the arms when dirty thoughts filled her mind. Although Pinkie knew that Rys is not like that, she cannot help but think of dirty stuffs.

           "Um, about yesterday."

          "  Did something happen with you and our science teacher?" Pinkie asked.. Her cheeks were flushed pink at the thoughts again. Rys was not aware of it though... She gazed down at the floor, rubbing her arm.Her books were already placed in her locker, so she very much had empty hands. I really have to tell her, huh? With a soft sigh, Rys nodded. Her pink lips were in a straight line for a second before she muttered out a soft yeah.

          Pinkie froze.

          Yeah? Yeah?! As in YEAH?! "So you do have a forbidden relationship going on with him?"

           Rys almost choked on her saliva when she heard Pinkie's assumptions. How could she even assume that? What the hell! "Of course not!" Rys spat out, her cheeks burning deep red from the embarrassment.Although they are soulmates or whatever, they hate each other!!! It was truly impossible for them to be together. Just awhile ago, Mr. Cross nearly killed her!

          "Huh, no? You sure?"

          But there was a spark between them. Pinkie knew that there was something between them...  Was Rys still lying to her? She stared at her friend but only saw those determined gazes. Rys nodded several times.  "Not in a million years."That left Pinkie with disappointment.Her imaginations bursting. Damn... her best friend was truly hopeless with romance. And she thought that Mr. Cross was Rys's second soulmate (hehe).But Pinkie guessed it wrong.

          Pinkie pouted. "If that didn't happen, then what happened?"

          Rys meticulously checked their surroundings first before replying in a quiet tone, "I tried it on him, Pinkie." Tried? Pinkie looked at her, confused.Tried what?Seeing that Pinkie had not understood her, Rys sighed.Her green eyes were on the ground;  Rys whispered with inevitable sadness sipping through.

          "Mr. Cross is my mate, Pinkie."

          "What?!" Pinkie was so shook. Her blue eyes almost rolled out from its sockets as she gaped at her friend. She's clearly surprised from the revelation. So that hot teacher of theirs was a vampire. Of course he's a vampire. He was too handsome to be even human. And he was her friend's mate. No wonder he was always trying to solo her. But — Pinkie turned her gaze on her friend's neck. She saw no bite mark. She sighed in relief.

          Okay, her friend was safe.

          "Should I tweet this?" Pinkie asked to herself. Her body trembling in excitement as she happily gazed at her friend. Rys gave her a strange look and, of course,  shook her head. Is Pinkie really her friend? "Aish! You're really weird, Pinkie."

         "Same goes to you." Pinkie laughed.

          "But wait! You rejected him, right? Did it work?" Pinkie asked, suddenly looking so concern. The black– haired girl shrugged. She wasn't really sure. What was supposed to happen when she said those words?Was it normal for the vampire to drop in pain?Did Rys say the wrong words? So the girl explained everything to Pinkie, hoping her questions would be answered.

           Though Rys never said the kiss part. She was still embarrassed by it.How desperate she was to escape from the clutches of death, so Rys even sacrificed her first kiss just to be freed.

          Pinkie attentively listened. When Rys was done, Pinkie's only reaction was wide blue eyes. Before she cracked out a laugh. "Oh my gosh. I can't believe this." Rys gave her a puzzled look,  so Pinkie gave her a pat completely filled with reassurance. "Oh,  it is nothing worrying.It's just that it worked, Rys.You successfully broke your bonds with him."

          Rys was supposed to be happy; but somehow, she can't bring herself to be happy when the green-eyed girl kept on recalling his pained expression. " But Mr. Cross appeared to be suffering when I said those words? Why? Do you think he's okay now?"

          "Well, that's the thing, you see. It's the consequence for rejecting your mate or being rejected by your mate...," she paused for a second before continuing,"They're going to feel their souls being torn apart as they start to be more and more depressive as days passed by.. Both mates have to suffer the pain for an eternity."

         "Eternity?" Rys echoed.

          Pictures of Mr. Cross as a very old man crossed her mind. A grumpy old man to be exact. Rys felt pity, but she forgot it when she realized something important. 

           Both mates must feel the pain, but why doesn't she feel anything?  Rys gave her friend a confused look as she asked that question. Pinkie mainly shrugged. She also had no idea, but she got a theory.

          "Maybe it's because you still have other mates for you out there. But do you not feel pity for your ex mate? I mean he's going to experience that pain for the rest of his life. Or even for eternity."

          Guilt struck her. Rys wasn't that heartless to make that vampire feel such endless pain. Although Mr. Cross (totally) deserves that,  Rys does not have the right to be such a villain in his life. She was not cruel like him. And she wasn't going to act cruel like him.  But how was she supposed to do it. To correct what she hadn't meant to do. Pinkie perceived her guilty friend. Somehow, she cannot help but bite back a smirk.

          "Well if you want to take it back, I can tell you the phrase," Pinkie said with a smile. Rys eyed her.  She can still take it back? Rys wasn't even going to say anything when Pinkie just told her the words. "All you have to do, Rys, is just replace the word "reject" with "accept"  like this—'I, Pinkie Thorse, accept you as my mate." Giving Pinkie a glance, Rys hmm-ed with a nod, hearing those words.

Deep in her thoughts, the girl was still thinking on whether she should do it. But she should probably do it, right? "I hope it works," she muttered. And Pinkie's lips twitched into a smile, glad to hear her friend's decision.. Rys just hoped that she wouldn't regret it.