"Catch me if you can."

Morning came and unlike the other days, before Krystal's alarm rang her sleep was disturbed by the sound of a phone call. She woke up and wondered who would be calling her early in the morning. It was a call from Richard. She was half awake and so she asked who it was.

To this Richard answered, "Wake up sleepy. It's me. Look out of your window."

To this she got surprised and said to herself, "Impossible! It could not be him right?" She opened her window and saw him and so she called him through her phone and said, "What are you doing here early in the morning?"

He smiled at her and said, "Let's go together for a morning exercise"

She then said, "Wait for a moment! I'll hurry myself and come down within five minutes."

She then washed herself up and came down towards Richard and said, "How long have you been waiting for me?"

He replied saying, "Ummm….Not long but also not less than thirty minutes."

To this she said, "Sorry for making you wait. If you told me yesterday that we would be running together then I could have prepared myself ahead of time.

To this he said, "I wanted to give you a surprise." She then said with a voice full of affection, "What kind of surprise is this making yourself suffer by standing and waiting for me. But I really got surprised and at first I thought I was dreaming."

To this he said, "Enough talking. Let's start our exercise or we'll be late.

They started running and after they had ran for half an hour Krystal got tired and Richard seeing her getting tired suggested to take a rest for some time and so they took a rest under the shade of a tree filled with grasses and so they sat on top of the grass and they drank water and took a rest.

Since they drank from the same bottle, Richard said to Krystal, "Did you know that we just did an indirect kiss?"

To this she smiled and acted as if she did not have any idea and said, "Huh? What are you saying?"

He answered, "Don't act in front of me or you will get a very serious punishment."

She laughed and mocked at him and said, "What kind of punishment? I did not hear you!" and after she said those words she stood up and started running and shouted laughing at him, "Catch me if you can!"

To this he stood up and ran after her and as soon as he caught her he gave her a tight back hug and said, "I told you not to play any kind of tricks with me."

To this she laughed and said, "I think now we should go back to our own house or else we'll be late for school."

He then looked at his watch and said, "You're right. Let me drop you off."

She replied, "I can go by myself and also if you drop me off it'll be difficult for me to let you go. "

To this he smiled and said, "Okay if you insist. Be safe when you go back. Let's meet each other at school." They then departed.

As Krystal got back home, her parents asked where she went early in the morning. To this answered by saying that she went for a morning exercise. Her parents was taken aback by her words and said, "Why all of a sudden did you decide to go for an exercise today? I remember you didn't like morning exercises."

To this she answered smiling, "From today I'll be going regularly."

Her parents said to each other, "She's acting weird today, isn't she?" and they both agreed that something was weird with her that very day.

Krystal went to her room, washed herself, cleaned her bed and got herself ready for school. She ate breakfast and started for school.

As she entered the school she met Mina and they both went to their classroom together chatting about different things. They had normal classes and at the end of the class their home teacher said, "I believe you have been preparing yourself well for the examination. Let me remind you guys that you have got only five days before your examination." He said those words and left the classroom.

After the day's classes finally got over, Krystal and her group went to the library to study. They asked each other their various doubts. The whole time Richard was staring at Krystal and as they finished their study, Alex together with Mina and Suzy suggested having some soft drinks at the convenience store.

All of them agreed and as they were having drinks at the convenience store, Suzy suddenly asked Richard, "While we were studying in the library, the whole time you were staring at my friend. Was there something stuck on her face? But I don't remember her having something on her face!!"

To this he said, "I tried to tell you guys a secret earlier but I didn't get the proper time. As I tell you guys the secret please keep it a secret among yourself. I was staring at her because she was so attractive. How can one be so beautiful even when they are serious?"

Suzy acted as if she got stuck in a dilemma and provoked him to confess his feelings and asked, "What do you mean by that? Is it a confession?" To this he arrogantly took Krystal by her hand and answered, "Yes and we are already in a relationship." All of them got so surprised.

Alex suddenly asked, "When did that happen? Are you serious?"

To this he answered, "Very serious."

Krystal was blushing the whole time. Her friends saw her blushing and mocked her and Alex and her friends started asking Richard and Krystal so many questions at a time. To they said, "It's a long story." Their friends gave their blessing and they made a toast for their happy relationship.

Since they were getting late, Krystal suggested, "Shall we now depart? We are getting late." To her friends and Alex mocked her and Richard and said to each other, "Let's leave ahead. Guess they need their own time."

To this Krystal got shy and said, "It's nothing like that."

Her friends smiled at her and said, "Yes!!!! We understand you" To this she said, "It's really not what you think." To this her friends said, "Okay! Now we are leaving." To she said, "Stay safe as you all go home. Let's chat as we go back to our house."

They all left and now only Krystal and Richard were left in the convenience store. Krystal said to Richard, "How could you confess something like that in a very cool way? You know I was blushing and feeling shy the whole time."

To this he smiled and said, "Pick whatever you want to eat from the store, I'll be buying for you whatever you want as a punishment for making you blush."

To this she said, "Never mind. Instead walk me home."

He then said, "Just take whatever you want. If you don't take anything, you will miss the chance to take a walk together with a handsome boy."

To this she took some eatables and as they approached the counter to make the payment, Krystal saw that many girls at the convenience store together with the part-timer were admiring Richard. She grew jealous and decided to wait for him outside the door.

As Richard approached the part-timer to make the payment, she asked him whether he could share his number with her. To this he looked at Krystal and said, "Sorry! My girlfriend is waiting for me so could you give back the change first."

The part-timer said, "Huh?"

He then replied, "I think you have to give me back my remaining money."

He took the change and came out and they started walking. As they were walking, he saw Krystal pissed off at him and so he asked her, "Is anything wrong?" To this she answered, "How you smile at other so brightly?"

Richard laughed at her being so cute while being jealous and he said, "Are you perhaps jealous?"

She then said, "What makes you think am jealous?"

To this he held her by her hand, looked into her eyes and said, "Whatever other people say or how beautiful other girls may be, the only place in my heart is already occupied by you. So I won't easily like other girls. You need not worry."

To this she smiled and said ignorantly, "If that's the case, then am relieved."

He then held her hand and said, "Earlier you were jealous right?"

To this she felt embarrassed and took a few steps ahead of him. He came running to her and said, "I felt happy that you were jealous of me. At least I know that you care about me."

After some time they reached Krystal's house. As soon as they reached her house her mother came out of the gate of her house to throw some waste. She saw Krystal and Richard holding their hands and she got so surprised that that she ran towards Krystal and asked why they were holding hands together and why they were coming late together.

Krystal too got surprised seeing her mother and told Richard before her mother came to her, "That's my mother! She doesn't know am having a relationship. What do I do now?"

To this he said, "Don't worry!"

As her mother came to her and asked her, Richard in a calming voice greeted her and said, "Aunt please calm down. I know that you are surprised seeing us together. But we love each other and we are already in a relationship. Besides you may think that dating disturbs our studies but I promise it won't affect our studies. Hope you understand."

To this Krystal also nodded and said, "Yes, he's right."

To this her mom took her and said, "You all are young and not of the age to date each other. Before the end of the coming examination, you are not allowed to see each other. If both score good marks I'll consider you dating but if you fail, there's no hope because her father will of course not agree. So if you want to date, show me and her father the prove that you are eligible to date. I'll confiscate her phone now so don't think of calling her."

To this he agreed and both of them departed. As Krystal got home, her mother scolded her for hiding from her the fact that she was dating. She was told to study hard if she wanted to continue dating and also she was told to come home early after school.

She went to her room and decided to give her best in the coming examination. She got worried about Richard and wanted to call him but she couldn't as her phone got confiscated by her mother. She washed herself up, made her mind to study hard and she went to bed after a few hours of studying.