Truth

Outside, the sun was high in the sky, partly obscured by clouds, making the weather slightly chilly despite it being an afternoon. Ryan and Rose walked a bit further from the Robinson's villa just to be safe before the young man finally asked, "How did I do?"

In his opinion, the family lunch went smoothly, even while counting Dana's test into the equation. Of course, he had no plans of mentioning it to Rose as it would only ruin the relationship between the two and he didn't want that. After all, Dana was her mother.

A beautiful smile blossomed on his girlfriend's face. She squeezed his hand, seemingly as a reward. "You did surprisingly well. We look like a real couple who had been dating for long," she praised. "I don't think my parents could tell anything is wrong."

"Mhmm, I'm happy by how it turned out," Ryan agreed before commenting, "Your parents are not as scary as I initially thought."

Hearing him mention it, Rose recalled the tense situation in the lobby. "Well, speaking of my parents, did my mom really talk to you about desserts? I'm pretty sure you two were lying."

Ryan decided to admit the truth. "No, she didn't. I made it up, but I won't tell you anything else. It wasn't that bad. She only acted like what most worried mother would do. Just know that I handled it well."

He thought that was enough but Rose had no plans of dropping her interrogation.

She pulled Ryan to a sharp stop and walked up in front of him. Reaching out to hold his arms, she intently watched his eyes and facial expression.

"Did she tell you to break up with me?"

They were about to reach the gates when she stopped him. Ryan froze up, convincing Rose that the worst had happened. She moved closer to him, her eyes searching his for an answer.

However, for Ryan, her action was simply testing dangerous waters—holding onto him this close, this sweet-smelling girl had unknowingly caused something inside him to erupt once more. Something familiar. Something scary. Something… that might compel her to run, like every other girl in his past.

For a split-second, he could resist himself to some extent, but when her blue eyes met with his own, he found it near impossible to cope with his urges.

"Don't ask... I told you it's fine."

Ryan looked away from her, finding it the only way to fight back his intensifying desires yet Rose didn't know about his struggles and reached out to his chin and pulled it back.

"Hey, look at me. What happened? I want to know so tell me," Rose demanded, upset that he was dodging the question. She had always been a curious girl and when she wanted to know something, she rarely gave up until her curiosity was answered.

Unfortunately, she was only asking for trouble this time.

Ah!

Rose could not help but gasp when Ryan knocked her hand away from his arm and caught it within his own instead. His skin was warm—burning even—his grip tight. At the same time, his other hand sneaked towards her waist and pulled her soft body into his embrace. They were so close, the only barrier between their lips was her hand that was still holding onto his chin, yet their noses were already touching. His blue eyes were staring deeply, hungrily, into her own.

"Tell me to stop… I will explain later…"

Ryan mustered the last bit of strength he had left to spit out those words, his mind already at the edge of his rationality. However, his warning fell on deaf ears. The young lady in front of him remained silent. She did not even try to push him away. It was easy to see the shock and confusion in her eyes, and alongside those was curiosity—as if she was trying to observe, to understand, to savor, the situation that she had only experienced for the first time.

Ryan's control snapped.

The desire exploded inside of his body as if a switch was turned on, and he leaned over, closing the last inch separating their lips. There was something tentative and subtle in the probing movement of his lips, like he was tasting a brand new chocolate chip cookie. One that he liked very much.

When he realized how good it tasted, he attacked once again with more force, without stopping to take a breath, the passion in his lips causing the girl he was kissing flush in scarlet. His soft bite on her top lip caused her delicate fingers to squeeze his face, as if it jolted her awake.

Rose finally let out a sound, but instead of a panicked cry for help or a scream to make him stop, she started purring like a cat.

Mhmm…

Pressed against him, he could feel her body shivering ever so slightly. Her lips responded hesitantly, moving about his own to close their first deep kiss.

Ryan led her hand towards the back of his head and left it there, while his own returned to embracing her soft body. Her fingers entwined with his hair, grasping it firmly, allowing her more control in their passion.

'We are kissing…'

The realization left her confused. Her mind was in a haze, but her lips were moving without her direct control, as if the sequence was already coded in her body.

Kissing?!

As soon as she got her wits back, she panicked, using her forehead to hit his before pulling away. However, Ryan held onto her lips as she distanced herself, trying to prolong the kiss for as long as possible like a hungry lion whose food was taken away.

Despite managing to escape and they have finally separated, she could still feel the tingling of his soft lips on her own.

"What's the matter with you?! I told you we need time!"

Rose breathed out hot air, her cheeks flushing due to the suddenness of his attack—as well as her response to it. She could not believe he would kiss her without asking! He was behaving normally just now, but then he suddenly changed. She didn't know how to react. It wasn't that she hated it. But, it was too sudden!

However, instead of receiving an answer from the young man, he did something she never expected.

Ah!

A soft cry escaped her lips when Ryan lifted her up in the air and began spinning around with her in his arms. It was so random that she reached out and held onto his head on instinct so she would not fall off.

After turning two times, Ryan finally stopped and kissed her again while keeping her in his embrace, her feet off the ground. He bit her bottom lip gently and delicately before pushing for another deep kiss. It was like there was nothing that could stop him from tasting her lips until he was satisfied. Her lips responded to him on instinct, replying to his kiss with equal passion.

After a couple of seconds, Rose grasped his face and forcefully pulled his head away, calling out firmly to stop him. "Ryan, it's enough."

His eyes were closed but after she finished her words, they snapped open, trembling. The anger and embarrassment she felt immediately lessened when she

looked into those blue pearls that were full of thirst and desire. For a moment she even felt bad for pulling away, only to realize it wasn't the first time she had seen them.

She remembered those eyes.

"Ryan, your eyes…?"

Rose was confused at what was going on. She could see his behavior change back from the hungry lion to a gentle kitten in just a few seconds. This made her worried something was wrong with him.

The young man finally placed her down on the ground and released her from his arms. While taking a few steps away from her, he looked at her with guilt before pulling his hood over to cover his eyes.

"I-I'm sorry… I should have told you earlier—"

"Tell me what?" she asked as she walked up towards him. She reached out to check on him but he dodged her hand.

"It's best if we don't touch each other too much for the time being." Ryan let out a shaky breath. Seeing the silent questions in her eyes, he looked away before explaining. "Whenever I'm close to a girl that I find attractive, I lose control and succumb to my… urges. I can only stop myself if the girl tells me, otherwise I will just keep on going."

He rubbed his eyes through his red hood and continued, "I don't want any of this but it just keeps on happening. I try to control myself, but it's useless. Earlier, it was just a hug and I already made you uncomfortable and now, I forced a kiss on you even though we agreed not to. I'm really a horrible person. I'm sorry—"

Rose chose to not heed his warning and approached him once again. She caught his ice-cold hands in between hers and lifted them together along with his hood, revealing his guilt-ridden face.

"Hey, look at me."

The young man stared at her in surprise, not expecting to be greeted with a soft smile. With his eyes slightly red from his earlier rubbing, he tentatively asked, "Wait, you are not mad at me…?"

"I was, but now I'm not," the girl replied, interlinking her fingers with his in a firm grip. A few seconds passed before she opened her mouth again. "Although I do not completely understand your situation, at least I see that you're genuinely guilty about what happened. Your reaction, it wasn't deliberate on your part, so it's hard for me to blame you." She paused, as if she was searching for something on his face, and she only continued after she saw him squirm at the intensity of her gaze. "I know you had

good intentions from the start. You warned me before to stop you and it was me who didn't say anything. What happened is not just your fault. Well, knowing I can stop you at any time, I don't need to worry in the future, right?"

Her words made him feel like she's made of pure sunshine.

"So you forgive me?" Hope filled his voice.

"I didn't say I forgive you. I said I'm not mad at you. There is a difference," Rose corrected him. "Our situation is quite troublesome. If we break up all of a sudden, my parents will think you did something to me and my dad will probably hurt you. I wouldn't be able to live with that so I guess I'm stuck with you for a while. That's why I will try my best to understand your… condition."

"I'm glad you will feel sad if I die then," Ryan said sarcastically, causing Rose to stab her nails into his hands but he only laughed. Shaking his head, he picked up the paper bag which he did not realize had fallen on the ground earlier.

Rose pouted and pushed the laughing jerk away. "I can't leave you but that doesn't mean I won't punish you for breaking the rules. Condition or not, you still did it so you have to pay the price for each kiss. Hmpf!"

Pulling out her phone, she passed it to him and commanded, "Give me your phone number. I will text you the details for tomorrow. You still have to come to pick me up."

"Sure." Ryan did not mind at all.

She took the phone away after he was done. "I can't think of any punishments now so I will tell you tomorrow." He only stared at her without saying anything. It made her somewhat uncomfortable so she reminded him, "Don't you have classes?"

"It's okay, I can be a bit late," Ryan said before commenting, "I really wonder if God placed you in front of me and it wasn't an accident we met. You are the first to actually take my condition so lightly. Others would have already left me, calling me a pervert."

"I think so too," Rose agreed. "I must have done something bad recently so he is punishing me by sending you."

"Hah, that must be true."

His laughter irritated her so much, she pushed him towards the gate.

"Shoo, shoo, you will be late for classes. You wasted enough time," Rose scolded as she kicked him out. He would stay forever otherwise.

"See you tomorrow then," Ryan called out from the other side of the gate with a smile.

The brunette warned, "Study well and don't touch any other girls from now on. I will figure out what to do with you by tomorrow."

She did not wait for his response and closed the gate. As the metal gate did not have any holes in it, she could no longer see the young man on the other side. She could hear him walk away only after a minute of waiting, which made her wonder what he could be possibly be thinking about as he stood on the same spot for that range of time.

Walking back towards her house, Rose could not help but touch her lips and recall the sensation of their kiss. Logic told her that she ought to be mad at Ryan but for some reason, she could not get herself to hate him. Maybe, it was because she never had a male friend whom she would click with this quickly. At some point, she actually forgot the two of them had just met.

"Could it be that fate really brought us together?" Rose muttered to herself.

She reached the villa and walked inside only to find her parents waiting for her in the kitchen. She immediately panicked, thinking they saw the two of them kissing but fortunately, it was something else.

"Rose, we need to talk. It's about your grandpa."