MasukANAHERA When my first ball went straight into the gutter, it solidified what I thought about bowling. It was a terrible idea. I was prepared to hear Noel roaring in laughter at my failure. He didn’t. In fact, he did quite the opposite. He just stepped up beside me, adjusted my stance with gentle hands on my hips, showing me how to follow through. “Like this,” he murmured, close enough that his breath brushed my ear. “Relax your wrist.” I knocked down seven pins. “Oh, I’m so good at this!”He gave a high-five so hard that my palm stung. Guess who also teased me mercilessly when I ruined the next ball?Between turns, we sat down next to each other with our shoulders brushing, trading insults and laughs. Every time he got all pins, he did a ridiculous victory dance that made me snort into my soda, nearly vomiting the drink through my nose. By the time we finished the game, he won by a narrow margin. My cheeks hurt—I mean, my ass cheeks too from falling a few times and my face fr
ANAHERA“I want to make the most of today.”I cast a sideways glance at Noel over the rim of my coffee cup. He wiped the side of his mouth with a tissue, crumpling it up after.Swallowing, I said, “Is there somewhere you need to be after?”That was when his eyes found me. “Trust me, it’s about you than me and I have a lot of things planned for you today.” Then added hastily, “If you’re up for it.”The words took me by surprise. “Oh,” is all I managed to say. When I was through, he packed the plates and cups, getting out to dispose of them in the nearby bin outside the eatery. I used that moment to wipe my mouth for crumbs, looking at my reflection in the mirror above me.Perfect. “So what have you never tried before that you’d love to do?” He asked as soon as he was back. “Let’s see.” I pretended to think, placing a hand under my chin. “How about we start with changing my clothes into something appropriate?”His eyes roamed down my body. I fought the urge to chalk it to anything m
ANAHERA I spent the next morning obsessing over my choice of makeup or if I ought to let my hair down. Every now and then, I’d alternate between daydreaming and peeking into my chat inbox with Noel last night. Was it real? A schoolgirl’s giggle found its way out of my mouth before I could control it.Yup, it was definitely real.Did this spell anything for us? No, the fuck not. It didn’t mean anything. As far as I could tell, it was just two people doomed never to be, talking about what could’ve been. “And you, Anahera, are going to keep it that way,” I said aloud to my reflection in the mirror, a poor attempt at chastising myself.Too late, because the clock read seven fifty and it wouldn’t be long before—His chat bubbled up few seconds before a message appeared. WITH ME IN HIS INBOX! Shit, now I look like one of his fangirls anticipating a wave from him. Rautio — Good morning, Hera. You ready?Grabbing my duffel bag and checking my outfit one last time, not like it was anyt
ANAHERA When I was back with a glass, Noel had turned toward me. I could tell there was a lot he wanted to say to me with the way his lips pursed.A part of me knew I wouldn’t like whatever he had to ask. “Those years ago, things used to be alright between us until it went awry. What happened?” My drink halfway to my mouth, I paused. “Are you sure that’s something we want to get into today?”He nodded. “I couldn’t stop thinking about why you suddenly grew hostile towards me.” “I do not want to think about it or else I’d have to kick you out,” I said firmly. He apologized, murmuring something about it being in the past and him always blurting things out at the wrong time. My attention had long left the room. Of all the things he could do, he wanted to pretend like he didn’t know what he did to break my trust in him?He wanted to pretend he didn’t try to sabotage my brother’s career before the scouts? Yet again, what was I even doing letting the man into my house? This man had
ANAHERA I stared at him for what seemed like a full minute before he nudged the door wider and slipped in past me. My protest hung in my throat when I turned around to see he had plopped down on my couch, making himself comfortable. ON MY COUCH! “You’re not joking?” “Did I say something funny?” His eyes roamed for a bit then landed on me. “If you need me to leave, I’ll just…” “Never mind.” I shut the door. “You’re in already.” From my peripheral view, I caught the smirk on his smug face. “This place hasn’t changed since the last time I was here. Except for maybe that bag.” He shrugged. “I was probably too tipsy to even notice. Do you remember?” “Of course, I do.” I rolled my eyes. “You wouldn’t keep your mouth shut and almost woke up the neighborhood with your horrible rendition of Firework.” He let out a dramatic gasp. “Now you take that back. That is my top five of the songs I lined up to perform for an event back in freshman year.” I opened my fridge. “Spea
ANAHERA Two days later, and my brother still hadn’t said a word to me. Not like I was expecting his calls or anything, but come on, that little spat didn’t justify the silent treatment. Again, it was Dom we were talking about. He wouldn’t hesitate to hold out on anyone he didn’t want to talk to. Especially after what had gone down at his place. So I kept my distance not because it was the right thing to do, I just couldn’t speak to him yet. I buried my focus into my work, obsessively trying to be sure Noel made recovery in time to begin the pre-tournament games. Speaking of Noel, the only thing we’d ever talked about since we resumed was his health and the games. I dared not venture into uncharted territory by entertaining those memories around him. Another two days passed. I’d barely gotten a message from either my best friend nor my brother, the two people whom I held very dear to my heart. “Hey,” Noel’s voice cut through the train of my thoughts as I packed my duffle bag
ANAHERA The bass thumping all the way from inside the building to where we were parked made me nervous. Wiping sweaty palms against the very short dress Bella persuaded me to put on, I grabbed my mini purse and stepped out with her. I looked at my best friend as we walked side by side, I thought
ANAHERAThree days later and I was on the verge of pulling out my hair from its roots. “If I have to deal with that jerk for one more day, I’m going to fly down a hill. The man has absolutely refused to make my life any easy since working with him,” I moaned. I expected a response from Bella but
ANAHERA“What is going on here?” I asked, approaching the couple, looking between both of them while they fixed their eyes on anywhere else that was not my face. Not even a glance. A dull thud echoed in the room behind me, breaking the tension, and their gazes shot toward me. Dominik spoke first.
ANAHERAThe taste of fried eggs still lingers on my tongue, mostly dominated by the forbidden taste of Noel. I try to shake my head to rid myself of those negative thoughts. “You can’t have it around you, Hera.” I’d beg for a stake to be put through my head before the feelings would begin to fest







