Pre-heated (prologue)

IT WAS a gloomy afternoon. The curtains were close but she could smell the petrichor that lingered inside her room because of the open windows. While looking at the mirror, Havoc smiled seeing how still tidy her uniform was. It looked so new and smelled so good even it was the end of the day and she already came home from school. Her shoes didn’t even have a mark of the road dust or a raindrop.

Typical. That’s how Havoc did it. Be organized. Be clean.

But her smile turned to grimace as she heard continuous knocks on her door.

"Havie, Havie!" A guy almost chanted her nickname with his baritone voice. Loud enough and even his breathing echoed inside the room as the young boy leaned over the door.

Havoc shut her eyes as she felt irritation towards the guy behind the door. She just got home from school but someone was already inviting her outside. "I’m tired," she averred then scratched her nose tip. The rain was starting to pour outside and that made the curtains moved since the windows were opened. When the cold breeze suddenly brushed through her skin, she gently rubbed her upper arms to create heat out of friction. “We might get sick because of the rain. We can’t go out,” she reasoned out.

Those knocks suddenly stopped. "Are you sure?"

That made Havoc creased her forehead. “Why do you keep on pursuing me to go out?” Havoc sashayed near the door. She leaned closer and rested her head against the door, the only thing that separated them, to hear him better. She tried listening to him carefully.

“I want to catch up with you. I wasn’t able to attend your birthday so I guess I owe you a day to spend with you. I came home late and your Mom told me you were already sleeping. You didn’t wait for me,” the guy answered in a low tone voice, calming to her ears. "Let’s go out. Just this one, Havie," he pleaded. The image of a cute and handsome guy trying to convince someone appeared in his mind. He sounded like he will throw tantrums if you won’t give him a favor.

Havoc shook her head as she tried to avoid that kind of imagination. Besides, he’s the one who should feel guilty. Because she knew better and the truth was Havoc really waited for him. She just told her Mom not to let him know that she was still awake at that time, sulking because her best friend did not appear at her party.

"We’re too old to enjoy the rain," she inferred.

But instead of giving up, Havoc received a peal of laughter from him. "You are just thirteen, so don’t try too hard to be an adult. Your adolescence period just started though," he avowed with a warning tone. "You should come! I’m sure that you won’t regret it. Even if you catch flu, you will end up smiling dead in bed,” he insisted again.

Havoc rolled her eyes at once. “And why do you say so, Rhyme?” she inquired shortly as if tired of dealing with her best friend.

“Of course! We’ll invite Meter to also play with us,” he answered immediately, sounded so confidently, sounded as if there was no malice with his words at all. But for Havoc, that answer made her eyes sparkled and her hands moved to twist the knob.

The door opened slowly yet Rhyme barged in already inside Havoc’s room. He almost pushed her but he didn't notice and immediately invaded her place. He comfortably laid down which ruined the bed sheet and he even tackled the life-size bear which Meter gave on her birthday. Suddenly, her room became a mess.

"Rhyme!" she complained at the top of her lungs.

Instead of listening to her, Rhyme roamed his eyes around the whole room. Anyone who will enter this room will know that this is Havoc’s bedroom. Too girly as you could say. Havoc is meticulous when it comes to her things. She over-organized them because that calms her. No webs, no clouds of dust, no wrappers—the room screamed elegance and perfection. She even placed a huge mirror to make her room look wider. She has complete sets of stuff, like a princess in a palace because that's how she's treated.

"Havie, you arranged your things again?"

"Yeah," she nonchalantly answered.

“The next time you will do it, tell me so I could help. Those things are heavy!” Then he pointed to the cabinet, chairs, and racks.

Havoc shook her head as Rhyme became too pushy and loud. She decided to pull her out of the room but failed because she felt something as their skin touched.

"Ouch!”

"What happened?”

They felt a sting between their skin.

They both creased their foreheads yet decided not to waste any time, Havoc shoved that questionable spark. She didn't turn and continued walking outside. "Let us go, Rhyme. Meter should be waiting for us and we should let him leave on that spot!”

THE POURING rain was strong enough to shower them. The moment Rhyme ran to chase Havoc, the water splashed. Rhyme was so naughty and whenever she will get teased by her best friend, she could not identify if she was annoyed or she should be laughing. Maybe both. Besides, Rhyme was the kind of guy who never leaves when she needs him. Even if she didn’t need him, he was there.

But she couldn't deny that she's more focused on something else. She's guarding someone else's existence. And her eyes... her eyes kept on looking in other direction. Not on Rhyme's who's always there for her as a best friend since childhood but for the other guy, the twin brother—Meter.

Havoc smiled as she turned her gaze to someone else, the one who was not playing, behave and just looking after them. Meter was sitting on the gutter while keeping an eye on his twin Rhyme. He was hugging himself as he shivered because it was so cold for him. Havoc’s brows met in an instant. She gazed at Rhyme to inform him about his twin, but she was stopped when Rhyme sprang her raindrops. Her attention was stolen this time and her eyes gave a death glare on her best friend.

Because of that, they started playing once again. There were times that they slid and fell on the ground but that was nothing when you were having fun. That particular street was filled with peals of laughter and loud cheers until they got tired and decided to rest at sidewalk, close enough to look at Meter who was quietly sitting on the other side of the street.

“Why don’t we sit next to Meter?” Havoc asked in curiosity.

“He wants to be alone and I’m too lazy to get up. I’m really tired. You really want to sit there?” Rhyme casually responded while pulling the grass on his side.

"I wish I could but…" Havoc could not finish her statement. Rhyme thought she was too shy to initiate conversation if ever she sat next to his twin so he chuckled while shaking his head.

For the next few minutes, silence ate them as no one tried to insist on a new conversation.

The sound of the pouring rain dominated as if that was the only thing to hear, and it seemed like they were the only people in the private village there were in-wide streets, high-end cars, mansions.

"Hey, Havie. I have a question," Rhyme suddenly uttered.

"Hmm?" she responded even if her eyes stayed at Meter.

"Do you like my twin brother?"

"Yes. Why did you ask me? Are you jealous?" I even scoffed.

Rhyme burst into laughter. He even held his stomach when he couldn’t handle the pain from laughing. It took him long before he recovered from Havoc's statement and when he did, he looked at her again with a straight face. No reactions, and if there was, Havoc couldn't read it from his eyes--until he smirked.

"As if. Do you want me to help you instead?”