This Bonus Scene happens after Chapter 23 when they are in the Library. Ethan“What about you two?” Rio packed his bag and looked at Kiara. She was solving a math problem, nibbling on a pencil as I shamelessly stared at her plum lips which were holding the pencil. Lucky pencil.I cleared my throat and when I finally averted my eyes from Kiara to Rio. He was smirking at me and wriggling his eyebrows. I glared at him and said, “Kiara will come with me (haha). I’ve to help her with the answer is 669, Bella.” I corrected her answer with the same pencil was between her lips and showed her the correct method.Rio snickered when Kiara shot daggers between me and her notes and let out an annoying mumble, “I hate you.” I love you too.My cheeks became warm as I looked away when he said, “Okay, lovebirds. Don’t stay up too late, the library will close soon.” Rio was the only one left with us because he had to work on his history. Everyone else had left because they were too tired after stud

PART ONE“I was a mess. You were my saving grace, so I had to let you go.”ONE20th May, SundayHey Ethan,You know the rush of feeling you have the day before your birthday? The excited rumble in your churning stomach? The dizzy, strange happiness in your brain? Before everyone surprises you?Yeah, the one I feel every year before going to bed and crying on my pillow.I used to hate my birthdays, wondering why I was even born. I mean, the world would be a better place without me, eh?But then, you, the world’s best friend, my best friend, always made it special. You bought me zoo tickets last year, and we had so much fun holding the snakes. You were so scared to hold a Tricolor Hognose, you almost cried letting her go. That was so precious! And yes, I still have your scared photos, and no, I am not giving it back.Remember how both of us tried to talk to the snakes? To see whether we were Parseltongue or not and you even glared at the guard who was giving us skeptical looks. We had

twenty one20th August, MondayI won’t apologize for not writing daily because I can’t keep up with a routine—you of all people know that.Seems like we all are hiding secrets from each other.But my question to you is that, are you keeping it a secret to protect me? Because you know why I kept all this shit from you, to protect you. From me.I don’t think you are protecting me by hiding it. I can see the words slut written on my locker, E. You can’t just go around punching every guy who passed by my locker. But it’s okay. They are just words and I am fine with it.You don’t have to do anything about it. I am fine.Love,Kiaratwenty two25th August, SaturdayDid I ever mention that you would make a great boyfriend? Not that we are in a relationship, but I could tell from eighteen years of us being best friends . . . and doing other deeds.Yeah, just wanted to get that out. I’ll get back to cuddling you because you’re already whining in your sleep. Even though you’re three times my si

2. Bedroom EyesKiaraI gathered all the test papers I had graded last night and organized them according to the students’ names while two pairs of eyes watched me from their tiny desks. Sighing, I raised my brow at them, “What happened? Why are you two frowning?”I couldn’t blame them. They were the only kids left in my classroom while others were in the cafeteria, having fun with their friends and eating lunch.Ben swung his legs, sitting on the desk. It wasn’t allowed, but I didn’t mind. “Do you really have to call in my mom, Miss Kiara?” he asked, his voice small. I gave him a reassuring smile and cleaned up the desk. “Yes, Ben, you know the drill. We call in parents when teachers need to talk to parents about some stuff.” I didn’t need to tell him all the details. He was still a kid. I would talk about it with his parents.Andrew Wu stopped doodling in his notebook. His light brown eyes, similar to his mom’s, narrowed in confusion. “What will you tell Mom? You talk to her ever

4. I feel like I Know YouKiaraI finished my look by adding gold hoop earrings and leaving my neck bare. Staring at my reflection in the mirror, I made sure that my hair and makeup were perfect and the red satin dress, which Jake had bought for me for this event, hugged my body perfectly. The material was soft and the full-length dress looked gorgeous with my golden skin. Straps of the dress were thin. The neck was a little deeper than I would like, but it showed a bit of my cleavage without looking too revealing with the low cut back. It was the Friday night of the fundraising gala where I would join Jake as his date. I felt a nervous tug in my belly and ran a hand through my dark brown hair tumbling down in waves over my shoulder. I didn’t know why I was so nervous suddenly. I had agreed to go with him because of the children fighting cancer. Taking a deep breath, I gave myself one last look in the mirror. I had subtle makeup on but a little red tint on my lips to match with the