50 heartbeats

Pulse

🎵End of beginning- Djo:
"I wave goodbye to the end of     beginning" 🎵

🤍Amara's POV🤍

As soon as I walked into the bakery, the familiar smell of fresh cakes filled the air. A pleasant chill ran down my spine, and my mouth started watering. I headed to the counter, scanning the display, trying to pick the perfect cake for my little brother's birthday.

"Hi! Can I help you with something?" the baker asked.

"I'm looking for a cake for my brother, but I can't decide. They all look amazing," I said, eyes still on the cakes. "He loves chocolate."

"In that case, I'd recommend the one on the far left," he said, pointing to a dark chocolate cake with white details. "It has three different types of chocolate that taste great together, but it's not too heavy."

"That sounds perfect. I'll take that one," I smiled and handed him the money. I grabbed the box and left quickly, not even glancing at the other pastries—I knew I'd end up buying more than I needed.

Outside, the warm air greeted me. The sun was low, painting the sky with soft orange and pink colors. I smiled, admiring the sunset as I started walking home, the breeze cool on my skin. I started thinking, there was still so much to prepare for tomorrow.

It was a short walk—about ten minutes to my yard, where my mom and brother were waiting.

"Hey!" I said, juggling the cake and trying to close the door behind me with one hand. "Got the cake."

I handed it over to my mom so she could find a place for it. Then I looked around—green and white balloons tied in the corners, a table with chairs around it, the trampoline on one side and the pool on the other. It was going to be a small party, just a few close friends. I'd asked Nozomi to help with some decorating, but there wasn't much left to do.

Nozomi arrived a few minutes later, giving me and my brother, Leo, hugs.

"Hey! How are you?" I smiled as she greeted my brother.

"I'm really excited for tomorrow. Finally, a break from studying," she said happily.

"Me too," I laughed.

Mom came out with a list of things to do, and soon everything looked festive but simple—just the way Leo wanted. Then Nozomi followed meupstairs to my room.

"Can you get the futon from the closet? I can sleep there, and you and Hikari can take my bed," I offered.

"Are you sure? I don't mind the futon," Nozomi said.

"It's fine. Guests need to be comfortable," I smiled and helped pull out the futon. Hikari came in a few minutes later, and we stayed up talking for a while.

⸻

🤍3rd Person POV🤍

The next morning was busy at the Takeda house. Everyone was getting ready, including Amara and her friends. Leo had planned a small pool party to celebrate his birthday, which had just passed last week.

Amara stepped out of the bathroom, checking her outfit. She was wearing black low-rise jeans and a tight baby pink long-sleeve top—simple but cute.

"Does this look okay?" she asked.

"You look great," Hikari said. "Want me to curl your hair?"

"Yeah, you'd look better with curls," Nozomi teased, smiling.

"I'm good, but can you help with my makeup?" Amara asked.

The girls applied light eyeshadow, winged eyeliner, nude lipstick, and a soft brownish-pink lip liner. Then they posed in the mirror, admiring themselves.

Hikari had chocolate brown hair and blue eyes, her skin slightly tanned, and she was tall. Nozomi had red hair and brown eyes, was pale, and the shortest of the three; she liked dresses and skirts. Amara was dark blonde with green eyes and average height.

After one last look, they headed downstairs to help with the food. One of the guests had already arrived, so they chatted with him while Leo finished getting ready.

"Hey, you're Souta, right?" Amara asked, recognizing the boy.

"Yeah," he said with a small smile.

"I'm Leo's sister, and these are my friends, Hikari and Nozomi."

They talked for a bit until Leo came downstairs. Seeing his friend almost immediately and wasting no time walkin over to him.

"Happy birthday, Leo," Souta said, fist-bumping him.

"Another fight?" Leo asked, noticing the fading bruise under Souta's eye. Souta got into fights quite often, he wasn't part of a gang, but was friends with a couple guys that were, so it wasn't rare that he got into some kind of trouble.

"Yeah, I got into it with one of Toman's guys again," Souta admitted "hate to admit it but they beat my ass up... once again."

"Toman? What's that?" Amara asked, feeling curious. She wasn't very informed about gangs, not really interested in them either, yet she wanted to understand what had happened.

"You don't know Toman?" Leo laughed. "It's one of the biggest gangs around here."

"It keeps growing as well," Souta added. "Their leader's well-known—Mikey. Ever heard of him?"

"No, do you guys know him?" Amara asked her friends, who shook their heads.

"I've heard stories, but don't know much, no," Hikari said.

"Mikey's strong," Leo explained. "I saw him throw a guy across a room once just because he was messing with one of Mikey's friends. It wasn't even that big of a deal."

"If you see him, just walk away. He's dangerous," Souta warned Amara. "And it's not just him—the whole gang is tough. Mess with any of them, and Mikey will come after you."

"But if you run, they'll probably leave you alone," Leo added.

"Or maybe not, but it's your only option."

More guests arrived, and Amara's thoughts drifted away from Mikey and Toman. She probably wouldn't see him anyway, so why worry?

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Hi guys!

So this is the first chapter of my book 50 heartbeats, I will be publishing a new chapter every two or three days. I decided to write this because I already read every other Mikey fanfic on wattpad and I needed more, so this was my only option.

Also, I created a playlist with the songs mentioned in each chapter at the very top, my username is on my bio. There are also a few extra songs, all in order to fit each chapter. I really hope you enjoy reading this story as much as I'm enjoying writing it, any feedback is greatly appreciated!

Thank you for giving my book a chance, I really appreciate it. Have a wonderful day (or night)!