Riley's POV
A few minutes after Rye left, his mom was already calling me asking about what happened and our whereabouts.
I am still trying to calm my heart. I fell for Rye so bad. I think I always act stupidly whenever I am with him. I can't stop being nervous. Even if he is looking at me while I am eating, I am now conscious. What if he doesn't like a heavy-eater guy? If he say he is not into me, I would swallow him whole.
"So, we asked you to make him court you for one month, but it's up to you if you want to extend it longer."
Rye's mom said.
If it's up to me, then we are probably boyfriends now. When he agreed to me earlier, I clasped into my pants to stop myself from pulling him into a deep kiss. So don't expect that I would want to extend it. I can't say this to Sir Reese, though. Rye's mom looks so soft. I feel like when I talk back to him, he would cry and make it a big issue. I love teasing this kind of guy. But of course, since he is my mom-in-law, I would be on my best behavior.
"Yes, sir." I answered.
No to courting extension. Just wait for exactly 30 days, Riley. This will be quick.
The following day, Rye picked me up.
Rye is acting like a boyfriend already. I am not complaining, but I am afraid I might forget that we are not a real couple yet. I am trying to give distance as much as possible.
I feel like my knees are collapsing every time he does a little thing for me.
"Aaaaahh." I could only scream. He held my hand. Be still, my cutie heart. You are strong; I believe in you.
He walked me to my classroom and we took our lunch together. He keeps putting food in my mouth. I would be glad if you put another thing too. This is Riley Dirty Cameron talking.
I am focused on the bouquet he gave me. I keep counting the roses in my head silently. It has to have a meaning. I tried counting it three times, but the result is always 101 roses. Not even precisely 100? Did they make a mistake? I checked the meaning of 100 roses, devoted as a couple blah blah. My eyes landed on the number next to it. One hundred one roses mean 'You are my one and only love.'
You are really testing my self-control.
I like him so bad. He is so sweet. Does he know the meaning of this number of roses? I am too shy to ask him. I am going to count it again later to be sure.
My mood changed when Elaine appeared. I have to admit it. Her presence still threatens me. I witnessed how Rye treats her before. Anyone would want to be in her position.
When she left, my classmate walked towards me and handed me the paper I had purposely left on my table. Why did this guy bring it here? This is Mark, kind but dumb.
Rye saw my paper. I feel like he will break up with me even if we are not boyfriends yet. This is so embarrassing.
He asked me to forget about the party on Friday to study together with him. Who cares about studying? My goal in life is to marry Rye. Now he knows how stupid I am. Well, my last week's F are because of him. I won't blame him with my other F's before we became close.
He asked me to study on Friday. We still have three days to go. What I need to do is not to talk about it so he would forget about the planned studying. Maru and I have already planned it out. Maru would kill me if I canceled it.
I am not dumb. I just have other priorities. You only live once! Yeah, party more!
I need to study later at home. I don't want Rye to be turned off to me.
"Hey, Ri." Maru poked my back. It was almost dismissal time.
"What? I am listening to the class. Stop talking to me."
"Stop pretending. You never listen to class. Didn't you notice Rye was waiting outside for almost half an hour now?"
Maru told me.
I looked outside the room. He was standing there with his hands inside his pocket.
"Fuck, bijj! I canceled my date because I thought you wanted to eat Korean barbeque today and have a few drinks. I will really kill you, I swear."
Oh, fuck! I promised Maru last week.
How can Rye be here? He didn't tell me.
The class was dismissed.
"Fix that." Maru reminded me.
We walked to where Rye is.
"Uhm, Rye, why are you here? You should go home already." I told him.
"It's fine. I'll drive you home. You didn't bring your car, right?"
He grabbed my bag.
"But we..."
"Why?" He asked. Why is he staring like this to me?
"You can go home first. I am going to eat with Maru. We have planned this already."
"And drink too? This is just Tuesday. I thought you'll be focused on studying." He told me.
No, I need to win this. I promised Maru.
"Will just eat for sure. I'll be home early. I can still study. Don't worry."
He walked away from me, still holding my bag.
Maru slapped my butt. "You left your flowers in your seat."
Oh my gosh. What if Rye thinks that I don't appreciate the flowers? I am so stupid. I took the flowers and ran to catch up with Rye. Maru followed as well.
"Rye, we will be very..."
He ignored me and looked at Maru instead.
"Have you eaten to this place?" Rye showed a picture from his phone.
Why is he asking Maru instead?
"Not yet. We always wanted to go to that place, but the number of customers they accept a day is only ten. The whole year was booked already. Riley and I always wanted to visit there."
Maru said.
"Rye, I wanted to go to Haven too. I love that place!"
How about me? I matter too.
Rye handed a card to Maru. "I'll call mommy. I will book the night, all on me. You can bring a friend with you. Mommy Ira owns the place."
Rye said.
I never thought that Haven was their family-owned restaurant. There's a humor that you can only be part of the high-class society if you have already eaten to that place.
"Yes! I will kill you if you are not going to pick me to bring there." I warned Maru.
"Bring anyone you want except for Riley. He needs to be home early and rest. See you." He told Maru.
Rye held my hand. His driver was already waiting in front of our building.
"What was that, Rye?"
"What?"
"I want to eat at that place too." I asked him. Ughhh.
"Why would you want to eat there? The food there is not even delicious."
Rye told me.
"I just want to. It's on my bucket list. Let's go today with Maru."
"I'll bring you next time." Rye offered instead.
That Maru is a lucky guy! He betrayed me for dinner at Haven.
I message Maru. "Lucky bijj! I hate you."
"I love you so much, my bestest friend forever. Maybe, I'll stop inviting you to dinner for a while in exchange for lovely offers from Rye. Thank you so much! Love you, luckiest wifey in the whole country." Maru replied.
"Love you your face!" I didn't realize that I said it out loud. Rye is now staring at my phone as if he caught me cheating.
"This... This is M-maru."
He took my phone. This guy is rich but tends to be a pickpocket.
When we got home, his bodyguard opened the door for me. I hugged my flowers and stood outside of his car.
Hey, Rye! Give my fucking phone back. That's all in my head, of course.
"Rye, my phone, please."
He put it on my palm. "I'll call you."
He looked around. "We have access to all the cameras here too. I just want to let you know."
So?
"I'll know if you stayed at home." There he goes with fixing my hair again. Is my hair always that messy for him?
I need to go back to my room and recount how many roses he gave me. This is an important matter to me.
I don't want to ask Rye about this.
"Promise me to bring me to Haven too." I am so jealous of Maru right now. For sure, he is going to bring Abi there or Cielo. Cielo, by the way, is Rye's classmate. He belongs to our circle of four, but he is always MIA during parties because his boyfriend is a jealous guy.
"I promise. And Ri, that's 101 roses. Go ahead and search what it means. That's what I am feeling for you."
So he knew about it too? I thought he just wanted to give me a bigger bouquet than what his siblings gave me.
I have searched it already multiple times.
'You are my one and only love.'
Please don't say this to my face right now. I am going to faint for sure.
Riley, you are really a bijj. Act like you have no idea yet what it means.
You are my one and only love too. I want it to say to him. This acting is killing me. If not because of those three wifeys, I am already offering my body and soul right now to Rye.
"I'll call you later. Thank you for the roses." Instead of kissing him, I hugged him instead.
A/N: sorry to zeenew shippers here, there is no Zee here but I am using New as my Maru. I always picture him as Maru whenever I am writing. Such a cutie pie ❤