I bid goodbye to Tevan after he gave me his number. I know it's pretty sketchy but he's hot! I gathered my things and half-ran, half-skipped my way outside. I almost threw my stuff at the backseat of my black sedan and jumped to the driver's seat. In no time, I was crusading the lone road below the glittering bed of stars.

It only took me 20 minutes to arrive home and I looked at the time on my dash which read, "9:20 pm." I could still feel the racing of my heart even after my mom ended the call. What kind of emergency is this? Did someone get hurt? Oh, gods. I parked my car inside the open garage and turned off the engine.

I picked up my things and went inside my one-story abode. Our home was a quaint structure, painted with the colours of sky blue and white, giving it a refreshing feeling. Even though it only has one floor, it housed three bedrooms, a bathroom, a living room, and a kitchen. It also has a small study room that stored most of my and my little sister's books.

As I opened the door from the garage, I had a clear view of the people in the living room. There were four guys sitting on the couches while my mom and my sister were sitting on the other. I was familiar with two of the guys since I always saw them at church, but the other two were complete strangers to me. They must have heard the creaking of the old door since all of them turned their heads on me.

"Good evening," I greeted with a wave of my hand and excused myself to my room to drop off all of my stuff.

I did not change my clothes yet, seeing as I did not want for the visitors to wait. I went back to where they were and stood beside my sister. I grinned as I made eye contact with two of the guys: one was my cousin and the other was a family friend.

"Vin!" my cousin, Martin, said. "Long time no see!"

"Yeah, boy. Didn't see you for, like, a week. So, what's up?" I asked as my mom was talking to Jay, our family friend. My sister was quiet as usual since she was a bit awkward with socializing.

Martin snorted. "Tell me about it." We laughed. My eyes swept over the two strangers. The shorter guy, with dark skin and flabby arms, was busy with his smartphone; lost in the virtual reality. On the other hand, as my gaze went to the other guy, which was definitely taller than the first, my breath hitched.

He was wearing a simple white polo, black pants, and leather shoes. His hair was short and styled in a bit of a quiff and he was smiling shyly at me beneath his glasses. His hands were folded on his lap as he was sitting with a perfect posture that I could not help but raise a brow. He was simply oozing with sophistication and elegance, something surprising since he was with Martin and Jay. You wouldn't want to know, trust me.

Martin might have noticed since he cleared his throat, stopping mom and Jay's conversation. The short guy finally looked up from his phone and actually had the decency to text whilst keeping his gaze on us.

"Oh! This is Dani and Greg. They're new in the neighbourhood so we decided to bring them here since, ya know," Martin said.

For those of you who are confused, our household was known to be the friendly neighbour you can always count on. Literally. One of the reasons why Jay was close to the family since he had the audacity to knock on our door at midnight just to eat. Martin was also the same to some extent but since he was really family, it did not matter. My mom was the kind of person who got along with everyone and treated people as if they were her own child.

If you were wondering, there was an all-boys school near our home that was managed by the church near us too. It was quite the private and privileged art school since boys from far away lands travel just to get in. Most students were living by themselves on the nearby apartments or dorms or even but their own house for the sake of it.

And I'm guessing these two are new.

Jay motioned his hand in my direction. "I've introduced Aunt Lauren and these peeps already, so the introductions remains on you."

With a wave to the two guys, I said, "Hi! I'm Vi!"

"She's my eldest daughter," my mom added.

"In case you need anything, you can always find me at home at this time of the night. Don't hesitate to ask for help, okay?" I offered while mind-shouting at myself to the tall guy. He's hot, hot, hot, dammit!

I have heard my mom told my sister, Clarity, to prepare the dining room. Jay and Martin high-fived and rushed towards the kitchen. My mom also stood up to check on the dessert she was baking, and now I was left alone with an incredibly hot guy and a nerd.

Shorty went back on his phone so it left me and Hottie to stare into awkward silence.

I coughed and grinned at him. "I'm pretty sure I didn't get your name."

"Oh!" He leaned back on the couch. "I'm Dani."

"So, Dani, what do you do?" I inquired.

"I'm taking culinary arts. I want to be a chef. How about you?" he asked.

Grinning more widely, I replied with more enthusiasm, "I write. Actually done with college so I have all the time in the world to actually follow my passion."

"What do you mean?" His being was filled with confusion and he was just so fucking cute! His voice was deep and with a hint of an accent. That was when I realized something.

I pointed at him, mostly due to shock. "You're French?"

He chuckled but nodded. "Half actually. How did you know? It's the accent isn't it?"

I shook my head yes and felt became giddy. I would have bombarded him with more questions if it was not for my calling us to the kitchen.

All three of us walked towards the half-occupied kitchen. I scowled when I saw Martin took my favourite spot on the table and I almost tackled him out of the chair if it was not for the two visitors behind me. Reluctantly, I took a seat on the left side beside Clarity. I then noticed that the other empty seats were the one beside me and the two across that. I already thought that Dani and (apparently) Greg will sit beside each other, so the surprise that engulfed me when Dani sat beside me was beyond normal. Really.

"You don't mind, do you?" he asked whilst smiling a bit.

"No, not really," I replied with a smile of my own.

When my mom put the plates, I looked up to see Martin smirking at me. I titled my head as if to ask why but he burst out laughing. I frowned when he made kissing noises, losing my appetite all of a sudden.

The other people on the table seemed oblivious. Jay was being chatty as usual and my mom was listening to him intently. Clarity ate silently. Greg was helping himself on his third plate of pasta, while Martin cannot seem to stop himself from being an ass. Dani, on the other hand, was eating silently, his face was flushed and I had to wonder if the air-conditioning inside our house was not enough to keep him cool.

I did not want to be stuck on that awkward silence, I tried to make small talk with Dani, which was a bad idea. He coughed on his food when I talked to him, so I decided to finish my food so I could get back to my own house.

After dinner, mom and the guys went back to the living room while Clarity retreated back to her room. I was about to do the same when my mom called me out, again.

"Yes?" I said as I leaned back on the door frame.

"Are you staying for the night?" she asked and I evaluated the pros and cons.

I have a 9:30 meeting in the morning. If I stay here, my travel time would be around an hour and a half, but if I went home tonight, it would only be an hour. So that was an additional thirty minutes of sleep for me.

"I guess I'll head back if you don't need me here," I replied.

My mom nodded in acknowledgement. Taking that as a cue to leave, I finally went inside my room to try to write a few more pages. I slipped into something more comfortable other than my jumper.

I was on my 126th page when knocks made me paused. I cursed under my breath, and I swear to gods, if this fucker on the other side of that door has no good reason to be interrupting me, I will use their skin for printing this novel.

I dragged myself towards the door and swung it open. There I found Dani standing awkwardly. He shifted his weight from foot to foot while wringing his hands together. He tried to avoid eye contact with me but I looked nowhere but him.

He tried opening his mouth but closing it after a few seconds. I hinted he wanted to say something but could not get the words out. My tummy rumbled when he settled on pouting his pink lips.

Clearing my throat, I asked, "Can I help you?"

He nodded. "Yeah. Um, Lauren told me that I could hitch a ride with you?"

"Don't you live near here?" I raised an eyebrow questioningly.

"Yes, but I have to go to the store. Martin said that-"

"Wait, what do you mean by Martin?"

He looked really confused. "He was the one who suggested that the grocery is along your way..." he whispered.

Now, hold it right there. I was pretty sure Martin had something evil going on with this. I should have taken notice of this while we were having dinner. Why did I forget that Martin loves to play Cupid? 

A bit recap, for the past two years that Martin (and Jay) stayed near our home, he was always adamant to find me a boyfriend with one of his schoolmates. I confronted him once about it and he just said that he felt bad that I was alone in this beauty called life. Yeah, right.

"I really hate that guy," I mumbled as I went back inside. I turned to look at Dani who was awkwardly standing in the doorway. "You can come in if you want. I just have to prepare my things then we can head out."

"Okay, if you're sure." I could hear his footsteps from behind me as I crouched down to pick up my fallen notebook.

At that moment, I should have turned around so I could have witnessed that boyish grin that was painted on his face. But I didn't so fuck me.