I was paralyzed. No seriously, I truly was!

Had I heard it right? No, he must've been kidding. I'm sure he would, in a matter of seconds, burst out laughing and joke at how pale I appeared.

But hell no! Ace made no such remark. Rather, he kept his fingers glued on my face, the two of us staring into one another's eye, me in bewilderment and he in fondness.

I didn't know how to react to his startling confession. I agree that I did have some feelings for Ace, but why was it so hard for me to accept it? Was it right for me to feel that way? And my biggest fear of all, how would it be accepted by my...homophobic family?

"I think I've misheard you Ace," I said while his fingers' grasp tightened around my cheek. "I think-"

And that was it. Ace stepped closer and before I could understand what he was up to, our lips met. The kiss was deep and passionate, unhurried. All my worries, my stress was vapourized in that suddenly calming moment.

Our tongues met as Ace's licked mine, giving me goosebumps with the sensation. I could feel it move all through my mouth, the feeling beyond my comprehension.

Getting out of breath, I made a sudden hysterical move. Goodness knows what came up to me, I tried pushing Ace away, resulting into both of us slipping off simultaneously. Little had I noticed at how close to the pool we had been.

Splash!

The water beat against our half naked bodies as they met together. Ace pulled me up carefully on my feet as he looked at me with...affection.

Ace closed in our distance as our bare bodies touched against one another, part to part, organ to organ. Our lips met again, my thoughts getting obscured by my desire.

My palm placed against his bare chest, Ace traced his fingers teasingly against my jawline, making me shiver with his touch. Ace was really good in arousing a person's desires.

"Mmm," I gave a low moan as Ace scratched my slender neck with care, and pressed it slightly. Ace's hand moved at my back, slowly tracing my spine till coming to the only piece of clothing left on my body.

And then I snapped back to my senses. I pushed myself away from a perplexed Ace, unable to meet his eyes.

Ace looked at me in confusion as I said, "I'm sorry, but we can't be doing this...I can't be doing this."

I sprinted out of the pool and was about to leave when Ace caught my arm.

"But why?" he asked.

"My family...they will hate me for doing this. I cannot do it, I'm sorry."

Saying that and without looking back at his magnetic face, I ran off the terrace, down into the backyard, up to the pool where the girls played.

Sandra said, "Hey Nayan, you seem-"

"I'm alright," I said, hurriedly putting on my clothes without wiping myself. "I gotta go now."

"So early?" Stacy pouted.

"Yeah...I'm sorry." And with that, I ran off, not turning back towards the house again.

Calling my dad, I waited impatiently as he arrived at the gate.

"Oh! Someone's wet huh?" he commented mockingly seeing my wet hair and body.

I quickly sat down into the car and saw Ace coming towards us, dressed of course.

"Papa, let's just go, please!" I pleaded. Confused, dad drove off the car as I saw Ace waving and trying to say something in the distance from the backseat window.

I gave a sigh of relief, sitting comfortably next to dad.

"Hey!" dad exclaimed. "What's the matter son? Had a fight with someone?"

"Oh no dad, why would I?" I said getting agitated.

He laughed, ruffling through my wet hair as I moved his hand away in frustration.

"Don't you wanna tell your papa about it?" he asked.

"It's-it's nothing," I lied.

"Alright, if you don't want to tell, then so be it," he said. "But remember, you can always tell me anything you like. I'll be here to support you."

I gave a fake smile and began looking out of the window at the passing buildings. Of course I could trust in my dad with everything, except for this one thing. Neither he, nor mom would ever accept me as gay. I feared even imagining the consequence about informing them.

The next day at the school was somewhat relaxing. Why if you may ask? Because Ace was not present. Not just him, but his other soccer teammates were not in the school either.

I came to know that they had gone for a certain match in a nearby school, which meant that they would come the next day. Imagine my relief!

But then, the thought struck me. For how long will I keep trying to avoid Ace and my feelings? I did not want to reject him entirely because somewhere deep, I did feel the same way he did towards me.

However, I was fearful of what may happen if my parents came to know about our...what am I supposed to name it as? Relationship? Situationship? Love? Crush? Never mind!

Whenever I've been stuck with any crisis, I've always heeded the advice of others. Whether it's from my family, teachers or friends, I decided upon taking their opinions.

And...you guessed it! I decided to take the opinion of my lovely friends on this matter.

"Hey Jess," I called her out as she began sitting at her bench for Biology.

"Wassup?" she asked.

"I.. err...wanted your advice on something."

She turned towards me with concern. "Sure, go on."

Then I began rethinking the idea. Would it not be great if I could ask them altogether?

"I wanted everybody's opinion on it," I said, as she understood what I meant by 'everybody'.

"Can we not gather somewhere for that?" I asked.

Jess thought for a while and said, "How about my place? After the school?"

"Yeah, that would be lovely." I said gleefully.

"What about Ace and Henry?" she asked. "They ain't here for the day."

"Oh that you need not worry about," I said as Ms. Minerva entered the room, taking the session.

Over the next periods, Jess and I shared this information with the rest of our group and once the school was done, we met together to go at Jess's.

"I've texted my dad that I'll be late home," I informed everyone as the others did the same. The six of us [since Ace and Henry were not present], piled into Stella's and Cat's cars as they drove off to Jess's.

Once we reached, Jess's mom provided us with a bunch of snacks as we assembled in the living room while her mother left the house to meet a friend. That meant the house was all for our discussion.

"Alright Nayan," Stacy said, "what is it that you wanted to talk about?"

I inhaled deeply and said, "So here's the thing. Ace and I, we...we kinda like each other."

Everyone gasped. I however continued without getting interrupted.

"But there's a problem. Even though I may wanna be with him, my parents are extremely homophobic. If they were to know about any of this, they will literally disown me."

None uttered a word. "So I need your suggestion. Whether Ace and I, well... should we do something under the fear of my parents getting to know of it, or...should we let it be?"

There were silent gulps and stares as some sort of understanding passed between them that I could not relate. Before I could ask, Sandra explained.

"Nayan, before you decide anything, you must know something about Ace."

Alright, so this was weird.

"What is it?" I asked worriedly.

"Remember the time when I told you that you gotta keep your emotions limited towards Ace?" Sandra reminded. I nodded in agreement.

"Well, I wasn't joking around. Ace...let's just say...he's not as clean as he appears."

"What do you mean?" I asked getting more tensed.

Stacy rolled her eyes saying, "Let's be straight. Ace has been a juvenile delinquent. He has commited crimes."

Hey guys! I hope you're having fun reading this novel!
Had you predicted this twist in the tale? Or did you beleive Ace to be the good guy? What do you think Nayan will do now? Do comment your thoughts!