// Best YA Romance in the Romance Fiction Awards 2021//
Thrill Hawthorne, keeping up to his name, lives his life on the edge. Or so people think.
Ignatius Rookwood is the darling son and the sole male heir to a gigantic business corporation. Or so...
This is a new chapter! As in, this wasn't there in the first draft. So old readers, a special gift for you folks, go nuts. New readers, I hope y'all are having fun!
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"I'm such a moron," Ignatius muttered the moment he opened Thrill Hawthorne's Instagram account. Of all the people he could've challenged to a race, he picked this guy? The guy named Thrill, who had at least six pictures on his feed that were taken on a full-fledged race track? Ugh... idiot!!!
Ignatius sighed to himself. He lied down on the bed and held his phone above his head as he scrolled through his rival's account, careful to not 'like' anything by mistake.
Thrill Hawthorne's account was full of pictures taken from mountaintops, high-rise bridges, dangerous-looking cliffs, etc. There were videos of him sky-diving, parkouring, bungee-jumping, and partaking in a gazillion other adventure sports.
"Thrill, do your trick again!" A skinny boy with bright green hair was holding the camera in selfie mode, grinning. Behind him was a skateboard park, with Thrill standing on the edge wearing a purple helmet. On hearing the green-haired boy's words, Thrill flipped the bird at the camera, got on the skateboard and tried to do a jump. He got the timing wrong and crashed on the ground.
The boy holding the camera laughed. "The famous Thrill Hawthorne, ladies and gentlemen and my enby folks."
"FUCK OFF," came Thrill's voice from the distance. "You try it!"
A smile appeared on Ignatius' features without him realizing it.
There were dozens of such videos, of Thrill failing to do something, as if he wasn't ashamed or afraid of showing the world his flaws.
Ignatius felt an ache in his heart that he recognized as jealousy.
The green-haired boy (tagged - CaspiantheMightyDragon) was there in most of the posts. There were also video clips of Thrill with a small girl, probably around four years old, goofing around in shopping malls, or playing in dollhouses. There was one especially adorable video of her (Aria, Thrill called her) braiding Thrill's hair with clips and flowers. Midway, Drayden Hawthorne walked in, asking if Aria finished her homework. "Aaaaa, the dragon is here!" both Aria and Thrill screamed and ran away, toppling the camera in the process.
Ignatius laughed, and involuntarily, double-tapped on the video.
Realisation dawned on him a second too late.
"Shit, no. No, no, no!" He sat upright, unliked the video and then dropped the phone like it was on fire. "I'm such a moron!" He groaned. He picked up a pillow and slammed it on his face. As if spending the whole day being a "damsel in distress" was not enough, Thrill Hawthorne was now going to know that Ignatius was stalking his social media account.
