K A I R A

１１

Throughout the weekend, I anticipated Monday, and I wondered how I would actually feel at the end of the day. I wasn't sure how my day would play out. Would it be good? Or, would it be bad? Now, I was in class, the first to arrive of course and still drowned in my thoughts.

When Nathan walked in, AirPods in his ears, I wasn't surprised in the least. It was becoming a usual-either he arrived class earlier than I, or I did (and yes, phones were allowed in school). The fact remained that we were the most punctual ones in our class. And maybe in the whole set.

"Hi." He gave a one-handed wave as he used the other to take out the devices in his ears. "Good morning."

"Good morning."

I paid no heed as he walked over to take his seat beside me. Actually, that was a lie. I didn't know why, but there were certain times when he was around me that I would have this feeling of walking on eggshells. Like this make-my-hairs-stand kind of feeling.

"Kaira."

"What?" I replied almost immediately and regretted the action. His brows tipped up in amusement. I said again, this time more calmly. "What?"

Yup.

"Aren't we studying today?"

We? Oh, yes, he always somehow manages to end up reading with me.

I looked at my empty desk save for the romance novel I had sneaked away from Kosi's room last night. Nathan stared at it also with the same amused gleam in his eyes. At first, I didn't get why he did that until I realized what was on the cover of the story-a shirtless guy with his arm wrapped around a woman. They both stared at each other like heaven and hell could pass and they wouldn't care.

I snatched the book from his view. "What are you looking at?"

His chuckle became a full blown laughter. "So you're one of those girls."

"Excuse me?" I said. "I'm not one of those girls. Actually, this book is innocent and educative. In a sense."

He leaned in, nearly in my personal space. "Educative in what sense?"

"In a sense that you can't understand," I blurted, completely taking out the book from his view and into my bag. "It was specially made for me."

I had close to a dreamy smile on my face as I imagined the strong female MC having an entertaining argument with her love interest. Picture this: a woman in her late twentys defending her unique choices, giving the reasons she hates the love interest's. Now tell me, isn't that adorable? Ok maybe it's not. It's quite vague. Or maybe it's just me being weird.

Still, the book was written for me. It was even stated in the dedication page: to all the girls and young women who dream.

And I dream. A lot.

"Margaret Waterman wrote the book for you?"

"Yeah-wait, how'd you know her name just at first glance?" I narrowed my eyes as his brows knitted together. "Hey, you read romance novels, don't you?"

His hands went to his neck, giving it a little rub as he averted his gaze. He leaned away from my personal space and said, "I do not read romance novels."

"Your voice just lost its vibe there." I laughed. "You read romance novels. Now, tell me how many."

"I don't."

"You do."

"I don't."

"You read romance novels. It's obvious. You can't deny it." I deliberated tickling him but that would be going too far, so I cooed. "A boy reading romance. It's adorable, y'know."