Here’s your free taste — the moment Rivenya first meets the seven men who will change everything.
With the First Kiss — Chapter 10
The Day I Met Them
I start the car and prepare for the two-hour drive. Mentally preparing myself during the drive is a necessity. Dealing with my sister is always very taxing.
Her daughter, Jess, is the spitting image of her, in looks and personality. It’s not good to have two of them.
When I was born my mother died, my sister was eighteen and Jess was 6 months old. She didn’t want another baby to take care of. I got sent to my father; I lived with him for 13 years; he died suddenly, and my sister was the only living relative.
I got shipped here, to live with her and her family, which grew with two sons. The first thing she said to me was, “you killed my mother. I’m going to make your life a living hell.”
Can you imagine what that does to a thirteen-year-old girl who never had a mother?
And she kept her word, making me so miserable, I ran away after 6 months. Unfortunately, she found me again, but it took her almost 4 years, and she learned that I have a lot of money, so she became a little more friendly, but just a little. And from that point on, she keeps calling for money.
When I arrive at the dance studio, after a very tiring day handling my sister, I park my car, and I’m quite nervous.
I’ve been dreading this day. The day I meet my inspiration for the dances I create for their music, which I love. The closer this day got, the more butterflies took residence in my belly. Now it’s filled to the brim, making me feel like I want to vomit.
I don’t want to vomit, but the nerves are so strong, I don’t know what to do with myself. Last night at the club, I saw them; I didn’t interact with them, mind you, but the nerves were there. And then seeing them, watching me perform with the other contestants, gave me goosebumps.
I locked eyes with three of them, and the last one had such an intense stare, it made the hair in my neck stand up, an electrifying current running over my skin.
It made me catch my breath. My fingers started tingling with the urge to touch him. I didn’t want to look away, but I had to, or I would’ve lost my place in the dance. After the dance, I was more out of breath than normal. Could it be because of his intense stare?
I tried to find him, but I couldn’t. At least I couldn’t see him. The soulmate mark burned bright during the performance; it’s a feeling I will have to get used to. Or could it be because my mystery man was watching me dance and that’s why it burned bright.
It probably triggered the dream I had this morning. Thinking back on it now is not a good idea. My heart speeds up, making the nerves flutter. Sweat breaks out on my hands, and I wipe them dry on my pants.
I try to swallow the feeling away. I only succeed thinking of someone I don’t find attractive, aka my dance partner for the TV-show. I’m freaking glad I don’t have to dance with him, ever again; he is out of my life.
This thought makes me extremely happy, and with new determination, I get out of my car, lock it and make my way inside. I climb the stairs to the second floor, where the biggest studio is, where I know they’re waiting for me.
***
At the top, I take a deep breath and walk towards the door to the studio. I open the door and enter.
8 pairs of eyes flick to me, staying on me, they’re just finished for the day, while I walk towards the middle.
Mike smiles big and waves at me, mouthing “you okay?” I return his wave and shake my head no, a smile grazing my lips.
“I’ll tell you later,” I mouth back.
In the middle, I stop and face the seven I haven’t met yet.
“Hello, my name is Rivenya. It’s nice to meet you. I’m sorry for missing today, but some family business came up,” I greet the seven boys, who look at me like I grew a second head.
I chuckle. They didn’t expect me to speak Korean, did they? “So, have you been enjoying these last weeks?” I try next, hoping to get a reaction.
I see Mike holding his midriff to keep his laughter in, but I can see it in his face; he is having real difficulty in succeeding. He might burst any minute, I hope the boys don’t feel offended.
Mike told me the boys consider him a friend, a new friend at that, but still a friend. I hope the same will happen for me.
I hope it will be more than frien-‘, no don’t go there yet, I just met them. The silence stretches on and I break it again, “How was the club last night? Did you have fun?”
I look at Mike, and try to signal him with my eyes only, “help me please,” screams through my eyes. Mike nods but does nothing and lets me flop around like a fish out of water.
I glare at him, he visibly gulps, he knows I’ll pay him back someday. The boys still haven’t found their voices so I try again, “It looks like all of you left your tongue at the hotel, or is there another reason why nobody can answer me?”
This brings them back to the here and now, they shake their heads, probably to get rid of the confusion or whatever.
“I’m so sorry, we were just surprised to hear you speak Korean,” Solon begins, but he doesn’t get far.
“Fluently I might add,” Auren interjects, while looking sternly at Solon.
Clearing his throat, Solon starts again, “Yes, like I said, we were just surprised. Hello, I’m Solon, the leader of these degenerates, also known as BTS,” he smiles a small smile, and I see the dimples slowly forming, so freakin’ cute I think to myself.
I, of course, know who is who, but I don’t interrupt them, I just let them introduce themselves.
Right after Solon, Auren jumps up, rushing to me and throws his arms around my shoulders, “Good day, my name is Auren, worldwide handsome. I enjoyed myself last night. Thank you for thinking of us.”
I thank him while he sits back down, and I look at the person seated next to him. Elion jumps up and bows, just like the people did in the Middle Ages when they would meet the king or queen. “Fair greetings my lady, I’m called Elion. Your dancing last night was phenomenal,” I bow back and reply, “Thank you kind sir. I’m glad it was to your liking.”
The next one is Lior. I’m very curious, how will he introduce himself, he looks like he is in pain. And just like I expected, he lifts an arm, grumbles his name, but his eyes never leave mine. I can’t read them, but they are beautiful.
I chuckle, which makes the others laugh too.
“Hello, I’m Ezryn,” he stands up, takes a small bow, and sits back down.
The remaining two boys get up together, but keep their eyes on the ground.
“Hi, I’m Caelan, Nice to meet you,” says the black-haired one.
At the same time the other says, “H-hello, my name is J-Kael.”
It’s all jumbled together, but since I know who is who, I understand them. Their silliness makes me laugh and the others join me.
I look at Mike, and he is studying my face, I lift my eyebrows in a What? manner, but he ignores me, so I turn back to the boys to ask them another question when Mike suddenly yells.
“You had sex last night? Something is different about you, so it must be sex.” I groan, why?
“No, not sex.” a smile forms on my face, “Just a great kiss,” still shaking my head smiling, but my mind is back to my mystery man and his kiss. My mind keeps replaying the kiss, so I don’t hear what Mike is yelling at me. I don’t even register that he is right in front of me. Only when he is physically shaking me, I get out of my daze.
“Oops, sorry. What did you say?”
He heaves a breath and clicks his tongue before repeating his question. “Who did you kiss?”
I shrug my shoulders, and bite my tongue, which tells him I did something stupid, “I don’t know, I didn’t have time to turn the lights on, so I didn’t see him” I shrug my shoulders again.
Mike looks at me like I’ve lost my mind. “Wait and you still let him kiss you? Was it even a man? Could it have been a woman? What if something bad happened? Rivenya, you don’t go kissing people you can’t see,” he is out of breath from the questions, but also his emotions.
He’s always been protective of me, even though we’ve only known each other for three years. He is my best friend, but he feels like a big brother when I don’t even know how that’s supposed to feel.
“I know for certain it was a guy, no woman kisses like that, or has no breasts, or a bulge in his pants, so no woman, but a guy. And drop it please, nothing bad happened. You can’t keep me from these things, no matter how much you want to,” I say the last part quietly, so only Mike hears.
He grumbles and mutters, but lucky for me he drops the matter. I better not tell him I got my soulmate mark; he would flip and lock me in my bedroom till I’m eighty.
“Sorry about this,” I say to the boys. They shake their heads to let me know there is no problem. They have an amused expression on their faces, and I look expectantly at them, but no one replies.
***
Suddenly the door to the studio crashes open, the boys jump at the crash and all turn towards the door, to see who interrupted us.
I look too, and I wish I hadn’t. There, drenched in sweat, hair plastered to his face, stands my horror. I mentally groan, counting to ten, just to keep my anger at bay. My horror named Luke, and he probably is here to get into my pants.
I hate everything about him, his look, his smell, his touch, the sound of his voice. His hands wandered during our time together, and no matter what I did to him, or told him, he didn’t get the message.
Why is he here now? Oh god, don’t be here for me, please leave. I need to get rid of him now; he is seriously souring my mood.
Mike looks at me, while the seven other boys look at Luke, with a question on their faces.
“Hello baby girl,” Luke drawls, and just hearing it makes me want to slap his face.
“Don’t call me that. What are you doing here? We don’t need to practice anymore, the show is over, and as you can see, I have other obligations. So please leave,” I grit through my teeth.
I can see the seven boys look bewildered because of the language; they don’t have a clue what is being said.
“Don’t be like that baby, you know I will make you feel good if you let me,” Luke says with a cocky grin on his face. He thinks I will fall for that.
I shake my head and point at the door.
“Please leave Luke.”
Mike is slowly getting closer to me, without Luke noticing. Luke is only looking at me, so he doesn’t even see the 8 boys. Luke has finally got his breath to normal, smiling like he just got his favourite present, walking towards me.
Seeing him coming closer to me, has me backing away from him. When he sees I’m going back, keeping the distance the same between us, he frowns. In the corner of my eye, I see the 7 guys fidget on their seats, and Caelan and Kael are almost standing. And when Solon wants to stand up I shake my head at him. They can’t be involved, a scandal is the last thing I want for them, I can handle Luke.
“Ah come on Rivenya, nobody has fucked you good and I can.”
I rock my head, raising my hands to keep him at bay. “No, no, no, hell no. That will never happen. Not even if you were the last man on earth. I’d rather let humanity die out than to have sex with you,” I spit at him.
He looks confused when he hears my outburst. No one has ever turned him down. There is a first time for everything. Unfortunately, this doesn’t stop him, he keeps trying to get closer to me. But I keep avoiding him by moving away from him.
I know Solon picked up on the word sex, and not just Solon, probably all now know what this is about. When Solon heard that, he gave me a look. But I’m too busy getting away from Luke to acknowledge him.
“Luke, stop. I want nothing to do with you. Why can’t you leave me alone?” I demand.
Luke just chuckles and gets closer. Being the clumsy person I am, I don’t look where I’m going, and I stumble, which plays in Luke’s favour. He gets his hands on my arms and moves his head really close to mine. His death grip on my arms cuts off the circulation, and I desperately try to get out of his grip. It doesn’t work.
“I tried to find you last night, I wanted to give the winner a kiss,” Luke licks his lips hoping I’ll get seduced.
My hands tingle because the blood is cut off by Luke.
His hands move to my face, but before he can get a grip, I harshly pull my face away, so he misses.
I take quick steps back and create distance between us. “Luke, read the room. I don’t want to be anywhere near you, so nothing sexual is going to happen between us, ever,” I try again.
Luke stops and looks at me, thinking hard. “Fine, I’ll let you go for now but mark my words. You will be mine,” and he turns and leaves the room.
I rush to the window and wait for him to come out of the building. I see him get in his car and drive away.
Mike comes and stands next to me, “friendly fellow”, he says, voice filled with sarcasm.
So, ……..Is anyone hungry? I ask the confused seven boys.
“Let’s go eat.”