Ficorpio
Chapter 1
Before vacation started, I confessed my feelings to Olivia Bennett—the campus it-girl—and got rejected.
I asked her why.
Olivia said, “I like boys who are smart and brave.”
I immediately replied, “Last week, when you fell into the lake, did you forget who pulled you out?”
She was silent for two seconds.
“Fine. You are brave,” she admitted. “But what about smart?”
I was silent for two seconds, too.
“Then take a guess at why yours was the only boat that started taking on water.”
Olivia: “?”
The moment I sent that message, Olivia called me.
I declined the call without hesitation.
She refused to give up. By the time I boarded my flight, she had called me eighteen times.
I declined every single one.
When I saw her text—
You’re in the neighboring state, aren’t you? Just wait until I get to you.
—I switched off my smartphone and boarded the plane with a satisfied smile.
Finally, I’d given Olivia a chance to chase after me for once.
As for why her boat had started leaking…
How would I know? I wasn’t a boatbuilder.
The plane landed two hours later. I turned on my smartphone and found a string of messages from Olivia waiting for me. I was touched. She’d actually taken the initiative to keep me updated.
Olivia: I got a ticket.
Olivia: I’m at the airport.
Olivia: Landing at seven.
Olivia: Nathan Foster, you’d better wait for me.
I let out a long breath.
So this was what it felt like to have someone check in with you?
How terrifying.
Over the next two hours, I collected my suitcase, grabbed dinner, and booked a room at an airport hotel.
Once I’d checked into the place—less than five hundred meters from the terminal—I finally relaxed. Olivia would never guess that I’d pulled off the oldest trick in the book: hiding in plain sight.
At seven-thirty, my phone rang.
I answered calmly. “What can I do for you?”
Olivia’s voice was icy. “What floor?”
I blinked. “What?”
“The airport hotel. What floor are you on? Which room?”
I shot upright in bed, completely stunned. “How the hell did you know?”
Olivia gave a cold little laugh. “From the moment you got off the plane until now, your step count on the messaging app is less than a thousand. How do you think I knew?”
Yeah, I have a thing for clever girls.
Of course, Olivia’s cleverness was starting to feel like overkill.
I nervously came down to the hotel lobby to meet her.
Olivia took one look at me and frowned. “Why did you come down in hotel slippers? The floor’s freezing.”
I gave her an ingratiating smile. “I wanted to see you as soon as possible.”
Her pretty face darkened again. She grabbed me by the hood of my sweatshirt. “Tell me. What was that about the boat?”
I raised both hands in surrender. “I don’t know!”
“You’re still pretending?”
Chapter 2
“I really don’t know!” I protested, looking utterly miserable. I felt completely wronged. If I’d known this was how things would turn out, I never should’ve made up that story in the first place.
Another guest came into the lobby. Every time the doors opened and closed, cold air came rushing inside. I stamped my feet and muttered under my breath, “It made me sound clever, okay?”
Olivia was so speechless that she actually laughed. Then she lowered her eyes to look at me and suddenly shoved her large suitcase in front of me.
“Sit on it.”
I blinked. “What?”
She clicked her tongue. “The floor’s so cold you’ve started tap-dancing. Sit down. Keep your feet off the ground.”
“Oh.”
I climbed onto the suitcase and settled myself down. When I saw her drape her Scarf around my shoulders to keep the draft off me, I couldn’t help saying, “Olivia, you went to all this trouble to fly here and find me. That couldn’t have been easy. So maybe…”
“Maybe you should finally give in to me.”
“Maybe you should let me throw you into the lake once, too.”
Me: ?
Seriously, how could a mouth at a perfectly warm ninety-seven-point-seven degrees say something that cold?
Both Olivia and I visibly choked.
The moment I realized what she meant, I jumped off my suitcase and ran.
“You ungrateful little brat! After I’ve liked you this much? Next time, I really will flip that boat!”
Olivia shouted after me, furious. “I knew it was you!”
It really hadn’t been me. “I’ll flip the boat” had only been an expression of how angry I was.
Not long after I returned to my room, Olivia messaged me.
[Come out.]
I pretended not to see it and kept talking on my video call.
Olivia sent another message.
[I ordered late-night food.]
I swallowed. I was a little hungry.
A moment later, another message appeared.
[…Fine, eat it or don’t. I left it outside your door. I booked a nine o’clock flight home. I’m leaving.]
I stared at the screen, stunned.
She was leaving just like that?
After hesitating for a few seconds, I still jumped out of bed. I wanted to open the door and peek toward the stairwell to see if she was really gone.
The moment I opened the door, my face slammed straight into something soft and warm.
Oh.
It was a chest wrapped in a black turtleneck sweater.
“Why do you lead with your head whenever you leave a room?!” Olivia’s face flushed bright red as she pressed both hands to my shoulders and shoved me back.
I tried to defend myself, but my body reacted faster than I could get the words out.
A sudden warmth flooded my nose.
I was having a nosebleed.
I had to defend myself. The nosebleed was only because the air-conditioning had dried out the room. It had absolutely nothing to do with Olivia wearing a black turtleneck sweater that hugged every curve.
Chapter 3
Olivia pressed a cold towel to my forehead, her expression complicated. “Nathan, I’m not lying to you. I really don’t think I’ve ever seen a guy get a nosebleed for a reason like this.”
I answered with my eyes closed, perfectly calm. “Then their rooms must not have been dry enough.”
Olivia rolled her eyes, but she laughed anyway.
“By the way, wasn’t your flight at nine?” I glanced at the clock. “It’s already ten past. Olivia Bennett is seriously late.”
“I am seriously late.” Olivia waved her smartphone. “I changed my flight to tomorrow.”
I blinked when I heard that. “You’re really leaving?”
Olivia gave me a look. “What else would I do?”
I lowered my voice sheepishly. “I thought you were just bluffing.”
She clicked her tongue. “Why would I lie to you about something like that?”
I blinked again. “Then what kind of thing would be worth lying to me about?”
Olivia choked on whatever she was about to say and fell silent. She took the cold towel off my forehead, went to warm up the late-night food, then picked up a forkful of pasta and stuffed it into my mouth.
“Eat.”
Wow. She was even feeding me.
This nosebleed had been completely worth it.
I chewed and chewed, swallowed, then opened my mouth and waited for the next bite.
“The hands you’re not using can be donated to someone who needs them,” Olivia said coldly when the second bite never came. “And stop opening your mouth so wide. You look like an idiot.”
To be honest, I often worried that Olivia might poison herself by licking her lips.
Would I get poisoned too the next time I kissed her?
It was a question worth serious consideration.
After we finished our late-night meal, Olivia gathered her things and prepared to return to her room.
I glanced at the small box left on the table. “What’s this?”
“Chocolate,” Olivia said after taking a look. “I added it to the order to meet the delivery minimum.”
I opened the box. The chocolates had a surprisingly distinctive smell. There were six of them in all. I saved the prettiest one for Olivia and, with tears in my eyes, ate the five ugliest ones myself.
When Olivia returned from taking out the trash, she stared at the single lonely chocolate on the table and said, “Good. Good. Good.”
See? I knew it. She was picky. She only liked pretty things.
Then she should like me.
Olivia froze. “What?”
I blinked and repeated it silently in my head.
If Olivia didn’t like me, she was a little idiot.
Olivia’s brow began to twitch. “Are you insulting me?”
I stared at her in surprise. “Wait, can you read minds?”
Olivia strode over, broke the chocolate open, and sniffed it. Then she let out a long, exhausted breath.
“Nathan, could you please use your brain for once? This is high-proof liqueur-filled chocolate!”
“What pastries? I can still eat.”
I propped my chin on my hand and watched Olivia hurry around, taking care of me. I gave her a goofy grin.
How could she be this cute? I wanted to kiss her.