The next morning you meet up with Asuka before school starts.

"Hey Y/N!"

"Asuka!" you shout "how are you feeling?"

She shrugs. "Better I guess."

"I'm glad to hear that," you smile "I'm sure it's all thanks to Yutaro, right?"

"W-what," she panics "i-it's not like that Y/N, I swear!"

You laugh at how flustered she gets.

"S-Stop laughing!"

"Sorry," you respond "it's just that you two are cute together."

"Y-You think so?"

"Asuka!"

"What! I-I'm just curious."

You smile at her again and assure her that you approve.

"You're both definitely cute together."

"O-oh. T-thanks, Y/N."

You shrug.

"By the way, let's meet up after the boys' volleyball practice, okay?"

--

During practice, you continue to do your job and act as though nothing out of the ordinary happened the past few days. You can tell that the boys feel a bit awkward too, but they continue to work through it.

"Y/N!" your cousin calls you over "can you set for our spiking drills?"

"I'd love to!" you respond as you run over to the team.

After a while, you begin to work up a sweat. The team is working hard which causes you to work hard as well.

Once practice ends, Asuka runs over to you.

"Damn, Y/N, you're really sweaty," she teases.

"Seriously?" you ask.

Instead of answering, you notice Asuka staring at you weirdly. She tilts her head to the side and furrows her eyebrows.

"Why are you looking at me like that?"

Asuka points to your neck. "What's on your neck?"

Immediately, you cover your neck, knowing the makeup you used to cover your hickeys is starting to rub off.

"Nothing!" you yell.

After you cause a bit too much attention, Yutaro walks over and asks if everything is okay.

"Oh my god!" Asuka screams.

Now, the whole team comes running in your direction.

Crap. What do I do?

"What's going on over here?" Oikawa asks curiously.

Asuka points at you again and everybody stares at you with your hands over your neck. Your face turns bright red from embarrassment. You look over at Iwa for help getting out of the situation, but Asuka catches on.

Catching you off guard, Asuka grabs your arms and pulls them away from your neck.

"Y/N, where'd you get all of those hickeys?"

You look over at Oikawa as he stares at your neck.

"Huh? I didn't see those yesterday," he tells the group.

"Asuka those aren't hickeys," Yutaro defends you," Y/N probably did something stupid-"

"No way," Oikawa interrupts.

He looks over at Iwa. "Do you know anything about this?"

Iwa tries hard to cover up any emotions and shrugs, "Nope."

"What!" Asuka yells at Iwa.

As Asuka turns around to face you, she gives you a serious glare.

"Tell me the truth, Y/N!"

You roll your eyes, "okay fine," you admit.

Oikawa smirks at Iwa.

"Nice... Hey wait did you do that at my house?!"

Iwa smiles back at him. "Yup, that's what you get for falling asleep."

Oikawa whines "No fairrrr."

"Wait hold on," Asuka continues "what exactly happened?"

You and Iwa both freeze up.

"NO!" Asuka screams even louder than before. "YOU DIDN'T!"

--

Later that evening, you finish up doing your homework.

Dammit. I can't believe Asuka read me like a friggin book before. How did she figure me out?

Ugghh. Now what the hell am I supposed to do? Everybody knows that Iwa and I hooked up.

RING RING!

You look over at your phone and smile when you see that Iwa's video calling you.

"Hey, Y/N!" he says with a big grin the second you answer the call.

"Iwa!" you say back excitedly, trying to hold in your blush.

"What are you doing?" he asks.

"Just finishing my homework, you?"

"Same here. Do you want to come over in an hour?"

He's asking me to come over? Damn, I hope he's not mad about before.

"That would be awesome," you reply "I'll just finish my homework and come over right after."

"Nice."

You hang up the call with Iwa and finish up your homework. Once you're done, you call Asuka.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Asuka, it's Y/N. Would it be okay if I came over tonight?"

"Um yes! We need to talk about you and Iwa anyway!"

You roll your eyes. "No," you whine.

"You don't have a choice!" she snaps back.

"Ugh," you groan, "fine, I'll see you later."

"Bye, Y/N!"

After packing your school backpack with an extra uniform for tomorrow, you change and head downstairs to tell your dad you are going to sleep over at Asuka's house.

As you get downstairs, you find your dad in the kitchen making tea.

"Hey, Y/N! Want some?" he says while pointing to the boiling pot of water.

"No thanks," you respond politely, "I just wanted to let you know I'm going to sleep over at Asuka's house tonight."

"Alright," he shrugs "you two have fun!"

"Thanks, dad," you say as you kiss him on the cheek goodbye.

"Yeah, yeah, go enjoy yourself."

As you grab the handle to the front door, your dad tells you one last thing.

"And don't bother any boys!"

--

When you arrive at Iwa's house, you ring the doorbell and wait for him to answer.

What the hell am I doing here? I seriously just wrang his doorbell...

As Iwa opens the door, you see his serious face look down at you.

"Hey!" you smile.

Iwa doesn't respond but continues to look at you. You watch as he moves his gaze down to your neck.

"Tch," he scoffs "you're so clumsy, Y/N."

"I-I'm sorry."

Iwa reaches his arm out to touch your neck gently.

"We must have had you really working hard, huh?"

You nod.

You begin to feel Iwa move his fingers around your neck like he did last night when he was choking you. You start to feel butterflies in your stomach again.

"Hm."

"W-what is it?" you stutter, trying to sound normal.

"I guess I didn't squeeze your neck hard enough because there aren't any hand marks."

"Iwa!" you say shocked "a-aren't your parents going to hear you?"

Iwa looks back up into your eyes and grins.

"Nobody's home right now."

END OF CHAPTER 27