*extra long author's note at the end. pls read and don't skip. pls interact as well :))*

My corneas are burning underneath my eyelids.

Why is there so much light?

Why is there an unnatural weight on my stomach?

Why is it so freaking bright?

Hey! Remember when I had corneas?

I let out a low groan and open my eyes, only to immediately squint them to shield them against the harsh sun rays. When my eyes finally kind of adjust, I look around me and on the monstrous weight, which I can't seem to get off.

I'm lying on the sofa, my neck bent at a weird angle, and my legs are resting in a sitting position. The window opposite to me is the source of the sun rays assault. The air has a bit of chill, but I still feel a bit suffocated. Because on my stomach and my thighs are two giant legs, and I follow them to find Eli as their owner. Looking around, Nathan is on the ground, resting his back on the sofa front and Mia's head resting on his lap. I chuckle at the seating positions we had assumed yesterday with no real intention behind it, except Mia and Nathan had argued for half the movie over popcorn flavours, whereas Eli and I were busy predicting the next scenes of the movie.

Safe to say, it was an interesting night.

"Eli," I grumble out and hit his legs multiple times. He shifts a bit in his sleep but settles right back in a better position, further increasing his weight on my body even more. I almost let out a squeak and hit his legs again, this time with more force. After a couple more hits and a lot more swearing from both the parties, he finally gains enough consciousness and lets out a huge yawn.

"Morning bumper," he croaks out.

"Bumpee," I reiterate, and he chuckles.

Our talk wakes up the other two, Nathan shifting and squinting just like I did and Mia rubbing her eyes.

"Morning dumbasses," I say, shifting Eli's legs off me and on the sofa and finally getting up from the uncomfortable position I was stuck in for the whole night. I hear a few bone popping noises as I stretch, and when my eyes find Nathan's, I find him looking at me already. There's some unadulterated hunger in them, and suddenly I feel flustered. And hot.

Stupid sun.

Keeping my flustered self hidden behind an expertly crafted mask, I smirk at him and very discreetly stretch myself a little longer, letting my shorts ride up just a bit higher than he probably expected.

Cue the saucer-sized eyes.

I quickly turn away after a little more smirking and walk towards the kitchen, keeping my tea and Mia's coffee first. Turning around, I'm about to ask the boys what they would like for their breakfast, and I feel arms coming around my waist, pulling me back to a hard chest.

"Good morning, grasshopper," Nay mumbles in my ear, and I get goosebumps, a result of his delicious morning croak and proximity. Not to mention, the deep hints of the earlier hunger apparent in his tone.

"Hi," I manage to reply, my voice coming out weirdly high pitched.

Alvin the chipmunk has serious competition.

He notices the high squeak, and his chest rumbles with laughter. I roll my eyes and move to get out of his hold, but his hold tightens, and he bends down and presses a series of tiny feathery kisses behind my ear, sending a fresh wave of goosebumps.

A wave of goosebumps, and multiple waves of other things down south.

"Payback, babe," he whispers and moves away, this time leaving me hot and bothered.

"Hey!" I exclaim, and he just laughs and pulls out the pan and a few eggs.

"Coffee for both of us, I'll make breakfast for all," he says casually as if he didn't just turn me on a few seconds ago. Seeing me standing there in a daze, he smirks, which snaps me back to the world of the living, and my eyes turn to slits.

"Coffee it is," I reply curtly, and he laughs again at my tone.

A very deep, a very arousing laugh.

Oh, come on now, Ali.

As I'm trying to distract my mind while making coffee, I overhear Mia and Eli's fun flirting, and I smile to myself. Yesterday's events flood my memories, and I suddenly feel my mood dampen. I try to not make the shift in the mood reflect in my body language, but when I feel Nathan approach me and wrap his arms around me again, I know he knows.

"We're a team now," he whispers, and I nod. He turns me around, making me almost get lost in his forest eyes, "and we're gonna do everything together. No more hiding, right?"

"No more hiding."

"Good. Come on now, breakfast time. I have a few classes and a project session with Noah today. Once I'm done with that, I'll come to the Bakery."

"It's fine if you don't. We can meet back here," I say while pouring our beverages into our mugs.

He shakes his head, "Nope. I'm not coming to pick you up. We have a task to do. I've already spoken to Mrs Warren, and I can guarantee she has kept our work ready for us."

I furrow my eyebrows, "What?"

"You'll see," he winks.

⋈ ⋈ ⋈

"Why are we doing the deliveries today?" I ask my boyfriend, who seems like he's having the time of his life driving around the town, doing the job we have people specially assigned to do.

He smiles and doesn't say anything, just like he has been doing for the past 3 times that I've asked him this question. I roll my eyes and sit back, getting annoyed and increasingly more curious as time goes by. When I reached the Bakery today, everyone looked at me funny. The staff looked at me as if I could burst or break down any moment, so I raised my chin high while walking in, trying not to look bothered as I strode in with the fake confidence. Upon reaching the back room, I finally let go of my breath and was immediately bombarded with innumerable questions from Shaye.

After about a thousand questions, half of which seemed to be active and passive voices of the same 'How are you actually doing?' question, she handed me my apron. Just as I was about to leave to take my position behind the counter, she pulled me back and asked me one question regarding a situation that I didn't expect her to remember.

"Why do you work overtime without actually getting paid?"

Naturally, I didn't have an answer to that, and upon seeing my speechless self struggling to get a single word out, she sighed and mumbled something like I'll find out and left.

Which automatically resulted in a very anxious day at work.

Now, seeing Nathan look so unbothered, I'm tempted to start a fight just to get my anxiety and irritation of the entire day out of my body, but I hold myself back. Surely there's a reason why we're doing this.

"Do you wanna grab something to eat? Drive around a little more?"

Alright, that's it. I can't do this.

"Just take me home. I've had the worst day today," I reply, my voice in a monotone. I think he realises the change in my tone because I feel him slow down and pull over on the side of the road.

"Hey, what happened?" he asks, and I almost forget about all my anger and irritation at the sound of his worried tone.

Gosh, I love him.

Managing a small smile, I look at him, "Everyone expects me to just burst today. I'm not that weak. I probably got it all out with you yesterday," I joke a little, chuckling when he cracks a smile.

"Okay, we'll do this then," he starts, taking non-verbal confirmation that I'm ready to listen to his suggestion with his eyes.

He only continues after I nod, and he smiles reassuringly, "We'll finish this one house, it's just 3 minutes away," he pauses when I groan audibly, "If even after that you feel like just going home, we'll do that. We've come this far, doesn't make any sense to turn around now."

I catch the double implication of that sentence, making me smile and nod, accepting his proposal.

He starts the car again, and almost immediately, we reach the first house for the delivery. I get out from the passenger seat, grab the box of fresh hot croissants and walk towards their entrance. Nathan stays seated in the car. I ring their doorbell, and after a couple of seconds, a young lady, probably only a year or two older than us opens the door.

"Hey. You're from The Bakery?" she asks kindly.

I smile politely, "Yep. Here's your order. That'll be 5$."

She nods and grabs her wallet, and pays me the entire amount. I thank her and turn around, starting to walk back towards the car when she calls out to me.

"Excuse me! Could you do me a favour?"

I turn back around and nod, looking at her to continue.

She smiles again, albeit this time it's a different smile, "Could you please slap me?"

Huh?

"Excuse me?" I ask in bewilderment, "What? Are you joking?"

She shakes her head in utter seriousness, "I'm not! Please, just slap me. It would make me very happy."

What in the world?

"Ma'am, I can't do this. Please ask-" I stumble on my words, "- um, someone else?"

"Oh come on now. Surely you can do it. Just slap me."

I look around to see if this is actually a prank, but I'm unable to see anything suspicious, "I'm sorry ma'am, but no."

"Why not?" she asks, sounding a little disappointed but a whole lot amused.

"Because I respect you and won't ever do something like that, no matter how much you ask."

My answer seems to have pleased her as a large smile takes over her face, and she nods, winking at me and closing the door behind her.

I stand in front of the door for a second longer than I should've, just trying to comprehend what in the world just happened.

Walking back to the car, I get in my seat, and Nathan looks at me curiously, "What took so long?"

I answer in a daze, "She asked me if I could slap her."

He mutters a small, huh, and I almost don't notice the amusement behind his comment, "What did you do then?"

I look at him funny, "Of course I didn't slap her. I told her no ma'am I wouldn't do that-"

Oh my God.

Oh my God.

I look back at Nathan, and he smirks, "You said no, huh?"

Words leave me as Nathan laughs and starts the car, "Ready to do some more deliveries?"

⋈ ⋈ ⋈

It was a very silent ride to the other house, but in my defence, I was completely caught up in my world as I tried to make sense of everything.

Don't blame a girl and her brain.

So when Nathan pulled up to the next apartment, I took a deep breath and willed myself that the whole slap thing was the largest coincidence in the world and rang their doorbell.

This time, a lady close to the age of Ma opens, smiles at me, takes the box of pastries, pays and smiles again.

Phew, I think as I turn back and walk towards my car.

And that's when she calls me back.

"Dear, could I ask for a favour?"

"Yes?" I ask politely, slightly dreading the question. There's no way I could and would slap anyone. But maybe she has a valid favour?

She places the box of pastries on the floor and looks at me.

"Smash them with your leg, please?" she asks genuinely.

I look at her, appalled and a little disgusted, "Ma'am?"

"Please? It would make me really happy."

"No. No. There's no way I could disrespect and waste food like that. No, sorry. I-" I ramble and stumble, unable to control myself, "I- I - can't do it. I'm sorry."

She smiles again, but again, her smile says that she's happy with the answer I gave and nods, "I'm proud of you," and walks back into her apartment and closes the door.

This time I make my way to the car quite quickly, mainly because I'm fuming and majorly confused. I can see Nathan sitting in the car and scrolling on his phone, and when I get in the car and slam the door behind me, he hardly flinches.

"What was it now?" he asks, amused.

"You would know, wouldn't you? You've arranged all this right? You've told them to ask me this. You're to blame for this," my breaths are laboured, my words are coming out frantic. The music playing in the car is too distracting for my confused brain, so I quickly switch it off and bring my attention back to him.

"How did you even come to this conclusion?" he asks, leaning his elbow on my seat and turning completely to face me, giving me all his attention.

"Why else would you just randomly suggest delivery today," I start, this time a little calmly, as I will myself to slow down, "Of course you've done something."

"What did she ask you to do?" he asks, and I scrunch my face in disgust.

"She asked me to stamp on the pastries and smash them!" I exclaim, and even his eyes widen a little as if he did not expect this.

"Oh wow," he mutters, and I slit my eyes and glare at him.

"Alright alright," he starts, throwing his hands up in mock surrender, "it's partially my doing. I had Eli call them up and tell them to ask the weirdest and the most bizarre questions to the girl doing the deliveries. We told them it's for a prank, that you can't say no to anything for a day as a challenge."

He winks mischievously, "Typical college kids these days, you know?"

My mouth hangs open, and he laughs, "Come on. There are two more houses to get to. After that, we're done. Promise."

I open my mouth to oppose, but he's already driving away to the next destination.

And besides, I feel oddly happy with myself.

The next place is the same thing, just the main characters and the main question changed.

A grandpa, asking me to take his walking stick and break it or throw it as far as I can.

And obviously, I say no. There's no way I would actually put other people in trouble like that. That would be the most disrespectful thing.

So, when we pull up to the next house, I don't even notice that something is familiar with it. Only when Nathan turns off the car engine and unbuckles himself do I look outside my window and realise where we are.

We're at Nathan's house.

"Come on, last delivery. I promise," he says, getting out of the car and being a gentleman and opening my door. For some odd reason, I feel nervous being here, as it is also the first time I'm meeting his parents as his girlfriend and not someone from the Bakery who crashed his mom's birthday party.

Who knew that day that I would end up loving the same man I despised that night.

With shaking hands, I ring the doorbell, and a few seconds later, I find Mrs Wright standing there with the biggest smile on her face.

"A box of the chocolatiest cupcakes in town for the sweetest person?" I say with an equally big smile on my face.

She laughs and nods, "That would be for me, unarguably the sweetest person of course!"

"Of course," Nathan mumbles sarcastically under his breath, and Debbie smacks her younger son on his head.

"Come on in both of you!" she says enthusiastically, and Nathan beside me coughs, glaring at his mother.

Dawn of realisation sets in her at the same time fear takes over my body, "Right! Almost forgot!"

Oh no.

I whip my head towards Nathan, and the asshole doesn't even meet my eyes, simply staring ahead.

I look back at Mrs Wright and find her staring at me with a very serious expression, "Would you do me a favour?"

"Depends on what you ask," I joke and from the corner of my eye, I see Nathan's almost proud smile.

"Break up with Nathan."

"Excuse me?" we both say simultaneously, clearly not expecting this.

"You heard me. I want you to do that. You would respect your elder's decision, wouldn't you?"

I look at Nathan with shock, his face mirroring my expressions, and something finally clicks in me. I look back at Mrs Wright and smile at her, unable to hold back unarguably the biggest smile of my life as I feel something snap into place within me.

You know the feeling when you finally find the last piece of the puzzle, and you finish the damn thing? The feeling when you find your favourite pen after years and years of searching for it? The feeling when your favourite piece of clothing, which you thought you had lost, suddenly reappears from nowhere?

Ya, take that and multiply it with infinity.

"Ma'am, I respect you, I respect your decision. I respect your age and I respect your choice. But being with Nathan is my choice and being with me is your son's choice. And I want to be with him."

I pause and take a deep breath, "So, no. There's no way I would ever do that."

"And why's that?" she says with child-like enthusiasm as if she had been dreaming of this day for ages.

And this time, without anything holding me back, without even looking at him, Nathan Wright, the stupid man who's currently changing my life by just being it, who annoys me to death with his insane ideas, who currently owns my heart, I say the thing I've been dying to say, "Because I'm in love with your son."

⋈ ⋈ ⋈

Guess who just updated at 1:10 in the morning just because she couldn't wait till morning? THIS ONE DID. Hiiiii!!! I missed everyoneeeee!! This has been an unexpected break but to be honest, we all saw it coming, didn't we?  I wasn't in my best shape of mind, mentally (for monthsss) and physically (side note: I had covid :))),  so I wasn't really happy with whatever I was writing and how the story was going. But now, I finally feel like I'm back in the grove, this is the longest chapter I've written in a while and I'm very very happy. It's all about how you rise from the ground, right?

Anywayyy, QUESTION!!!!

Q. Do you have a friend who you basically treat as your therapist? If yes, tag them, message them, say a huge huge thank you to them because they deserve the world. If no, comment and I'll try my best to be there for you whenever you need :)

Also, we basically went up 10k since the month of no updates. We're at the edge of 60k and I'm so so so so so so happy right now!! Also, the official Romance page has TOON in their Featured List, so even more reason to celebrate!! I'm so glad y'all are finding this story likeable!! I'm so so so grateful and I love you all. PLUS, TOON is coming to an end soon *cue the tears*, so tell me if you'll want any particular scenes you want me to write as I can add them as Bonus chapters in the end! 

Anyway, more than usually long author's note lmao. I'll go now. I really hope y'all like this chapter as much as I do :))

Love,

Anya <3