Claire Akahara thought that she knew herself well enough. But the events that transpired in the span of the last two weeks showed how wrong she actually was. And it all happened because of one single person.

Tian.

Claire sighed, leisurely pedaling the bike away from her grandparent's home towards the train station.

Well, or at least it was before. With the death of her granduncle, the older generation of Akahara family was all but gone.

She sighed again, this time for a different reason.

The next generation was busy fighting over inheritance rights. Oh, Heavens, how tired this whole ordeal made her feel. No wonder her mother rarely mentioned the extended family, if at all.

Claire cut off this train of thoughts, trying to think about something more pleasant instead. Like the fact that she will be able to chat with Tian once again...

A bit of heat came to her face because of this thought. Ugh. But she really looked forward to it nonetheless.

Tian.

In fact, she didn't even know his family name. Hell, she wasn't sure even if the name he told her was really his.

What she knew was that he was someone who came into her life all of a sudden and turned it upside down. Showing, in the process, how little she knew about herself.

Like how easy it was to make her completely forget about her three-year-long crush on Daniel.

Or how comfortable it was to relax in someone else's embrace.

Or how much she enjoyed kissing.

Claire shook her head vigorously, feeling embarrassed, and partially even ashamed, at the pictures that her imagination was showing her.

Bad thoughts, go away! It was all Tian's fault!

And his nefarious schemes...

Before the second round of even more shameful thoughts could take over her mind, Claire upped her pace, as if trying to run away. Well, at least if someone saw her, they would think it was because of exertion.

***

Claire chained the bike at a designated place—not that there was a real chance that someone would steal it, not in this godforsaken place, but the perspective of having to walk all the way back on her own two feet wasn't that inviting.

After double-checking the lock, she smiled at the sole other living soul in the general vicinity—the old station keeper—and went inside the waiting room of the train station.

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Claire walked inside and moved toward the seat that had already become 'the usual' to her over the last three days. As she did so, her phone started buzzing with new messages.

Yeah, this middle-of-nowhere train station was the only place where her phone had a bearable connection, so she took a ten-kilometer bike ride here once or twice a day.

Claire willfully ignored the fact that she also used those trips as an excuse to leave those greedy bastards, who, by some cosmic coincidence, were her relatives, and get some alone time.

She let out a long sigh, nested onto an old wooden bench, and tapped the Messenger app icon.

The first thing that she noticed was a lot of new messages in their friends' chat group. Claire took her time to scroll through some of them.

It seemed like Lyta was complaining, once again, about her love life. Something she did on the regular in the last two weeks, much to the general displeasure of the rest, except, maybe, Aisha, ever the gossip-lover.

Helen also dropped by to say hi, followed by a brief recollection of her vacation and promise to send pictures later, once she got them from the camera.

Her 'pretty friend', as aptly named by Tian, also sent her a few direct messages.

But all of that went out of Claire's head the moment she noticed a new message. From the man who occupied a large part of her everyday thoughts as of late.

Tian: [do you want my help?]

Claire slowly reread those few simple words as the wave of warmth washed away the stress and irritation she felt lately.

It was an odd feeling. Pretty much all of her friends asked her if she needed help. Offering their support in case she asked for it. But, well, Claire didn't think there was anything that necessitated something like that.

Tian was different—or so her, frankly speaking, biased perception told her—his only concern was if she wanted his help. And Claire knew that the whole situation would be swiftly dealt with if she said 'yes'.

Her imagination once again started going out of hand as she tried to imagine what his nefarious goal was this time around. Maybe he will ask her to repay it—Claire felt her breath bait momentarily—in a certain way…

She gulped, feeling parched from how hot it was in the waiting room, and went to a vending machine to buy herself something to drink. Yeah, even Claire herself knew it was just an excuse.

As she took a sip of a fizzy drink, her thoughts once again turned toward the guy who made her heart beat faster, and another bout of shame overcame her, who visited her in her dreams regularly lately.

Tian.

Oh, Tian. The guy was an enigma, a complete mystery to her. Every time Claire felt she was a step closer to understanding him, he showed her something new.

By now, she wasn't even sure what his undoubtedly evil scheme's end goal was.

Claire nuzzled her cheek against the still-cold soda can, in vain hopes that it would help with the flustered feeling she currently felt. Which was another weird influence Tian had on her.

Even in the heyday of her crush, simple thoughts about Daniel couldn't make her feel so...

She paused, trying to find the right word to describe that feeling.

…so conscious of her own response to the other party's actions.

Claire blamed Tian for it, of course. The way he constantly made her aware of the choices she had in every situation made her unable to simply deny her responsibility.

Yes, she wanted to spend more time with him, be it on a date or something else.

Yes, she wanted him to kiss her.

And, maybe, even something more...

Claire raised her eyes to the empty ceiling as her memory showed her another recent scene.

The way Tian looked at her in the car, both before and after the theater visit... Or that evil smirk on his overly handsome face, which made her feel butterflies inside... Or his touch melting her already waning reluctance.

All of that, coupled with teasing words that mercilessly cut off her path to blissful denial, made her feel stuff.

Claire shook her head, breaking the weird spell those thoughts put her under, and looked at her phone's screen. Did she want his help or not?

Me: [Yes, please.]

Whatever heinous deeds Tian would ask her to perform in repayment, her wish to actually see him again a bit earlier far outstripped her caution.

Damn it, girl.