Chasing Hearts

Twelve

I woke up alone in bed the next morning, with the sun barely up in the sky yet. I could hear someone moving around in the room quietly and saw Reign trying to set up a small table and chairs in the middle of the room.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

He jumped a little. "I was hoping to do this before you woke up. I don't have a dining table or anything, but this should work. I ordered breakfast, come eat."

He covered the table in eggs, bacon, toast and so many other options, and of course, coffee. I felt like I had been hit by a truck when I tried to sit up, so coffee was very much needed if I wanted to survive the day.

Thankfully it was another day of track and field and our grade was competing today, so there wouldn't be any classes for most of the day, I could just relax and watch everything with Xiuying in the stand rather than have to focus on anything.

I wondered if Reign got any sleep since he would have to compete, and it was probably uncomfortable sharing a bed with someone. Just the thought and I felt my face heat up when I remembered how I woke up in the middle of the night to him cuddling behind me.

I shook my head to clear my thoughts.

"Are you okay? Does your face still hurt?" Reign asked and rushed over to touch the side of my face.

"Oh, no, I-I'm okay." Even his touch was sending my heart into a frenzy.

What the hell was wrong with me? I wondered. I never acted like this around him before, why was I such a nervous wreck now? Just because we had shared a bed?

That thought shocked me back into reality. I never told my father where I went last night and never returned home.

I grabbed my phone and cursed when I realized it was dead.

"Your dad?" Reign asked and I nodded.

"I never told him where I went last night, I wonder if he even realized I never came home."

"I have a portable charger; we can charge it on the walk to school. I'm sure regardless, he would be a little less angry if he knew you at least still went," Reign said and offered the portable charger from a drawer nearby.

"Thanks, we should eat and then get going."

He nodded. "We have plenty of time, eat up."

~*~

As suspected, when I turned my phone on I had a hundred text messages and phone calls from my father, all of them demanding I come home and then asking where I was all night. I already had the plan to speak with Xiuying and ask if she could lie for me so I could say I stayed the night at her place instead of Reigns.

I just knew that was going to open up a large can of drama I didn't want to deal with. She would automatically assume something happened between us.

As soon as we got to school, I sought out Xiuying and walked with her to the stands for the first competition. Reign and the others were getting ready and would join us later.

"So, what did you want to talk about?" she asked me.

I looked around and made sure no one was listening before I told her what happened the night before and asked her to vouch for me. Of course, she completely ignored the favour I asked and jumped right on the fact that I stayed the night with Reign.

"I swear, nothing happened." I tried telling her, but like I assumed, she didn't believe me.

"There is no way he let you stay the night, and not a thing happened between you two."

I wasn't sure if the small peck on the cheek was much to discuss, but I refrained from telling her just because I didn't want to add fuel to the fire.

"That means you have to cheer extra hard for him today," she winked at me.

I just rolled my eyes and tried to pay attention to the sports competitions.

I had yet to see Yu Sheng and wondered what competitions he would be competing in, and also hoped it wasn't the same as Reign, or I would be torn between cheering for two different people.

The next competition was the 300m dash, and I had only seen Yu Sheng once during the 100m dash, which he won by a long shot and tons of girls ran up to offer him towels and bottles of water. It was something that was done for your crush or significant other, a sign that you care and are taking care of them.

"Look, there's Reign!" Maia said and tapped my shoulder.

I looked down at the field and there he was, stretching before he started.

Why the hell would he compete in the hardest competition today? He wasn't the athletic type, at least not that I could see, and he was always sleeping and slacking off during gym.

"Is he a good runner?" I asked.

Ying shrugged. "He never really showed interest in sports, but he has always been in good shape."

I watched with anticipation as he lined up with Yu Sheng, and they shared an intense gaze before the starting gun was shot and they took off. Yu Sheng shot to the front and was way beyond anyone seconds into the dash.

Reign for some reason held back a bit but was still a close second. He continued to hang back and I realized quickly that he was pacing himself, whereas Yu Sheng was exerting his energy right from the start, but he is someone who has a lot of stamina too.

They were on the last 100m dash of the race, and now Reign started to pick up and was closing in on Yu Sheng. I didn't even realize when I had started to cheer for him to beat Yu Sheng, that it didn't matter to me who he was against, I just wanted him to win.

In the end, it was a close finish, but Reign won by just a few inches.

"Yay, he did it!" Ying cheered next to me, then shoved a bottle and towel into my hands. "Here, go take this to him."

She pushed me away from the stands before I had the chance to say anything, and I walked down to the field so not everyone was staring at me. I waited on the sidelines as the race finished and Reign walked off the track.

But before I could approach him, a group of girls rushed up, all trying to offer him water and words of congratulations. There was no way he would notice me among them, so I remained on the side and waited for them to clear out.

I was shocked when the bottle was suddenly taken from me, and I looked up to see Reign with a sweaty smile on his face as he drank from it.

"Thanks for cheering me on," he said. He took the towel and dried his face, then draped it around his neck and hooked his arm around mine.

I cringed at how sweaty and gross he felt, trying to push him off me, but he kept a hard lock around my neck and chuckled in my ear. My heart raced at the sound of it, and I tried to hide my blush. I was so enveloped in Reign; that I hadn't noticed that Yu Sheng stood off to the side.