The Lonely King | Ongoing [New Edition]

28 | Rumour Has It

"You know, it's a funny thing you know,

We'll tell 'em if you like,

We'll tell 'em all tonight.

They'll never listen,

Because their minds are made up,

And 'course it's all okay to carry on that way."

❁❁❁

"ALEXANDRA," I HEARD a familiar voice say. Someone shook my shoulder lightly, and I felt something brush against my cheek. "Wake up."

"Wake up," the voice said again, and before I could go back to sleep, I was rudely jolted awake. Grunting, I slowly opened my eyes only to see an amused expression plastered across Robin's face.

"Ugh," I moaned, rubbing my dry eyes and shooting Robin a frown.

"Don't look at me like that," Robin said, before he began to stretch his arm and roll his shoulder. "If anything, I should be the grumpy one. I can't feel my arm anymore."

Blinking, I shot him a sheepish look and muttered a quick apology. I forgot that I had used him as a convenient pillow during our journey back to the Academy. I took a peek out of the window, recognising the buildings that whizzed past us. We were arriving back to school soon. Everyone in the bus seemed to either be engrossed with something on their phones or dozing off.

"Why did you wake me?" I asked, letting out a small yawn. Robin reached into his duffel bag and retrieved a water bottle. He unscrewed the bottle cap and handed the bottle to me, which I gratefully accepted.

"Taking precautions," Robin muttered as I took a swig from the bottle. "Who knows how long it would've taken to wake you up."

"You're exaggerating," I replied, narrowing my eyes at him.

"Maybe so," he said, trying to stretch his long legs in the small space between the seats. "But I wasn't sure if you'd like the others to see you sleeping on my shoulder. You know they'll start to talk."

"Are you still upset about that? I told you I'm not embarrassed to be with you," I said, sighing. Robin offered me a small smile, reaching out to link his fingers through mine.

"I know," he explained. "But I figured you'll take time to adjust."

I blinked, staring up into his big blue eyes that twinkled as he smiled, and I suddenly had the overwhelming urge to hold him close to me and never let go. But instead, I returned his smile and tightened my fingers around his. And when he least expected it, I gave him a quick peck on the cheek. Taken by surprise, Robin froze, eyes wide as I waited for him to say something.

Slowly, he turned to look at me, face frozen in surprise. A small bubble of laughter escaped from my lips at the sight of his stupefied expression.

"What?" I couldn't help but ask, suddenly feeling bashful and hiding my face behind my hands.

"I was not expecting that," Robin murmured, blinking. Then, he broke out into a rare grin, and that was how he remained until the bus finally came to a stop outside the Academy.

The minute the bus came to a stop outside of the main entrance of the Academy, chaos erupted as students rushed to get off the vehicle. Unlike the rest of our classmates, Robin and I stayed in our seats and patiently waited until everyone got off the bus in an attempt to avoid getting stampeded.