Tight Strings: Rules Were Made To Be Broken (COMPLETED)

63: was he pretending?

"Riley!" I heard Adrien scream out as I shoved through the crowd as Umade my way out of the building, only to nearly crush into Roman who didn't seem to be into the party at all.

His eyes wracked me from the top of my head to my toes as if he was scanning even my inners.

"Hm." Was the first thing he said as he looked down at a half filled wine glass. "Well, looks like I was wrong about you." He said and I frowned deeply at him as he glanced back at me, now noticing his eyes were actually a dark blue. Eyes that I don't see often.

"About what?" I asked with a clenched jaw as I glared at him. He smirked a bit before sighing out and rotating his wine glass.

"About you being evil." He pointed out. "You were being evil at the beginning. But somehow, you managed to come out of this innocent, and Ash guilty beyond repair." He said and I furrowed my brows at him.

"What are you implying?" I asked to cut the story short. Knowing he had a lot to say but wasn't saying it.

"That you're alright." He said then chugged the wine down his throat before staring at me.

"Did you know?" I asked and he raised his brows at me. "Did you know he was cheating on me?"

"I did." He admitted and I clenched my jaw at him. "I told him not to. That he had to talk to you about it but he insisted. Saying it was to hurt you back for supposedly hurting him." He clicked his tongue then glanced at Adrien who was standing beside me. "All this is your fault Adrien. You made a vein snap in his head and he went ballistic." He said seriously and Adrien scoffed beside me.

Something about Roman was completely different.

Of course his hair was a bit longer and much more messier than it was and it looked badass on him, not to mention, but his... His whole self didn't seem like the one I remembered. There was a catch.

"You don't seem so angry about it though." I pointed it out, knowing that was the thing that had changed. Roman would have been punching Adrien to pulp right now.

"I can't say I am." He shrugged his shoulders as we reconnected out eyes. "Anyway. I have a party to attend to." He said before walking past me and into the house.

"Riley...." Adrien sighed and laced our fingers together. "I'm sorry you found out this way."

"Was that the secret you were hiding?" I asked as I glared into his eyes. "That he liked her?"

"Partially." He said flatly. "The secret was that Ash only began to like you just because Roman likes you."

Roman what now?

"He didn't want Roman to have you, so he started talking to you a lot more often and reduced talking to him. Roman of course figured it out but he couldn't do anything just because Ash sacrificed a lot for him." He said with a small shrug of his shoulders. "Turns out Ash actually ended up liking you."

"Roman likes me? As a friend right?" I asked and he chuckled as he cupped my cheeks.

"Roman's been with you almost your whole life. Sadly you didn't notice because he wasn't a talker. So I heard. He's like a childhood classmate that always thought you were beautiful." He pointed out and I glanced at the door Roman had just walked through. "So you're like his long time crush."

In an instant, I left Adrien and rushed back into the building in search for Roman.

I wanted to ask by myself.

He wouldn't have been so mean to me and liking me at the same time right?

"Roman!" I yelled when I saw him walking right into the backyard. He eventually caught my voice and stopped to glance around as I made my way towards the door. His eyes caught mine and he didn't seem the least surprised.

I swear if Adrien's spies were wrong....

"Do you like me?" I asked and he raised his brows as if in confusion.

"Me?" He asked and I nodded to which he glanced around for a bit. His dark blue eyes scanning the area around him. "Did Adrien tell you that?"

"How do you know?"

"Some losers kept following me at one point when Adrien suddenly came into view and that was what I told them." He said with a slight smile. "So why ask? You've decided to go to Ash's best friend now that you're done with him?" He asked and I rolled my eyes and turned to leave. "I do like you."

I paused and turned back towards him only to see the hard stone expression he had on.

Couldn't he smile?

"As a person?" I asked and he rolled his eyes ever so bored.

"Sure." He sighed out then glanced at the ground and ran a hand through his hair. "I really like you. Liked you since we were young. You just never noticed me so when you showed up at our school, I wanted to talk to you openly. Ash, however, seemed to spark an interest in you and later, he liked you so much. I didn't want to hurt him so I let him have you."

"What about you?" I asked and he chuckled with a smirk on his face.

"Don't mind me." He sighed out. "I'm used to things like this."

"So you have a girlfriend?" I asked out of curiosity.

"No." He frowned at me.

"I'm not surprised. You're really grumpy." I said and he rolled his eyes.

"Just because I like you doesn't give you an excuse to ask personal things." He deadpanned as he glared me down. "Don't think we're any closer."

"So how did you intend we would have spoken in the beginning if Ash never intervened?" I asked.

"I'm not a talker." He said flatly. "I wouldn't want you wasting your life away with a guy who hardly likes anything. So as you can see, I'm busy. Keep walking with Adrien and leave me alone." He said as he walked away to which I frowned to.

Was he pretending to like me?