Serene’s POV

I felt Zeph’s presence behind me, he had stepped closer to see the marble I was holding.

"Are you now?" He whispered in my ear and I felt a chill run through my whole body. My legs were shaking. I closed my hand and stepped away from him.

"It’s your turn to take the shot." I pointed towards the board, dodging his question. His eyes lingered on me for a few more seconds, the side of his lips twitching to form a meaningful smile.

He took the dart and aimed for the black one. Of course, he chose black. The dart soared through the air and the bull’s eye. The compartment under the button opened revealing a piece of paper. Zilver took it out, unfolded and read: "Kiss your boyfriend/girlfriend." He then gave us a meaningful look. I peeked at Zeph and this time his ears were growing crimson.

Ralph pushed him from behind so he staggered toward me: "Do it already, man. Why do you always have to feel so shy about it? I kiss Alvene all the time."

Our eyes met, and I knew he wasn’t very fond of sharing private moments in front of everyone. Still, he stepped forward and placed his hands on my bare back, the touch electrified me and I couldn’t help but shudder. He pulled me closer so that our lips were inches apart.

"We don’t have to do this if you are not comfortable." He whispered to me, his gaze boring into mine.

"No, let’s do it." He simply peered at my lips before lightly kissing them. He was afraid to ruin my makeup. But the sensation he caused me was overwhelming and I didn’t want him to stop or pull away. The touch of his hands on my back was tantalizing and I could tell he didn’t want to let go of me, either.

But, he pulled back after some time, his lips had been painted with my lipstick. I couldn’t help but giggle and he gave me a confused look. I reached out with my thumb and removed the smudge from his lips. "Ohh! Thanks." He said wiping his lips.

"Yahhh, finally," Ralph shouted from behind. "Now do it more often." I lowered my eyes feeling embarrassed while Zeph glared at him. Zilver just laughed at our awkwardness but we were saved by the arrival of Alvene and Ziva.

They both looked dazzling in their gowns.

Zilver and Ralph instantly forgot about us as their entire focus shifted to their respective girlfriends. Zeph and I glanced at each other and chuckled, seeing their smitten looks.

"What you wanna do next?" Zeph asked, his hand still on my back.

"Dance," I pointed to the dance floor.

"I am terrible at dancing." He confessed with a jaded expression.

"I don’t mind, just sway with me on the music."

"I can’t, I have never danced in my life." My face fell at his words and he noticed my smile disappear.

"I am sorry, I am such a disappointment." He replied in a pained tone, seeing I was unhappy.

"Ohh! No no, Zeph. That’s not true at all. I was just sad that you never got an opportunity to dance with someone. Dancing is good, it frees your mind. It makes you more open." I touched his face and continued:

"We can do something else, we don’t have to dance." I smiled reassuringly at him.

"I know what I can do for you. Stay here." He then went and whispered something to Ralph and Zilver and they both nodded. He then advanced toward the dance area and began talking to the lead singer of the band.

"Serene, come." Ralph offered me his hand.

"Where?" I looked at him, clearly confused.

"You will see." I gave him my hand and he lead me to the center of the dance floor. The lanterns began to dim and the atmosphere instantly became more romantic.

Zilver, Ziva and Alvene were talking to other dancing couples and soon everyone formed a circle around me. Ralph joined them as well, leaving me in the center, utterly perplexed.

Then I heard Zeph’s voice behind me as he said: "This song is for MY girl Serene. I can’t dance but can surely sing for her. Serene, I hope you like it." And then he smiled that gorgeous smile of his, filling my entirety with warmth, and I couldn’t help but smile back.

"Yahhh!!"

"Go Zeph!!!"

"How romantic!!!"

I heard people praising him all around me. He began to strum on the guitar a band member had lent him and began to enchant the Enchantment Hall with his melodious voice.

I could feel the heat rising to my face as he maintained eye contact with me and sang, only for me. My heart was pounding in my chest and I felt like I had been placed in a trance by his voice. Everyone around me started to clap and dance, enjoying the beautiful moment.

I felt overly emotional and touched by his gesture. A few months ago he wouldn’t even look at me and now here he was singing to his heart’s content, just to make me happy.

As he ended the song I rushed towards him. I could hear everyone clapping and cheering loudly behind me. The hall erupted in jubilation due to his touching gesture. He was handing the guitar back when I reached him.

I didn’t wait for even a second and wrapped my arms around him to give him a tight hug. All my emotions came tumbling down and I couldn’t hold back the tears of joy.

In that instant, I didn’t care about the people around me. All that mattered to me was him and his touching gesture.

"Zeph, I love you," I whispered in his ear and I could feel his grasp tightening around my waist as I uttered these words. I closed my eyes and let myself feel all the warmth he had to provide.

"I love you too." He whispered back, kissing my shoulder. My whole frame trembled at his words. They were mere words but they held such profound meaning. It was like we were now bound to each other with some invisible threads. To always belong to each other. I don’t know how long we stood there, I didn’t want to let him go, ever.

"Group hug," I heard Ralph and he embraced us both in his hug earning laughter from all around.

"Seems like our plan worked." Alvene winked at Zilver and Ziva as we finally let go of each other.

"What plan?" I asked them curiously. Zeph was holding onto my hand.

"Nothing much just little pushes both of you needed to overcome your shyness with each other," Zilver informed us pointing to the dart game.

"You rigged it, didn’t you?" I accused him with a smile.

"Considering what colour you both were gonna choose, it wasn’t even difficult." He laughed and I couldn’t help but follow his pursuit.

"Zeph that was a beautiful song. We didn’t know you had such a heart-touching voice." Ziva complimented him.

"Thank you, I like to sing. Used to do it a lot back at home. I sang for Serene when she came to visit me a few days ago. So I knew she will love it." He squeezed my hand, letting me know it was all for me.

"Well, from next time onwards we are not going to hire a band. We have Zeph." Ziva announced and everyone nodded in approval.

"Let’s go grab something to eat," Ralph said and we made our way to food stalls.

Everyone looked at us as we left the dance floor. Some were in awe, others in envy. I saw Layla, staring at us with her mouth open and I couldn’t help but smile at her. A few approached Zeph and told him how beautifully he sang. I could see a few girls throwing me jealous looks. I couldn’t help but feel content at that. He was mine, and that made me happy.

Ralph and Alvene brought us food and drinks. We began to munch on it. Ralph told us occasional jokes to keep the conversation going. Mikasim and Tanzil joined us as well.

"Zeph you sang so beautifully, Serene you look very pretty today." Tanzil praised us both. 𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞

"Thank you, you look amazing as well in this black gown," I replied with a smile.

"Really? Tell this to Mikasim. He said I should have chosen another colour." She scowled at him.

"In my defense, all I said was that colorful dresses look better on you. They enhance your beauty." He wrapped his big arms around her making her smile.

"Ok, you are too cute to stay angry at. I believe you." They then took their leave and made their way to the dance floor. I saw Xin Li and Sibine dancing with each other, both seemed happy and

"Seems like Sibine was finally able to charm Xin Li, glad they are enjoying each other’s company." Everyone turned around to see them dancing.

"You have become a matchmaker, Serene. Hit me up with someone as well." And my blood froze at these words as I turned around to see the person who had spoken.