MY MYSTERIOUS LOVE RIVAL.

Right there in my dorm room, Dave and I sat on my bed reading the articles and blogs about the Enigmatic family on the net. Though we couldn’t find much, the few we did find had nothing to say about Rowen. Guess Mr. Handsome Rival is an offline person, huh?

But belonging to a rich and powerful family like his, how come there isn’t a single photo of him? Not to mention his sinful looks—the paparazzi and fangirls on Gliktok should have gotten him by now. How did he manage to stay out of the public eye all this time? Didn’t he go to college? And he’s some kind of CEO. Yes! That’s true. His company should have something on him.

Dave watched me as I stood up with haste and went straight for the grey jacket I had dumped on the floor when I walked in earlier. Reaching into the pocket of the fading jacket, I brought out the business card. This is it. I should have searched it up since.

“Here, Dave, this is his card.” I handed it to the gawking Dave, who collected it and suddenly froze up.

“Where did you get this?” he asked. His countenance had changed for a minute there.

“What do you mean?” I stepped closer to him to get a good look at the card and see what he was dumbfounded about.

“He gave it to me himself.” This is the second time I am saying this today. Why does everyone think I stole it or picked it up from the floor?

He looked at me with disbelief and scoffed. “What the fuck do you mean he gave it to you himself? Bro, this is the CEO of NNF.”

“What’s NNF?”

“Noctis Nero Films. An Italy-based film production company.”

“Huh!?” I snatched the card from him to confirm what he was saying. There it was, boldly written: Rowen Regnald, CEO of Noctis Nero Films.

“What?! He’s Italian?!” I snapped at Dave.

“But I met him on campus last week Friday,” I explained.

“Seriously?! What did he say to you? Did he try to scout you?!” He grabbed my shoulders in excitement.

“No, that’s not what happened.” I looked down and scratched my neck, wondering if I should tell him how we really met. I can’t have Dave finding out what transpired between us.

I raised my head to see him staring at me eagerly, like a puppy waiting for treats. I sighed and brushed his hands off my shoulders, then went to sit on the bed. As expected, he followed me and sat beside me.

I’ve known Dave since my high school days, although he went to a different one. He was first friends with Travis, and I saw him around the neighborhood a lot, so naturally we became friends—even though we weren’t close. Then we ended up as roommates in college. He wasn’t going to let me off if I refused to tell him. What if he mouthed off to Travis later on?

I cleared my throat and looked him in the eyes.

“Listen to what I’m about to tell you. And please don’t tell anybody, okay?”

“Huh, is it some kind of secret?”

“Yes, so don’t go telling anybody. Not even Travis.”

“Wait, if you aren’t gonna tell Travis, why me?” He eyed me suspiciously.

“Seriously, man.” I sighed and gave him that is that how you’re gonna be look.

He laughed and patted my back. “Sorry, bud. Okay. I promise my lips are sealed. You can confide in me.” He patted his chest.

“Good.” I started my narrative of the whole escapade I had gone through since the past week—from how Sonya cheated on me to the encounter with Mr. Rival this morning. I only omitted the sexual assault part; it felt weird telling him that.

When I was done, he was laughing really hard.

“Wait, wait, wait,” he said in between bouts of laughter. “Are you writing a BL Rom-Com? What’s with the compensation stuff?” he asked with an amused look on his face.

What the hell.

Does this sound funny to him? When he noticed I wasn’t smiling, he stopped laughing and apologized.

“I get you, but shouldn’t you talk with Sonya? I think talking to her would make this much easier.”

“You’re right. Honestly, I wanted to, but when I saw her the next day I couldn’t. You know, what if she tries to end things with me, wanting to be with that guy?”

The truth is, this isn’t the first time Sonya was cheating on me.

Back when we were in sophomore year, rumors were going around about the latest couple on campus, which happened to be Sonya and a really popular guy from her department. Back then, I had refused to believe it, since I never saw them together. Even Travis noticed but said nothing to me. He even tried preventing people from talking about it around me. I also pretended not to know, and like that, everything passed away.

We didn’t break up. We lasted more years till now. Maybe if I had talked about it then, she would have broken up with me. I can’t bear to lose her, so it’s better to just ignore it, and everything will be fine later on.

“I see. So that’s why you’re trying to separate them—so she wouldn’t break up with you?” Dave asked. He looked like he wanted to say more, but he just shrugged and said, “I mean, if I were her, I would definitely choose him over you. He’s a big catch, even for Sonya.”

I nodded my head in agreement, even though it was hurting. It was the truth. As I am, I’m not even worthy of being called a love rival.

“It’s okay. Everything is going to be fine. Just be careful—don’t get too carried away, okay?” He encouraged me.

“Also, if you ever meet up with Mr. Regnald, don’t forget to mention me.” He got up to leave.

“I gotta go now. Oh! Tag along, I promised you dinner, right?” he remembered as he got to the doorstep.

“Yeah! Cherry isn’t going to be mad, right?”

He shook his head as if to say no.

“I already texted her. She’s fine with it.”

My face lit up—for once since I entered the room.

It was past six when we had dinner. I had followed him to a cozy, upscale bistro restaurant tucked away in a charming corner of the little town outside campus. There we ate a serving of their steakhouse steak each. It was a juicy ribeye with sides like truffle mashed potatoes, asparagus, and some beer.

We were almost done when a pair of couples walked in, and suddenly all eyes went their way and whispers filled the room.

I looked up to see the cause of attraction and ended up speechless.

My fork fell and clattered on the plate before me, startling Dave.