Chapter 286: Reply.

[Edward POV]

Thursday. Late at night. Today, I stayed at my previous house as my seaside villa was crowded with paparazzis and fanatical fans trying to get the truth. 

There were a few paparazzis in the neighborhood when I came by, however, I snuck into my own house from the backyard and jumped to the window, so they didn't notice that I was there.

My dad and Frankie stayed behind at the seaside villa with the rest of my family members to give the paparazzis the illusion that I was there. No less than an hour after I got here, the paparazzis in the neighborhood all left to stake out at my sea side villa instead.

"Damn, this reminds me of the 'Bieber Fever'." I muttered as I closed the curtains to my room before opening my book. Fans were following me everywhere I went– especially my tween fans. This made me wonder, didn't they have school? Were their parents enabling their behavior by letting them behave like this?

Exhaustion was prominent on my face as I stopped using my rest skill to sleep, which meant, I only got an hour or two hours worth of sleep daily. 

Last night, it was longer, and it made me start dreaming again– something that I hadn't really done since I started coming to the world. I dreamt of a scene where I saw my aunt bleeding out in my arm. Their resistance in Cuba had borned no results, and they were suppressed by the government's army.

As I recalled the dream, I furrowed my eyebrows and rubbed my forehead in concern. Suddenly, I heard a knock coming from the bedroom window. I jumped out of the chair and stealthily went to peek behind the curtains. There, I saw Haley waving at me while standing on a ladder.

Breathing a sigh of relief, I opened the door and asked whisperingly, "Why did you come here– Better yet, how did you know I'm here?"

As I grabbed her hand and pulled her into the room, she replied with a struggle, "Amy told—- ME!" She breathed heavily as she was tired from the run to get here. "She said there's no food in your house, so I want to stop by–"

When Haley said that, she realized that she had forgotten something. I chuckled and said, "So, you have time to do your hair and put on some makeup, but you forget to grab the food?"

"Shut up, I'll just go home and grab it again." Haley rolled her eyes, but as she wanted to climb the door back down, I saw a paparazzi coming out of his car with his camera in his hand, so I pushed her head down and crouched on the ground.

"Get down." I told the confused Haley as I slowly closed the window and curtains while not making a sound.

"You seem like a criminal." Haley commented as we both were crouching on the floor. I chuckled and said, "I am one. It's a crime to be this handsome."

Haley giggled before she gasped as she noticed my hands, "You have a tattoo!"

"Temporary tattoos." I replied before I said, "Let's go downstairs. It's not ideal to stay in my bedroom for a long time."

Haley became confused again and she asked as I duck-walk away, "Why is it not ideal?"

I turned to her and said mischievously, "Oh, I'm a little hungry, and also pent up. One way or another, I'm going to eat something, so we need to make sure it's food."

She smacked my back as she heard it, her cheek blushed a little. "Pervert! I should've never come!"

"It's too late for regret now."

After we got out of the room, we walked normally and went to the kitchen. I searched the fridge, and Haley searched the cabinets. As my dad and I basically didn't live here anymore, there was nothing inside the fridge.

"Hey! I found some instant noodles." Haley whispered and gleamed in excitement as she found the ramyeon pack I had bought before. There were only 2 packets left inside the package, however, I didn't have anything else to put inside of it. No eggs, nothing.

"Are you inviting me to eat 'Ramyeon' together Haley? Didn't know you're so forward." I said insinuatingly as I reached out for the ramyeon in her hand.

Confused, Haley asked, "Is there another meaning for eating noodles together?"

I took out a bronze coloured pot– the stainless steel pot Koreans used to cook their noodles in, and a portable butane stove so I cooked it on the table. As I did that, I replied to her, "Yeah. They usually use subtle wording, and in this case, inviting someone to eat Ramyeon together means to have sex."

Haley looked at me disdainfully and said, "You're messing with me."

"Google it then." I said with a cheeky smile before setting up the pot on the table. Pouring enough water for 2 packets of noodles, I waited for the water to heat up before placing the noodles in. 

Haley exclaimed as she read the Google result, "Damn it. Butttt–"

I interjected, "You said butt."

"Not that butt. The but. Wait, that sounds the same. B.U.T." She spelled it out for me and continued her initial topic sentence, "We're living in the West. So eating noodles are…eating noodles."

"You sound disappointed." I commented. She bared her teeth at me playfully, "I wasn't!"

Ripping out the seasoning packet with my teeth, I poured them inside next. After a short minute, the noodles were finally ready. Haley and I sat in front of each other as she wanted to watch me eat, however, I told her, "Grab a spoon. Join me. It feels a bit lonely eating all alone."

"Will this make my face puffy tomorrow? Cause the last time I ate instant noodles at night, my face got very puffy." Haley said worriedly. I chuckled and said, "Yes, definitely. But do it anyway? For me?"

"Ugh. Fine." She groaned before smiling as she picked up a utensil. She slurped the noodles and exclaimed in awe. "Uhm, this is great. It's so worth it getting my face puffy tomorrow. Um, Ed, tomorrow is when you're going to release the song reply right?"

"Yes." I nodded casually. "Luckily we didn't date. Otherwise, you'll be crazy jealous." I teased.

Haley rolled her eyes and said, "I'm not going to get jealous if something like that happens."

"You mean, if we date, and I wrote a highly personal, affectionate, loving song to my ex-girlfriend, you will be cool with it?"

Haley swallowed the food in her mouth before she replied, "Strike my previous statement. I'll be hella mad."

I nodded in understanding, and when we saw each other's eyes, we burst out laughing. I started eating again, and Haley talked while I did, "So, you made sure to come to Luke's birthday party, and you're going to do the same thing to mine right? Now that we're talking about Luke's birthday party, remember that you kissed me there? What does that mean?"

Her questions made me choke on my noodles for a bit before I replied, "Um…I will definitely come to your sweet 16. I do remember kissing you in front of your mother. It's to mess with Claire…mostly."

"I see." Haley nodded in understanding, her eyes showed that she was deep in thoughts.

I propped my head with the back of my hand while it was still holding the chopsticks and leaned forward, "Did the answer make you dissatisfied? Perhaps, are you waiting for a different answer?"

"I'm still thinking about whether or not to be mad at you for using me." Haley said while glaring at me. Taken aback, I tried to appease her, "Would it help in your decision if I say that I wouldn't have done it with anyone else in that party– I mean, the prank?"

She mused the question for a few seconds before she said, "Okay, you're forgiven."

"Yes!" I pumped my fist slightly, which made her giggle. 

We talked a lot while we ate. She told me all about her life at school, and she asked me about my family. I told her that my grandmother was pissed at me, even standing behind me as I wrote the reply song to make sure that the lyrics weren't suggestive in any ways.

"I think I'll go home now. My parents don't know that I snuck out." Haley said before she peeked behind the living room curtain while I was washing the pot. "But the guy is still here though."

The lone paparazzi was still lurking in front of my house, which prevented Haley from returning. "I wanted to walk you back, but I guess you had to stay here longer." I said as I dried my hand with a towel.

"I guess I have too. There's no other choice." Haley claimed with a shrug. We actually could distract the guy for a few minutes to let her leave, but none of us wanted to voice out this option.

"I guess you don't." I said with a shrug too. We walked to my bedroom where she laid in my bed and I continued studying for my SATs. Haley kept her eyes on me, laying down sideways and propping her head up while I was focusing on the book, but her intense stare made me lose my focus.

"What?" I turned to her with a smile. She giggled and said, "I've never seen you study before. Also, do you really need to cram at the last minute? I thought you're a genius."

I closed my book and showed her the title, "It's Literature. Math, Science, and any other subjects, I have no problems with, but Literature makes me quite nervous."

"You should sleep. You look really exhausted. At first I thought it was makeup, but you're not wearing any right now aren't you?" She said with an affectionate tone. "Come lay down here." She patted the pillow next to hers. 

"I prefer this natural exhausted face. But since you invited me, I don't want to be rude."

We cuddled for a bit, and I wrapped my hand around her, pulling her close. Before long, exhaustion swept over me and I fell asleep. Her, soon after.

…

[General POV]

Friday arrived, and Taylor woke up at as early as 4 am because she didn't want to miss out on the song release. "What time will he upload it? Damn it! I should at least know that– He should've told me that."

Selena groaned and whined as her sleep was disturbed by the lights Taylor turned on and her angry rambling. With her eyes still closed, Selena replied with exhaustion, "You didn't tell him anything. Why should he do that for you?"

"You should go back to sleep!" Taylor scolded Selena. It was a long and excruciating morning for Taylor. She had called Pepper more than 10 times before 7 am, which made the old man curse every time he was woken up by the ringtone.

Edward drove his car to the school, where the students were surprised to see him. He greeted Jacob with a fist bump, and Enid bumped her head on Edward's back as she ran to hug him. Enid wanted to wish him luck before the exam, so she made her sister drive her back to middle school even though she had already arrived at her destination.

Before a crowd could form, Principal Brown quickly led Edward to the SAT exam hall where he would've to stay there for 5-6 hours to finish the exam. He also couldn't bring his phone with him into the exam hall, so he would be disconnected from the outside world. 

A crowd of paparazzis quickly formed outside of the school gate when the news that Edward would take the SATs were shared on social media. Finally after a week, the paparazzi have a perfect opportunity to ask Edward some questions. 

Edward sat inside the classroom together with the seniors in the same school. As the exam paper was placed on top of his desk, his music video was uploaded into Entertain's website and also Youtube EntertainVevo Channel.

"Start." Mrs Henderson, the district representative, started the exam at 8 am. As Edward flipped through the exam questions, his song's views climbed up exponentially on the entertainment websites.

On the Entertain website, there was a live chat feature for the premiere of the music video. Fans who waited for the song release instantly jumped on the chat feature and showered Edward with their support there.

The song and the music video carried a melancholic and dark undertone. It started with a few piano notes, and a short opening of Edward walking in a church.

[Daylight– David Kushner]

Using a baritone voice, Edward's singing made the fans have goosebumps when his voice hit their ears.

"♫♪ Telling myself I won't go there… Oh, but I know that I won't care… Tryna wash away all the blood I've spilt♫♪"

Taylor listened to the song intently while her eyes were fixated on her laptop screen. Her heart beats quicker as she becomes anxious from the first verse, fearing that Edward would smear her in his song. 

Selena quickly jumped from the bed and peeked at Taylor's screen as she woke up from her sleep.

"♫♪This lust is a burden that we both share…Two sinners can't atone from a lone prayer…Souls tied, intertwined by pride and guilt♫♪"

Selena was flabbergasted and smacked Taylor's shoulder. "Oh my god!" She covered her mouth and stared at Taylor in disbelief. The diehard fans also had similar reactions as Selena. Taylor's lips curled upwards, but she quickly calmed herself down.

Edward's crooning at the pre-chorus made a lot of his teenage girls fans become dazed. With his black hair, jacket and necklace, he stood beside a log cutting station and sang. 

"♫♪(Ooh) There's darkness in the distance… From the way that I've been livin'... (Ooh) But I know I can't resist it~~ (OH)♫♪"

As the song entered the chorus, the Tayward shippers squealed in excitement, with several people, numbering in the double digit, fainted because of it.

"♫♪ Oh, I love it and I hate it at the same time! You and I drink the poison from the same vine! Oh, I love it and I hate it at the same time! Hidin' all of our sins from the daylight!♫♪"

"♫♪ From the daylight, runnin' from thе daylight! From the daylight, runnin' from the daylight! Oh, I love it and I hatе it at the same time~!♫♪"

Pepper became exasperated when he heard it, "He's gone crazy! He's really gone crazy this time! He basically had admitted to the world that THEY HAD S–"

The fact that Edward used the same wording of love and hate in his chorus allowed the fans to make the connection from Taylor's Hate U Love U song. Taylor found herself fixated on one of the lyrics, so she turned to Selena, "What do you think he means by 'drink poison from the same vine'."

Selena was confused, "Isn't that obvious?"

The song continued with Edward finding himself being dragged by people and stoned in the music video. 

"♫♪ Tellin' myself it's the last time! Can you spare any mercy that you might find…

If I'm down on my knees again?♫♪"

"♫♪Deep down, way down, Lord, I try! Try to follow your light, but it's nighttime! Please don't leave me in the end! ♫♪"

Edward's sincere plea made the line resonated with a lot of people living in situations where they couldn't find their way out. A depressed teenager who shuts herself inside her room, began to cry as she watched the video. Not only that, divorcees, parents whose children were sick, all of those people in the same spot related greatly to the song. 

"♫♪ (Ooh) There's darkness in the distance… I'm beggin' for forgiveness… (Ooh) But I know I might resist it, oh♫♪"

In the music video, Edward consciously held hands with a fiery man, knowing that he would also be caught on fire. 

Haley listened to the song and she remembered something from last night. When Edward and her were cuddling on the bed, she asked him an honest question.

"Ed, you know that I'll do anything for you. But, why haven't you asked me to? We could just 'do it'. No strings attached."

From their flirting that night, and the fact that he's pent up, Haley was curious as to why he never actually crossed the line with her. 

Edward hugged her close and said while closing his eyes, "I don't want you to just be a placeholder. I want to date you, properly. Even if it'll take me 2 years to finally do it."

"♫♪Oh, I love it and I hate it at the same time…You and I drink the poison from the same vine♫♪

"♫♪Oh, I love it and I hate it at the same time, Hidin' all of our sins from the daylight♫♪"

Haley giggled and said, "Too bad. I'm the last one in my class to lose my virginity. I kinda want to do it before my 16th birthday so as to not be lame."

Edward chuckled and said, "I mean, we can do that–"

"Don't go back on your words so easily!" Haley punched him in the chest. 

"♫♪From the daylight, runnin' from the daylight… From the daylight, runnin' from the daylight…Oh, I love it and I hate it at the same time♫♪"

Back to the present, the song quickly became popular an hour after it was released. It climbed the Billboards top 100 songs, and it was also being released on the radios.

"♫♪Oh, I love it and I hate it at the same time!♫♪"

"♫♪You and I drink the poison from the same vine♫♪"

Taylor listened to the song and said, "So basically, he's saying that he still wants me, but he won't let himself. Right?"

Selena was still confused by the lyrics and said, "I think your delusional disorder needs professional help."

"♫♪Oh, I love it and I hate it at the same time, Hidin' all of our sins from the daylight♫♪"

"♫♪From the daylight, runnin' from the daylight, From the daylight, runnin' from the daylight♫♪"

"♫♪Oh, I love it and I hate it at the same time♫♪"

The fans commented heavily on the live chat, and within three minutes of the song, more than 30,000 comments were posted. A large crowd, numbering in the hundreds and the numbers of people kept increasing at the school's gate as they waited to catch a sight of Edward.

It became so large that police had to be involved to barricade the school and take control of the situation.

Inside the exam hall, Edward found the SAT test to be easier than he thought. The first section, which was the critical reading, comprises multiple-choice questions related to reading comprehension. The time allocated for that was 75 minutes.

Next was the mathematics section,it includes multiple-choice and grid-in questions on various math topics. Edward took 10 minutes to finish answering the questions, then he got bored because he couldn't submit his papers early.

Mrs Henderson stood beside Edward, peeking at his exam papers. Even though he wasn't cheating, her presence made him anxious. Suddenly Mrs Henderson announced to the class, "Please read your exam questions properly."

"Hmm?" Edward was confused and he double checked his papers, then, he triple checked it, but he couldn't find anything wrong. When he looked at Mrs Henderson, he noticed a slight smirk on her face as she was watching him.

"Damn it. I was tricked!" Edward grumbled in annoyance.