Adam stepped inside first while I stood still outside the door, nervously playing with the hem of my shirt. Spending two days with him in a single room, I could already feel my palms sweating up at that thought.

"Are you coming in or not?" he asked, crossing his arms in front of him. Nodding, I stepped inside and gave a sharp look to my surrounding. A bed large enough for two people, a dressing table, one small fridge, wooden shelf and a set of sofa. There was a door beside the dressing table, probably leading to the attached bathroom.

Sliding my hand into my bagpack, I took my first step towards the bed when the strap of the bag got caught in between my legs. Wobbling, I held myself up with the help of the wall while my bag fell down on the floor, all its contents spread around.

Adam let out a small gasp slash chuckle as his eyes fixated on the floor. I followed his gaze and watched a packet of condoms lying against my notebook. Burning red in embarrassment, I stooped down and hurriedly threw it back in the bag, all the while feeling Adam's amused stare at me.

When I finally met his eyes, I had to bite my lips to stop myself from saying something embarrassing. He was looking down at me smugly, probably judging me for keeping a condom in my bagpack. Sweat drops appeared on my forehead and I fanned myself, after walking past him to the bed.

Making a mental note of killing Sophia in her sleep, I flopped on the bed and rested my head against the headboard of the bed.

Hugging my arms around myself, I watched Adam as he sat down on the sofa. Rubbing his temple, he let out a sigh and then stretched his arms, the sight of his clenched muscles made me drool a little.

"You didn't bring any luggage?" I asked, averting my attention from his muscular forearms. He was probably not prepared for this quiz and I wondered if he will be able to answer any question.

"I'll buy something for tomorrow. There's a market down this road." he said and I nodded, pulling my notebook out of my bag.

Lost in the important points, I lifted my head when I felt his presence beside me. Sitting beside me, he said, "I don't have any book with me."

"Um.. You can study with me.. If you want?" I offered, keeping my facial expressions straight despite the fact that his presence was making my thoughts blurry.

"I guess." he said and scooted closer, until I felt his finger brush against mine, sending a shiver down my spine.

"Here, this is high yield." I said and started reading the crammed material aloud. I kept my eyes on my lap, not wanting to look into his eyes and lost myself once again.

"Give a read to this table." he leaned towards me, putting his finger on the table of genetic codes. I sucked a sharp breath when I felt his breath on the exposed skin of my shoulder. With flushed face, I kept reading the codes aloud, ignoring the rhythmic thumping of my heart.

Using my hair to hide my red face from him, I turned over the page and memorized the Krebs cycle once again.

After a while, it became harder for me to stay focused when his face was just few inches away from mine so I closed the book and after putting it aside, angled my face towards him.

"I. Um.... It's.. I.. ." I tried to form a sentence but my anxious insides stopped me from doing so.

"It's okay." he said, bringing his hand to my arm and patted briefly. "You'll be fine." He probably thought I was panicking because of the quiz. What he didn't know that it's his presence which was playing with the strings of my heart.

After everything he had done, after all the pain he had caused me, a part of me still desired to be with him, to feel his touch, to feel his lips against mine. I was ashamed of myself for wanting him, for ignoring my self respect for someone as detached as him.

"Hmm." I mumbled, jumping out of the bed and made my way towards the bathroom to take a long shower.

...

"The first round of this competition is The Buzzer Round in which total fifty questions will be displayed on the screen one by one. If you know the answer, press the buzzer. For each correct answer, there are two points and for each wrong one, two marks will be deducted from your total. The last question is for 10 points. From the sixteen teams, six teams with the highest points will be selected to play in the semi-finals." the ginger-haired man standing on the stage announced.

I took a deep breath and gulped few sips from the water bottle. My hands felt clammy because this was the first time I was participating in a quiz. When the sweat from my palms didn't go, I closed my eyes and started tapping on the desk in front of me anxiously.

After a moment, I felt a large hand grasp the hold of my small one, rubbing the thumb over my palm.

"What if we couldn't even pass the first round?" I asked him desparately, feeling the disappointment brewing inside me.

"So what? It's just a game." he said, comforting my mind a little.

The first round took fifteen minutes to start. The same man introduced the judges first and then asked the participants to prepare themselves for the Buzzer Round.

"OK, let's start with the easy one. What's the value of x and y in the given quadratic equation?"

With that, an equation appeared on the screen which was certainly not easy. Without wasting any time, I picked up the notebook in front of me and started solving the equation, as did everyone else except the person sitting beside me.

I was on the third step when the buzzer placed in front of us was pushed. "Value of x is 2a/7 and that of y is b/5." his voice rose and with that, I braced myself for our negative marking.

"It's correct. 2 points for Team Redwood." the man announced and I almost jumped in surprise.

"Next question. That's a tricky one I guess. What is the second lightest element of the periodic table with an atomic symbol that is also a US state postal code?" he announced and just like that, the whole periodic table automatically evaporated from my memory.

Surprisingly, our buzzer once again buzzed, obviously not by me.

"Aluminum. It's symbol AL is postal code for Alabama. The lightest however is Neon whose symbol is code for Nebraska." he said without stuttering and I just stared at him with awe while his face still stayed bored and expressionless.

"Correct once again."

One by one, questions appeared on the screen. Almost half were related to chemistry, biology and other sciences while the remaining half were from arts, languages, history and literature.

Adam answered twenty-four out of forty-nine questions while I answered four, collecting a total of twenty-eight for our team which was greater than any other team in the hall.

I knew he was intelligent but in reality, he was much more than that. A genius indeed. The only questions he couldn't answer were those related to arts or languages which I knew he sucked at.

The man on the stage started once again. "Here comes the final question. This one is the simplest question of all I've previously asked. I'm sure all of you must know the answer so this is just to check your ability to recall the information and answer the simplest things without making them complicated." he said and I let out a deep exhale.

"How many chromosomes are there in the cell of a monkey?" he said and I pressed the buzzer before he even said the key of the monkey.

"48." I answered hurriedly.

A smile made its way to his lips as he announced, "10 points for Team Redwood."

A huge smile appeared on my face as I listened to him. "With that, we finish our first round. Team Redwood is leading the chart with sixty-six points." he said and the whole hall erupted with clapping.

I had no idea what came over me but when he announced that, I leaned towards Adam and hugged him in excitement. Realizing a second later what I had done, I pulled back and watched him look at me with his mouth half-opened.

...

After the competition, Adam left for our room while I stayed behind to talk to a team of two girls that I met in the lobby. They both were twins and were equally talented, the taller one was named Ella and the shorter one, Anna. We talked for about an hour, about our schools, about our families, our friends and everything else.

"What's the story behind this hot genius? The one in your team?" Ella, the more talkative one asked, her face dripping with what looked like a mixture of curiosity and liking.

"Adam?" I asked, feeling uncomfortable all of sudden.

"Wow. Even his name is hot." she chuckled and a strange bitter feeling arose inside my heart.

"Forgive her. She is the flirty one among us." her sister told me and I smiled after nodding.

"Can I have his number?" Ella tried to persuade, smiling at me and I bit the insides of my cheeks.

I gave a curious glance to her. She was tall, unlike me. Her skin was gloriously tanned, opposite of my pale complexion and she was wearing a more girly outfit, not a pastel top like me.

I wonder if she ask him out, how would he respond. Though he is awfully rude sometimes, he is still a man with needs.

"So?" she asked again, looking down at me with her big, brown eyes.

"Uh.. I.." Then suddenly, a strange thought appeared in my mind. "Actually he is.." I gulped before continuing. "He is gay."

The smile vanished from her face and the corners of her lips turned downwards. "What a pity! Such a loss for the female population of New York." she mourned by letting out a grieved sigh.

I chuckled at her words but my smile died down when I caught the sight of Adam, leaned against the huge pillar in the lobby, a huge smirk plastered on his face indicating that he had already heard my comment.

I swallowed the saliva down my throat when I found him making his way towards us. "Ladies." he said, sounding unusually high-pitched.

I waited for him to tell them the truth but instead, he turned to me and bringing his hand towards me, grazed his fingers down my exposed arm, causing a small gasp to escape my mouth.

"Alicia! Can I borrow your perfume for tonight?" He grinned wide. "I met a cute guy outside and I think he is into me." he said and I choked on the food I had just eaten.

Amusement played on his face as he assessed my surprised expressions and my jaw that had dropped to the ground.

"S.. Sure." I stammered. .

"OK bye. Will see you in the room." he winked at no one in particular and then turned around to leave. But he stopped when he was few steps away from us and rotated his neck to say something. "By the way, I am borrowing a condom from your bag. It might come in handy."

Ella and Anna exchanged a look and then shifted their eyes back to us. "Aww. He is so cute." Anna said while Ella still watched him leave with a sad frown on her face.

"Yeah." I said, slapping myself mentally.

Idiot.

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