Safe in My Arms

The next days, Stephen spent his whole time with Adelle. He ignored calls from Victoria although he didn’t want to, but he had to make his choice. Just like John said, it was either Adelle or Victoria, and he chose Adelle. Victoria was his highschool and she left him for college a continent away.

And a year later he was still a wreck after Victoria’s leave. That was when he saw Adelle in a coffee shop where he and his friends just found out about. She was reading at a corner, comfortably sitting on a sofa with a glass of iced chocolate on the coffee table. Something drew him to her, so without any second thought, he stood up from his table and went over her.

Noticing someone was watching, she looked up to see. Stephen was sitting across her and she only raised her eyebrows.

“Can I help you?” she asked.

“I wonder if you would recommend me a drink.”

Adelle thought for a moment before answering. “I really like their iced chocolate.” Stephen’s eyes darted off to the half-empty glass on the coffee table.

“Yeah, I can tell,” he grinned.

Her cheeks flushed a little. Stephen thought it was cute.

He studied her figure for a little bit more. Her brownish red hair was up in a messy bun and her bangs fell onto her eyes. She has a pair of dark green eyes that had warmth beneath them. Her lips were curled into a small smile.

“I don’t usually like sweets, but I’ll take a shot of the iced chocolate. But if I don’t like it,… I demand for your number.” He winked.

She scoffed. “Please, they have the best iced chocolate in this town.”

Stephen smirked and ordered a glass of iced chocolate. He took a sip, and she was right. It was really good.

“So I’m guessing you’re not gonna demand for my number,” she smirked after seeing his expression. He remained in silence.

She took the tissue next to her glass and scribbled her number onto it before pushing it towards him.

“Seems like you really wanted it, so I’ll take a shot of you.” This time she winked at him before grabbing her book from her lap and bag next to her and headed out from the coffee shop, not forgetting to give Stephen one last look (and smile).

And she was definitely what he needed.

They spent the whole week together and he didn’t even think of Victoria – not even once. Not until he found out that Adelle and Victoria went to the same junior highschool together. But Adelle was like his medicine – the moment he thought of Victoria when she was with her, he immediately forgot about his ex by the next second.

But like any other medicine, she couldn’t prevent any diseases forever.

Every time he went away from Adelle, he thought of Victoria. He talked on phone with Adelle. He forgot about her. By the time he hung up, he thought of her again.

It went for months and it was killing him again, throwing him back into the same hole of wreck he was in for a year.

So that was when he decided to ask Adelle to be his girlfriend.

He didn’t mean to use her as a rebound – he really liked her and he felt so easy, so good around her.

Nice, thoughtful Adelle was nothing like bubbly, spontaneous Victoria. She was probably too good to be true.

She deserved to be treated as the best, and Stephen realized he wasn’t doing it.

Now he was trying his best to give her the best.

John first saw Adelle in the same coffee shop at the same corner, reading a book. He watched her crunching her eyebrows together as she concentrated on the book with her hand supporting her chin and her other hand holding the book. A still-full glass of iced chocolate was placed on the coffee table.

He thought she was beautiful.

He spent the next year going to the coffee shop every Wednesday and Friday after school, and on Saturday somewhere near 5 to 7 PM. Watching her reading could never bore him.

But John was too shy to talk to her. He noticed she was more interested in her books than her surroundings, too.

It crushed him when he saw his brother successfully got his number on the very first time he saw her. But thanks to him, John had the courage to talk to her when she was hanging out at his house with some other friends. He knew that Adelle had deep perspectives on anything, just like what he always thought.

It crushed him more to know that his brother was dating her. But thanks to that, he knew that deep down inside Adelle was a really great girl.

It crushed him even more when he knew Stephen was sneaking behind a really great girl. But thanks to that, he found out that even deeper inside, Adelle was fragile, just like any other girl.

John was secretly enjoying this situation for a bit – when could he get another chance to hug the girl he always loved? When could he get another chance to hold her hand and watch her sleeping?