City of Sunshine

Once upon a time,
There was a beautiful city called the City Of Sunshine, it was the most terrific city that you had ever seen. And as you can probably tell by the name, the sun was constantly shining on the citizens in the town. In the City Of Sunshine lived a girl that was so breathtakingly beautiful that you thought that there could never be someone as amazing as her.

On top of being so amazingly stunning, she was also very smart and loving.
Her name was Adeline. The name that made everyone turn their heads and smile, it was a name that almost everyone in the City Of Sunshine had heard at least once in their life.

Another name that had also been heard by almost everyone was the name Brian. But it was not known for the same reasons as Adeline. Brian was the exact opposite of her, he was considered very unattractive and he wasn’t all that wealthy either.

He was always picked on and teased by the people in town for how he dressed and for how poor he was. The only person that found it in their heart to defend him was Adeline. She felt sorry for the boy and she thought that the citizens were being incredibly mean to the young man.

One sunny day in June Adeline and her friend, Anabelle, were walking together in the park. Anabelle was talking about how a friend of hers had done something scandalous at a gathering she had been to. Adeline wasn’t paying that much attention to her friend as she was thinking about that boy that no-one seemed to like.

She wondered what he had ever done to deserve this fate of humiliation. “Anabelle… What has that boy, Brian, done to deserve all of the mean words that everybody throws at him?” She asked her friend as they walked through the beautiful garden.

“Have you seen Brian, Adeline? He is very unattractive...” Anabelle answered snottily.

“So? Just because he’s unattractive doesn’t mean that it’s right that he’s treated differently.” Adeline defended the boy. She didn’t think that it seemed right that the people in town had to treat him differently just because of appearance.

What Adeline and Anabelle did not know was that Brian was lurking around in the bushes of the park and had heard everything they had said. He was a bit hurt by what Anabelle had said, but that was all weighed out by what Adeline had told her friend.

He found it weird that she had actually stood up for him, he was not really used to that.
He admired her courage to go against almost the entire population of the City Of Sunshine, he knew that it wasn’t easy to be different or have a different opinion than the other people that lived here.
The city wasn’t as perfect as everyone made it out to be.

He followed them through the park and listened to what they were saying, they continued to discuss him for a little while before they dropped it. Soon Anabelle had to leave to have dinner with her parents and Adeline was left alone, she sat down on a lonely bench and looked up at the clear blue sky. Brian decided that now was a good time to let her know he was there, so he stood up and walked slowly towards her.

Adeline smiled at the sight of him; she actually thought that he looked rather handsome. He just needed a shower and a haircut, and maybe some clean clothes. “Hi, Brian” she said softly to him as he sat down next to her.

He smiled back and nodded once in recognition. “You know that I heard you two talk, right?” he murmured, ashamed that he had listened to the two girls. Adeline just smiled again and nodded softly “I thought I heard something in the bushes,” she responded.

“I don’t mind, I’m actually quite flattered that you’d want to listen to our nonsense” she continued with a smile looking deep in to his soulful brown eyes. “It’s not nonsense, Adeline… I quite liked listening to it, it was rather interesting,” he smiled back and reached out for her hand, stroking his thumb over her knuckles, making the girl blush and look down at the ground.

“You know… Adeline, I know this may seem silly, and I know that I’m going to get ridiculed for it… but I really think that you are the most beautiful girl I have ever met. Not just on the outside, but on the inside as well. You’re so kind and gentle, and you’re really nice to me and you stand up to me when people called me ugly or disgusting, which I know I am,” he spoke, hanging his head in shame.

Adeline smiled at Brian’s kind words and squeezed his hand in reassurance “Thank you so much for those kind words, Brian. I don’t think I’ve ever heard anyone say it so sincerely to me before” Brian looked up at her, surprised by her words. “I really like you Brian, and I think you are beautiful too. You really are, no matter what anyone tells you, you’ll always be beautiful to me. They’re just too caught up in stereotypes to notice how radiant and amazing you really are,” she smiled at him and stroked his cheek with the back of her hand gently.

“A-are you kidding me?” Brian stuttered, not being able to hide the smile that etched on to his face, no one had ever called him beautiful in his entire life, not even his own mother had said such wonderful things to him.

Adeline smiled a breathtaking smile whilst leaning her head on his shoulder. Brians eyes widened slightly at her actions, he had never been this close to a girl that was not related to him, and not even his relatives seemed to want to be this close to him. He started to breathe a little quicker, his nerves taking over him. Adeline smiled up at him “Don’t be nervous, Brian… You’re great just the way you are,” she told him, head still resting lightly on his shoulder. He couldn’t believe what he was hearing, someone thought he was good? That he wasn’t a worthless human being? He smiled and wrapped his arm around her shoulder carefully, afraid that she’d suddenly change her mind and run away from him.

When she didn’t run away he smiled big and his posture seemed to get better, his chest filled with pride as Adeline kissed his cheek.

This proved to him that even though the City of Sunshine might not be what everyone made it out to be, there were still people that didn’t value looks and clothes over their personality, not everyone was conceited enough to only care about how he looked. He smiled at his thoughts and held Adeline closer, and for once in his life.. Brian was truly happy with his life.