Chapter 11 - our second to the last chap. I will actually miss this book. ❤️
Credits to Pinterest for the header.
FICTION.
Disclaimer: All and fully disclaimed.
Always.. 💚💚💚💚💚
*******ALDUBPARIN****************
As memory may be a paradise from which we cannot be driven, it may also be a hell from which we cannot escape.
- John Lancaster Spalding
~💚~💚~💚~💚~💚~
I remember the first time I saw her.
How could I not?
She was sitting there on the counter of their Café. She was wearing that white apron with polka dots on it, the small smile and blush on her face bespoke of her embarrassment when I caught her looking at me.
I couldn't take my eyes off her.
I couldn't resist.
Her innocent beauty tugged at me, and, before I knew it, I was volunteering to go with the deliveries whenever they order any supplies from us.
She had been stealing glances at me when she thought I wasn't looking. But after a few moments, the heat in her cheeks was no longer from embarrassment.
She was as aware of me as I was of her.
So I mustered enough courage to talk to her.
But her mother's voice had broken the spell. It had a tendency of doing that.
I forced myself to leave . . . knowing that I was leaving a piece of myself of behind.
When that happens for the first time . . .
That isn't something you forget.
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I remember asking her out for our first date. She ditched her afternoon classes for that. She was still in college then. I just graduated from mine and helping out in our small family business of baking supplies. I remember my embarrassment because I had to use our small Elf delivery truck to take her out. But she didn't mind. Not one bit.
Never for a moment did I wonder if I measured to her standards. To her family's standards.
My feet will always carry me to her, and I spoke before I had even thought about what I would say. If you know me, you would know how unlike me that is. I always think carefully before I act. I never let anything overpower my common sense.
That day I left my common sense far behind.
Listening to her pain angered me so much. She talked about how ambitious her parents are. How they forced her older brother to marry a rich old American hag almost 10 years older than him so they can have a green card. How they dictated what course in college to take. She didn't like it. What she wanted was to be a nurse. But her parents refused to pay for her college education unless she obeyed them. She had no choice on the matter. And obeyed she did.
Once again I let my emotions rule me, and I pulled her into a scheme that would have repercussions long after in ways that I would never have thought of.
From that moment, as I stared into her admiring gaze, my hand gently tapping hers, I felt so proud. It was as if I deserved to wear the shining armor. For a few moments I forgot how tainted I also was. How I had no right to even think the thoughts that had been racing through my mind.
She made me feel like a God. I swore to high heavens I will protect her.
For a moment, she made me more than I was.
