Thy Will, Not Mine

Chapter {31} Destiny

Nio swiftly switched his gaze from my face to the cell phone that kept blaring from his hands. He looked frustrated, not from his hard exterior but from the storm I could see brewing in his eyes. Lord, what is wrong with him?

"I'm sure whatever it is you are battling with is not bigger than the Lord," I said honestly, encouraging him to open up but Nio was like a closed book. You could never see the words written inside his book and the cover could not tell you much from its dark theme but I'm sure once I managed to open that book, I would be able to see the words written in black ink against the clean white sheet and endless emotions expressed there because he too was human, and he needed sadness and most especially The Lord to mature into a better person.

He scoffed, "Okay, amore. I need to go, can we meet up sometime during the week?" He asked standing up, glancing to-and-fro his phone and my eyes, his leg bouncing on the trimmed green lawn.

What was so important that he wanted us to meet up during the week? I'm sure he wanted to break up our friendship. Could I bear the heartache of losing the love of my life and my friend in a short span of a week?

A verse got stuck in my head that reminded me not to jump to conclusions, Proverbs 18:13;

He that answereth a matter before he heareth it, it is folly and shame unto him.

So I would not jump to conclusions as that would not only be foolish but I would also be setting myself up for disappointment that might not even exist.

"Sure," I gave him a short smile and watched as a slight smile toke over his features, it was so short it could have been missed but I got a short glance at his beautiful smile. Beautifully carved by the Lord.

My short and beautiful reverie was cut off by the sudden jolt of shocks that spread through my hand, it could only mean one thing. He was holding my hand. I stared down at our hands, a contrast to one another, dark to light and they had never looked more beautiful, our hands looked beautifully intertwined. Despite how calloused Nio's hand was, it had never felt more comfortable, like I could hold on to it forever but the moment was short-lived as after a tiny squeeze, our hands were separated and he was up on his feet and in a split second he was away from my view, his long steps walking the extra mile.

Leaving me a mile away with my thoughts. Why he had to leave so suddenly after a sudden phone call, could it have been Giovanni or little Avelina? No, they were right here, so it couldn't possibly be any of them.

Lord, please lead him not into temptation but deliver him from evil.

"Girl, where is that boyfriend of yours?" Thato asked startling me with her sudden appearance and her choice of words. Boyfriend?

"Don't look so surprised, isn't he a boy and your friend?" Why did my friend always come up with these words and work her way out of the confusion?

"Yeah, I guess," I sighed, standing up to my full height, and walking toe-in-toe with my best friend, taking my mind off of Nio and listening to Thato rant about the boy we had met months ago at Mario's Pizzeria who just so happened to be in her Food Chemistry class, I had secretly shipped them together from day one and her feelings were only surfacing now? That was surprising.

"And he stares at me all the time, at first I thought it was because he was just curious about me as we had never spoken before but then it became so constant I had to turn to Google for help and guess what it said, 'if someone stares at you, he could be attracted to you.' " She ranted quoting the exact words of the article she had read from.

"And my first word was Yoh! Because have you seen him?" She paused staring at me as though looking for an answer to her rhetorical question, but I just shook my head with a smile on my face.