The Art of Letting Go - ENGLOT

Chapter 19

Celestine's POV:

I slowly opened my eyes, feeling the warmth of the morning sun illuminating the room. As I stirred, I became aware of a body nestled against mine. It was Ensley, still fast asleep and wrapped up in my arms.

For a brief moment, I felt nothing but contentment, curled up in her arms, enjoying the warmth of her body against mine. But soon, the thoughts from the night before came flooding back, and I felt a surge of confusion and guilt. I shouldn't be feeling this way, I thought to myself. I have Micah. But the more I looked at Ensley, her peaceful face inches away from mine, the more I realized that my feelings for her weren't going to go away anytime soon.

I shifted slightly, trying to disentangle myself from her embrace without waking her up, but she stirred and tightened her grip on me.

"Ens." I murmured., rubbing her arm softly.

She stirred in my arms, her eyes opening slowly as she looked up at me. She smiled weakly, nestling her head back into my chest. "Morning," she murmured.

Her fever had broken in the night, and she looked so much better. Her cheeks were rosy, and she seemed almost radiant in the early morning light.

I felt conflicted, knowing that I shouldn't be having these feelings for her. Micah is a great guy, and I care about him deeply. We've been together for so long - But there was something about Ensley that just pulled at my heartstrings.

"Good morning," I whispered back, brushing a few stray strands of hair from her forehead. As I looked at her, I couldn't help but feel a sense of overwhelming fondness. This is wrong.

"How are you feeling?" I asked, trying to distract myself from my own tumultuous emotions.

"Better," she said, cracking open her eyes again and looking up at me. "Thanks to you."

I smiled and gave her a light squeeze. "Anytime." I replied softly, my voice barely above a whisper. We lay there for a while longer, lost in each other's embrace, the warmth of our bodies pressed together, the softness of her skin against mine.

It's hard to deny the chemistry between us, but we had already talked about this before. And we had agreed to keep things platonic. But as we lay there, tangled up in each other's arms, it was hard to deny that my feelings were too strong to ignore. I have to stop this.

Finally, I broke the silence. "We should go," I said, my voice barely above a whisper. "It's late."

Ensley sighed, snuggling even closer to me. "I know," she said, her eyes closed. "But five more minutes please."

I couldn't resist her pleading voice, so I agreed. "Okay, just five more minutes," I said, holding her a little tighter.

As those five minutes passed, I was lost in my thoughts. I know now. I love Ensley, but I have Micah who loves me too. It's unfair to him, and it's unfair to Ensley to continue down this path. We had set boundaries, and I knew I needed to respect them for the sake of our friendship.

Finally, I gently extricated myself from her embrace. "We really need to go," I said, pulling the covers off of us.

Ensley nodded, sitting up and stretching her arms above her head. "Yeah, you're right," she said, a hint of disappointment in her voice.

As we cleaned up, my thoughts were a jumbled mess. I needed space to sort out my feelings, but every time I looked at Ensley, it was like my heart was pulling me closer to her. I didn't know what was going to happen between us, but I knew that I needed to figure things out before I hurt anyone else.

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Ensley's POV: