NURA

Chapter 24

Nura

Jul. 2014, New York

Nura checked the time on her phone again and let out a frustrated sigh since the time seemed to have stopped from the moment she sat in the cafe.

She was waiting for Stefan to arrive, having agreed to meet with him so they could talk. The man had been trying to contact her for the last few months, but Nura hadn't felt ready until recently to see him again.

What Stefan had done back in December, how he had betrayed her trust by telling people about her past, had hit Nura hard.

After everything she had been through, allowing someone in and trusting them was one of the hardest things for her to do, and Stefan had thrown it back in her face just like that.

But he had also been drunk and hurt at the time, so now, when the dust had settled and enough time had passed, Nura was at a point where she could maybe find it in herself to listen to what the man had to say and move on.

"Hello, Nura." she heard a deep voice behind her and turned to see the dark man watching her.

Stefan looked the same as the last time Nura had seen him, only his hair was a bit longer and styled differently. His chocolate-colored eyes looked just as warm as they always did as the man watched her from across the table with a slight smile on his face.

"Thank you for agreeing to meet with me. I know that I probably don't deserve it after the stunt I've pulled," he said quietly, looking at his hands playing with a napkin, making her realize that Stefan was just as nervous as she was. The thought managed to calm her nerves just a bit, and she soon found herself relaxing for the first time since she had left her house that morning.

"It's fine. What did you want to talk about?" Nura said after a few silent moments as Stefan took a small sip of his coffee before looking up.

"I just wanted to apologize. You have entrusted me with an important part of your life, and I have betrayed that trust. I could try to justify myself and tell you about being drunk, but in the end, it doesn't matter. I've hurt you, something that I've never wanted to do. Even if you somehow manage to forgive me, I will never be able to forgive myself." he said before looking down at his hands, which had started to shake a bit, so he quickly removed them from the table and into his lap, where they were safely hidden from view.

Nura stayed quiet for a while, thinking over Stefan's words until she realized it didn't matter anymore.

She's had a lot of time to think about everything since the last time they saw each other and has, since then, decided that she will not let herself settle for anything less than extraordinary.

Sure, at the time, Nura had considered the man across from her a friend, but she could see the difference now after getting to know Aria.

Aria, the skittish girl afraid of her own shadow and who had never even talked to her before that night, was still the only person who came to her rescue.

She had walked through that crowd despite her social anxiety, dragged Nura outside, and then welcomed her into her home.

Aria was extraordinary, the kind of person people like Stefan could learn a lot from. So, in the end, Nura just nodded, finished her coffee, and stood up, all of her previous nerves completely gone, as she walked out of that cafe with her head held high and her heart in peace.

~

"Could you please remind me again why we are here?" Aria asked as he looked suspiciously at the girl tending to her nails with narrowed eyes.