Fated Plans

Chapter 16

Did people ever tell you that falling in love is terrifying?

Andrea was sure as heck didn't get the memo.

If Callum's taut body was any indication, she was sure she'd blown up the whole love confession. Goodness, could she do anything right with this whole thing or, with Callum in general?

And she was a mess, what's with the whole crying thing? Why was she so emotional when it came to him? It was like her body had this switch that when she neared him, all logical thoughts flew out the window and what was left was this overwhelming feeling he invoked on her.

And the man was silent now as he deposited her gently on her beige couch - the first ever she bought from IKEA when she moved out of Manhattan; a minimalist three seater with comfy cushion. However, she was far from being comfortably bolstered from the nerves she was feeling at the moment.

Her tears stopped and she patted her fingers under her eyes to dry them. She needed to face whatever the consequences of what she said earlier. Good gracious, she should be relaxing right now for tomorrow was going to be the day of her surgery - crap! She had yet to tell him about her operation.

Taking in a lungful of air, Andrea hesitantly glanced at Callum who sat beside her. She didn't let her mind be distracted by the fact that the man only had a towel around his waist and that he shaved his long stubble and now only had a few spattering of short facial hair. Nope, no, she only thought the status of her bathroom now as he obviously rummaged through her things there. Ugh, she just arranged and cleaned it before she went to bed earlier! She also didn't want to dwell on him smelling like her favourite apples. She promptly shook her head, hoping to clear her mind.

"Will you say something?" her voice small as Andrea glanced away; she wrapped her arms around herself, trying to atleast protect herself if ever he rejected her. God, what if he really rejects her?

"I'm sorry," Callum whispered quietly, so soft like he was talking to himself but the echo was severe to her ears because of the pin drop silence between them.

Andrea wrung her hands together, they were shaking hard. "Okay," she breathed out after a few seconds. Her vision swung to the nearest window, the sky was starting to wake up as she could see scattering low lights peeking through the crack between her white curtains.

What a good way to get rejected at the breaking of dawn.

She could feel that shiver of trepidation mixed with aching truth. But she was surprisingly calm on the whole.

She didn't know why. Maybe, her affection for him already crossed that boundary of a love wanting reciprocation. Did she want her feelings to be reciprocated? Of course, that would be lovely.

However, one of the most important things a person could learn from losing someone she cared so much was that, love knows no boundaries. Adoration should not be a hindrance nor could it be hindered just because that someone didn't return your feelings even after an earnest profession.

Wait - she hadn't yet had her heartfelt confession though. Andrea closed her eyes, silently praying for courage. She already started it, so why not finish it with a bang, rejection could be damned?

"Andy, please look at me." She could hear resonance of pleading and anxiety on Callum's voice.

"Give me a second," she told him after, her voice sounded unwavering and that was a good start. She counted from ten backwards then dragged in a lungful of air.

She faced Callum, "Okay," she had no time to analyse Callum's unreadable expression for she had a lot to tell him. "I just wanted to get this all out my chest," Andrea started as she then shook her head when she saw him opening his mouth to say something. She refused to be deterred now.