Briana Miller

Chapter 1

"C'mon Naomi, we don't have time. Jordan and Declan both are going to burn down the house without the food and I have a lot of work to do." Bennett checked his watch and opened the car door.

"Naomi?"

No reply.

He stopped and turned around, his eyes widening.

Naomi was running in the middle of the street and a truck was coming towards her in full speed.

Everything happened to go in slow motion for some moments. His eyes snapped towards the truck driver who was busy talking on the phone, he could see it through the glass. His mouth hung open. The abruptness of the incident had him frozen on the spot by his car.

He cursed himself for not moving but he couldn't feel himself at that moment, so he did one thing he could. He squeezed his eyes shut.

He waited, shutting his eyes like a coward, waited for any chaos or sounds, any cries or screaming. But moments passed and he heard nothing. He slowly opened his eyes, bracing himself for the worst.

He hands found the car door to keep him stable as he let the door hold his weight for some moments. He let out the breath he obviously knew he was holding, causing him to gasp slightly.

In the middle of the street, there sat Naomi in who seemed to be perfectly alright. Bennett ran towards her direction, still hesitant on accepting the reality. She was giving him her back and now was attempting to get up.

"N-Naomi?" He called with all his uncertainty.

Naomi looked up at him with a huge smile and his breath almost knocked out of his body. He was about to scold her, his index finger already raised up even though it was shaking non-stop. But he stopped, his breath hitched for the second time today.

A small head turned, peeking at him from inside Naomi's scarf, sniffing slightly. Her blonde side bangs covered one of her big brown eyes, which had a few drops of the tear running down her extremely chubby cheeks. Her red lips trembled a little.

He stood speechless.

"I know she's beautiful but could you help me get up?" Naomi's voice brought him back to reality as he instantly reached out to help her up. They went to the sidewalk sat on a bench there.

Naomi was cooing and rocking the baby girl back and forth to stop her tears and Bennett was just sitting there silently, watching them like it was some kind of a phenomenon.

"I am so sorry, Bennett before you scold me something. But she was running in the middle and if I didn't do anything...I don't know what could've happened." She said with guilty expression on her face. He just looked at her and Naomi braced herself for the long lecture that was on the way.

But instead, she was pulled into a strong hug. He nuzzled his nose in the crook of her neck and held her tightly.

"You don't have the slightest idea what you just did, Naomi." He said. "What if you missed her, what if something happened to you? What would I- we do?" Naomi smiled at his words as she wrapped her free arm around him.

"You don't know how I felt when I saw you running to your own death. You are so dumb sometimes that I find it difficult to believe you're supposed to be a know-it-all." His grip tightened. "You are impossible, Naomi. I really don't"- he stopped abruptly when he felt a slight tug on his shirt.

He looked down as a small hand tried to push him with all her strength.

"Can you move?" A soft but irritated voice said and his eyes went wide. "Pleeeeeese?" She stretched, showing her full effort in pushing him. Naomi burst out laughing and Bennett slowly backed away looking down at the little creature who seemed to huff in relief.

"You..." She gasped. "Suffocated me." She finished. Naomi clutched her stomach from laughing too much and Bennett couldn't help but smile.

"I am sorry, dear." He smiled at her. "I forgot you were in there somewhere." The baby girl pouted.

"What's your name?" Naomi asked, kissing her chubby cheek.

"Briana." She said.

"What a cute name!" She cooed. "And where is your mum?" She asked, trying to find the answer.

"They say she died." The girl spoke without any care as she played with Naomi's scarf. But Bennett and Naomi fell silent as they looked at each other.

"Bennett..."

"I know. She said, "they say". I guess she lives in an orphanage or something." He said as he looked around, trying to ignore the girl's words. But finding nothing that could be near to something like an orphanage, he turned to the little girl in front of him.