Twice The Trouble Book 2 of 2: Twice The Love

Chapter 3: Knights In Soft Cotton

Sophia

A lot has happened since last year,back when I was an 18-year-old college sophomore.

I struggled from complex relationships and I suffered frequent fatigue from overworking myself with academics and social activities.

When I was eighteen, I rejected my guy best friend, Liam Garcia.I moved on from my unrequited first love, Dale Cruz. I discovered that Stacy had been conspiring with my crush Lucas, inevitably hurting me. And soft that I am, of course I forgave them. But if I were to choose one thing that occurred last year which changed my life and my point of view of it, then I would say it was undergoing cardio transplant.

Wearing a hospital gown.. lying on an operating table.. multiple strangers in masks and gloves hovering above me, their hands bearing sharp scalpels and medical instruments which they used to replace my fragile heart with a new one.. a heart that once belonged to a complete stranger.

Ever since I was a child, my heart had always been delicate and sensitive to strenuous actions. Then, many months ago,it finally grew tired of my body, causing me to have fainting spells more often than before.

I had nearly given up hope for an extension on my life, but miraculously, on the day before Christmas last year, in the midst of my lunch at the mall with Stacy, she received a call from the hospital and my twin happily informed me that an appropriate heart donor surrendered her heart to me. And so I was rushed to the operating room.

Several hours later.. my brown eyes fluttered open, and suddenly, I felt like a new person.

"Hey there,princess." A familiar male voice dragged me out of my nostalgic reverie.

I blinked twice before locking gazes with a pair of kind amber eyes. "Liam!" I beamed at him.

Tall, with dirty blond hair, Liam Garcia is my best guy friend since freshman high school.I've known him for five years. If I weren't in love with Lucas, I would have fallen for him eons ago.

Ever since we entered college, the blond business major became more vocal about his feelings for me, waiting for me outside my last classroom, showering me with gifts and flowers, treating me to lunches. I made constant attempts to dissuade him from peppering me with romantic tokens of affection, but he wouldn't give up.. until I rejected him with finality.

Slowly and gradually, Liam started to maintain a fair distance between me and him--bit by bit,he no longer shared lunch break with me. He stopped proffering me lavish bouquets of red roses, which are my favorite flower. He ceased fetching me after my last subject, and he didn't text me as much as he used to.

But now, everything is good and well between us. No more tension. No more awkwardness.

I looked at the tall, nineteen-year-old blond male in his uniform of white polo, blue tie and matching slacks teamed with black leather shoes.

"What are you doing here, Li?" I asked him, adjusting my rimless eyeglasses.

Liam flashed me his killer smile. There was no doubt that he is one of the campus heartthrobs with various female admirers. Liam is both amiable and attractive--a deadly combination.

He continued to smile at me as he answered lazily: "I was hoping to eat lunch with you."

"Of course it's fine with me." I sent him a toothy grin. "But good luck with attaining Stacy's permission. I promised to spend this vacant with her. Speaking of which, I can feel my phone buzzing in my gray vest pocket. That's probably my twin now. Let's hurry."

With another perennial smile plastered across his nice face, Liam nodded and led the way.

I pushed open the glass door to the main cafeteria.