Rebel The Odds

Chapter 19 - The best gift he could ever had

Chapter 19

"Well, we have reached" Leah said with a slight smile as they stood In-front of the gates of her neighborhood, she turned her head back to the post-guard before looking at him.

"I have something inside my house that I forgot to bring with me, can you wait for a bit?" she asked, Ethan was about to answer before she cut him off, "Actually, how about if I bring you in and you can wait inside my house since it's a little cold now" she said looking up to the almost dark sky.

Ethan tried to hide his wide smile that threatened to appear and instead nodded his head lightly. "I don't mind either way"

For the first time, he walked through the post guard office and entered the neighborhood, his eyes marveled at the sight of humongous houses in every corner, the clean and polished streets, trees that probably cost up to hundreds planted in between the sidewalk creating a grand entrance from the gate.

They walked a little until he reached a three-story white mansion, the width larger than two of his houses combined and a huge fountain stood across.

She glanced over her shoulder at him for a moment before walking up the grand entrance door but before she could even open it, the door pulled from inside a woman wearing a black shirt and black trouser greeted Leah.

"Mother isn't back yet?" she asked the woman, the woman had red hair, close to auburn-like, and tied neatly in a perfect bun. Her wrinkles and aged features indicates her experiences.

"The madam hasn't returned young miss. I was thinking of sending Vanessa to pick you up from your tuition center but she told me you insisted last minute to not" The woman paused, before briefly glancing at the man behind her,

"I see you have company; shall I prepare the tea for mister...?"

"Edwards. Ethan Edwards" Ethan said, offering a hand to shake while the other holds the cage that carried Rufus securely. He didn't want to anger Leah like earlier.

The woman shakes his hand with a smile, "Pleasure to make your acquaintance, Mister Edwards, I am Sabrina, what tea flavor would you prefer?"

"Actually," Leah cut off in between them, grabbing his wrist "He'll just be in my room, real quick" she said, tugging Ethan with her up the staircase impatiently.

Ethan smiled a little, staring at her willingly approached contact, "Whoa Leah, what's the rush? I can stay as long as you want me to" he said light-hearted as they walked in the second floor hallway, there was a chandelier in the middle and at the very edge on his right, was a big white door.

Leah send him a playful glare over her shoulder before pushing the door knob open, "My mother will return," She said, and pushed the door to enter,

"And let's just say she's quite strict about my friends"

The moment Ethan entered her room, his eyes scanned everything and anything in every corner of the room. Her king sized bed was in the middle against the wall, with a really fluffy-looking pink pastel duvet as well as the pillow sheets. She had a lot of pillows and stuffed animal, long ones, cat shape ones, Leah loves pillows.

On each sides of the bed were a white bedside table along with two white lamps shape like a cat's head at the top, and beside the right bedside table was a white study table with which connected until the corner and into the other part of the table that had a pile of papers and novels stacked. And against the wall was a tall white display shelf with a variety of items.

Ethan saw a picture of younger Leah smiling with an older man beside her who he assumed was her father, the beach behind them.

He walked further inside as Leah closed the door behind him, the floor was mostly carpeted with white fluffy carpets but the remaining showed a white wooden floor.

Each wall in the room had a wainscoting design much like the hallway, painted in either a pastel pink or a pastel blue color, it surprisingly matched and were compatible with one another.

There was a white door at the feet of her bed and on the right of the door were a two tall sliding doors that led to a closet. Two glass doors facing the opposite of the door he had come in led to a big spacious balcony.

Ethan swallowed the nerves inside his body, he was both excited yet nervous, a horrible combination really.

"You have a really nice room, and a nice house" he said awkwardly, not knowing where to sit.

He wanted to try and sit on her bed but would she find out of his perverted thoughts and kick him out? He doubted Leah wouldn't do that if she knew what was currently running inside his mind-100 scenarios and none of them were clean.

Leah was busy rummaging through the things on her table, searching for who knows what, "It doesn't feel like one..." he heard her whisper as she dashes pass him and opened her closet door, followed by the sound of rummaging.

Ethan frowned, he wondered what she meant by that.

"Is your mother always busy?" he decided to ask, slowly walking to the foot of her bed and sitting on it slowly, feeling his heart skipping. No, he needed to focus on more important things.

He heard a hum from her, "She usually comes home at night"

He was suddenly reminded of his parents. In a way, they were similar, Leah's mother neglected her for work but paid enough attention to be strict with her, while his parents neglected him because of their own selfish definition of the word love.

His mother was blinded, and his father, he too was blinded.

"Ethan?"

Ethan's head snapped across him, all the coldness and anger melted away when he saw the beautiful blonde girl, still in his jacket, walking up to him with both of her hands hidden behind her. 

Leah.

That was right, he had Leah. There was absolutely no need for him to dwell into the past. Leah was everything his parents weren't- loving, caring, sincere and kind, with her he forgot all his problems and worries. He didn't need to think of his past, eventually with time, he would have forgotten all about it and move on, with Leah, forgetting wasn't a difficult job at all.

"What is it?" he asked, smiling lovingly at her as she stood In-front of him, her head tilted to meet his eyes, so adorable.

She took out a glass bottle from her hand and bought it to him. The bottle had tiny stars drawn over the glass in white and the inside was filled with tiny scrolled up letters and a small star origami in a variety of colors filling it up.

"I made this before and I didn't really know who to give it to... Since today is our anniversary..." Leah trailed off, handing it to him shyly as she looked away, he felt his heart blossomed, the things he would do for it to not be a friendly-anniversary. 

"There's words written in every single scroll. You can open one letter whenever you feel down or alone" She mumbled.

Ethan held the bottle in his hand smiled widely at her, "Thank you Leah, I'll cherish it" and with that, he hugged her tightly. 

Ethan smiled as his hands securely held her against him, his heart pounding against his chest and his eyes, tightly closed as if he wanted to savor every moment in his mind. Remember the smell surrounding him, the heat between them, the way she looked in his jacket, the feeling of her soft hair, everything about her .

Everything, until he could tell that it was her even if he had lost all five senses. 

Because she was the best gift he could ever had.