Soft Hearts and Stolen Glances (Oubaitori Series #1)

Ashanti has always been the girl everyone admires. The girl who moves with grace, speaks with certainty, and never falters under the weight of expectations. She is everyone's pride, their standard, their perfect girl.

But when the world isn't watching, she exhales deeply and wonders about a lot of things. Because beneath the perfection everyone perceives her to be, she is just a girl who badly wants to rest, to breathe, and to be seen beyond who she is supposed to be.

Then there's Ukiyo Naz. The happy-go-lucky guy, gentle and God-fearing. He doesn't look at her with expectations, but rather as someone to be understood. He notices the way her shoulders tense before she speaks, the way her gaze last long on open skies as if searching for something she longs to have. And when she meets his eyes, she finds something she never expected... a place where she can be herself.

But others say the love they had was delicate and easy to break. So when a flood of expectations clashes with a love that asks for nothing but pure honesty and sincerity, Ashanti was left with one question...

"Am I brave enough to choose a love that allows me to be free?"