Leila's POV

I opened my eyes, feeling a little disoriented. The pills must still be having their effect on me, because I wanted to sleep again. Taking the blankets off, I gingerly walked out of the room. When I got to the kitchen, I found Tori eating her dinner, while she was texting someone at the same time. When she saw me, the phone was dropped and she came to my side.

"Why are you awake? You should be sleeping."

"I'm thirsty."

She led me to the couch while she went to the kitchen to get some water. After drinking the entire cup, I took the remote and turned on the TV. A sitcom was playing, so I just watched that. Tori came in later with a plate of food. She gave it to me, and I thanked her before eating it.

"What happened after I drank the pill."

Tori smiled then, a genuine smile that had me wondering what was going on in that head of hers.

"Adam carried you to his car and drove us here. He even carried you into your room and tugged you in."

I stopped chewing then, eyes widening due to the news I'd just heard.

"What?!"

She shrugged then, her smile turning into a grin.

"What? You expected me to carry you? You're like a walrus to me. You looked like a piece of paper in his arms."

She laughed then, and I took a pillow and hit her with it. Her laughter turned to coughs, and I let her be while I ate my food. After her coughing fit was over, she sat up straight again.

"He does care about you though. I can see it. He was the first to get to you when you were hit by the ball. He looked genuinely concerned about you."

I kept on shoving food in my mouth, acting like she hadn't said anything, my gaze straight on the TV. Just the idea of him holding me close made me feel all giddy inside.

"Tori?"

"Yeah?"

I played with the food in my plate.

"I........I think I.....like Adam."

There was a silence in the room, then there was a sudden scream and she began to jump around, giggling like a schoolgirl.

"Finally, you've said it!! I knew it! I just knew you did!!"

"When did you know?"

"That day you told me that you were going to the carnival."

Oh.

"I do, but I don't think he likes me."

Her brows creased, clearly showing her confusion.

"What do you mean? Why wouldn't he?"

I sighed, taking another spoonful of the food and shoving it in my mouth. I replied when I was done chewing.

"I don't see it happening. This all feels like one big fantasy to me."

Sighing as well, she crouched down so we were eye to eye.

"I'll go get the ice cream."

********

I laid in my bed, playing a wordsearch I'd found in one of Tori's old magazines. I'd let a lofi live stream play while I killed time. Sleep just couldn't come to me tonight. I'd just realized that I actually liked Adam, but I didn't think that he'd want to be with anyone at this point. I didn't tell Tori that he still hadn't let go of his wife and that I'd brought her up once, and he'd blacked out on me.

There was a word that I could find, and it was slowly beginning to frustrate me, when the lofi stopped playing and my phone began to vibrate. I looked at it, and I was shocked that someone was calling me, but I didn't know the number.

Anxiously, I swiped the green button and put the phone to my ear.

"Hello?"

"Hey. It's Adam."

A breath of relief escaped before I could hold it in.

"Oh. Hi. Good evening."

"Did you think that I was some type of stalker or something?"

I palmed my face while I rolled onto my back, thinking about how much of a dunce I'd been lately.

"No! I was just...... surprised to see an unknown number calling me. I don't usually get calls on my phone."

"That's okay. I should've given you my number. Then, you wouldn't have been scared."

I laughed slightly, shaking off the shock that he'd actually called.

"Yeah."

"So, I wanted to know if Emilia and I could come take you tomorrow, at around 5pm."

"No. There's no need for all that. I'll just take a cab."

"I insist, and Emilia said that she wanted to make sure that you were okay before you came back."

Touched that the little one was worried about me, I smiled then and agreed for them to come take me.

"That's great then. We'll pick you up."

"Okay."

There was a silence for a while. Neither of us were disconnecting the call. After a short while, Adam broke the silence.

"So, why are you up this late? Something bothering you?"

Well, he got that part right.

"Don't worry about it. Why are you up?"

"I, uh, wanted to know how you were before I went to sleep.............so that I could plan my day in advance. Yeah."

"Oh. Well, now you know."

He laughed lightly, making me smile.

"Yeah."

There was another moment of awkward silence. I broke it that time.

"Umm, I think you should sleep."

"Trying to get rid of me that quickly, huh?"

I laughed nervously, shaking my head, only to realize that he couldn't see me.

"No. It's just that there was a silence and I thought that maybe you'd be sleepy."

A yawn sounded on the other side of the call, making me laugh.

"See? You should sleep."

He laughed too, deciding that it was about time he did just that. I told him everything; from where her towel was to where he could find her Monday school socks. Emilia liked a specific sock for a specific day.

"Goodnight, Leila."

His voice was like music to my ears.

"Goodnight, Adam."

He disconnected the call, and all I wanted to do was grin like a fool. Instead, I curled up on myself and went to sleep, the Wordsearch game already forgotten about.

************

Tori had left for work in the morning, so I had to spend the whole morning and most of the afternoon indoors just lying around doing nothing. My head didn't hurt anymore so staying idle was becoming a bore for me. I came across an old rope and made it into a skipping rope. I hopped around until I couldn't hop anymore.

Some time in the afternoon, Tori made her way inside the house, with a huge grin on her face.

"Hey, T. What's with the huge grin?"

"Girl, there is going to be a fashion show this weekend and it's going to be hosted here. The fashion company I'm working for is going to sponsor the gimmick, so there's a very high chance that we're going to be invited there."

I smiled then, happy that my fashionista friend was going to have a blast at the show. She came and sat down next to me, showing me all these pictures of fashion designers and models known all over the country but who I saw next made my heart drop.

"What is she doing there?"

"Oh, you mean Jane Cress? She's like one of the leading fashion designers in the industry right now. She's made designer clothes for some of the most well known celebrities all over."

Woah.....

"I didn't know that...."

"That's because you aren't all into this fashion stuff, my friend."

Tori stood from the couch and went to her room to change into more comfortable clothes. We were now in our own little bubbles, wrapped up in what we were doing. My friend couldn't stop smiling while she was texting; I guessed that it was Gabe.

I smiled then, but the smile got wiped off when I thought of Jane Cress. She was a fashion designer? No wonder she looked like she was walking the runway everywhere she was. No matter how simple the dress up was, it still looked phenomenal on her.

Why was I worried? I had no need to be.

She's friends with Adam

So what? I didn't have to feel anything because of that.

They looked quite good together. Too good actually.

"Lei, are you okay?"

I looked up to my friend, whose brows were drawn together.

"Yeah. Why?"

"You're about to scratch your scalp off."

That was when I realized that my hand was in my hair. I quickly took it out, and smiled sheepishly at her.

"Don't worry. I'm okay."

There was a sudden knock on the door. I took my phone and looked at the time.

1705

Adam was here.

"It's Adam."

Her eyes widened before she sprinted out of the room, screeching that she wasn't here before she disappeared behind the steps. I laughed then and went to open the door. Emilia stood there while Adam was still getting out of the car.

"Aunt Lei!", she said while she gave me a hug. I hugged her back and greeted her. Adam got to the door too and we greeted each other.

"Let me take my phone. It's on the couch."

I got inside and took my phone, then we got into the car and we were on our way home.

*******

That night, Adam said that he wanted to make dinner for us. It was my workday, so I just couldn't allow him to make it on his own. After we had bickered for a while, he ended up giving in and we made dinner together. We'd bump into each other every now and then, mumbling apologies at the same time, but after an hour, we had food on the table ready to eat.

After eating the wholesome meal, we did the dishes and I tucked Emilia in for bed. I then went downstairs to see that Adam was on his phone, lounged on the couch. When he saw me, he stood up and put the phone in his pocket.

"Hey."

"Hi."

He looked outside.

"It's a nice night out. How about we go and sit in the garden?"

"It's as if you read my mind. That's exactly where I wanted to go."

He smiled.

"After you."

I blushed and led the way. When we were seated we began to talk about anything that came to mind at that time.

"Adam. What did you think about the sermon about grace?"

He was looking up at the sky when he replied.

"I think it was okay, I guess."

"You guess?"

"Yeah. I guess."

What?

"Why would you guess? Grace is a good thing."

"Yeah. I just don't think everyone deserves it."

"And you're right. We all don't, but because of God's love, he let his son die for us, so that we could be worthy of it."

He looked at me then, eyes hard and emotionless.

"But what about those people who don't deserve his love? Killers, rapists, abusers, all those people."

I shook my head then, wondering where his thoughts were originating from.

"It doesn't matter what you've done. You just have to ask God for forgiveness, and He will forgive you, because his grace and love are sufficient."

He shook his head then, and sat up straight.

"What's wrong, Adam?"

"Everything. Everything's wrong! It's just that........ I don't deserve forgiveness for what I did."

I sat up straight too, and looked at him while he avoided my gaze.

"What you did doesn't matter. Just go to God with it. He'll listen to you."

"What if I killed someone?"

His eyes were pinned on me, the grey of his eyes almost black in the darkness. My heart began to beat faster, feeling a fear I never thought I would when I was around him.

"Who?"

"Katherine."

I shook my head. I didn't want to believe what he was saying. He most certainly couldn't have. She died in a car accident.

"How?"

He looked at his hands then, his face formed into one that seemed like it was looking at something that was beyond disgusting.

"We had just returned from a date night, and it had been a disaster. The business was still at it's developing stage, so potential people from all over called me while we were there. I had tried to explain it to her that I couldn't ignore them, but she saw it as if I was neglecting her. When my phone rang for the third time that night, she stood up and walked out of the restaurant. I paid for the meal and ran out after her. She began to talk about how she didn't want to have the date anymore, and since my appetite had also been ruined, we decided to go home. On our way there, she began to complain about how I was never around anymore and how I had been working more than I had been spending time with her and Emilia when she had just been born. At that time, I became furious and....."

He took a deep breath, and I could see that the emotions were overwhelming him.

"You can stop if-"

He shook his head and smiled wryly before he continued.

"We began to argue while I was driving and before I knew it, a car was in front of us and we collided into each other. Everything went black on me and when I woke up, I was in the hospital. When everything came back to me, I began to ask for my wife but........she had died at the scene of the accident. Her parents blamed me for it, because apparently, she had been telling them about how I was not there for her and the baby."

I wiped the tears that we're about to escape from my eyes  as I listened to the sad story.

"The parents would look at me with so much hatred that, I couldn't even go to church anymore. Even some church members looked at me differently. I couldn't help but blame myself for it."

He looked down then, and he began to shake as tears let themselves loose. I went to sit by his side while I patted his back. Suddenly, I was engulfed in a huge hug. I didn't know what to do, so I just continued on patting him on his back. He only had one friend he could confide in back then. He must've went through a lot on his own all those years.

"I'm so sorry Adam. You can talk to me too when you have something bothering you."

He let me go and looked at me then. He had been at his most vulnerable position with me, and he'd opened up about something that had troubled him for years.

"I know that what happened must've taken a toll on you, but don't you dare ever think that you are alone. God is with you, no matter what. What happened wasn't your fault and I'm sorry that some people made you feel that way. But you have to forgive yourself. Yes, it happened, but forgive yourself. And talk to God often about this. You're still in pain and self hate, but only He can help you out of this. I, also, will be here when you need any help."

I smiled and patted his hands. He stood up and pulled me into another long hug.

"Thank you.", he whispered in my ears.

I closed my eyes then, and allowed myself to enjoy the feeling of being close to him.

†††††

One of the longest chapters I've ever written, but, I loved every second of it.😅✨