Chapter 71 An Unspoken Love
“I was juvenile, fifteen to be exact, too young to comprehend the context of love and the man I attached all my emotions to was six years older than me.
He was twenty-one, obviously for him I fell into the context of a ‘kid’, I meant nothing to him nor my feelings burst instantly,”
For Arabella, It start slowly, gradually, starting with tiniest details like- Oh, look at his broad shoulders, his smiles, his beard.
How tall. How handsome. How chivalrous. How charming. His voice is so velvety.
The way he stands, the way he talks. The way he smelled, the way he smiled, his posture, his aura, she had never seen a compassionate and flawless personality as his.
“…To me, he is a man straight out of my dreams…”
And after a whole year of contemplation, by the time Arabella turned sixteen, she knew she had lost her path.
All that began to exist in her mind was him. Her dreams began to start and end with him.
Her eyes sought him, her heart raced for him, his thoughts made her smile.
At first, she used to believe in- ‘This is wrong, I must not look at him. What will he think?’
But, unable to stop herself, she was staring at twenty-two year old William who came down to grab something to eat while talking to his girlfriend on the phone.
“Baby, don’t worry, I will be there,” He chuckled, “Well, you don’t have to bring them in between,”
“Where are you lost, Bella? Are you listening?”
Snapping her fingers before the sixteen-years old teenager to break her rhythm, Helena frowned.
“Huh? What?”
Her call made William stop, her heart skipped a beat, praying he won’t think wrong but merely returning a grin, he waved at them.
“Study hard, girls,”
“Yeah, yeah,” Helena smiled, waving back before turning to Arabella who couldn’t help but to blush at his one gesture of attention.
“So, I was asking about the science project. What do you think we should do, Bella?”
“Ye-Yeah, right… um.. Why don’t we ask William?”
“Why? It’s our project, we are supposed to do it. Plus, he is busy working.”
“Yeah…”
And by the end of the day, her perception ended with this- ‘Staring isn’t causing any harm, how can I ‘not’ look?’
Time after time, all that Arabella sought was a moment with him, she searched for reasons to meet Helena at her place.
All to get one glimpse of the man who never bothered to look at her.
Who was solely focused on building a stable career, and providing everything to his siblings.
But- ‘What is wrong with the desire for one eye-contact?’
At that time, she wasn’t near the list of women he intended to date, nowhere among the people he would consider romantically about.
But Arabella was powerless before her feelings and carried her love alone, all on her young shoulders.
Her first love, her first attraction, her first enhancement of feelings.
All of it was so new for the young soul that she failed to handle it and blindly followed her heart, praying one day it would lead her to him.
One day, Helena was absent so she called her, “Where are you, Helena?”
“I am not coming today, Bella, William is sick. He has fever, I am taking care of him,”
“What?! Why didn’t you tell me?! Is he okay?!”
She literally panicked, her chest clenched at the smallest news of his discomfort.
“Relax, he will be fine. Can you send me the notes for today?”
“Sure,”
And the very next thing she did was to take help from her mother and made soup for the first time in her life for him and went to their place.
“Hey guys, how are you? Helena told me you are sick,” She whispered, eyeing how Helena was worried for her brother.
Helena was changing wet towels on his forehead, sighing at him.
And how hopelessly Arabellla wished to be in her place, running her fingers through his locks.
Probably touch him because apart from their handshake at greeting, she had never touched him, not even accidentally.
“Ah, she is exaggerating, I will be fine,” William laughed, sitting up and blowing his nose.
“Helena, here, I came to drop the notes and this soup for William, I made this,”
“Really? For me? Well, thank you so much. Learn something from your friend,” He grinned, poking Helena.
‘He even looks handsome while being sick…’
Silently observing his shoulders as he got out of the bed, “Where are you going?”
“Bathroom,”
He walked past Arabella, enhancing her heartbeats, fulfilling her smallest desires of his proximity that brought a beautiful smile on her lips.
“I.. I should go too. Take care,”
Quickly bidding her goodbye, she left with her feelings growing by each passing second.
The spending days, his one sight, all of it was bringing her closer to him and despite knowing the man had a girlfriend, she couldn’t stop herself.
“He is out of your league. You are a kid to him, he would never notice you, he would never feel anything for you- I tried to convince myself to stop many times.
But, whenever my eyes locked on him, I was no longer myself. Handling was such an impossible task.”
William came to pick up Helena from the high school but his sister was nowhere to be found that made him groan.
Following the opportunity to spend two moments with him alone, she rushed to his side immediately.
“William!”
“Ah, Arabella. Where is Helena? I was supposed to pick her up so we could buy that diamond set she loved,”
Looking down when the comprehension of the difference in their status sank in, Arabella informed him softly, “She went on a date.”
But, latching emotions wasn’t costing anything. It was supposedly a simple one-sided attraction, she had no complaints carrying it alone.
“This girl...”
Sighing, he shook his head and turned to leave but she called him hesitantly. Mustering up courage to complete her scant wish.
Be alone with him.
“Umm.. William, if you don’t mind, since you are here. Can- can you drop me home? Please?”
“Sure, come along,”
Not thinking deeply about it, he gestured to her to come as they left.