"Why are we here again?" I ask Ian
We both are standing near the entrance of the mall. The long escalators in front of us as people walk by us to get on it. This mall is the largest one in Sydney, it has almost everything available here. More than a hundred stores are built inside this large building.
The sun is up and it's rays falling down on us from the above glass ceiling as it's 4 pm in the afternoon. Last night, Jeff didn't leave me after one race and made me go for another three races. I came back home at 3 in the morning and got up at 6am , I took buddy out for a walk , did some work out and obviously went to work. My whole body was draining. That's when Ian called me, sounding like he was in trouble. I literally rushed out of my office only to find out this guy wanted a company to go to the mall?
I have never felt so irritated with someone.
I glare at him for the 5th time in the last 2 minutes as he is looking around the mall trying to search for someone.
I yank his shoulder making him look at me "Why did you bring me here?" My tone is filled with annoyance, I am throwing daggers at him with my eyes at this moment. He releases his shoulder from my grip making me more angry
"Zuri is here and I wanted to follow her" Ian replied with a shrug not being bothered by my irritation
"You brought me here to Stalk your ex-girlfriend who happens to be my childhood friend?" I ask in disbelief, He nods
I groan, this guy is unbelievable. Why the hell would want to stalk Zuri? If she knows that this guy is following her like a dog she will definitely kick his balls. Zuri is the sweetest person but not with him. Our families are friends hence we were too. Their childhood friendship grew into a relationship as they dated for 3 years and then one day something went wrong, it was Ian who messed up and since then Zuri hates to even listen to his name. And this guy wants to dig his own grave, he wants me to fulfill his last wish now
I am surrounded by the most chaotic friends ever. Adam is practically a comedian, Jeff is a psychopath and now Ian has become a stalker
"Look Ian, in this matter you messed up. She left and she has no intention of coming back so give up okay?" I say him and these are my genuine words because he is hurting Zuri and himself too
He sighs and looks down at his shoes thinking of something. I could notice the look of guilt on his face as he met, my eyes "I know, I just want to see her okay? I can't meet her at the university because it will cause drama and I am not allowed to go to her home either. Just a word is enough" he says without a tone of desperation in his words
I take a deep breath and look at the glass ceiling again. Reconsidering if I should join him or not. This is a really stupid idea to follow her
"She came with Camilia and Stella is also here"
My head snaps when he mentions Stella's name. Wait, she is her? In the mall?
"She is here? At the mall?" I try to reconfirm
Ian grins at me "Yeah Liam. Do you think I would forget about you?" his words may sound caring but his tone is teasing me for the way I reacted
Well if Stella is here then I can stay here forever
Before Ian would annoy me further, I walk forward towards the escalator and step on it. Ian takes a step behind me. His eyes wander around the stores as the escalator takes up to the first floor.
"Where do you think they will be?" He asks
My eyes search at the stores around the floor while we stand at a corner. If Stella is here shopping the first thing she would look at are her books, but she told me that she already brought a few books. If not books then the only place I could find her is a footwear store.
I gesture Ian to follow me as I walk around the floor to the other end. This is the same mall where I met Stella a few months back and I remember she was looking at a pair of boots on the display. If she is here again, I know she would want to buy them again
Luckily, I remember the store. I stop my track in front of the entrance looking inside through the glass door. Ian steps forward to look more closely. Suddenly he steps back and steps on my foot making groan and move back,
Hell, he literally stomped my foot
I try to shake off the pain, before I could even react Ian pushes me inside another store and makes me stand behind a mannequin. I jerk his hand off my arm "What the hell are you-" he cuts me off by forcing my head down as he also ducks down. Making us both crouch down at the feet of the mannequins.
I open my mouth to speak but he keeps his index finger on his lips telling me to keep quiet and points at the front. As we are behind the mannequins at the display, some sight outside is still visible. My eyes widened as I noticed Stella, Zuri and Camilla walking by the store we are in.
After we are sure that they are out of the sight, Ian and I stand up straight
"Damn-that was so close" he sighs in relief
"You could have told me they are coming. Why did you create so much chaos?" I raise my voice due to the anger building inside me. Ian glances at his left, making me follow his actions. The customers in the store are looking at us, no they are staring at us.
I shut my eyes as a wave of embarrassment took over me. God dammit they might have seen us hiding behind the mannequins like thieves. Without wasting any more time embarrassing myself I walk out of the store to a distance to disappear from their sight. Ian follows me out quickly
"If you want to talk to her, open your mouth and confront her. What the hell was that!" I snap at him
Even he is feeling humiliated with his own actions. "Even if they saw us, what would happen? It's a mall for God sake people can dump into each other" I continue with my words, the irritation never leaving my body. Nothing is going right since I stepped inside this mall
"I panicked okay? I was looking inside the store when I saw Stella walking towards the door. I didn't wanna get caught so I pushed you inside another store" he gives his excuse. But doesn't have any apologetic look on his face
"Liam?"
A soft low pitch voice calls out my name behind Ian. I smile as I recognised her voice very well.
"Didn't wanna get caught huh? Good luck with that" I say in a low tone to Ian and shove him out of my sight and step closer to Stella who was standing right behind him
"Hey, what a coincidence" I try to act preserved, forgetting all the past events that happened. She beams making her cheekbones lift up and highlight the small freckles on his face. It's been so long since I saw her bare face because she mostly likes to cover up her most extraordinary feature
Even the God has taken an interest to paint her face with tiny stars on her face
I notice the two shopping bags in her hand "Shopping?"
"Yeah, what about you?"
"Nothing, just hanging out" I empathize with the word 'hanging out' glancing at Ian with the corner of my eye. He scratches the back of his neck as he is caught up in an awkward situation
"Oh, hey Liam!" Zuri greets me as she stands beside Stella and Camilla at the other side of her. "What are you doing here?" Zuri asks. I wanted to reply but her expression changes from a smile to a frown when Ian appears in front of her
And here it goes again
"We were just hanging out" I say clearing my throat to ease the tension between these two.
"Liam, you shouldn't hang out with fools they tend to drain out your energy" Zuri mocks . Her eyes are at me but her words are directed to Ian. Both Stella and Camilla are shocked at her way of speaking, this is not new for me
Ian is unaffected by her words, it's a daily routine of his to get insulted by her
"We were about to grab lunch, wanna join?" Stella asks. It's half past four now, I have already had my lunch at the office but if this is the way to spend more time with her so why not.
"Of course I would love to. If you guys don't have a problem" I take confirmation from Zuri and Camilla. They don't mind me but Zuri is definitely having a problem with Ian. She gives him a death glare and walks away, Camilia follows her and Ian also joins them. Leaving me and Stella walking at a distance from them
I slip the shopping bags from her hand and carry them while walking. She tries to take them back but I shift the bags to the other side preventing her from taking them again. At the end she gives up letting me carry the bags
I take a look at her outfit, she is wearing a simple white dress which is falling till her knees, and a mint colour cardigan to keep herself warm. Her golden hair falling down till her waist styled into soft curls at the end. Her side strands are secured with a small flower pin on the right side which makes her look adorable.
She is wearing a pair of white heels which have a butterfly on top of each heel. That's her signature look.
She looks beautiful today, she always does but today her face is glowing brighter than usual, she looks genuinely happy and peaceful. Her freckled smile gives me a sense of warmth in my heart
I could hear the argument happening between Zuri and Ian a few feet away from us. Camilla is standing between those two angry birds, as they fight for which place is better for lunch.
Their never ending saga
I stop my steps but Stella looks invested to stop them before she could walk towards them I grab her hand and make her turn towards me. My sudden action makes her surprised "It's useless, they won't stop" I take a look at the two who are still barking at each other. Camilia stomps her foot in annoyance and strides somewhere, even she can't handle them
"But we still need to stop them right?" Stella tries to slip away from my grip but I keep her close holding onto her hand carefully enough not to hurt her "It's not a new thing, they will solve it by themselves. We should go somewhere" I suggest her in hopes she agrees
I want some alone time with her with no disturbance from anyone
"Do you have a place?" Her question makes me smile because it's a sign that she is willing to go somewhere and I have a perfect place to take her "How about we go to downtown?" My words make her nod with excitement
We exit the mall as i guide her to my car, I open the door for her and she sits inside Whispering a small Thank you. I close the door and walk back to the driving seat and sit inside, I place her bags backseat and wear the seatbelt and she does the same "Ready?" I ask
She nods and I start driving
Downtown is the name of a fast food Street, it's like an never ending food fest which runs 24/7 with all kinds of delicious food from around the world, it's a busy tourist spot too but it spreads to a large area , not making it congested
It's just a five minute drive from here
"So how did your exams go?" I ask her while driving to our destination.
"They went well and now I have a two week vacation" she sounds so giddy up with the idea of having a few days away from University "Now I can read all the books in my tbr" she finishes with a squeak.
I Chuckle at her excitement, i decide to ask her a question"So what book are you deciding to read next?" She scrunches her nose a little trying to come up with an answer "I haven't decided yet but I will soon"
Between our conversation I park the car a bit away from the downtown area, people have already started to enter the place because it gets crowded at night more than the day. The sun hasn't set yet so it's a perfect time to spend sometime here without getting crushed by each other
We both start walking towards the place as the walkway slopes downwards, Stella takes each step carefully because of the slope trying her best not to slip due to her heels. The slope is not that bad but her footwear is making it harder for her to walk. I hold her hand as she regains her balance and we both walk hand in hand until the slope ends and the walkway is flat again.
The downtown street is in front of us, both of the sides filled with food trucks, shops and stalls of all kinds of food. The mouth watering smell of food takes over me.
Stella pulls me towards a food stall, her soft hand still in mine, it's a little bit cold but I hope my hand makes it warmer like her presence warms me up
It's a Chinese food stall with varieties of fast food in front
"Which one?" I ask trying to read the names of all types of momos available at the stall "Hm steamed dumplings!" She replies, as her hand never leaves mine. I nod and ask the stall owner a plate of steamed dumplings and pay through my phone avoiding to take out my wallet which will make me release her hand.
The dumplings were ready to eat as the owner served them on the plate straight out of the hot pot. Stella takes the plate smiling from ear to ear, but her smile turns into a pout quick enough "What happened?" I ask in confusion, she didn't even eat it yet, does she not like it?
"How am I supposed to eat with these!" She whines showing me the chopsticks which come with the dumplings, she huffs in annoyance which makes her look like a dumpling herself.
I burst out laughing at her reaction, She glares at me because I found it funny. I take the chopsticks from her hand and hold them between my fingers and pick up a dumpling and push it inside my mouth.
The soft and chewy texture melts in my mouth making me crave some more, I take another momo while Stella gasps in shock as I continue to enjoy the food.
"Hey! I wanna eat!" She crosses her arms as I take the plate away from her making her look at me in disbelief. Oh I love to tease her "Sure eat them" I give her another pair of chopsticks and forward the plate towards her.
"I can't eat with these!" She says , lifting the chopstick and pointing them at my nose trying to scare me but I laugh out more. As I continue to tease her more she stabs one of the dumplings with a chopstick and tries to eat it but because of it's soft filling, before Stella could eat the dumpling it slips down the chopstick and falls back to the plate as Stella's mouth is still open waiting for the dumpling
I start laughing even more.
She puts the chopsticks away and keeps glaring at me, she looks too cute when she is angry "You cannot laugh at me like that! I am hungry!" She tries to sound angry but fails
I nod and stop laughing "I am sorry it was too funny. Here let me help" I say and pick a dumpling from my chopstick and hold her against her mouth, I thought she would reject it but surprisingly she eats it without any hesitation. I pick up another piece for her waiting until she swallows the first one. I could ask for a fork too but this is more fun
She opens her mouth like a small kid waiting for another dumpling, I take it to her mouth but before she could take a bite I eat the dumpling myself making her gasp in disbelief again. She snatch the plate from my hand "How dare you!" She squints her eyes at me
I Chuckle
I pick another dumpling and hold it near her mouth, she looks at the dumpling and then at me suspiciously thinking I will pull away again. She grabs my hand keeping it in place so I can't do any tricks again and bites the dumpling. I don't try anything funny with her again because she is hungry and feed her properly
After we finish we go to other stalls buying ourselves potato sticks, hot dogs, brownies and cotton candy. The sun has already set down and the street lights are lightened up, the area gets more busy as the time passes, noises get louder with the streets becoming busy
Stella holds a star shaped cotton candy which matches the color of her cardigan, she takes a bite out of it as we search for an empty bench to sit "This was so fun!" She exclaimes with a bright smile on her face enjoying the cotton candy
I notice an empty sidewalk where the stalls seemed to be closed, I guide her towards the bench I spotted near the sidewalk. "You should try this!" Stella takes a bit of cotton candy to feed me before i could eat it she stumbles backwards, I notice her heel inching down the small staircase
I quickly hold her waist and her hand pulling her closer, to balance herself she drops the cotton candy and grabs on my shoulder but it's too late as I hear her wince
I take a look to find her foot already hanging down the first stair, she holds my shoulder tighter as a small groan of pain escapes from her mouth. A side my heart clenches as I see a bit of blood dripping from her ankle bone which was due to the scratch caused by the edge of the stairs. Her right shoe heel broke maybe when she tried to balance herself but the sudden weight made her lose her balance making her foot twist
"Are you okay?" I ask, examining her. Her face scrunches a little in pain as she shakes her head. My expression softens "Please excuse me for this" she looks at me confused before she could question. I pick her up in my arms and steps downstairs. These are only 4 to 5 stairs and we both didn't notice them.
Stella holds my shoulder for support but doesn't argue as I carry her to the bench and make her sit on it. I do like the feeling of her in my arms
I kneel on my knee and slowly remove her heel looking at the scratch. She flinches a little as my thumb brushes over her ankle "Do you think you sprained your ankle?" I ask looking up at her
The bright smile she had a few moments ago is now taken away by the pain making me feel uneasy . "No, I don't think it's a sprain the scratch but it stings though" her voice comes out as a whisper as she looks at her foot
I take a deep breath thinking what to do. For now it's better if I treat her foot first and then get it examined by the doctors later. I stand up "Stay here, I will be back soon okay? Keep your phone in your hand and call me if something happens"
She nods at my words, making me a bit assured. I look at her one last time and run back to the car. It's a bit far and all the crowd makes it difficult to pass through them.
'I am sorry'
'Please excuse me'
'Sorry my bad'
'Excuse me'
I keep apologizing to everyone I bump into while running back to the car. Due to all the pushing and running I could feel myself getting hot even in this season.
As I reach my car I quickly grab a few cotton strips and bandages I carry around in case of emergency and today is the day. I open the car boot and look at the shoe box which I brought a week ago. I grab the box and rush back down the lane where I left Stella
She is still sitting in the same position as I left her. Noticing my presence she gives me a small smile. I keep the shoe box beside me and kneel down and take her feet in my hand, slowly tapping around the strach wiping off the blood before applying the bandage
"Thank you" she says, looking at me still keeping a smile. It gives me a bit of relief but doesn't reduce my worries. "Do you think you can walk?" I ask
She wiggles her feet once and nods "I think I can but my beautiful heel is broken. I guess I gotta walk bare feet now" her smile curves down looking at her broken heels. They are surely beautiful and might be her favorite too
"I can do something about the bare feet problem" I say, opening the shoe box and showing it to her. Her eyes widened looking at the pair of white sneakers "where did you get these?" She asks
I just shrugged my shoulders "I had them"
I remove the sneakers from the box and make her wear them, being careful with the right one which could sting her pain. They fit her perfectly, when we were at the ice cream shop last time I noticed her shoe size and brought a pair of sneakers because I knew she would rather hurt her feet by wearing heels instead of wearing something more safe and comfortable and also because I didn't want her to run around bare feet again
They did come in handy. I keep her heels back into the shoe box
She lifts her feet up a little looking at the white sneakers which have a golden chain on the side. It's simple yet fashionable and also matches her white dress "They are so cute and pretty! I can't believe they fit so perfectly, but why do you have them?"
"Hm well I brought them for my sister, it happens to fit you too. You can use them. I have another pair for her" I am impressed by the lie I came up with. Wow-
"Thank you and sorry for the trouble I didn't want-" I cut her off "You ain't gonna apologize to me, it was an accident. I want you to recover soon" listening to me she gives me a warm smile while nodding
This is the smile I wanted
"Do you want to go back to the dorm or should I take you to the hospital?"
She quickly shakes her head "Woah, hold up. I am fine. It was a mere stumble. My feet are perfectly alright it just stings a little nothing more"
I sigh, still worried about it but she is saying she is alright yet it doesn't make me assured "Are you sure? Because we can go there just to make sure" I try to convince her for a check up but her expressions show she doesn't want it. I shouldn't push her "Okay, if you say so"
She stands up at her feet without any pain. Okay that's a good sign "Stop treating me like i am some kind of princess" she says with a bit of playfulness dancing in her eyes
I lean down closer to her face, as she is not wearing her heels her height has decreased a little bit I ain't complaining "My bad, I should be treating you like a Queen instead"
She giggles at my words and a tiny water droplet of water falls on her cheek making her stop and look at me with the same expression as mine
"Oh no-"
"Oh no-"
We spoke at the same time and suddenly the rain started pouring down on us. I pull her under the shade of a shop, the small shade couldn't cover both of us. I make her stand against the shutter of the shop and stand in front of her, the cold water pours down from the shade down to my back making me shiver.
I take a step forward and place my hands on the shutter covering her from.the heavy downpour
All the people on the street and the stall owner start to wrap up their food and people run away looking for shelter. Few people open their umbrellas protecting themselves
I look down at Stella as she is trapped between my arms. I am standing so close to her that I could listen to her breathing, our bodies are practically pressing against each other. My whole back is drenched due to rain but I couldn't care less about that.
My breathing shakes as I feel her eyes meeting mine, we don't speak a word, there is just silence with the sound of rain pouring down. The area went silent as we were away from the main street. Her sweet lavender scent makes me lean closer to her neck. Her turns her face to the side
Maybe I am crossing the line
I take a step back and remove my hands, the cold water hits my back again but I don't dare to move. My fist clenches as she looks at me with a tint of redness coating her cheeks.
I wanna get closer to he
I wanna touch her
I want her lips against mine
How does she feel like
How does she taste like
The temptation is too hard to resist
My heart starts pounding even thinking about it. I take a deep breath and step closer to her again. My body is touching hers again. I slowly tug the hair strand falling on her face behind her ear. She doesn't flinch or look away from me. It gives me confidence to go further
I caress her cheek, and could feel the goosebumps spreading across her neck . I keep a palm on her jaw and caress her cheek with my thumb, her soft delicate skin feels good against me.
God please I pray for her, to make her mine, my mind, my heart and my soul is longing for her
My gaze falls on her lips, my thumb automatically brushes above her lips, they feel soft and sweet, if I could kiss her once to know. My gaze shifts to her flustered face
"You have no idea how badly i wanna kiss you right now" I speak against her lips only a few inches away from hers which could meet any moment
I am losing myself to her
"Then why don't you" her words make me skip a heartbeat. Did I hear correctly? I hope my mind isn't playing games with me.
I gulp
"I won't-" I say. She looks at me with confusion as I lean away from her face but still close to her "Because when I kiss you I want you to feel the same way I feel for you"
She doesn't know
She doesn't know how deeply I am in love with her
I don't know what's going on in her mind right now
I want her to feel the same way as I feel. How much I want to hold her in my arms
"How do you feel?" She asks
"My heart beats when I see you smile, my heart clenches when I notice a small glimpse of pain on your face. Your presence warms up something inside of me that I couldn't describe. I feel a sense of peace when you are around me, your voice makes me forget all of my worries.
This is not just lust or desires which could go and come any moment. I am attracted to you Stella, I don't mind being vulnerable in front of you. Your presence is enough to comfort me, enough to make me open up my feelings to you. I have grown an attachment towards you that thinking of losing you makes me scared for my life. I like you Stella to the extent it's driving me insane. I want to be yours freckles, I want to hold you in my arms"
I keep my voice as gentle as possible, worried that I might break down. I don't know if it's a proper confession like the one in her books with expensive gifts or flowers. I said what I kept in my heart, every word, every sentence showed my desperation for her.
"I can stand under the rain with you until we get drenched because even though those dark clouds are covering the starry night. Because I know among everyone my star will shine the brightest"
She looks at me with her mouth slightly open. She is still processing my words, her expression shows a sense of amusement. Her breathing is fast and heavy as she is struggling to come up with words. Her lips tremble as she tries to speak but nothing comes out of her
"Tell me, Stella. Do you feel the same way?"
I lean closer to her lips again and ask again "Do you want me to kiss you?" My eyes linger on her lips as I wait for her answer. I look my eyes with her again as I could feel her eyes softening but her shoulders are still tensed up
"No"
Her one word was enough for me to back off
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Author's Note
I don't know if you guys are disappointed or angry but I worked really hard on the confession part ð(there will be more)
This is the slow burn I was talking about. I think this is the longest chapter I ever wrote. I thought to divide this into two chapters but I thought it was dragging so i combined two chapters
It's not the end yet guys. You have seen the spoilers on reels , they will date ð
I am writing during my exams guys, have some mercy on me and vote. I spend days writing chapters but you read it in 10 minutes so please take out 1 second of your precious time and press the star icon to VOTE!
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