Somebody Else (Christian Romance)

TWENTY-TWO

"Thank you for dropping me off, Williams." Irene smiled as she opened the door to the passenger's seat, amplifying the sound of the rain and letting more cold into the car.

"The pleasure is mine." Williams smiled.

Irene was his seatmate in class. She had begged him to drop her off at her hostel when the heavy downpour started as she didn't have an umbrella and she didn't want to get drenched. Although the road to her hostel was a different route from the one Williams would have taken home, he'd agreed to help her. He parked very close to her hostel's entrance so she could hurry inside without much rain touching her. Williams smiled as Irene waved him goodbye and hurried inside. The joyous feelings had come once again. He always felt this strange, yet beautiful feeling of joy whenever he offered help to someone in need, or whenever resisted a temptation. He loved the feeling.

Few minutes passed after Irene went in, yet Williams couldn't bring himself to drive away. He hadn't expected this place to bring back the memories he'd tried to subdue in the past week. Memories of a certain girl who shared the same hostel as Irene. He could clearly remember the last time he was here with Paul. They'd been at the parking lot talking with Stephanie. It baffled him how things had suddenly turned different between them. Now, he couldn't even call her phone. He was sure she'd blocked his line. But he didn't understand why. Did he do something wrong? Did she think he had ulterior motives towards her? Or did she feel he was disturbing her? Was it because he'd told her to stop hanging out with her friends? But he was only trying to help her. Everything he'd told her was for her good.

But why did he even care so much? If she didn't want to be helped, he could just forget about her and move on, right? But then Charles would mess her up just like he'd done to all the other girls he'd played, and Chinnie would turn her into a Jezebel. Stephanie was naïve. She didn't know what she was getting herself into. He could never forgive himself for watching her destroy herself when he could tell her the truth. But how could he tell her the truth when she was shutting him out?

The rain had subsided and several girls were trooping into the hostel, but Stephanie wasn't one of them. The more Williams scanned the people, the more discouraged he got. There were hundreds of girls in this hostel and the chances of him randomly seeing her were very slim. But wait. He could ask Irene. Who knows? He might be lucky and she might just know Stephanie's room number. Silently praying for help, he dialed Irene's number.

"Hey, Williams." Irene's response came almost immediately.

"Irene, sorry to bother you, but have you by any chance come across a certain Stephanie in your hostel?"

"Uhm, what's her last name? because I've come across quite many girls who bear the name, Stephanie."

Williams facepalmed. He couldn't believe he'd never bothered to know her last name. "Well, I don't know her last name."

"Have you tried calling her?"

"Yeah," Williams sighed. "The calls aren't going through."

"Wow, that's serious."

"But I could describe her," Williams said. "maybe you'll know her from my description."

"Okay?"

"Smallish structure, chocolate skin, and tiny voice. She's currently in her first year. Does that ring a bell?"

"Wait." Irene paused. "There's a girl in the room across from mine who sort of fits that description, but I don't know her name and I can't say for sure if she's the person you're looking for."

"Really?" Williams' heart was beating faster. He silently prayed it was Stephanie.

"You know what? Give me a minute. I'll go there and make some inquiries, then I'll get back to you."