A Diamond Among Pearls (Diamonds & Pearls #2)

CHAPTER 1-How Did We Get Here (Daleela)

      Cole and I stood in the middle of the airport for God knows how long, just staring at each other in disbelief. 

      I slowly drank in the sight of a completely transformed Cole Brackson. All signs of boyishness were gone completely gone from his features. He was all strong lines and broad shoulders.  His recently groomed dark curls were combed back from his face. His full beard which somehow made him look better than I could have ever dreamed, was lined with the precision only an experienced barber could give. His arm muscles strained against his dark suit sleeves. He was absolutely stunning. 

      My eyes found their way back to his. It felt like my heart was going to rip free from my chest when the soft brown light of his eyes met mine. My stomach lurched painfully and I felt like I was going to vomit right onto the shiny white airport floor. This could not be. Cole was not standing in front of me right now. It had to be a great big joke someone was playing on me. He couldn't be real. He just couldn't be. 

      "Daleela?" He said my name again. It rolled off of his tongue so smoothly, as if he'd practiced speaking my name every day for the past  5 years just to make me melt during this exact moment. Hearing his voice again made the icy wall I'd put up around my heart tremble as if would shatter completely. I sucked in a breath and my head began to spin slightly before everything came into sharp focus. 

      "No," I whispered angrily, finding that I was no longer completely in control of my emotions. I clutched my luggage tighter as tears began to gather involuntarily in the corners of my eyes. I shook my head sharply. 

      "W-what," Cole sputtered, his deep voice like a warm blanket. His expression was wrought with confusion, concern, and then something like fear spread across his features as he took a step toward me, hand out. 

      "We are not doing this," I snapped, pulling all of my emotions securely back behind the icy wall that had protected my heart for years now. I turned quickly on my heels and began to walk away. Anger began to pump through my veins giving me energy I hadn't known I could muster mere moments ago. I'd come too far to let him back in. I'd worked too hard to get over him and focus on who I was trying to become.

      "Daleela wait!" Cole shouted after me, obviously not caring about all the people starting to stare at us now. I could hear him getting closer but I kept walking anyway. I felt a soft tug on my luggage and I whirled on him, the dam of anger inside of me breaking. 

      Before I could breathe the rage building inside of me into existence, the tears I found in his brown eyes made it all fizzle out. He had this raw look of desperation on his face.  He looked so desperate that it my heart clenched in my chest at the sight of him. "I didn't- I couldn't..." He stuttered, searching my eyes as words failed him. "I was wrong. I was so wrong Daleela and I'm sorry. I'm so sorry I left. I should have fought harder for us." 

      "Fought harder?" I spat, the rage returning. I felt a massive lump forming in my throat as I spoke my next words. "What do you mean fought harder? You didn't fight at all Cole." 

      "Daleela-"

      "You left me," I whispered. My voice broke, completely giving away the pain that I was trying so hard to conceal. I tried to ignore the complete heartbreak I could see in Cole's eyes as he weakly let go of my luggage. The protective anger boiling inside of me made it hard for me to care. It took everything in me to pull myself together in that moment. "Do me a favor and pretend you never saw me. That shouldn't be too hard for you since you've been doing it all this time." I said coldly. 

      And with that, I walked away from him and did not look back once. An awful part of me felt satisfaction in the fact that it was me hurting him this time, that it was me choosing to walk away. But the moment I was situated in my seat on the plane, my hands began to shake and I felt like my world was falling apart. The sudden realization hit me like a ton of bricks. 

      I still loved him. 

      After all these years. After all of the therapy, the medication, the depression, and the healing; I still loved him. I did what I could to stifle the sob that threatened to spill out of me. Why would he do this to me? Why would he appear in my life like this again? All he had to do was stay away. 

      What was I supposed to do now?