A Lily Among Thorns

𝙲𝙷𝙰𝙿𝚃𝙴𝚁 𝙴𝙻𝙴𝚅𝙴𝙽

✞ J U L I A N W E S T B R O O K ✞

Julian watches Celai come from her client's house. She turns to wave goodbye with a friendly smile and Julian's eyes sweep over her almost involuntarily. With each step she takes closer to his car, he takes in more of her; he thinks she looks beautiful today.

Maybe it's her large, springy-coiled fro she's wearing or maybe it's the contrast of her white, loose sweater with her dark, tight-fitting jeans. Or maybe it's a combination of both. Regardless, Julian isn't taking her looks the wrong way, he's admiring her as opposed to lusting over her. And yet, he is still guilty.

He has the Holy Spirit within him, but he doesn't need His conviction; he knows that what he's doing— developing feelings for Celai— is wrong. But he isn't good at denying them. He's pleased that his attraction to Celai is due to her character and not only her physical features, which was his mistake with Demi.

Celai opens his car door and quickly closes it back when she gets in, probably because of how cold it is outside. Julian finds himself sharing the same smile she has and starting to be uplifted by the good mood she's in.

Or maybe he's just sprung.

"How'd it go?" he asks her.

Earlier, Celai was telling Julian how she was nervous about being told to accomplish a lot of work in a small amount of time, but now her smile is too big for her not to have done it all.

"You were righttt," she drags. "I finished just in time and Ms. Auburn loved it so much, she told me she would be contacting me soon to renovate her kitchen."

"I told you that you'd do alright. You gotta learn to put a lil more faith in God, He gave you your gift for a reason," he says as he begins driving out of the neighborhood.

"I know, I've been working on it. But God is so gracious, He still blessed me with a really nice tip from my client."

Julian glances over to her lap and sees her trying to conceal a spread of hundred dollar bills. "Did you rob the lady?" he jokes.

She stuffs the money in her bag and looks at him with a playful anger in her eyes. "No, Julian, I'm helping a friend financially and God knew I'd need some extra cash."

Julian raises an eyebrow. The more time he spent around Celai, the more green flags he saw in her. "I didn't know you were helping someone out. I thought you were saving up for your own place."

She shrugs. "If there's a will, there's a way. And God is definitely making a way."

He agrees with her by giving her a short nod. "That reminds me of when David helped that Egyptian man in 1 Samuel," he says.

Celai cocks her head to the side a little. "I don't think I know that story."

Julian tries not to show his eagerness as he speaks. "David and his army found out their families had been kidnapped and they had no idea where to go. So they just started going in one direction but David saw a dying Egyptian man along the way and when he stopped to help him, the Egyptian told David where the kidnappers were."

He glances over at her and sees she's listening closely. "It applies to your situation because you have a goal that aligns with God's will but you stopped to help a friend financially and got blessed financially as a result."