Eternally Yours

Pace A-picking

He had assured her that he had no interest in Jennifer but she couldn't allow herself to believe him although she knew he was telling the truth. Her actual problem was not the fact that he called her name in his sleep, but the fact that she knew that Jennifer wanted him but he wasn't willing to get her out of the way.

Whether or not he was going to admit it, he cared for Jennifer and Isabelle was too scared that his care for her would one day become something more.

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One day, Isabelle went on her normal morning jog that she usually did before going to work. It was one of the only forms of exercise that she did because was always very fit even as a child so she never saw the need for any other kind of workout.

While she ran, she had a feeling that someone was following her and when she looked over her shoulder, there indeed was someone running behind her and from the look of things, he was following her.

At first, she thought that maybe it was Josh but upon further assessment, she saw that this man was black so it definitely wasn't Josh and that was when she became even more worried.

It was early in the morning. She was exposed in a scanty park. There was a strange man behind her. She felt like she was in a horror novel but rather than be the helpless victim in this story, she would fight.

After summoning the courage she needed, Isabelle picked up a rock, swiftly turned around and hit the man that was following her on the side of his head. He fell to the ground in pain and she stood over him, ready to hit him again.

"Who are you and why are you following me?" She shouted at him.

"Oh, my God! I'm bleeding," The strange man said with his hand on his head.

"Well, it's going to get worse for you if you don't tell me who!" She yelled and moved closer to him.

"I know you. You were best friends with my sister back in high school." The man said.

"Are you talking about Tasha Johnson?" She asked, seeing as that was her only friend in high school.

"Yes," he answered.

She took a better look at him and realized who he was. It was the older brother of one of her best friends in the entire world.

"Neo?" She called his name to make sure.

"Yep, that's me," he said with a wince.

"Oh my! I am so sorry. I didn't know it was you," she said and helped him to his feet.

They both took a seat on a bench in the park and Isabelle helped him clean his wound with a pack of ice she got from an ice cream truck.

"Why didn't you just walk up to me and tell me who you were?" Isabelle scolded.

"I wasn't sure that was you so I wanted to get a better look at your face first, you know, so I wouldn't come off as a creep," He said.

"Yeah, that didn't work out, now did it?" She said with a smile.

"No, it didn't," He said and winced in pain.

"I am so sorry about this, Neo. How about I take you back to my place and get you a Band-Aid? I live just around the corner." Isabelle said.

"Yeah, that'd be great," Neo said and she took him back to her apartment.

As they walked to her place, Zarif and Gentel watched them go.

"I can tell that this Neo person has feelings for our Isabelle," Zarif said to his sister.

"You're right. I can feel it too. This is an opportunity that has fallen right into our hands, Zarif. We must make the most of it." Gentel said.