UNEDITED VERSION
When a social outcast who's harbouring secrets meets a stone-cold soccer player with an intense stare- sparks fly. The only question is whether they'll allow distance to come between them.
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Eden Orlov ha...
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It was raining, just like it usually did in London. I woke up to the noise of droplets rattling against my window. Thunder reverberated just as the droplets hit the streets, the shutters, vehicles and everything else. Together, the two made a blissful noise. It was a natural harmony, appearing as if Mother Nature herself was singing. I pushed up from the comfort of my bed, nearly blanching at the time. Rainy mornings always made me sleep in later than expected. I knew I had to be up early because Papa had given me a job.
The tour was due to take place in about two hours but I needed more time than that to think of a ploy to not hold it. I'd end up getting distracted and start talking about the history of the place—and nobody needed that. After talking to Christian last night, the word humiliation took on a whole new definition for me. The guy had the emotional range of a doorknob and I felt like he was judging me. I'd only ever had one friend before and we were inseparable so I never had to feel self-conscious or terrified of being judged. But when my best friend and I split—I felt alone in the world.
I became more of an outcast because I was abandoned so I started homeschooling. The vast difference between me and other teenagers made me feel like an alien. So I did what I did best—study facts and stories. The world was a cruel and dangerous place, somewhere I never belonged. I thought my tender heart could challenge it; what a fool I was. It was like expecting a tiger not to devour me all because I vowed not to injure it first. To the pages of books was where I shifted, getting lost in adventures that wouldn't harm me like the ones in real life, ones that sequentially ended in despair and heartbreak. At least in some books, there were happily ever afters.
Fourteen-year-old me promised herself that she would shield herself from the world and not be tempted by it. Temptation was the devil's tool to try to mislead us. I was satisfied with the mundane life I was living. But I never expected to be as tempted as I was last night. I wasn't ready for my reaction to Christian to hit me that hard. Increased heart rate, sweaty forehead, slack jaw—all signs of being attracted to someone, at least from what I'd read about.
It was his eyes that first snagged my attention. They were so profoundly blue, pulling me into a sea of frozen emotions. Someone may as well have named a crayon after him. I could tell by the way he carried himself that he didn't like me. I always thought that blue eyes were expressive, and exhibited delight—yet his eyes didn't. There appeared to be a snowstorm raging in him, one that would never halt. At that moment, a tremor had ran through me the longer I stared into those frozen irises of his. I was intrigued, and I knew it was dangerous.
Once I finished freshening up, I slipped into a pair of black tights and a fluffy sweater, running a hand over the daisy pendant around my neck. Picking up the book next to my bed, titled The Man In The Library, I placed it back onto one of the many bookshelves in my room. I shoved my feet into some boots and I made my descent downstairs. It was just after 9 am and I spotted my older sister in the kitchen making breakfast.
Mary's eyes were every shade of the forest. It reminded me of when the beams of the sun kissed the leaves. It reminded me of summer, of happiness—which is exactly what she gave off when she turned to smile at me. She'd been seven when I was born and most assumed she wouldn't take well to me since she was an only child for too long. But she was ecstatic and treated me like her own personal doll.
