part 5
478 Words
The rain came heavier after their kiss, forcing them to break apart, laughing breathlessly as they darted under the awning of a closed shop. Amara pressed her hands to her cheeks, still warm despite the cold drops clinging to her skin.
Adrian leaned against the wall, watching her with an expression that unsettled her—gentle, steady, as though he’d just found something he’d been searching for without even knowing it.
“Amara,” he said quietly, almost reverently. “I didn’t mean for that to happen tonight.”
She hugged her arms around herself, still trembling. “Neither did I.”
“And yet…” His smile was faint, almost cautious.
“And yet,” she echoed, her voice barely above the sound of the storm.
They stood in silence for a moment, the rhythm of rain filling the space between words. Amara’s heart raced, already arguing with itself. Was this a mistake? Was it too soon? But deep down, she knew it wasn’t about timing. It was about recognition. Something in him spoke to something in her, like two pieces of a puzzle clicking together.
Finally, Adrian straightened, pulling off his jacket despite the rain. He draped it over her shoulders. “You’ll catch cold,” he said simply.
Amara wanted to protest, but the warmth of his jacket wrapped around her like more than fabric. It felt like care. She swallowed hard. “Thank you.”
He nodded, then stepped back, giving her space. “I should let you go before your aunt sends out a search party.”
She smiled faintly. “She would, you know.”
They walked the last stretch to the bakery together, their steps slower this time, the air charged with unspoken things. At the corner, Adrian stopped again.
“Amara,” he said softly, “I don’t want to rush this. But I don’t want to pretend either. I like you. More than I should this soon.”
Her breath caught. Honesty like that was rare, and it disarmed her completely.
“I like you too,” she admitted before fear could steal the words away.
The relief in his smile made her chest ache.
“Then let’s see where this goes,” he said. “One step at a time.”
She nodded, unable to do more than that.
When she finally slipped inside the bakery, her aunt was waiting with arms crossed, one eyebrow arched high.
“Rain again?” Aunt Ifeoma asked dryly.
Amara tried to keep her voice steady. “Yes. Rain again.”
But upstairs, when she closed her bedroom door and pressed her back against it, her lips still tingling from his kiss, she whispered the truth to herself:
It wasn’t the rain she was thinking about anymore. It was Adrian Cole.
And somehow, she knew—this was only the beginning.
---
- Writer
