Seeing You Smile

Arriving at her economics class, Adeline saw Molly and Abigail sitting near the teacher's table, so she decided to call them to sit with her, but they both refused. Adeline tried asking why, but before they could even respond, Nicholas suddenly came, grabbed her wrist, and gently pulled her towards the seat behind them.

Adeline furrowed her eyebrows. "What are you doing? I'm not yet finished talking to them."

Nicholas loosened his grip. "I told them not to sit with you cause we need to talk."

"Our professor's gonna be here soon. Save it for later."

"Just give me a—"

"Where's Peter and Jacob? Isn't their first class economics too?"

Nicholas sat closer to her. "Stop beating around the bush. I need to ask you something."

As soon as Nicholas' arm touched hers, her heart started beating like crazy. Even though it wasn't the first time, she still felt nervous. She wasn't certain if he felt the same way, but she didn't care. Was it wrong to fall for your best friend? She was one of the prettiest girl in the entire campus, but why wouldn't he look at her in that loving way? For almost eight years, she tried everything, but it was futile.

She didn't want to wait for the day where he'd come and tell her that he was in love with someone else. Nicholas was her first love, but she seemed to believe the saying, "First love is never your true love." She tried getting rid of those feelings, but she failed. Her love for him was everlasting.

"Adele, you hear me?" Nicholas called for the third time.

Adeline snapped back to her senses. "Sorry, what did you say?"

"I asked if you were angry at me. You're peculiar behavior is worrying me."

"Well, I can't seem to—"

Her sentence was cut off when Mr. Edmond, their profesor came in. "Everyone, settle down."

"We'll talk later," Adeline whispered.

Nicholas glared. "Don't you dare run away after class."

A few hours later, while Adeline was on her way to the nearby bookstore to meet up with Molly, a man in a black cap suddenly covered her mouth and brought her to the dark corner of the alley.

She tried kicking him from the back, but before she was able to do that, the man removed his hat and said, "Hey, it's me."

Adeline looked back. "Nicholas? What are you doing? Let go!"

Nicholas simultaneously covered her mouth and brought her closer to his body. "Shhh! Stay quiet."

Adeline wanted to tell him that they were too close, but before she could even say that, Nicholas loosened his grip and wiped the sweat in his forehead. "Phew, their gone!"

"Care to explain what happened?" Adeline folded her arms.

Nicholas scratched his head. "Well, there were a bunch of girls chasing me and I couldn't find a place to hide."

"Why do I have to hide with you?"

"Umm... Well that's because—"

"Forget it. I have other important things to do. I'll be going now." Adeline fixed her dress as she was getting ready to leave.

Nicholas held her arm. "Wait, you haven't answered my question yet."

"You mean if I was angry at you? Well, I'm not."

"I'm skeptical about your response. Are you lying to me just because you're meeting up with Molly?"

"How-How did you—"

"I overheard your conversation with her after class. Don't give me a vague answer."

Adeline turned around and walked towards him. "Why would I be angry? Is there a reason to?"

Nicholas pinched her rosy cheeks. "You're like a sister to me, so you better not keep anything okay?"

"We've cleared this up. I'll be going now."

"Call me when anything happens!" Nicholas waved goodbye.

"Why should I? I'm just a sister anyway," Adeline muttered as she started walking away with both hands clenched.

(At Bridge Bookstore)

"What took you so long?" Molly handed Adeline a thick book.

"I just ran into someone. What's this?" Adeline took a glimpse of the first few pages of the book.

"Something that might help you in moving on."

"Molly, the only way I'll be able to do that is to fall in love with someone else."

"There's nothing special about Nicholas. What if he's just playing with you?"

Adeline put back the book she was holding into the shelf. "Molly, please. Pessimism isn't gonna help."

Molly hugged her. "I'm sorry. It just hurts me to see you being stoic in front of him. He doesn't deserve your love, Adele."