CHAPTER 5

It was a late night. Elena had just finished her last shift and she was too energetic to go home. Marcus was busy with work, and it was way past Emily's visiting hours. Elena decided to just walk around the breezy city since she had no one else to spend the night with.

It made her remember her college days before she dropped out. She was studying business administration at a college not too far from where she grew up but she was not exactly concentrated.

She remembered being so young and stupid. She would skip classes a lot, get into trouble with authority and go out drinking or smoking on school nights. She was a smart girl, she had always managed to cover up some part of her syllables just enough to get a B in the exam and move on to the next year. Her parents had tried their best to make her some sense of responsibility but they were too far away to monitor her every move. She remembered Emily being so young, always looking up to her big sister that could do no wrong.

No matter how much she tried her mind always brought her back to that night, the night everything went south.

Elena never took in alcohol again.

Deciding to let go of her mounting thoughts, she entered an ice cream parlour not so far away from heworkplacece. She had been wanting to try it out for a while but she never did because she had no one to go with, she once tried to summon the courage to ask Marcus to take her but when he looked at her, his intimidating eyes in place, she shut up.

Ice cream was her safe space. When she was trying to get over her drinking habits, she always resorted to ice cream. Her teeth paid the price but she had been sober ever since.

The place was lively for that time of the night, the bright lighting and interior designs temporarily blinded her for a moment before her eyes adjusted to it. Children were squealing and running around the place, clearly high on sugar and the exhausted parents just watched, too tired to do anything. The parents had gathered at one table and some seemed to be drinking coffee, while others were eating coffee ice cream instead.

Elena made her way to the ice cream display, her mouth watering just looking at the flavours. Granted, ice cream was her weak spot she was surprised she had managed to stay away from it for so long. Being in debt destroyed her cravings.

"What would you like?"

"Peanut butter ice cream with cake batter and some fu—" Elena stopped midway when she noticed someone was saying the same thing at the same time.

She turned in surprise to the man standing behind her, he had an embarrassed look on his face, "I'm so sorry, I thought you were still scanning." He said apologetically.

Elena agrees him a warm smile in return, "It's okay, I've just not seen someone with the same taste in ice cream as mine."

"Really? Peanut butter ice cream with cake batter and fudge? With Oreos—"

"Oh, my God!" Elena exclaimed with a light laugh. "That is my exact order,"

The man smiled back at her, "What are the odds huh?"

"One in a million," Elena replied, a smile not leaving her face as she studied this man. He was towering over her, not as tall as Marcus but he was still tall. He had dark curly hair that looked like a mess on his head, and hypnotising blue eyes she could get lost in it. He had a full goatee going on, unlike the stubble Marus had going on. It made him look more mature, even if they appeared to be the same age.

"So, would you two like to order? We have a line going on here." The employee told them, trying to sound polite but the annoyed look on his face gave him in.

"Yes, uh— two peanut butter ice cream with cake batter, fudge and Oreos." The employee prepared their orders while they stood beside each other in comfortable silence.

Elena could not help but compare the peace she felt with this man she just met to the tension she felt around her boyfriend.

When their orders were ready, Elena reached into her purse but the man stopped her, "It's on me," he said and then proceeded to hand in his card. "It's not every day you see someone with exceptional taste in ice cream," he continued with a small smirk.

"Do you want to get a seat together?" He asked her once he had finished paying. "Um, yeah. Sure."

He led her to an empty table at the furthest end of the ice cream parlour away from the screaming children. "So, my name is Gavin."

"Elena," They sat down together and quietly enjoyed their ice cream. "This is so good," Elena said not able to suppress the groan of pleasure that left her mouth.

"It is. I haven't had ice cream in a long time,"

"Oh my God, me too!" Elena was so excited to have someone she hated a few things with. She did not have many friends after leaving college, and she and Elena had conflicting interests in things; Elena did not like ice cream.

Gavin chuckled at her excited response. "I have just been so busy with work and everything I decided to treat myself today. I'm happy I did,"

"Yeah, the ice cream in this place is the best."

"Yes, but mostly because I would not have met you, a one in a million."

Elena could have been wrong but she thought she felt goosebumps on get skin. She tried to play it cool and suppress her blush but she was already smiling like an idiot.

She did not know why but this man's voice carried so much power over her, in a different way than Marcus's voice. When they both reached for napkins at the same time and their fingers brushed against each other's, she felt electric jolts in her body, it was then she knew she was a goner.