Faith was having a busy day. Not only did she have multiple classes but she also had an assignment to complete before tomorrow.Somehow, it had completely skipped her mind that the deadline was so close with all the excitement of the weekend.So there she was slaving away in the library all evening after a full day of lectures. She knew she probably looked harried and drawn but what was a girl gonna do?Even though she had no plans to see Devlin today, she'd still sent him a text saying she'd be busy at the library all evening.With Devlin, you could never be sure what his next move would be. He could easily show up to whisk her off to some place or the other.She recalled what happened at his house a couple of days ago. She'd known that he did something on his phone but never in her wildest dream could she have predicted what it was until she saw it on her phone.She'd picked up her phone and seen a message from her bank notifying that a hundred thousand dollars had been transferred
"Now why, oh why, would she do that?" Devlin sauntered over to them and stood with his arms folded, staring down the kid.Ernie had a shocked and scared look on his face. He looked from Devlin to Faith and then back. Faith felt bad for the poor kid.She stood and smacked Devlin's arm. "Shush!" She began to apologize in whispers to everyone who'd looked up at the sound of his voice.But now most of them had recognized him and they stared at him instead of acknowledging her apologies.She quickly realized that they'd clocked his identity because she promptly grabbed her stuff and stuffed them into her bag."I'm so sorry about this, Ernie," she whispered urgently. "I'll talk to you later." She all but dragged Devlin out of there before any phones could fly out and start clicking away.Once they cleared the library, she rounded on him. "What the hell did you do that for!?""Do what? I only asked a question.""Do you or do you not understand what a library is? Why did you just shout like t
"Hi," Devlin said quietly."Hi, I was just about to call you," Faith answered.There was silence on the line for a few seconds then he spoke. "I'm sorry about--"At the same time, Faith started, "I wanted to apologize--"They both stopped and laughed. "You go first," Faith said."Okay. I was saying that I'm sorry about what happened. I shouldn't have reacted that way. I could have just trusted you, waited and then asked you about it later instead of flipping out.""And I wanted to apologize for reacting rashly as well. I know you only reacted that way because you care about me.""We could have both handled that a whole lot better.""Yes, we could have." Faith curled up on her bed. "Thank you for the food as well. I didn't realize I was starving until I opened the bag.""I knew you wouldn't remember to eat."She giggled. "Now that I have you, I don't ever have to remember again.""I suppose that is right," he said gravely.They both laughed. "You know, there is nothing going on between
"Just spit it out already, what is the surprise?""Not what...who, and he is behind you right now."They both whipped around so fast, Faith thought they would fall off their chairs. Devlin stood beaming at them."Hello," he said casually, coming to sit beside her.They both stared at him, dumbfounded with surprise.He'd dressed up for the occasion in a crisp black shirt and trousers. Faith thought he looked really good but then again, she was probably biased.They were on side of the table while Sheila and Adele were on the other side, facing them.Sheila recovered first. "Devlin Banks is our surprise? What are we supposed to do? Eat him? I probably wouldn't mind that though." She gave him a cursory look over in a playful manner."Sheila!" Adele gasped. "I'm so sorry about her. She's like that."Devlin laughed. "I've heard so much about her, I knew exactly what to expect.""See? I can be myself," she said to Adele.The girl shook her head at her friend. "I've always wanted to meet you
"Are you sure you've grabbed everything?" Adele asked for the umpteenth time.Faith sighed. "Yes, I have." Adele had been fussing all morning. You would think that Faith was leaving forever.Devlin had finally worn her out and she'd agreed to move in to his place for the duration of their exams.The exams would span over two weeks. For those two weeks, she would be living at the mansion with him. His argument was that he needed her help with studying and that would work more easily if she just stayed with him.He thought he was sleek with that one but the only reason why she agreed to move in with him was because she wanted to.They'd become so close over the past weeks and months that she hated being away from him. She missed him every second they were apart. So she said yes, letting him think that he had somehow convinced her.Mama Rose had been excited at the news and called to tell her just that. She told Faith not to bother herself over anything. She would make her stay very comf
Faith was exhausted. She stood and stretched. "I'm gonna go freshen up for dinner, okay?""Okay, love," Devlin answered, already tapping away on his phone.They'd been studying for the past three hours nonstop. Two hours separately and then the last hour, they spent quizzing each other on the things they'd read.This was the format they'd adopted over the past few days. She'd already written two exams while he'd written oneFrom all indication, they'd all gone well. If they could keep on with this momentum, they would both do well on their exams.Faith padded off to Devlin's room which they were now sharing. She sat on the bed and pulled one of her boxes to her. She hadn't opened this one since she arrived.The small bag held her toiletries and make up and such which she arranged in the bathroom the day they arrived. She'd been using the clothes in the other bag till now. Most of them were off for laundry already.As she opened the bag, a flash of red caught her attention. Faith frown
Devlin stood at the doorway staring at the lingerie-clad Faith in shock.Perhaps because she'd seen this exact scene play out her very first day in this very house, Faith recognized that a serious battle was going on in his head.She waited for him to come to her with bated breath. Surely there was no way he could resist this time.The seconds ticked by slowly while he warred with himself. Faith shifted self-consciously. She fought the urge to cover herself with her hands under his intense scrutiny. It was nerve-wracking.Finally, Devlin took a step--but instead of the step carrying him forward, he stepped backwards. "I'm sorry," he muttered and disappeared from the doorway.Faith was stunned, utterly stunned. For a few minutes, she just sat there unmoving, staring at the empty doorway.He'd just walked away without a word. She'd thought they were making progress but the exact same incident of the past just repeated itself.She was mortified. She'd put herself out there, making the pl
Days had passed since the lingerie incident and Faith and Devlin had settled back into their routine.They read, they studied...and Devlin couldn't keep his hands off her. In the past days, his self-control had taken a real blow.Now when they started making out, it was often Faith who had to pull back when they got too far much to Devlin's chagrin.She couldn't lie. She was quite enjoying it. Now she was the one with the iron grip on her will while he was the needy one. It was a welcome change of pace.On more than one occasion in the last few days, some maid or the other had stumbled upon them getting hot and heavy in some hallway or empty room.At this point, Faith just didn't have the strength to be embarrassed anymore. It had happened so frequently, there was just no point.Each time, she made it a point to apologize to whatever maid it was for scarring her poor eyes but that was that.Of course, it would be a different story if Mama Rose were to walk in on them making out. In th
"Dev! Get out!" Faith yelled. "Out! Out!" Sheila yelled too, determinedly pushing Devlin out of the room. "You shouldn't be here. Don't you know that it's a bad omen to see the bride before the wedding?"Devlin groaned. "Come on! I don't believe in superstitions. Can I just see my lovely wife?""She's not your wife yet, mister. Not until the ceremony is complete. Plus, you saw her last night. You too idiots slept in the same bed. I don't understand why you can't stay apart for even a second." She got him out the door and slammed it shut in his face."Done," she declared, dusting off her hands and returning to Faith. There was a short knock at the door and it opened again.Sheila turned around in exasperation. "Devlin, if I have to tell you one more time--"But it wasn't Devlin who stepped in. Adele squealed and rushed over to Faith, pulling her into a hug. "Oh my gosh, honey, congratulations!"Faith hugged her back. "Thank you, Adele. I'm so glad you could fly in.""Girl, I wouldn't
Immediately Faith saw Devlin walk through the door, her heart started beating faster, her palms started sweating and her breathing became heavy.She was scared of how their encounter was going to go, but damn did he look good. He was dressed in black cargo pants and a teal green shirt. His hair was rough and uncombed. He'd obviously come straight from bed.As soon as he entered, his eyes started scanning for her until he saw her and their eyes met. He pressed his lips together and started walking towards her, not breaking eye contact.From the corner of her eyes, she saw Adele pulling a reluctant Sheila away and into the house to give them some privacy.“Faith”, Devlin said softly as soon as he reached her.“Devlin”, she replied, breaking their eye contact now that he was close. It felt uncomfortable to continue to look him in the eyes like that. Also, she was worried her heart would go into overdrive at the sight of him.It wouldn't do to show him how much he was affecting her. Not w
As she drove to his house, she could not help but feel nervous. This would be the first time she was seeing him since they went on the road trip together and he had all but said he’d be fine with whatever direction their relationship took.She had been a friend when he desperately needed one but now that she had offered all the help she could as a friend, she could not continue with that. And even though she was the one who severed their relationship in the fist place, she loved him too much to be able to accept that.She drove like a madman, remembering ironically that she'd called Sheila that just earlier that day. She was mostly nervous and worried for him but underneath the nervousness, she was excited to see him again and maybe that had a part to play in why she drove so fast too.She arrived at his house several minutes earlier than she should have, jumped down and practically ran to the front door. She pressed on the door bell.Devlin himself answered the door, but the sight th
After they had breakfast and washed the dishes, they moved to the living room to hang out. The next few hours were full of light-headed conversations while munching on snacks.Sheila suddenly reached out and smacked Faith on the head. "Hey! What was that for?" Faith complained.“We’re going to a pool party. You should come with us”, Sheila said with wide, innocent eyes. But her amused smile gave her away.“Yeah, you should come. It’ll be a lot of fun”, Adele added.“I don’t know. You know pool parties aren’t really my scene”, Faith replied shaking her head. “You guys go have fun.”“Not without you, babe”, Sheila said.“Yes, pleeease”, Adele added pleadingly.“I don’t know”, Faith said. She was not really feeling it.“Come on, you had a lot of fun yesterday, right?” Adele asked her.“Yeah, but that’s different. That was you two. This time it’ll be a bunch of people I don’t know”, Faith replied trying to convince them.“It’ll be a lot of fun. And you won’t be with the bunch of people,
They got to the movies just in time to see a rom-com movie. Sheila wasn’t much for it but it was the only movie left that hadn’t started. They got some popcorn and drinks and went in to the cinema.It was always nice to spend time with Adele and Sheila, though they did not do it very often. A little into the movie, they started started talking to each other, making funny comments about the actors.One of the attendants came up to them and told them to keep quiet. Apparently, someone somewhere had complained they were disturbing everyone. They agreed to keep it down and the attendant walked back up t his post.A little later, they could not help it and just started talking again. Adele who did not seem too enthusiastic about the movie at first started shouting out her comments loud enough for the entire cinema to hear them.The attendant started for them once more but seemed to decide against it halfway and turned back. Maybe because everyone was laughing and no one was complaining. Sh
They ate the dinner prepared by Laura and once again, they offered to wash the dishes. Laura agreed after much persuasion. Once they finished with that, they went back to the living room where they struck up a conversation.“So Faith, how did you meet Devlin," his father asked.“Devlin reapplied to College. He needed a tutor and fortunately for him, I was available--the highest scoring entrant that year.”“Tutoring him could not have been easy. He must have been a pain in the ass. Pardon my language.”Faith smiled. “Oh, don't worry about it. And yes, he we incredibly insufferable. He’s lucky I was patient because I don’t know what he would have done without me.”“Well, thank you for staying by his side even when he’s such an idiot”, he said looking at her in a way that made her feel like he also understood what was going on. Was that something every parent had, she wondered.Devlin didn’t seem to understand since he was just laughing. He looked like he was really happy to be back home
Walking up to the house seemed to take forever. Now that they were here, Faith could not help but be nervous. She was nervous for him of course, but she was also nervous for herself, because she was going to meet the parents of the man she had been dating. Well, use to date.She had no reason to be nervous since they were not seeing each other anymore- for the moment- and she was only supporting him as a friend. Her body however had a mind if its own as she could not stop fidgeting.Eventually, they got to the door but nobody knocked. Devlin seemed to be a little scared so she fought down her own nervousness and knocked for him.A few seconds later, a man who looked exactly like Devlin, except older, opened the door. Immediately he saw who his visitor was, his eyes widened in surprise and a smile gradually formed on his face."D-Dad, its-its been a while", Devlin said looking down unable to meet his father's eyes."Devlin. What are you standing there for? Give your old man a hug."Wit
"So, tell me what happened", Faith said immediately."Well, I got in, and we talked and...""Oh no, my bad. First, what happened at the door?""This is going to be long, isn't it?""Well, the faster you answer, the sooner it'll be over"."How about I just give you a detailed summary of what happened?""Ok, alright." "When I rang the doorbell and she opened up, she was of course surprised to see me. I couldn't tell if she was scared because she sent the letter or was just still angry. Either way, I was still to blame"."She asked me what I was doing there and I told her I just came to talk. Of course, she replied that I was a few years too late and I did not have any right to come into her home after all that time.""Then I remembered what you said about speaking from my heart and I just told her, "I know that I ran away, but I loved your daughter. And it's because I loved her so much, that I risked coming all this way and getting turned back to get a chance to make things right.""By
Two days later, Faith and Devlin were in her car on their way to Isabella's parent's house. They chose her car since it wasn't as flashy as his and conveyed at least a bit of humility.They had left very early in the morning. He had to drive to her house first since she insisted they take her car. He arrived to meet her ready, so they started the journey without him having to enter her apartment.It had been a very silent trip. He was terrified of what he was on his way to do. She didn't quite know what to say to him, so they spent their time doing separate things, her on her phone and he pretending to be focused on driving.After a while, he stopped the car on the side of the road and said to her, "Would you please take over driving. My hands can't seem to stop shaking"."Of course", she replied at once. She then immediately came out of the vehicle and switched seats with him.Once they were back on the road, he turned to her, "I don't even know what I'll say, how to start. I just te