"Wait. What? You're not just making this up for my story, are you?" Sonia asked in disbelief, and Jade laughed softly.
"No, I'm not."
"You do know that a lot of romance stories started this way, right?" Sonia asked excitedly, and Jade grinned.
"Well, I didn't think of it that way at the ti."
"You didn't? Fine. Go on. What happened next?" Sonia asked, wanting to hear about it.
Jade couldn't believe that it was only now, after four years, that she was actually recalling the fine details of how she had first t Harry. She had been trying so hard to forget everything about Todd that she had also forgotten that first mont. She had a small smile on her face as she tried to rember it all now.
Jade's heart had already skipped so many beats at the thought that she was going to fall and likely twist or sprain an ankle in the process. Her first thought was to protect her face with her hands so that even if she hit the floor, she wouldn't hurt her face. One of her biggest fears was losing a tooth by accident.
She gasped in surprise when a pair of strong masculine hands grabbed her waist, and she gazed into the most beautiful pair of brown eyes she had ever seen.
"Your eyes... I love your eyes," Jade whispered as she looked down at him, even though she didn't actually know who the stranger that had just saved her was.
Harry, on the other hand, who was standing at the foot of the stairs, was looking up at her since she was standing two stairs ahead of him while leaning towards him. Her long curly brown hair fell forward, and her blue eyes were full of life and mischief as she smiled down at him.
Despite being Tom's roommate and friend for over five years, he had never been opportune to et Jade since he had never had reason to visit Tom's ho. Although he had always heard about her from Tom right from their college days, especially on the few occasions, they spoke over the phone. Nothing Tom had said, and no pictures he had seen, prepared him for the beauty in front of him. And although he had heard what she said, he was too tongue-tied to give her any response.
"Jade, you are a grown woman now. Why do you keep running down the stairs like a kid? You could have hurt yourself," Desmond chided as all three of them watched them, and at once, Jade snapped back to her senses as she steadied herself, and Harry let go of her waist.
"But I didn't get hurt," Jade said with a wide smile.
"What is going on?" Todd asked from behind Jade when he noticed Harry standing at the foot of the stairs, staring at her.
"I almost fell down the stairs, and this fine gentleman here, saved ," Jade said as she turned to look at him before returning her curious gaze to Harry.
"You are Harry, right?" She asked, seeing as he ca in with Tom, and she knew that the only guy who was this close to Tom was Harry, his best friend.
"Yes. And you are Jade," Harry said with a polite smile, and Jade extended her hand for a handshake.
"Right. It's nice to et you. I've heard a lot about you from Tom," Jade said with a wide smile as Harry shook her hand.
"I hope you heard only good things. It's nice to et you too," Harry said with a warm smile of his own, and Jade decided that he didn't just have pretty eyes; he was also very attractive and good-looking.
As though reading her thoughts, Todd slid a possessive arm around her waist at that mont, subtly letting Harry know that she was taken and he should back off while also bringing Jade back to her senses.
Harry's gaze followed the gesture, and he glanced at the young man who was now standing beside her. Both n sized up each other when their gaze t, and Harry looked away with disinterest as he returned his attention to Jade.
"This is my boyfriend, Todd. Todd, this is Harry, Tom's right-hand man. Tommy!" Jade grinned as she threw herself at her brother.
"How is our brilliant lawyer doing?" Tom asked as he embraced her.
"I will be better if you sent more money," she said with a grin as she looked around the living room, "Why don't I see any luggage around? Don't tell you're not staying for Christmas?" She asked as she broke the hug.
"Can I at least say hello to your boyfriend before you interrogate ?" Tom asked dryly as he turned to Todd.
"Hi! It's good to et you in person finally," Tom said as he extended his hand to Todd.
"The pleasure is mine. I hope I can learn a couple of things from you before you leave," Todd said with a polite smile, and Todd nodded.
"Cut!" Sonia said, interrupting Jade's story.
"What?"
"Okay, I don't an to be rude, but I'm not exactly interested in your ex or your parents and Tom right now. Can we just focus on the part of the story that involves just you and Harry?" Sonia pleaded, feeling like the story was going to take all day if Jade continued at that rate.
"Just and Harry?" Jade asked, and Sonia nodded.
"Yes. Your interactions," Sonia explained.
"After that, we didn't really interact until much later. Todd was with for most of the ti, and of course, I was in love with him, so I was more focused on Todd than on Harry."
"Yet you thought Harry was attractive and good-looking?" Sonia asked.
"I was in love with Todd, not blind. You don't expect not to recognize a good-looking man simply because I have a man, do you? Have you seen Harry? He is gorgeous and sexy. Especially when he smiles," Jade said with a grin, and Sonia giggled.
"No, I haven't seen him. I'm too busy looking at your brother to admire anyone else. But now that you've ntioned it, I will try to take a closer look at him when next I see him," Sonia promised, and this ti Jade giggled.
"So, did you ever catch Harry staring at you? Or did you maybe lock gaze with him at so point? Anything to make you feel like he was attracted to you too?" Sonia asked, and Jade shook her head.
"Maybe if I had caught him staring, it would probably have been easier to believe Tom when he said he thinks Harry has always liked ," Jade said, and Sonia leaned forward excitedly.
"Tom thinks so?"
"Yeah. But Harry has never shown any interest in ," Jade said with a shrug.
"Maybe he has, but you just didn't notice. Okay, let's get back to your first eting. Just now, you said you didn't interact with him until much later. What did you both talk about?" Sonia asked, and Jade's lips curved in a smile as she rembered that night.
Jade walked out of her bedroom angrily after having a misunderstanding with Todd. She was upset that he had co ho with her, yet he had been on his phone for most of the ti and had refused to step out of the house with her or even leave the bedroom long enough to spend enough ti with her family.
She heard Tom's voice as she walked past his bedroom, and she could tell that he was having a serious conversation with soone. She didn't hang around long enough to find out if it was a phone conversation or whether he was talking with Harry.
As she walked down the staircase, she heard the sound of laughter coming from the living room, her parents were watching a television show, but she wanted to be alone, so she walked over to the kitchen. She prepared herself a warm cup of chocolate and carried it outside with her to the back porch.
The light was turned off, and she didn't bother to turn it on since she wanted to be alone. As she approached the swing, she noticed that soone was already seated there.
"Harry?" She called, knowing that he was the only one who was unaccounted for. Tom was inside the house, and so were Todd and her parents.
"If the cup you're holding is for , yes," Harry said as he watched her, and Jade smiled as she went to sit beside him.
"I thought you were inside with Tom. I heard him talking with soone..."
"He was here with until he decided to go inside," Harry explained.
"I didn't know you were out here. Else I would have co with a cup of chocolate for you. You know what? You can have mine. Take it as paynt for saving ," Jade said, extending the cup to him.
"Paynt? Don't I deserve sothing better? Definitely you worth more than a cup of warm chocolate, aren't you?" Harry asked as he eyed the cup of chocolate she was offering.
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