THE
SECOND
TIME
Tesla Publishing, North Carolina
An imprint of Sherlock Circus LLC
A Sherlock Circus Book / Published by arrangement with authors
Copyright 2016 by Sherlock Circus LLC
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310 Arlington Avenue, Suite 420, Charlotte, NC, US
PUBLISHING HISTORY
Version_1
NC mass-market edition/2016
Cover Images: by Angela Saunders
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Table of Contents
Chapter 1:
Chapter 2:
Chapter 3:
Chapter 4:
Chapter 5:
Chapter 6:
Chapter 7:
Chapter 1:
“I don’t think I should do this. This is just a bad idea!” Sophie said as Rose helped her to zip her dress. She has been pacing up and down as he couldn’t get her ready to go out that evening.
It was her high school reunion and the moment she got to know about it, the thought of Adam crossed her mind. He was her one true love and the one guy which she was not able to forget.
“You are going, Sophie. It is your high school reunion – the tenth year. Aren’t you excited to see all your old friends again? Just imagine, you would be seeing a few of them after ten years. That is such a long time. You should be excited!” Rose, her best friend, and flatmate said. Rose and Sophie used to work together and have known each other for the last four years. Over these last few years, they have shared everything about each other’s lives and have gone through both the good as well as the bad phase together.
Sophie knew that she wasn’t supposed to even say it out loud to Rose, and she was able to read between the lines. They were best friends and knew everything about each other.
“What if he is there, Rose? What if I will meet Adam, today?” she finally asked Rose and let it all out. Sophie was not afraid to meet her old friends after ten years that night, but it was Adam whom she knew she didn’t want to face.
Sophie knew that she was in touch with all her high school friends via various social networking sites. She even used to meet some of her close friends every once in a while. Sophie knew that she would be meeting the same bunch of people including a few unwanted ones that day, which was not the reason behind her anxiety. It was Adam.
“Then it would be a good thing. You have practiced your speech, right? If you meet Adam tonight, what is it that you are going to say, Sophie?” Rose asked her as she was the one who came up with that dramatic speech.
“No. I don’t remember it. No. I can’t do this, Rose. I can’t go and see him,” Sophie said as she looked at her reflection in the mirror. She was certainly looking beautiful beyond anyone’s comprehension. She was wearing a navy sheath dress and her brown hair was all tied up perfectly. Her brown eyes had an unadulterated glitter that could make any man fall for her. But she was not targeting any other guy out there. She had her thoughts fixed at Adam.
“No. You are going there tonight, Sophie. And you are going to narrate the entire speech right now!” Rose demanded.
“Okay. Uhm… So! Here we meet again – after ten long years, right? I can’t understand how you were able to drag your pathetic ass down here, Adam and face me after what you have done to me. You just left – no goodbye, no last words, or no memories to hold on to, you just left. I could be a thing for you, Adam because that was exactly how you treated me… but for me, you were a person. You were a living and a breathing human being to me and I can never do what you did to me to anyone else. I don’t know how you have the audacity to come here and face me? I don’t know how you wake up in the morning – I seriously don’t. But if I were you, I would simply leave this party right now. Because that is what you are good at – leaving.”
Sophie said it all out loud and cleared her intentions. She was perfect with each and every word that she said which made Rose realize that she was getting a bit too dramatic.
“That’s good. Just mellow down the emotions a little. You want to come out as a strong and independent woman, not an emotional and needy one. Alright? Rest everything is good!” Rose said in order to boost her morale.
“I can do this!” Sophie said as she stepped out of the apartment and stepped into the cab.
“Of course, you can. Go get him!” Rose said as she wished her well and saw her cab leaving the street.
When Sophie reached the venue, for a moment, she didn’t know what to do. She met a couple of her old friends and started to chit-chat with them, but it was not them whom she wanted to meet. It was Adam that she was looking for. There was a part of her who wanted to confront him and narrate him her entire speech, but deep within she knew that she won’t be able to say it all to him.
She looked for him everywhere, but he was nowhere to be found. She finally started to believe that maybe her worst fear was true. Maybe, whatever Adam said the night of their breakup was right and that he left for a reason. He was not coming back to her and she had to spend the rest of her life with his absence – just the way she did in the last ten years of her life.
After Adam left, she tried dating, but it just didn’t work out. She knew that Adam was her one and only and that there was no one out there who could replace him. She met a few other guys over the last ten years of her life, but it never lasted more than a few months. It turned out that she was looking for a replacement; she was looking for an “Adam” in all of them, which was impossible to be found because unlike things, people can’t be replaced.
She finally gave up her quest and just when she was about to leave, she heard his voice.
“Sophie!” he said as she turned her back to see him standing right in front of her. She knew that it was Adam – in reality, and not one of his ghosts that were haunting her over the last ten years. She couldn’t believe how dashing and masculine he looked.
It felt like he had only become stronger and more handsome with the passage of time, and could still have the same impact on her. She started to fall short of words and didn’t know what to say. The speech that she prepared before was lost and she couldn’t even recall a single word of it.
“Adam!” she finally said as she walked towards him. She could smell his mesmerizing musk and it was the same one that he used to wear ten years back. As she looked at her reflection in his deep blue eyes, she couldn’t stop thinking about the past.
She was no longer there, standing in front of Adam anymore. Her mind was somewhere else as she relived the most haunting memory of her life.
Chapter 2:
It was almost ten years back when Adam and Sophie met for the last time. Their high school was over and they were simply waiting for the rest of their life to commence. They both decided to attend the same college in the city an
d were looking forward to spending the rest of their lives together.
Both, Adam and Sophie had planned their entire lives together, but they had no idea what was coming to their way. They both spent a memorable day while enjoying the local caravan nearby the city. It was certainly one of those days, which Sophie knew would stay with her for the years to come. They spent some great time enjoying those rides in the amusement zone and Adam loved how Sophie clenched his fist when they were in the middle of a roller coaster ride.
Sophie thought that it was just the beginning of the rest of their lives and that they were going to have plenty of moments like those. Adam was her first boyfriend, her first kiss, and the first one with whom he had shared some intimate moments. Little did she know that he would be her hardest goodbye as well! They were together for the last two years, but in those few years, Sophie was able to live an entire lifetime with him.
When they decided to go back to their home from the caravan, Sophie could realize that something was wrong. Adam was being unexpectedly quiet the whole time and as he stopped his car in front of Sophie’s house, she knew something was wrong. It was unlikely of him to speak anything at all for so long. They both were inseparable and were able to read each other’s silence as well.
“What is it, Adam? What’s wrong?” she asked him as he stopped his car in front of her residence.
“There is something which you need to know, Sophie!” the way Adam said those words she realized the gravity of the situation. It was certainly not a pretty situation and she knew that her worst nightmare was about to come true.
“What is it, Adam? You know you can share anything with me, right?” she said in order to make the best out of the situation.
“No, Sophie. There are a few things that can’t be shared with anyone. There are a few things in this world which I can’t share with anyone – and this is certainly one of them. I have decided that I can’t stay here. This town is not for me and I have to leave the city,” as he said she realized that he was not asking her the permission to leave – he was simply stating it.
He had decided his entire life in his mind and Sophie was certainly not a part of it.
“What? What are you saying, Adam? What about today? We both spent such a great day together. Don’t you want to have days like this for the rest of our lives? What about your parents? Have you informed them that you are leaving?” she asked him a series of questions as she was finding it hard to believe that Adam was leaving and that too so unexpectedly.
“They are not my biological parents, Sophie. They adopted me when I was a kid. I am sorry but I never informed you about this. My biological parents are somewhere very far and I have to go and find them now. This is a journey that I have to take on my own. I want to stay with you and I want you to accompany me in my quest, but I can’t ask you to do that. It would be extremely risky and you might end up giving it all. I don’t want you to sacrifice so much for me, Sophie.
I love you, but…” as Adam said the most dreadful sentence in the history of mankind, Sophie realized that there was nothing left to hold onto. The word “but” is without a doubt one of the powerful sentences in the world. Its placement can change the entire meaning of the sentence. She knew that Adam was in love with her, but there was a big condition in between the two of them. She knew that she couldn’t find the “but” anymore and needed to let Adam go.
“But… what, Adam?” she asked him, knowing that the truth would hurt her even more.
“I love you, but I can’t be with you anymore, Sophie. You need to understand that there is nothing wrong with you. I just need to do this on my own. I have to go out there and look for my parents and part of me that I know is missing somewhere. I need to do this on my own and I can’t have you by my side. So, why don’t you stay here and be happy and I will be out there, looking out for my happiness.
I don’t know when I will be back or if I will be back at all. I can’t ask you to wait for me for so long because that would be wrong…” as he tried to explain her, tears started to fall from her eyes. She couldn’t believe that it was happening to her and that too like this. She was in love with Adam. He was her one true one and the heartbreak was just too overwhelming.
“And you think what you are doing right now is not wrong?” she asked him.
“I know it is wrong of me, Sophie, but I don’t have any other option. I can’t stay here anymore and I can’t drag you with me to this hell. I wanted to have a moment with you and that is why I brought you to the caravan. I wanted to spend some good time with you – the kind of moments that I could keep with me forever. I know that I have to carry on without you, but you have given enough memories to me to last an entire lifetime with. I don’t have any regrets. I won’t do it any other way. I love you, Sophie. I will always love you,” he couldn’t say anything beyond that. Everything was said and done and he had nothing to add.
“But you can’t be with me anymore,” she said in order to complete his sentence. There was nothing to say and a dreadful silence surrounded the two of them. The space between the two of them has never been so thick.
“I have never thought that you would leave me like this, Adam. Never in my wildest dreams had I thought that this would happen to us. I don’t want to look at you. I don’t know what this is. Will you be here tomorrow? Do you want to talk to me or see me ever again?” she asked him, but he had nothing to say.
“Okay! Great! Goodbye, Adam. I hope to never see you again!” she said as she slammed the door of his car and ran towards her house without looking back. Tears were falling aimlessly from her face as she was finding hard to be at peace. Her heart was broken and she was inconsolable. There was no other force in the world damn world that was able to put her heart back. She became the kind of person she thought she would never be – lonely.
Chapter 3:
As Sophie looked at Adam almost ten years back, she couldn’t believe that it was all happening to her. He finally showed up and with his face, he brought all the pain and the sense of longing that she suffered ten years back when he broke her heart in the most unexpected way.
“What brings you back here?” she asked him.
“When I got the invitation to the reunion, I couldn’t stop thinking about those good old days. I wanted to come here and meet all the other folks and some good teachers as well. But most importantly, I wanted to come here and see you, Sophie. I know that I have been a jerk at that time and I…” even before Adam could say anything, Sophie interrupted him in between.
“Ten years ago. That happened ten years ago, Adam. Do you know how much that incident has changed me? I stopped believing in love after that. It has been ten years now and I still don’t let a man stay the night at my place. I have never been in a serious relationship ever since because I know I won’t be able to handle that pain all over again. What you did – that was unforgivable. I don’t know whatever issues you were having as a teenager, but I was not your punching bag. I was your girlfriend.
You were supposed to love me and care for me and hold me tightly in your arms. You were supposed to protect me. Instead, you gave me the worst feeling of it all. You left me so strangled, Adam. I didn’t know what to do. It took me almost half my life to come out of that phase, but I did. I am back now and enjoying my life with my friend now. I have made peace with the fact that I am going to be alone for the rest of my life. So why did you come back, Adam? Did you want to check on me – if I was doing right or not? Or did you simply wanted to know if there were still a few pieces of me that were left intact so you could break me once again?”
Adam knew that Sophie would keep on going and that there was only one way to stop her. He walked towards her and kissed her lustrous lips. As their lips met each other, after ten long years, there was nothing else in this world that could make Sophie feel any better. It was as if it was not time, but Adam’s kiss that Sophie’s broken heart was waiting for all this time. Adam touched the insides of her mouth with his tongue and trav
ersed each and every bit of it.
Sophie could feel his essence of her tongue and knew that he was the same person who loved her immensely. At that moment, she realized that she either had two options. She would either cut the kiss in between or leave that place without seeing him ever again or she would continue kissing him and get to know him better. They both have missed the last ten years of their lives and there was certainly a lot of catching up to do.
She didn’t think of anything at all and closed her eyes in order to truly experience the beauty of that moment. Adam was a great kisser and with that one single kiss, he was able to touch the deepest and the most vulnerable parts of her. She let her tongue travel inside her mouth and found its place in his tongue. Together, their tongues danced on the tip of salvation as they sucked each other’s lips and shared one of the most beautiful kisses of their lives.
“Well. That was worth it!” he said the moment they parted their lips and looked at Sophie. She wasn’t angry at him anymore. It was as if all her anger and remorse got vanished after the kiss and it was Adam’s touch that was able to make her so mellow and fragile once again.
“I have missed you too!” she said finally as she wrapped her arms around his waist.
“Let’s ditch this party and go to my place. I have some wine and cheese at my place,” he suggested as he held her hand tightly.
“I like that plan. Wine, cheese, and you,” she said as she was looking forward to knowing him. She wanted to know more about him and if he was able to find his parents or not. That was the reason why he left in the first place and Sophie certainly wanted to figure it out. It was the lost piece of the puzzle and she knew that without it, she couldn’t see the whole picture.
Chapter 4:
Adam had a luxurious penthouse in the middle of the city and the décor was certainly spellbinding as well. Sophie could see that Adam has certainly grown a lot in the last few years and could see the change in him. It was not just his looks, but also his attitude that was changed. He was no longer the same confused teenager who let the love of his life walk away because of some stupid quest. He was more confident and with the passage of time, he certainly turned out to be more handsome and sexy.
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