[ ғʀɪᴇɴᴅs ᴛᴏ ʟᴏᴠᴇʀs - ᴄᴏᴍᴘʟᴇᴛᴇᴅ ] Twenty years. Two best friends. She loves him more than herself. He needs her more than he should. She couldn't deny him anything. And he decides to test her loyalty by asking her one of the most toughest favours she could ever imagine him asking. How will she cope up with it? What'll be her response? Will she go beyond herself to help him in his high time? Most importantly, will he ever realize just how she means so much more to him than he would ever let himself know? Especially when their recent encounters keep going out of his control, out of his Just-Friends zone, pushing their lifelong pious relationship more off the edge each time his own unexplainable urges decide to slip away in the bliss of wrong timing between them. Yes, maybe it has always been the wrong timing between them. But it's never too late to make it right. Especially commendable if it's coupled with the one of the most natural sizzling chemistry ever. __ Warning - Contains kisses and some scenes that might make you blush. Copyright RitikaVerma © 2019
| Epigraph |
His hands are saying that he wants to hold her. His feet are saying that he wants to chase after her...He's probably forgotten that I'm here, beside him.
~Based on the same theme of unrequited love, but with the different sort of love-triangle. Written with feelings and passion, so hold your seats pals, it might give you Tachycardia if you ever had serious one-sided love for anyone lol.
*throws cream buns to all my readers*
<<< This book is dedicated to those who think they don't deserve the one they love >>>
Here you go!
| When We Met |
"Love is like a wind. You can never see it, but you can always feel it."
Birds were chirping, the skies were all clear except for kites. A soft breeze splattered over trees which reverberated with pleasure. It was the spring season, perfect for every girl and boy, man and woman.
Two children were playing on the playground. Or more like fighting.
"You can never win against me, " the little boy said, patting girl's forehead.
The girl tried to reach him, but he was slightly taller than her. How can he be taller? He is just six, the girl thought.
She pouted in annoyance at the rude behaviour of the boy who she didn't even know!
"I will tell my mom that today I met a girl who actually plays with robots and not with those pinkish-pinky dolls, " the boy said while laughing loudly, gripping a grey coloured talking robot in his little finger by its antenna.
"Give me my robot. My father gave that to me!" The girl ran towards the boy and pushed him hard to the ground.
The boy fell straight on his stomach into the puddle of muddy water, his clothes dirtying and his knees bleeding crimson due to the scratch he got right after he fell down. He started to cry, his shrill voice reaching the ambient noise around them, and to the girl's ears.
The girl stared at him.
And stared.
She blinked once.
Twice.
Then she came forward and offered her hand to him, her little fingers too small to pull him out of that mess, but her heart too big to ignore him lying there all injured.
Now it was the boy's turn to stare. Instead of letting her pull him, he actually pulled her by her hand. She also fell into the puddle, the mud splashing all over their clothes, her hands gripping his t-shirt for support and his gripping her little frilly skirt in reflex.
Ten minutes later...
"What did I tell you about giving my robot back? I wouldn't have pushed you then!" the girl said, placing a bandage on his knee wound, blowing air from her mouth to make it less painful.
She took out another band-aid, which her mother had made her keep in her pocket for safety because she had a habit of falling and getting into trouble every time she stepped outside.
She unwrapped it with little difficulty, straightened it out before sticking it to his other arm which was injured while they were trying to get out from that puddle.
He was sniffing his nose when she was completing her little treatment. "I would have given it to you. I am not a bad boy!" said the boy, while wiping tears carelessly from his shirt sleeves.
"Sure, " the little girl dragged the word and continued, "Mommy says I shouldn't go near weeds like you, " she said, smiling widely and lifting his arm again to check if she had done the treatment well or not.
"You just called me "weed". What is that anyway?"
"I don't know. Mommy says that boys are weeds!"
"Then I am not a boy. I am a man, " he said, standing quickly only to stagger back, pain evident in his eyes.
"Don't stand. It will hurt. Wait! I will take you home!" she said, snaking her arm around his neck and placing his weight on her shoulders. They walked to his house, both limping from their respective injuries but nevertheless content with their meeting.
"I am Emily!" she said, smiling brightly at him while helping him open the gate of his house.
"I'm Edward, " he said embarrassed of his vulnerable condition, his manly pride kicking him too much for his short size and age.
Adjusting the dirty, muddy robot in her arms, she untangled her arms for a handshake.
"Friends?" she asked, waving her hand once again in front of him.
The boy merely stared at her hand, cocking his head to his side before shaking it back with a huge smile plastered on his face.
"Friends!"
From then onwards, the whole Dixon street knew who they were.
No, they were not famous.
They were troublesome. Breaking glasses was a daily habit of theirs. She would always come to play in his house, his house being large, and he would always come to her house to eat and study when his parents were out of town often. They made a great duo, their minds in sync when it came to pranks.
Twenty years later:
Emily's POV:
That son of a crow. He actually painted meatballs over my jeans. I thought he was joking. I kicked the mud on the ground in frustration, suddenly remembering I needed to save my innocent face from going viral in social media.
I sneaked out stealthily from my college, adjusting my bag in my arms. My head was hung low, hiding my face from people and cursing Edward's generations.
Oh, how much I would like to put a hole in his future!
I put the magazine in front of my face while walking, staggering in steps and unable to see when something vibrated in my jeans. Fumbling with effort, I pulled out my phone and pressed the button.
"What the hell Edward?! You filthy son of a tortured sparrow! How am I supposed to walk now?!" I yelled into the phone, earning several people's stares.
I was actually walking with my purse behind my butt.
This was so humiliating.
In so many not-so-humiliating ways!
I was going to graduate. I was so happy about that a few minutes ago. And I was actually happy to tell him that, but then I saw the washroom mirror and realized what I had been wearing all day. There was no doubt someone snapped my picture when I wasn't looking.
"That's what you get for wearing my clothes. I told you not to mess with my closet! You always steal my favourite pants and jeans!" he said, laughing heartily. His laugh was music to my ears.
"I didn't steal them. I borrowed them in hopes of returning them. You know I don't like to do laundry. And when I get clean clothes every week, it makes me lazier. That's why I took yours. But you painted fucking meatballs all over them."
"Okay, I'm sorry. Let me make up to you. Come to Latte Coffee, " he said.
"Don't you dare to run away from there. You wait there! You're dead meat" I yelled, quickly hanging up before calling for a taxi.
I immediately went to my house to change into a new pair of jeans, stuffing his meatball jeans into a dustbin, rather harshly, but not before kicking and grinding it beneath my shoes.
That's what you get now, hah!
You don't get anything!
While on my way to the cafe, I saw the old playground where we met for the first time. Some kids were still playing there, heaps of mud castle sprawled on the ground. I couldn't help but reminisce about our moments and memories.
Nothing actually changed until now, except for the world became more lodged with technology, people became more distant with increasing desires and money dominated over precious human relations.
We didn't change our neighbourhood; we didn't need to, I suppose. But maybe dates or seasons changed.
And maybe our feelings too.
I smiled sadly, flipping my hair and pulling into a rough ponytail before walking to my destination...thinking of my unrequited love for my best friend who doesn't even have any idea about it.
Hazel Scarlet could do much better in life than to gawk and fawn over her handsome, dashing and charming company's CEO, her only confidante and anchor in life — Health Evercrest; yet the best she decided to go for was to settle to be his friend. And the worse she decided to go for was to help him win over the hand of her very own sister in marriage. The odds couldn't have been more odder since the task was no more herculean than moving the Hercules itself; if only her boss would stop staring at her eyes every once in a while, if only his touch would stop making her feel as if she was actually the woman he chose as his bride, if their moments alone would stop making her hope as if she was the only woman to ever exist who could pull him out of his never ending agony. As if seeing him struggle for his feelings for Kiara was not hard enough, Heath was making it even more harder for Hazel to forget about the fact that she was not the one for him by making his constant demands of gruelling attention to the details of the preparation of his wooing measures for her sister. In the midst of melting chocolates, broken hearts, failed balloons, too realistic practise proposals and even more realistic acts of intimacy, would it take Heath a whirl of chaos to realise which sister he actually lost his heart to, or it was as simple as one act of heated argument to realise his secretary is not the friend he had been talking to for years, but a swirling mess of women, heat, graceful beauty and everything he had been searching for in the wrong place all this time? Hop on to find out the real Murphy's Law of Love in this Love Triangle of life, love and ... heartbreaks. Warning — 16+ Steamy Chapters Ahead.
“You need a bride, I need a groom. Why don’t we get married?” Both abandoned at the altar, Elyse decided to tie the knot with the disabled stranger from the venue next door. Pitying his state, she vowed to spoil him once they were married. Little did she know that he was actually a powerful tycoon. Jayden thought Elyse only married him for his money, and planned to divorce her when she was no longer of use to him. But after becoming her husband, he was faced with a new dilemma. “She keeps asking for a divorce, but I don’t want that! What should I do?”
Janet was adopted when she was a kid -- a dream come true for orphans. However, her life was anything but happy. Her adoptive mother taunted and bullied her all her life. Janet got the love and affection of a parent from the old maid who raised her. Unfortunately, the old woman fell ill, and Janet had to marry a worthless man in place of her parents' biological daughter to meet the maid's medical expenses. Could this be a Cinderella's tale? But the man was far from a prince, except for his handsome appearance. Ethan was the illegitimate son of a wealthy family who lived a reckless life and barely made ends meet. He got married to fulfill his mother's last wish. However, on his wedding night, he had an inkling that his wife was different from what he had heard about her. Fate had united the two people with deep secrets. Was Ethan truly the man we thought he was? Surprisingly, he bore an uncanny resemblance to the impenetrable wealthiest man in the city. Would he find out that Janet married him in place of her sister? Would their marriage be a romantic tale or an utter disaster? Read on to unravel Janet and Ethan's journey.
"The entire wealthy circle in Seattle knew how much Stella Carlson loved Aaron Malone. People watched the childhood sweethearts grow from inexperience to maturity, finally getting married in a grand wedding ceremony. On the day of the wedding, despite the alliance between the Carlson and Malone families, the groom ran away. Stella knew that Aaron had rushed to L.A. to take care of his ex-girlfriend, who had attempted suicide. Unwilling to become the laughingstock of all Seattle, she gritted her teeth and dialed the number of her adversary, her tone almost commanding, "Ethan, come and marry me now. This is your only chance for revenge." On the other end, Ethan Powers raised an eyebrow as he gripped his phone, staring at the floor littered with cigarette butts. "Did the groom run away?" he asked. "My darling."
In her previous life, Kimberly endured the betrayal of her husband, the cruel machinations of an evil woman, and the endless tyranny of her in-laws. It culminated in the bankruptcy of her family, and ultimately, her death. After being reborn, she resolved to seek retribution against those who had wronged her, and ensure her family's prosperity. To her shock, the most unattainable man from her past suddenly set his sights on her. "You may have overlooked me before, but I shall capture your heart this time around."
Two years ago, Ricky found himself coerced into marrying Emma to protect the woman he cherished. From Ricky's perspective, Emma was despicable, resorting to underhanded schemes to ensure their marriage. He maintained a distant and cold attitude toward her, reserving his warmth for another. Yet, Emma remained wholeheartedly dedicated to Ricky for more than ten years. As she grew weary and considered relinquishing her efforts, Ricky was seized by a sudden fear. Only when Emma's life teetered on the edge, pregnant with Ricky's child, did he recognize-the love of his life had always been Emma.
Everyone was shocked to the bones when the news of Rupert Benton's engagement broke out. It was surprising because the lucky girl was said to be a plain Jane, who grew up in the countryside and had nothing to her name. One evening, she showed up at a banquet, stunning everyone present. "Wow, she's so beautiful!" All the men drooled, and the women got so jealous. What they didn't know was that this so-called country girl was actually an heiress to a billion-dollar empire. It wasn't long before her secrets came to light one after the other. The elites couldn't stop talking about her. "Holy smokes! So, her father is the richest man in the world?" "She's also that excellent, but mysterious designer who many people adore! Who would have guessed?" Nonetheless, people thought that Rupert didn't love her. But they were in for another surprise. Rupert released a statement, silencing all the naysayers. "I'm very much in love with my beautiful fiancee. We will be getting married soon." Two questions were on everyone's minds: "Why did she hide her identity? And why was Rupert in love with her all of a sudden?"