𝐑𝐞𝐝𝐚𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐲

𝐅𝐎𝐑𝐓𝐘 𝐓𝐖𝐎

Narrator

"Are we almost there?" Hope asks.

"Almost," Adrian replies. They walk by the ice cream shop where they used to get ice cream while Adrian was still Hope's bodyguard. Adrian stops. "Wanna get ice cream before we go?" Hope grins and nods. They walk into the ice cream shop and pick out their ice cream.

Once they have their ice cream, they continue walking to their destination. "Can you at least give me a hint to where we're going?" Hope asks.

"That takes the fun out of a surprise," Adrian replies. Hope sighs, now she's even more curious. Adrian has his fingers crossed hoping that everything goes well. After a few minutes, they finally arrive at Adrian's friend's house.

"A house?" Hope asks Adrian, completely confused about why they're at a house. Hope was expecting a date or something similar to it but she doesn't seem to mind. "Did you rent this big house to dazzle me, Adrian?" Hope teases.

Adrian chuckles as he unlocks the door. He leads Hope inside. Hope looks around but before she can finish, Adrian takes her by the hand and leads her out to the backyard. Hope stares at the pool that's right in front of them. Thinking about the day at the party where she relived those terrifying moments.

"Hope, I'm not gonna force you to do anything you don't want to do and we can leave whenever you want, but I think it'll be best for you to learn how to swim." Hope doesn't stay anything and continues staring at the water. She's tired of being scared of it. She's tired of being paranoid. "But if you don't want to it's-"

"I want to learn," she starts taking off her shoes. Adrian sighs in relief.

He asks her a few more times if she's sure and she always has the same answer, yes. Hope removes her shirt along with her jeans. Adrian's gentle with her the entire time. Holding her by her waist, making sure she's okay, checking on her every five minutes, and asking her if she's changed her mind.

"This isn't as scary as I thought it would be," Hope admits while smiling widely. If you told Hope three months ago that she was learning how to swim with Adrian, she would not believe you.

"I know you were terrified of water but I never understood why," Adrian says.

"When I was little, my dad and I went to a river," Hope starts. "My dad got distracted, and I accidentally fell into the river. The current carried me away and I almost died. I've been scared of water ever since but well, I guess I'm not so afraid anymore."

After an entire hour of Adrian telling Hope the basics about swimming and holding her while she moves around in the water, Hope thinks it's finally time for her to do it on her own. "Are you sure?" Adrian asks. Hope nods, completely sure of what she wants.

"You can stay near just in case, but I want to try," Hope says. Adrian nods and slowly lets go of her. Hope struggles at first, but after lots of tries, she finally gets it. "Look! I'm doing it!" Hope exclaims happily. Adrian laughs happily as he sees her swim around by herself. A sudden splash catches him by surprise.

"Oh, you didn't," Adrian says as he wipes his face with his hand.

"Oh, yes I did," Hope teases. Adrian splashes water back at her and she lets out a yelp. It turns into a splash fight until Adrian swims over to Hope and wraps his arms around her waist. Hope wraps her arms around Adrian's neck.

"You know I'm proud of you right?" Adrian asks. Before Hope can respond, Adrian presses his lips onto her. Kissing her passionately knowing that he's found the girl that he plans on spending the rest of his life with. He kisses her harder, devouring her, getting as much of her as he can get. She doesn't hesitate to return the kiss.

Hope would've never imagined that she'd be with the guy she tried to get fired, and Adrian never thought he'd be with the girl who couldn't stand him for simply doing his job. Adrian never thought he'd find the perfect girl who would love him just as much as he loved her, but of course, Hope came along to prove him wrong.

Hope never thought she'd find the kind of love that she's seen in movies or reads in books, but she knows that was she has with Adrian beats whatever kind of love that she's read in books or seen in movies. Neither of them would change what they have for anything in the world.

When they first met, never did it cross their minds that they'd end up together. Look at them now. Adrian loves Hope, and she loves him just as much.

THE END