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Chapter 18

Angelo's P.O.V

"I like you." The three words I least expected to hear from him.

Of course he likes me as in friends. We are friends and I'm happy about it. We were closer than before over the past month and I find it comfortable whenever I'm with him. I'm sure he meant friends. Just friends.

I smiled at him. "Of course I like you too." I replied. He grinned widely. "I mean, we're friends, aren't we?"

I was sure he thinks of me as friend only and I didn't want to get my hopes up-again, he couldn't feel more than friends for me.

His grin dropped almost right away, his eyes were radiating hurt and I could feel his stare at me. He moved closer to me but I instinctively stepped back.

He lowered his head. "I like you as friend. But I like you more than just friend can be." He said, looking at the floor. "I'm falling in love for you."

I turned to my study table and started to fidget at my things and walked around the room, I didn't know exactly what I was doing. "Maybe the bad guys had hit you bad in your head...." I said. "Maybe you need some medicine for headache... does your head hurt? I'll go get some..." I was about to walked out of the room when he grabbed me gently in my arms.

I closed my eyes trying to stay calm, I was breathing in and out heavily.

"Please..." his voice was pleading and a bit hurt. "...give me a chance."

I faced him, tears started to form in my eyes. My vision was getting cloudy and any moment, my tear was about to fall. "I'm a guy..." I started but he cut me off.

"I don't care." He cut off.

"Please... I can't." I broke his grip from my hand just as when my first tear fell.

I don't care if I was a guy and he was a guy. This was the moment I was dreaming of. Daniel likes me more than friend and the feeling is mutual. But now I wasn't sure if I can accept him without hurting him and me in the process. My past was still hunting me and I'm sure Daniel would just get wounded from the broken pieces of me scattered around my life. I couldn't bear that one more person to suffer for me.  I cannot be fix anymore, I was a broken soul...I was scared.

I walked out to my small living room, Daniel was trailing behind me.

"I'm sure you're feeling alright now..." I wiped my tears away with my hands.

"Please Angelo... let me explain." He pleaded.

I faced him with hard expression. "Please leave me alone for now. A lot of things had happened today. This is just too much for me. Please."

Daniel heaved a heavy sigh. "Fine. Take as much time as you want." He said softly. "But I'd like to let you know that I won't give up on you. I'll never let you go."

He fished out his phone and dialed a number. After a while, the person on the other line answered. "Hey Alex, could you pick me up mate?" The person on the other line mumbled something in response. "Yeah...." He looked at me. "I'll just text you the address...ok... thanks mate... bye."

He walked out of the apartment with a gloomy expression and without saying any words.

My head was spinning and I was really confused on what was going on. And so, I decided to call the best option to give me advice about this situation... Veronica.

I dialed Veronica's number and after the third ring, she answered. " What's up Angie?" she boomed.

"Veronica...." The only word I said.

"What's wrong honey?" her voice turned mellow and calm. "You didn't complain about the name, which means something is wrong." she said from the other line.

I snickered a bit. " Yeah. It's about Daniel."

"What? What did that hedgehog do to you? I swear if he hurt you, I'm gonna..." she said hysterically.

I rolled my eyes. "...cut his balls off and feed it to him... I know.." I continued. "The thing was he got hurt because of me." I told her about what happened in the empty walkway earlier and how Derek Munn's group of bulky guys badly beat up Daniel. While she was cursing through the other line about how she's gonna end Derek's life, I told her that Sebastian had taken care of them to which, she calmed down.

"I can sense that it wasn't the exact reason why you called me." She guessed.

I sighed, so deep even Tartarus would be embarrassed about it. "Daniel told me he likes me." There was silence on the line. "He told me that he likes me more than just friends."

"So the blonde hedgehog had finally confessed his true feelings for you then." she deadpanned.

I frowned. "What do you mean? Why don't you seem so surprised about it?" I asked.

"Because Mr. Clueless, I have eyes to see what was going on." Veronica huffed.

"I don't understand."

"You see, Daniel has been eyeing you, and probably like you for a while now. Every time you were with him, his eyes got this sparkle like a love-struck. I don't know, but I think Daniel doesn't just like you, he had learned to love you as well." She explained.

"Please Veronica, not that word again. I can't..." I paused. "I just can't".

"Wait for me before making any decision you would regret for the rest of your life." There was a muffled sound of people speaking in the background. "I'll be there as soon as I can. I got to go. Don't make a decision yet! Bye!" the line went dead.

A whole week had passed and I was trying to avoid Daniel. I could feel that he was hurting over it but I couldn't do anything or else my fear might cloud my sense of decision over the matter. There were casual 'hi' and 'hello' but we weren't talking for long like before. He was still seating beside me but we were not speaking to each other at all, though I could feel his sad stares at me all the time followed by a deep sighs.

I was hurting as well to see Daniel mopping himself over it. I wanted to hug him and say that everything will be alright and that I was there for him, but my worry over something I wasn't even sure that exist has been blocking my feelings. I wanted to touch him, feel his heat, see his smile, listen to his story, and laugh with him. I've even missed hanging out with him during lunch. The past week, I was always making an excuse just to get out of Daniel's radius. Even Alex was feeling the awkwardness between us; fortunately, he didn't bother pushing the topic over us. Alex always talks to me like before, but I could feel that he was careful over the words he was about to say, as if he was trying to avoid a sensitive part of a bomb.

Sunday morning, I got a call from Veronica. She said that she had been in Brisbane since Saturday but she had to run some errands first before catching up with me. I agreed to meet her at our usual meet up place- Starbucks at lunch.

When I came to the meeting place, Veronica called me up and said that she was going to be a bit late. I waited for about 5 minutes before Veronica- all disguised with wig and exploding make-up, arrived.

She seated on the opposite side of me without ordering anything. I was drinking my chocolate milkshake.

She sighed. "So, what did you do so far?" she said straight to the point.

"Hi Veronica. And nothing. I didn't do anything yet." I replied.

"Oh hello Angie. Well, aside from avoiding the poor guy? That's good then." She remarked sarcastically.

I frowned. "What do you want me to do? You said to stay put before making any decision. I avoided him because I don't wanna say words that might hurt him. It's for his best."

"You're wrong Angelo." She said my real name, which means thing has gotten serious. "You already hurt him. Can't you see, he's been trying to talk to you this past week but all you did was ignore him?" She rolled her eyes. "You're not thinking about his best, you're thinking about your own welfare. You are so selfish." She said.

"I am not!" I snapped.

"Yes you are. You are a coward. You don't wanna let someone in to your life because you're afraid that you'll get hurt again, you are afraid of the past." She was gazing intensely at me.

My eyes started to get cloudy from the tears forming in my eyes.

"Daniel is different Angie. He is different from Nathan, the guy was head over heels on you for a month now." she reasoned out.

"That's the point Veronica, I just knew him for only a month or so while I knew Nathan ever since I was a kid. Now what happened, Nathan broke my heart. Why wouldn't Daniel?" I sobbed.

"Because he is Daniel. He maybe your soul mate, that one person who would love you back.  And if you won't get hurt, then it isn't love. Love's middle name is hurt." She clasped by face with her hands. "Angelo, you're a good person. And I'm sure you are feeling something towards Daniel as well."

I nodded.

"Then why hurt yourself and Daniel by trying to avoid your feeling to each other." She asked, more like a statement.

I didn't say anything.

"Give him a chance. We are not kids anymore. We are adults now and every decision that we make from now on will affect our life forever. So we better make the best out of it. Love as long as you can. Let other people try to fix your broken pieces." She soothed.

I wiped my tears away. "Tell me what to do."

"Let him show his true self to you. Let him win you over and fight for you. And if you somehow liked the real him and the way he fights for you, then maybe, you can end up making the best decision in your life."

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