Broken Pieces, L. S. [brene brown rising strong .txt] 📗

I smiled to him and followed him from behind. The lobby of the hotel is so beautiful. I was overwhelmed with the chandelier hanging from the ceiling while the floor is sparkling. The reception area is right in the middle of the lobby. There were also two stair cases located on the left and right of the reception area. Beside the left staircase were the elevator while on the right side was the lounge.

Jude walked towards the elevator and I followed. He pushes the button and we get inside. We patiently waited for the elevator to reach our chosen floor. We are the only people in the elevator.

After a couple of floors we reached our destination. I can’t help but not remember the night I spent with Carter at his penthouse in Florida. It looks the same as this. I immediately withdrew my thoughts away. I didn’t want to think about him. I should listen to Nicole, she is right. I should let myself be happy. It won’t definitely make me a bad person.

“We are here Madam,” Jude mumbled.

We are at the building rooftop. No wonder it was huge because it is a rooftop of a five-star hotel in Manhattan, New York.

I watched Jude as he took the elevator to go down the rooftop.

I turned around as I heard the song Collide by Howie Day playing on violin, then I saw Dylan walking towards my direction wearing a black suit with a bowtie. He is just so handsome that I felt my heart skip a beat.

“You look so beautiful tonight,” he whispered as he stood beside me.

My cheeks flush.

“Thank you, you look good too,” I replied. “I thought we are going to dinner?” I asked.

“We are, shall we?” he smiled as he reached out for his hand to take mine.

My hand was shaking a bit as I put mine on his. I let him walk me towards the right part of the rooftop where the music was coming from. There I saw a candle light dinner set up with white rose petals scattered on the floor. Two guys were playing the violin while a waiter was standing beside the table.

“How did you do this?” I asked as he sat me down the chair.

“Well, I did come up with but it also helped that I kind of the connection,” he answered as he sat on his chair opposite mine.

The waiter put a maroon cloth on my lap and started pouring wine on each of our glasses. He raised his glass for a toast so I raised mine too.

“For a great night ahead of us,”

I gave him a slight nod and a sweet smile.

“Dance with me,”

Dylan reached his hand out to me and I suddenly didn’t know what to do. We just finished our lovely dinner and he was telling me his childhood funniest stories.

“I don’t know how,” I said shyly.

In my entire existence never once that I danced. When I was still at UCLA I went to different parties with the friends I made there and I have always been on the sidelines, when I moved to NYU, all I did was study, there wasn’t a single party that I have attended. So dancing was never my forte.

He stood up and walked towards my seat.

“Come on, dance with me,” he repeats.

I shook my head in defeat and stood up. I know he isn’t giving up, one thing that I learned about Dylan for the past couple of weeks that we were hanging out that he is very persistent.

“I have two left feet, don’t hate me if I step on you,” I warned him.

“I will never hate you,” he whispered.

He walked me towards near the band who are now playing This I promise you by *NSYNC. He put my hands on his shoulders while he put his on my waist pulling me a little closer to him, I can smell his fresh minty breath.

“You are just so beautiful,” he whispered.

I knew he was looking at me with so much admiration and it heated my cheeks so I look down but he put his hand on my chin, making me look at him.

I bit my lips.

“Did you know that you changed me?” he asked.

I cocked my brow.

“What do you mean?”

He tucked my hair in my ear.

“I’ll admit, I was such a player from college until recently, I dated so many girls, often than not two women in one time,” he said looking straight to my eyes. “I’ve broken so many hearts but from the very beginning that I saw hailing a cab that day, I knew I had to know you, I was going to call my father’s private investigator but I saw you at school so I took my chances even if I knew you hated me,” he said.

“I never hated you, I was pissed, but I could never hate anyone,” I replied.

“I knew you were hurt in the past, I can see that, but I want to be the one to heal you if you could just let me, I wanted to take all the pain away and replace it with happiness, please Liz, let me in, let me be the one to make you believe in love and romance and companionship. Please let me want you,”

His eyes were full of sincerity and honesty. I felt every word that came out of his mouth. I knew he was damn serious. My heat skips a beat and I could feel the butterflies in my stomach dancing around. It’s been a while since I felt that way and I actually forgot how good the feeling was. Maybe, Nicole is right, maybe the only way for me to finally move on from my past is to let someone in, to let someone care for me, love me and makes me happy.

“Okay,” I nodded.

“Okay? You are my girlfriend okay? Or keep on dreaming okay?” he asked, a bit confused.

“I want to be your girlfriend, okay?” I whispered.

“Oh Liz, you didn’t know how much you made me happy,”

He put his hands on my face and put his lips to mine. It’s been six year since I kissed someone without being forced to. Dylan is a good kisser, he was gentle and he taste so damn good.

“You’ll never regret giving me this chance Liz,”

“Okay,”

Then he kissed me again.

For the first time since I became Liz Williams, this is the moment where I am finally embracing my life. I may have lived carrying that name for quite a while but I have always been going back to my past. Hoping that maybe one day I could cross paths with Carter again but it never happened so I guess this is the moment where I should ending that chapter of my life. Dr. Sullivan was right, I have so much to offer the world and I shouldn’t be stuck in the past. I have a great life ahead of me and a gorgeous man who wants me so I am saying goodbye to Carter Greene. I am saying goodbye to Jillian Winters.

Publication Date: 05-24-2016

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