Second Chance with My First Love

Sandalwood, mixed with the scent of the cigar he smoked from time to time, invaded my senses. He kissed me exactly as he always did: soft, gentle, and teasing. His masculine scent and the feel of his lips threatened to overwhelm all my senses, but before they could, he broke the kiss.

"Mmmm." I moaned in protest as I felt the loss of... him.

I almost smiled when I slowly opened my eyes, seeing the familiar deep blue hue of his gentle eyes looking at me.

I whispered his name and smiled just as how I usually greeted him. But instead of the smiling blue eyes he used to look at me, his eyes turned icy blue.

"Sophia," he said, his lips curled into an unforgiving smile. "Don't think you can ever run from me."

Frowning, I opened my lips to ask what he meant, but the man grabbed me and pulled me into a tight embrace! I cried out, but nothing! I couldn't talk. I tried saying a bunch of things, but the man couldn't seem to hear me, nor did he show any signs that he was listening to me.

Scared, I tried to pull away. But then, the man was much stronger than me, so after he tightened his grip on me, I found myself unable to break free.

"Sophia," His lips were mere inches from my lips, and I could feel his cold breath touching my skin. I shivered and then trembled in fear when he whispered, "I won't ever let you go."

...

A silent scream escaped my lips as I woke up from my dream. My whole body was still trembling from the fear the man had instilled inside me. I was breathing so hard that I had to cover my mouth to keep myself from making a sound.

'Still asleep.' I breathed slowly when I saw the man sleeping soundly next to me. Different from the man in my dreams, the man beside me had brown hair and equally brown eyes.

Slowly lowering my hand, I looked at him until my heart stopped thumping loudly enough for me to hear. Once it did, I lay beside him and slept facing him. Afraid that the man from my dreams would suddenly appear, I didn't dare blink and only watched my husband sleep, his breath slow and even.

Bob and I were married. Just a few months ago, I was still content knowing that I had Bob as a husband.

Content. Yes, that was how I could describe the feeling of knowing that I was with Bob. I might have been married to him for three years, but he'd never touched me. He kissed me but never as deeply and as passionately as Adam.

Realizing I was still thinking of the man in my dreams, I bit my lip and mentally shook my head.

'No! No! Don't think of him, Sophia,' I told myself, but thoughts of Adam filled my head. The memory and the feel of him assaulted my senses.

Adam was my first love and the first person who had ever made me feel loved. I thought I had forgotten him, but lately, his face was the only thing I saw in my dreams. The first time I dreamt of him, I brushed it off, wanting that memory to be just that: memory.

But when a few months passed and my dreams of Adam kissing and hugging me intensified, I started feeling uneasy. I thought I might be sexually frustrated with the platonic marriage I had with Bob. But while it was true that somewhere in my heart, I wanted Bob to take the initiative, it also scared me that he would.

And that was the reason the guilt weighed in on my heart. Bob was impotent, but he never refused me anything. Still, I couldn't bear to kiss him.

Unlike Adam.

'Don't go there, Sophia!' I admonished myself and, this time, shook my head until that man's name completely disappeared from my head.

...

Murphy Law. It was an epigram I once read during my university days. It meant that anything that could go wrong would go wrong. I never believed it. At least, I never thought it would happen to me. But it did, unfortunately; it happened the following Monday I went to work.

The company had been buzzing for months after our former CEO announced that a new CEO would take over his job. No one knew, and our CEO never told anyone the name of the new exec.

I was sad that our CEO would be leaving but also happy at the thought of working with a new boss.

Anxious, I stood beside my manager, Alexa, and waited for our new executive to enter the building. It was the day he would be starting with our company and the day I met Adam again.

I stood rigidly in place when I saw Adam's familiar figure enter, walking down the aisle of employees and toward me.

"Sophia, what are you doing?" Alexa asked after a few minutes. Blinking, I looked at my manager and then at Adam, who was now standing in front of us.

"N–Nice to meet you, Sir," I stuttered, but the man merely glanced at me before walking toward the elevator.

I couldn't remember what happened next. I didn't faint, nor did the ground swallow me whole, which I would have preferred after seeing Adam's blue winter cold gaze. Somewhere in my mind, I thought I expected such cruel treatment from Adam, but my heart told me otherwise.

I smiled bitterly.

'How much does he hate me?' I wondered and hoped because surely, Adam had not forgotten me. Surely, him giving me the cold shoulder didn't mean he had forgotten all about me?

'Right?'

...

I was restless while I stayed at the office. Just thinking of sitting and shutting myself in my office while Adam was a few floors above me was driving me insane.

"Isn't it enough that you keep dreaming about him, Sophia?" I muttered to myself. "Why stress so much after only meeting him in person again?!" I wanted to scream, but I didn't want to draw attention. So, I buried my face in my palm and let out a bit of my frustration with a soft scream.

When my phone sounded, I quickly took it out of my pocket.

"Bob," I whispered and hurriedly opened his message.

[Hope you bring home your appetite. The chicken soup will be waiting for you at home.]

Women in love would be swooning over now from their partner's thoughtfulness, but me? I didn't. Instead of feeling the joy of getting Bob's attention, the dagger of guilt that had already lodged in my heart dug even deeper. Because while Bob sent me another message, this time a picture of him with the chicken soup casserole, all I could think of was the man upstairs.

"Sophia?"

I almost screamed upon hearing my Alexa's voice but managed to keep myself from shouting. "A—Alexa! What can I do for you?"

Alexa's eyes grew wide with worry and curiosity, but she didn't try to pry. "Adam asked me to give this to you," she said and handed me a big box.

"What is it?"

"Adam specifically requested that you join him for the business dinner he has with Derek of XC Group tonight," was Alexa's only answer.

"Ha!" I tsked. While I was willing to help the company in every way possible, joining a business dinner with Adam to represent the company was new to me. But even if it weren't, I would never agree to such a meeting.

Derek, while very influential, was a known pervert, and I would never get even a meter near him. Still, I held my tongue and didn't ask any more questions as I opened the box Alexa gave me.

I frowned when I saw the white dress inside the box and dropped it to the floor, jaw-dropping when I recognized a similar dress Adam had given me three years ago.

Something inside me burst, and I saw red. I grabbed the dress and stormed off.

"Sophia? Where are you going?" I heard Alexa ask, but I was too angry to utter a word.

'Adam was nuts if he thought I would keep my silence!'

My heart slammed to my chest as I stomped my feet toward the elevator and all the way to the CEO's floor. When I reached Adam's office, I didn't knock and slammed the door open.

I saw Adam look up, but I was too mad to back down from his indifferent eyes.

Trembling with anger, I threw the dress right in front of him. "What the hell do you want from me?"