After a lot of heartbreak, I swore off relationships and chose to focus on my friendships and career. Sarah, my best friend, invited me to her opening night at an art gallery. As I admired the art, I noticed a guy who couldn’t stop staring at me. I confronted him and after a tense interaction, my best friend joined us and let me know that he was the owner of the art gallery. I had to humble myself since I didn’t want to spoil her opening night. Here’s where the story begins I Intensely Disliked Him The First Time We Met & I Never Thought I Would End Up Falling In Love Part 1
“Diana, there’s someone at the reception asking for you,” Daniel said.
“What? Why hasn’t anyone called me?”
“Jackie isn’t at her desk.”
I rushed to the reception thinking that it was one of my clients only to find Charles seated on a chair next to the reception desk.
“What are you doing here?”
“I think it’s my turn to apologize to you.”
“How did you know where I work?”
“Can we go somewhere and talk?” He asked, ignoring my question. I later found out that Sarah had given him my work and home address.
I went back to my desk, switched off my desktop, picked up my jacket and left with no plan of returning for the day. We didn’t say a word to each other as we walked to the coffee shop. When we got there, we made our order then I took out my phone and started checking my emails.
“Can we start over?” He said, trying to break the ice.
“This is the third time we’re trying this out. Maybe we’re just not meant to be friends.” I protested.
“I know but I happen to work with your best friend and you can’t avoid me forever.”
“I’ve avoided you for two months.”
“I want you to be a part of Sarah’s journey. She’s really talented and she’s going places. She needs her best friend to celebrate with her.”
Seeing how much Charles cared about Sarah warmed my heart. I got to see a different side of him from the guy I met at the art gallery. He was funny, charming and most importantly, nice.
From that day, a friendship was born. I talked to Charles almost every day. We mostly talked about Sarah and her art in the beginning but the more we talked, the more I found out that we had a lot in common.
“I told you. You guys are so alike. You better not replace me with him as your best friend though.” Sarah said after I told her that Charles and I kept in touch every day.
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Though we talked every day, I still had reservations about Charles because of our first encounters. I didn’t think that we could be close friends, especially in such a short time but the inevitable happened just a few months after our coffee date.
Sarah and I took a trip to the coast where Charles was hosting an art event. He had booked a three-bedroom Airbnb and invited us to stay with him.
From the time we walked into the house, I noticed how he looked at me. It was the same look he gave me the first time we met. The stare made my blood boil. I just had to know what he was thinking when he stared at me like that.
“Sarah, he’s staring at me again,” I whispered to my friend and we both chuckled.
“Thank you both for coming. I don’t know what I would have done without you.” He said as we walked to the kitchen to pour ourselves a drink.
“You’re our best friend and we’ll always support you,” Sarah said.
“You need to start getting ready. The event is in two hours.”
“Relax, Charles. We can take care of ourselves. Focus on the event.”
“Okay. When you’re ready just let the driver know. He’ll bring you to the venue.”
Charles headed to the venue 30 minutes later and we started getting dressed and headed to the event. Even before we got in, the setup looked magical. Charles had outdone himself and we couldn’t wait to see the man of the hour. However, he was nowhere to be found. As we walked in, we noticed a familiar art hanging on the wall in front of us.
“Is that your art, Sarah?” I asked in surprise. She was equally surprised to see her art there.
“What’s going on?” She asked.
“Where’s Charles?”
“I’ll go and find him,” I said.
I walked through the crowded room trying to find him until I spotted him standing by himself. He almost looked unrecognizable in a black suit.
“I’ve never seen you in a suit. The event looks amazing.” I said as I approached him.
“Thanks. Where’s Sarah?”
“She’s on that side. Should we go to her? She has some questions.”
“About her art?”
“Yes.”
“Before we go, I have to ask you something I should have asked the first day I saw you.”
“Okay.”
“Do you have a boyfriend?”
“What? You’ve known me for three months. If I had a boyfriend you would have known by now.”
“I just needed to confirm. Will you be my girlfriend?” He finally asked.
“It’s good you didn’t ask me this the first day we met because I would have said no. I’ve had the worst love life and I wasn’t ready to get into another relationship.”
“I know. Can I tell you something?”
“Sure.”
“Sarah told me all about you including your relationship history. I was rude to you on purpose just so you wouldn’t think that I was another guy trying to get in your pants but to be honest, I liked you from the moment I saw you. So, will you be my girlfriend?”
I was hesitant. Even though Charles and I had become close friends, I still felt like I was bound to the same fate and I didn’t want to lose my best friend in case anything went wrong. On the other hand, Charles was the sweetest guy I had ever known. He was nice to me even when he had nothing to gain from it. So, I knew he wouldn’t do anything to hurt me.
I agreed to be his girlfriend and he immediately grabbed me and kissed me as if he had been waiting to do it since we met three months ago. We even forgot that Sarah was at the event. She found us making out and had to clear her throat to get our attention.
“Finally.” She said.
“Sorry, babe. I forgot you were here.” I said.
“No, I mean, he finally made a move. I thought Charles would never tell you how he really felt.”
For the first time, everything felt right. My love life was thriving. Most importantly, I didn’t lose my best friend. Instead, I gained a partner who already knew my good and bad side.
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