Chapter 348 – Beginning with a Daring Encounter

“Which category do you fall into? Busy bee or busybody?” Sonia asked thoughtfully.

“Busybeebody. I’m a bit of both, so I can relate well with you two,” Jade said with a wink, and Sonia giggled.

“That’s perfect! I am going to turn on the recorder now. So tell me how and when you first met Harry,” Sonia said as she reached to tap on the record icon on her screen, but Jade stopped her.

“The waiter is coming with our order. I will start after he serves us,” Jade said, jerking her head towards the waiter who was approaching them with their order.

They both waited until he had served their meal before Jade gave her the go-ahead to start recording.

“I met Harry for the first time four years ago,” Jade said, and a small smile curved her lips, “Thinking about it now, I think I would probably have considered our first meeting pretty romantic if I didn’t have a boyfriend then, and if he wasn’t present there,” she said, arousing Sonia’s curiosity.

“Your boyfriend was there? What happened?”

Jade had a bittersweet smile as she remembered that day. Bitter because she would have preferred not to think of Todd, but unfortunately, there was no way she could think of her first meeting with Harry without thinking of Todd.

“C’mon, Todd. Let’s take a stroll around the neighborhood. We can’t just stay up here all day,” Jade pleaded with Todd as she tried to pull him out of bed, but he refused to budge.

“But I already told you that my head is aching, and I don’t want to go out. Besides, it’s too cold to go out, and you are still recovering from the flu,” Todd reminded her as he tried to pull her back on the bed.

“Although I feel better already, but since you insist that it’s cold outside, why don’t we just chill in the living room with my parents? We will be here for only a couple of days, so we should at least spend the time with them instead of staying locked up in my bedroom,” Jade pleaded.

“Alright. You can go down. I will join you guys shortly,” Todd said as he kissed her hand.

“Are you sure you’re going to come down?” Jade asked doubtfully.

“Sure, babe. I’ll just give my folks a call, and then I’ll join you,” Todd assured her, and then she leaned forward to kiss him.

She didn’t bother checking her appearance in the mirror since she was just going down to chill with her parents. She was decently dressed in a red sweater which her mother had gifted her the last Christmas, and a pair of faded boyfriend jeans which was folded at the bottom.

Just as she walked down the stairs, the door opened, and Benne walked in, surprising everyone, “Surprise!” Benne exclaimed from the doorway, and both their parents, who had been cuddled together watching a soap opera, exclaimed in surprise as their mother hurried over to embrace him.

“TOMMY!” Jade screamed excitedly as she ran down the stairs to join them, and in her hurry, she missed a stair and fell forward. But before Benne could notice that she was about to fall, a pair of strong masculine hands caught her.

“Wait. What? You’re not just making this up for my story, are you?” Sonia asked in disbelief, and Jade laughed softly.

“No, I’m not.”

“You do know that a lot of romance stories started this way, right?” Sonia asked excitedly, and Jade grinned.

“Well, I didn’t think of it that way at the time.”

“You didn’t? Fine. Go on. What happened next?” Sonia asked, wanting to hear about it.

Jade couldn’t believe that it was only now, after four years, that she was actually recalling the fine details of how she had first met Harry. She had been trying so hard to forget everything about Todd that she had also forgotten that first moment. She had a small smile on her face as she tried to remember it all now.

Jade’s heart had already skipped so many beats at the thought that she was going to fall and likely twist or sprain an ankle in the process. Her first thought was to protect her face with her hands so that even if she hit the floor, she wouldn’t hurt her face. One of her biggest fears was losing a tooth by accident.

She gasped in surprise when a pair of strong masculine hands grabbed her waist, and she gazed into the most beautiful pair of brown eyes she had ever seen.

“Your eyes… I love your eyes,” Jade whispered as she looked down at him, even though she didn’t actually know who the stranger that had just saved her was.

Harry, on the other hand, who was standing at the foot of the stairs, was looking up at her since she was standing two stairs ahead of him while leaning towards him. Her long curly brown hair fell forward, and her blue eyes were full of life and mischief as she smiled down at him.

Despite being Benne’s roommate and friend for over five years, he had never been opportune to meet Jade since he had never had reason to visit Benne’s home. Although he had always heard about her from Benne right from their college days, especially on the few occasions, they spoke over the phone. Nothing Benne had said, and no pictures he had seen, prepared him for the beauty in front of him. And although he had heard what she said, he was too tongue-tied to give her any response.

“Jade, you are a grown woman now. Why do you keep running down the stairs like a kid? You could have hurt yourself,” Desmond chided as all three of them watched them, and at once, Jade snapped back to her senses as she steadied herself, and Harry let go of her waist.

“But I didn’t get hurt,” Jade said with a wide smile.

“What is going on?” Todd asked from behind Jade when he noticed Harry standing at the foot of the stairs, staring at her.

“I almost fell down the stairs, and this fine gentleman here, saved me,” Jade said as she turned to look at him before returning her curious gaze to Harry.

“You are Harry, right?” She asked, seeing as he came in with Benne, and she knew that the only guy who was this close to Benne was Harry, his best friend.

“Yes. And you are Jade,” Harry said with a polite smile, and Jade extended her hand for a handshake.

“Right. It’s nice to meet you. I’ve heard a lot about you from Benne,” Jade said with a wide smile as Harry shook her hand.

“I hope you heard only good things. It’s nice to meet you too,” Harry said with a warm smile of his own, and Jade decided that he didn’t just have pretty eyes; he was also very attractive and good-looking.

As though reading her thoughts, Todd slid a possessive arm around her waist at that moment, subtly letting Harry know that she was taken and he should back off while also bringing Jade back to her senses.

Harry’s gaze followed the gesture, and he glanced at the young man who was now standing beside her. Both men sized up each other when their gaze met, and Harry looked away with disinterest as he returned his attention to Jade.

“This is my boyfriend, Todd. Todd, this is Harry, Benne’s right-hand man. Benny!” Jade grinned as she threw herself at her brother.

“How is our brilliant lawyer doing?” Benne asked as he embraced her.

“I will be better if you sent me more money,” she said with a grin as she looked around the living room, “Why don’t I see any luggage around? Don’t tell me you’re not staying for Christmas?” She asked as she broke the hug.

“Can I at least say hello to your boyfriend before you interrogate me?” Benne asked dryly as he turned to Todd.

“Hi! It’s good to meet you in person finally,” Benne said as he extended his hand to Todd.

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