He Wanted an Open Relationship, So I Accepted Another Proposal Chapter 08

He Wanted an Open Relationship, So I Accepted Another Proposal Chapter 08

Adrian insisted on taking me back to his place.

“Since you said we could try being together, you have to give me a chance. Let me prove I’m qualified to be your boyfriend.”

He bent down and lifted me from the hospital bed without asking.

I had scrapes all over my body.

My ankle was badly swollen.

I truly couldn’t go back to the dorm.

I didn’t want to go home either.

If my family saw me this battered, they would only worry.

Besides, Adrian and I had been rivals for more than ten years.

We had fought like fire and gasoline.

But deep down, I knew one thing: he was someone I could trust completely.

In my memory, the three of us always played together as kids.

Adrian was even better-looking than Grant.

His features were sharp and beautiful, almost unreal/

Back then, I was too young to know better.

I had even cried that I wanted to marry Adrian someday.

But later, Adrian grew colder.

There was always a guarded hardness between his brows.

My childish feelings got buried under rebellion.

I always thought he targeted me on purpose.

So I fought him on everything.

Our relationship became tense enough to snap.

But looking back now, whenever we fought too far, he was always the one who stepped back.

The car rolled smoothly into the apartment parking garage.

Adrian carried me upstairs with gentle movements.

Once we entered the bedroom, he set me in the center of the soft bed.

Then he stepped back half a pace.

“I’ll sleep in the guest room.”

“The master bedroom is bigger, and the bathroom is closer. It’ll be easier for you. I already had someone change the sheets.”

He bent down and tucked the blanket around me.

The familiar cedar scent was close.

But it no longer felt overwhelming.

It made me feel safe.

Then a very light, restrained kiss landed on my forehead.

“Rest well.”

After saying that softly, he turned off the light.

Only a warm little night-light remained.

I closed my eyes.

The place in my mind that Grant had occupied for so long was suddenly empty.

In its place, there was only Adrian.

Old memories I had ignored grew painfully clear.

When I had treated him like a rival, he had never truly held it against me.

I would make trouble and snap at him, while most of the time, he only watched me coldly.

Then, after I had finished, he quietly let me win.

I remembered fighting him over a pen in elementary school.

When I won, he only dusted off his sleeve and walked away.

I remembered losing to him by a few votes in middle school.

I hid in the stairwell and cried.

Without a word, he left a strawberry yogurt by my feet.

I remembered that fight in high school.

I was the one who lost control first.

But somehow, he always cleaned up the mess for me.

How much had I misunderstood, and how much had I missed?

My eyelids grew heavy.

The tangled memories slowly blurred.

Eventually, they folded into a warm haze.

In my half-dream, I returned to a snowy afternoon.

A little Adrian stood in the snow, holding a candy apple.

When he saw me come out, he turned his face away awkwardly.

But he still held out the reddest, shiniest one to me.

I giggled and reached for it.

The moment my fingers touched his cold ones, I fell into a deeper dream.