Chapter 56

• Narrated by Daniel.
• I watched her walk away with a pain in my chest. I really couldn't understand what made Amelia so different, although I had thought about it many times. For a while, I thought maybe it was because she was the daughter of my best friend. I had seen her grow up, and had spent many years with her and her father and her mother, God rest her soul, this created an automatic bond. Perhaps it was because she also understood me. She gave me what I needed at all the right moments and received so much from me. But reality had hit me, I knew I wasn't supposed to want her. Our illicit time together made me feel happy, although that happiness could become my downfall. If there was one thing, I knew about myself, it was that I liked to torture myself. Sometimes I felt like I needed the punishment, especially when things in my life were going too well. I preferred to punish myself than to let the universe screw me over. I loved Amelia. I loved that girl so much. It started as something innocent and friendly, and it turned into something more. It hit me like a train when I realized what I felt for her. Before her mother's death, she was just... Amelia. Just a girl. My best friend's daughter and nothing more. But after that, I saw her in a new light. She was no longer a girl, I realized. She had breasts, hips, a beautiful face, and a perfect ass. I noticed all those things and began to desire her.
• All I could think about was her in that way. At work. At the gym. While traveling. Even in those rare moments when I dreamed. Always her. But Amelia deserved better. I wasn't the right man for her and deep down, I knew it, but she still desired me. She wanted my best friend like a damn brother. I owed him everything. I couldn't ruin our foundation or keep stabbing him in the back this way. Our friendship was too strong, and our bond was too deep, and at the end of the day, Amelia was still his girl, a sweet, young, beautiful girl who, one day, would outgrow me. I had no idea how I was going to get over her, especially when the future meant seeing her over and over again, but there would be no other choice.