AN ANGEL FOR THE MAFIA

There Cordelia was, standing outside in front of her late dad's house, waiting for Mr Smith, the personal assistant to her late Father.

Mr Smith had booked Cordelia a flight to Croatia, but unlike always, since she was born, Cordelia was not going to fly first class this time.

Mr Smith arrived in the Uber that was going to take Cordelia to the Boston Logan International Airport right there In Massachusetts for her trip.

"Cordelia, I need you to understand that I'm doing this for your safety."

"You're their next target." Mr Smith said, holding Cordelia's hands tightly towards him.

"Your dad was such a good boss to me and my family, and I can not bear to watch anything happen to you. I will send the money from selling the house to you, before you land in Croatia."

"Here is a little amount from me and my family to take care of yourself."

"Everything has been taken care of Cordelia, so I'm positive that you'll be alright."

"Thank you so much Mr Smith" Cordelia said in a quavering voice.

It's been 2 months since Cordelia lost her parents to a tragic plane crash, on their way back from the Netherlands. And now, it had finally dawned on her, that she would need to go through life all alone.

Cordelia was already running late for her trip, her flight was slated for 1:00pm, and it was already 11:54am, and it took more than thirty minutes to get to the airport without traffic, and so Mr Smith hurried her up to leave.

"Take care Cordelia. And stay safe." Mr smith said waving his hands to Cordelia as she drove away.

She was a twenty year old girl, who had to leave her previously led life for reasons unclear to her.

Cordelia arrived at the Boston Logan International Airport at 12:36pm, and she checked in Immediately with no hassle.

Her late dad was famous and well respected, and so Cordelia got special treatment and attention from the immigration and military personnel stationed around.

Maskins Island in Croatia was her destination. She was going to be in that plane for approximately eight hours and forty four minutes, but as she sat, the reality of her parents death which had happened 2 months ago dawned on her again.

Cordelia arrived in Croatia at 9pm. And after being cleared by the immigration authorities, there was a man dressed in a blue suit, with red roses in his hands, waiting to take Cordelia to her new hostel in school.

In a bid to get drunk, get high and forget her worries, Cordelia instructed the driver to take her to the biggest bar in town.

The driver took her to the Fainting goat, the biggest bar in town.

With loud music, bouncers and hookers surrounding the bar, it was easy to tell that it was a very busy place.

Cordelia stepped into the bar and sat at the first free seat in front of the bartender that she could find.

"Welcome to the Fainting Goat".

"What would you like to have?" The bartender asked.

But Before she could answer, a tall dark man dressed in flashy clothes, and shiny jewelry answered the bar man.

"Let her have what I'm having," he said in his deep and manly voice.

Immediately, she turned to see who answered.

He was an average-aged looking man, with facial hair, but his facial hair wasn't completely black. His mustache was a mixture of gray and black hair, which slightly covered his upper lip.

He was wearing a black Desmond Merrion Supreme Bespoke suit and a Louis Vuitton Manhattan shoe and In his right hand, was a can of LAB Split.

Not being impressed by what he wore, Cordelia looked away, and said,

"I don't do beer, give me your finest whiskey."

The man that approached her was Senator Ivan, a member of the Croatian parliament, and one of the richest men in Croatia.

He was known to be one of the most lavish spenders in all clubs in town, and so he was highly respected by all the bar owners.

Senator Ivan pulled out a chair beside Cordelia and tried to introduce himself while Cordelia was gently sipping her whiskey soaked in ice.

"What's your name?" senator Ivan asked stretching his hands in an attempt to fondle Cordelia's breasts, but before his hands could touch them, she snapped, smacking his hands off.

"What are you trying to do? She asked, moving away from him"

"Come on baby girl, you know how these things work."

"No, I don't, this is my first time here."

"Then let me teach you." Senator Ivan responded, moving close to her again. This time, he didn't let her push him away again. He hastily grabbed her breast, giving it an aggressive squeeze.

Cordelia's eyes widened in awe. She sprang to her feet and smacked him in his face without thinking twice.

"How dare you?!" She yelled in humiliation.

Senator Ivan's jaw dropped in terror, and so was the jaw of everyone watching.

"Oh my God... she is dead. She slapped him. Oh no..." Cordelia heard people around her whisper in surprise. She looked around fearfully, wondering why the bar was dead silent after what she did.

She looked up and saw two huge men approaching her with stern looks on their faces. They were twice the size of Senator Ivan. No one needed to tell Cordelia that they were bouncers.

Their hands were at their back, getting ready to pull out their guns in defense, but Senator Ivan raised his hand, making them stop.

Cordelia was beginning to shiver in fear where she stood. She felt surrounded and didn't know what to do, because she knew no one.

Senator Ivan rolled his tongue in his mouth and stood up. As he took slow steps closer to Cordelia with a frown on his face, a young, handsome-looking man came out of nowhere and pulled Cordelia by the arm.

"Hi, baby. I'm sorry I took time in the restroom." The stranger uttered with a grin. Cordelia looked so confused, but as the smart girl she was, she figured out that he was trying to save her. So she didn't push him away.

This stranger was Jared Lambert, a twenty-five year old guy, the son of Sir Luther Lambert, leader of the East America drug cartel, and nephew to El Azul Lambert, the leader of the Colima drug cartel in Europe. El Azul had connections all over Europe and was given almost the same respect as the President.

Senator Ivan was well familiar with El Azul Lambert, and to some extent, he feared him because El Azul could ruin him just with the snap of his fingers. Seeing Jared Lambert next to Cordelia calmed him down immediately.

"Senator Ivan! How are you?!" Jared asked with a large grin, pretending not to know what had happened.

"Jared. She's with you?" Senator Ivan asked, feeling restricted.

"Yes. This is my girlfriend. Have you two met?" Jared asked, still smiling sweetly.

"Your girlfriend just slapped me!" Senator Ivan smacked.

"What? Baby, why did you do that?" He asked Cordelia. Before Cordelia could defend herself again, he spoke up.

"I'm so sorry, Senator Ivan. She is pretty ignorant of how things work here. Please forgive her for my sake."

Senator Ivan clenched his jaw glaring at Cordelia, who dared not look at his face.

"I'm letting this slide because she's with you, Jared. The next time this happens, I won't spare her." He responded angrily, and Jared nodded.

"Thank you. Senator Ivan. I promise you that it will never happen again."

"No problem. One more thing, Jared. Can you link me up with El Azul, I have business to discuss, and we forget this ever happened." Senator Ivan said, with a wide grin on his face like a child asking for some candy.

"That is the easiest thing to do. I'll update you, Senator Ivan. We'll leave now." Jared pulled Cordelia with him, while Cordelia hastily grabbed her bag and followed behind him.

Before they got out of the bar, Jared heard someone call his name. He looked back and saw Mckayla, a friend and the owner of the bar approaching them.

"Mckayla." He called as she got to where they were.

"I saw what you did. Thank you so much for saving her from him." She uttered, looking at Cordelia who hid behind Jared, like he was her refuge.

"You need to be careful, girl. That man would have killed you and no one would question him. Don't you know him?"

"No, I don't. I'm new in Croatia." She answered, still hiding behind Jared. She held his arms firmly, never wanting to let go.

"You're new, and that is why you need to be careful. You can't just go around slapping people you don't know. Even though he was wrong, there were other ways you could have dealt with it." Jared answered coldly.

"I'm sorry." Cordelia answered, lowering her head.

"Well, I see why he lost control. He has never been like that with any girl before. He'd always come to me first to ask for girls. But I guess he was swept away by your beauty. You're very beautiful. What is your name?"

"My name is Cordelia."

"Here... have my card. You can come here anytime to have a free drink and a chat. Since you're new, I bet you don't have any friends."

"No, I don't. Thank you." Cordelia answered, collecting the card from her.

"Take care of her, Jared. I'll leave now." Mckayla winked at Jared before walking away.

Jared kept a straight face and walked out of the bar with Cordelia still clinging to him.

Walking farther from the bar, without saying anything to each other, Jared stopped walking and looked over his shoulder at Cordelia. He noticed her eyes were closed, and her nose was buried in his lower shoulder.

Cordelia couldn't help but sniff him because of how nice he smelled. She was almost tempted to ask him the name of the cologne that he was wearing.

"I'll get you a taxi now. Be careful next time. This place is pretty dangerous." He uttered, and Cordelia nodded.

She slowly moved out from behind him and looked at his face. Without saying a word, she began to admire his beauty.

She started admiring him right from his face. He stood under the street light, so she could see his face clearly.

He had a messy haircut which complimented his oblong face. His eyes were oval-shaped and blue. His nose was long and straight, sitting perfectly right above his Cupid-bow shaped lips, which were very pink.

Moving down to the collar of his shirt, her eyes were about to run down his body, when his voice suddenly jolted her out of her thoughts.

"The taxi is here." He uttered.

She hastily looked away and saw the taxi waiting in front of her. Before she could reach for the door, Jared reached for it and opened it.

"Thank you, Jared." She uttered and sat in the taxi.

"Stay safe." He responded, shutting the door and turning to leave. Cordelia stared out of the window, keeping her gaze locked on him. She wanted him to ask her for her number or at least give her his card, but he didn't.

'Why didn't he make a move? Doesn't he like me?' She thought sadly, turning to look at him through the back glass of the car, still admiring the way he walked.

She stared at him until the taxi drove into another street. Heaving a sigh, she sat properly and exhaled loudly.

'I hope I see him again.'

~University of Pliver~

Cordelia got to the gate of her new school at 7:45am, feeling a little bit weird. After what had happened the previous night, she was too scared to relate with anyone.

Heaving a loud sigh, she held onto her bag firmly and walked into the school compound. Immediately she entered, she was wowed by the beauty and busyness of the school.

It was nothing like the school she formerly attended.

There were so many big trees planted in the school, with so many tall white and brown buildings.

Her new school was arguably one of the biggest that she had ever seen and been in. She could see different students of different races, different calibers and outfits.

While her eyes scanned the compounds, her eyes fell on some couples behind some of the huge trees, kissing and smooching.

In shock and disgust, she looked away. Before she could take another step, she saw some guys in a car, drinking and smoking.

It was like the school existed without rules and authorities.

While she was still in shock, one of the guys in the car looked at her and broke into laughter.

"Baby girl! Why are you dressed up like that?!" He loudly mocked her, pulling the attention of other students to her.

Other students broke into laughter as well, making Cordelia feel humiliated.

Cordelia almost forgot that she was wearing a large black hoodie and gray pants which made her look homeless.

Well, she was indeed homeless. In shame, Cordelia pulled the hood over her head and took fast strides towards the main entrance to the school building.

Her heart thumped against her chest as she tried running away from the thoughts of what had just happened.

Cordelia went straight to the secretary's office, since she had already asked for directions from the man at the gate.

She needed to complete her paper work for school, and collect the key to her locker. She had heard whispers from students that it was almost time for their first class, so she walked hurriedly to the secretary's office.

"Good Morning Sir. My name is Cordelia." "Good Morning Cordelia." He answered, still facing down, concentrating on what he was doing.

"I'm new here sir, the gateman asked me to come here for my locker number and key" Cordelia said.

Raising his head up to look at her, he said... "Cordelia Johnson? The transfer student from Massachusetts?" "Yes sir" Cordelia answered, nodding her head in affirmation.

"Your locker number is 406, here's the key, make sure you don't misplace it and make sure you keep it safe." The secretary said, as he gave her directions to the hallway.

"Thank you sir." Cordelia said, as she hurried her way out of the secretary's office.

She got to her locker after searching for 7 minutes. All the lockers were color green, and the numbers were hard to see.

immediately unpacked her books from her backpack.

The blue bag she brought to school was her fathers last gift to her before he died.

She was about to cry again when she muttered to herself... "You can do this Cordelia, You're going to pull through and you're going to be okay." She said to herself, picking up the timetable for the week.

She sniffed, picked her notebooks and textbooks too, and locked the door to her locker.

Placing the key in her back pocket, she lifted up her head and her eyes fell on Jared. 'Jared?' Her jaw dropped in awe as his handsomeness and simplicity swept her off her feet again. 'It's really him.' She thought, taking a step further like she was trying to reach him.

Jared's locker was 8 lockers away from hers, so he didn't see her. Jared was also getting his books, getting ready for class.

He was wearing a white collared shirt, with a brown knitted sweater tied around his neck, blue jeans, and a pair of Nike Air Jordan 1s.

Jared locked the door to his locker and turned to leave. Cordelia was about to take another step closer to getting to Jared, when all of a sudden, a young beautiful lady wrapped her hands around him, and covered her lips with his.

"Hey baby, are you ready yet?" She said, with her arms still wrapped around his waist. "Yeah, let's go." Jared responded. Jared's girlfriend was a beautiful girl.

She had long, silky brown hair, round hazel colored eyes, a straight nose with a raised base, and pearly white teeth. She was like an Angel.

Cordelia's heart sank. She couldn't believe her eyes. She didn't know that Jared had a girlfriend.

Well, how could the hottest guy she's ever seen be single. Cordelia let out a sigh and walked to her classroom.

Too many things went through Cordelia's mind as she walked towards her classroom. The last time she heard from Mr Smith was when he sent her part of the money for her schooling.

'I hope he's doing okay.' She thought. Cordelia got to class late since she could not easily locate her lecture hall, and she was not willing to ask anybody either.

The class was already half full by the time Cordelia arrived, but Cordelia wanted the seat at the top of the class by the window, so she wouldn't have to talk to anybody.

It was a 52-Seater lecture theater with blue and red padded chairs, with 23 students already seated.

Cordelia was walking up the stairs towards her seat when she saw Jared seated with his girlfriend. 'Oh my gosh! Jared is in my class!' She muttered quietly as her eyes widened in awe.

But this time, Jared saw her too. She wanted to raise her hand and wave to him, but he turned his face forward and started talking to his friends, Ian and Scott like he never saw her.

She was expecting Jared to at least say something to her, but he didn't.

'Doesn't he recognize me? Why didn't he talk to me? Will he not talk to me?' Cordelia thought sadly.

Immediately Cordelia got to her seat and sat down, the lecturer for Business and Management stepped in to teach.

"Good Morning Class. Let's begin." The lecturer said, rolling up the sleeves of his brown shirt.

The lecturer had taught for about 15 minutes when he noticed that Cordelia had been staring out the window since he began teaching.

"I see we have a new student amongst us. Hello, what's your name?"

Cordelia was lost in the beautiful scenery of the school, thinking of how she was going to survive her days there all alone with no friends and family.

"Hello... Young lady..." The lecturer in a bid to get her attention had to smash his hand against the wooden table in front of him, almost hitting his laptop, to finally get her attention.

The loud noise snapped Cordelia out of her thoughts. And immediately she turned, she realized that the whole class had been looking at her.

"Are you okay?" The lecturer asked. "Yes sir." Cordelia said. "You're sure you're okay?" He asked again. "Yes I am sir" she responded.

"What's your name?" "My name is Cordelia, Cordelia Johnson." Cordelia said her name while she threw glances at Jared.

'Perhaps he'd remember me now' she thought silently. But Jared still didn't look towards her direction.

Instead, Ian, Jared's friend who was also one of the boys who had tried to embarrass her outside, started to make fun of her again. "Our plain Jane's name is Cordelia Jackson."

Everyone in the class laughed, except Jared and the lecturer.

The lecturer had to raise his voice to calm the class down.

"That's enough now."

"Okay Cordelia, my name is Mr Tamil, and I'm your business and management lecturer. It's a pleasure to meet you." He said, adjusting his glasses so the nose pads could fit properly. 'He still doesn't remember me,' Cordelia thought to herself as the lecturer asked her to sit.

An hour had passed and the lecturer brought the class to an end. "That will be all for today, see you again on Friday." Was what the lecturer said as he packed his bags preparing to leave.

Cordelia made sure that all the students had left before she did. She was sad, and it was written all over her face. 'This is harder than I thought.' Cordelia muttered to herself silently.

Heaving a loud sigh, she picked up her books and headed back to her locker. On Cordelia's way to the locker she bumped into Sasha. Jared's girlfriend.

Sasha was the cheerleading captain for the Tornado Tigers basketball team, where Jared was team Captain.

That was how Jared and Sasha hit it off. "I saw how you were looking at my boyfriend in class. It better not be what I'm thinking." Sasha said.

She had two members from the cheerleading squad with her, looking at Cordelia with a distasteful look.

"It's not." Cordelia said, taking a step like she was going to walk away. Suddenly, Sasha placed her hands in front of Cordelia, making her books fall and blocking her path.

"I said, it's not." Cordelia said, looking at Sasha straight in her eyes, with her voice almost raised in anger.. Immediately, Sasha dropped her hands down and allowed Cordelia to pass.

"It better not be." Sasha said as Cordelia walked away.

Cordelia walked straight to her locker without looking back. Cordelia no longer lowered her head to walk, but she still couldn't make eye contact with anyone.

Cordelia reached for the key in her back pocket, opened the locker, and grabbed her bag.

"We made it through today, we're going to pull through other days too." She said to herself, stroking her chest so she could calm down.

Cordelia needed to catch a taxi to the small apartment that Mr Smith had gotten for her. She strolled down to the gate, secretly hoping that she would bump into Jared.

Cordelia heaved a loud sigh when she got to the gate, without seeing Jared. Immediately she got out, she stopped and entered the first taxi that she saw.

"Stradun Avenue please."

"Yes Ma'am." "You know what? Take me to the Fainting Goat instead." "The Fainting Goat?" The driver asked, turning to look at her properly.

"Yes, take me to the Fainting goat." Cordelia answered, looking straight into his eyes.

"We're here Ma'am."

"Thank you." Cordelia said, staring at the bouncer in front of the entrance through the car window.

Cordelia was hesitant to get down from the car.

She was having flashbacks of how Senator Ivan's boys almost planted a bullet in her head.

"Is everything alright ma'am?" The driver asked.

"Yes, I'm fine, thank you." Cordelia answered as she stepped out of the car.

Cordelia took a deep breath, then walked towards the entrance of the bar.

The bouncer recognized her and didn't want to let her in, until she showed him the card that Mckayla had given her the other day.

Cordelia's reason for coming to the fainting goat was to ask about Jared.

She knew nothing about the guy that she was falling for.

As she entered the bar, she felt a bit out of place. She wasn't used to the dim lighting and the smell of alcohol, but she took an another deep breath and walked up to the bartender.

This time, it wasn't the same person that saw her slap Senator Ivan, so she relaxed.

"Excuse me," Cordelia said, trying to sound composed.

"I'm looking for someone named Jared." Do you know him?

The bartender looked at her suspiciously. "Sorry, I can't just give out information like that. Who are you?" He asked.

Cordelia hesitated for a moment, unsure of how much to reveal. "I'm...I'm his classmate, we attend the same school and I want to know more about him. He's been very mysterious."

The bartender raised an eyebrow. "Well, I don't know so much about him personally, but I do know that he's been coming here for a while."

"Plus I hear that Sir Jared just attends that school for formality sake, to please his dad"

"He's always been pretty quiet, though."

Why don't you try talking to some of the regulars? Or bosslady Mckayla, maybe they can help you out."

Cordelia nodded gratefully and tried to make her way over to a group of people sitting at a nearby table.

She was skeptical about asking them, fearing that they might have seen her before, but she summoned courage and went anyways.

'I've got to know about Jared.' She muttered silently as she walked towards them.

They welcomed her warmly and she introduced herself, explaining her situation.

But before they could begin responding to their questions, she heard someone call out her name from behind.

"Cordelia! Cordelia!"

It was Mckayla, she had just arrived from setting up one of her customers with the lavish spender, Senator Ivan.

Immediately their eyes met, Cordelia smiled and went up to meet Mckayla.

That was the first time Cordelia smiled since she arrived in Croatia.

"Cordelia..." Mckayla called, stretching out her arms to give her a hug.

"How have you been? It's so good to see you. Take a Seat." Mckayla said, pouring a drink for her and Cordelia.

"Whiskey right?"

"Yes, Whiskey." Cordelia responded, smiling.

"Thank you for last time, I'm grateful." Cordelia said to Mckayla.

"You should thank Jared instead, if not for him, Senator Ivan would have had you killed with no questions."

"I saw him at school. And he's even in my class." Cordelia said, with a wide grin on her face as she sipped her whiskey.

"Yes. Jared also goes to Pliver. But it's all to please his dad. Jared's dad wants him to take over the conglomerate that he's building. That's why he's making him study business."

'Oh... that's what the bartender meant.' Cordelia muttered under her breath.

"I've been trying to talk to him, but it's been quite hard, maybe even impossible. He saw me in class, and I thought he was at least going to say something to me."

"Jared only helped you, no strings attached."

"Wait... Do you like Jared?" Mckayla asked with quizzical look on her face.

"Oh no! I don't! I'm just trying to say thank you to the person that saved me." Cordelia responded, raising her voice slightly.

"Don't waste your time. You're not Jared's type. Forget about that."

"Do you have any friends yet Cordelia?" Mckayla asked looking intently at Cordelia.

"No, I don't. I was too scared to talk to anyone in school today. They were all so different." Cordelia responded.

"Well, listen to me" Mckayla said, lowering her voice. "Some of those girls in your school, work for me, and I pay them well.

If you join my group, you're going to have friends in school, and even outside the school." Mckayla said, still lowering her voice, like it wasn't just the two of them inside the room.

"You're a beautiful girl. And trust me when I say you can make a lot of money from this too." Mckayla continued.

Cordelia raised an eyebrow. "What kind of group?"

Mckayla leaned in closer, dropping her cup of whiskey on the table beside her.

"It's a host and hostess club... "All you have to do is to go home with our clients, flirt with them a little, please them, and if you choose too, you can have sex with them too." And you'd get paid.

"It's no biggie." Mckayla said.

"No biggie?" Cordelia asked, laughing out loud.

Cordelia shook her head in disgust . "I'm not interested in such a dirty business. I have never done such business in my life. It even sounds illegal, and I definitely don't want to go to jail."

Mckayla tried to appeal to Cordelia's lack of friends.

"Think about the friends, the company you're going to make, think about the money you're going to earn."

"We're talking tens of thousands of euros here. Enough to live the kind of life anyone would dream of."

Cordelia almost comsidered the deal, thinking about how the money would help her compete with Jared's girlfriend, Sasha.

But Cordelia hesitated, and shook her head again. "I'm sorry, Mckayla, It's just not my type of thing, I can't do it. I'm so sorry."

"It's alright" Mckayla said, raising her cup to take a sip from her ice cold whiskey.

"I'd be here. If, If and just if you give it a second thought. You still have my card right?" Mckayla asked.

"Yes, I do."

Few minutes later...

"Oh look who we have here." Mckayla said, pointing downstairs.

"That's Jared!" Cordelia answered in excitement.

"Does he always come here?" Cordelia asked, but Mckayla didn't answer. She only gave her a deep stare as she sipped her drink.

"I'm going to go talk to him." Cordelia said, standing up to adjust her skirt.

All the while as Cordelia went downstairs, Mckayla said nothing, only staring at Cordelia with her drink in her hand.

Jared had asked the bartender for a glass of whiskey too.

"Ice or no Ice?" The bartender asked.

"Ice." Jared answered in a low tone.

"Hey Jared. So you like whiskey too." Cordelia said with a beaming smile.

"I was trying to talk to you in school, but it was like I was invisible to you."

"Do you remember me? I'm the girl you helped with the Senator man here."

"Do you remember me?"

"Yes, I remember you." Jared answered.

Jared was about to take a sip from his drink when Cordelia asked him another question.

"Then why didn't you say anything to me in school?"

Jared looked straight into Cordelia's eyes and paused before speaking.

"I'm not much of a talker. You should have noticed." Jared responded with coldness in his voice.

"I just wanted to be friends with you Jared, you don't have to be so mean." Cordelia said.

"I'm not interested in being friends with you. And as you can see, I'm busy."

"Then why did you save me? Why did you help me?" Cordelia asked.

But Jared didn't answer, instead he took his drink and walked away, leaving her at the counter.

"Jared, Jared..." she called as he walked away.

"Well, if you don't want to be friends with me, I don't want to be friends with you too!" She said angrily, gulping down all the whiskey in her cup.

Suddenly, someone walked up to her and tapped her shoulders.

Immediately, she turned slowly, fearing that it would be another Senator Ivan experience.

However, the young man she saw had quite a remarkable appearance, he had brown eyes, with a strong jawline and neatly styled hair that fell to the left side.

He wore a simple button-up shirt that hugged his toned physique perfectly and a jean jacket, paired with fitted pants. In his hand, he held a sleek glass filled with a sophisticated cocktail, the garnish adding a pop of color.

He exuded a quiet confidence that drew people in, but there was a humble charm to his demeanor that made him approachable.

"Hi, I'm David. I couldn't help but notice what happened between you and Jared. Are you okay?" He asked.

"You know him? I mean Jared" Cordelia asked.

"Yea, I do. I attend Pliver too. Actually, I saw you in class today but I didn't know how to approach you. I was seated four seats away from you."

"Oh... I didn't notice." She said.

'How could I have noticed, when all I thought about was Jared' she muttered quietly.

"What did you say?" David asked.

"Oh nothing, never mind. I was just about to take my leave." Cordelia said, looking up to see if Mckayla was there, but she wasn't.

"That's alright. Allow me pay for your taxi" David said as they both stepped outside.

It was about to start raining, and there was no taxi in sight, so Cordelia and David had to find shelter under a nearby shade. It was only 7pm but everywhere was already very dark.

It started to rain heavily...

David took off his jacket quickly and wrapped it over Cordelia 's shoulders.

"Here, take my jacket," he said, trying to shield her from the downpour.

Cordelia looked at him with surprise, touched by his gesture.

"But won't you get wet?"

"I'll be fine,"he replied with a smile. "Don't worry about me."

Cordelia huddled under the jacket, feeling grateful for the warmth it provided. "Thank you David, you're such a gentleman" she said, looking into his eyes.

He chuckled. "Of course. I wouldn't want you to catch a cold. I'm just doing what anyone would do."

"Taxi! Taxi!" Cordelia screamed, as she saw the lights from a yellow car from afar of.

Immediately the taxi stopped in front of her, David ran to the door quickly, to open it for her.

"Thank you So much David."

"I really enjoyed the little time we had together today, and I'd be really happy if I could have your number so we can stay in touch?" he asked politely, with a warm smile on his face.

"No pressure though, if you're not okay with it, it's totally fine."

"Oh it's fine." Cordelia responded, as she punched her number into David's phone.

"Thank you." He said, reaching back for his phone.

"I guess this is it," he said with a sigh.

She smiled, looking at him. "Yeah, I guess it is."

As Cordelia's taxi drove away, the image of him removing his jacket and protecting her from the rain played in her mind.