➸featured on the What's Hot list
➸winner of The Most Addictive Story in The Writers Awards 2017
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❝ i'm going to woo you;
piece by piece,
word by word,
letter by letter. ❞
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In which Nova Hart, a star badminton player and hopeless roma...
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DIAMONDINTHEROUGH
"So it was all just some sick joke?" Caroline asked, a dubious expression on her face.
Nova nodded, jumping on top of the counter and seating herself there next to the sink.
Her sister shook her head, cursing under her breath.
"They thought it'd be fun to watch me go around in circles," Nova explained with a sigh. "But Keith knew it had to stop some day so he decided on the spring formal. He was going to just stand me up and then send me an email later saying it was just a hoax."
"So the flyers?" Caroline frowned, crossing one leg over the other where she sat on one of the stools.
"That was Mallory," Graham chimed in, looking up from his phone with a grim face.
"Yeah, Keith didn't know she was going to do that but since she had the email account's details too, she was able to do it." Nova rolled her eyes. "Guess she just had to go that extra mile to ensure I stayed down."
"All this because they were bored?" Caroline sounded distressed, like she honestly couldn't believe how cruel pranks knew no boundaries.
"I guess they didn't really take my feelings into account, I don't know... It doesn't matter anymore. I'm okay now — I'm happy." Nova's eyes met Graham's and a soft smile crept onto her face.
Caroline just sat there, absorbing everything and seeming satisfied with all her questions being answered, she rose out of her seat, shaking her head to herself.
"I'm heading back to my room," she announced, "got some work related stuff to attend to."
"Alright," Nova mumbled, watching as her sister gathered her hair into a bun and walked out the kitchen with her coffee mug in her hands.
"Are you?" Graham's voice stopped her from spacing out, bringing her back to her surroundings.
"Am I what?" She cocked her head to the side. He slid off the stool and walked towards her, standing between her legs as they dangled off the edge of the counter.
"Are you really okay now?" He cupped her face, his warm and familiar hands providing a sense of comfort she wouldn't find elsewhere.
"Yeah," she smiled, "honestly. Maybe if I'd fallen for the anonymous writer, it'd have broken my heart. But..."
"But?" He breathed, his nose brushing against hers.
"But he didn't stand a chance," she murmured. "Once I started noticing you, there was no going back. My feelings were too strong."
"Good," he nibbled her bottom lip. "Cause I feel pretty damn strongly about you too."
"I figured," she pressed her lips against his jaw, speaking against his skin in warm breaths. "I waited for you to say something on the night of the dance. You didn't."
His hands slipped under her top, thumbs drawing circles against her waist. "I couldn't... I mean, I'm not the type to write you love letters and poems and compare sunsets to your smile."
"I don't need all that, Graham," she said softly, "because Keith was so good with words but he didn't live up to them. You, on the other hand, show instead of telling. That's what I like most about you. That's all I want. For you to show me what I mean to you rather than saying it."
He pulled her forwards, his hands still on the skin of her waist, until their chests collided. "Not going to have a problem with that, Hart," he mumbled against her lips before kissing her hard and passionately.
Nova smiled against the kiss, feeling truly happy, before she responded with equal fervour.
She knew, deep down, that Mallory and Jasper and Keith weren't going to change their view of her.
She could make a speech for them, words that come straight from her soul, raw and brutal. She could engage in a debate with them, defend herself, make the most airtight argument in the world. But it wouldn't make a difference.
Whilst Graham and Addy and Caroline were music, Mallory and Jasper and Keith were just noise.
And they'll always see her as the bimbo who's got her head stuck in the clouds, lost in a daydream. She couldn't spend her life trying to get them to change their minds.
Let them think she was a fool. Did it matter? She was happy, wasn't she?
She still believed in love. In happy endings. And Nova always would.
She didn't have to change that part of her for anyone. In a world that was growing in its hunger for cruelty, a little love could go a long, long way. And she was proud that she could hold onto that one powerful emotion despite everything.
Nova Hart was a hopeless, die-hard romantic. But Nova Hart wasn't weak. She was tough, she was strong and she had a resolve made of iron.
She was a goddamn diamond in the rough, and they couldn't break her.
