Adore

prologue

| edited

theo

Theo Knight could easily remember the first time he saw Flora Stone. She was a tiny little thing dressed in a pink dress and hideously green wellington boots that looked like they had seen better days. Her hair looked like silky strands of dark chocolate yet her skin was as pale as the porcelain dolls his sister kept in her room.

At first, he didn't know what he was watching as strangers quickly moved boxes from a large truck to the empty house next to his, huffing and puffing as water rained down heavily. He was about to move from his window but then his eyes widened at the sight of an angel skipping around the puddles on the edge of the road.

It wasn't an actual angel of course but through his seven year old eyes, she was pretty d*mn close.

He couldn't move away from the window as he eagerly wondered what she'd do next, finding her every action interesting. She lifted her arms at random times and looked as if she was talking to herself, making him wish to be a part of the private conversation.

To him, she was like a shiny object to a magpie. He was completely captivated by the creature that was Flora Stone.

Much to his luck, his parents were socialites and wanted their children to be as well so they often arranged playdates. While Theo stopped having playdates due to pure refusal of having friends, his sister on the other hand was much more adapted to the idea of social interaction.

So, he should've expected that on May 20th, his shy neighbour would have been standing in his living room with her chubby arms wrapped tightly around her mother's legs. His lips quirked up when he saw her head peek out to glance around the room but then quickly hide when she got too scared again.

His sister, being the lively and overly energetic person that she was, jumped out from behind him and ran to the frightened girl, laughing with glee.

Theo stayed quiet but frowned when he noticed the girl squirm away from Kate's grubby hands as she touched her yellow dress with green dinosaurs printed on it.

His head turned to his mother when she called his name. "Say hello to Flora, sweetheart."

He thought her name suited her perfectly. When their eyes finally met, Theo honestly felt like his heart had stopped and his breath hitch at the sight of those wide blue eyes.

Just when he thought he couldn't be more enthralled, his sweet girl waved at him with a shy smile. It was the most interaction he had seen her given to someone else and it quite honestly could've killed him.

After that, he was determined to treat that four year old girl like a princess and that meant he never wanted to be away from her.

That's why it tore him to pieces when after nine years, he was forced to pry her hands away from his t-shirt and wipe away the salty tears covering her cheeks, knowing that he was the cause of them. He had to purse his lips and keep a stony expression in order to prevent his lips from wobbling when he blew her runny nose with a tissue he found in his pocket, just like he had done since she was a child every time she cried.

And he knew a pesky tear or two escaped when a lingering kiss was placed gently on the crown of her head as he whispered his final goodbyes with the promise to come back.

"Please don't go," she whimpered, rubbing her eyes with her balled up fists, a habit he had tried to get her to stop for years. Flora wasn't like other thirteen year olds and while he loved that about her, it meant his sweet girl was naïve to the dangers of the world and it pained him to know he wouldn't be there to look after her in the way that she needed to be.