Page 28 of Falling for My Ex Next Door

“Thank you for today.” She said and stepped down.

Without looking back, she took short strides out of my front yard. I got down and went after her. She was surprised to see me behind her.

“I want to walk you to your porch.” I hoped that was excuse enough. She didn’t say anything, and we reached her porch in the blink of an eye, she was prepared to see me leave before she entered the house.

“Is anything the problem?” She queried when I still stood helplessly in front of her.

“Nah, I just-”

My palms grew wet.

It was all coming back again. I was sweating out my anxiety.

I moved closer to her. I had run after her for a reason, a reason that was now becoming clearer as I fixed my gaze on her lips.

“Would you like to have dinner with me?”

“Ah, I’m sorry, No.”

“It’s fine.” I was restless. “Could there be a next time?”

“I am not sure about that.” She was resolved.

I sighed.

“Clara, I, I-”

She was ready to listen to whatever I had to say, but really, I didn’t know what to say.

“I-” I blindly leaned over to touch her lips with mine, but she dodged it, and the kiss landed clumsily on her cheek.

“It’s not right with me, Jacob, that you think of doing that.” She said rather solemnly after a tense stare.

“I’m sorry.” I could feel my face burning.

She sighed.

“How many times do I have to hear you say that?” She frowned and walked inside.

I felt so stupid for being unable to control my emotions. She must now know that I have not gotten over her. I wondered if she would still permit me to be around her. I might have truly crossed the line now.

When I got home, I dialed Daisy on FaceTime and told her what had just transpired between Clara and me.

“You tried to kiss her?” Daisy shrieked over FaceTime.

Daisy’s eyes went wild, and her mouth formed the perfect alphabet “O.” She was momentarily speechless. Her head was probably processing what she had just heard. It was so unexpected that she didn’t know how to react. Her face froze in a look of astonishment before time thawed it and gave her the liberty to go beyond just staring.

I was beginning to regret telling her about it. I had only told her to ask for advice on how to rectify my mistake in the first place. Now, she was taking advantage of it to chide me.

“How could you do that, brother? I advised you not to do anything that would bruise her sensitivity. I told you to be careful in your approach, but what did you do? You tried to kiss her! Really?” She grimaced.

“Daisy.”

“To think of it, why would you want to do that? You told me you just wanted to remedy your past mistakes. You never told me you had not gotten over her, and you were still in love with her. Did you have to hide under the pretext of making amends and suing for peace just to get close to her again?”

“I guess so.”

“What? You guess so?” Now, you sound so vain!” She scoffed.

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