Bella's POV:

Gabriel stared at me with his mouth dropped open and his hand slowly fell down to his side. The tingles that I was feeling disappeared and I was left with the hollow pain in my heart.

"How could he do this to his own daughter?"

His voice was clearly giving out how shock he was at the revelation.

"It happened years ago. I was a disobedient kid. Let's just forget about it," I whispered fidgeting with my fingers.

"Please, tell me you are still not living with your father," His voice held panic as he begged me. He shook his head in disappointment when I didn't answer him.

"Why are you living with the man who hurt you? How you can be so stupid?" he asked grabbing my shoulder robustly. I looked at him in surprise.

"Why are you pretending to be so worried for me? As soon as we will get out of this forest we will be on our ways and you will forget about everything so don't you dare to act like you care about me!" I yelled getting up from the ground.

I turned to leave and get changed into my clothes when he grabbed my wrist and pulled me back harshly.

"I damn well care about you and that's why I am worried," he snapped trapping me in his arms. "Do you think it is going to be easy for me to forget about you? I don't think so. Since I met you on that bus, you have occupied the attention of my every f**king body part."

His admission of his feelings didn't anger me, they left me speechless. I stared into his blazing hazel eyes where I could clearly see fury even though his forehead had the lines of worry.

Before I could ponder on my thoughts about my actions I brushed my lips on his inciting a gasp from his mouth. His body tensed at my actions and it brought me back to reality.

I pulled away from him and ran towards the tree where my clothes were. I sat down there with my heart hammering inside my chest. I didn't want to give him hope that I could be anything more than a girl he met on a summer camp, yet I made a mistake. I threw on my clothes and came out from behind the tree.

He was dressed in his clothes staring at the ground intensely. He felt my presences behind him and turned.

"Are you going to tell me now?"

"You're very persistent,"

He sighed and rubbed his head.

"How about you tell me about your life and I share something about mine?" he offered with a hopeful face.

"Okay, let's sit down. It's a long story," I said.

We both sat down on the ground looking at the stream.

"I can't leave my mother and my siblings with my father. This is why I am still living under his roof. After my graduation which is soon, I plan to move out and get a job," I said.

I was glad that he didn't judge my decision and called me a fool after hearing my reason.

"How old were you when that happened?"

I wasn't expecting that question from him.

"Five, six, seven, and eight..."

His fists clenched again and his veins started to pop out.

"I haven't met your father but I already hate that man," he muttered.

"The feelings are mutual," I snorted.

"So, do you have any sibling?" I asked.

He hesitantly replied. "I...have three brothers."

"Wow, sounds fun. Your mom must have her hands full with four of you."

"I just met them two days ago so I can't tell."

After his words settled in my mind I turned to him with a frown.

"What does that mean?"

"I was given up for adoption when I was a baby." He replied with the distant look on his face.

"I don't mean to pry but why did they give you up for adaption?"

"I wish I could answer that but I don't know the answer to your question myself," his voice was breaking. "When I turned eight, I found out I was adoptive. My adoptive parents told me that I am the son of their friends; they adopted me because they don't have any children."

I didn't know what to say. Not even in my wildest dreams, I thought he would be hiding so much pain.

"Last month, my biological parents contacted me and asked me if I could visit them. I didn't want to meet them, but my university was sending me here on this summer camp and all the nonsense reasons I gave them to not to visit them went down the drain."

"Are your adoptive parents good?" I found my voice again and acquired.

"My adoptive parents are lovely people; they never made me feel like I am not their own son. They are like a dream parents any kid would wish to have. But..."

"But..." I said hoping he would continue.

"I feel unworthy of their love," he whispered.

"Why?"

He ran his hands through his hair struggling to continue the conversation.

"I feel like I wasn't good enough for them so they gave me to their friends. I have two older brothers and one younger brother; they are living a decent life with my parents. My parents own a magnificent double story house in a posh neighborhood. It doesn't look like they are struggling to take care of their sons. Nick is studying medical, Matt is in college, and Harry is in high school. I just don't understand why they couldn't keep me in their life except for the possibility that something is wrong with me."

I was unable to understand why they would give him up for adoption; he looked absolutely perfect to be part of any family. I didn't want to tell him that your parents must have a genuine reason to abandon you. Instead, I wanted to make him feel worthy of love.

"Well, do you've friends?" I asked him hoping that he would say yes.

"Yes, but they are in Italy," He replied frowning.

"Do they celebrate their birthdays?"

"They definitely celebrate their birthdays by throwing wild parties, they are crazy and rich," he said with a goofy smile on his face.

"Let's suppose its birthday of your best friend and I am giving you the option to pick one gift from three boxes. One contains the best gift, second contains the cheap gift, and third contains a decent gift. Which one will you pick to give your friend?" I asked.

"Definitely the best one," He said confidentially.

"That means you were the best one among your brothers and your parents picked you to gave to their friends, they knew that you will be the one to make them proud and you're the only one worthy of their love," I said hoping that I was saying all the right words.

His eyes were fixed on my lips as he was leaning closer to me. I didn't flinch away at the thought of kissing him.

Gently, his lips pressed on mine taking my breath away. A small shiver of pleasure went through my body making him smile. His lips moved leisurely giving me time to pull away. When I didn't do anything he placed his hand on my waist and tugged me closer. His other hand cupped my face angling it up. I sat there frozen, oblivious what to do.

He pulled away from me. "You're supposed to move your lips too. And start breathing, I am not trying to murder you," he said chuckling.

I blushed and took a lungful air fuelling his amusement.

"How about we try again?" he asked.

I nodded my head in a daze and eagerly pressed my lips to his. He moved his lips gradually and I copied his actions relishing in the unexplained rousing feeling in the pit of my stomach. His tongue coaxed me into opening my mouth and then he deepened the kiss. He placed his head down on the ground pulling me on top of him. I was half sitting and half lying on his chest but I didn't care. I just wanted to keep seeing the fireworks that were happening behind my closed eyes.

His passion was evident to me. His movements were zealous yet caring, they were making my heart race at implausible speed.

I pulled away to breathe and he caught my bottom lip between his pearly white teeth. He started to nibble making me shudder. My body was responding to him like it was waiting for him to ravish me. A breathy moan escaped from my mouth when he started to make small circles on my waist.

"I'm sorry... I can't," I said pulling away from him and creating a space between us.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable," he mumbled.

I risked the glance at his face; he looked so mouthwatering at that moment. I wanted nothing more than to continue doing what we were doing before I interrupted indecently.

"I...I didn't pull away because you made me uncomfortable," I said looking down at the ground with my cheeks on fire. "I pulled away because I wouldn't be able to stop if we continued."

He didn't say anything so I peeked at his face to see him beaming like he was proud of himself. I wanted to smack his head for smiling like he won a lottery but I did the opposite. I started grinning too.

"How about we search for an exit?" He asked.

I got up from the ground nodding my head and dusting the dirt off my clothes.

"Making love in the forest with an empty stomach was never on my bucket list, but I can make an exception for you," he said with a playful smirk on his awfully handsome face.

"You better start running, Gabriel. Once I get my hands on you, I promise making love would be the last thing we will be doing," I said.

He sprinted in the other direction laughing while I ran after him to beat some senses into his conceited head.

He was running fast taking massive strides with his long legs. After a few minutes, I was able to catch up to him. I jumped on his back and he fell down on his face groaning in pain. I hooked my arm around his neck in a headlock and tried to strangle him jokingly. He made a fake gagging noises pleading to let go.

"I think you broke my ribs," he said pretending to be in pain. The mischievous look in his eyes was saying otherwise.

I rolled my eyes and pulled away from him.

"You're so dramatic," I mimicked his words.

"Don't you dare to mock me," he said in a warning.

"The rights are not reserved for you, only," I said with a sickly sweet smile.

I looked around at our surroundings and felt my heart drop.

"I think we are back to where we started,"

"We can't give up, we have to find the way out," he said getting up from the ground. He offered me his hand and I took it.

"I think we should go that way," he said indicating towards the left. He didn't let go of my hand and laced his fingers with mine.

We walked side by side with intertwined hands. He was striding in the forest with the credence like an unfortunate appearance of a wild animal wasn't the possibility here; on the other hand, I was jumping on every small noise. In my defense, I didn't want to die by becoming a lunch of a wild animal.

I glanced at his broad shoulders and imagined him jumping from one tree to another like Tarzan with a flimsy piece of cloth hiding his goods. A giggle escaped from my mouth catching his attention.

"Well, what's so funny in this situation that you are giggling?" He asked without turning to face me. I stopped giggling and glared at his head.

"Don't be shy. Tell me," he demanded by bumping his arm on my head making me groan.

"You," I said nonchalantly.

"Me? What's funny about me?" He asked frowning.

"I just imagined you jumping from one tree to another like Tarzan," I said giggling again.

Before I could comprehend what was happening he had me pressed on a tree. His arms were resting on the tree trapping me between him and tree with his warm body pressed intimately.

"I am glad that I amuse you, however, I think your imagination wasn't as innocent as you claim. You were probably imagining me in nothing but a small cloth wrapped around my waist giving you a complete show of my body. After all, you have quite a nice picture in your head since you gawked at me earlier for pleasurable minutes," he said making me gulp.

"I didn't gawk at you. Get over yourself, you oaf," I said pushing him playfully.

"The shade of your cheeks is saying otherwise," he said amusedly.

I walked for away with a huff and he followed closely. We walked for hours without taking a break. The evening was approaching. And I felt extremely dehydrated too weak to continue walking.

"I'm so tired," I mumbled to myself.

Gabriel halted on his footsteps and gave me a worried glance. I fell down gasping for air. He kneeled down and cupped my face.

"Bella, keep your eyes open," he begged me.

"I can't keep them open," I said.

He was busy looking at me and didn't notice them making their way to him. I tried to alert him but my throat was too dry to speak.

"Behind you," I choked.

But it was too late, they hit him on the head and he went limp in front of me. I couldn't keep my eyes open and shut them.

____________________________________

Hello, lovelies!

Finally, your ship is sailing. I hope you enjoyed Bella and Gabriel's first kiss.

Do you think Bella and Gabriel are falling for each other?

Thanks for reading.❤️

Please press a tiny ⭐️ below.