He Chose Novels & Stories

Chapman Senior rolled his eyes and shot back, "I may be old, but I'm neither deaf nor blind. Do you really think I'd get something this important wrong?" "Mr. Chapman Senior was very clear. Beatrice chose Nathaniel as her fiancé," Isaac added. George cut him off. "No, that can't be right. There must have been some mix-up!" He then turned to me, desperation in his eyes. "Bea, this is a mistake, right? You picked me, but Grandpa must have misheard." "I chose Nate," I answered with a cold smile. Nathaniel's head snapped up at the way I addressed him, and his eyes widened in disbelief.

He asked, tilting his head to the side. Why did they all think I can't do this? After staring at him for a long time without speaking, I nodded. “Yes, I choose him,” I said. I noticed something flash in his eyes and he nodded again as if he was finally accepting the truth. “I wish you the best. You know I am always here for you.” He told me.

Vren signaled the bartender for another drink. There were a few women flashing smiles his way, the invitation clear and plain. He would jump to the opportunity to spend the night with one of them and leaves her bed early in the morning before she wakes up to offer breakfast – which he normally steer clear from. He enjoyed most of it. He likes to socialize and he happens to like women. However, things got a little different when he turned thirty. His choices narrowed and he went from a little picky to exceedingly... picky. And it sucked the fun out of everything. He could even say it was so damn close to lonely.

I insist, hoping that he will discover that I am not for him. “That's you. I've already chosen you. Because, just as you picked me out that night leaving the disco and didn't let me go until very late, I will. But, in my case, I'm not going to let you go. >> I'm going to formalize that I have chosen you, Adhara. I chose you to be mine alone. And don't worry, I'm not one of those people who obsess about something and then get bored. If I chose you, it's because I'm going all the way with you.” says the Lord Every... and I try not to let my heartbeat too fast because of what he just told me.

he said, “there is no curse on my blood. No collar. No objective. I am… just a man with too many knives in his past and very few in his present. And I still—” He stopped. Corrected. “I *choose* you,” he said. “Every stupid, complicated, human part of you. Not because you’re my salvation. Not because you’re my punishment. Because you’re you. And I would like, very much, to spend this one wild and deeply ordinary life figuring out what that *means* without anything trying to eat us.” He sat back a little, as if he’d just laid a weapon on the floor between them and stepped away from it.

I pressed. “I’m choosing you being part of it,” he corrected. “You don’t get to just decide that,” I said, but my voice wasn’t as strong this time. “I didn’t,” he replied. “You did. The moment you didn’t walk away.” Damn. Why was he always right?

He had just… let me find out, let me piece it together. He wasn’t offering me a choice. The choice had already been made.

he said. Something in my chest tightened. “Ruin,” I said quietly, “what are you asking?” He held my gaze. “I am asking you to choose this with me.” The words landed slowly, not rushed or dramatic but clear. I stood carefully, moving closer to him, my body still adjusting but steady enough. “I already chose this,” I said. He shook his head slightly. “You chose to stay,” he said. “You chose to fight. You chose to build something with me when everything was uncertain.”

My fangs threaten to break skin. “You’re insane.” “And you’re selfish,” he fires back. “You’ve had your freedom. Your little rebellion. Now it’s time to come back and do your part.” Silence stretches between us. Long and ugly. I was fighting several ways to end his stupid long life here and now. Then he says it: “He’s already been chosen.” I go still. My voice barely escapes. My heart thumping in my chest. I felt dizzy all of a sudden but I managed to utter. “Who?”

He tilted my face up and said, “Any minute now, he will be here, don’t you want to show him that you’ll choose me over him.” ____ A. Gupta