120. Try and Stop Me

Tiffany felt the world around her blur as she processed Jacob’s confession. “Tiff? Are you okay? Your ice cream is melting,” he said and casually leaned against his chair. Of course, she wasn’t okay! “Are you… are you pulling some kind of prank on me?” she asked, her voice trembling. The thought was maddening, but she couldn’t shake the lingering doubt. Jacob’s expression hardened for a moment and then softened as he shook his head. “No, Tiffany, I’m not joking. This isn’t a game.” His grey eyes pierced through her defenses, searching for something she wasn’t sure she could reveal. “I wouldn’t do that to you.” Tiffany swallowed hard, still uncertain. “But why? Why now?” She felt like she was on the edge of a cliff, peering into the unknown, and the thought of falling terrified her. “You’ve always treated me like I was some kind of joke. What’s changed?” “I was scared,” Jacob confessed, his voice lowering to a near whisper. “I didn’t know how to handle what I was feeling, and I thought