Unchosen by All, Claimed by Him
PRECAP
The rain came without warning.
It blurred the city lights, softened the noise, and washed everything into silence—everything except her.
Adeline stood beneath the dim glow of a flickering streetlamp, her fingers trembling slightly as she held onto the fragile pieces of a life
She had finally decided to walk away from.
Footsteps approached—slow, deliberate, unhurried.
He stopped just close enough to be felt, not touched.
Adeline Balforth(Adopt./Fl)
Elijah…*whispered, her voice almost lost in the rain*
For a moment, he said nothing. His gaze lingered on her, sharp and unrelenting, as if trying to understand something buried too deep to name.
Elijah Ferguson/Ml
You always do this *low*
Elijah Ferguson/Ml
Stand there like you’re about to disappear… and expect no one to notice.
Adeline Balforth(Adopt./Fl)
*let out a faint, broken breath*
I was never someone people held onto.
Elijah Ferguson/Ml
I’m not people.
Her fingers tightened, but she didn’t turn.
Adeline Balforth(Adopt./Fl)
Then what are you? *softly*
Elijah stepped closer, close enough that the distance between them felt meaningless.
Elijah Ferguson/Ml
Your mistake, Or your fate.
And somewhere between the silence and the storm—
Something neither of them could walk away from.
The Space Between Staying and Leaving
The city of Veltham never truly went quiet.
Even at dusk, the streets hummed, delivery bikes cutting through puddles, cafe lights spilling amber warmth onto wet cobblestones, strangers walking past each other like they'd never existed. Adeline Balforth stood near the tall glass window of her apartment on the fourth floor, a half-finished cup of tea cooling in her hand, watching the city exhale.
She had built something here piece by quiet piece. A routine. A career she believed in. A version of herself that didn't flinch when people forgot to call back.
Adeline Balforth(Adopt./Fl)
[It's not loneliness,]
Adeline Balforth(Adopt./Fl)
Adeline Balforth(Adopt./Fl)
*watching a couple share an umbrella below* [It's just… being used to yourself.]
Adeline Balforth(Adopt./Fl)
*set down the tea and reached for her coat*
Then she left for BioResearch institute.
The Veltham BioResearch Institute was the kind of place that smelled like precision clean air, faint chemical traces, the quiet click of keyboards. Adeline arrived ten minutes early, as always, lab badge already in hand.
Slender and composed, with dark eyes that noticed everything and a face that gave away very little, Adeline moved through the lab like someone who had learned that focus was safer than feeling. Her colleagues respected her. A few admired her. None of them knew how often she ate lunch alone by choice, not loneliness.
Her supervisor, Dr. Haes, glanced up from a centrifuge report.
Dr.Kalum Haes
The material analysis from batch seven, done?
Adeline Balforth(Adopt./Fl)
Submitted it this morning. *slid the printed report across the table*
Dr.Kalum Haes
Before nine?🤨
Adeline Balforth(Adopt./Fl)
It wasn't a difficult batch.😌
Adeline Balforth(Adopt./Fl)
*small smile appeared on her face and turned back to her station*
Dr.Kalum Haes
(Impressive girl)
Adeline Balforth(Adopt./Fl)
[One more year here,] *pulling on her gloves* [Then… we'll see.]
She hadn't let herself think much beyond that. Futures felt uncertain lately, not because of work, but because of other things.
Jordan, her boyfriend had stopped looking at her the same way about a month ago.
It wasn't dramatic. That was the thing about slow endings — they didn't announce themselves. They crept in through small silences. A text replied to three hours late. A dinner where he scrolled his phone more than he spoke. A laugh that stopped reaching his eyes when she said something funny.
Snippet of memory — two weeks ago:
Adeline Balforth(Adopt./Fl)
You seem distracted lately.
Jordan Douglas
I'm just tired, Adeline. Work's been heavy.
He hadn't looked up from his screen.
Adeline hadn't needed anyone to tell her. She'd seen the name light up his phone once, just once and watched Jordan's entire expression shift in the half-second before he flipped it face-down.
Something soft had crossed his face. Something she had never once seen him wear for her.
Adeline Balforth(Adopt./Fl)
[so, she came back] *quietly*
They met at the corner of Aldren Street that evening, where the lamplight was soft and the rain came down in a gentle, indifferent drizzle.
Jordan stood with his hands in his jacket pockets, shoulders slightly drawn. Guilt, she recognized, had a particular kind of posture.
Adeline Balforth(Adopt./Fl)
*stopped a few feet away. She didn't close the distance*
Adeline Balforth(Adopt./Fl)
Are you happy these days? *Calm and ask Genuinely*
Jordan Douglas
*blinked* What?
Adeline Balforth(Adopt./Fl)
It's a simple question.
Jordan Douglas
*looked away first*
Jordan Douglas
Adeline, I—
Adeline Balforth(Adopt./Fl)
Vivienne came back.
It wasn't a question. Silence settled between them, thin as paper.
Jordan Douglas
I didn't—*exhaled* Nothing happened.
Adeline Balforth(Adopt./Fl)
I know. *adjusted her bag strap* But something didn't have to happen for me to understand what I was watching.
Jordan Douglas
Adeline, You're not being fair—
Adeline Balforth(Adopt./Fl)
I'm being honest. You never got over her. And somewhere between her leaving and her coming back… I was just someone you tried to move on with.
Jordan Douglas
*opened his mouth but Closed it*
The rain touched her cheek like something careful.
Adeline Balforth(Adopt./Fl)
Let's break up.
Jordan Douglas
*stayed silent*
Not angry. Not broken. Just… certain. He didn't stop her.
Adeline Balforth(Adopt./Fl)
*turned and walked*
One step. Two. The lamplight blurred slightly not because of rain.
Her hands, hidden inside her coat pockets, trembled just once.
Adeline Balforth(Adopt./Fl)
[I didn't lose him today,] *eyes forward, chin level*
Adeline Balforth(Adopt./Fl)
[I lost him a long time ago. I just finally said it out loud.]
Somewhere behind her, Jordan stood in the drizzle, watching her walk away.
And somewhere across the city, in a world she didn't yet know existed, a man who already knew her name was being told she was finally coming home. 🖤
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The One Who Stays
The apartment was small but it breathed.
Mismatched throw pillows. A cork board above the desk drowning in pinned sketches and sticky notes. Three half-empty mugs on the coffee table that Celeste Finley swore she'd wash "eventually." A fairy light string along the window that stayed on at all hours because Celeste claimed darkness was bad for her creative energy.
Celeste herself was curled into the corner of the sofa like she'd grown there — laptop balanced on her knees, stylus tucked behind her ear, brows furrowed at whatever commission she was halfway through destroying and rebuilding. A freelance illustrator with the focus of someone defusing a bomb and the mouth of someone who'd never once been told to lower her voice.
She didn't look up when the door opened.
Celeste Finely/Fl Friend
You're back early.✏️
Adeline Balforth(Adopt./Fl)
*set her bag down near the entrance. Shook the rain from her coat*
Mm.
Celeste looked up then. One second of reading Adeline's face the stillness of it, the too-calm set of her jaw and she slowly closed her laptop.
Celeste Finely/Fl Friend
You did it.?
Adeline Balforth(Adopt./Fl)
I did it. *walked to the kitchen, filled a glass of water*
Celeste Finely/Fl Friend
*leaned back against the cushions and stared at the ceiling for a moment* Good.
Adeline Balforth(Adopt./Fl)
*almost smiled* That's all you're going to say?
Celeste Finely/Fl Friend
You want me to cry? Buy a candle? Play a sad playlist? *tilted her head* I can do all three but I'll need five minutes.
Adeline Balforth(Adopt./Fl)
Please don't
Celeste Finely/Fl Friend
Then sit down.
Adeline Balforth(Adopt./Fl)
*sat*
For a while neither of them spoke. The rain tapped gently at the window. Celeste picked up her stylus again, turned it between her fingers not drawing, just thinking.
Adeline Balforth(Adopt./Fl)
Forget about it We don't need to talk about him. *said quitely*
Celeste Finely/Fl Friend
*stylus went still*.
Celeste Finely/Fl Friend
Forget about it. *repeated the words slowly. Like she was tasting how wrong they were* Adeline.
Adeline Balforth(Adopt./Fl)
Celeste—
Celeste Finely/Fl Friend
No, no, no. *sat up fully, laptop pushed aside*
Celeste Finely/Fl Friend
You can forget. Jordan can definitely forget men like that forget before the door even closes. But me? *pressed a hand to her chest* I have a memory like a court document.
Adeline said nothing. This was Celeste's process. she didn't interrupt the process.
Celeste Finely/Fl Friend
You cooked for that man. You actually — cooked. You, who once considered cereal a full dinner. You cooked for him, helped him prep for his work presentations, stopped coming out with me for three months because you wanted to give him time. 😤
Adeline Balforth(Adopt./Fl)
Celeste.
Celeste Finely/Fl Friend
—and the moment his precious first love floats back in, suddenly he's emotional and distant and making that guilty little face like he's the one suffering *exhaled sharply* Bastard.
Adeline Balforth(Adopt./Fl)
You can't just—
Celeste Finely/Fl Friend
I said what I said. 🙄
Adeline Balforth(Adopt./Fl)
*pressed her lips together. The corner of her mouth twitched*
Celeste Finely/Fl Friend
You know what you are? You are the female lead in one of those typical CEO romance novels.
Adeline Balforth(Adopt./Fl)
*blinked* ...Excuse me?
Celeste Finely/Fl Friend
The ones where the female lead is kind, patient, understanding, gives everything *gestured dramatically* cooks, supports, sacrifices, basically becomes a life coach with emotional availability 24/7. And the man? The man is emotionally unavailable, brooding, still hung up on his ex. And she just… stays. Quietly. Being perfect.
Adeline Balforth(Adopt./Fl)
[what type of novel she is reading whole time ?......]
Celeste Finely/Fl Friend
*made a face* While he realizes nothing until chapter eighty-nine.
Adeline Balforth(Adopt./Fl)
that's a very specific example.(◔_◔)
Celeste Finely/Fl Friend
Because I've read thirty of them! *threw a small cushion at nothing in particular* They treat the female lead like a doormat dressed in patience and call it love. It's not love, Adeline. It's renovation work on a man who wasn't asking to be fixed!
Adeline Balforth(Adopt./Fl)
*stared at her*
Then, slowly she laughed. Just a small sound. Barely there. Celeste caught it. Softened. Just slightly.
Adeline Balforth(Adopt./Fl)
...Am I wrong?
Adeline Balforth(Adopt./Fl)
*looked down at her hands. The trembling from earlier was gone now*
Celeste Finely/Fl Friend
No, You're not wrong.
Celeste Finely/Fl Friend
you are silly.
Adeline Balforth(Adopt./Fl)
*smile slightly feel light hearted*
Outside, the rain continued. Inside, the fairy lights stayed on steady, refusing to go out.
And for the first time all evening, Adeline didn't feel quite so alone… 🖤
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