Three

Bradley couldn't forget him.

He couldn't forget the stranger he met two days ago under the pouring rain. He couldn't forget just how beautiful the stranger had looked with mascara or eyeliner dark tears.

Yes. He had asked Anne stylishly what could make dark trailed tears and though she had looked at him skeptically, she did tell him.

"Dad, can I have cookies today?" Jamie asked as she tugged on the hem of her shirt. Today she had on a blood red shirt and dark joggers, tiny vans on her feet, her dark curly hair falling in awaves down her back.

"How about a salad?" Bradley counters. She's seated on his bed, iPad in her hand as she played Matchington. Bradley had gotten her ready after he had showered and now he was almost done dressing up. He had on his pants, the maroon shirt and suede shoes.

Jamie looks up from the iPad and give him a droll look. "Two cookies and the salad?"

"The salad and no cookie?" Bradley offers. He adds a bit of gel in his hand as he styled his hair away from is face, a littl spatten to the side.

"I just won't eat breakfast today."

This gets Bradley's attention, he turns to his daughter who was staring at him straight on. Then in the blink of an eye, her eyes widened and she had a small pout on her lips, hazel eyes shining as she stared at him.

Bradley mentally shakes his head. He was strong. He wouldn't give in. He wants to say no, he really did.

"Fine! Two cookies and the salad."

Jamie lets out a loud cheer, she kept the iPad to the side and got to the floor, doing a little shuffling dance that made Bradley snort. He goes back into the bathroom, shuts the door for a few seconds as he tucked his shirt into his pants. He walks back out when he was done and grabs his jacket from the bed.

"You're having a half day, right?"

"Yeah. Miss Mino told us yesterday." Jamie said, bouncing in front of Bradley as she made her way into the kitchen. When he first adopted Jamie, she had been so little and he had been scared of her falling down the stairs, so he had moved to another house. One large bungalow, complete with its own playground, a pool, a jacuzzi, a large backyard. There were pictures of Jamie on the walls, then some with Bradley, some with Anne, some with Rudy.

He grabs two large cookies from the tin in the fridge as well as a small bowl of chicken salad. He made himself a cup of coffee as he watched Jamie eat. Once she was done m, he grabbed her plates and shoved them into the sink.

"Why don't you grab your bag and meet me by the door?"

"Okay." She smiles up at him.

"No running!"

Of course she ran. Bradley shakes his head as he are his way towards the door, he takes the last gulp and hands the mug off the coat rack as Jamie walked into the room, her backpack on.

She bounds to the car, singing loudly about being a tea cup. Like always, Chuku puts on Jamie's sing along playlist, Bradley humming along as Elsa sang Let It Go. He checks his email on the way to Jamie's school, alternating between singing along with his daughter and crossing off a few designs Anne had sent him about the website updates he wanted.

He gets down from the car, walks over to the other side and helps Jamie get down from the car. He walks her over to her class and gave her a big kiss to the head before waving goodbye.

When he got into the car, the song changed to a soothing piano number as he scrolled through his email. He knew today was going to be a long ass day as he stared at his phone.

"Chu, can you stop at the nearest coffee shop next to the office?"

"Of course."

He quickly taps out a reply to Anne, informing her to set a meeting with the research and development team as well as the purchasing team. He was so engrossed in the emails that he doesn't notice, Chuku had pulled to a stop until the man calls his name. He tells the man he'll be back in five before getting down from the car.

There were three people in line, so Bradley decides to wait. He looks around the room and at the people in front of him when someone taps him. He turns around and almost swallowed his tongue when he sees the man who hadn't left his mind behind him.

"Hi." He said, his soft voice sounding like music to Bradley's ears.

"Hi." He parrots back. The beauty in front of him was breath taking. The boys hair was styled to a fringe , his eyebrow wonderfully done, nude eyeshadow and blood red lips.

"Thank you for the umbrella..." the angel trails off.

"Bradley."

The beauty smiles. "I'm Stanley."

Bradley couldn't help but smile back. He doesn't even notice two people on the queue were already gone. He didn't know what to say, he wanted to keep the conversation going but it's like the words he had learnt since he was a child all flew out the window when he met Stanley.

"Would you like to have coffee with me?" Bradley blurts out.

"I'd love to but I've got to meet a friend." The boy said. "How about tomorrow?" Stanley said, his red lips stretched in a smile. Bradley who had thought he had been shut down at the beginning, upon hearing that, smiles so hard his cheeks hurt a bit.

"Same time?"

"Yeah. I don't take coffe though, I'm more of a tea man." Stanley said. He winks as he cuts in front of Bradley andnplaved his order. Two tea bags, a splash of milk and four spoons of sugar. Bradley just watched him. They could steal his phone right out of his hands at that moment and he wouldn't mind as long as he got to see Stanley.

"Stanley..."

"Lee." The beauty said.

"Huh?" Fuck, why was Bradley so slow this morning? Normally he'd be able to smooth talk anyone, charm them a little and you know, have them in bed before midnight but this... this is a new thing for him. Words have never been a problem for him.

"Call me Lee." The beauty said. Bradley just blinks at him, his eyes going through every detail of Lee's face, to the large grey hoodie the man had on and black boots. It looked like he wasn't wearing anything underneath, smooth legs going for days.

"It'd be wonderful to have morning tea with you, Lee."

The man grins at him. He takes his tea and pays for it with a coupon. Before he turns to leave though, he pressed a kiss to Bradley's cheek, smiling widely at him before walking away with a small wave.

All Bradley could think was, Lee's green eyes had to be the most beautiful he had seen.