"Ma'am, I received info from Simon. I've sent Mrs. Parker's profile to your laptop." Ralf broke the silence after receiving a text from Simon.
Adriana nodded her head, and she picked up her laptop from inside a compartment in the car. She turned it on and went to her email, where she downloaded the document.
"If you go to page 5, there's a summary of her time at the orphanage, the same orphanage as yours. She had arrived there 3 years before you. She also attended the same classes as you for a few months. That's until she got adopted."
"I don't remember her, I don't understand what's her deal with me. It's not like our lives at the orphanage were any different."
"About that, check out her hobbies," Ralf answered.
Adriana nodded her head. She didn't really care but little people knew about her being an orphan so she had to confirm why Ms. Parker knew about that.
When she checked the woman's full name, age, and hobbies, she realized.
"Oh, if she cares so much about the piano, why didn't she choose that instead of designing." Adriana's mouth turned into an 'O' when she continued reading.
Adriana took quite an interest in the piano when she was young. She had developed social anxiety when she was younger, actually, the social phobia started at 4 years old.
She was a quiet kid, and she was cute, so her social phobia prevented her adoption. If not, she wouldn't have been in the system for so long.
The adults considered her a 'creepy' child because of it.
Anyway, the piano was of great help to her. Usually, instead of continuing a conversation, she would run off and look for one. When she would start playing the notes, her body would relax and she would calm down.
She didn't have the same passion for it as Ms. Parker did. Apparently, her unusual attachment to the piano had her attend a class in which she always topped.
Ms. Parker didn't seem very pleased with that and when Adriana went to college in designing, she followed her.
Only to fail, because she didn't even have an interest in it.
"How tragic." Adriana closed the tabs on her computer and placed it away.
She didn't have any luxury to care about other people's problems. It was not her fault that someone followed her footsteps like that. She also didn't care.
'We all go through crap. That doesn't mean we have to carry each other's problems.'
If it were in the past, she might have felt guilty for Ms. Parker and how she ended up in life, but she had given up on caring for other people's problems. Call her selfish or heartless, but she had been through enough and seen enough.
She closed her eyes for a short 'nap' but that was not true at all. She just wanted to search through her memories and try to remember the little Ms. Parker and how did she affect her.
....
"Adri, come here, sweetie."
Adriana blinked when she saw Mrs.Carson calling her.
Mrs.Carson was the one who found her outside the fire fighter's building and had enrolled her in the orphanage she works at.
She also had taken the job to name her 'Adriana'.
She would often share the story of how she got to name her. Mrs. Carson said that she had tried many names, and she had asked her if she liked them. Her big bright eyes would only stare at her back, but the first reaction she had received from the baby was a laugh when she said the name 'Adriana' out loud. That made her think the baby liked that name and choose it for her.
Then she also started calling her 'Adri' as a nickname.
"I'd like you to meet Mr. and Mrs. Deni, they are interested in adopting you."
Adriana only lowered her head in response.
"Hello, nice to meet you, Adriana." The woman kneeled in front of her and placed her warm palm on her cheek.
"I know you might be nervous, but maybe you'll feel better if you get to know our son." She gave her a warm, gentle, and welcoming smile.
Adriana swallowed and nodded her head nervously. It was hard for her to say anything, her mind was completely blank. Just like all the other times.
She only kept nodding at all the questions.
A few minutes later the couple said they would come back tomorrow but Adriana knew better.
When Mrs. Carson told her to go back to her dormitory, she nodded her head and walked out of the room stiffly.
"What's wrong with you? Unlike the rest of us, all you have to do is smile and nod! Anybody would like to adopt you!."
Adriana blinked in confusion when the girl in front of her said that. She nervously swallowed, her hands got sweaty again, and she had no choice but to run off.
She just didn't like it. Holding conversations with people was hard. She couldn't even look at them in the eyes.
Maybe what the doctor said about her was true. Maybe the other kids were right. She really was a 'creepy' child.
.....
When Adriana opened her eyes again, she was only a block away from the penthouse.
'Oh so, she's the kid back then." She thought, pinching her forehead.
Memories of her time in the orphanage were not exactly important to her. She didn't care whether she had a family or not. She had accepted the fact that her parents abandoned her very early on and so she never bothered with such things.
Actually, she was told that her parents had died so that they could hide the fact that she was actually abdomen heartlessly.
With a sigh, she told Ralf to wait for her outside and she walked into the building.
She was looking forward to the plans for this building...
When she was inside, she removed her wet, thin jacket. Adriana realized that she should start trying not to get sick. This is the third time she goes out in the chilly rain with no umbrella. And that jacket was pretty thin.
After she turned on the fireplace, she poured herself the strong drink she had been yearning for since this morning.
She then walked upstairs to her bedroom and picked out a white Nique mini dress. It had floss straps and a gold pattern across the dress. The golden lines were thin and traveled through the silk in a pattern she loved to add often in her designs.
If you knew her signature moves, you could tell this dress was custom made by herself.
She added some loop earrings and some gold jewelry around her neck. When she was done, she braided her hair and tried it up into a bun.
She would visit a place with an alias, and she had to play the part. She needed to scream wealthy with all of what she wore to fit in the crowd. If she went all simple, she would get unnecessary attention.
Most of all, she was attending this place during daylight, which meant more eyes on her. She would have gone at night but her 'guest' arranged their meeting at a specific time and this 'guest' would be of use to her in the future.
Usually, she would pick the time and date of meetings, but this time she agreed because she had no problem with it.
Her schedule is always planned ahead of time by Ralf and her, so she would interrupt something only on rare occasions. That included emergencies, and her children, of course.
And so this meant that she agreed to this meeting a long time ago, knowing she would already be in New York during this time.
Originally, today was the day she would arrive in New York, but when she came earlier, her schedule had to be changed. Now, she had way more to handle and meetings to attend.
Anyway, today she had something brief but important to do.
Briana would have never expected that this person walked to her side, and neither did the person himself know what he's jumping into. That's what made the feeling so purely satisfying.