Jennifer's mind again recognized the sorrow in his voice and it reminded her of the promise she had made to herself. To be with Adrian. Always and forever. This was the time. Adrian had opened up first. With just a little more help, he could break out of his shell. "Tell me more about it." Jennifer tried. Adrian hesitated. Jennifer extended an arm and wrapped her fingers around Adrian's hand that was holding the cup. "Please speak to me. I want to know." She spoke.
"My mother…." Oh my god! Why am I so vulnerable in front of her. Why can't you just say no. Nevertheless, Adrian spoke. "Before Crystal replaced my mom as Mrs. Rains, my mom owned a few coffee shops in the town. This, in particular, is my favorite. This is where….. my mom met dad. Before going to jail, my mom shifted all her property to Rains Association. My dad made Crystal the owner of these shops. It didn't matter to him. To him, It's worthless anyways." Adrian stopped. Stumbling through words and emotions, he had barely managed to keep his secret. A tight control on facial expressions and body language, combined with diplomatic selection of words. All of this just to hide his secret. His true face. But Jennifer was smarter than Adrian had expected.
"What does it mean to you?" Jennifer knew Adrian was hiding something. "To me, it's just a remembrance of my mom." Adrian said. "Oh! So-" Before Jennifer could dig further, Adrian changed the topic. "Hey, can I ask you something?" Jennifer nodded. "I feel like you are not really comfortable here. I mean, you are twisting and turning in the seat. Are you hurt somewhere?" Adrian asked. From the past ten minutes, he was observing Jennifer move around in her seat. Sometimes, she would touch her stomach unconsciously and she seemed like her stomach was hurting. At first, Adrian tried to ignore it but then, as the time passed he grew worried. "Umm… wait a second. I'll be back."
Jennifer got up from her seat and started to walk in a direction. Adrian's heart leapt into his mouth. She was walking right into the den. Oh my god! Did she understand what he was trying to hide. What will happen now? Will she hate him? Adrian was trying to keep her safe, away from all the mess he was in. But now because of him, she would be dragged into it and harmed in the meantime.
Adrian also sprang up to his feet and rushed behind her. He ran to the place she was standing right now. Adrenaline was pumping in his veins. "Where are you going?" Adrian asked Jennifer as he grabbed her wrist, afraid of letting her go. Jennifer's face expressions gave away confusion. "I was just going to the washroom." Adrian let out a relieved sigh. "Oh. Okay. Go." This was all he managed to say. He was so hyped up that he was barely make out words that made sense.
Jennifer went into the washroom, Adrian was still rooted to the same place. He couldn't bring himself to move. What if she gets out of his sight and runs straight into trouble? He would never be able to forgive himself. How stupid is he? First invite her here, in the den and them protect her from the lions. Not just one but a whole pride of lions.
Just then a boy caught Adrian's eye. The boy had sleek raven hair and dark indigo eyes, threw a batch of documents in a horrified-looking young man's face. "Get this done before I fish our your guts and feed them to street dogs." He smirked. His smirk gave away only one emotion, 'I'm-better-than-you'. The horrified person stumbled through the café's door as if he was waiting for a chance to be allowed to go.
The boy turned around and saw Adrian. He came and bowed to him. "Master Adrian. To what do I owe the pleasure." He asked. His eyes had turned into one of pure reverence. He was no more the beast shouting at a man, at least twice his age. Adrian told him, "I made a mistake. I need you to cover it up for me. Take all the men and go inside. I don't want to see anybody here. All men in the den." He ordered. His voice was authoritative and his demeanor dripped of darkness.
The boy whistled and gathered every single soul in the café. "We need to go inside. Master's order." Nobody even questioned, neither flinched nor displayed any signs of confusion. Everybody silently disappeared from the café. This all happened so fast that everybody was gone before Jennifer stepped out of the washroom.
"Where's everybody?" She questioned. "I don't know. Everybody was leaving one by one. I don't know what's going on." He said. Adrian was back to being soft and sweet. "Adrian, we are in a bit of trouble." Jennifer said sheepishly. "What happened?" "I stared my periods and I have stained my corduroys." Jennifer said. Adrian removed his coat and handed it over to Jennifer. "Tie this around your waist. We'll leave now." He said. Jennifer was hesitant. "If it gets stained, you will not be able to wear it anymore." She warned him. "No issues." Adrian assured her with a smile. Jennifer took the coat and tied it on her waist, then she followed him to the parking lot. They drove to Jennifer's home.
"Ahh.. why does it hurt so much?" Jennifer mumbled to herself, biting down on her lower lip to somehow relieve the pain. Adrian and Jennifer had just gotten home ten minutes ago, thinking that if she could rest her pain would go away but it was impossible when she was struggling with her period cramps. Adrian had received a very important call and he had to go somewhere urgently. "I can't delay this. Please wait for me. I'll be back as soon as possible." He said as he went through the door of her house.
Adrian hated himself for leaving Jennifer unattended but being a mafia leader had it's own responsibilities that he couldn't pass up on. Jennifer attempted to lay in a different position to get comfortable in, but none of them seemed to work, whatsoever. It was unusual for her to have cramps that hurt this much, but she knew she had to do something about it one way or the other.