As she got closer to the room, she heard muffled sobs from the guest room. Her head shot up as she realized it was Adrian. Is he crying because of me? She quietly opened the door and went in to find him sitting at the edge of the bed, his head hanging low as he kept on sobbing.
It really broke Jennifer's heart. Whatever was the reason he was crying about, Jennifer still felt guilty. She walked closer until he looked up with his adorable eyes that were blood red and teary. His nose was pink and his cheeks had tear stains. Without wasting any time, Jennifer pulled him in her embrace.
She kept on stroking his back until she felt his breathing pattern getting normal. This was the first time Jennifer had seen Adrian cry. "What's wrong?" She cooed and waited for him to speak up. "I should be asking you that. Why are you so cold and distant these days?" Jennifer's heart skipped a beat. She held him tightly.
"No. Why would you say that?" Adrian buried his head in her neck, snuggling closer. "You don't talk much. We don't have meals together. All this … all this distance makes me feel empty."
Adrian placed a hand on Jennifer's cheek. "Jennifer, I really care about you. I can fight off negativity from the entire world but this coldness coming from you really breaks me. If you have anything on your mind, feel free to talk to me. Your secrets are safe with me."
Jennifer's mind clicked together the remaining pieces of the puzzle. Adrian had guessed that she was hiding something. All this time, she felt her acting was perfect. It wasn't. He knew something was missing. He knew it all along. Second, He was hurt because she was acting indifferent which meant he cared about her.
Jennifer smiled. He noticed. Such a baby. "I'm sorry Addy. I was getting insecure about our friendship. I also care about you a lot and I didn't want to loose you. So I think it was better to give each other some space." Adrian looked up with puppy eyes. Addy? The nickname. She had called him with a nickname for the first time. It was progress. Wasn't it?
"You don't need to feel insecure. You have a really special place in my heart. You and James are the only two friends I ever made." Jennifer pecked his forehead and giggled. Adrian giggled in her neck. "I'm sorry." Adrian pulled up from her neck again and showed off his boxy smile.
"You don't need to be sorry. It's alright. Now that we have cleared our differences, Let's eat." Adrian looked at Jennifer and pouted adorably. Jennifer and Adrian had dinner together again. It felt so nice to have dinner together again. Both of them were contended. Today, even the food felt delicious than before. The weather was pleasant that before. How magical it felt to have a person make everything around you better.
The more time Jennifer spent with Adrian, the more her curiosity grew. Adrian seemed like a nice boy at first. What was the reason that pushed him to take such a grave step? Adrian was kind, caring and loving. He empathized with the poor and needy. Jennifer saw that in his eyes. Since they both were living together these days, Adrian and Jennifer went to school together, in the bus. Whenever a poor or needy person came to them Adrian brought them a meal.
Once, they came across an old lady who was disabled. Adrian got off the bus and helped her cross the road. That day, they were late for school due to this. One more time, Adrian saw a group of poor children looking at an ice cream shop. Their eyes invoked pity, even in the coldest hearts. Adrian brought each of them an ice cream of their choice. They were again late for school that day.
Now, Jennifer came to understand why Adrian used to be late for school often. She often saw him entering the school and running to his class across the corridors, pushing people here and there. Well, that was if they has already not cleared the pathway for him. Most people at school feared him. There was a rumor that he had done horrible things to a child who refused to step aside from his way.
Initially, Jennifer used to hate him for coming school late and then terrorizing the children but on a closer look, she felt an unknown attraction to him. His morals, his attitude, his way of thinking, everything was very similar to her.
The only difference was that, like a coward, Jennifer hid herself behind layers of sweetness and politeness. She cared too much for her image in other people's mind. To her, what others said mattered more than what she wanted to do or say. Adrian, on the other hand wasn't coward. He accepted himself with all his heart and embraced his imperfections. He didn't care about what others said about him.
Day by day, Jennifer grew to like him more and more. A whole week had passed since her parents left for the business trip, for Jennifer this was the best week of her entire life. She had so much fun with Adrian around. Even after all this, she often laid in her bed, creating theories about why Adrian attempted such atrocities on Kurt.
None of her theory seemed to provide enough explanation for the incident she saw. Except one, that Adrian was hiding something from her that she needed to find out. All her theories always had a piece missing. They were incomplete. Jennifer decided that she should take this matter to some other person. Maybe, he or she could give her a different perspective of the current situation. But who? Who was the one person she could trust? James and Kurt were out of question. They both would provide a very biased description of the happening.
Moreover, she couldn't trust them. Kurt was more likely to manipulate her again and James would take this matter straight to Adrian and her secret shall be busted.