"At least say something…" Adrian said as he took sharp breaths trying to control his tears. Jennifer was still quiet. How could she tell him that she loved him without breaking herself all over again. She had no answer to this. She loved him. Without question but saying it aloud? That too in front of him. Out of question. But there was one thing she could say and so she did. The universally established truth by now. "Adrian… Adrian, you hurt me." Jennifer said and disconnected the call again.
When the line died, Adrian felt his heart stop. Her words. They were so painful. He had hurt her, ruthlessly and without mercy. Just like a beast he was. "You're not an animal." Jennifer's voice rang in his ears. His mind flooded with their happy memories. All the times when they both were warm and most importantly in love with each other. Each memory of her stabbed Adrian bringing him back to the harsh reality minute by minute.
"Make it stop. Please make it stop!" he begged James who was looking at him with worry. "Adrian, are you okay?" he shook him. "Make it stop please." Adrian kept on chanting the same thing again and again until he got short of breath. James tried to stop him. Tried to bring him back. He even tried calling Jennifer in hoped that he would be okay after he heard her voice but Jennifer didn't pick up. Slowly James saw him as Adrian became unconscious while he kept chanting the same thing, "Please make it stop! It hurts!"
"Adrian…. Adrian… oh my god! Jennifer, now I don't care if you're parents are home. I don't care if you want to meet him. And I definitely don't care if you hate him. I'm coming to your home. It was you. This was all you." James also became angry at the uncooperative behavior of Jennifer. He picked Adrian up and put him in the back seat of their car and drove towards Jennifer's house as fast as he could. On the other hand, when Jennifer cut the call, she felt a stab of pain in her chest. Pain and hurt returned. Her broken soul and her bruised self esteem both making it difficult to breathe.
Within a few minutes, Jennifer heard a car pull in the driveway. She was sure that it cannot be her parents. They were both on another business trip. Then who was it? Who came at this moment when she was all messed up. Jennifer made some hurried yet desperate attempts to clean herself up but she wasn't quick enough. She had barely made it to the washroom when she heard her door open. Who was this person who had the audacity to open her door without her permission? Nobody except her parents…. "Definitely…" she thought. Nobody except…
Jennifer gasped when she turned around to see James holding Adrian in his arms who had fainted. He moved towards her bed and laid him down. "What happened to him?" suddenly Jennifer didn't care about her appearance anymore. Suddenly everything in this world ceased to matter except for this person in her arms who was laid on her bed unconscious. "He fainted." James said while calling a doctor. "Don't call a doctor. He won't be able to enter. My dad installed a new security system. Only people who have been inside the mansion before can enter. He did it because he was afraid I might see Adrian after he was gone." Jennifer explained.
"Is he still suspicious of you?" James asked. He was pretty amazed to hear this news. He thought that everything was happy in the Williams family. Jennifer let out a dark chuckle. "You have no idea how much hate I receive from my own family members because I fell in love with him and I refuse to move on." She shook her head as she sprinkle some water over Adrian's face that she grabbed from her bedside table.
"Yet you still…" James stopped in between. Yet she was still here. Yet she didn't throw them away when they came inside. Yet she still cared about Adrian deeply. Yet she was still in love. Yet she was hurting herself just to protect him. "That is why it hurts so much." Jennifer let this sentence roll off her lips hitting James in places he never thought he had. He never felt anything more deeply than this. James felt something moving under his hand. He lowered his eyes to see Adrian stirring up.
Jennifer patted his cheeks and said, "Adrian? Adrian? Baby are you okay?" Adrian put a hand over her hand on his cheek and slowly said, "Baby?" his voice was rough and weak. Definitely not like his usual self but he was definitely awake, if that's progress. Adrian stared into Jennifer's eyes who was quiet like the glass lake on a windless day. She didn't speak anything. Her lower lip wobbled, the proof of her trying to form relevant words but they were just inside her throat.
When her voice failed, Jennifer's eyes spoke volumes. Her silence was screaming. It was scary. The intensity. The amount of love exchange that happened between them before they both broke the silence together by their tiny whimpers. "I love you." Adrian spoke as he took another breath. James could see how hard it was for both of them to hold it together. "I love you too." Jennifer whispered. James was so struck by their love that he was trapped in the moment. He forgot that this was the time when he should have given them some personal space but that didn't matter anyway as he saw Jennifer lower her head to attach her lips to Adrian's.
They both could almost taste the salt from each other's tears in the kiss. It was salty but passionate. Just like water to a person dying in a desert. Just like shore to a long lost sea captain. Just like oxygen to a dying patient. It was sweet. It was salty. It was harsh. It was soft. It was passionate. It was desperate. It was something they both craved. It was something they both wanted to avoid because they knew if they came together this time, no power of this world, no government of any country, no emperor of any kingdom and definitely nobody's father could separate them.