Jennifer's smile didn't make sense to Adrian or James. It meant only two things. Either Jennifer had lost her mind due to this intensely shocking news or she knew about something they didn't all along. "Jennifer, why are you laughing?" Adrian said. "What's with the smile?" James tilted his head. Jennifer's reaction had really creeped them out. She was definitely insane. Definitely! No doubt left. Jennifer chuckled darkly.
"You do understand that by this time I'm a master at digging up information." She said slowly sending uncomfortable shivers down Adrian's spine. "And that whatever I presented to you is not the only thing I know. I know much more. I presented to you what was relevant." She smirked raising one of her eyebrows making her look like a maniac. "Yeah! That pretty natural. You would have come up with a lot of stuff." Adrian shrugged.
While Adrian shrugged this sentence, James caught it's meaning. "No. Don't tell me." He placed a hand on his mouth. He was so amazed with it. "What!" Adrian looked at James utterly clueless. "She knew it all along." James dropped the actual bomb. Oh look how the tables have turned! Adrian and James were hoping to tell Jennifer something shocking instead she revealed something even more astounding to them.
"No. You know all along? You knew it all this time. When you hung out with me, we went on a pretty little date, we got you selected for the den, we had all those moments. You knew?" Adrian was babbling non stop out of immense shock. Like how!?! How would she even want to be near a murderer like him. Wasn't she scared? Did she not feel unsafe? Insecure? Worried? Why didn't she turn him to the police? Okay. That was too far Adrian. She loves you. You are now officially her mafia boss. She can't turn you in but like was she okay with it? I mean, most of the girls should be hella creeped out. They would be running like ten miles away from him after they got to know but this girl here surprised them.
She knew about everything and was still acting like she knew nothing. "How long have you know about this?" Adrian was so tangled in this own thoughts that his mouth wasn't capable of forming questions. Thus James was the one who said these lines. "For about 9 months now." Jennifer replied. "Why else would I deliberately bring out the locker in front of you guys. If it meant something as solemn as sharing it with your life partner, then why would I even show it to you?" Jennifer's question knocked some sense into Adrian.
"Ohhh!" he said as she came back to his senses. The realization hit him. Then. Hard. Like a rock. "This ain't good." He spoke slowly. "What isn't good?" James said. Jennifer inferred something suddenly and clasped Adrian's fingers in hers. "Babe, if you think that I'll leave you then don't worry, I'm not leaving. I understand why you hid this from me. Like it was mafia business and I wasn't even suppose to know about the den officially until yesterday so don't worry. I am not angry at you. I'm not going anywhere." She said hurriedly trying to make him believe in her.
Jennifer had decided about this before. She understood Adrian's situation and the trouble of having to maintain a dual identity while being involved in mafia business. "That is not what I'm worried about." Adrian said and then it clicked to James. "He's worried about the punishment. Am I right?" James looked at Adrian who then nodded. "Which punishment?" Jennifer still was oblivious. She needed sometime to get used to the new rules and stuff. She still didn't remember.
"We have been hiding something from the group-" Adrian was about to explain when Jennifer jumped up. "The blood draining punishment." She gasped as she had her realization. Wow! Three people in the car having their realizations of something that was so common at different times. "Oh my god! First month into the group and I'll be punished, what will happen to my image?" Jennifer was still in shock.
"Leave the image, how can I allow you to be hurt?" Adrian had his own worries. Adrian and Jennifer were looking into each other's eyes. They knew they were wrong here. They knew they deserved the punishment but how could they let that happen to each other? A little breeze that was blowing outside blew a leaf that cracked on the car's window making all of them come out of their respective thought processes.
"Okay.? So let's just get this over with." Jennifer took a deep breath in and let out a deep sigh so as to trying to calm herself down. "This is house in which Abby buried her locker." James said. "I know." Jennifer said. At this point this wasn't even surprising anymore. She obviously knew. Your bet! She knew the exact location as well. "In this house, on the second floor, there is a room that looks like a mini library. In that room, Abby has kept her locker." Jennifer spoke. As expected from the goddess herself.
"So then let's go!" Adrian said. Adrian smiled weekly. He wanted his friend to see what's inside that locker. It was meant for him. Abby trusted him with the password. That definitely meant something. But he was also worried about his love. Adrian should have finished it and then entered Jennifer into this mess. But then Jennifer wouldn't be able to present here today. Guess it was meant to be this way!
Adrian and James stepped out of the car with a heavy heart followed by Jennifer. James' thoughts were playing with him. His memories with Abby were returning again and again. Replaying in his mind. His heart was thumping very loudly. He could feel his pulse throbbing in his right temple as he stepped forward to reach the door of the house. Adrian glanced at James who was visibly nervous by now. He was worried if this was actually the right decision to make.
He turned the door knob and moved the closer to Jennifer as though trying to protect her subconsciously. The door opened with a creek. This loud but creepy voice was in sync with James' uneven heartbeat creating a spooky melody in his head. Everything in his body told him to turn around and go. Nothing felt right at this point.