Adrian had spent days and hours and seconds thinking about Georgina, even in the most unconventional moment. She flooded his thoughts, which was surprising because he only spent half a day with her. Why was he still thinking about her? Why couldn't he think about his soon-to-be wife like that? What was so special about Georgina?
It probably didn't help that Daphne bore such uncanny resemblance to Georgina. Whenever he saw Daphne, he thought of Georgina sitting at the dining table with Joe and Phyna, a bug bowl of ice cream on the table, and the side of her mouth stained with the ice cream.
But the moment Daphne opened her mouth, every resemblance she had to Georgina disappeared. Her voice was tiny and whiny. She was annoying and Adrian wasn't even sure why, but he just really disliked her.
Anyway, he knew that he might probably never get to see Georgina again. There worlds were far apart. He was a rich, famous billionaire and she was simply a lousy babysitter. They would most likely never meet again. Besides, he couldn't simply go to Ella's and ask to see her children's babysitter. That would be simply weird and Ella would never let him leave it down.
But that didn't stop him for longing to want to see her again. He craved an opportunity to meet her again. He spent hours daydreaming, fantasizing and making up scenarios in his head of how he would see her, talk to her again, do everything right this time and ask her for her phone number and maybe even on a date.
There was no harm in daydreaming, right?
Except he badly wished this particular dream would come true.
Just when Adrian had lost all hope of ever seeing Georgina again, fate decided to smile on him.
He was on his bed, one night, exhausted from the work of the day, from his parents constant nagging, his fianceé's constant disturbance and his soon-to-be in-laws' nagging, when his phone rang beside him. With a groan, he pushed himself up and grabbed his phone. When he saw Ella's name appearing in the caller ID, he quickly sat up. Why was Ella calling at this time of the night?
He swiped the answer icon and placed the phone close to his ear. "Hello?"
"Adrian!" Ella's frantic and teary voice came on the phone. "Adrian....." she croaked.
"Ella?!" He was becoming scared now. His heart pounding as he heard her sobbing over the phone. "Ella, what's wrong? Did something happen to Joe and Phyna?" he questioned.
"No, no. It's Kevin....."
At the utterance if his name, a part of Adrian relaxed. Okay, so, Joe and Phyna are fine, but, obviously, her bastard of a husband wasn't and she was sad about it. Right. "What happened to Kevin?" he asked.
"He's...he's...." She stuttered, hiccuping. "He's missing," she said, her sob becoming louder. "Kevin is missing!" she cried.
Adrian frowned, rubbing his forehead. Kevin was missing. Again. Kevin was a piece of shit who had caused Ella so much pain in the past twelve years. Adrian wondered why Ella wouldn't just divorce him. He probably took off to go drinking again. Stupid piece of shit. Adrian sighed. "Since when has he been missing?'
"Saturday!" she cried.
"What?!" Adrian exclaimed. That was almost five days ago. "Saturday?" he repeated. What the hell? "Ella, calm down and stop crying," he tried to pacify but the words sounded stilted. "Where are you now?" he asked.
"At home," she whispered, her voice hoarse from the cries.
"What about Joe and Phyna?"
"They are asleep," she answered.
"Okay, I'm coming," he concluded. "Just hold on for me, Ella, I'm coming," he said, jumping out of bed as he hung up the phone. He quickly walked to his wardrobe and pulled it open, searching for a shirt.
Adrian was mad.
Five days was a long time. Kevin had never been missing for five days. The most was less than forty eight hours and they always found him by the roadside, drunk out of his mind. But five full days? That was the height of it.
••••••
All Georgina had on her schedule today was go to work, come back home in the evening, have dinner and try to sleep. Oh, and do all these without thinking of Adrian.
She did everything, except not think of Adrian. That was simply just hard. How could she stop thinking of him when his face was splattered on every newspaper and magazine on the streets? And not just him, but his new fianceé, Daphne Rodriguez. How could she stop thinking about him when her best friend, Kyra, and her co-workers wouldn't stop gushing about him? When everytime she turned on the television, he was in the news? Ugh.
Everytime she went to sleep, he was in her dreams. Whenever she closed her eyes, he was there. He filled every corner of her mind.
But she knew she could never have anything to do with Adrian King. It wasn't as though she even liked him. She wasn't a fan of liars and people who pretended for cameras. But even if she did like him, nothing could ever happen between them. They were worlds apart.
Georgina sunk into her bed, ready to get to sleep. Just as she closed her eyes, her phone went off, ringing loudly. She shot up in shock and groaned, rubbing her forehead. She grabbed her phone and groaned even louder when she saw Ella's name flashing on the screen. She answered the call. "Hello?" she said, with the mind if turning down whatever job it was Ella had for her. She had had a long day at the restaurant and she couldn't take any extra hours if babysitting again.
"Gina!" Ella cried.
Georgina's heart flipped in fear. Ella was crying. Did something happen to Joe or Phyna? With her heart beating loudly in her chest, Georgina asked, "Ella, what happened?" she asked.
"Please can you come over?" Ella asked, crying over the phone. "Please, Gina, as a friend."
"Sure, sure, of course." Her heat was still beating in fear when she hung up. What could have happened? Georgina wasn't sure she had ever seen Ella cry before, even when Joe and Phyna fell sick. She was always so calm and collected. But for her to be crying now, something tragic must have happened.
Georgina jumped out of bed, grabbed a small town, slipped it on and quickly wore a pair of slippers. She grabbed her phone and dashed out of her room. Stopping at her dad's room's door, she whispered, "Dad?"
Upon hearing nothing, she concluded that he was asleep. So, she quickly walked away and out of the house.
~~~~~
Adrian knocked on the door impatiently. He was going to knock again but the door was opened by a terrible looking Ella. Adrian looked at her. Her hair was undone and rough, her face was tear-stricken, her cheeks were red and puffy and so were her eyes. Overwhelmed with pity for his beloved cousin and anger for her shitty husband, he grabbed her and pulled her into a hug.
Ella put her hands around him, breaking into another round of tears.
Adrian, unsure of what to say, patted her back slowly.
"Ella, here is the coffee....." The voice trailed off.
Adrian looked up to see who spoke and his heart skipped a beat when he saw Georgina standing behind a chair, a mug in her hand.
They locked eyes and for him, it felt like the world stopped for a moment.