Adrian:
"ROSE!" Flames surround me, the heat burning my skin. I run around frantically; the smoke covers my view as everything appears blur.
"Where are you?" I open door after door, my eyes searching for a familiar figure. Where is she? Just where is she!?
I come across a door that is locked, I grab the handle and try to push it open, but it doesn't budge. I jam my shoulder against it, but the attempts are futile.
"ROSE! ARE YOU THERE?" I scream, but I get no reply. My body hurts from all the pushing against the door and the heat burning my body. This time, I throw my whole body's strength on the door and it finally opens. I push open the door, only one name on my lips, "Rose?"
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Everything I am today, I had to work for it. There isn't a single thing I have that was served to me on a silver platter. My history made me the man I am today. Cold, calculating, and cruel. I am not a good person, I neither claim to be. I destroy to get what I want.
I have lived like that for way too long now. In my twenty-seven years of living, I never made a mistake, never had any weaknesses, except one.
Men like me aren't supposed to feel, but I did. I made a mistake, committed a sin. Do I regret it? No. And, if you ask me, I would do it all over again.
I don't regret what I did, neither will I regret what I will do next. If it means I get her, then it's all worth it.
I asked her a question, despite knowing the answer. I watch her looking confused, more like nervous. My presence made her nervous, I could tell that by the way she was gripping the book in her hands.
She glanced over her shoulder, probably hoping someone would walk through that door and pull her out of this situation. But, she's highly mistaken. No one, and I mean no one would come between us anymore.
"I asked you a question, Malvina." She jerks her head towards me and gulps.
"I just told you that I do remember you."A part of me hopes she does remember me, us. What we had, but no, she doesn't and it's fine, I will take my sweet time helping her remember everything once she is mine. But for now its best she remains oblivious.
"Are you sure?"
"It was your car wasn't it, the one I fell in front of?" She says nervously. "I saw the same car earlier; it was parked outside the restaurant, kind of figured it out." She avoids my eyes.
The next sentence, her tone changes into a defensive one, "It wasn't my fault, though. So,I won't take responsibility for that." She raises her chin as a defensive gesture, and I find it impossibly difficult to resist the urge to grab her by the neck and kiss her.
Before she can blink, I lean towards her and grab the swing rope behind her, my other hand grabs the back of the swing, caging her. The earlier defensive expression is replaced by a panicked one.
I tower over her, our faces inches away from each other, her breath fanning my face. She gulps and glances behind her, hoping someone would come to help her, but no one will.
"Look at me." She does. "If I wanted you to take responsibility, you would. But I am not here for that, darling." She gasps. Again. She tends to do that a lot. I like the sound of it.
She doesn't say anything, so I continue, "Take responsibility? You will do that, but not for my car." This time, I lean back, giving her the much-needed space. She takes in a deep breath as if she was suffocating all this time.
"What do you want then?" She asks, a little annoyed this time. I smirk at her reaction. It's cute.
"Can you give me what I want?" I look into her confused eyes. She cannot give me what I want. Not yet. I remove my hands around her and sit straight.
"What can someone like you even want from a nobody like me?" She looks me in the eye. Defiant.
"You are not a nobody." You are everything to me "And you will know what I want from you."
"Is that something I can give to you now?" She asks in the same defiant tone, as if she is suddenly pulling a wall around her. Not with me love.
"Not yet." I answer honestly.
Her eyes remain fixed on me, her lips part a little , as if to say something. Instead, she presses her lips shut and gives me a tight nod, then averts her eyes.
"Well then. It was nice talking to you, sir. I will take my leave." She looks at me with underlying irritation, then jumps down from the swing.
The moment she lands, she winches and almost falls to the ground.
I rushed to her, "Are you okay? What are you doing?" Anger clouds my mind. I hate that I am the reason she's hurt.
I grab her shoulders and steady her. Then she looks at me and the moment she does, my anger evaporates, replaced by an unknown emotion. There are tears in her eyes.
"I am fine. You can let go now." She tries to pull away.
She is in pain. My girl is hurt.
Let you go? "Not a chance." I pick her up and this time I carry her out of the garden and into the hall.
"What are you doing? Put me down." I ignore her protest and keep walking.
She grips my shoulder hard, urging me to put her down, but that only makes me hold her even tighter.
I look at her and raise my eyebrow. What does she think? Her feeble attempts like this will hurt me, make me let go of her? Never.
By the time she protests, we have already reached the front door. The hall is empty as it should be. I made sure of that. We reached in front of my car, and then I put her down. She stumbles but I steady her.
"What the hell are you doing?" She looks at me, angry. If looks could kill, she would have murdered me by now.
"Taking responsibility."
"What?"
" I am sure, you don't suffer from any auditory disabilities," I glanced towards her, "You heard me the first time." She looks at me in disbelief. I sigh.
"Taking you to get your leg checked. You are hurt." I pull out my phone and start typing. She looks at me as if I told her that Santa isn't real.
"For someone who you just met, your behaviour is not quite appropriate, isn't it sir?" She folds her arms. Just met? Oh darling, just you wait, I will tell you what's appropriate.
"We already met thrice,Miss Ashford." I remind her, although that's excluding all the time before this. " And if I remember correctly, you also recognise how I smell."
Her face flushes red. "I assume we are quite close by that reasoning." I add.
"You know that's not what I meant-" she shutters "all I said was that it's just noticeable." She avoids my eyes.
"You mean to say that my smell is noticeable?"
"Not your smell!" She gasps, then grits her teeth "Perfume. I meant your perfume."
" So Miss Ashford, you think it's appropriate to talk about how someone smells?" I resist smirking.
I watch her face turn red with her gaping at me in disbelief.
"That's not-"
"How do I smell like?"
" Like wood and forest-" she realises her mistake and goes quiet.
"It's nice to know that you take notice of such small details." I smirk at her embarrassed face, which looks absolutely adorable right now.
"You-"
"Let's talk in the car, don't put too much stress on your foot." I opened the car door for her.
She stands there for a minute, throwing daggers at me, then inhaling sharply. Here it comes.
"You know what I think?" She speaks. Crossing her arms. Cute.
"Not like it's going to change my mind, but I would love to hear your opinion. So, speak darling."
She pulls me by the sleeve of my suit, now this, earned her my attention. I put the phone back in my pocket and turned to her.
"Well, I think. You. Are. Crazy." Shove. Getting strong darling. " Why would I, in my sane mind, go anywhere with you? Someone I don't even know!"
She inhales another breath, "And I don't need you to take me anywhere. I don't go with strangers. Anywhere." She stresses the 'stranger'.
"Adrian Reed. I already told you my name." I state, looking straight into her eyes.
"Now let's go." I point towards the ajar car door.
She stands there for a moment, I smirk and watch her inhaling and exhaling , calming herself.
I find myself drowning in her every time. Everything she does, even the simple act of breathing, makes me intoxicated. She is my favourite kind of drug at this point. An addiction, I don't want to get rid of.
"You are really getting on my nerves." She finally speaks.
"Took you a few business days to respond. Now sit in the car."
"No one has made me this infuriated, ever."
"Glad to be the first. Do I get a special reward for that?"
" Agh! Can't you see? I already got it checked. Is the thick bandage invisible to you ? I am fine."
"I need to be sure." I do. Plus I am loving this bickering too much.
"Sure? You hit me with your car!" It's fun teasing her.
"I didn't hit you with my car. You jumped in front of it, ignoring the signal." I deadpanned. At this point, she looks at loss for words.
My phone rings, the caller ID, turning my mood one-eighty. I turn away from her, not before asking her to sit in the car once more. I move a few paces away to answer the call.
I return to the car to find her gone. I sigh and pull out my phone.
"Take care of it." I disconnected the call and slide the phone back into my pocket.
"She left?" Andrea speaks from behind. He just came back right now. He opens the car door for me. I slid inside and leaned my head against the headrest. The car starts moving and I close my eyes.
"Stop disobeying me, love."