ADRIAN:
"Malvina, give us some privacy." My fists tightens as I watch her slowly walking out of the room, her face morphed into confusion as she throws a last glance at me before closing the door after her. She deserves to know. Everything. Just not yet.
I look at Andrei. He nods and walks out of the room.
"Adrian Reed. To what do I owe this pleasure of meeting you," she leans back into her chair, seeming unfazed, but I don't miss the small tilt of her lips. Sarcasm.
"It doesn't suit you," she raises a sharp brow at me "the sarcasm. It makes me want to snap your neck sooner than I plan to."
With her tight bun and brown-coloured skirt, with thick framed glasses, she looked nothing like her name. She looked a stark contrast, cold, strict and mostly resentful.
"Ha! You and your threats. Straight to violence, I see." She chuckles. "Heard a lot about you, over the years." she picks up a magazine and opens a random page.
"Welcome to the fanclub." I walk over and sit down on the chair in front of her.
" Typical. They don't teach manners where you come from." She tosses the magazine in her hand onto the table. "Your bloodline leaves its dirty marks everywhere." She spits.
I smirk at her snide remark.
"Would you like some tea? Coffee perhaps?" She asks with a fake smile. If I didn't know better, I would actually believe it.
"Still obsessed with my bloodline, I see." Her face turns sour. Hit where it hurts. "I don't think we are close enough to chat over coffee. Let's not waste each other's time. Lilith. Should we get to the point?"
"Impatient as always, Reed. Why are you here? Shouldn't you be back in the city, playing businessman? I am sure you are not here for vacation." She huffs and walks over to the window.
"Vacation? Well, we will get to that later, but it looks like someone's been doing their homework." I lean back on my chair, " You have been keeping tabs on me, and here I thought you didn't like me." I look around the room, wooden furniture, big almirahs, a few flower pots here and there, nothing special.
"A dirty blood like you, dare you think I care what you do." She spits "Keep your distance, just like you did the past five years and I will make sure we don't have any problems anymore."
I smirk pretending to ignore her words, but the fact that she knows I am aware about Malvina since the past five years makes me think I kind of underestimated her.
" Do you spend your free time pursuing hobbies, knitting perhaps?" I pick the stone paperweight between my fingers, "Pardon me if I am wrong, it's been hard keeping track of your hobbies. Afterall you have a knack for disappearing off the face of earth for extended periods of time." My voice turns cold. Her bitter betrayal replays over and over in my mind.
"Losing her once wasn't enough for you I guess. Perhaps you need a repetition." She chuckles.
The next moment, I find my hand around her neck, with her body pressed against her stupid armchair.
"I dare you to repeat what you just said Lilith." I tighten my grip on her throat.
She starts chocking, but a wicked smile appears on her face, "You aren't meant to be together. Your presence is like a poison to her. Give up boy. Go back to your father and beg, that's all you can do." Her face turns red.
"Go back to your father and beg."
"Father please! Please help me this once."
"You don't deserve to be happy, my child."
"Shut up!" I tighten my grip, "You are really testing my patience, should I just snap with neck and get it over with?"
"Do it. But bear in mind what happened the last time something like that happened." she chokes but that infuriating smile still remains.
I shove her away, "Just shut up! Just shut up." I back away and lean against the table. My heart pounding in my chest as those ugly memories resurface in my mind.
"Accept it Adrian. I couldn't change anything and neither will you be able to." Her eyes turn cold, "Let her live this time."
I shake my head, "I am not you, Lilith. I will take back what is mine even if I have to destroy everything else."
"In that case, I wish you luck." She adjusts her glasses, then walks over to her table.
"You want to know what she's going through while you plan to disrupt her somewhat settled life?" She pulls out a file and throws it on the table. "See for yourself."
Skeptical, I pick up the file, 'Ashford, 15', I look at the name written on top. "If this is some dirty trick you are trying to play-"
"Check for yourself. I don't have time to play with you." She slumps down in her chair.
I turn over the pages, reading through the lines and a certain word catches my eyes 'Selective Amnesia.'
"You are stupid if you think I don't already know that." I throw the file back on the table, "This won't stop anything."
"Sure, you know what happened to her, but do you know what she went through?" She snaps.
"She was 15 at that time, I am sure you remember well." Lilith begins "After what happened that night, when her-" She sighs, "She suffered from a major trauma. She was unconscious for three months. Once she opened her eyes, she couldn't even recall her name. The brother that she loves to pieces, she forgot even exists."
She walks over to the window on the other side of the room, "It was hell for over a year. Regular nightmares, panic attacks, the constant need to hurt herself. As if even after not remembering anything, her mind cannot let go.'
"I thought maybe moving places would help, so we came here. But it was hopeless. Until one day, all of a sudden she called out Ronan's name." her lips tilt slightly "I was overjoyed, but her next sentence broke my heart. She asked me, 'Who are you?' My niece, whom I raised since the age of seven, asked me that."
She turns to me, "She only remember selected parts of her life. The good ones. Only her brother. The bad ones, her - family, you, she erased them all. She doesn't remember you Adrian."
Her words does more damage to me than I anticipated, "I know." Its true, I already gathered this much when she didn't look at me with hatred in her eyes. But the open reality is something I find difficult to adjust to.
"Its fine. We can start anew. We don't need her past to move forward." I say, a part of me mourns the moments we shared together, but a part still hopeful for a future we will spend together.
"And what happens if -when she remembers what you did to her? She will hate you." She looks at me with disdain.
"I will take care of that. No need to pretend that you care."
"Do you not get it? She's better off without you. Let her be. She doesn't even remember you, it's been a decade." Anger surges through my body. Better off without me?
I place the file I bought along, the same one Kian compiled for me. I throw it on top of her desk and lean back. She opens it and soon her face pales.
"How did you -"
"The correct question would be why did I. Well, Lilith the thing is, I am getting very impatient, ten years and all, you get it. Now I want what's mine." I stand up and walk to the window. "You have a month, Lilith. Better give it to me, while I am still being nice."
I feel Lilith walking up to me, the file clutched tightly in her hand.
"What is the meaning of this?" She asks, her voice a deadly whisper. She is an intimidating human, but it doesn't work on me. "Are you threatening me, Adrian?"
"Threatening? I am only taking what's mine." My fist tightens.
"Given our history, I have every intention of threatening you. But don't you think she should know who you are and what you have been hiding? After All, your yearly visits to a nameless town does seem suspicious." No one comes in my way to her. I don't want to do this, but knowing Lilith, she would never back down.
A frustrated sigh leaves her mouth. She walked away," I did what I thought was best for her. I care for her , she's my niece, damnit!" She spits. "You will break her once again."
"If the good things return, so will the horrible ones. Do you want her to go through all that pain again?" she tries to reason with me, but its fruitless.
She doesn't remember me, I know. If she did she would have hated me. She would rather put a bullet in me than let me near her. But that doesn't change the fact that I would rather take a bullet than be without her.
"Do you think telling her about me will be the best option?"
"If it means, you won't be in my way anymore, then yes."
"And do you think that it won't affect you?" She turns to look at me. "The moment one truth comes out, others will get uncovered one by one. She will connect the dots." She walks towards me, and looks at me straight in the eye, " She will hate you." She spits.
Anger mixes in my blood like poison. Hate me? I don't realise, my hand hits the vase near the window, it shatters on the ground, the sound echoes in the room. Andrei rushes over to me and pulls me away from her.
" She can hate me. If she does, I will change that." I walk towards the door, ready to walk out the room and this damn place.
My hand pauses on the knob, I turn around, " Lilith, about the vacation, I am taking a week off from city life. What do you call it? Detox. You better be a good host." I smirk, "I will inform you in advance, when I arrive, goodbye.", and walk out. The earlier anger is still pulsing through my veins.
I walk out the door and the first thing I see is my little rebel, eavesdropping on our conversation. She will hate you. She turns to run away, but I grab her hand and pin her against the wall.
Did she hear everything? I ask her, but she lies, I know she does, I can see it in her eyes.
I will take it. Your hate, your anger, what every you give me. Everything from you, I will accept it with open arms.
"Adrian.." my anger melts into an unknown emotion. My mind no longer echoes with Lilith's words but the way she says my name, a small whisper.
Her soft voice melts away my anger and I can't help, caressing her face. She looks up at me, her eyes filled with…fear. She fears me. I move away from her. I scared her. I let my anger take over me.
I walk away, turning around the corner of the corridor, and my eyes meet hers. An intense longing emerges in my heart as I watch her looking at me.
You can hate me, my love. Hate me all you want. Even if you do, I would change that. I promise.
"I want eyes on her." I tell Andrei as he opens the car door for me.
Lilith is cunning, I am sure she's already planning something. Let her, this time I am not that weak, little boy anymore. I won't let anything get in my way.
And about my Malvina, I already have my eyes on her since always.
"I will take care of that." Andrei confirms.
"Wait! Her voice stops me as I am about to enter the car. I turn around to see Malvina walking up to me at a fast pace. She stops in front of me and takes deep breaths.
She came for me?
"Give me your hand." She demands. When I don't make any move, she grabs my right hand and pulls it towards her.
"You are bleeding," she lowers her head and examines my hand, only then I realise that I am bleeding.
"Is it hurting too much? Come inside, let me put some medicine on it." she looks up at me suddenly, and for a moment, all I can think about is how much I want her. How much I craved for your presence all these year, my love. Only if I could tell you somehow , what you mean to me.
"What are you doing?" I ask, slightly surprised.
"Taking responsibility." Her answer makes me want to laugh. She's using my own words on me.
"You don't have to. It's not your fault." I slowly pull my hand away. She will hate you. I need to leave before I lose control again.
"What? I thought we were close after our last meet." She takes my hand in hers, again.
Stop doing this to me love. I will lose control over myself.
"I need to leave." I turn towards the car, but she tightens the holds on my hand .
"Wait, let me tie this around your wound then." she pulls out a handkerchief from her shorts pocket and diligently starts wrapping it around my hand.
I stare at her, her face, worried and in pain, like she's the one that got hurt. She will hate you. No, she can't. Not if she falls in love with me first.
"Here. Put something on it once you reach home or it will scar." She gives me a small smile.
"I thought you hated me." I ask her, the question hurting me more than the wound in my hand.
"Hate you?" she laughs, "Why would I hate you? Yeah you are a little annoying to be honest, but I don't hate you." She raises her brows, "Besides, It wont be appropriate, if I let you walk away with a wound like that."
"You are driving me crazy." I whisper to myself.
"Huh? What did you say?"
"I am about to do something, my love. You decide if its appropriate or not."
"What-" I let my control break. I swallow here next words with my mouth on hers. I love her voice, but right now I am craving something else desperately.
Her lips.