Lost Love

3: Paparazzi

Adele's POV:

After the boys left, Li and I decided to go to the mall to get brunch and some booze for later. Yes, I'm getting drunk with my daughter, judge me all you want. As we walked into the mall, we decided to go to our favorite coffee shop, mostly because it was quite small and cozy, but also not too much in the public eye, which was great for me. As we sat down at one of the tables inside the cafe, I ordered a cafe latte, and Lia ordered a cold matcha.

"So, what are your plans for these two months in LA?" I asked her, crossing my left leg over my right, trying to get comfy.

"Well," she entwined her fingers together and rested them on the table, taking a deep breath in and letting out a sigh. "I really want to finish up the album. It's been coming along for a year now, and all we need to do is dust off the rough edges and make everything crisp. I'm not saying I want it to be perfect or anything; I want it to be perfectly imperfect, and I want to make sure that all people can relate to my album." She explained. I stared at her as she spoke so eloquently about her love for the album. I can sense she is very excited about it.

I see so much of my younger self in her soul.

"You know, you remind me a lot of myself when I was your age," I said, taking a sip of my coffee that has just arrived.

"How so?" Lia quirked up an eyebrow in amusement, also setting down her icy green drink.

"Well, your passion for the music that you are making for this album reminds me of when I made my album, '19'. I was obsessed with finishing the album, wanting to get it over and done with. But see, this is one thing we don't have in common at your age. I didn't care about it being crisp; I didn't care about the rough edges. I just wanted to get past that stage of my life because I was heartbroken. I wanted people to hear my side of the heartbreak. But Li, what you're doing absolutely amazes me. You've turned your pain, your trauma, into something that will make people heal and relate to. I can only relate to that type of music with my album '30' and maybe a little '21' and '25', but not in a million years '19'. It shows that you as a person and your music have matured much quicker than I did." I finished with a proud smile, grabbing a hold of her hand and staring into her eyes.

"Wow Mum, I didn't know that you thought of me so highly. I really appreciate what you just said. It gives me a lot of reassurance that you think my music is that powerful." She said smiling back at me and squeezing my hand tightly.

As I was about to open my mouth to continue our conversation, I heard a snap coming from outside. My eyes darted outside, looking for the source, and Lia immediately realised that I was tensed up. Her eyes traveled to where my eyes are looking, and her eyebrows scrunched up in confusion.

"Is everything okay? What are you looking at?" She asked in a concerned tone, squeezing my hand again, trying to catch my attention, but my eyes were still darted towards the window.

I narrow my eyes as I saw something shuffling around in the bush. Suddenly my expression changes from frowning to clenching my jaw in anger.

Just as I suspected. The paparazzi were in the bush, taking pictures of me, and most importantly, of my daughter. Haven't they learned their lesson with Angelo? But I guess they didn't know that Lia was my child.

Lia realised that my tensed expression changed into a more angry one. She looked outside, trying to figure out what upset me. She mimicked my actions from earlier, narrowing her eyes until she found the source. I just looked at her, waiting for her to see the camera in the bush, and just as she saw the camera and a snap being heard, her jaw clenched just like mine did. I smiled softly, thinking how much she truly is like me.

"Come on, we have to go," I said snapping out of my thoughts and helping her stand up.

"Adele, they can't see us going home together," Lia whispered close to me. I was taken back when she said my name, and just before I was about to comment on it, she raised both of her eyebrows up, indicating to go along with it. I quickly caught onto her plan. She doesn't want the paparazzi hearing her calling me Mum, which was quite clever, even though she whispered it to me so quietly that I'm pretty sure they didn't hear a single word.

We quickly walked to the car, getting in as soon as possible. I shut the door and sped out of the mall onto the highway. I knew the paparazzi were gone, but I was still mad and frustrated that they didn't respect my privacy.

'One of the sacrifices of being famous, I guess.' I rolled my eyes at the thought.

Lia realised that I was rolling my eyes and even though she probably knew the reason why, she said, "You know, your eyes will get stuck in the back of your brain if you continue rolling them like that." She chuckled. I once again just rolled my eyes, but more dramatically, which resulted in Lia cackling at me. "Don't say I didn't warn you."

"Touch wood." I responded with lightning speed, touching the door that was mostly made of wood that has a smooth layer of wax over it.

"Lucky bugger." She mumbled, looking straight ahead.

I cackled at her annoyance.

"Come on, let's go get drunk," Lia said.

"Pissed." I corrected her with a smirk.