From the moment I made the decision to meet his parents, I'd let myself imagine what Adrian's room would look like. There were a few things that had come to my mind and I was curious to find out if my mental picture of his room matched with the reality.
His room wasn't what I imagined it to be like. Granted, it did look like a typical teenage boy's room with soccer trophies and The Beatles' posters. But at the same time, it looked more than just that. The first thing I noticed upon entering were the walls, which were blue in color, the kind of blue that immediately reminded me of Adrian's eyes.
The walls were covered with countless photo frames and some paintings. I could feel Adrian watching me carefully as I walked inside to take a closer look at the walls. It was as if he expected me to faint then and there. I didn't realize what the whole fuss was about until I finally had a look at the photos.
The entire wall was covered with photos of his childhood, or, to be precise, our childhood. There were a lot of photos of me with a black-haired and blue-eyed boy who looked too adorable to be true.
I looked closely at a photo where I was sitting on a swing while Adrian pushed it from behind. Both of us were laughing goofily as the wind took my short hair backwards making him lean backwards to avoid it hitting him in the face.
"This park used to be our spot. There wouldn't be a day when we didn't take turns playing that swing." Adrian explained, coming to stand behind me. He gestured to a similar photo hanging beside it. This one was also from the same swing but the difference was that we were both sitting there, facing each other. He was saying something to me, judging by the weird position of his hands and mouth while I looked like a lovesick fool, looking at him in wonder, as if absorbing every word he was saying. I cringed inwardly. Way to go, Eves. Who knew I had the hots for him even in such a young age.
Another one close to it was of us... kissing. Our pinky fingers were entwined together as we kissed, both of our faces red- whether from the heat or embarrassment, I wouldn't know. Both of us had our lips puckered towards each other while we pinky-promised with both of our hands. I refrained myself from face-palming. Here I was, hoping to find Adrian's embarrassing photos in order to tease him about them in the future. But instead, what do I find? Life was unfair.
I made a move to the next one, but not before giving a sharp glare to the devil who had a massive smirk on his face as he alternated his gaze between me and the photo. I made sure to swiftly ignore his overly amused presence.
There was another where he was in a black tuxedo while I wore a royal blue dress, my hair tied up with matching ribbons. My arm was looped through his and both of us had identical huge grins on our faces. I felt Adrian's hot breath against my ear as he came to stand so close to me that there was barely a hair's width between us.
His husky voice reached my ears, sending a shiver down my spine. "This was during my uncle's wedding. Your and my family were very close and since my uncle used to visit regularly, your family was invited as well. It was the day I first thought of you as an angel despite the blue dress. Just like Luke said, you looked too pretty then, like an angel."
I ignored his words, fighting the blush threatening to surface on my skin and turned away to the next frame. There was a huge photo of us in the middle of the others. This was the one I was well familiar with- the one I had with me as well, and the very one I'd found in his wallet that night. I looked wistfully at the both of us standing under that tree in our matching Mickey and Minnie t-shirts. If only I could remember those moments, if only for one more time.
I moved over to the next photo. This one was of a slightly older Adrian with another chubby boy with green eyes. Both of them had dirt all over their clothes and some even in their faces but their identical wide grins clearly said that it was the last thing they had on either of their minds. This photo was also taken in the same park but instead of the swing, the boys seemed to be playing soccer, judging by the ball on Adrian's hand. I looked at the other boy closely. He looked familiar but I couldn't pinpoint where exactly I'd seen him.
I gave a questioning glance to Adrian who had been smiling fondly at the same photo. He smirked at the question in my eyes and chuckled lightly. "Nate," he said and I had to work hard to control the bewildered expression from my face. I looked at the photo again. Now that he had mentioned it, I could see some similarities of the boy with the Nate I currently knew. But it was still a wonder that the chubby, adorable boy in the photo turned out to be such a charming flirt.
I suddenly had a devilish thought in my mind seeing Adrian gauging for my reaction. Pretending to be amazed, I exclaimed chirpily, "Oh, I can now see how Nate is as handsome as he is! They do say that morning shows the day. Nate would be an excellent example! He looks so adorable here as a little boy! Aww, no wonder he is so good looking now. It must be in his genes!"
One. I mentally started counting the seconds until the devil beside me exploded. Two. And just like I'd predicted, it happened sooner than I could reach three.
"What exactly are you trying to say?"
Three.
Biting my lip to prevent myself from laughing, I slowly turned his way and shrugged innocently. "Nothing much. I just commented on how cute Nate looked as a child. Just look at that smile. Don't you think so?" I added some extra effect by gesturing to the photo in front of us.
I heard him take a sharp intake of breath as he spared a brief look to the photo before fully turning to me, his eyes a shade darker than before.
Uh. Oh.
"Do you, by any chance mean that Nate is, or was better looking than me?" Adrian asked, pronouncing each word slowly, as if talking to a small child.
I knew I had to stop but I was enjoying it too much to care. I shrugged once again and pretended to bite my lips in contemplation. "Well, I wouldn't go as far as saying who among the two of you are better looking, but I would certainly say that he can easily fall in your step."
Adrian narrowed his eyes at me in response. Without speaking, he grabbed my hand and took me to the other side of the room where the wall was filled with his photos- from childhood to adulthood. There were photos of him winning a soccer match, a young, tall Adrian in his graduation robe, and a big one of him with his family. I felt my lips involuntarily curl up into a smile as I observed them all, still having a hard time in believing that this handsome species of a human was mine.
So lost in mentally swooning over his photos, I nearly startled when the arrogant devil version of those photos spoke in my ear. "So, have these photos changed your mind? Or are you still adamant on the same theory?"
I could literally feel and hear smugness dripping from his tone like pure honey, absolutely certain that I would admit what he wanted to hear. I almost would have, if my mind hadn't stopped the foolish mouth of mine in time. I bit my lip again. "Were they supposed to? I didn't realize. Because from where I stand, I still think that Nate is quite a ha-"
I didn't have the chance to complete my sentence as a startled gasp erupted from my lips when the devil with a bruised ego suddenly grabbed my waist, pulling me close to him- so close that his chocolate-mint scent started driving me crazy.
His eyes held mine captive under such an intensity that all my rational thoughts started fading away, drowning in those intense blue pools, taking me with them. I could faintly recall his lips moving, dragging my attention to those delectable pairs.
"You. Are. Mine. Do you understand? I don't care if you think Nate has better looks. I'm not letting you go. Not now, not ever."
"What if I don't want you?" I wanted my tone to come out as teasing but the hypnotic spell his lips cast over me made the words come out in a breathless note. Even then, I couldn't focus on anything other than those sinful pair of lips.
I didn't realize the effect of my words on him until I felt him freeze against me. His hold on me tightened a little before letting me go. My body, which had been heating by his intense gaze suddenly felt cold under the now cool, freezing orbs.
"Don't you?"
"Don't I what?" I feigned ignorance despite my heart thudding loudly under my ribcage.
"Don't you want me?" His voice was barely above a whisper, while his eyes held a vulnerability I'd never seen on Adrian Stone. I felt like a moron for uttering those words.
Something came over me with the way he was looking at me right now. With a newfound boldness only this arrogant fool could bring in me, I slowly walked towards him. Giving him my best seductive smile, I stopped only when we were a few centimeters apart. Ever so slowly, I wound my arms around him, mentally patting myself in the back for choosing these high heeled stilettos since he was only a few inches taller than me now.
I watched his eyes flicker to my lips uncertainly as they moved closer to his. By now, our lips were so close that even the barest of moves by either of us would make them touch. Adrian had stilled, his hands clenched at the sides as he observed my actions. I had no idea what I was doing but his heated look gave me the green to continue, filling me with confidence. I moved my lips impossibly closer to his and just when they were about to touch his, I changed their course, heading towards his right ear.
"What do you think?" I whispered against his ear and enjoyed the way his arms found their way back around my waist, holding me tight- not that there was anywhere else I'd rather be.
Soon, the devil caught on to what I was doing. His eyes lost all their icing and were replaced by heat so intense that it made my whole body burn. I could feel my entire face burning up, and the impossible oaf realized that too, for he let out a small, husky chuckle with amusement written all over his eyes.
He copied my actions- doing so with more finesse than I possessed- and leaned to my right ear. "I think," he started, flicking his tongue over the outer shell of my ear and sending an unwanted and unpredicted shiver throughout my body. My heart kept on thudding erratically against my ribcage as he completed his sentence, "that you want me- a lot". He finished by nipping my earlobe a little, making me yelp against him.
Want wasn't the only word I could've used but I had no time to ponder over the other nouns when the smug devil completed what I'd started. He took my lips in a fierce and possessive journey along with his. I matched his passion by running my fingers through his smooth hair, tugging them at times when it became too much. He mimicked me by running a hand under my locks while the other at my waist held me impossibly close to him. Our tongues met and danced with each other merrily while there was a volcano ready to erupt within me.
After what felt like an eternity, both of us came up for air. I was half relieved that this was over and my heart would finally return to normal but boy was I wrong! The devilish human had more ideas up his sleeve for he swiftly pressed me against the wall- right in the middle of it among his photos- and made his way to my neck, licking and biting softly until I couldn't stop the unfamiliar sound that came out of my lips involuntarily.
My brain was telling me to put a stop to this since he was making my mind lose control but my heart had the loudest voice here. It made me tilt my head to give him better access to go all vampire on me. I had to bite my lips until I could feel it getting numb in order to stop embarrassing myself further by repeating the noise I made.
After a long fight between my heart and my head, the sensible past of me finally started getting the upper hand and I forced my hands to let go of his lovely strands and push him away from me- just a little.
Adrian leaned his forehead against mine as he tried gaining control over his body just like I was doing. Both of us were breathing deeply, the same emotions mirrored in our eyes. For a brief moment, I wondered if he could decipher everything I was feeling from my eyes. I quickly looked down when I realized that he probably could. I wasn't yet ready to let him know about my deepest feelings. There was something holding me back- a nagging fear that my blissful life would come crashing down, mocking me for believing in an illusion.
I felt his hands cradle my face softly and looked up to find him looking at me with what could only be described as unconditional love. I had only recently become able to read that expression of his since it was what my eyes would hold everytime I looked at him. His breathless voice brought me out of my thoughts.
"I'm sorry, I got carried away. Was it too much?" He asked, looking at me carefully, as if expecting me to slap him for being too forward. I inwardly rolled my eyes at that absurd thought.
I shook my head with a small smile. "I liked it."
I watched warily as the devil's lips slowly curled up. I was ready to smack him in the head but stopped when I saw him grin widely instead of smirking like I'd expected him to. His eyes looked livelier as his grin got broader, as if knowing exactly what was on my mind. I couldn't help but look at him in absolute admiration wondering for the thousandth time how this incredible man could love me.
It didn't take long for smugness to enter his eyes as he ran his eyes over what I assumed to be my swollen lips and disheveled hair. His lips quirked up in the left side and he opened his mouth but I effectively put a hand in front of it, indicating him to stop right there.
"Not a word, Stone. Unless you want to ensure that what just happened would not be repeated ever." His mouth closed shut in an instant at my words. I would've laughed at his horrified expression if only I hadn't seen my reflection in one of the photo frames. It was now my turn to be horrified instead.
My once perfect hair now resembled a nest made by a bird with a severe attention deficit issue. One half of my hair wasn't as disturbed apart from the part that was in contact with the wall when he'd pressed me to it. But the other half- the half in contact with the devil's fingers had clearly seen better days. It looked like it had survived two world wars and a zombie apocalypse. Then there were my lips. My oh-so-delicious lips, as Adrian liked to call them, now looked as delicious as a pair of rotten cherries by their swollen appearance with smudged lipstick. Drat! I should've used the smudge-proof ones.
I looked back at Adrian and smothered a laugh when I saw the state of his lips. I didn't know how I failed to notice this earlier. His lips were swollen as mine but the bits of lipstick he had all over his lips, corners of his mouth and cheeks made him looked like an abused clown.
He noticed my amused look and walked to the mirror by his bed. Just one look at the mirror had him cursing fluently as he tried wiping the lipstick off his face with a handkerchief he took out from pocket. Only when he was done getting rid of the evidence of our kiss did he hand over his handkerchief to me. I rolled my eyes at his vain self as I took the handkerchief he offered.
I finally finished arranging my hair into something passable and getting rid of the stupid lipstick. Once I was done, I turned away and moved to the other side of the room if only to create a distance between us. I already had a hard time thinking coherently in his presence as it was. I needed to preserve what little sanity I had left in me when it came to being around the presence of this witchy devil.
I moved to the opposite wall and saw that it consisted of a number of paintings like I'd seen earlier when I stepped into the room. I took a closer look to notice that most of them were of little Adrian. Almost all the paintings showed him eating. There was one where - he had a lollipop in his mouth, one where he had his mouth full of an entire slice of pizza- how he had even managed to get the entire thing in his mouth in the first place was beyond me- while one of them showed him crying as an ice cream fell near his feet. All of the paintings looked realistic, but at the same they also looked like there was something missing in them- as if they were made by an immature.
It was then that my heart started beating furiously once again but for a different reason this time. I couldn't explain it but these paintings made me feel something. I felt like I'd seen them all before- not just the painting but the moments captured in them as well. I felt a faint throbbing beginning to form in my head and looked back to Adrian who was watching me silently with the same look as before- as if waiting for me to faint in front of him.
He must've caught on that something was distressing me, because he frowned a little, coming to stand close by me. I tried to alleviate his worries by giving him a teasing smile. "My, my, Stone! I'd thought your head had gotten bigger later after you became the CEO. But this clearly shows that you have been full of yourself from long before."
Instead of replying with a witty and an equally smug reply, Adrian kept on looking at me with an undecipherable emotions in his eyes. "Strange as it may sound, I didn't keep them because they have my portraits." He admitted softly, his eyes still unreadable.
I raised my eyebrows in reply. "Really? That is quite strange, indeed. Why, pray tell, do you still keep them then?" I kept my tone light despite the throbbing in my head getting stronger by the moment.
It took a little longer for him to respond. "Because the person who painted them was- is- special to me. They were one of the only things that would make me feel like she was there with me."
The way he talked of her, whoever she was, it didn't help the headache that was building in me. It wasn't fair, really, that I was only new to the concept of jealousy and yet I could feel the emotion so fiercely. The mere thought of Adrian talking about someone else with such tenderness felt like a thousand needles pricking my heart simultaneously. I belatedly realized what Adrian must have felt when I talked about Nate earlier. But then again, I had only been joking then while on the other hand, one look on his face said that joke was the last thing on Adrian's mind.
No. Evelyn White will not expose herself to jealous fits. I gave myself a mental pep talk and returned my eyes at him. I was beginning to grow irate by his constant wary gaze and my head wasn't getting any lighter. Putting the years of training to control my emotions into use, I faced him with an indifferent mask. "She?"
His only respond was a slow nod. The imbecile!
Just one more sentence, Evelyn. You can do this without succumbing to the sinful temptation of hunting down this woman and ripping all the hair out of her skull. I chanted it in my head over and over for three times like a mantra and took a few deep breaths to calm myself despite the raging storm creating a havoc in me.
"Do I know who she is?" I didn't mean the bitterness that came out of my tongue at the word she.
Adrian looked to be in a conflict within himself for a few minutes. As if finally coming to a decision, he slowly nodded again, all the while never removing his eyes from me. "Yes, you do know her. Very well, as a matter of fact."
I thought about what he said and suddenly gasped in horror as realization dawned on me. "It's your mother, isn't it? Lord! Why couldn't I think of it sooner?!" I exclaimed, horrified that the woman I'd imagined to do vile things to, turned out to be his mother. This was one of the reasons I'd refrained from entangling myself with the matters of heart before- not that anyone had ever enticed me to do so as the devil had.
"What the hell, Eve?!" Adrian's sudden choke shook me out of my self-deprecation and I turned to find him giving me a pained smile. "Heavens, no! I'm not talking about my mom!" He then took a deep breath before giving me a pointed look.
"It was you. You painted all these."
I looked at him for a few minutes, waiting for him to laugh and tell me he was joking. When his smirk did not come, I felt cold seeping down my spine. I walked closer to the paintings and observed them once again, trying to figure out if he was indeed speaking the truth.
Then there it was again. The little fragments and flashes in my mind, playing over like a broken down CD with too many scratches in it. I saw a faint image of a small figure painting in a park where another figure was making weird poses at her with his mouth half full with pizza. But just like it came, it was gone before I could make sense of what I saw.
I suddenly felt my head getting heavier the pain became so intense that it was unbearable. I rubbed my temple with my fingers, hoping it would provide some relief but it was no of use. I felt as if there were millions of little elves working inside my head, the constant throbbing only getting worse by the second.
Just as I was about to let go of my control and give in to pain, I felt a warm body beside me. My brain barely registered Adrian's soft voice over the loudness inside my head.
"Shit! I shouldn't have told you yet. It was too soon. I'm so sorry, love. I'm a fool! Here, come sit here, Eve. You'll be okay, I'm here." He gently lifted me up and started walking somewhere. I soon felt myself being settled on a soft surface. His voice never once stopped to whisper soothing words to me, although I could scarcely remember anything he said amidst the pain. A pair of hands softly caressed my head, pressing and releasing alternatively. While the pain didn't ebb away completely, the action did decrease the intensity somehow.
"Eve, love, can you hear me?" I felt him hovering above me and nodded slowly. "I think you need to see the doctor now. Do you have your personal doctor or shall I call mine? Oh, I'll just call Brandon. He'll be able to tell what's wrong with you."
With great difficulty, I willed my eyes to open and had to blink a few times to get rid of the black spots in from of them. I took in Adrian's worried expression and shook my head slowly, trying not to show the pain it caused. "No, Adrian, I don't need to see a doctor. It's not the first time I've had a headache and I know from experience it will be alright in a few minutes." What I said was half true, anyway. I'd been having such sudden flashes these past few months which would always bring episodes of throbbing in my head. The only issue was none of the past episodes had been this long, nor this intense. But he didn't need to know that.
Adrian gave me a disapproving look and opened his mouth, no doubt to argue but I stopped him. "Adrian, please. Just let me rest a little and the pain will be all gone. I'm already feeling better. If it doesn't go away by then, I'll see the doctor, I promise."
He still didn't look convinced but in the end simply sighed and nodded. Giving him a small smile, I closed my eyes, afraid that he'd find out from my eyes that the pain wasn't getting better like I'd claimed.
A few minutes passed in silence and I was losing myself into a peaceful slumber when I felt Adrian move away from me. I knew it was irrational but a part of me began missing his presence around me. But I soon realized that my fear was pointless when I felt my shoes being removed and soon, a cover was laid over my body. A pair of lips slowly caressed my eyes, cheeks and finally my forehead. Adrian's soft whisper flowed through my head, bring out a feeling of déjà vu in me.
"Feel better soon, love."
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