CHAPTER 4

They had a one-night stand. They had many one night stands in one night.

Adriana tossed in the soft mattress, wrapping herself up more into the silk black, sheets. Original. She flapped her arms on the opposite side of the bed, searching for the chiseled body of her one-night stand. Her palm met with nothing. Adriana rose slowly and looked over to the opposite side. Niklaus had left. Of course, he did. She sighed, palming her forehead, she could feel the thumping of her heart through there. She has a bad headache, probably from all the drinking she did last night.

Adriana looked around, slowly searching for her clothes with her eyes. Niklaus t-shirt to be precise. She spotted it a few feet away from the bed. She walked over, she was so sore that it hurt when she bent down.

"Ooh ow!"

She reached for the T-shirt anyway. She sighed again. Celine. She suddenly remembered. Her phone. She remembered again. She quickly headed towards the door, pulled it open, and turned to take a quick but detailed glance at Niklaus' room. She took particular notice of the wolf artifacts one last time, then she walked out shutting the door. She hoped silently that she wouldn't get lost. She tried recalling the way to the elevator she had come in with Niklaus earlier.

After so many wrong turns she finally found it. She got in, pressed the button going to the first floor, and sighed deeply as the elevator started going down. She leaned her back against the glass shield in the elevator gently. There was a soft ding, then the elevator slid open. Adriana was once again facing the magnificent, well-furnished living room.

Only this time there were a few changes. There were a handful of people, running different errands around the house. You could tell from their hair nets to their cobalt blue aprons, that they were the maids Niklaus had mentioned earlier. Shit.

"Hi, good morning.” She started, suddenly taken over by the urge to disappear into the ground. “Do you know where Niklaus is?" Adriana directed softly to one of the maids, but she walked past her. Rude.

"Miss Adriana?" An older-looking woman, clad also, in one of those cobalt blue aprons, called out. Adriana walked in her direction. She was behind the kitchen counter, preparing a dish.

"Hi, yes I'm Adriana."

"Mr. Wolfe is out. He instructed that you be taken home by one of the drivers. When you're ready. " She said in a thick Accent Adriana couldn’t name. Mr. Wolfe. Niklaus Wolfe, that would explain all the wolf artifacts.

" I'm ready. I would like to leave now." Adriana said hastily. Not wanting to waste any more time. She had to get through to Celine and Piper. They would both be so worried.

"Do you by any chance know where my phone is?" Adriana asked, hoping she would get a positive response. The maid reached for a drawer behind the kitchen counter. She took something out and closed the drawer. She handed Adriana's phone over to her.

" Thank you. Is it charged?" Adriana asked the woman who had now gone back to her cooking, ignoring Adriana's question completely. Adriana tried turning it on and it came on. As she turned on her phone, there was a lot of buzzing, and messages popping up. She also took out a second to check the time. 11:28 am.

"Shit." She swore. How long had she slept? She quickly dashed forward, heading for the front door. She stood outside on the porch of the mansion. It was so bright. A man who looked like he was in his early thirties, waved her over. He looked like a chauffeur, he stood in front of a white audi, indicating that he is the driver who would be taking her home. Adriana noticed all the cars— save for a few— were white. Niklaus liked his cars white.

She walked carefully to where he stood. She acknowledged him and he replied with a stiff nod of the head. Adriana chuckled weirdly.

“Very bodyguard-like.” She mumbled.

He walked over to the driver's seat, and got in, getting the car ready. Adriana took a glance at her outfit before entering the car. She was still dressed in Niklaus't-shirt. She didn't care. She did care. But she liked the T-shirt, it smelled nice. She kept it.

The white Audi arrived at the front of Piper's apartment in no time. She sighed heavily and then got out. She knew she was in for 'the' talk. This was all Celine's fault. She thanked the driver as he drove off. She stood, facing the apartment complex and sighed again, before walking towards the lobby. She entered the code Piper gave her into the intercom successfully, and entered the apartment. She could use the code during the day when Piper wasn’t home to let her in. She walked quickly but quietly to her room. Adriana reached the entrance of her room when she heard footsteps coming down the stairs, she panicked and immediately reached for the doorknob, shutting the door behind her. She stood still for a few seconds to confirm if she was hearing things. Piper was not supposed to be home.

" Adriana I am a woman in her 30s. I have seven year old twin boys. I have lived in this house longer than you have. " Piper called out calmly. Adriana wondered why Piper was telling her all these.

" You think I won't hear when someone sneaks in?" She says again, sounding upset.

" Can we talk about this later? Please?" Adriana asked.

" Adriana get the fuck out of there before I get you the fuck out of here. And by here I mean my house." Piper said angrily. Adriana knew better than to go against that tone. She walked quietly to the door and came out of the room.

"Hi." She said nervously.

"Adriana, why are you coming in so late? Do you have any idea how childish you're being? You missed your shift at the diner you're supposed to be working at to pay half the rent. You need to get over yourself and do something with your life. You're still so young Adriana. You're not a dropout. The biggest thing you've ever done with your business degree is work at Storky's. You need to grow the fuck up okay? " Piper said angrily.

" I lost track of time, Piper. No need to make such a big deal." Adriana said, her voice low. She was so tired, she needed a bath.

"Not a big deal? You're not dressed the way you left yesterday Adriana.” Piper pointed out as she gestured towards the oversized black t-shirt Adriana had on. “You obviously had sex with a stranger.” Adriana scoffed.

" What makes you think he was a stranger? "

" Did you know him before last night? Did you? Look, Addie, I'm your big sister, I should take care of you to a certain point. You're 28. You're not married, you don’t even have a boyfriend, no kids, you don't have a good paying job, no ambitions, no goals. Nothing. You have nothing, Adriana." Piper said calmly like she hadn't just basically told her– no, reminded her how useless she was.

" Oh my God, fuck you, Piper. Seriously, that's low, even for you." Adriana said angrily as she walked into her room, slamming the door. She was so angry. She was tired of Piper giving her shit. She sat on her bed and immediately missed the soft sheets of Niklaus' bed. She picked up her phone to call Celine. Celine picked up the call on the first ring.

" Addieee. Omg, I thought you died or something." Celine said quickly.

" Yeah Celine, very fair for you to think that. You left me." Adriana said laying down on her bed.

" I knew you would eventually go home with a guy. So did you?"

"I had to walk for a while, get bruises under my feet, and my heel snapped off. But yeah I did." Adriana said, smiling a little as she remembered Niklaus.

" Oh my! You did? Tell me everything." Celine replied, now screaming through the phone. Adriana and Celine talked on the phone like teenagers for a long time. It was true that Adriana didn't want to grow up, Piper has always had to be the older sister who had to grow up faster than anyone should.