CHAPTER 03

I left the mall as fast as I could.

I just didn’t want to be in that same building.

But the tears would not stop.

I did not stop.

I called for a taxi and quickly entered it.

“Take me to Lucia’s Cafe.”

The driver saw my face and asked, “Is everything alright?”

“Just go,” I said.

He handed me a couple of tissue papers. I took them in a rush and just put them on my eyes.

The person I had planned to spend my life together with… turned out to be a player. How could I not see him for who he is?

I felt stupid and angry at myself for letting Ryan into my life.

A few minutes later.

I got to the cafe.

Lucia took one look at my swollen eyes and did not say anything. She just wrapped me in one of her arms.

“Whatever has happened,” she said, whispering, “it’s going to be okay.”

I tried to hide my pain because I didn’t want to disturb Lucia’s work, but the cafe table replayed Ryan’s smile.

Every time I blinked, his smile and his act of feeding some other woman a chocolate and the same line he fed to me many times kept playing before me.

“I don’t think I can work today,” I told her, hands over my face.

She made me sit behind the counter with her and gave me tissue paper.

The bell above the door jingled violently.

“Elena!”

I flinched so hard the tissue paper slipped from my hand.

Ryan stormed into the café, his eyes frantic like a man hunting for something he lost by mistake. He bumped into someone but didn’t even bother apologizing to them.

Lucia stepped forward immediately. “Ryan, leave her alone.”

He stepped past her and headed straight toward me.

“Elena, just listen to me once, and you’ll understand everything.”

“I’ve heard and seen enough,” my voice cracked. Useless thing. Why couldn’t I sound strong for once?

He grabbed my wrist.

My eyes widened at how much pressure he was putting on me.

Lucia intervened. “Don’t you dare touch her.”

“Stay out of it, Lucia!” he snapped, shaking her off. “This is between me and her.”

His voice frightened me more than anything.

Ryan, raising his voice at Lucia? He, who normally joked his way through every problem?

He tightened the grip of my wrist. “Elena, stop making a scene. Let’s just go outside and talk!”

“I’m making a scene?”  I frowned. “Let go—Ryan, you’re hurting me—”

His grip tightened as if he didn’t hear me. Or didn’t care.

My breath hitched.

I tugged my wrist, but it didn’t work. I wasn’t sure if I was weak, or if he was strong.

Lucia tried to shove him, but he didn’t budge.

As Ryan’s fingers dug deeper, a shadow fell over Ryan’s shoulder.

A deep voice rumbled behind him. “Sir. Release her.”

Ryan glanced back, annoyed. “Who the hell—”

A hand—broad, gloved, eerily calm—gripped Ryan’s wrist and peeled his fingers off me one by one, with the ease of someone unwrapping a candy wrapper.

Ryan yelped. “Ow! H-HEY! Who are you?!”

The stone-faced man in the black suit stepped forward. Tall. Heavy. Like a warning made of muscle. 

“You were asked to release her,” he said, his aura sharp enough to cut through Ryan’s confidence in half. “You didn’t comply.”

“W-What business is this of yours?!” Ryan half-raised his voice. “She’s my girlfriend!”

I gritted my teeth and blurted, “Not anymore.”

Ryan’s face twisted. “Elena, you misunderstood what you saw at the mall. She’s—”

“You will leave now,” the tall man said, voice steady as steel, “and will not return.”

Ryan looked ready to argue, but then the bodyguard started folding his sleeves.

Ryan stumbled back. “Elena… please… just give me a chance to explain—”

“Out,” Lucia pointed at the door.

Ryan backed toward the entrance, anger, frustration and desperation wrestling across his face. “This isn’t over… Elena,” he glanced back at me and said, “I’m not giving up on you! Not like this!”

The door slammed behind him.

Silence spread across the café, trembling and raw.

Lucia apologized to the customers who seemed rather intrigued by what had taken place.

The stone-faced man lowered his head slightly so his eyes met mine. His gaze softened a tad bit.

“Miss Elena,” he said. “My employer is waiting.”

I stiffened. “What? Who?”

“He thought it would be best not to approach you inside,” he spoke in a low voice. “Please follow me.”

“I—I don’t even know who your employer is.”

“You do, Miss Elena.”

I paused for a second.

“In fact, you know him very well.”

My heart skipped.

Who could it be?

Lucia squeezed my shoulder. “You don’t have to go if you’re scared. I’ll go.”

I shook my head softly. “I’m not scared.”

That was a lie.

I felt anxious.

But something pulled me forward anyway.

The stone-faced bodyguard led me through the back door into the alley behind the café.

The air was cool, damp; the city noise muted. My steps felt too loud, too fragile on the pavement.

Then I saw him.

A tall man in a charcoal suit leaned against a sleek black car parked under the shade of the alley.

His hands were in his pockets, head lowered slightly, as if lost in thought.

My heart started beating faster, but my feet didn’t move.

He lifted his gaze, saw me and approached me.

His blues eyes met mine—dark, steady, impossibly familiar.

“Elena,” he said softly.

My breath caught.

“Y-You… Are you… Adrian…?”

He smiled with his lips closed.

My childhood friend.

One of my best buddies in school.

The boy I once rejected.

The short, fat boy I coldly turned down and cut ties with long back now came to me as a tall, hauntingly handsome man, but his eyes were just the same. Steady and patient.

“W-Why are you here?” I asked hesitantly, despite knowing deep in my heart what he really wanted.

But that was long ago.

Would he still have feelings for me? After I utterly broke his heart?

Or did he come here for revenge? To mock me for what a failure I’ve become?

As crazy thoughts ate away my peace, Adrian said, “Give me a chance.”