thirty-one

Staying for a while in the hug Aliyah slowly moves out from the hug and looks around avoiding his deep black eyes, "I was quite hungry, do you have food here?" she asks as she moves to the kitchen leaving Adam behind.

"I'll order some" Adam said and takes out his phone "What do you want?"

Aliyah eyed him "You will order? Are you now an order maniac? I thought you knew how to cook?"

"I knew how to cook" he declared looking at Aliyah's eyes lit with anticipation "For myself" he added

She tilted her head "What?" she creases her eyebrows

He shrugs "My friends told me not to cook for others and I don't like to bother myself cooking" he admitted "Let's just order"

"Is your cooking that bad?" she chuckles "Alright. Let's just order" she declares as she sat on the kitchen stool.

Adam took the stool across her and shows his phone "You pick. It's a bother" he said and gave his phone to Aliyah

Aliyah laughs as she gets the phone in Adam's hand "Are you sure you just don't want to be bothered or you just don't want to take long on ordering?"

"Will you order, or you can just starve yourself" Adam warns her trying to get his phone back, but Aliyah immediately dodges his hands.

"Alright I'll order" she chuckles as she scrolls, she glances at Adam "You're not a fan of spicy right?" she asks

Adam just nod at her, "You can order it if your craving for a spicy food"

"No. Tapos mag-iiba ka pa ng order? Di ko din naman kayang ubusin" she looks at Adam "I'll just order non-spicy food" she declares as get back her attention to the phone.

"Just order what you crave for I am not a fan of spicy food, but it doesn't mean that I can't eat it," he said.

"Really?" her eyes sparkle as she looks for confirmation in Adam's face, when Adam nods at her, her smiles get bigger as she looks at the phone "Order placed!" she announced as she shows Adam the spicy food she ordered.

"Good job" he acknowledges her.

Aliyah felt somewhat awkward, they don't have anything to say, she looks at the phone "It will take 30 minutes" she mumbles 'What am I going to do with the thirty minutes? Should I go to the room? Or should I stay here?' she ponders as she looks at the phone.

Adam looked at the petite woman in front of him who is lost in her thought, he cleared his throat "Ali"

Aliyah trains of thought were cut by Adam's call "What?" she lifted her gaze to his eyes

"About a while ago" he started looking into her eyes "You kept on mentioning Gio's name"

Gio's name being mentioned in front of her makes her on guard, her eyes move aimlessly around and her hands holding Adam's phone on the table starts to tremble a bit. She gulps as she tries to control her breathing "Can we not mention him?" she mumbles

Adam holds her hands which placed in the table "We need to" he said and tries to caress her hands "I feel like you misunderstand something"

Aliyah looked into his eyes, his deep black and her golden-brown eyes met "Something? I misunderstand?" she questioned.

"You kept telling me that Gio will kill you, why?"

Aliyah blinked her eyes a few times "Are you really asking me that?" she gasped "Did you already forget? He tries to kill me but, in the end," she stopped her words as she bows her head down "Elyse was the one who died. It was all my fault." she whispers.

Adam sighed "It was not your fault, alright?" he said as he caresses her hands softly "You misunderstand something. Gio was not the one who killed my sister" he clears

Widening her eyes, she looks at Adam "What are you saying?" her eyes were in confusion. "Are you just trying to comfort me? Hindi magandang paraan yan Adam" she doubts

Adam slowly shakes his head "Hindi ako nagbibiro Aliyah, he was not the one who hit you and Elyse" he reassures

"But--"her lips trembled as she narrows her eyes "I saw his car! It was his car!" she claimed

"But you didn't saw the person who is driving it, right?"

"But—" she stops as she racks her brain "But he said sorry for me!" she alleged and look at him "And I saw him being caught by the police! Right in front of my eyes!"

"And after that, you left right?" he asked "You left. You left the country without any notice" he added using a low soft voice. "You didn't contact anyone for a long time Ali, you hide. You didn't seek the truth it was your speculations and you tortured yourself alone."

Her hands flinched, he was right she left right away, thinking that she can run away to the pain she felt before. The fact that her ex-boyfriend the one she loved and fought against her parents tries to kill her and killed her only friend. She looked at the man in front of her, she knew Adam tried to contact her, even go to her in America but she always pushes him away, he stayed for a month in America trying to contact her but she was not ready to face him at all especially when she is the reason why his beloved sister died. "Sorry" that's the only thing she can say seeing his gloomy face in front of her.

Seeing her guilty face, biting her lip and looking down he held her hands "It's alright" he said and rub her hands.

"But" Aliyah looks at him, "But who is the culprit?"

Adam sighed "It was his father"

She gulps "Bakit? What did I do? What did we do for him to that? Hindi ako maniniwala na hindi nya sinasadya it is basically targeting us, especially me!" she exclaimed

"Calm down, Ali" he shushes her "It was not right for me to disclose that topic," he said

"And who will disclose it to me if not you? Should I ask the police officers, ask for the documents regarding the case?"

Adam shakes his head "Gio" he declares "He should disclose it to you"

Her eyes widen "Gio? No."

He smiles at her "If you're not ready yet don't push yourself"

"Why can't you just tell it to me?" she eyed him

"Hindi ako dapat ang nagsasabi niyan sayo, I don't know the whole story sya lang makakasagot sa mga tanong mo" he said and smiled at her before getting up because the food they ordered has arrived. "Of course, you'll meet him with me by your side" he pats her head before he goes to the door leaving Aliyah in dazed.

She fidgets in her sleep when sunlight passes through her eyelids, slowly opening her eyes she moves her sight around the bright room with a touch of pink and yellow. "Right I'm on Adam's penthouse" she mumbles as she sat up on the bed. "This room reminds me of Elyse" she smiles 'he really loves his sister' she thought, 'well I loved her too'

Adam once again looks at his watch it's already past nine in the morning, he looks at the bedroom where Aliyah's at, he sighed as he stood up as he picked up the call of his secretary, "I'll be on my way shut that filthy mouth of the directors making it a big deal of me being late" he orders

Christian, his secretary breathe halted when he heard his orders, those directors were hard to handle but not as hard as Adam when things did not go in his way, he just sighed "Noted Mr. Diaz" he answered and Adam just hangs up.

Aliyah slowly opened the door making sure that it was already late in the morning, 'He already leave right?' she questioned herself in her mind at lumabas na ng kwarto.

Adam was walking towards her room when Aliyah walked out her bedroom, "You're up" he commented

She was stood up in her place as she looks at Adam and gives him an awkward smile, the best awkward smile she could give, "Uhh. Good morning" she greeted and waves at him

Adam just chuckles at her "I ordered you a breakfast it should be here in any minute, the dishes in the table were already cold wait for the new one" he ordered and pat her head "You can stay here if you want and call me if you are leaving" he said and walks toward the door "Take care" he said before leaving Aliyah.

Aliyah was stunned for a minute but eventually recovers her sanity "As if mag-iistay ako dito" she mumbles as she walks toward the table that was full of food "Tangina talaga next time maturuan nga kung paano guamamit ng microwave ang lalaking yon" she said as she scanned the food in the table "Nagsasayang eh" she commented