Chapter 61- Now or never

There was a little space between them, like literally two- three inches. Jennifer noticed a wound on his lower lip. She took another fresh cotton ball, dipped it on antiseptic solution and bent near his lips to clean it. Adrian hissed again due to the stinging sensation. Jennifer held his right palm with her left hand and started drawing circles with her thumb.

Adrian exhaled deeply in relief. Then Jennifer shifted her attention to his right hand that was injured completely. She slowly cleaned it and tied a gauge bandage around it to secure the cotton around the wound. Then she closed the box and turned around. "Why are you doing this? You know? The sudden coldness." Jennifer had been dying to ask him this question.

She made and eye contact with him and stared into his eyes deeply. His eye held pain, regret, but there was some care as well. Adrian was rendered answerless to this question. How could he explain everything to her? How could he show her his scars, his true face? How could he keep her safe if he kept her with him?

"You are not supposed to meet me." He tried changing the subject. "I don't care. As long as you need me, I'll be there." Jennifer's answer was sharp and firm. "I will need you always." Adrian thought to himself. "Why were you fighting with him?" Jennifer asked again. "Why does she bring back the same topic I can't answer. I'm helpless and bound. I'm useless and forced." Adrian thought to himself.

That was when Jennifer's father entered the room. Adrian's protective side took over. He stood in front of Jennifer in an instant. Jennifer also got you from her seat and looked at her father, her eyes not being able to rise and look into his. "Why are you here?" Jennifer's father spoke. "He-" Jennifer tried to speak.

"I'm not talking to you." The answer was straight forward. "My friend told me to come along." Adrian told him. "And who might that friend of yours be?" Jennifer's father asked. "Joseph Strokes." Adrian was saying the half truth. Jennifer's father had a minute of deep thinking. "Okay Jennifer. We are getting you engaged to Joseph Strokes." He said and left the room, knowing that he won. Today, he won.

"You're getting engaged?" Adrian was beyond shocked. No. No. No. No. This was a bad dream. It had to be! "Yes." Jennifer said the truth. There was no point hiding it. "It is not exactly a marriage. Just promises built on words that are never going to be meant, hopefully."

"What do you mean by hopefully?" Adrian was almost stuttering. "Nothing. Not that it matters to you. You rejected me. Stay happy." Jennifer couldn't take it anymore, it was painful. She stormed out of the room, leaving Adrian alone to curse at himself, his stupid plan and stupid luck. Adrian had a full meltdown inside the room.

"It matters to me. It matters to me more than you know. More than my life." He cried to himself, throwing stuff here and there. Smashing tables with his injured hand. The wound cut open again, blood started flowing out but it didn't matter to him. The only thing that mattered was taken away from him because he was stupid and useless. He wanted to respect his friend, give him the chance to kill his ex, when he should have done it himself when he had the chance. But no more.

Now he was going to pay. Jennifer ran outside the room, with tears in her eyes. She held her father's hand bravely and said, "I'm not getting engaged to Joseph Strokes. Not now. Not in the future. Never." She spoke boldly. "That isn't your choice to make." Her father shrugged her off. "Then I'm not coming back home. I'm leaving." These words made Jennifer's father stop dead on his track. He turned around and gave her a grave look, "Think before you speak." His voice turned deep. "Thought well enough. Either you go back and tell him that I'm not getting engaged or find a new heir to your empire." Jennifer had to take her stand now. It was a now or never situation.

"I'm not doing that." Jennifer's father replied, "And you are coming home with me." He tried to grab Jennifer's arm but Jennifer backed off and broke into a full sprint in the opposite direction. Her emotions were blinding her sight. Her vision wasn't clear because of the tears that rolled down. Her limbs were shaking because of the adrenaline rush but she had to run.

"No I can't believe I embarrassed myself in front of him. You know, I got nervous and then it became silent and I had to do a Deez nuts joke, Abby can we move away and live far from society." Abby's friend was crying on the phone about how she embarrassed herself in front of her crush, by tripping and telling him a joke which became awkward. Abby laughed at her friend's silliness and sighed.

"Calm down girl, I mean tripping wasn't embarrassing but the Deez nuts joke! Aha let's see what he does about that…" she replied while her heard a groan from the other side until she hummed. "Oh. Oh. And also Abby, did you see James' recent post." The sudden question made her sit properly and switch to Instagram to see James' post, which he rarely did. It was something about his trip to Paris. Abby started swiping through the photos until a photo caught her eye. James was hugging another girl in front of the Eiffel tower making her scoff.

"Why are telling me this? I've moved on you know!" Abby laughed as she switched from Instagram to calls when she heard a chuckle from the other side of the phone making her roll her eyes knowing that her friend did not believe her. "Whatever you say hun, I'm going to sleep and start remembering how I embarrassed myself so enjoy your night. Yeah? Don't think too much about James. He's just not meant for you. Plus, you hate him. Right?" Abby's friend asked making her hum in response.