“Adrian, where have you been? I have been lost without you, I need an explanation.” I whisper to him. He looks at me with those green eyes,
“Baby, I have been here, in New York, I never left you.” My eyes bolt at his confession. Was he really in New York all this time? My mind swirls and I quickly respond.
“You did leave me, I was alone in that hospital, I needed you and you weren’t there.” He does look remorseful, but at the same, I feel that he sticks by what he did.
“I am sorry; I felt it was for the best. Now I realise that it is not. I missed you, and I… love you.” His British accent is deafening when I hear his words. I try to hold back my smile without much success.
“Adrian, I love you too, but there is a lot of stuff that we need to sort out. You weren’t around for over a month, I had to move on.” He looks irritated by my confession. He steps back from me and begins to pace around the room. He runs his long thin fingers through his hair and he looks again at me.
“What do mean by, you had to move on? Is there someone else?” He insists. I quickly walk over to him and take his hand in my mine.
“No, but I had to accept that you weren’t coming back. You told me that you never loved me. I always feared that you didn’t and hearing you confirm it, paralyzed me.” I say in a soothing tone. Adrian exhales and again he runs his fingers through his tousled hair. He takes my hand and places it onto his chest,
“This, my heart, will always belong to you,” he says confidently. I smile at him and I cannot resist his full lips, I lunge forward and into his arms. The kiss lasts forever, and Adrian finally pulls back. He gazes into my eyes,
“Baby,” he says as he gently puts his hand on my stomach. He lightly feels my wound and he sighs.
“Alanna, I cannot tell you how sorry I am for everything. Can you ever forgive me?” I place my hand on his jaw and I reassure him.
“I love you, and the second I saw you, I forgave you.” He has a wicked smirk on his face, he pulls me back towards him, and he kisses me again.
Six
I lay on my bed with Adrian next to me. I am huddled into his chest as I gaze at him. I still am very shocked that he is here as I was sure he and I were over. My eyes will not tear away from him and it is as if I am seeing him for the first time. I have realised how plain and ordinary my life would be without him, he is what I want and I am ecstatic that he has come back to me.
“Are you in pain?” He says soothingly. I do feel a little twinge of pain however; I do not want to alert Adrian.
“No, I am fine.” He does not look impressed by my words and I know that he can see right through me.
“The guilt I have is unbearable.” He says in an apologetic tone and I feel sorry for him. His eyes look sad and I know that he is hurting. I want him to know that I am fine and all that I need is him.
“Adrian, I want this to be a fresh start. You do not need to feel guilty about what happened. It is over now and I am fine and I am ready for our life to start.” I say firmly. Adrian sits up on the bed and I automatically adjust to his new position. He considers his words and I await his response.
“Okay, this is a new start for us and I will try not to let my guilt override our… relationship.” I pause and I cannot believe that he is agreeing to this so easily. I turn fully around and I am now facing him.
“We need to let everything, be in the past.” He smiles at me as he drapes his arm around my shoulder. I lean into his chest and Adrian gives me a soft kiss on my forehead. I lay in his grasp staring into his green eyes. I want to know what he has been doing, I was surprised to hear that he was in New York and I wonder about his time in the city. However, this moment with him, is too precious and I do not want to hinder it in anyway. I am still awaiting him, to bring up Michael. Adrian has not mentioned him and I fear what might happen when the two of them come face to face. Michael has not had a good word to say about Adrian in the weeks that have gone by. I also worry about what Adrian thinks of Michael. It must be hard for him, Michael stepped in front of a bullet for me and Adrian was not there. I could never blame Adrian for what happened but I will always owe everything to Michael. I want to discuss everything with Adrian but I do not feel that I have the courage.
“How are classes?” He says taking an interest in my college work. I pull back from him and I lean against the wall. I huddle my legs into my chest, however Adrian notices that I am uncomfortable, therefore he gently lifts my feet and pulls my legs out, until they are stretched out across his body. I smile at his actions.
“I started again yesterday, and I sat in class, not knowing a thing. I was so sure that I was going to fail. However, I had a brief talk with the teacher and I was surprised when he told me that my essay was great. So I guess classes are going fine.” I say proudly.