Sufletul pereche
Romanian for Soul Mate
Adrienne quickly spun around and found herself staring at a pair of crystal blue eyes. She blinked back at him, all the muscles and bones in her body froze, including her voice.
He looked as handsome as ever, dressed in a black tux. His hair was still a little disheveled but it only added to the charm of his devilishly handsome face. His eyes though, weren’t dancing, like they used to. They had a shadow of circles under them, as if he hadn’t been sleeping properly in days.
Adrienne realized that she hadn’t been breathing in a long time. She closed her eyes for a moment, thinking for sure that he would disappear once she opened her eyes. But when she did, he was still there, looking back at her curiously.
“Justin…” she whispered.
He didn’t speak. He looked as dumbfounded as she was. Then he took a deep breath and instead of uttering a word, he reached to pull her waist and in a second, he crushed her to his arms and his lips devoured hers into one hungry kiss.
Adrienne didn’t think. Her arms wound around his neck and she kissed him with the same intensity as he was kissing her. She poured all her love in that kiss. She knew that she promised to let him go, but right now, she felt that after suffering for weeks, and yearning to feel his existence again, she deserved this moment of insanity…this stolen piece of heaven.
When the kiss ended, they were both breathless. She was sure her dress was slightly crumpled, her hair probably disheveled and her makeup could be ruined, but she didn’t care. Right now, all that mattered was this moment, and this man in front of her.
He leaned his forehead against hers. “Honey….” he whispered in a hoarse voice.
“Justin…what are you doing here?”
“What are you doing here?” he asked. “I thought you were in New York.”
She pulled away from him, to look into his eyes. “Justin…” she started. She didn’t even know where to begin telling him what happened to her while they were apart. “Something…big happened to me. I found out that my mom wasn’t really my mom. She’s my stepmom. And now…I found my real Mom. She lived here in Paris all throughout these years. I’ve been living with my new family for two weeks. I have a stepdad and a brother. Kim is not my sister, Justin!”
She knew they didn’t have a lot of time to talk. Justin the Neanderthal just might walk in on them any minute now, and once Justin met him and he opened his mouth, she was ninety-nine percent sure the Neanderthal would get the beating he deserved for the way he’d been treating her since he met her.
Justin looked at her with a confused expression on his face, absorbing everything that she just said, trying to make sense of what little information she could provide him.
“Justin…are you okay?” she asked.
He blinked back to reality and looked at her with narrowed eyes.
“Honey…” she said.
“Adrienne…” He took a deep breath. “Your mother...your real mother…” he said. “What’s her name?”
“Ariana,” Adrienne replied. “Ariana Blanc-Starck.”
Justin released her and took a step back from her. Adrienne suddenly felt cold once the warmth of Justin’s body left hers. He continued looking at her with that dazed expression on his face, which made her curious and nervous at the same time.
“Justin…” she whispered. “Could you please say something? You’re scaring me.”
Justin closed his eyes for a moment. He took a deep breath. And then when he looked at her again, his eyes were suddenly teary.
“Honey…why are you crying?” she asked.
He shook his head. And then suddenly, he smiled. Then he chuckled. And then he just laughed. Adrienne stared at him as if he just completely lost his mind.
Justin wounded his arms around her waist, lifted her off her feet and spun her around while he laughed his heart out. He laughed as if he hadn’t been doing that for weeks.
“Justin, what’s going on?” Adrienne asked.
He settled her back on her feet. He shook his head. “Nothing, honey,” he said. “I think…I’ve just been given the miracle I was asking for.” And then his face descended towards hers and he gave her another head-spinning, sanity-disturbing kiss.
“Justin…” Adrienne whispered after the kiss. “I know we have a lot to talk about. But you should go. I should be going down to the party. My escort will come any minute to get me. And it’s not advisable for you to actually meet him.”
He raised a brow at her. “Why not?”
She sighed. “Because I don’t want to you to go to jail for assault or…worse, murder.”
Adrienne didn’t expect it, but Justin actually laughed again. “He’s that bad, huh? Damn! He’s good,” he said under his breath.
Adrienne blinked back at him. “What did you say?”
Justin shook his head again. Instead he asked, “Did your mother tell you that you’re arranged to be married to this guy?”
Adrienne nodded. “Was. She’s going to call it off.”
Justin stared at her with a sober expression on his face. “And what if your fiancé doesn’t allow her to call off the engagement?”
“He doesn’t have a choice. And besides, he hates me as much as I hate him.”
Justin shook his head. “He doesn’t hate you, honey. In fact… he is head over heels in love with you, he wants to marry you right now.” Adrienne stared back at him, her eyes widened. Then Justin added, “I don’t think your fiancé will come any minute and interrupt our moment, Adrienne.”
“Why?” She asked in almost a whisper, her knees getting weaker by the second.
“Because…he’s already here.” Justin replied in a soft voice, his face full of affection as he said those words.
“Justin…” Tears welled up in Adrienne’s eyes. “How…”
He smiled at her ruefully. “The guy you met…isn’t your real fiancé, Adrienne,” he said. “I am.”
“You? Your mother is…”
“Christine Adams,” Justin supplied for her.
“You’re my mother’s best friend’s son? But how? I met a guy, his name is Justin, too. And he’s the most despicable creature to ever walk the face of the Earth.”
Justin smiled at her. “Yes. Because I paid him to act that way.”
“What?”
“I didn’t want to go through with this engagement. There was no way in hell I would marry the girl my parents chose for me. I already knew who I wanted to spend the rest of my life with.
“My father asked me to meet this girl and make her fall in love with me. I didn’t want to. So I asked somebody else to pose as me and… make sure she would hate him so she would back out of this engagement herself. Once I was sure she hated the idea of marrying me, I could meet her as myself and give her an even worse time than what the other Justin did.”
“You paid somebody to pose as you? Didn’t you realize that somebody might realize that he’s an impostor?” Adrienne couldn’t believe what Justin did.
“I counted on that, too,” he replied. “I hoped her parents found out what I did and think the worst things about me, and never trust the fate of their priceless daughter in my hands. After all… what kind of a lunatic treats a girl that way?”
“Justin! That guy was a whack job!”
“He’s not. He just happens to be a very good actor,” he said.
“Meeting that guy was like eating my own vomit! It felt absolutely disgusting! And you did that to me?” Adrienne asked, almost in a daze.
“I’m sorry, honey. I had no idea it was you! I hadn’t met my fiancée. I didn’t have a picture of her. I wasn’t interested. All I knew was her mother’s name and which family she belonged to. How was I supposed to know you have this whole family mystery that may make you end up as my designated fiancée?”
“What if he…took advantage of me? What if he harassed me?”
Justin shook his head. “His real name is Jordan. He’s my cousin. We grew up together and he almost lived with me. He may be a menace most of the time, but I know he’s not capable of doing that.”
Adrienne stared back at Justin. His eyes were now dancing and she didn’t think she’s seen him so happy before.
“You’re going to pay for that!” she said to him crossly.
He grinned at her. “Now that I know who my parents wanted me to marry, I am willing to pay the price no matter how high.”
Adrienne narrowed her eyes at him. Then without warning, she slapped him. He was taken back a bit. But when he turned to her again, he was still grinning. His eyes were dancing and he looked like nothing she would say or do would dampen his spirit or wipe out his happiness.
“I wanna kill you!” she said to him and a part of her really wanted to do that for putting her through the worst afternoon and evening of her life. Then she stared up at him and said, “But maybe later,” she said and she pulled him to her and kissed his lips.
His arms wrapped around her waist and he pulled her to him as he deepened their kiss. When that kiss ended he took a deep breath and inhaled the scent of her. “God, I missed you.”
Adrienne sighed contentedly. “I missed you, too. Just a while ago…I was praying you would be happy. I was praying that God gives you a miracle.”
He chuckled. “Your prayers are powerful. God must like you the most.”
She couldn’t believe what just happened. A few minutes back, she thought that he lost his battle. She was heartbroken when she found out that her mother had betrothed her to somebody against her will. She wondered…if she hadn’t gotten lost all throughout these years, would her mother still insist she marries her best friend’s son? If she hadn’t met Justin before she found out her real identity, they would be forced to like each other enough to spend the rest of their lives together…even if there was no love between them.
Justin pushed back a lock of stray hair away from her face. “You look beautiful, honey,” he said. “I know now…that you’re really Andrea Blanc. But you will always be Adrienne to me…my Adrienne.”
Adrienne smiled bitterly. “My mother said that my real birth papers say that I’m Andrea Blanc. My passports say Adrienne Miller. But that’s not my real name. It was the fake name my father picked out for me to prevent my mother from finding me. Now, I don’t know what name I should really use.”
Justin stared at her thoughtfully, feeling her confusion, and her pain for the way her life had been. It’s never easy to know you have two different identities and you don’t know which one really fits.
He smiled at her and said, “Let’s do something about that, shall we?”
Adrienne didn’t get what he meant by that. But then he pulled away from her. He stared at her seriously, took a deep breath and then slowly, he went down on one knee.
Adrienne sucked in a deep breath. Her heart pounded loudly inside her ribcage, she could almost hear it. She had to hold on to the rails beside her, as she no longer trusted her knees to support her weight.
Justin took something from his pocket. It was a small black box. He opened it in front of her and she saw a gleaming five carat diamond ring.
Justin took a deep breath again. “There are a million things I wanted to tell you. A hundred lines I thought I would say whenever I imagined the moment that I would finally propose to you…for real. But right now, all I can say is that I love you, Adrienne…I love you…very, very much. I said this to you before, and I’m going to say it again now…you’re the one I want to spend the rest of my life with. I never want to let you go. No matter how many times you set me free. I had planned to propose to you after I convinced my folks that there was no way they could force me to take another bride. But now…by some miracle, I don’t need to do that anymore.
“But I am saying these things to you not because our families arranged for this. But because this is what I want…for the rest of my life. I love you so much, I’m willing to give up everything for you…I live for you…I’m willing to die for you. You are my life…now, forever, always.” There were tears in his eyes when he said those words. Then with a wistful look in his eyes, he added, “You don’t have to choose which of your names you should use. Will you let me change it to the name that rightfully belongs to you…the one that suits you the best? Will you be Adrienne Adams? Will you marry me?”
Tears rolled down Adrienne’s eyes. She wanted to find her voice right away but she couldn’t stop crying. Justin’s eyes were filled with tears, too, as he held his breath for her answer.
“Yes.” she said when she finally found her voice. “You know I will!” And she knelt in front of him, throwing herself in his arms.
He caught her and wound his arms around her. He hugged her tightly, burying his face against her hair, as she buried hers against his chest.
They savored that moment. They’re engaged. Not by some sort of arranged marriage. Not in the hypothetical pretend world. But for real. In this bizarre turn of events, their alternate universe, where they are betrothed to each other and planned to spend the rest of their lives together without obstacles…just came true.
Adrienne pulled away from Justin and looked into his eyes. He smiled tearfully, as he took her hand and slipped the ring on her finger. It fit her perfectly.
Justin leaned forward and slowly, kissed her lips…thoroughly…passionately. And Adrienne wished that kiss would never end. When it did, he stood up on his feet and pulled her up with him. Then he picked her up and spun her around. She was crying and giggling at the same.
When Justin put her down on her feet, she wiped the tears on her cheeks and admired the gleaming rock on her finger.
“It’s beautiful,” she said to him.
“So are you,” Justin whispered to her. “That was my mother’s engagement ring. She gave it to me before I came up here. She was really hoping that you and Justin J. had hit it off.” He chuckled.
“Yes. I came so close to hitting him…with a titanium alloy bat!” Adrienne said.
Justin laughed. “And I believe that. Jordan actually told me you were quite feisty. Knowing now that it was you…you made me so proud.”
“On his business card, it said Justin J.” Adrienne said. “What does the J. stand for?”
“My middle name, Jeffrey,” Justin answered. “My twin died a few days after he was born. My mother thought to give me his name so he would always live in our memories…through me.”
“Why didn’t you put your surname on the business card then?” Adrienne asked.
“Are you kidding me? If that card leaked out with my full name on it, I’ve just committed social suicide!” Justin said.
Adrienne laughed. “That card was a sure way to turn a girl off.”
“That was Ian’s idea.” Justin said.
“Your cousins actually helped you out in giving me the worst hours of my life?”
“We were trying to mess up with Andrea Blanc. And it worked, right?”
Adrienne nodded. “You got me at ‘machito’,” she said, now giggling at the memory of her afternoon meeting with Jordan, alias N-1-9-8-9.
Justin raised a brow at her, clearly not getting what she meant by that.
“When Jordan ordered coffee at the shop, he asked for a ‘machito’, instead of a ‘macchiato’. I thought he was such a moron.”
Justin laughed. “He is good. There is absolutely no way he could mistake a ‘macchiato’. Their family owns a huge coffee shop chain in the States.”
Adrienne shook her head. “I cannot believe you guys!” she said. “Your cousins are going to be the death of me.”
Justin laughed. “Ian and Gian liked you—Adrienne. So they went out of their way to make Andrea Blanc pay.”
“If you sent Gian, our problem would have been solved earlier.”
“If you answered my calls or actually returned my messages and told me the whole thing about your real identity, we would have ended this before you even met Jordan.”
“I was a mess during those times. The whole thing about my family was just overwhelming. Why didn’t you call me after that then?”
“Because it was part of my agreement with my Dad. I couldn’t contact you. I was supposed to be focusing all my attentions in making my fiancée fall in love with me. I didn’t want to break that promise because I didn’t want him to find out just exactly what I was doing. Until I accomplished my mission, of course.”
“Congratulations! Mission accomplished!” Adrienne smiled. “What did you plan to do at this party now that you’re showing up as yourself and without the aid of Mischief Jordan?”
“Something that would make Andrea Blanc wish she was engaged to the fake Justin instead. At least he was a little bit funny.”
Adrienne narrowed her eyes at him. “Really? You’d leave the gentleman cloak behind just to make her hate you?”
“Desperate times call for desperate measures, honey.” Justin grinned at her. “I’d rather live in shame than in misery for the rest of my life.”
“Jill told me when she saw you at Blush, you were looking…rather chirpy. You didn’t look miserable at all.”
“Of course. Jordan fed me with news of how my designated fiancée never wanted to see me again. The plan was working. And I couldn’t wait for the whole thing to be over so I could be with you.”
“If you asked him to take a picture of me, we would have been out of this misery earlier.”
“I didn’t need a picture. I didn’t need to know what she looked like. I wasn’t interested.”
Adrienne sighed. “I can’t believe our parents did this to us.”
Justin touched her cheek with his fingers. “It was hell for me, Adrienne. I could count the number of days I actually stayed sober—with one hand.”
Adrienne bit her lip and her heart went out to Justin. She touched his cheek with her hand and he turned sideways to kiss the inside of her palm.
“I think I’d drink every night, too, if I didn’t find out about my new family. It was painful to know the truth about myself. But I was at least thankful that it provided me a little distraction. And of course… now I understand why my sister and my mom never really liked me.”
“Adrienne…”
“Hmmm…” Adrienne stared up at Justin.
“We’re never going to arrange our kids’ marriages,” he said. “We will let them find their own happiness. Let them be free to choose the person who would make them happy.”
Adrienne smiled. “I totally agree,” she said. “My mother arranged my own marriage when I was two. Now that she found me again…she thought I should try to fall in love with my fiancé first. If I hadn’t gone M.I.A., I wonder if she would have enforced this…the way your parents did.”
“Judging by the way my mother was so adamant about this…maybe.”
“Your parents are going to be so happy about this, aren’t they?” Adrienne asked.
Justin stared at her for a while. Then he nodded. “They will be ecstatic. Our mothers would think that it was right to meddle with our lives. My father would be gloating in front of me and they would probably arrange the wedding of the century by tomorrow.”
Adrienne’s eyes widened. “Do you think they would?”
“I know my parents, Adrienne. And I think I may even know your mother more than you do. I’ve known her longer than you have,” Justin observed. “And yes…they would be so damn proud of this! And they wouldn’t even feel sorry for the hell they put us through.”
“You’re right. It was only because of a miracle that we fell in love ahead of the time they set to introduce us to each other… but in any other ordinary circumstance, both of us would have been devastated, wouldn’t we?”
Justin nodded. “Yes,” he whispered. Then he took a deep breath and pulled her to him. He planted a long kiss on her lips and then he asked, “Do you trust me, Adrienne?”
She smiled against his lips. “With all my heart, Justin.”
He pulled away from her and smiled. “Good.” Then he took her hand in his and pulled her towards the exits.
“Where are we going?” she asked him.
He turned back to her and smiled, “Remember my last text message to you?” he asked.
She nodded. “Of course.”
“We still have two weeks,” he said.
“Yes…yes we do.”
Justin stepped closer to her. With a mischievous grin on his face, he said, “Well, I don’t think I can wait two more weeks… Mrs. Adams.” And he gave her a kiss that blew her mind and took her breath away.