In awe, Scarlett jumped off Adrian's lap, blinking her eyes rapidly, like there was something suddenly stuck in her eyes. Adrian's words rang repeatedly in her head as she tried to make sense of it. She stared at him with wide eyes, as if another head had suddenly popped out of his neck.
“What did you say?” She asked in a whisper, she could already feel her heart in her stomach.
“You can't be serious.” She scoffed, shaking her head and deciding to tell it off as a joke but the stern look on Adrian's face proved otherwise.
“Scarlett, I'm really sorry but I don't see this affair heading anywhere. I think it'll be better for both of us if we just call it quits. Besides, I'm happy being with your mother and she has been suspecting me for a while now, I don't want anything to ruin the relationship I have with her.” Adrian explained in a soft tone, finding it hard to look up at Scarlett.
Scarlett's jaw dropped, her vision slowly becoming blurred by the tears that gathered in her eyes. A huge lump formed in her throat and she found it hard to swallow. Shaking her head in disbelief, she moved closer to him and attempted to cup his cheeks in her palms but he stepped back and gently pushed her hands away, a mean expression on his face.
Scarlett was in shock after he did that. Her brain went all over the place, trying to figure out what went wrong and how it came to this point. She didn't know when the tears she had been holding back started to fall down her cheeks. She desperately hoped that she was dreaming because she couldn't stand losing him again after everything she went through to have him.
She felt her heart squeeze from hurt as she stared at the blank-faced man, she was trying to figure out what happened and what went wrong but nothing came to her mind.
“D- Did I do anything wrong? You should have just told me instead of all this drama.” She sniffed, trying to go close to him again but he was avoiding her at all costs.
“Adrian, you're hurting me, do you know that?” She tried to stop her tears but they kept falling, causing Adrian to bite his lip in regret. He hated to see her in tears, it was heart-wrenching.
“You did absolutely nothing wrong Scarlett, it's just that I'm in love with your mother and I don't want to jeopardize what I share with her.” He answered.
His statement made Scarlett boil with rage, she ended up laughing but it wasn't because there was anything funny. She just didn't know how else to channel the rage she was feeling.
“Love? Do you love my mother? Since when!? I'm pretty sure you're only with her for the money and she's with you for the sex! Once she gets bored of you, she'll discard you just like she did Ethan!” She yelled, pointing her index finger at him. The veins on her head popped out, exaggerating her anger.
“She doesn't freaking love you! She's cheating on you! She could even be with another man right now! What the fuck is wrong with you even!?” She aggressively yelled at him but he only let out a sigh and grabbed his phone off the couch.
“Goodbye Scarlett.” That was all he said before making his way out of the house speedily. Scarlett goes after him, calling his name and asking him to hold on but he doesn't even turn to look at her and just drives off.
Pained, Scarlett went back inside and curled herself up on her couch, her thoughts were all over the place as she found it hard to believe what had just taken place. She tried as much as possible to act strong, but the stinging pain in her chest did not help matters. She ended up bawling her eyes out, wishing that she would wake up and it would all be a dream.
Her phone suddenly rang in the silent room and she rushed towards it, hoping that Adrian was the one calling but it ended up being Nelly. She answered it anyway.
“Hi, Nelly.”
“Scarlett, where are you? Did you forget that we were supposed to do the assignment together at the library? I've been waiting for an hour.” Nelly complained and Scarlett rubbed her eyes, it skipped her memory.
“I'm sorry, I'll be there in fifteen.” She hung up and dragged her heavy self up the stairs, into her bedroom. Her eyes were still welled up with tears but she still applied make-up and tried not to ruin it. She got dressed in a simple, unrevealing dress before driving off to the school's library.
She arrived at met Nelly at their usual booth, she had already started on the assignment.
“Hey, you're finally here,” Nelly said as soon as Scarlett took her seat.
“Are you okay?” She questioned, noticing that Scarlett had a rather foul expression on her face. She had tried to conceal what she was feeling but that would prove difficult as Adrian's thoughts never left her head.
His words, him saying that he was in love with her mother… she couldn't help but scoff. It was quite clear that there was no love between those two, she knew how promiscuous her mother was and it was no news that her mother slept with many other men aside from Adrian.
“How could he leave me for her? And that too after he took my innocence… my virginity.” She thought to herself.
“Scarlett!” Nelly yelled when she noticed Scarlett's absentmindedness.
“Yeah?” Scarlett, who was jolted out of her thoughts answered.
“Are you okay?”
“I'm fine.” She feigned a smile and opened up the book in front of her.
“I don't think you're fine. You can share whatever the problem is with me.” Nelly persisted but Scarlett smiled again. She was about to respond when Ethan showed up at their booth, facing Scarlett.
“Hi, Ethan.” Nelly greeted excitedly but Ethan didn't bother to return her greeting as his eyes were fixed on Scarlett.
“What do you want?” Scarlett asked him.
“I want your forgiveness. I know I messed up but please let me make it up to you.” He stated but she sighed and rubbed her temple.
“This isn't the place for this okay? Can we do this later? I have an assignment to complete.” She told him but he didn't look like he was going to quit.
“Please Scarlett, all I need is for you to tell me that you've forgiven me. I love you Scarlett, so deeply and I really want you to give me a chance to make things right.” He continued.
All of a sudden, Nelly sprang up from her seat, letting out a nervous chuckle. She looked really uneasy.
“Could you guys please excuse me?” She chuckled again and left without waiting for any of them to say anything.
Scarlett noticed that something was off about her behavior, she wanted to know what the problem was but Ethan was too much of a talkative to let her go anywhere.
“Please give me a chance Scarlett, that's all I'm asking for. A chance to love you and make amends for my stupid mistakes.” He told her, attempting to grab her hand but she got to her feet instantly.
“We'll talk about this later.” She told him and hurried off in search of Nelly.
Because it was a library, she couldn't yell her name so she decided to quietly search for her. She decided to call and heard Nelly's phone ring right when she was passing by the bathroom. Relieved that she had found her, she pushed the door open only to meet a strange sight.
“Nelly?”
“Are you– crying?”