Chapter 6: Chapter 6

My grip on Adrian tightened. He turned to me, realizing what was happening to me. For a moment I saw him showing concern.

"Let's get some fresh air," said Adrian, holding my hand, breaking the crowd.

Cold sweat was dripping from my forehead. Even my palms were icy cold now. I really didn't like crowds. Feeling weak, I just walked behind, following where Adrian took me. I also didn't know every way in the mansion.

I calmed down quite a bit when Adrian took me to a quiet place. There was a huge maze garden in front of us.

Adrian led me up the stairs to the top for a perfect view of the maze. Even though it was cold above, I didn't care. I was hypnotized by the twists and turns of the maze that could only be seen from above.

"How did you know there's a maze here?" I asked, still not taking off my eyes from what I saw, until the warmth that enveloped my body made me realize what Adrian was doing. He took off his suit and lent it to me.

"I don't want you to get sick, and make my family's reputation bad."

I fell silent at his words. But I knew, Adrian was not as bad as I thought before.

"I've been here before,"

I glanced at Adrian, and the man was standing straight with his hands jammed in his pants pockets. He seemed so deeply entangled in his own thoughts.

I just nodded. "Thank you for understanding my condition earlier,"

"I thought you were lying when you said parties weren't your thing,"

"Only my father and Ashton knew about it. But now you know too," I rolled my eyes and made a face. "For me, this fear of crowds is my weakness. I don't want other people to know, and see me differently afterwards."

At that moment I was sure I saw something in Adrian's eyes, something I couldn't explain. He studied me intently.

"I never even entered a normal school, you know homeschooling?" I laughed to cover my embarrassment. I never talked about myself to people I had only known for a few days. But here I was, telling Adrian my weakness that could kill me inside.

Adrian didn't flinch. He kept quiet, allowing me to continue rambling on about my own shortcomings.

"Besides being afraid of crowds, I'm also afraid of losing the people closest to me." I continued. "My mother died, giving birth to me. And now my dad, he's getting married very soon. His love will be divided, not completely for me anymore."

"You still have yourself," Adrian frankly stated. "Don't let yourself lose yourself in fear of losing people,"

Adrian said that like he had lost himself. I wanted to ask, but didn't dare. I was afraid he would either mind answering, or not at all. I was sure he didn't trust me as much as I did in my stories.

Adrian's phone rang, then he checked it. His brow furrowed after that. "Wait here a moment. Don't go anywhere!"

"Adrian, wait. What's wrong?" I tried to stop him, but he said that he would be right back. Why does he look panicked?

I huffed and enjoyed my solitude. Adrian's words had a point, maybe I was not really alone. I could still rely on myself...

"Mabel! I need you,"

I flinched when Rainy pulled my arm forcibly to follow her. "Take a deep breath, Rainy. What's going on?" I was really surprised to see Rainy cry. Her makeup was smudged, she wasn't even wearing her high heels.

Rainy tried to take a breath, calming herself down. "Ashton, he's fighting!"

"What?" It was my turn to have a burning urge to see Ashton right away. "Where is he?"

I ran after Rainy to the main hall. It was really hard to run in a long dress and high heels, so I ran barefoot and lifted my dress above my knees. Somehow I forgot my fear. Even I followed Rainy to disperse the crowd.

I covered my mouth when I saw Ashton was throwing his fist at a man who was lying helpless.

"Ashton, stop it!" Rainy screamed, trying to pull Ashton away, but instead of being heard, Rainy was pushed by him. Ashton seemed possessed by something evil. I was about to come forward to stop him too, but someone grabbed my elbow. And it was Adrian. "What are you doing, Adrian?"

"Are you dumb? You want to be pushed like Rainy too? Let Ashton take all his anger out,"

I shook my head in disbelief. "You're crazy!" I immediately turned around and this time shouted loudly for Ashton.

I grabbed Ashton's arm to stop him from beating the poor guy. "Ashton, please stop!" I was surprised when Ashton listened to my orders. He got up and pulled me away from the crowd.

"Ashton, stop!" I kept trying to get his grip off of my wrist, but his grip tightened. "Are you even listening to me?"

Ashton led me to the parking lot, to be precise where his car was parked. He opened the car door for me, then simply pushed me inside. I didn't know Ashton could be this rough. I rubbed my reddened wrist, then glanced at Ashton who was now sitting next to me. "Where are you taking me?"

Ashton did not answer, other than directly driving his car out of the mansion area. His hands gripped the steering wheel.

I just realized that Rainy was still at the party. "Ash? You left Rainy. Turn around now!" I ordered, trying to get Ashton to do what I asked.

I sighed as Ashton remained silent. I chose to lock my lips too. There was no point in pushing him to say something. I stared at the road, and began to recognize the way he was heading.

His car was headed to our favorite ice cream parlor. I smiled faintly. Ice cream can indeed easily help improve the mood.

After ordering two ice creams, Ashton and I walked around the main park at night. I didn't even realize that I was still wearing Adrian's suit. No wonder I didn't feel cold. Thanks for him.

Ashton still didn't tell me what had fueled his anger. But now he was calmer.

"Are you with Adrian now?" Ashton asked after a long silence.

"No," I replied quickly.

"Rainy told me," Ashton chuckled coldly. "At first I didn't want to believe what she said, but after seeing you today with him, I guess I have no other choice but to believe."

"Adrian proposed to me, okay? Just like that, and that doesn't mean I have anything to do with him." I finally had the courage to tell Ashton about it.

"When?" Ashton stopped and looked at me in surprise.

"My dad's engagement party night," I licked my chocolate ice cream again. "And I found no points to accept his marriage proposal,"

"Yeah, you must be out of your mind if you accept the proposal. He's the heir to the Moretti family," Ashton didn't enjoy his ice cream anymore. By the way, Ashton's favorite ice cream is strawberry. When he was little, he was embarrassed because a lot of boys our age made fun of him for liking pink ice cream.

"I won't marry him,"

Ashton's eyes lit up at my words. "Promise me?"

I furrowed my brow. "I don't have to make any promises, I won't marry him."

Ashton took Adrian's suit that warmed me, making me snatch it back to me. "What are you doing, Ash? I'm cold!"

Ashton didn't listen to me. He forced me to let it go until I relented. Then he tossed it in the trash, then took off his suit and gave it to me. My mouth was open at what he just did. "What are you doing?"

"I don't like seeing you in his suit,"

I laughed and then finished my ice cream up to the cone. "That's no big deal," My mouth was filled with ice cream which made Ashton laugh too.

"That's a big deal for me," Ashton gently admitted. I stared at him, for a moment he looked back at me then down to my lips. In one blink, I could feel his thumb brushing the corner of my lips. "You have ice cream left on the corner of your lips," Ashton informed me, and he made my cheeks heat up.

I quickly turned my face away from him. "Thank you,"

Ashton was still staring at me, because I could feel the sharpness in his eyes on me.

"Ash, you left Rainy alone." I reminded Ashton again, afraid he'd forgotten about her.

"I told my men to take her home," Ashton sighed. "Rainy is nice, but she's not what I want."

I looked down at his confession. If it wasn't Rainy, that meant there was another woman who had taken Ashton's heart completely. But who? I was always the first person Ashton told about the women he wanted.

"Not only nice, but Rainy is pretty too." I continued.

Ashton narrowed his eyes. "I've never seen you persuading me so much to be with a woman. Is it because Rainy will soon be your sister? Or something else?"

"I see the potential for you to be with her in the future," I gripped Ashton's suit tightly. My heart was beating fast. I wouldn't let Ashton know how I felt.

"I don't like her yet..." Ashton sighed weakly. "Maybe I can give it a try,"

My heart skipped a beat hearing it.

"I'll really try to be loyal to just one woman now,"

I looked at him without a smile. My expression was very flat. I ventured to ask. "Who is she?"

Ashton raised an eyebrow at my sudden question.

"If it's not Rainy. Who is that woman?"

Ashton finished the rest of his ice cream. He didn't take my question seriously, because after that he just smiled like I was a kid who didn't know anything about adult love.

"I don't want to tell you,"

"What? You've been telling me this all along!"

"Look at your expression, Mabel! Why are you so tense?" Ashton smirked. "Are you jealous?"

I was silent for a moment, which made Ashton stop smirking.

"No!" I lied. "Just tell me the characteristics of this woman if you are reluctant to share the story,"

"She has blonde hair,"

I rolled my eyes. I should've known. "How long will you be obsessed with blonde women? Is your love for blonde women also because of the woman you currently like?"

Ashton nodded as he remembered something. "I've liked her for a long time..."

My eyes bulged. "Does that mean she's your schoolmate? Or your private tutor?"

Unlike me, Ashton went to public school. He was good at socializing, and also smart.

"I didn't expect you to like someone for so long..." I thought only I could do that, but a player like Ashton too?

"Why? Do you also secretly like someone for a long time and didn't tell me?" Ashton began to change into his interrogation mode.

"Ha! I told you all the guys I've been close to, but all you did was scare them. Do you remember how you told Justin that I was actually a guy?" I couldn't stop thinking about that.

One fine day, we were enjoying a trip to the zoo, and I accidentally grabbed Justin's attention. Just getting to know each other, Ashton took the poor man to the toilet and made up a story. Good thing, Justin told me what Ashton had told him. Otherwise I never knew Ashton would do such an annoying thing!

"Because I knew Justin isn't a man who-"

"I know!" I cut him off. "Your excuses are always the same,"

Ashton flashed a smug smile. "But I was right that all the men who used to approach you were scumbags. This was proven after you stopped contacting them,"

I had to accept the fact that Ashton was right, even though it was very hard to do. He saved me from a broken heart, but who will save me from a broken heart that he himself caused?