Chapter 23: Chapter 23

Rage nearly consumed Adira when she came inside her room with the red blanket in her hand. She looked at the blanket and remembered how Chadwick wraps this around the sleeping Isa.

She felt a flicker of irritation and her blood pulsed through her veins.

Adira can accept everything; Isa coming to their house, seeing her husband hugs another woman and Chadwick siding with Bea against any arguments.

However, she lost her composure as soon as she saw the blanket around Isa’s shoulder.

“He could have used his blanket instead,” Adira growled.

Her fists clenched on the soft fabric. She washed, ironed, and folded it by herself. And now, it seemed she had to do those again.

Meanwhile outside her room, Chadwick, Isa and Neil were rooted on their spots after seeing Adira’s rage for the first time.

With a pale face, Neil observed his boss, who hadn’t moved in his spot since Adira shouted and entered her room. He does not know what happened because he was sleeping and only woke up after hearing Adira’s loud voice.

‘But madam Adira was holding a red blanket before,’ Neil pondered. He had a guess that it had something to do with Chadwick and Isa. ‘As expected,. Madam will be furious!’

Although it’s obvious that Adira does not harbor any feelings for her husband, Neil still firmly believes that there will come a time when she cannot stay quiet amidst of this sh*t. He made so much effort to get Adira and Chadwick closer, but the plan went in the wrong path.

Neil’s glare went to Isa.

‘It is all because of this woman!’ he blamed.

Thunderstruck, Isa stared at the loss Chadwick. She was stunned at first when she heard Adira’s sudden wrath. Frightened, yes, she was. Yet after she calmed, a sense of happiness and triumph soared in her heart. She hated it when Adira did not show any sign of jealousy towards her and Chadwick.

‘Seeing her get mad like that, somehow I feel like I won over her,’ Isa chuckled inwardly. ‘She kept on acting that she’s not bothered that her husband is liking and siding another woman, when she’s this bothered. What a hypocrite.’

Unknown to Isa, it isn’t the jealousy that made Adira furious but the red blanket which was given to her by the kids from the orphanage. This is a fact that Chadwick does not know.

‘It is impossible that she got jealous,’ Chadwick said to himself while staring at the blank space. ‘So why? Why did she get so mad?’

He doubted that Adira got jealous, therefore he’s trying to figure out the real reason of her rage. And as he tried, he felt his heart pinning in melancholy, which confused him.

Since when did he get so emotional when it comes to his wife?

Chadwick does not know why, how, or when it started. All he wanted right now was to be alone so he could think well. However, Isa wanted to use this chance to get Joshua’s empathy by pretending to be nice.

“Oh no!” Isa gasped, covering her mouth. “What should we do? I think Isa misunderstood our relationship again!”

Neil scoffed silently from the side while watching Isa’s plausible acting. He couldn’t believe she had the guts to say those when she’s purposely came here to mess.

“This won’t do,” Isa added then stood up. “I need to talk to her and explain.”

Explain what?

Isa also does not know what she will explain but if it will help her to look good and make Adira bad, then it might be worth trying. Isa was about to go to Adira’s room for a talk when suddenly, Chadwick said something which made her stop.

“Go home.”

Isa looked back at him, while Neil shook his ears to make sure he heard his boss right.

“The two of you, please go home.”

It was a jaw dropping situation. Chadwick just pushed Isa out of the house, not physically but verbally!

Neil wanted to cheer and jump up-down, but he held his ceremony by himself and quietly. He tried too hard to hide the smile from creeping to his lips as he stared alternately at his boss’ face and to Isa’s pale expression.

“Y-You want us to go home?” asked Isa.

Chadwick looked at her.

“I am sorry. But you and Neil should go home now.”

“B-But, I haven’t apologized to Adi…”

“It will be my business.”

Other words which made Isa lose in space and Neil to celebrate.

“Neil.”

“Yes, sir!” Neil answered energetically as he jumped up from the couch. He usually has no energy after waking up, but tonight’s event has woken up each of his cells.

“Please take Isa home.”

“I will definitely, Sir.”

Neil looked at Isa then called her politely.

“Miss Isa.”

Isa turned her head to Neil.

Like a gentleman, Neil pointed the exit with both of his hands and said, “This way, please.”

He said those as if guiding an uninvited guest out of the place.

Biting her lower lip, Isa grabbed her handbag and walked out from the kitchen. She has a sour mood of a kid who got her candy stolen from someone whom she vowed to revenge next time.

‘I had to get him back to my side,’ Isa said to herself as she leaves the house.

She knew just by seeing Chadwick’s reaction that he is starting to see Adira as a woman. And Isa hates it. She hates it when someone robs the affection that should be hers.

When Isa and Neil left the house, Chadwick went inside his room.

For long house, he tossed and rolled on his bed, unable to sleep.

“Argh,” Chadwick groaned. He stayed lying down straight and stared at the ceiling.

Chadwick is wondering whether Adira is sleeping or not yet sleeping during this hour. If she is sleeping, then he will call the night off and just wait for the morning to come. But if she isn’t sleeping…

‘Should I go now and apologize?’

He shook his head and sighed. Joshua doesn’t even know what mistake did he made so how will he apologize?

While thinking so hard about the reason for Adira’s sudden wrath, he heard an opening and closing sounds of the door.

Every inch of his body came fully alert.

‘It’s Adira who came out of her room.’

Chadwick gulped.

During their six months living together under the same roof, there were only three reasons why Adira got out of bed at night. First, she’s thirsty. Second, she had to go to the comfort room. And third, she will come to Chadwick and ask him to have sex.

Tap.

Tap.

Tap.

As the footsteps came closer and louder, Chadwick’s heart beats went frenzied. He does not have a plan to have a sex with Adira, but he wished for her to come with that reason. Because in that way, they can meet and talk.

‘I wanted to see her so I can apologize. That’s all,’ he even told to himself while shooting intense gaze towards the door.

No matter how mad Adira is, there’s no way she’ll change and give up her resolution of getting pregnant. So, they can reconcile in no time.

‘Yes. We will reconcile and…’

Chadwick stopped his thoughts at that point.

Reconcile.

‘Since when did I consider her as someone whom I should reconcile?’

Ever since the beginning, he sees Adira as his enemy. So why does he want to reconcile with his wife?

As he thought so hard, the footsteps grew farther.

A scowl appeared between his brows.

Adira did not go to his room. And then suddenly, he heard another sound of the closing door.

‘But that’s not the door of her room or the bathroom’s,’ Chadwick knew.

If Adira did not go back to her room or to the toilet, then where did she go?

Having a guess in his mind, Chadwick moved up and walked out of his room. He went in front of Adira’s room and knocked.

Tok tok.

“Adira?”

No one answered.

He placed his hand around the doorknob and twisted it around. After pushing it forward to open, he peeked inside and saw nothing.

‘That means, the closing door that I heard before is from…’

Chadwick looked at the main entrance of their house. He turned his head towards the clock on the wall to check the time.

2:00am.

His wife left out of their house at 2 in the morning.

“Where did she go at this hour?” Chadwick mumbled, clenching his fists.

If only he knew Adira well, then he should have known where his wife is off to.

-------------------------------------------

Adira was driving her car with one hand.

Staring at the clean road of early morning, she fell into deep thoughts.

Now she calmed down, she thoroughly thinks about the reason why her eyes blinded with rage back there, and why she’s looking for a place to give her a peace of mind.

“I never thought I’ll be this freaking angry over a mere blanket.”

Her lips twitched after calling the blanket a ‘mere’.

No.

For Adira, the blanket isn’t just a mere fabric that will help her warm her cold night inside the cold house with a cold husband.

“It is something I received with love,” Adira murmured, thinking about the kids from the orphanage.

Then, she recalled the time when the kids gave her that.

“Miss Adira!” Marie, the head of the orphanage, called Adira.

“Yes, Miss Marie?”

Behind Marie, Adira saw the shy kids lining up. They were looking at Adira with their cute round eyes, curious whether it would be alright to approach a very pretty lady like her. Adira found them so cute.

“Ahmmm, actually, the kids have something to give,” Marie introduced. She stepped aside to show the kids who were eyeing Adira since the first time she stepped inside the orphanage.

“H-Hello,Miss Adira,” the kid’s representative, maybe the bravest one among all, said. He is a cute kid with blue eyes, golden curly hair, pluffy cheeks and red lips.

Adira can see the kids’ great future when it comes to beauty. ‘He will be super handsome someday,’ Adira believed while staring at the cute boy, who’s blushing so hard in front of her.

Adira knelt down to match the boy’s gaze. Then with sweet voice, she greeted, “Hello cute fellas. Did you eat your lunch well?”

“Yes!” the kids answered in unison.

A genuine smile slipped from her mouth. She couldn’t contain her excitement as a lady who’s wishing to have a kid of her own.

“Great,” she praised. “So, what do we have here?”

The kids looked at each other and then nodded their heads.

Adira bit her lower lip. Everything that the kids do makes her heart flutter.

“We heard that it is miss Adira who supports our home,” the boy said.

It is true. But along with her, there’s also Chadwick, who helped this place a lot. But Adira felt so selfish right now, she does not want to bring her husband’s name to the kids.

“And then, we heard from miss Marie that you had your birthday before,” the kid continued.

Eyes rounded; Adira looked to Marie. Then Marie smiled at her. She doesn’t know how Marie got the information.

“So, we wanted to give you our birthday gift.”

From behind, another girl stepped towards Adira and showed the red blanket.

Adira’s eyes sparkled.

She is a fan of branded goods; shoes, dress, jewelry and bags. But among everything she saw that blanket was priceless. It is made from poor fabric but for Adira, it is a great treasure.

“This is our gift for you,” the young girl said as she handled the red blanket.

“Happy birthday!” the kids shouted energetically.

Adira bit her lower lip, holding back the tears.

She never celebrated her birthday or accepted gifts from anyone. But that day, she felt so happy that she was born.

“Thank you so much, I will treasure it,” Adira said to the kids, then she hugged the blanket around her arms.

Miss Marie guided Adira out of the orphanage and shared, “You know, when the kids heard that you will be coming, they started saving some of their allowances to buy your gift.”

The kids saved from their mini allowances just to buy that blanket. That hurt Adira’s feelings after she saw the blanket around Isa’s shoulder.

Chadwick can hug and love Isa as much as he wanted, but to use that special blanket for her?

Adira got so annoyed.

Therefore, she couldn’t just fall asleep and walked out of their house to get a peace of mind.

The place she chose is none other than her favorite bar.

Adira entered the bar and sat in front of the counter. There are no bartenders who can serve her right now, so she decided to wait.

Until a tall, tanned, and handsome man appeared. He is the bartender with the name Geoffrey, whom Adira always sees flirting with women customers inside the bar. However, this bartender never served Adira before. It is as if he knew that flirting with the pretty Adira is crossing a taboo line.

“It’s been a long time, ma’am,” Geoffrey approached her with a smile.

Adira tilted her head in wonder.

‘Why did he suddenly act friendly to me?’ she pondered.

Then she remembered the day they met in the hospital, and he gave her a band-aid. She thought that maybe Geoffrey felt comfortable at her right now because of that incident. However, Adira does not know that their last encounter only happened 6 hours ago, when Jun helped her changed the tire of her car.

“How’s your foot?” he asked, displaying this sexy and captivating looks on his face.

Elena won’t deny it. This guy is really a scene stealer and a p*nty dropper. But again, she’s an exemption.

“Great. Thanks to you,” she replied. “But may I ask why you suddenly acted friendly?”

“Yes?”

“This is the first time you approached me, even when you started working here for almost a month ago.”

Geoffrey’s heart shape lips flinched. He kept the smile on his face and answered, “I got so shy because of madam’s beauty. So, I only had the courage to talk to you after our last encounter.”

“You mean when we met at the hospital?”

No.

Geoffrey only got the courage because he realized how important Adira is to his life; especially during his birthday.

“I guess so?” he replied with a faint beam.

“I thought you broke up with one of your girlfriends, so you got bored and wanted to hang out with me.”

“Girlfriends?”

"Every pretty customer is your girlfriend. You were flirting with everyone to be exact."

Geoffrey chuckled huskily then answered, "I’ll be so embarrassed if you put it that way, ma'am."

“Don’t be. I knew someone who would feel more embarrassed than you. Besides, I came here to drink, not to be your friend. So can I get my order?”

Geoffrey stared at her and stayed quiet for a long time.

He just witnessed how Adira drew the line between them, and he respected her so much. Still, he wanted to confirm if Adira is really married. He avoided her before because of that but he always sees her alone in the bar and without a ring around her finger.

“Can I be your order instead?” Geoffrey teased.

Adira chuckled after seeing how sly this man can be.

“You can’t. I’m married.”

As expected.

Geoffrey felt the second pain after knowing that she was out of his reach.

“I see,” he answered, nodding. “Then what do you want to…”

“I have a husband who always brings another woman in the house. Yes, that’s me,” Adira shared which stopped Geoffrey.

She only said that because she wanted to release her irritation. Adira does not know that those words will affect Geoffrey so much.

Clenching his fists, Geoffrey stared at the woman whom he secretly loved for long years.

He promised that he would only look at her from afar and would be contented with just that.

‘But a husband who brings another woman in their house?’

He felt so mad that he wanted to steal her from that bastard.

‘Adira, doesn’t deserve him,’ he said to himself while gritting his teeth.