AN UNEXPECTED EVENING
1479 Words
The first thing I noticed on Monday morning was that Adrian Vale had not sent me a single email.
By eleven, I was beginning to appreciate the silence.
By noon, I was suspicious of it.
“He's probably in New York,” Sophie said when I mentioned it over lunch.
“How do you know?”
“Because I looked at the company announcements.”
I stared at her.
“You looked him up?”
“I looked up the company.”
“Sure.”
She smiled.
“Don't worry. I'm not secretly planning your billionaire wedding.”
“Good.”
“Although the flowers would be incredible.”
I laughed and shook my head.
My life had become significantly stranger since Adrian walked back into it.
Not because I knew him.
I didn't.
That was the strange part.
I had spent weeks around a man who insisted that I was someone from his past, while I continued living a life that had nothing to do with the woman he remembered.
And lately, something had changed.
He wasn't as hostile anymore.
He was still intimidating. Still impatient. Still capable of making an entire conference room go silent by simply looking at someone.
But with me, there were moments when he seemed to forget he was supposed to be angry.
I had started noticing them.
I wished I hadn't.
Because noticing them made me curious.
And curiosity was dangerous.
Especially where Adrian Vale was concerned.
That afternoon, I had another meeting about the international campaign.
Adrian wasn't there.
His chief operating officer was.
For some reason, I was disappointed.
I immediately hated that.
The meeting lasted two hours.
By the time I returned to my office, there was a message waiting on my desk.
Mr. Vale would like the revised proposal by Wednesday.
Nothing else.
No explanation.
I read it twice.
Then I laughed.
Of course.
Apparently, even when he wasn't in the building, Adrian Vale still found a way to give me work.
I spent the rest of the afternoon revising the proposal.
By six, most of the office had emptied.
I was packing my laptop when my phone rang.
Sophie.
“Please tell me you're free tonight.”
I glanced around my office.
“Why?”
“Because I have tickets.”
“To what?”
“A charity dinner.”
I groaned.
“Sophie.”
“Don't.”
“I hate charity dinners.”
“You've never been to this one.”
“They're still dinners.”
“You like food.”
“That's not the point.”
“Lilian.”
I sighed.
“What are you wearing?”
She laughed.
“I knew you'd say yes.”
The dinner was held at a hotel overlooking the river.
It was elegant without being painfully formal, which was the only reason I didn't regret agreeing to go.
Sophie had spent the entire drive there telling me about a photographer she was working with.
She had been offered a position on a major campaign and was trying to decide whether to accept it.
“You should,” I told her.
“I know.”
“Then what's the problem?”
“I'd have to travel.”
“You love travelling.”
“I do.”
She looked out the window.
“I think I'm scared.”
I smiled.
“Of what?”
“Failing.”
I turned toward her.
“You know you can be good at something and still be afraid.”
She looked at me.
“You always do that.”
“Do what?”
“Make things sound simple.”
“They aren't simple.”
“Exactly.”
I smiled.
“Then stop overthinking it.”
She laughed.
“Look who's talking.”
Fair enough.
We entered the hotel.
The ballroom was already full.
I recognized several people from the fashion industry, along with politicians, executives, and celebrities.
We found our table and settled in.
For the first hour, everything was perfectly normal.
I ate.
Sophie talked.
I laughed.
Someone at the table told an embarrassing story about a designer we'd both worked with.
It was easy.
Comfortable.
Then I looked across the room.
And saw Adrian.
He was standing with several businessmen near the bar.
Black suit.
White shirt.
No tie.
He looked completely at home in the room.
Of course he did.
He belonged in places like this.
I looked away.
“You saw him.”
I glanced at Sophie.
“Who?”
She gave me a look.
“Don't.”
I sighed.
“Adrian.”
“Yes.”
“He's probably here for business.”
“Probably.”
“Don't make it weird.”
“I haven't said anything.”
“You're thinking loudly.”
She laughed.
I ignored her.
A few minutes later, one of the organizers approached our table.
“Ms. Brooks?”
“Yes?”
“Mr. Vale would like to speak with you.”
I looked across the room.
Adrian was already looking at me.
I stood.
“Excuse me.”
I followed the organizer toward the balcony.
Adrian was waiting there.
“I didn't know you were coming,” he said.
“I didn't know you were.”
“I wasn't planning to.”
“Neither was I.”
He looked at me.
“Apparently, neither of us is very good at following plans.”
I smiled.
“Apparently.”
For a moment, we simply stood there.
The music from the ballroom drifted through the open doors.
“You look nice,” he said.
I blinked.
It was such an ordinary thing to say that it caught me completely off guard.
“Thank you.”
He looked away.
“I mean the dress.”
I laughed.
“I know what you meant.”
He gave me a small smile.
There it was again.
That rare expression that made him look younger.
Less intimidating.
Almost normal.
“What?” he asked.
“Nothing.”
“You're staring.”
“I was thinking.”
“Dangerous.”
I laughed.
“You're in a good mood tonight.”
“Am I?”
“Yes.”
“Maybe I am.”
He leaned against the railing.
“How's Sophie?”
I looked at him.
“You remember her?”
“I remember people.”
“Apparently.”
He looked toward the ballroom.
“She's been good to you.”
“She has.”
“You've known her long?”
“Five years.”
He nodded.
“Five years.”
Something in his tone made me look at him.
He was staring out at the city.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
He shook his head.
“You said five years.”
“Yes.”
He looked at me.
“That's a long time.”
“It is.”
“What were you doing before then?”
The question was innocent.
Probably.
But my stomach tightened.
I looked away.
“Living.”
He smiled faintly.
“That's vague.”
“It's private.”
“Fair enough.”
He didn't push.
I appreciated that.
We stood there for another minute.
Then someone called his name from inside.
He straightened.
“I should go.”
“Business?”
“Always.”
I smiled.
“Right.”
He started walking away.
Then stopped.
“Lilian.”
“Yes?”
“Would you like to have dinner with me?”
I stared at him.
He seemed to realize how that sounded.
“For the project,” he added quickly.
I raised an eyebrow.
“Of course.”
“We need to discuss the campaign.”
“Tomorrow?”
“Yes.”
I pretended to consider it.
“Fine.”
“Good.”
He walked away.
I watched him disappear into the ballroom.
Then Sophie appeared beside me.
“You are not going to believe this.”
I turned.
“What?”
She stared at me.
“You just agreed to dinner with Adrian Vale.”
I laughed.
“It is a business dinner.”
“Sure.”
“It is.”
“Okay.”
She smiled.
“But you smiled.”
“I smile.”
“Not like that.”
I rolled my eyes.
“You're impossible.”
“And you're blushing.”
“I am not.”
She laughed.
I looked toward the ballroom.
Adrian was speaking to someone.
He glanced over.
Our eyes met.
Neither of us looked away immediately.
Then he smiled.
Not the polite smile he'd given investors.
Not the restrained one he'd given me before.
A real one.
Small.
Almost unconscious.
And for reasons I couldn't explain, I smiled back.
Neither of us knew it yet.
But something had shifted.
Not dramatically.
Not enough to call it love.
Not even close.
It was simply the beginning of something neither of us had planned for.
And perhaps that was what made it dangerous.
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