The Summer When I met You

CHAPTER THREE

Two months later…

            “When are you planning to come back?”  Ludmilla asked her grandson.

            Adam, at that time, was just striding down the Edinburgh airport, pulling his luggage with him as his co-passengers passed him by.  He wore his eyeglasses over his glassy blue eyes, his burnished brown locks in a stylish quaff that emphasized his smooth forehead.  His aquiline nose sniffed delicately at the air, smelling the distinct smell of grass and trees coming from outside the airport.

            Thank God I made it!

            Adam smiled widely.  Scotland was one of the places he wanted to visit when he had the time to escape from everything.   For the past months, he had been to different countries in Europe.  He had been to Paris, the United Kingdom and France.  Although the irony was lost on him.  Most of his associates would remind him of finding the right girl to bring out on a vacation like this but like always, Adam took his work as his priority.  His father’s demands to ensure that the company would be as flourishing as the time he made it so.  His need to keep his father’s expectations and to show him that even if he was the only son he has, he can rely on him to make sure that the company will not fall into ruin.  Soon enough, women were either married, widowed or looking for a bank account to sink into.  He was sick of it. 

            He towed his luggage as his grandmother continued to rant about his stepmother’s latest paramour.  His father didn’t wait for the mourning period to end before he married the woman who was his stepmother.  His new mother was the epitome of all the women who wanted to marry him for his fame and fortune.  Not even a few days of honeymoon happened when the round of drinking parties occurred.   At first it was all about socialization.  He had believed his father when he told him that it was just a simple gathering of his associates to introduce his new wife.  When it became a constant event, where even Adam could see that he was being exploited by the very people whom he thought was family, Adam decided to take matters in his own hands. 

When he was young, he had no choice but to bow down his father’s rule.  Adam had tried to care for his ailing mother on his own since his father was so focused in his work that he rarely comes home.  It was a wonder really that Richard had married such a sweet soul as Jasmine Saunders.  But Adam was the one who had created Saunders & Associates into the empire that it was today, with his father’s trophy wife wasting only all of his father’s savings.

Adam hid a smirk as his grandmother stopped midway in her ranting to take a sip of water before launching on another tirade.  His stepmother, Cecilia, will never be able to take hold of anything that his father and mother owns.

Not if I can help it. – He vowed silently.

He gave specific instructions to Bryce on what should be done during his absence.  Ever since the blasted woman tried to dominate his office with her demands on how to make it into a company that she could manage, Bryce and Adam had pooled their efforts to create layers and layers of rules and regulations regarding Cecilia.  He will make sure that that woman will never be able to step foot in his company, take anything from his home or abuse his workers.  His father may have been easy to fool but he will never be the same.  He will make sure that when he meets the woman he would marry it would be a woman worthy of everything that he had worked for.  His mother is after all a tough act to follow.

Adam absentmindedly smiled as the teller handed back his passport.  He steadily made his way through the airport, his mind going a mile a minute with the itinerary that Bryce had given him for this part of his journey.

“I do hope you know what you are doing, son.  I don’t want to hear you getting into any accidents or stuffs like that or else.”  His grandmother suddenly mumbled making Adam smile widely.  His smile caused some of the female attendants stop in their tracks and the females follow his progress through the airport, contemplating whether it would be appropriate to strike up a conversation.

It’s not that Adam was a typical American billionaire.  He wore tasteless clothing to make him inconspicuous and even styled his hair in his usual quaff.  But the way that he carried himself was like most of the Hollywood actors that would sometimes grace the airport.  Some loitering journalists were looking his way, gauging who he might be, readying if he was a famous actor or politician.  Needless to say, he was oblivious as always.

His shaded eyes were looking through the crowd, his attention no longer on his grandmother’s continuous rants and mumblings.  He never gave the attention of others any thought as his eyes sought out the person that he hadn’t seen for a long time.

“Adam!”  a voice called out.

Adam turned and looked for the owner of the voice.  His eyes connected with a tall blond man with a shaggy mustache and twinkling blue eyes.

Smiling widely, Adam pushed forward and clasped the other man’s shoulder.  They were almost of the same height, Adam being a foot taller in his 6-foot frame of steel muscle.  The journalists perked up when they recognized the older man as the millionaire, Julius Reinhart.

“Glad you could make it.”  He greeted with a slap on Adam’s back.  He staggered a bit as the weight of Julius’ hand almost made him throw up his lunch but he refused to show the man how affected he was.  He grimaced before rubbing his sore shoulder.

“Yeah, thanks for inviting me.  I just want to see the sights that make Scotland so…”  Adam trailed off as both of them emerged from the airport only to stop dead in front of their travelling vehicle, a gleaming black 2017 Nissan GT-R.

Adam raised his eyebrows at his friend who openly chuckled at his flabbergasted expression.

“What?  You don’t want to travel in style?”  He quipped with a mischievous chuckle.  He pulled Adam’s luggage onto the trunk.  Adam shook his head as he shifted his briefcase onto his other arm.

“It’s not that.  I didn’t expect this to be available in the market when the Ford Focus ST came into the market.”  He mused before riding shotgun while Julius buckled up in the driver’s seat.  Both men were car enthusiasts and would have gone into the car business if they hadn’t been too focused on work.

“Yeah.  I was really planning to buy that but this called to me.  It spoke to me about love, man.  It was something I couldn’t miss.”  Julius replied as he put the car into gear.

“ ‘It spoke to me about love’?  Man, how could that happen?  You don’t get married to a car, dude.”  Adam replied back teasingly.  Instead of replying, Julius became silent, almost circumspect.  After a while he shook his head.

“I just, I don’t know if it’s even something to brag about.  I felt connected to this car somehow.  Like something happened to me to make this car mean something, you know.  I just can’t put a name on it.”  He merely replied.

Thinking of his own red Ferrari sitting in his condo unit parking lot, Adam could somehow relate.  It was the first car that he wanted for his own and he was not even hesitant in buying it.  But falling in love with, that he somehow doubted could happen.

“Hey, let’s get something to eat.  We don’t have food ready for you at home but I know this place that you’ll love.”  Julius continued, his sudden lapse forgotten.  After all, all things take second seat in terms of food.