Thousand Years

CHAPTER 16- The Yellow Porsche

Present day

Alora woke up early next morning. She had had a dream about her and Adrian. It was ridiculous how the entire scenery felt like it was something real that had happened years ago. She thought it must be because she had her head full of Adrian when she had gone to bed last night. She smiled to herself as she got down from the bed. 

She tidied her bed, cleaned a slightly messed up room and called home. It had been a long time since she actually called her sister. 

“Hey Sis, how are you?”

“Lora! Mom it’s Lora!!”, he sister Arina shouted over the phone.

“ I am fine. How are you? And before you ask, mom is doing fine. Do you have a boyfriend now? Why have you not called us in so long?” Arina went on without giving her a chance to speak.

Lora laughed at her little sister’s excited voice. Despite everything she had to go through, she still was a bright person.  

“I am good. I was a bit busy with my jobs and college you know. How’s school?” Lora asked.

“It’s all good. Aunt Mary is staying with us these days to take care of mom while I am at school. By the way Lora, about mom’s surgery, what are we going to do? We don’t have much time” ,Arina was now whispering over the phone.

“Don’t worry. I have it all under control. I will transfer half of the payment tomorrow.” said Lora.

“How on earth did you find the money? How many part time jobs are you doing? Are you even going to college?” Arina kept shooting questions at her once again.

“ Yes yes, you stupid. Calm down. I am getting ready to go for lectures even now. Tell mom that I love her. And take care. Don’t get in trouble.”

“Okay Lora!. You too! Take care. And tell me about your boyfriend next time.”

Lora hung up the phone with a smile. She missed her. She missed all the times they used to fight over the dumbest things. She missed the times when they had late night gossip sessions when their mother thought they were sleeping. She wondered why she kept mentioning a boyfriend. Was Adrian her boyfriend? She did not think so. They had a strange relationship. On one hand he was her customer, on the other hand he was taking her on dates and trying to become her friend.

Lora sighed as she went to have a shower. She was going to get late if she kept on thinking about her relationship status with Adrian any longer.

Aidrian twisted and turned in his bed, trapped in a nightmare that he had not had in a long time. It was a memory that had tortured him for years. He woke up with sweat dripping from his forehead to hear someone knocking on his door.

“Come in”

“Good Morning Sir, sorry if I woke you up. I have all the files and the police reports on the case. Thankfully there were scanned copies of the original report in their database.” Ms Kim went on.

It took some time for Adrian to comprehend what she was talking about. Then he realized this must be about Mr. Jason’s statement.

“Thank You Ms Kim”

“Are you okay, Mr. Adrian?” she asked, concern evident in her voice.

“Yes, yes Ms. Kim. I guess I did not sleep well.”

“I will ask the housekeeper to send you some Camomile tea. It will help you calm down.” said Ms.Kim as she left.

Adrian tried to shake the nightmare away. He had to call Lora. He needed to check if she was alright. He took his phone from the bedside and quickly dialed Lora.

“Hey Lora! Good Morning”

“Hello Adrian, Good Morning. What’s up?”

“Are you okay? What are you doing?”

“Yes I am fine Adrian, I am getting ready to go to college.”

“Great, I’ll pick you up in 10 minutes.”

“But, Adrian.. Hello? Adrian?”

He had not waited for Lora to say anything. He jumped out of bed so that he could have a quick shower and get dressed.  He was eager to see Lora again.

Adrian came down dressed in his casual t shirt and jeans. Breakfast was ready downstairs. He thought of taking some for Lora.

Maria was busy arranging the table when he came downstairs. She was a neat old woman who kept his huge house in place.

"Good morning Maria, can you please pack some of these to go. There's someone who needs this more than I do"

"Sure thing Sir. You can have your breakfast while I pack some." She said.

He ate two pieces of toast while gulping down the orange juice that was on his table. He had no appetite.  He just ate for the sake of eating. Maria came with a small box and a bottle filled with orange juice.

She was a bit surprised since Adrian had never asked for something like this before.

He took the box and the bottle from Maria , thanked her and went to his garage.

Several cars, SUVs and bikes filled his garage. Starting from the very corner was a white Supra, a black benz, latest Audi and the list went on. He thought of riding his Y2K for a change but thought against it since Lora will be riding with him.

He took the key for the nearest Porsche and got in. He dropped a quick message to Lora saying he will be there in five minutes.

The street was already buzzing with people when the bright  yellow Porsche emerged out of the mansion's gate. 

Aiden took a shortcut so that he would get to Lora's apartment on time.

The doorbell rang making Lora jump up in surprise. It hardly ever rang. She made sure she paid her rent on time so the landlady never showed up at her door. She rarely invited her friends over to her place. So naturally she thought it must be Aiden  

She rolled her eyes as she went to open the door.

"Hey! I was about to come downstairs. I think I'm already late" , said Lora. 

"Chill, I'll take you there on time. Now please have this homemade breakfast", said Adrian emphasizing on the word 'home-made" which got a raised eyebrow from Lora.

"Surely you did not make this." Aiden shrugged as he kept the small lunch box and the bottle of juice on the table.

He looked around the apartment. It was a small space, smaller than his bedroom.  It had a small pantry and a door which he assumed led to a bathroom. On the corner was a table where a laptop was kept.

It was neat but extremely small. Adrian simply couldn’t imagine living in such a small space. His mind wandered back to the time he was banished from the Silver City.

He was sent to Earth. Stranded in a small village in England, he had nothing and no one to turn to. A Father from a small church had taken him in. He did not have a proper background story. He just had two large crescent shaped wounds on his back where his once majestic white wings used to be. Over the years, his wings had grown back and the wounds completely healed. But they were not the same white ones. Now they were as black as the winter’s night.

“Adrian..?” , he was brought back to present by Lora’s voice.

“Yes?” 

“We are getting late. Did you have breakfast?”

“Oh! Yes. Let’s get going if you are done eating.” he said looking at the remaining food pointedly.

“Yep. I’m done. Taking the juice with me. Let’s go.” she said as she took the backpack from the chair.

“Woohoo! You came in this?” asked Lora with an amused smile motioning to his yellow Porsche.

“Yes. Why?”

“You are going to drop me to college in this car?” she asked again.

“Yes Lora. Get in.”, he said as he got into the driver’s seat.

Lora shook her head as she got in from the other side. 

“Like how many cars do you have?” she asked since she had already seen three of his cars.

“I’ll show you one day.” he said with a smirk and pulled into the road.

Lora was at the college car park in ten minutes. Adrian quickly stepped out to open the door for her.

“What’s the lecture you have today?” he asked her.

She nervously looked around to see a lot of eyes on her. Probably because of the flashy car and the flashy man who was now looking at her with a smile.

“Eh umm.. Modern Literature.”

“When should I come to pick you up?”

“You don’t have to, Adrian.”. By the look on his face she knew he was not going to take no for an answer.

She rolled her eyes as she replied. “Okay fine. At 1.00pm”

“Great I’ll see you then” He pecked her cheek, got into the car and left.

What was that! Lora was still looking at the place he just stood. Too shocked to move. Did he just kiss me on the cheek?,

“OMG! Lora! Is that your boyfriend?” asked Anna who was now jumping up and down with excitement.

“You never told me. You guys look so cute together.”

Lora had not even noticed Anna coming towards her.

“Hi Anna, Eh.. Not exactly. Kind of. I don’t know”. Lora said blushing.

“Oh Come on Lora! You can not seriously not like him. He looked gorgeous.” said Anna as she linked her arm with Lora.

“Let’s go to the lecture.” Lora said. She already knew she won’t be able to focus on the lecture.

Adrian pulled into the college parking lot sharp at 1.00pm. He observed the surroundings and the people as he waited for Lora to come.

Slowly students started coming into the parking lot in ones and twos. He saw Alora coming with another girl and a boy who seemed to be her boyfriend. 

Suddenly a boy came from nowhere and started talking with Alora. By the looks of it he seemed to be flirting with her. Adrian did not like it even a bit. He quickly stepped out of the  car. 

Alora probably noticed him because she waved her friends and Derek goodbye and came towards Adrian.

"Hey!"

He greeted her while his eyes stayed on the guy who was just talking to her.

"Who was that? " Adrian asked with no emotion whatsoever in his voice.

"Oh that was my friend Anna and her boyfriend."

"No, the other guy, who was that? "

"You mean Derek? He's someone who is in the same class as we are. Why?" asked Alora.

She was curious as to why Adrian was so interested in Derek.

"Nothing. Let's get you some food.  Get in." , he said smiling back at her.

"Don't you have work to do, Adrian?"

"Well I do. But i don't run any companies anymore. I just invest in them so not much work to do. " he said with a slight shrug. 

"Why do you ask. You wanna get rid of me that bad?"

"No! No. It's just I was wondering how you manage to babysit me while you work. "

He chuckled and said ,"Even I'm surprised."

They have agreed to order takeout and eat at Alora's apartment. She had to get changed and leave for her next part-time job, so she would rather eat at home.

"Why don't you rent a bigger place Lora?,asked Adrian, fully knowing how many part-time jobs she does.

"Can't afford to. And besides, this is more than enough for me."

Adrian wanted to ask her to come live with him. After all, his house was huge and only he lived on the entire upper floor. But he knew it was not the place nor the time.

They ordered Chinese and sat in Lora’s small dining table and ate it. Adrian scrolled through his phone while Lora got changed. So many thoughts ran through his mind.

Adrian’s car stopped by at the convenience store by 3.45pm. “Thank you for today Adrian, you really did not have to do this” she said.

“And I would do it again” Adrian said as he leaned towards her, looking straight into her eyes. They were still inside the car, and Lora felt her heart racing. She could not believe the affect this man had on her.

“Take care Lora, I would pick you up from Exotic when your shift is over. I have some work in the evening.” he was almost whispering in her ear, his breath fanned her face and she almost closed her eyes.

He pulled back and said with a smirk, “Go on then, I thought you were getting late”.

Lora quickly got off from the car, her cheeks red. What was she thinking? Did she want him to kiss her again? She knew she liked it, even if it was just a peck on the cheek.

“Wake up Lora, what on earth are you thinking. What’s wrong with you”, she went into the store muttering to herself.