Chapter 9: Things Left Unsaid
855 Words
Chapter 9: Things Left Unsaid
Ethan avoided Adrian for exactly one day.
It wasn’t intentional.
Well—it was.
But it didn’t work.
Because avoiding Adrian Blackwood in Blackwood Corporation was like trying to avoid gravity in a falling elevator.
Impossible.
Inevitable.
And exhausting.
---
“Ethan.”
He froze at the sound of his name.
Slowly turned.
Adrian stood at the end of the corridor, hands in his pockets, expression unreadable as always.
But his eyes—those always betrayed something.
Ethan straightened. “Sir.”
A pause.
“You weren’t in your assigned area this morning,” Adrian said.
Ethan nodded. “I was moved temporarily to document sorting.”
Another pause.
Then Adrian stepped closer.
Not fast.
Not aggressive.
Just deliberate.
“You’re avoiding the executive floor,” he said.
Ethan’s throat tightened. “I’m working where I’m assigned.”
A faint silence.
Then Adrian tilted his head slightly.
“That’s not what I asked.”
---
Ethan exhaled slowly.
“I just think it’s better if I stay focused on my department,” he said carefully.
Adrian studied him for a long moment.
Like he was reading something beneath the words.
Then he spoke.
“Are you afraid of me?”
The question hit harder than expected.
Ethan blinked. “No.”
Immediate.
Too immediate.
Adrian didn’t react.
Just waited.
Ethan sighed. “I’m not afraid of you.”
A pause.
“I’m just… trying to understand what this is.”
---
That made something shift in Adrian’s expression.
Subtle.
But real.
“You don’t need to understand it,” Adrian said.
Ethan frowned. “That doesn’t make sense.”
“It does,” Adrian replied.
Then, quieter:
“To me.”
That silence between them changed shape.
It wasn’t empty anymore.
It was heavy.
---
Before Ethan could respond, footsteps echoed behind them.
“Ah.”
Both turned.
Julian Park.
Leaning casually against the corridor wall like he had been there the entire time.
Ethan sighed internally.
“Again?” Ethan muttered.
Julian smiled. “I work here.”
“You show up everywhere I am,” Ethan said flatly.
“That’s called coincidence,” Julian replied.
Adrian’s gaze moved between them.
Sharp.
Observing.
Calculating.
---
Julian pushed off the wall and walked closer.
“CEO Blackwood,” he greeted lightly.
“Julian,” Adrian replied.
No warmth.
No hostility.
Just recognition.
But Ethan noticed something else.
Tension.
Subtle, controlled, buried—but present.
Like two people who understood too much about each other.
---
Julian glanced at Ethan.
“So,” he said, “how’s the internship treating you?”
Ethan frowned. “Confusing.”
Julian chuckled softly. “That’s a fair description.”
Adrian spoke then.
“Leave us,” he said.
Julian raised a brow. “I just arrived.”
“I didn’t invite you,” Adrian replied calmly.
A pause.
Then Julian sighed dramatically.
“Fine.”
But before leaving, he leaned slightly toward Ethan.
“Be careful,” he repeated quietly.
Ethan narrowed his eyes. “You already said that yesterday.”
Julian’s expression softened just slightly.
“Then it should be easier to understand,” he said.
And he left.
---
Silence returned again.
But this time, it felt tighter.
Ethan crossed his arms. “Is he always like that?”
“Like what?” Adrian asked.
“Cryptic.”
A pause.
Then Adrian said simply:
“Yes.”
That answered nothing.
Which, Ethan was starting to realize, was a pattern.
---
He looked up at Adrian.
“I need clarity,” Ethan said firmly.
Adrian didn’t move.
Didn’t interrupt.
So Ethan continued.
“You keep bringing me closer to you for work, then acting like I’m supposed to understand things I don’t even have context for.”
A beat.
“That message you sent me. The umbrella. The way you talk like I’m already part of something I don’t remember joining—”
He stopped.
Breath uneven.
Then quieter:
“I don’t like being kept in the dark.”
---
Adrian watched him for a long moment.
Long enough that Ethan almost regretted speaking.
Then Adrian stepped forward.
One step.
Only one.
But it changed everything.
“I am not keeping you in the dark,” Adrian said quietly.
Ethan frowned. “Then what is it?”
A pause.
Adrian’s voice lowered slightly.
“I am trying not to lose you again.”
Silence.
Sharp.
Immediate.
Ethan froze. “Again?”
Adrian didn’t answer immediately.
His expression tightened slightly.
Like he had said too much.
Too soon.
Too openly.
---
A long silence followed.
Then Adrian stepped back.
Resetting himself.
Controlled again.
CEO again.
“This conversation is over,” he said calmly.
Ethan stared at him.
“That’s it?” he asked.
Adrian met his eyes once more.
“Yes.”
A pause.
Then softer, almost imperceptible:
“For now.”
And then he walked away.
Leaving Ethan standing in the corridor—
with more questions than before.
And one dangerous certainty forming in his mind.
Whatever this was…
It didn’t begin three months ago.
It began long before Ethan remembered it.
- Writer
