When the Coldest Heart Fell

Chapter Two: He Came Back

The following afternoon, Elena was cleaning a table when the café door opened.

She looked up. And froze.

Adrian stood there again.

This time without the disguise.

Elena sighed. "Oh no."

His eyebrows lifted.

"That's your reaction?"

"Why are you back?"

"For coffee."

"There are approximately five hundred cafés in this city."

"I like this one."

"You complained about the coffee yesterday."

"I've reconsidered."

Elena crossed her arms.

Adrian walked toward his usual table.

"Americano."

"Black?" she asked.

He looked at her.

"You're learning."

"Unfortunately."

He sat down.

Elena shook her head.

But ten minutes later, she placed his drink on the table.

Adrian looked at the cup.

There was a tiny smiley face drawn on it.

He frowned.

"What is this?"

"A smile."

"I know what a smile looks like."

"I'm not convinced."

Elena walked away.

Adrian stared at the little face.

And against his will, the corner of his mouth moved.

His manager saw it. And nearly dropped his phone.

__________________

Adrian returned the next day.

And the next.

And again three days later.

Soon, everyone at the café understood something Elena stubbornly refused to admit.

Adrian Velez wasn't coming for the coffee.

He was coming for her.

And Adrian himself seemed furious about it.

He didn't like how easily she spoke to him.

He didn't like how she laughed at him.

He didn't like how she never treated him like a celebrity.

Most of all...

He didn't like the feeling that appeared whenever another man made Elena smile.

One afternoon, Adrian entered the café and stopped.

A young man was standing at the counter.

He was talking to Elena.

She laughed.

Adrian's expression turned dark.

His manager noticed immediately.

"Don't."

"I'm not doing anything."

"Your face is doing something".

Adrian ignored him.

The man handed Elena his phone.

Elena typed something into it.

Adrian's jaw tightened.

"What did she give him?"

His manager stared at him.

"Excuse me?"

"Her number?"

"I don't know."

"Find out."

"Adrian."

"Now."

His manager sighed.

"You are jealous."

"I'm not jealous."

"You look like you're considering buying this café just so you can ban that man."

Silence.

His manager's eyes widened.

"Adrian."

"What?"

"Do not buy the café."

"I wasn't going to."

"You were thinking about it."

Adrian stood.

His manager grabbed his arm.

"Don't embarrass yourself."

Adrian looked at the hand on his sleeve.

It disappeared immediately.

He walked to the counter.

Elena looked up.

"Oh. You're here."

"Who was that?"

Elena blinked. "Who?"

"The man."

"What man?

"The one who was standing here."

"Why?"

Adrian's expression hardened.

"Did you give him your number?"

Elena stared at him.

Then realization appeared in her eyes.

"Are you jealous?"

"No."

She smiled.

Adrian hated that smile.

Mainly because it made his heart behave strangely.

"You are."

"I asked you a question."

"And I'm choosing not to answer."

"Elena."

Her smile vanished.

"Adrian."

His voice dropped

"Don't give random men your number."

Elena's eyebrows rose.

"And who exactly are you to tell me that?"

Adrian stopped.

He had no answer.

He wasn't her boyfriend.

He wasn't her husband.

He wasn't even sure they were friends.

Yet the thought of another man having access to her made something dark and possessive awaken inside him.

Elena stepped closer.

"You don't own me, Adrian."

His gaze lowered to hers. "I know."

"Then stop acting like you do."

For once, his voice softened.

"I'm trying."

That surprised her.

His eyes remained on hers.

"But I'm discovering I'm not particularly good at it."

Elena's heartbeat stumbled.

She quickly looked away.

"You have a very serious problem."

"I know."

"What are you going to do about it?"

Adrian looked at her for a long moment.

Then quietly said, "Probably fall in love with you."

Elena froze.

He took his coffee from the counter.

And walked away as though he hadn't just turned her entire world upside down.

What Elena didn't know yet was that loving Adrian wouldn't be simple.

His fame would expose her to a world she had never wanted.

Jealous actresses would humiliate her.

Reporters would investigate her family.

Adrian's powerful mother would believe an ordinary café worker wasn't good enough for her son.

And Adrian's greatest flaw, his desperate need to protect and control everything he loved, would eventually become the very thing that pushed Elena away.

Because Elena would teach him something no one else had ever dared to teach him:

Love wasn't possession.

Protection wasn't control.

And if Adrian truly loved her, he would have to learn how to hold her hand without holding her captive.

But before that lesson came heartbreak.

Jealousy.

Separation.

A secret from Adrian's past.

And the moment when the coldest man in the country would stand before an ordinary girl, stripped of his pride, and finally admit:

"I could have anyone, Elena. But you're the first person who ever made me understand that having everyone means nothing when the one person I love chooses to walk away."