Chapter- 9
798 Words
By the time Hannah reached home that night, she was exhausted. The moment she stepped out of the car, she noticed someone standing near the gate.
Adrian.
He was leaning against his car with his arms crossed, his expression unusually serious. The moment he saw her, he straightened and walked toward her.
“You finally came.”
Hannah stopped a few steps away from him. “What are you doing here?”
“I called you.”
She glanced at her phone. There were several missed calls from him.
“I was working.”
“You couldn't answer even once?”
“I was busy, Adrian.”
His eyes narrowed slightly. “You've been avoiding me.”
Hannah almost laughed. “Have I?”
“Yes.” He stepped closer. “You leave parties early, you barely talk to me, and now you're spending all your time at Blackstone. I don't even know what you're thinking anymore.”
“Maybe you don't need to.”
His expression changed.
“Hannah.”
She sighed. “What do you want?”
“I want to know what's going on with us.”
She looked at him quietly.
Adrian continued, “We're supposed to be getting married. You've known that for months. But lately, every time I bring it up, you act like it's something you need to escape from.”
Hannah looked toward the house before meeting his eyes again.
In her previous life, she had been so eager to marry him that she would have done anything to keep him happy.
Now the thought of marrying Adrian made her chest feel strangely heavy.
Not because she loved him less.
Because she remembered exactly where that marriage had taken her.
“I need time,” she said.
Adrian stared at her.
“Time for what?”
“To think.”
“About marrying me?”
“Yes.”
His jaw tightened. “You need time to decide whether you want to marry me?”
“I need time to decide what I want.”
“Hannah, we've been together long enough for you to know.”
She looked at him calmly. “Maybe that's the problem.”
He didn't understand.
She didn't expect him to.
“You're asking me to make a decision about the rest of my life,” she said. “I don't think I should make that decision just because everyone expects me to.”
Adrian's voice softened. “Do you not love me?”
Hannah paused.
That question would have destroyed her once.
Now it only reminded her of the man he would become.
“I didn't say that.”
“Then what are you saying?”
“That I need time.”
He looked at her for several seconds.
“How much?”
“I don't know.”
“That isn't an answer.”
“It is the only one I have.”
Adrian looked frustrated, but Hannah didn't move.
Finally, he stepped back.
“Fine. Take your time.”
She nodded.
“Goodnight, Adrian.”
She turned toward the gate.
“Hannah.”
She stopped but didn't turn around.
“Don't make me wait forever.”
Her fingers tightened around her bag.
“I won't.”
Then she walked inside.
She didn't look back.
Once she reached her bedroom, Hannah closed the door and dropped her bag onto the chair. She changed into something comfortable before sitting on the edge of her bed.
She should have been thinking about Adrian.
About the engagement.
About the decision she had just asked for time to make.
Instead, her thoughts returned to the afternoon.
Mr. Blackstone standing in front of her.
His hand around her wrist.
The way he had stopped the coffee from spilling.
And then those words.
Maybe I was curious.
You.
Hannah covered her face with both hands.
“Why am I even thinking about this?”
She lowered her hands and stared at the ceiling.
It wasn't as if anything had happened between them.
He was her chairman.
She was his employee.
That was all.
At least, it should have been.
But she couldn't forget the way he had looked at her.
There had been something different in his eyes.
Curiosity.
Interest.
Maybe she was imagining it.
Hannah shook her head and reached for her phone.
A message from Adrian was still waiting.
She didn't open it.
Instead, she placed the phone beside her and lay back on the bed.
Tomorrow she would go to Blackstone.
She would work.
She would investigate the company connected to Hawthorne.
And she would stop thinking about her chairman.
At least, that was what she told herself.
But somewhere in the back of her mind, one question refused to disappear.
Why was Mr. Blackstone curious about her?
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