𝐑𝐞𝐝𝐚𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐲

𝐓𝐖𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐘 𝐅𝐈𝐕𝐄

Adrian Newman

"Good morning," I say as I walk into the kitchen. Luckily, it's only Jeremy and Katherine there. Jeremy gives me a nod as a response.

"Morning," Katherine responds.

"Is Hope up yet?" I ask, trying not to show my excitement to see her. I've been wanting to see her since yesterday. Now, don't get me wrong I love spending time with Sophia. She's the most important person in my life but I was kind of, sort of, really looking forward to seeing Hope again.

I guess I enjoy her company now that we get along more than we used to. I feel closer to her ever since she hugged me. She hugged me. That's probably the last thing I thought she would do, but when she did it was like everything was gone and it was just us. I loved that she hugged me. I loved every second of it.

"Yeah, she's been up since six am," Katherine answers. Six in the morning? That's quite early. Does she have important plans or something? Hope doesn't usually get up this early.

I walk to the living room. I smile when I see Hope walking down the stairs. Have I mentioned that I've been wanting to see her? Yes, I have. Probably a shitload of times. I even felt selfish for wanting to see her while I was hanging out with Sophia. I've never loved my job more than I do today. Her eyes meet mine and she shoots me a small smile. That really pretty smile of hers drives me insane.

"Morning Adrian," God, I love the way she says my name.

"Morning Hope," I reply. I wonder if she loves the way I say her name just as much as I love the way she says mine.

"What'd you do yesterday?" she asks. I'm kind of caught off guard by her question. I can't tell if she's interested in what I did or is she acting like Nina. Is it bad that I wouldn't mind if Hope got jealous the way Nina does? I'm not one hundred percent sure if what Nina shows is even jealousy.

"I spent the day with my sister," I reply.

"You have a sister?" she asks. I'm pretty sure I mentioned Sophia before.

"Second, I want to keep the job because I have a younger sister to look out for, relationships are a no for me," I stated.

Yeah, I have mentioned her before, but I doubt Hope remembers. I mentioned Sophia when Hope hated me. I nod my head in response. "What's her name?" Hope asks.

"Sophia," I answer.

"That's a really pretty name." I smile and nod. I know that Sophia would like Hope if she met her and I feel like Hope would like her too.

"What did you do yesterday?" I ask. She most likely didn't go out because it was my day off.

"April came over and my mom made me go visit Leo with her," Hope answers. Leo. The asshole that I met when I first started working here. I don't understand how Hope dated him. There's nothing to him. I don't know how to respond so I just awkwardly smile and nod.

"Are we going out today?" I ask.

"Yeah, I'm craving ice cream," Hope adjusts her shirt. "I just need to grab my wallet," Hope says as she starts walking upstairs.

"Hold on," Hope stops and turns to face me. "We made an agreement. Did you forget?" I ask. She tilts her head in confusion and furrows her eyebrows. "You paid for my ice cream last time, it's my turn."

"I'm surprised you remembered," she replies.

"And I'm surprised you almost forgot." She smiles and rolls her eyes. God, she's adorable. "Same place as last time?" I ask. She jogs back down and nods her head.

We walked to the park. This time, she talked to me more than she did last time we walked to that same park. A lot more. I'm surprised she didn't catch me staring at her the entire time.

"Why do you do that?" Hope asks.

"Do what?" I ask in return.

"You bite the ice cream," she laughs softly.

"You say it like it's a bad thing to bite it."

"It's not," Hope sighs. "It's just, does it not hurt your teeth? Or maybe I just have sensitive teeth but I cannot bite my ice cream." I chuckle.

After we finished eating our ice creams, we walked around the park just talking. I still remember when she wanted me far away from her because she was embarrassed about having a bodyguard and look at us now. Walking side by side, being friends I suppose.

Just friends.

"It's getting dark, we should start heading back," I suggest. Hope nods.

"Hope!" Hope and I turn around and I see a guy walk toward us. A guy that I haven't seen before. I look at Hope confused.

"He's Leo's brother," Hope explains. Leo's brother hugs Hope tightly. "Hey Blake," she says while he's still hugging her. He's hugging her but she isn't hugging him. He even spins her around. He finally lets her go.

"How have you been?" Blake asks.

"I've been okay," Hope responds. She doesn't look comfortable around him, at all.

"We actually have to get going," I say. Leo's brother or Blake glares at me. Whatever his problem is, I don't care but what doesn't sit right with me is how uncomfortable Hope is. Hope nods her head.

"Are you her little boyfriend or something?" Blake asks.

"I'm her bodyguard," I correct him.

"I'm pretty sure Hope is eighteen, almost nineteen," Blake states. I know where he's going with the age mentioned. "Why does she need a bodyguard?"

"I don't think that's any of your business," I reply.

"Let's just go Adrian," Hope says. My eyes shift from Blake to Hope. I nod and we start walking away when Hope gets aggressively pulled back.

"I just wanna talk to you Hope." I shove him off of her and my fist meets his face. I don't punch him hard enough for him to fall to the ground, but hard enough to make his lip bleed.

"Don't fucking touch her." He tries to look intimidating by walking up to me. He's at least three inches shorter than me. He wipes the blood from his mouth and spits the rest of it on the grass. Please tell me he doesn't think he's scary.

"You're going to regret doing that," Blake threatens. And that's the only thing it is, a threat. I know this little boy won't do anything, he won't even try. I can put money on that.

"Yeah yeah, go tell your daddy," I chuckle. I look down at his hand which slowly turns into a fist. I smirk and poke the inside of my cheek with my mouth trying to hold in my laugh. I look at Hope who's just standing there, looking desperate to leave. "I'm gonna take her home now. Touch her again and I'll punch you hard enough for you to taste the grass."