EPISODE HUNDRED AND FORTY TWO
THEME: Caught in the act
MOON STONE FORTRESS
Adriel searched through the drawers in haste trying to get her hands on anything that could be valuable and something she could sell most importantly but she couldn’t find anything. One way or the other she had been able to sneak herself into Jaylen’s room hoping to get her hands on a gold or whatnot.
Since Adriel had an altercation with him in front of his fiancée, both Jaylen and Rosalyn have been avoiding her. Seeing there was no other way out, she needed to find a way for herself. Her meagre savings had been used to buy a plane ticket to fly over to the Fortress with her big dreams in mind to extort Jaylen. But now, it was all shattered before she could even piece them together. Her life seem like it would end as a result of all the mess she was in. She might eventually consider suicide and get some rest.
Adriel was so engrossed in finding something valuable that she had forgotten to lock the door. Her back was turned to it and she didn’t notice when Jaylen entered with Lorelei holding on to his arm. The both of them stared at each other in surprise.
Jaylen had no idea how Adriel had gotten into his room, considering the fact that guards roam about the hallway every seconds and you can’t be sniffing around a person’s room unless you have been permitted by the owner of the room which he was very certain that he didn’t.
“What are you doing, Adriel?” Jaylen’s voice boomed from behind.
Adriel froze on spot as her name was being called. Her mind had been so lost in thought in the search that she didn’t take note of her environment. She turned to face him and her hands shook violently when her eyes met with Jaylen’s eyes. Lorelei had a vicious sneer on her face clearly not having it.
“And how the hell did you get in here? Also why are you searching through his things? Did you keep anything that belongs to you in those drawers?” Lorelei glared at her.
Adriel whimpered when Lorelei made an attempt to stomp towards her but she was stopped by Jaylen.
“Please leave us for some minutes, Lorelei.” Jaylen said with his eyes not leaving Adriel.
“Jaylen!” Lorelei exclaimed not believing her ears. “She just attempted to steal from you. You should get her to be taken away by the guards!” She stormed her feet in annoyance.
“Lorelei!” There was a firmness in his tone and his eyes didn’t look friendly.
Lorelei gulped hard getting the message and she stormed out of the room slamming the door shut in the process. Still keeping his eyes on Adriel like a leopard would do on its prey, Jaylen moved to sit down on the couch in the room and he crossed his legs. He remained in a thoughtful position while Adriel scratched the back of her head like she had plans to tear off the skin.
“Sit down Adriel.” Jaylen instructed.
“I…I…. I…understand what you might be thinking…Jaylen but I promise…it…is…is not what you think. I would leave right this minute…but…but please don’t let anyone take me away.” Adriel stuttered in a breathless tone.
“Sit down!” He said with finality in his tone.
Adriel rushed to the couch and she sat down in a hurry with fear gripping her. She had never seen Jaylen in such form before and it scared her that she might have brought out a dark side of him.
“I am sorry.” Adriel muttered under her breath.
“Now listen Adriel, I would ask you these questions and I would love for you to give me sincere answers and hopefully to make things easier for the both of us. Am I clear?”
Adriel nodded like a rebuked child would. “Yes.”
“This isn’t the Adriel I know, your brightness was one of the reasons I was drawn to you in college. So what exactly happened between college days and this present moment?” Jaylen asked in a calm down.
Tears rolled down her face immediately as she made an attempt to speak. “Then truth is I didn’t come from a wealthy home. We were more of a middle class and I got to college on a student loan and also working part-time jobs. But then I met Brandon. He was the exact answers to my prayers because he was rich and with him I didn’t need to work any job. All that mattered was being his girl. Brandon is a rich spoilt kid, being the only child of his parents he could get whatever he wanted. I stopped owing any student loan as he paid them off and I felt like I owed him my whole life. Whatever Brandon wanted I did everything to please him. He delved into drugs and as his girlfriend it was required of him to always get high with him and that was the only thing he seek from me. It appeared like an easy task at first…” Adriel paused to sniff. “Until it became an addiction. Getting drugs was expensive but Brandon had every resources to get it and mine was just to enjoy it. However, his parents got a hold of his bad habit and eased him away to rehab in New York but I was stuck, then I got into debt trying to get drugs. My mother fell ill and she needed surgery. I was working for a while and tried to stay off pills. It worked out for sometime…but I got back to it when I lost my job and had to borrow money from a loan shark to pay off my mom’s surgery. I was so depressed that the little I got from doing part-time jobs were spent on purchasing cheap pills.” She cried.
” When I met you that day, you were like an angel sent from heaven so I thought you could be my next escape route out of the mess I was in.” Adriel continued crying.
Jaylen looked pained. “Why didn’t you just ask me for money instead of putting up all of this fuss?”
Adriel sniffed. “How was I to explain myself? I thought it would be better to just be your lover since you took some sort of interest in me. But I guess I thought wrong. I am sorry, Jaylen.” She bowed her head in shame and kept her gaze on her fiddling fingers.
Jaylen stood up and went to her. He held her hands and gave it a small squeeze. “I would have never judged you, Adriel. I respect you too much. You were one of the people that made college easy for me so why would I push you away when you need my help? I am so sorry that I didn’t see through all of this. Tell you what, you can stay here at the Fortress as long as you can and visit the infirmary too. There should be a rehabilitation center that would help you. And as soon as you are clear headed enough, I would put you in charge of a department at Moon Stone Group.”
Adriel look up at him. “You…you…don’t mean it?” She looked like she would burst into another round of tears.
“I mean every word. Come here.” Jaylen held her close to himself and hugged her tightly. “From this moment feel free to come to me whenever you want. I would always be at your beck and call.” He added.
Adriel shook violently with tears as she held onto him. “Thank you so much, Jaylen. And forgive me for almost ruining your relationship.”
“Don’t worry about that. What matters is you being fine.” He assured her.