The three of them enjoyed a wonderful meal talking about trivial day to day things after they had settled matters concerning Nina being Dr. Rothstein’s assistant. Once they had finished, they adjourned to a lavish sitting room. Rothstein sat in a high backed and cushioned chair and Nina and Adrienne sat kitty corner to him on a couch.
“So, how have things been going between the two of you?” Rothstein asked with a cleaver grin on his face.
Nina and Adrienne both blushed. It was strange to be asked this question. How could they possibly answer it? Nina lowered her head a bit kneading her hands in her lap, clearly nervous. Adrienne looked over at her and couldn’t help but to chuckle seeing her look that way. She shot him a look that asked what he thought he was laughing at.
Rothstein chuckled. “I didn’t mean to put you on the spot; I just wanted to make sure things were going well. Though I suppose from looking at you two I shouldn’t have to even ask.”
Adrienne reached over and put his arm around Nina pulling her over closer to him. “I already told you Dad, things are awesome,” he said with a big smile.
Nina closed her eyes and smiled as she rested against him. “Yeah, he really is something else, something special. Adrienne really does mean a lot to me,” she said softly.
Adrienne looked down at her and brushed a stray hair off of her forehead. He could see she was getting tired. “Dad, it’s getting late. Do you mind if I take Nina home?”
Rothstein smiled softly and nodded. He actually felt a twinge of guilt seeing them together and hearing Nina talk about Adrienne as she had. To see his son looking so happy, it was all he’d ever wanted for him deep down. He had to remind himself though that Nina was an important part of his plans despite the fact that his son cared about her so much. If all went well though both he and Adrienne would get what they wanted from her.
“I’ll have Jeffery bring the car around to the front. Wait here until I get back alright?” he said as he got up to leave the room.
Adrienne nodded. “Thanks Dad.”
A little while later he returned with Nina’s jacket and handed it to her before walking with Nina and Adrienne to the car. When they got there, Rothstein opened the door for Nina while Adrienne went around to the other side of the car. “Thank you for joining us tonight Nina and I’ll see you tomorrow morning in class. Take care.”
“Thank you for having me Dr. Rothstein,” she said with a smile as he closed the door to the car and stepped back.
With Adrienne and Nina safely inside, the car pulled away heading back for Central City. “Jeffery, can you drop us off just outside of the city?” Adrienne asked leaning forward and putting his hand on the back of the driver’s seat to keep him steady.
“Excuse me Master Adrienne? Are you sure?” Jeffery asked as he looked into the rear view mirror to see him.
“Yes Jeffery, I want to walk Nina back to the dorms. Besides I don’t think it would look very good if we dropped her off and someone saw it. Most everyone knows that she and I are seeing each other but well…”
Jeffery chuckled. “I understand Young Master; I’ll stop just within the city and wait for you to come back.”
“Thanks Jeffery, I appreciate,” he said as he sat back in his seat again. He then looked over at Nina. “That’s OK with you right? I just want a little time alone before I have to bring you home.”
Nina just chuckled. “I don’t mind at all.”
Once they got into the city Jeffery did as Adrienne had asked and stopped letting them out. He then parked in an alley out of the way to wait for Adrienne to come back. They started walking back towards the school Adrienne taking Nina’s hand in his as they walked.
“I’m sorry I lied to you about how close to the school I lived. Jeffery actually does that for me most days so I don’t stand out so much,” he explained looking a little embarrassed.
Nina just laughed. “Don’t worry about it, I understand. I used to hate it when I was little and my Dad would walk Amy and me to school. It was always so awkward considering how well known he is, I can imagine it’s a lot the same for you.”
Adrienne laughed. “Yeah…” he said softly stopping. Suddenly he looked a really nervous.
Nina stopped when he did and looked over at him. “Are you OK?” she asked letting go of his hand and taking a step around him so she could face him. “You don’t look well.”
Adrienne lowered his head and took a deep breath. He’d actually been waiting for the right time to say what was on his mind and this was the first time they’d really been alone so he could. He felt like he had a pit in his stomach and that he could actually vomit he was that nervous. “Um Nina?”
She bent forward a bit trying to get a look at his face. “Come on Adrienne, this isn’t funny. What’s wrong?”
Quickly he lifted his head and took in a deep breath. He then put his hands on her shoulders and looked her directly in her crimson gold eyes. “Nina, there’s something I need to say to you.” Adrienne’s own eyes looked focused and intent, the moon light making the blue of those eyes look almost ocean like and the feeling Nina got when looking into them was just as vast. Nina’s breath caught in her chest. “Nina… I… well I…” the expression on his face softened and he put his hand gently on her cheek and smiled. He just needed to spit it out and he knew it. “Nina, I love you.”
Her eyes went wide and she was speechless. She wanted to say something, anything, but no words would come out of her mouth.
“I know you’ve already been pretty over loaded tonight and I understand if you can’t answer me now but I just had to get that out, I couldn’t hold it inside anymore. Please forgive me if it’s too much or too soon or…”
Nina stood there looking at him, her lips quivering and her eyes welling up with tears. The only thing she could do was throw her arms around him and bury her face in his chest crying. Almost instinctively, Adrienne put his arms around her and held her close. It actually broke his heart seeing her crying like this especially since he had no idea why she was doing it. He thought it had been his fault, that he had said something wrong.
“Nina, please, please stop crying. I’m sorry; I didn’t mean to make you sad…”
She shook her head as she finally unburied her face and looked at him. “You silly idiot, I’m not sad, I’m happy,” she said laughing a bit through the last of her tears.
“Wait, you’re crying because you’re happy?” he asked sounding genuinely confused. “Why would you do that?”
Nina smiled at him. “You can’t help crying Adrienne, it just happens when you feel really strongly. It doesn’t matter if you’re really sad or if you’re really happy and hearing you say that to me made me really happy especially because well…” Nina took a deep breath. “Well, it made me really happy because I love you too…”
Adrienne’s eyes lit up with her words. “Really? You’re not just picking on me again are you?”
“No, no jokes this time, I mean it,” she replied with a laugh.
He smiled at her and ran his fingers through her hair as she had left it down tonight. When he got to the nape of her neck he drew her in towards him, his other arm still around her. Closing his eyes he leaned forward and gently kissed her lips. Nina didn’t fight it, she closed her eyes and returned that soft kiss her heart racing in her chest. She couldn’t understand how any one person could be this blessed but she wasn’t going to question it for fear that if she did she would wake up to find all of it was nothing more than a dream.
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