REBIRTH : Chasing The Limelight

Chapter 177: You don’t get to walk away... not from me

Elara went silent again as she pondered his words.

If you don’t like it, we can leave.

Why did that sound as if he had done something for her and was asking for her opinion about it?

She wanted to ask, but the words stopped halfway.

What if she was misunderstanding everything? What if this was completely different from what he intended? Then she would only look like someone who thought too much of herself.

Adrian tore his gaze away from her and slowly walked toward one of the pianos. His fingers touched a key gently, letting the note echo in the hall. "You used to like places like this, didn’t you?" he asked calmly, his attention still on the instrument.

Elara remained where she was tugging at the hem of her top uncomfortably.

That already explained it. He actually...

She bit the inside of her cheek, forcing herself to keep a straight face. "So you’re building a music hall," she paused for a small second, picking her words carefully. "For me."

Adrian remained quiet, but she clearly noticed his hand stiffen a little on the piano keys.

"It is yours if you want it," he said in a corrective tone.

But what difference did that even make anyway?

She had barely managed to process those words before he suddenly looked away from the piano and stared ahead.

"My sister."

The words were spoken so quietly Elara almost thought she had imagined them. She stiffened almost immediately.

His sister.

The memory of that night in the bathroom at his villa in Crelou flashed through her mind. The moment she had brought up his sister. The terrifying look that had entered his eyes when he told her she should not speak of his sister again.

Yet now he was the one bringing it up himself.

"She liked music too," he said after a long pause. "Couldn’t sing."

Elara lowered her gaze.

Of course she can’t. The girl couldn’t speak.

Thinking about his words again, the image of the little girl from her dreams appeared in her mind once more. That was when she realized that the last time she had seen her was when her lips moved. When she said her name was... Aurelia.

"What did you say?" Adrian’s voice sounded immediately.

Elara froze at his sudden interruption. His eyes were now resting on her face. Only then did she realize she had spoken aloud.

"How do you know that name?" Adrian muttered again, now fully turning toward her. For the first time since arriving here, something close to confusion appeared in his expression.

Elara blinked, not even knowing how to reply him. Her mind had suddenly went blank.

She couldn’t exactly tell him that his dead sister occasionally appeared in her dreams. That would sound far less believable than simply saying his mother had mentioned the name before. But everything felt overwhelming right now.

Why was he even talking about this with her now?

"You can’t just keep doing and saying things like this," she finally said, shaking her head in negativity.

Did he even realize how all of this looked? He had a fiancee, yet he kept appearing beside her, taking care of things he had no reason to care about. The more he did it, the more it felt as though he was quietly turning her into a mistress, and she hated even thinking that way.

"Like what?" Adrian asked, one brow lifting slightly.

"Just tell me..." She stopped briefly, realizing she was about to ask the same question she had kept asking for a very long time. Still, she opened her mouth. "Why are you doing this?"

A soft mocking laugh left her lips.

"You keep appearing everywhere in my life." She looked directly at him. "Just tell me what you want from me."

Adrian’s lips pressed together into a thin line, his expression darkening into something that looked more close to annoyance. "Why do you keep asking that?"

Elara shook her head again. "Tell me what..."

"If I wanted something from you," Adrian interrupted smoothly, cutting her off before she could continue, "I’d have taken it already."

Elara’s expression immediately hardened.

That still didn’t explain anything. Why was he so stubborn?

"Then stop." The words left her mouth more firmly than she intended.

Because... if he didn’t stop this, she was afraid she might start misunderstanding things. And that was something she simply could not afford.

She knew this feeling. She had fallen for it once before in another life. This time, she had folded it away carefully, sealed it shut, and convinced herself it would never become important again.

Yet Adrian seemed determined to drag it back into the light. The worst part was that he probably didn’t even realize he was doing it.

Maybe none of this meant anything to him at all. Maybe all of his actions, his words, every strange moment was nothing more than another casual decision in his mind... But to her, they weren’t casual.

He had done terrible things. And even now, she wasn’t sure she would ever truly feel safe around him.

A few weeks of buying things for her shouldn’t have affected her this much. Yet she couldn’t pretend anymore that it hadn’t. Because it had. And the realization felt so suffocating.

He had involved himself in so many parts of her life. Even around Grandpa... who was the most important person in her world.

Somehow Adrian had managed to earn his trust to the point where the old man started showing him her childhood stuffs and telling her he was a good person.

Who knew all what he must have been planning with Grandpa behind her back now?

"Stop what?" Adrian muttered, his eyes narrowing.

"Stop interfering. Stop following me. Stop deciding things for me," Elara replied breathlessly.

He suddenly went quiet, staring at her with a strange expression.

"Finished," he said again, his tone simple.

Elara shook her head tiredly, realizing that talking with him was pointless. She turned away, a sigh leaving her lips.

The thoughts running through her mind made the pain in her ankle less noticeable as she took a step.

Before the second step could land, Adrian’s hand suddenly closed around her wrist, pulling her back swiftly until she was pressed against him. His arm wrapped around her waist so tightly that even the smallest movement away became impossible.

"You don’t get to decide when you walk away," he muttered quietly, his jaw clenched. "Not from me."