The 18th Floor

Chapter Seventy

Despite Adara being here, me and Lucien still need to go to work, and it's on her last day here that Adara insists on seeing the office. She rides with us on the way to work and we get her a day guest pass to enter the building.

I watch her as her jaw drops in astonishment of the view we have from our office and think back to the first day I was in here and the same sensation I shared. It feels like a lifetime ago and a completely different girl who looked out that window.

"I always forget how pretty London is", she sighs to neither of us in particular.

"You could come back more often", Lucien offers and they both smile softly. After our Sunday night antics, Lucien peeled away from me, and him and Adara spent close to three hours in the living room talking. I stayed in our room, knowing that although I wanted to be there for them, this wasn't something I needed to be a part of.

They needed to have their own conversation and get through it together. There was shouting, but there was also love and tears and it's safe to say that things ended on a much better and clearer note than it started. I see a lifted weight off both their shoulders, more transparency between them and it makes me happy to see, for both their sakes.

"I'll try. Next time I'll bring the kids", she says.

"I would love to meet them", I offer.

"Ah Cyrene! They'll love you", she smiles and it warms my heart.

There's a knock on the door and I turn to find Elias entering.

"Ah sorry, I didn't realise you were in a meeting", he says going to step back out.

"No, no, come in it's fine. Elias, this is my sister Adara", Lucien motions and Elias goes to shake her hand.

"Lovely to meet you", he says, full charm on.

"What a pleasure to see some of baby bro's colleagues", Adara says, with full intent of embarrassing Lucien today. It works. I watch as a small redness creeps over his cheeks and hide my smile.

"Well, your baby bro is a great boss, pleasure's all mine", Elias teases and I can't help the snicker that escapes. Lucien gives us a look but he's come to know that he has nothing to be worried or jealous about when it comes to Elias. He recently told us he was bi and I could visibly see Lucien's shoulders roll down a bit knowing that he isn't only on the lookout for girls.

"Well, as much as it has been nice being here, I'm afraid I need to get going to the airport", she says and I can't help but miss her already.

I hug her goodbye and tell her she needs to visit more frequently and may have even promised to make Lucien re-book Greece for the next possible date. For some reason, the goodbye was harder to say than anticipated. In the few days we spent together, I saw that I could come to love Adara like my own sister and I'm grateful that she blessed us with her presence, even if it was unexpected. I'm glad that within the time her and Lucien started to work through their issues and hopefully, going forward, they can regain the closeness they shared as kids.

I watch as her and Lucien leave the office, with Lucien taking half the morning off to drop her to the airport.

"You good?", Elias says, breaking me from my trance of this morning's events.

"Yeah", I say smiling as he comes to take a seat from across me. "It's just been an eventful few days. How are you doing?"

"I'm ok, tired. I just need the weekend", he laughs.

"I hope we're not over working you", I joke.

"It's not work."

Oh.

"Is it... is it anything I could help with?", I ask hesitantly. Despite only working with Elias for a few months, I've come to find him being quite open and close as a person. He offers a safe and judgement free space and I often think he's the smartest one out of us all.

"My brother turns 21 today."

"Happy birthday to him", I say, unaware of why the mood is so sombre.

"Only 40% of those with his level of cerebral palsy live to 20", he says and my heart sinks at the realisation.

"What's his name?"

"Milo", he sighs.

"Well, he's beat the odds of becoming a stat", I say hopefully.

"Yeah", he says with a light smile across his face.

"Elias, you can never know. With things like this, nothing is ever certain or set. I should have died in that car", I say and he looks up with worry etched in his eyes, "but I didn't, by some miracle. Nothing is ever certain in this life, so you just have to take it day by day", I tell him, hoping I'm not just spewing generic life bullshit.

"I'm glad you didn't die in the car."

"Me too", I smile as a silence settles over us.