𝐇𝐞𝐚𝐥 𝐌𝐞

14 | Aurora

It was 8:50 in the morning when I reached the location that Adrian had sent me yesterday for my first session with Jade, which was at 9:00 a.m. After reaching there, I now realized what the hype was about this place that my cab driver could not shut his mouth.

The Empyrean. The name of the apartment building where Jade and his brothers have their home.

It was a tall building, with so many floors that I couldn't even count while standing there and watching it. Its height was almost touching the sky, as I see above, with grey walls outside and a lot of apartments. Apparently, this place was the most secured area, with all the upper- and high-class families, and also the most expensive of all.

But again, my cab driver also filled me up with the work the Grogans do. They have their own business, Grogan Industries, which mainly deals with building industrial places. They owned some of the famous malls and hotels in the city, and the hotel where I was staying was owned by them as well. So, living in such a lavish area was just a piece of cake for them.

After getting inside the building and telling the receptionist about my visit to the Grogans, I took an elevator to the seventeenth floor. The receptionist didn't ask too many questions, as she said that she was already informed about my visit.

As I took the elevator, I started biting my nails and shaking my leg constantly while standing and waiting for my floor to come.

But the question was, Why the hell was I feeling nervous like a newly in love teenage girl?

Being myself, I hated Jade for pulling out these emotions from me. But being his therapist, I could relate to him even without knowing his story. People often hide their emotions from this world and even live in denial, some to satisfy their ego, and for others, it's just for their methods of dealing with situations.

Reaching the floor, I searched for the apartment number that the receptionist had given me. As I reached the apartment, I rang the bell and waited for this door of hell to be opened for me.

Last chance, Aurora, let the devil torture you or run now.

"I have to do this." I whispered to myself, breaking my chain of thoughts about my fight or flight response. Just then, the door opened, revealing Christian. He was dressed formally, and my guess was that he was about to go to work.

"Good morning, Miss Monroe. Please come." Christian welcomed me inside the house with a sweet smile on his face. I saw Adrian standing there as well, as he smiled and greeted me. There was another woman who seemed to be in her thirties, dressed neither casually nor too formally.

And then there was Jade, standing behind Adrian. He was wearing a plain white casual shirt with black pants, and his hair was tousled as usual. As soon as our eyes met, my smile disappeared, and I felt the same tingling sensation in my stomach that I had felt this morning while we shared texts with each other.

"Fuck, Aurora! Just tell me you are okay!"

"Because I want to care for you, and you also deserve to be loved and cared for."

The same memories of our chat from this morning flashed in my head, making me nervous again. And I could bet that Jade was thinking the same thing. His eyes became soft suddenly, and he smiled at me.

But this smile was nothing like the past encounters we'd had. It was a genuine smile, a smile that showed his true emotions, as if it were giving me assurance that I could trust him with everything about me.

"Is everything okay?" Christian broke our moment of trance. I had no idea how long we had been staring at each other like that.

"Yes." I gathered myself and gave them a reassuring grin. "Everything is okay."