Love is Patience

Chapter twenty seven

Rose's POV

In the stillness of my life, I've heard the echoes of silence since childhood. My mother's lullabies faded at six, leaving me to slumber in solitude. No voices filled the void, just the hush of isolation. Home was a silent sanctuary, my family's words withheld like secrets. School was no different, where books were my only friends in a sea of chatter. Even Robin's endless stream of words couldn't penetrate the walls of my silence, leaving me feeling incomplete. When he departed, silence enveloped me, a blank canvas devoid of thought.

When he left, he took with him the only semblance of noise in my life, leaving me stranded in a vast expanse of quietude. I embraced this silence, finding solace in its emptiness, until Adrian arrived.
Addy. This word has something in it. Something which halts my overthinking thoughts. His mere presence calms my racing thoughts, he has unknowingly kept my anxiety, my loneliness at bay.

And that is why right now his silence is killing me. His silence now screams louder than any words ever could, a deafening void that threatens to engulf me whole.
We are on the way back home, he is sitting quietly beside me looking outside the window, but his mind is somewhere else. I can feel it. On the passenger seat Tony is on the verge of passing out and Marco behind the wheel. Adrian hasn't said a word, but had stared me the whole evening. And I think had an argument in Italian with Aldo in the kitchen about something. His temperament is very different from mine.

Yet, amidst the cacophony of my thoughts, I find myself longing for him, yearning to break free from the suffocating grasp of silence. I shift from my corner till I get to sit beside him. I slowly snake my hand in his which is on his lap and entwining my fingers with his. He comes back from his thoughts as soon I shifted his side but didn't reacted. But our hands got his attention, I know cuz has tightened our fingers in his firm grip. I sigh, atleast he didn't detached me from himself. I rest my head on his biceps and my tense shoulders relax a bit.

Reaching upon my building, I don't move an inch. I want Adrian to come with me, I want to listen his voice. Marco knows something is wrong and hasn't said a word just looking down in his phone pretending to be busy. I look up to the eyes which I love to see everyday, which drown me in them, which are starting back at me.
"I have to return your shirt and jacket, can you come up?"
Wow Rose this is what you come up with!!
After giving it a moment he nods.
"I'll drop Tony first, then I can come back to pick you up." Marco says still looking into his phone.
And Tony chuckles, sluggishly murmuring something,
"sì, non possiamo lasciarlo per la notte."
(Translation: yeah, we can't leave him for overnight.)
"Shut the fuck up!" Adrian growls and steps out of the car with our hands still entwined.

Tension filled elevator ride ends when it opens with a ding. We walk inside and he takes a moment before releasing my hand, I walk inside my room and lean against the door. I don't know what he is thinking, he masks his emotions so well. Taking a few deep breaths I take his shirt and jacket with me to the living room where I see two mugs; one with black coffee and another one with hot chocolate.
Adrian standing in front of the glass windows, his back facing me and his hands in his trousers. I walk up to him and wrap my arms around his waist resting my head on his back.

"I am sorry" I didn't even realise I was crying.
"I d-didn't mean to hurt your feelings. P-please Addy talk to me." Sniffing my voice trembling with every word.
He unwrap my hands and pulls me in front of him and wipes my tear with his thumb.
"You know I don't like you crying." His voice raspy and quiet.
"Sorry, I am sorry Addy." I hug him snaking my arms around his neck.
He soothes me by rubbing my back.
"Look at me Rose and stop crying come on!"
I look up at his eyes which are drowning me in him.
"There is nothing to be sorry Rosa. Do not bring money as a barrier between us. I knew you could never use me for my money from the very first day. I have seen women those who are hungry for money and power and you are not one of those. It's my money Rosa I can use it howsoever I want." He breaths out.
"Either I burn it or spend it on my girlfriend. And you can't stop me from spending my own money. Do you understand now."
I nod feeling him saying such things making me realise how much he was hurt.