The café suddenly felt too small, too intimate, as Isabelle and Adrien sat across from each other in the silence that followed. Isabelle’s heart pounded in her chest, a mix of nerves and curiosity swirling inside her. She had no idea what she wanted to say, but the words tumbled out anyway.
“Why did you really want to help me?” Isabelle asked, her voice barely above a whisper. “You didn’t know me, yet you went out of your way.”
Adrien leaned back in his chair, his eyes narrowing slightly. “Does it matter?”
Isabelle nodded. “It matters to me.”
For a long moment, Adrien didn’t answer. His gaze drifted to the window, where the light from the setting sun filtered in, casting a soft glow over the café. Finally, he spoke, his voice low and guarded. “Because I saw something in you.”
Isabelle’s breath caught in her throat. “What do you mean?”
Adrien’s eyes locked onto hers, the intensity in his gaze making her pulse race. “I saw someone trying to make something of themselves. Someone who didn’t belong to this city of glitz and wealth but who was trying anyway. I saw your strength, your determination. And it reminded me of...”
He trailed off, his jaw tightening as if he’d said too much.
“Of what?” Isabelle pressed, leaning forward slightly. She could feel that they were on the verge of something, something important.
Adrien exhaled slowly, his eyes clouded with an emotion she couldn’t decipher. “Of a time when I wasn’t wrapped in all of this. Before everything became complicated.”
Isabelle sat back, her mind racing. Adrien was more than just the aloof billionaire she had pegged him to be. There was a past there, a story he hadn’t yet told. And she was beginning to realize that the walls he’d built around himself weren’t just to keep others out, but to keep himself safe.
A long pause stretched between them, the weight of his words sinking in.
“You don’t have to be so guarded with me,” Isabelle said softly, her heart pounding as the words left her lips. “I’m not asking for your secrets. I just want to know the real you.”
Adrien’s eyes darkened, his lips pressing into a thin line. “You don’t know what you’re asking for, Isabelle.”
She met his gaze, her chest tight with the intensity of the moment. “Then show me.”
For a heartbeat, it felt like he might. That he might let her in, might tell her everything that had been simmering beneath the surface since the day they met. But then, just as quickly, the moment passed.
Adrien stood, his expression hardening once again. “I can’t.”
Isabelle’s heart sank, but she refused to let him go without a fight. “Adrien, I—”
“It’s not that simple,” he interrupted, his voice thick with frustration. “My life... it’s not something you want to be part of.”
Isabelle’s hands clenched in her lap, the sting of his rejection sharp and painful. “You don’t know what I want.”
Adrien stared at her for a long moment, something flickering behind his eyes. But instead of answering, he turned and walked away, leaving her sitting alone in the café, her heart aching with the realization that she might never know the man behind the walls he had so carefully constructed.
YOU ARE READING
PARISIAN HEARTS
عاطفيةUnder the shimmering lights of Paris, Isabelle, a struggling artist, is drawn into a world she never imagined. When she meets Adrien, a powerful businessman with a guarded heart, their lives become intertwined in a dance of passion and longing. As t...
