Conflicted

Chapter 37

Ada Johnson's P. O. V

Everything comes rushing to a halt. My own body feeling as if it's ceasing to exist as the earth comes to a stop on its axis. The clamouring of my heart slows down as the somersaults in the pit of my stomach end within seconds. My eyebrow raised painfully slow, face most likely having lost all its pallor as the man in front of me stands up with his hands outstretched, almost as if he's expecting me to keel over any second now.

"That's interesting," I say after a slight pause, throwing in a nonchalant shrug of my shoulder as I even go as far as dipping my head in understanding.

Gregory falters in his movements for a split second, glancing at me with the most confused expression as he tilts his head before resuming his actions, "Interesting?"

"Yup." I say with another shrug, eyeing Gregory's approaching figure.

"Okay. You're definitely in shock." He says with a confirming tone, arms pulling me into him as he bends at the knee slightly, one hand going to the small of my back while the other pushes into the crook of my knee as he lifts my feet off of the ground in one fell swoop.

True to his words, I am in shock but more so at his actions as he leads me over to the desk he was just sitting behind, pulling the chair out with his rather occupied hands while managing to deposit himself in his high back chair while also settling me onto his lap. I barely manage to take in all of the sudden movements before his hands grasp onto my face, cupping my cheeks as he looks deeply into my eyes. Probably trying to find the hidden traces of lunacy concealed within the corners of my brain.

"You went from freaking out, not even ten minutes ago, to some unemotional psychopath." The man blurts out, seemingly a lot more worried for me than he ought to.

"I think it's sociopaths that are more unattached and unemotional." I reply offhandedly, not too sure if I am correct considering I've always confused the two terms often.

"Ada!" Gregory's tone raises just a bit in frustration but one sharp narrowed glare from me causes his stern expression to turn into a sheepish smile as he clears his throat before speaking up again once more, "I know this is some weird defensive coping mechanism thing, but talk to me. I'm right here. Bottling this is up isn't going to do you any good."

He waits for a few moments, expectation as clear as day on his face whereas I lick my suddenly chapped and dry lips a few times, a shaky breath being released soon after as I raise my hands, only to place them on his firm chest.

"I don't know what to think if I'm being honest. I mean I literally got a random call a few days ago from an unknown number claiming to be relatives of mine." My words come out as more of a question, one part of me still in a daze as to what happened that day Elissa stopped by.

The words already run heavily through my mind as I think back to what was said. A random call on a random day with a woman asking me if she could talk to Ada Johnson. Obviously upon hearing my name I answered, only to be left shell shocked at hearing what was spilled over the speaker.

"It's understandable. I know your aunt calling came out of the blue but like I said, it's totally up to you to decide how you want to go about this." Greg soothes, trying to calm my frayed nerves down even further as I nod, understanding where he's coming from.

Chewing on my lower lip, I contemplate for a bit, pondering over all the possible solutions I have, unfortunately I keep coming up blank since the entirety of the situation seems so colossal to me.

"What do you think I should do?" I ask instead, genuinely interested in what he has to say and hoping that just maybe he'll be able to guide me through this whole thing.