“Yes,” he said calmly.
“I certainly have.”
The café suddenly felt too warm.
Too small.
Rain tapped steadily against the glass windows while soft music drifted through the speakers overhead, absurdly normal compared to whatever this conversation was becoming.
I stared at the man standing across from me.
“You’ve been watching me,” I repeated carefully.
His expression didn’t change.
“Yes.”
Most people would have sounded embarrassed admitting that.
He sounded factual.
Controlled.
Like he saw no reason to lie about it.
I folded my arms slowly across my chest.
“That’s concerning.”
“Understandable.”
“You say that like this is a perfectly normal interaction.”
A faint pause.
Then:
“For me, it is.”
That answer should not have affected me the way it did.
Something about Adrian Vale unsettled me deeply because he didn’t seem rushed.
Never defensive.
Every word sounded measured before it left his mouth.
As though he spent most of his life speaking in rooms where mistakes were expensive.
Outside, headlights blurred across the rain-darkened street.
Inside, my pulse refused to calm down.
“What exactly do you want from me?” I asked.
Adrian regarded me quietly for a moment.
“You’re intelligent.”
“That’s not an answer.”
“No,” he agreed softly.
“It isn’t.”
God.
Even his voice was frustratingly composed.
I glanced toward the clock behind the counter instinctively.
Almost ten.
The buses would be horrible in this weather.
As if reading the thought directly from my face, Adrian spoke again.
“You’ll have difficulty getting home tonight.”
I narrowed my eyes immediately.
“Do you always study people this much before speaking to them?”
“When necessary.”
“That sounds illegal.”
That finally earned the faintest trace of amusement from him.
Small.
Brief.
Dangerous.
“I assure you,” he said, “I’ve done nothing that would concern the authorities.”
Somehow, that did not comfort me.
At all.
“Right,” I muttered.
Silence stretched briefly between us again.
Not awkward.
Heavy.
Intentional.
“You attend St.
Aureline University,” Adrian said suddenly.
“Business Administration and International Logistics.”
Every muscle in my body tightened.
“How do you know that?”
“You work here five evenings a week,” he continued calmly.
“You moved apartments yesterday.
You maintain excellent grades despite financial pressure, and your student loans currently exceed what most people your age would consider survivable.”
I stared at him.
A cold feeling slowly crawled beneath my skin.
“You investigated me.”
“I prepared before approaching you.”
“That is not better.”
“No,” he admitted.
“It usually isn’t.”
For the first time since meeting him, genuine unease settled heavily inside my chest.
This man knew things about me nobody should know.
Not just surface things.
Details.
The kind collected intentionally.
I took a small step backwards unconsciously.
Adrian noticed.
Of course, he noticed.
“You don’t need to be afraid of me, Miss Bennett.”
“People usually say that right before becoming terrifying.”
Another almost-smile flickered briefly across his face.
Then disappeared.
The bell above the café entrance chimed as two customers entered, laughing loudly from the rain outside, briefly breaking the strange tension surrounding us.
I exhaled slowly.
“What do you actually want?”
Adrian glanced toward the windows.
The rain had become heavier now, silver streaks racing down the glass beneath the city lights.
Then his gaze returned to me.
“There may be an opportunity available to you.”
I blinked once.
“…An opportunity.”
“Yes.”
“That sounds suspiciously vague.”
“It is vague.”
“You realise this conversation feels like the beginning of a crime documentary.”
“You watch too many crime documentaries.”
My eyes narrowed.
“How do you know that?”
This time, amusement actually stayed visible for an entire second.
Which somehow made him more dangerous.
Before I could speak again, Amira reappeared from the kitchen carrying a tray.
Her gaze moved between us instantly.
“Oh,” she said carefully.
“Am I interrupting something?”
“Yes,” I answered immediately.
“No,” Adrian said at the same time.
Amira looked entertained.
“I’m suddenly invested.”
“Please don’t be,” I muttered.
She ignored me completely before turning toward Adrian.
“You know, she bites people emotionally when stressed.”
“I’ve noticed.”
I looked at both of them in betrayal.
Amira grinned shamelessly before disappearing again.
Traitor.
I rubbed my forehead briefly.
“This has been deeply strange.”
Adrian reached into his coat pocket slowly.
For one alarming second, my imagination prepared for something dramatic.
Instead, he removed a simple black card.
No company logo.
No decoration.
Just a phone number embossed neatly in silver.
He placed it carefully on the counter between us.
“If you decide you want your life to change,” he said quietly, “call me.”
I stared down at the card.
Then back at him.
“What does that even mean?”
Adrian held my gaze steadily.
“It means your current life is exhausting you.”
The words landed harder than they should have.
Because they were true.
And somehow hearing a stranger say it aloud made something ache unexpectedly inside me.
I looked away first.
“You don’t know anything about my life.”
“No,” Adrian said softly.
“Not yet.”
Before I could answer, he stepped back from the counter smoothly.
“I’ll wait three days,” he said.
“For what?”
“For your decision.”
Then, without another word, he turned and walked toward the exit.
The bell chimed softly overhead as he disappeared into the rain outside.
And just like that…
The café felt strangely emptier.
The bus ride home smelled like wet clothes and exhaustion.
By the time I reached Tessa’s apartment building, rain had soaked through the sleeves of my jacket despite the umbrella I borrowed from the café.
I climbed the stairs tiredly before pushing open the apartment door.
Warmth hit me instantly.
Tessa looked up from the sofa and gasped dramatically.
“Lia!” –a nickname Tessa gave her cause she couldn’t possibly call her Lio–
“What?”
“You look like you lost a fight against the Atlantic Ocean.”
“I probably did.”
She pointed toward the hallway immediately.
“Go change before you catch pneumonia and ruin both our lives.”
I laughed tiredly while slipping off my damp shoes.
“Yes, mother.”
“Don’t ‘mother’ me.
You’re literally dripping on the floor.”
I grabbed fresh clothes from my bag before disappearing into the bathroom.
The warm light flickered softly overhead as I leaned against the sink for a moment.
Rainwater still clung to my hair.
My reflection looked exhausted.
And somewhere inside the pocket of my jacket…
The black card waited silently.
‘If you decide you want your life to change, call me.’
I stared at myself in the mirror.
What did that even mean?
What did Adrian Vale know about my life?
And why did it feel like meeting him had quietly shifted something I couldn’t move back into place again?