Chapter 248 Repeat That Please!
She looked down at Adler whose eyes were still closed for some reason. He looked relaxed and his breath was steady, in and out he breathed deeply as if he was to soon fall asleep. How could he relax after sharing such staggering news? It was the general assumption among the Su's that Adler had not been involved with any woman seriously before. On the blue star, before Arya arrived, they had not seen him bat as much as an eye in the direction of any other female except for his sister's and mother. And yet, he had a secret ex fiancé all along!!!! Boy was he good at keeping secrets.
"Could you repeat that please." She told him.
"Because I could have sworn that the words ex fiancé came out of your mouth brother."
"It is exactly as you have heard, Amara and I were engaged for a while. To be specific, I asked her to marry me and she accepted."
Even though she had heard it already, Scarlet still gasped and her mind reeled from shock when he confirmed it for the second time.
"So what happened?" She blurted. Her curiosity had been piqued to high levels. If he stopped here, she would lose her mind. "Did you love her? Did she dump you? Why did you break up?"
Adler opened his eyes and gave her an exhausted look. "Breathe De-, Scarlet before you choke on your own saliva."
She hissed at him and blew air out of her mouth, and then she smiled and gave him her best 'look, I am so cool,' glance.
"What happened?" She asked, more gently than before.
"We broke up, end of story." He answered and closed his eyes again. He had a smile on his face which he was sure would drive her to fury. And right he was, because a sharp pain on his arm and realized that she was pinching him.
Adler opened his eyes and gave her an exhausted look again. 'Really.' His eyes conveyed.
"Yes really." She replied with a fierce look.
"Must you know the whole story?" He asked her.
"Don't tempt me to go to her for the details." She answered. "Spill brother, or are you embarrassed because she dumped you?"
Adler scoffed and said, "Take a good look at your tall, devastatingly handsome rich brother. Do I look like the type of man to get dumped?"
She giggled and returned a disdainful gaze at him. "Breaking news brother, yes, even good looking people get dumped. I was ready to end things with Esong despite his good looks, height, royal ties and money. Sometimes peace of mind beats some of those things."
Adler faced the ceiling and he said, "I ended things."
Even though he was looking up, she could see the tiny bit of pain in his eyes which he quickly veiled and hid with a smile. This sadness had to have permeated through once in and while and It made Scarlet wonder, how did no one notice anything all this while? Was it because he was always strong that nobody thought to ask regularly if he was okay?
"Did you love her?" She asked him.
"Yes." He admitted, honestly.
"Then....." she broke off. Maybe it was better to the sleeping dog lay.
"Why did I end it?" He finished her question for her. "It's okay, I know that you are curious so don't hold back. How will you protect me if you don't know what I am hiding from?" He chuckled.
"It's not funny." She mumbled.
"You know Amara's family name, right?" He looked at her expectantly.
"Leopold." She said.
"Mmm, she is not just any Leopold, she is one of the Leopold's." He explained.
Scarlet's mind quickly moved and brought up the most powerful families with the name Leopold. Only two could be referred to as the Leopold's.
"Green star or capital Leopold's?" She asked.
The green star Leopold family was a noble family which owned the second largest weapons manufacturing company in the empire.
The capital Leopold's were noble too, and they owned Leo nutrients. It was number ten on the best nutrient solution companies in the empire.
There was no relation whatsoever between the two families although rumor had it that their ancestors were cousins or sworn brothers. No proof of any such relationship existed.
Both families were influential, noble and wealthy.
"Green star, although, Amara and I met in the capital. I was attending the Vibrant academy for mecha warriors back then, and I was in my final year. Like every other young man I had applied to join your husband's death thunder army. Amara was already working for the RGB, we met when she was pursuing a thief. You have seen what she is like when she is going after a criminal, she is fierce and focused. I caught the thief and as thanks for my help, she punched me." He giggled.
He touched his jaw, and added, "Right here, and it was painful, she was wearing these vemirite steel knuckles, I bit my cheek and drew blood."
"Ouch!" Scarlet responded.
"And she glared and said to me, 'I never asked for your help, if you are looking for a damsel in distress to save, try one of the many pleasure houses. Then, she stormed off with her criminal in hand."
But that was not the end, Scarlet thought, because they developed a relationship after. "So, what did you do?" she asked him.
Adler pulled the winter hat covering his hair down, and blocked his eyes from her view.
What is he up to? she asked herself.
"I did something stupid." he said.
So, he is covering his eyes to hide the embarrassment she thought. "What did you do brother?"
Adler mumbled, "I filed a complaint against her with the RGB for excessive use of force on a civilian."
"What!!" Scarlet exclaimed.
"I know." he said.
"You are an asshole." she said.
"I know." he concurred. "That is exactly what she said after she was forced to apologize to me by her boss. I don't think a woman has ever hated me as much as she did back then."
Scarlet laughed, and she pulled the winter hat up so that he could see just how amused she was with the story. In fact, if she had some fresh popcorn, she would happily munch away while he narrated the story. This friends to lovers story was like a novel or a movie.
"So, how did you get her to like you? What happened after the forced apology?"
Adler chuckled, again, and he said, "Amara is very hot tempered and vengeful. Honestly, I didn't think that I would see her again but as I was leaving, she run after me with a smile.
I was quite arrogant back then and I thought she had been charmed by my handsome looks despite the rocky start."
"You were delusional." Scarlet blurted.
"I was, because despite that smile, she looked around carefully waved me to come closer and whispered, 'From now on, I am going to be watching your every move. The day I catch you so much as throwing trash alongside the road, I will be sure to punch you so hard that I break a tooth or two before arresting you."