5 5

I searched the crowd for Nina, Eric or Ronan. Though there were others working in the office I hadn't interacted much with anybody else. I spotted Ronan at one corner with a drink in his hand. He was in deep conversation with someone. The other person's back was towards me. Ronan is tall and hence I could easily pick him out. I had no such luck finding Nina.

I was debating whether to go where Ronan was and rudely interrupt their conversation or stand here alone and wait till I found Nina. I took my phone out and texted Nina. There was not much battery left in my phone. I hope I go back home before my phone dies. There was an open bar kind of a thing setup at one side of the hall. I walked there and took a drink.

I was slowly sipping and taking in my surroundings.My eyes darted to the person with whom Ronan was carrying on a conversation. His back was towards me and his pose was serious. Ronan also had a serious expression similar to the one he had when I first met him. He was listening to the other person talk and was nodding while his eyes swept around. He saw me and his face relaxed a bit. He waved me over.

"Hi Alex. This is Samuel. Sam this is Alexandria" , he introduced me to the other person. We both shook hands.Sam was a young man who was also smart. In fact all men present here were handsome. They had great bodies. It was as if everyone belonged to some fighter's club and hence had to stayin shape.

"She is the new girl who handles the accounts" , Ronan added.

"Oh nice to meet you. Ronan has she met the alph.. " Sam stopped abruptly. I was looking a Sam since he was the one speaking and he was looking at Ronan. Ronan was shaking his head. Sam nodded and continued speaking.

"Has she met Ad yet?" I felt that Sam altered his sentence.

"No, not yet. I was hoping of introducing them today. "

"Speaking of Ad, where is he? He is always punctual" , Sam thoughtfully told.

Suddenly the noise levels in the room dropped. Loud conversations stopped. I turned around to see what caused such a scene. A tall young man, with the aura of a predator walked in. He was striking and well groomed. I could not stop staring at him.

"Speaking of Ad, there he is." Ronan told with a smirk.

Who is this Ad? He could definitely command a crowd. One look from him was all it required to quieten a rowdy crowd. He was looking around like he was searching for something or rather someone. He looked past me and then immediately turned back to me. He had a startling pair of eyes. It was a shade of green. I could not point my finger at it, but it reminded me of someone. He held my gaze and started walking towards us.

An elderly couple intercepted his path. He stopped but still held my gaze. He smiled warmly at the couple and the woman kissed on his cheek. What a beautiful smile he had. His facial features was very similar to Ronan.I was wondering if they were related. The man patted on his shoulder and told him something which made this Ad guy snort. Few more people gathered around them. He was talking to everyone around him but not once did he stop staring at me.

"Who is he?" I asked Ronan and Sam.

Ad broke from the little group and walked towards us in time to hear Sam's reply.

"He is Adrian Black, Ronan's brother." Ronan had a brother. Well I didn't know that. There were so many things I still did not know of people whom I worked with. I had hardly socialized with anyone.

"Adrian?! Ohhh! " I replied without thinking. I was thinking of the other Adrian I have known since the past few days.

Adrian stopped and looked at me weirdly.

"What's that oh supposed to mean?" , he asked. His voice was husky.

Nina came at the same time.

"Good evening sir." She respectfully wished Adrian and Ronan. She turned to Sam and he gave her a tight hug. There was goofy grins on both their faces. Were they a couple? Nina had not mentioned anything to me.

"Dinner is being served. Let's get seated",Ronan announced.

It was a buffet. So we filled our plates and took our seats. Nina was sitting next to me and Sam was next to her. Ronan sat opposite to me and Adrian was to my left. Eric and a couple of other people came and sat opposite to me.

"You didn't answer my question." Adrian asked softly in a modulated voice.

"Nothing. It's just that I have a pet with the same name." I replied back in the same sound level as Adrian.

Ronan looked towards us. I thought I spoke softly but he still heard. He raised an eyebrow at Adrian and asked me, "Pet you say Alex? Well what animal is he and tell us more about this pet of yours."

"Like I said, his name is Adrian and he is a dog , I mean wolf." I corrected thinking about my Adrian growling when I called him a dog.

Sam started coughing and Ronan looked like he was trying to control his laughter. What did they find amusing? Man Adrian was irritated. He was eating and ignoring everyone else.

"Is he a dog or a wolf?" Eric asked seriously.

"Well at first I thought he is a dog but he looks more like a wolf. His fur is jet black and he likes licking my face. Never misses a chance to do that." I fondly described my pet wolf.

"Really!" Ronan exclaimed and he was openly laughing now. "Sorry, please go ahead."

"I have no clue what you find amusing in this.He is the first friend I made after moving to this town. I can tell him anything. Obviously, he can't repeat those tales to anyone else or be judgmental about it." I was lovingly expressing when Adrian and Ronan were staring at each other and it looked like they were having a silent conversation.

"His eyes are a shade of green" , some kind of connection clicked in my mind , "similar to yours." I added looking at Adrian. Everyone looked at us. There was an awkward silence. Both Adrians had the same shade of eyes. Man Adrian had jet black hair and wolf Adrian had jet black fur. I was trying to decipher if there were any other similarities between them.

"So Alex , how's your work been so far.Hope you enjoying it" Eric tactfully broke the silence.

"Yes, I am loving it."

The awkward silence had dissipated now and everybody had started talking. Conversation easily flowed. Once everyone at our table had finished eating , we went and disposed our plates. All of us went and stood back at our previous place. Adrian was always by my side. His presence was quiet disturbing but in a good way. His presence was calming in an odd sort of way. I couldn't explain what my feelings were right now.

Everyone were standing in small groups and were involved in their own conversations. Ronan hopped from one group to another. After he left a particular group, members from that group would slyly look at me. Some had smiles on their faces while others had serious assessing expressions. Some even came to say hello and hug Adrian.

"Why is everyone staring at us?" I asked Adrian.

"It is probably because you are the new girl here. Nothing to worry about." Adrian replied.

It was awkward between us but not uncomfortable. Both of us didn't know what to talk about. We silently stood looking at everyone and in between looking at each other. Both of us didn't want to get rid of the other's company or that is what I felt. I saw a man sipping a green color drink when I suddenly remembered that even I had to take my green potion. I saw the time and it was already late. I had decided to get back early but time seems to have passed without my notice.

"It's late. I'll leave now ", I told Adrian.

"I'll drop you home", Adrian offered.

"No. It is okay, you don't have to bother " Adrian was looking at Ronan who was standing with another group.They again seemed to be having one of their silent conversations.

"Remember the meeting which we were supposed to have now. It starts in ten minutes." Ronan walked to us and reminded Adrian.

"Hold the meeting. I'll be back soon." Adrian was telling Ronan.

"It is okay Adrian. I can go. I take the same route everyday after work."

"But you weren't alone then" Adrian whispered. His voice was so low that I almost missed it.

"What did you say?" I ask him. He was shaking his head.

"Nothing. I prefer you not going alone at this time" , he replied.

"It is okay. Besides I won't be .." , I trailed off . I wanted to say that I won't be alone and Adrian would be there.But for some unknown reason I did not finish my sentence.

"Besides you won't be what?" he asked.

"Nothing.I'll leave now." I told them in a final note and left the place before he could object.

As I walked out, I saw that it had become very dark.I was expecting Adrian to be waiting for me but he was not there. I was oddly disappointed. I had gotten used to his presence. He was always there everyday when I took these walks. I remembered mom telling to call if I was late. I took my phone out but the battery had died.

I decided to take the longer route through the road, as the route through the woods would be dark and there was no light there. Also because Adrian was not there.I was humming a random song and walking. After sometime I felt that there was someone behind me. I turned to see but there was no one. I started walking faster. I could see no one but I could not dismiss the feeling of being followed. Better safe than sorry. I started running.

My legs and hands started feeling weird. It was aching. My gums also started aching. I don't know if it was because I was running or it was due to some other reason. I felt that I was running faster than my usual speed maybe because of the adrenaline rush. I reached the clearing near my house when a car came screeching to a stop in front of me. I was losing consciousness. I could vaguely make out my parents voices before I blacked out completely.

The next thing I remember was being carried to my room and my mom forcing me to drink my green potion. I was semi-conscious. I could not clear my thoughts. It was foggy.

"I can't imagine what would have happened if she was not near home today. She missed her daily doze and the consequences started to show", my dad was whispering.

My hearing seems to have heightened. I could hear every word clearly as though it was a normal conversation and not being whispered.

"But why was she running?Did you see her expression? She looked scared" , my mom was telling in a worried tone.

"She is safe for now.They couldn't have found out about her.We have covered our tracks. Let's worry about other things tomorrow.It's already late" , my dad was reassuring mom.

"Also, we have explained our situation to Mr.Black. He has promised to help" , dad added.

What tracks did they cover? And who are they hiding me from? I am sure somebody was following me and it was not a case of paranoia.And, what exactly did they explain to Mr.Black? Were they referring to Ronan or Adrian?So many questions. I decided to confront them first thing tomorrow.

There was silence and probably the potion and whatever else medicine I was fed kicked in. I felt drowsy and dozed off completely.