Agwat
Filipino for Space / Distance
When Adrienne arrived at Yuan’s apartment, her friends knew instantly that something was wrong.
“What?” Yuan asked. “Did he break your heart? Was he cheating on you? Where is he? I will kill him!”
Adrienne sat on the couch silently. She stared into space, still unable to recover from her shock. How could this happen to her? A few hours ago, she was happy. She was floating on air.
But that seemed so far away as she sat with her heart broken like shattered glass. She didn’t know how she would be able to recover from it. Her world had fallen apart.
“Adrienne, what is wrong?” Jill asked, taking her hands in hers and gently squeezing them.
She stared at them for a long time.
“Please don’t tell me you caught him cheating on you?”
Adrienne shook her head. “He wasn’t cheating on me.”
&ldquo
Al Haqiqah.Arabic meaning The Truth or Reality.It seemed like an eternity before Adrienne faced Justin again. During the two days that they spent apart, she tried to act normally. He’d call her at least three times a day. She didn’t want him to think that something was up. Because knowing him, he just might fly back to New York earlier than scheduled and he only got two days to spend with his family.Monday evening, he appeared on her doorstep.“Hi,” she greeted him, pasting a smile on her face.He stared at her for a while. And without a word, he pulled her to him and crushed his lips to hers.“Justin,” she whispered against his lips.“I missed you,” he said, lifting her off her feet and carrying her to the bedroom.When he put her down on her feet, she stared up at him. She could see fatigue in his eyes. “I missed you, too.”He smiled
Dit is die moeite werd om aan te hou.Afrikaans: Worth Keeping. Worth fighting for.The next few days were a total bliss. Justin was almost back to his usual, jolly self. They didn’t talk about his marriage arrangement anymore and Adrienne trusted what he said. That his choice was her and he will fight for them.They stayed together every day. After work, she returned to his apartment. She only came back to her own place to check her voicemail and to get some clothes. Every night they slept with each other, as if they lived together.One night, they sat together in Justin’s chaise lounge on his balcony, staring at the Manhattan view. Adrienne leaned her back against Justin’s chest as she sat between his legs. She rested her head against his shoulder.”Do you love me?” Adrienne whispered softly.“With all my heart, honey,” Justin said and hugged her to him tightly.“Seriousl
Pyeonghaeng Segye.Korean for Parallel WorldThe next Friday afternoon, when Adrienne got back from work, she found Justin sitting on his balcony. He had his back to her. He seemed lost in his thoughts. He was taking deep breaths and she realized that he was silently crying.As she watched him, she saw his pain. The pain that he refused to let her see. And her heart broke just a little bit more for him. She realized more than ever how selfish she had been. Justin had to make the tough choice because she refused to let him go. Because she had given him a choice. She fought for him. She could have made it easier for him, but she held on to her claim on him. He chose her. But it became evident that he wasn’t going to be the same man she loved. His happiness would never be complete.Tears rolled down her cheeks. She wiped them and then she went and knelt in front of him. She took his hands in hers.His face was tear-stricken, his ey
MurkaIndonesian for FuryAdrienne went to Yuan’s house. She told him that she let Justin go.“You must be out of your freaking mind!” Yuan said crossly.“I have to do this, Yuan,” she said sadly. “I love him.”“Then why the hell did you let him go?!”“I don’t want his mother to fall into deep depression! I don’t want her to get hurt. I don’t want to ruin his perfect family. I never had that! And I wanted it for him. I don’t want him to feel guilty if something happened to his Mom or his Dad. He will never be happy with me this way.”“Do you think he will be happy without you?”Adrienne sighed. She knows Justin felt devastated with her decision to let him go, too. But he had to fix things with his parents. And the only way she could do that is if she gave him up.“Maybe someday, Yuan,” she said
XiāoshīMandarin for, To Vanish“Are you all right?” Jin Starck asked Adrienne.She nodded slowly.Her hand went to her cheek, rubbing it to ease a little of the sting caused by her mother’s palm. Jill and Yuan now stood behind her, trying to give whatever comfort they could provide at that moment, both were throwing daggers at Kim and her mother with their eyes.Jin turned to look at her mother, her father and her sister. He stood in front of Adrienne, as if to shield her against her own family.The charming, mischievous and seemingly innocent aura that he usually possessed seemed to have evaporated instantly. Instead, her family faced a cold, murderous and scary man that even froze her mother in her place.Jin pointed a finger to her mother and said, “You touch her again, and you will find yourself with a sorry-ass lawsuit! And I will file a complaint with the state medical board to make sure yo
XemethistosGreek, meaning Sober“The prodigal son returns.” Jordan Gibson was peering from the top of the staircase, looking down as his older cousin walked inside the house.Justin looked at him out of the corner of his eyes. His cousin had a smirk on his face and it almost took all of his strength not to climb the twenty-step staircase and break his nose. He was usually not a violent person. But he just spent the entire flight from New York to Chicago pushing his alcohol tolerance to its limit. Patience did not rank high on his virtue list right now. “Fuck off, Jord!” he muttered instead.Jordan received a gentle punch on the shoulder from his other cousin, Gian. They watched as Justin walked straight to his father’s study on the ground floor of the twelve-bedroom mansion.Just before Justin opened the door, Gian called out to him.“Hey J!”Justin turned back to Gian. He
StjåletNorwegian for Stolen.Adrienne walked beside Jin Starck into the lavish mansion he called his home. Yuan and Jill trailed behind them.“You still live with your parents?” Adrienne asked.“In this house, yes,” he replied. “But I have apartments of my own. This is a ten-bedroom house. It gets a little lonely for Mom sometimes so I make it a point to spend time here to keep her company. She doesn’t work for our hotels. She spends a lot of time in her study. Writing.”Jin was greeted by their butler in French. He gave instructions to take Yuan and Jill to one of the waiting rooms and serve them refreshments.Then he turned to Adrienne. “Follow me.”They ascended the stairs to the second level of the house. Adrienne couldn’t help admiring how elegant and luxurious the house appeared. Never in her wildest dreams did she imagine that somebody related to h
Novo življenjeSlovenian for New Life.Over the next days, Adrienne spent most of her time in the Starck mansion, getting to know her mother. It was like they both couldn’t get enough of talking to each other. As gently as she could, she told her how difficult it was, growing up with Marina Miller, the woman she thought was her Mom, who provided little comfort and constant negative comparisons to her stepsister.Yuan and Jill enjoyed Paris just as much. Jin took them around anywhere they wanted whenever Adrienne desired some alone time with her mother.“Do you have a boyfriend, Adrienne?” Her mother asked.Adrienne sighed. She was reminded again of the broken pieces of her heart. She hadn’t heard from Justin since the last time he told her she’d be going to Italy in forty days. She reckons he was still working on convincing his parents to let him go. She had no idea how he’s going to do it, but deep
Ang Huling Kabanata Filipino for The Last Chapter Adrienne’s heart pounded loudly. She could almost not contain the happiness inside her, but somehow a part of her felt terrified about facing their parents, her mother, most especially. Their parents couldn’t be happier about this, but she also knew that they must have been planning their wedding long before she and Justin had met. And somehow, a part of her felt guilty about taking that dream away from them. She felt Justin tilt her chin up. “Are you okay, honey?” he asked gently. She smiled and nodded. “Nervous, though.” He smiled at her reassuringly. “They’re gonna be fine. They probably got the shock of their lives, but I’m sure they are happy nonetheless.” “They must be disappointed that they weren’t part of the whole wedding preparations.” Justin tightened his arms around her and gave her a kiss on the forehead. “Come to think of it, so were you. And only yo
VznešenýCzech for SublimeAdrienne didn’t want to feel emotional, but feeling Justin’s tight embrace on her, and seeing the tears in his eyes also made her want to cry. At first, she thought it could be something that she ate. It could be fatigue catching up with her. It could even be Abi. But looking at Justin’s teary eyes and hearing him say that his insurance just came through… Adrienne remembered that amidst all the chaos that happened to her in the last few weeks, she forgot that she didn’t have her period at all. And that night when Justin first told her that he loved her…he made love to her without protection…without reservation. And the following nights after that, they were both caught up in his problem with his parents, and the thought that their days tog
RohanásHungarian for RushThe next day became hectic for Adrienne. Abigail may have looked shy and quiet at first, but hell! She ran a military rule when it came to organizing stuff. She got on the phone, putting pressure on the photographers, videographers and other suppliers. She seemed so meticulous and so strict. Adrienne no longer wondered how she managed to straighten out the old Mason.Abigail turned to her, taking deep breaths. “Okay, I sorted out the cake! Now, let’s get you to the couture house so you can pick out a dress.”Adrienne nodded. She almost got scared of her future cousin-in-law. While Abi’s driver transported them to a shop, she spoke over the phone in Italian. She was almost raising her voice. Adrienne found it a little amusing now.When she hung up the phone, she turned to Adrienne and smiled. “Sorry. That was Justin.” She turned to her driver to give out instru
Upendo ni nuru ya maisha.Swahili for “love is the light of life”Justin and Adrienne arrived at a luxury hotel in Florence. It was more like a luxurious, sophisticated home than a hotel with its elegant townhouse façade, neo-classical furniture and centuries worth of art collections in a four-story structure.They were greeted warmly by all the staff dressed in expensive suits and uniforms.Adrienne blinked back at Justin, obviously in awe of the VIP treatment they received. Justin smiled and whispered to her. “I rented the whole place for the whole week. So we are their only guests.”Adrienne’s eyes widened. “Justin!” she hissed. “That’s too much!”“What’s the point of eloping if you cannot have some sort of privacy, right?” he asked, his eyes twinkling.A couple approached them. Justin smiled at the sight of his cousin. Mason. The onl
Rhedeg i ffwrdd.Welsh for Running AwayTwo hours later, Adrienne was at the airport with Justin. She wasn’t thinking. She didn’t care. She knew it was wrong in some way. But she felt tired of doing everything that everybody around her expected of her. She lived with a stepmother who never saw anything good in what she did, a father who didn’t know how to stand up for her, and now she had a mother who mapped out her future without even telling her. Maybe the time had come for her to think about herself. Time to follow her heart and go after what she wanted. And that’s Justin.Jin walked in to the lobby of the airport, carrying a small bag with him. She texted him that she left the party and she needed him to bring some of her stuff to the airport.He looked at her with a sober expression on his face.“I hope you know what you’re doing, Adrienne,” he said to her.“I don’t,&rd
Sufletul perecheRomanian for Soul MateAdrienne quickly spun around and found herself staring at a pair of crystal blue eyes. She blinked back at him, all the muscles and bones in her body froze, including her voice.He looked as handsome as ever, dressed in a black tux. His hair was still a little disheveled but it only added to the charm of his devilishly handsome face. His eyes though, weren’t dancing, like they used to. They had a shadow of circles under them, as if he hadn’t been sleeping properly in days.Adrienne realized that she hadn’t been breathing in a long time. She closed her eyes for a moment, thinking for sure that he would disappear once she opened her eyes. But when she did, he was still there, looking back at her curiously.“Justin…” she whispered.He didn’t speak. He looked as dumbfounded as she was. Then he took a deep breath and instead of uttering a word, he rea
MaskaradëAlbanian for Masquerade.Adrienne kept herself busy by helping to organize her mother’s victory party, aka, ‘Adrienne’s Introduction to Society’. She didn’t like that bit, but her mother thought she deserved it. Her mother promised to do it subtly. No speeches, special mentions or any form of acknowledgement whatsoever.Adrienne insisted on taking care of the venue, the decorations, the catering and the program. Her mother’s assistant, Maryse took care of all the invitations and RSVPs. Most of the people on the guest list were French and Adrienne couldn’t speak French to save her life.Adrienne actually enjoyed what she did. For days, she was busy ensuring that every detail was in place, everything would be spotless and perfect.“I could actually make you Head of Banquet Reservations and Events,” her stepfather said to her, finding her in the ballroom, choosing diffe
Chịu được.Tolerance in Vietnamese.Her mother was ecstatic when she got back. “So, how did it go?” Adrienne just smiled. She wanted to be honest, but she didn’t really want to quash her mother’s hopes. Yes, her stepmom still had that effect on her that she couldn’t help. She just couldn’t stop pleasing people.“It’s…interesting. I haven’t met a guy like Justin before.” She tried to sound enthusiastic. But it is true. That guy was one of a kind.Her mother’s eyes widened. “Oh, sweetheart, I know. He is adorable. His parents are so proud of him. Handsome lad, too. I take it you would be having a date tonight again?”“Mom, it’s not a date,” she said.“But he asked you?”
JosnicRomanian for Despicable.“What?” Adrienne blinked back. The name still makes her heart beat a thousand times faster.“My name is Justin. I’m Christine’s son. My mother said I should meet her friend Ariana’s daughter, Andy. Are you the daughter? Because I know the Starcks. And…well…you don’t look half as posh as your brother.”Seriously? His name is also Justin? God, kill me now!Bile rose to Adrienne’s throat and she balled her hands in front of her. She would have hit the guy and she bet the waiter and the other patrons around them would love to help her gang up on this asshole. But she cannot embarrass her mother.“Okay. It’s nice to meet you, Justin, and now I must go.” She started to stand up.But she felt a hand on her wrist, grasping it tightly.“Sit down, will you?” he asked in a low firm voice that Adrienne