More than Friends

Adrien Russell

I was pissed as I left Dad's office. Where did the idea of marriage come from? How the hell could Dad conclude on my behalf that I would marry a stranger. Frustrated, I drove to that one person who I could talk to at the moment.

"Hello, Ms. Stuart." I smiled at the elderly woman who opened the door for me when I rang the bell.

"Hello, Adrien. Come in." She cheered and I passed her a smile. "It's been a long time. Ms. Stuart, Sophie's cook tapped my shoulder.

"Yes. I've been a little busy." I replied.

"Hmm. I understand. Have a seat, I will call Sophie." Just as she said that, Sophie came running down the stairs with a huge smile.

"Hey, Adrien!" She hugged me tightly and I returned it.

"Hey, Soph." We sat on the couch and Ms. Stuart returned to the kitchen, leaving us alone.

"So.. how did you suddenly think of seeing me after ghosting for five days?" She taunted me playfully and I let out a chuckle.

"You know about the controversy, I have been trying to avoid being in public." I told her honestly.

"Oh, Come On. You know how the media exaggerates everything. Don't lock yourself because of them. Anyway, what actually happened? You never told me."

I explained the whole story on her insistence and she listened to everything carefully without judging me.

"You are a great person, Adrien. You have a heart of gold. You helped that girl and believe me, nothing bad will happen to you." She passed me a smile and hugged me. "Everything will be alright."

"I seriously doubt that." I mumbled pulling over.

"What do you mean? She asked.

I sighed before telling her. "Instead of things being sorted out, I have got myself into deeper shit." A deep frown formed on her forehead as I continued.

"Dad had asked me to marry that girl, Crystal. He thinks that this could possibly shut down the media if we portray her as my fiancé and not just any random girl." As I looked at Sophie after telling her that, I saw her eyes widen as if she had seen a ghost.

"What?!" She screeched on the top of her voice. "Y-you refused him, r-right?" She held my shoulders. I could feel the panic rise in her that made me frown.

"I tried to but he had concluded his decision. I am still tr-" I tried to explain but she didn't let me.

"Just because your Dad asked you to, you will marry a girl like her." Sophie was practically yelling and I was confused about her reaction. She stood up from the couch and rubbed her temples.

"You. You cannot marry her. How can you marry her?! How can you marry anyone, Adrien??" Her shouts echoed in the empty house.

"Calm down, Sophie." I stood up and held her shoulders. I knew she would be shocked to hear this but I never expected such a reaction from her.

"How can I calm down?" Tears started flowing down her eyes. "I love you, Adrien! How can I stay calm when you are talking about marrying another girl? To me, you are much more than just a friend, Adrien. Can you not see it??"

Her confession left me dumbfounded. I stared at her expressionlessly but there was a havoc inside my head.

"Soph-" I tried speaking but I was interrupted again.

"You are really smart, Adrien Russell. But you could never understand my love for you." With that, she ran back to her room.

The day had been full of surprises.

I needed to sort things out with her. She was my only best friend. The only person I have ever opened up to and I cannot mess up our bond. I waited there for her.

One hour.

Two hours.

Finally, giving up on the patience, I went to her room. When I got no response on knocking on the door thrice, I opened the door to see her sitting on a bean-bag in the balcony. I went to her and sat on another bean-bag beside her, looking at the setting sun.

She glanced at me but kept ignoring and let out a deep sigh.

"Sophie! Hey, you got to talk to me."

I said to her but was still ignored.

"You know you have given me a bigger shock than Dad today. You.. You are my best friend. I have never thought of you in that way." As soon as I completed my sentence, she snapped at me.

"If you haven't thought of me that way before, then you better start doing it now. You didn't even think that way about that girl, Crystal I suppose, did you. I mean, come on. I am not that cheap to get rejected in comparison with her." I rolled my eyes.

She continued. "I thought I was the best girl for you. But now I know that you are selecting a random girl over me."

"I am not selecting anyone, Sophie. For god's sake." I almost yelled at her.

I understood that she was heartbroken, but it's not my fault that I had no romantic feelings for her. I took a deep breath to calm myself.

"Sophie, I was just telling you what dad told me. That's what we have always done. I think of you as my best friend ONLY. Nothing else. If you had any such feelings, you should have shared them with me. We have this frankness between us, don't we?"

"No matter how frank I become, I am a woman, Adrien. And we women expect some things from men. And not only me, both our mothers wanted our relationship to work out." Sophie argued.

"Sophie! For the last time, please understand. I- I do not have romantic feelings for you. I do not think of you as more than a friend."

Sophie turned towards me and moved closer. She looked dead straight into my eyes and said. "So now what? Will you marry that poor girl who you picked up from the streets?" She scoffed bitterly.

"I have no intention of marrying her damn it!! I barely know her, forget about the fucking marriage. It's just that Dad is being very stubborn and for now, I have nothing that could convince him against it."

She stood up and walked around, folding hands to her chest. "So what do you plan to do Adrien? I don't understand how your dad could even think of you both as a couple. No way in hell his made up story will convince the media and the public. For instance, if you were marrying someone you love, I would have understood. But this... this is unfair for both of us. He cannot hand you any random girl to marry! I really love you Adrien. And I will not let this marriage happen."

I held her hand to stop her from leaving, but she pulled away and walked out.

Being stressed and annoyed more than ever before, I went back to my penthouse. I plopped on the bed and dug my face in a pillow and let out a muffled, frustrated groan.

I tried to ease my tension by rubbing my temples over and over again. After sometime, when I felt a little relaxed and sleep started to take over me, my phone rang. I groaned and rolled over to the bedside to receive the call from an unknown number.

"Hello?" I frowned.

"Um..Hi." The familiar sweet female voice replied. I sighed and laid back while the phone was by my ear. "It's me, Crystal Hayes."

"Yes. I guessed it." I replied.

"Actually, I have come up with a plan to make your father change his mind. A friend of mine will be helping us." She said and all my attention was now on her.

"I'm listening." She told me about the plan that she and her friend Evan had thought of and seemed pretty approaching to me. Dad would certainly not force her to marry me if she already loves someone.

"I think that will work." I agreed to her idea. "But I would like to meet you and your friend before you confront Dad. We will have to discuss a few things." I told her and she agreed.

We decided to meet tomorrow morning in a small restaurant where I couldn't be spotted and then hung up as I called it a day.

                                               0----------------------------------0

I stretched my body and rolled over on the bed before finally waking up from my slumber. I rubbed my blurry vision and yawned when the shrill noise of my ringtone reached my ears.

I sighed as I saw the caller ID before receiving it.

"Morning, Dad." I said in my bed-voice.

"I am disowning you!" He roared in my ears through the phone.

"What?" I looked at the screen of my phone then put it back to my ear with a frown.

"You sure haven't seen the latest articles, have you?" I could feel him gritting his teeth as he spoke. And he was right. I hadn't seen any new articles.

"Hold on, Dad." I pulled the phone away from my ear and looked up on the internet.

Fuck my life!

I clenched my jaw and groaned, seeing the articles and pictures. All about me. It was from yesterday when Ms. Hayes and I walked out of the office together. This time, her face was clearly seen in the pictures. People doubted her to be the same girl who was spotted with me in the lodge.

Well, Bingo!

"Dad I-" I tried to talk to him but he didn't let me.

"Here I have been working my ass off, day and night to solve one controversy that you created and here you came up with another." He scolded.

"Dad! We were spotted together inside the office. Someone from your office has leaked this information." I reasoned. I will sue the person once I get my hands on him.

I heard him sigh and I felt a pang of guilt in me for disappointing him. I had never been in such limelight but now that it was already announced that I would be taking over Dad's business very soon, my every move was being watched.

I absolutely hated it. But that was the bitter truth of life in Manhattan. People here live for gossip.

"Ms. Hayes' face is clearly seen in the pictures, Adrien. You need to get in touch with her right now. If the media finds her, it wouldn't be safe for her. Let's deal with the rest later." Dad said. The anger in his tone had died but he sounded worried and anxious.

I hung up on him and immediately got ready to leave. I dialed Ms. Hayes' number a few times but she didn't answer it. It was already the time when we had decided to meet so I drove to the restaurant.

I walked in and the sight in there had me furious. Every single person in that small place had their eyes on the scene going on while they kept whispering to each other.

Ms. Hayes, whose cream blouse was drenched in orange juice, and a red-head girl with a glass in hand, stood there glaring at each other.

"Are you crazy? What the hell are you talking about?" Ms. Hayes yelled.

Do people recognize her? Don't tell me I'm late.

"Don't talk back to me you little slut. Just because Adrien Russell took you to his bed once, do-"

"ENOUGH!" My loud voice echoed in the silent restaurant and all eyes turned to me. Everyone gasped and whispered audibly but I couldn't care less.

I looked straight into the eyes of the red-head who looked shocked and nervous. Walking towards her, I stood in front of Ms. Hayes. The other girl took a small step behind and refused to meet my eyes, instead glared at the woman behind me.

"I don't remember giving people the right to question my personal life." My voice was stern and deep but loud enough for everyone to hear. I could see people recording us from the corner of my eyes, but I ignored it. I knew I would have to deal with this if I wanted to achieve something big.

What I was about to say next would definitely break the internet. I would surely regret it for the rest of my life, but it was the only way to deal with this. It was better for both of us.

"And besides, no one. I say, No. One... talks to my fiancé like that."