The Black Scorpion
Ch. 12

Half an hour later, Aaric's car stopped at a rooftop restaurant. Aaric chatted briefly with the waiter there and the waiter drove the two of them to a table with a "RESERVED" plaque".

"Did Aaric order this table? But when?" ask Adrienne inwardly.

The waiter handed out two menus and gave each of them. Without looking at the menu, Aaric already knew what to order. He looked at the woman before him who was flipping through the menu with a confused face.

"What do you want to eat?" aaric asked after Adrienne put down her menu.

"Honestly I don't understand the names of the food" Adrienne replied, looking down.

Aaric then ordered the same food with him accompanied by two glasses of wine. Finished ordering, Aaric found Adrienne looking up at the star-studded sky that night with a smile.

"Pa..Ma's..Anne misses," murmured Adrienne involuntarily.

One clear grain ran down Adrienne's cheek and before she could remove it, a hand had already grabbed her cheek and removed it.

"Sorry" said Adrienne with a flushed face.

"You miss your parents?" ask Aaric.

"Yes. Sixteen years have passed but sometimes I still miss them" Adrienne said sadly.

"Tell me about your parents" said Aaric.

Adrienne began to tell about her parents and the more she told the story, the more cheerful she was because all the memories about her parents were good memories. His smile slowly flickered while recounting happy memories with his parents and Aaric himself somehow felt happy also seeing that smile.

Before long, their order came and Adrienne paused the story for a moment and continued again while eating. It took only fifteen minutes, their plates were already clean and cleaned, leaving him a glass of wine. Ten minutes later, Aaric's phone rang and he excused himself to pick it up. He spoke for a while and then went back to his desk.

"We go home" said Aaric with a trembling voice and a worried face.

"What's wrong?" adrienne asked worriedly.

"The twins had a high fever and are now in the hospital accompanied by Anna and Niko" Aaric said, paying for their food.

Adrienne's face was instantly pale and a worried look was clearly visible there. Although he had just met, Adrienne loved both children very much. He followed Aaric in silence. Along the way, Adrienne kept squeezing both her hands and occasionally wiping away her tears.

Arriving at the hospital, without waiting for Aaric to park his car, Adrienne immediately went down and ran inside. His head cackled in search of Savannah's existence. Not long before he saw the woman was heading towards him. Adrienne approached the woman.

"How are Abellard and Damien doing?" cecar Adrienne's.

"They have been treated by doctors and their condition has also stabilized" Savannah said.

Without answering Savannah took Adrienne to the twins' ward. The room contained two beds, each containing Abellard and Damien. Adrienne approached the bed and stood between the two beds. He rubbed and kissed Abellard and Damien's forehead to coincide with Aaric coming into the ward. Adrienne immediately looked at Aaric with teary eyes.

"Thank God they're fine" said Adrienne.

A moment after saying so, his body was limp and lucky to be caught by the swift Aaric. The man took Adrienne to the sofa in the room and sat the woman there.

"You okay?" ask Aaric worried.

"I'm doing fine. I'm just relieved they're okay" Adrienne said with a faint smile.

"Go home and rest. I'll take care of them tonight" Aaric ordered.

"No. You guys just go home. I'll take care of them" Adrienne said.

"Anna, you go home with Niko. Anne and I will take care of the twins tonight. Come back tomorrow morning" Aaric told his sister.

Savannah nodded obediently then passed from there. Aaric laid himself down on the sofa, right next to Adrienne.

"What are you worried about?" ask Aaric.

"I worry about them why. Though just met but it feels a pity on the two of them," said Adrienne without realizing Aaric was testing it.

Aaric quietly exhaled a sigh of relief after hearing Adrienne's reply. She thought she was just trying to impress that she cared about the twins so she wouldn't fire. The twins' closeness to the woman, spontaneous worried expressions and the woman's answer were enough to convince Aaric that the twins were in good hands.

When Aaric turned his head to the left, he saw that she had fallen asleep by holding her hand against the cushion of the woman's left sofa and her head was supported by the fold of the hand. Aaric smiled for a moment and then moved out of the room to the park devoted to smoking people to meet Nikolai who had been contacted before.

Nikolai was already sitting sweetly on a park bench with a cigarette in his grasp. Seeing Aaric coming, he immediately stood up from his seat and offered her a cigarette that Aaric had rejected. The man took out his own cigarette and Nikolai was quick to light up with a lighter initialed N that he never let go. After a single puff of smoke, Aaric began to make a sound.

"You've been investigating Adrienne Dupont's background?" ask Aaric to relax.

"I've investigated and there's nothing suspicious about Miss Dupont. He comes from an ordinary family that has a small business. Both of his parents died in an accident when he was twelve years old and due to being a minor, he was cared for by his mother's younger brother, Ronald Dupont and his wife Cecil Dupont. Ronald and Cecil have a daughter named Bellatrix Dupont who is four years younger than Miss Dupont" Nikolai explained at length.

"Have you investigated also what caused him to get to this stage?" aaric said again.

"Miss Dupont's parents bequeathed them a little money and effort. The business left behind by Miss Dupont's parents was taken over and managed by Ronald and Cecil. The initially stable business began to decline and slowly incur debt. Miss Dupont should have inherited a little money and effort that is now on the verge of bankruptcy at the age of eighteen, but the inheritance was never obtained. From the age of fifteen until he graduated college, he himself financed himself. Ronald and Cecil don't really care about Miss Dupont and spoil Bellatrix more. The last news was only about Miss Dupont running away at twenty-three because she did not want to be betrothed. From then until now, there was no information about Miss Dupont" Nikolai said.

"So for the past five years what's happened to him?" murmured Aaric with a look at him.

Seriate...