The Black Scorpion
Ch. 20

Finished drinking the orange ice in front of him, Adrienne again told me.

"In addition to hiding myself, I also hid my identity so that they had trouble tracking me. I never used the name Adrienne Dupont in hiding. It was you who I first told you my real name after five years of using a false identity" Adrienne said.

"What name did you wear during your five-year hiding?" asked Aaric who seemed to still want to know more.

"Jessica Lorenzo" Adrienne replied briefly.

Aaric asked further, Nikolai's phone rang and was picked up by the man.

"What's up, Anna?" ask Nikolai straight to the point.

"Where are you? Is Anne with you?" a voice across the phone.

"I'm with Aaric and Adrienne."

"Give Anne the phone."

Without asking more, Nikolai thrust his phone towards Adrienne while mentioning the name of the person he wanted to talk to was Savannah. Adrienne took the phone out of Nikolai's hand and started talking.

"Hello, Anna. What's up?"

"When are you coming home?"

"Don't know yet. I'm with Aaric and Nikolai."

"Hurry home. Abel and Damien wouldn't eat if there wasn't you. They keep whining asking you to be here."

"alright. I'll be home soon."

Clik.

Adrienne turned off the phone call and handed it to the owner and looked at Aaric.

"What's wrong with Anna?" ask Aaric.

"Abellard and Damien whined to ask me to come home. They will not eat if there is no me" replied Adrienne as Savannah had said.

"We go home now" said Aaric, leaving the restaurant, followed by Adrienne and Nikolai.

After clearing all the belongings, Aaric asked Nikolai to go home first because Adrienne would go with him. Aaric immediately drove his car at high speed.

"Aaric, don't speed too much" said Adrienne flatly.

"We should get home soon. Abel and Damien are recovering. I don't want them to be sick anymore because they don't want to eat," replied Aaric equally flatly.

"You're gonna kill them if you speed up and something happens to both of us."

"What do you mean?"

"If we were both involved in an accident, either survived or died, wouldn't they be very sad? Especially if something happens to you, they can get killed for being too sad. You don't want that to happen, do you?"

Aaric simply kept silent not responding to Adrienne's words which he thought were true. Slowly he lowered the speed of the car to standard and along the way there was no sound.

As Adrienne got out of the car and closed it, Abellard and Damien ran over from the house. Adrienne crouched down to equalize high with them then greeted them in her arms.

"Mom, Abel and Damien miss Mom" Abellard said.

"No," said the twins together.

"But Mom heard from Aunty Anna that you don't want to eat. Is true?"

The twins just looked down and almost cried. Anxious Adrienne saw the two of them immediately hugging back the two cute little creatures.

"This time Mom is sorry but next time can't be anymore huh. If Dad and Mom don't exist, you must obey Grandma Annette, Aunty Anna and Uncle Niko. Understood?" adrienne said gently as she rubbed the backs of the two cute children.

"Understand Mom" they said simultaneously.

"Let's go in. Mom bribe you guys eat ya."

"Yeyyy," the twins cheered.

Adrienne held the hands of the two children, Abellard on the right and Damien on the left and walked in. The twins danced happily in Adrienne's arms. All of this was seen by Aaric and Nikolai.

"Rick, the twins never obey strangers like this except Sasha" Nikolai said.

"Sasha," Aaric muttered involuntarily.

"What's wrong, Rick?" asked Nikolai confused.

"It's okay. Come on in," said Aaric as he stepped.

...*****...

Inside the house, Adrienne was sitting opposite the twins in the dining room and taking turns feeding the two children. After she finished, Adrienne took the medicine and took them to the room to rest and left everyone in the living room.

"Aaric," called Annette when Adrienne had entered the twins' room.

"Yes Ma" answered Aaric.

"You still think about Sasha?" ask Annette carefully.

Nikolai and Savannah who were there fell silent at the name. The name was very sensitive for Aaric and Nikolai had already mentioned the name once. Luckily he did not receive a raw bogem for mentioning that name.

...*****...

Sashas.

The name meant a lot to Aaric from seven years ago to the present. The woman named Sasha was the one who gave a glimmer of light in her slump. The accident of both her parents, taking over the family business and Maria's pregnancy out of wedlock left Aaric almost losing his sanity if not the ever-present Sasha and supporting her back then.

Three years ago Aaric proposed to Sasha and was happily accepted by the woman. Aaric's heart is flowery because the relationship will soon be official after four years of being woven. It turned out that at that time also luck had not sided with Aaric. Six months after getting engaged, Sasha developed leukemia or commonly called blood cancer. Aaric's world instantly collapsed hearing Sasha was sick.

Various ways and types of treatment have been done Aaric to cure the woman he loved so much. Instead of getting better, Sasha's condition is getting worse. A woman's body becomes very thin and her hair falls out due to chemotherapy treatment. After struggling for a year, Sasha finally gave up and closed her eyes forever in Aaric's arms. His heart and life are shattered along with the collapse of his world during the loss of Sasha.

After losing Sasha, for six months Aaric lost hope and direction in his life. He could only drown himself in alcohol and women to treat the emptiness of his heart. The women who dated and slept with Aaric were also not careless. Aaric specifically chose women with faces or looks similar to Sasha's.

It was only last year that Aaric was able to rise from his slump after looking at two pairs of clear eyeballs belonging to Abellard and Damien. Aaric realized that the two little angels still needed him. Aaric began to work hard to give his best to the twins and devoted his full attention to the development of the two angels.

Alcohol and the woman he used to be his daily life after losing Sasha was abandoned for Abellard and Damien. He is not even interested in the women who are offered every invited to party by his friends or business partners. All he did for the sake of his two favorite twins until Adrienne came. The woman was able to shake back Aaric's dead heart along with Sasha's. But doubts still plagued Aaric. On the one hand he feels guilty for loving another woman but on the other hand he can't stop his own feelings either.

Seriate...