Trading

"You?" asked Ella, her voice filled with astonishment.

She heard a manly chuckle from the other side, and she knitted her eyebrows in confusion, asking again, "How did you get my number?"

"I have my ways," said the man on the call.

"Oh, really?" replied Ella mockingly.

"Yeah," he responded.

Ella paused for a moment before bursting into laughter. She could sense the man on the other end was also perplexed by her reaction.

"What?" the man asked.

"Seriously, Adam? You wanted to contact me so badly!" Ella said, laughing continuously.

"I—" he tried to say, but the words seemed to fail him.

"It's okay! I caught you," Ella said playfully.

Adam stuttered a little, clearing his throat before replying, "Okay! You caught me. Now what?"

Ella playfully formed a "huh?" still smiling at his response.

"So, what now?" she questioned.

"I wanted to meet you," Adam said bluntly, taking her off guard. Her eyes sparkled with excitement, and she giggled merrily before asking again, "Really?"

"Does it feel like I'm joking around?" Adam questioned.

"No," Ella said, still laughing.

"Okay then, come meet me," Adam said sternly.

"Why the hell are you ordering me?" Ella said, slightly confused.

Adam paused for a moment before replying, "It's my nature."

"It didn't sound like that earlier," Ella remarked, followed by a moment of silence.

"That's because I didn't show that side," Adam clarified.

"Oh, alright," Ella responded, feeling a bit awkward.

"What's with that silence?" Adam asked.

"Uh? Nothing," Ella replied.

"Hmm, if you say so," Adam said.

"So..." Ella began.

"Yes?" Adam responded.

"Tell me where we should meet?" Adam asked.

"Me?" Ella asked in confusion.

"Yes, you," Adam fired back.

"But why me?" Ella questioned again.

Adam sighed while holding the bridge of his nose. "I guess there is only you who I'm talking to," he said mockingly.

"Oh," Ella muttered, scratching the back of her head at his comment. "Umm, Nindo's cafe?" she suggested.

She tightens her lips together before asking him again, feeling silence taking over. "It's alright if you don't know—"

"I knew about it," Adam replies monotonously.

"Oh... Yeah... Great," Ella says, trying to hide her disappointment.

"5 pm," Adam says.

"What?" Ella questions again, slightly confused.

"Are you dumb or what?" Adam asks irritably with a sigh.

"I- uh sorry," Ella says, feeling awkward about herself.

"Ahh, it's alright," Adam says, sensing her low tone.

"Uh... Okay, I will be there," Ella responds quickly. She was about to cut the call, but Adam clears his throat.

"Yes?" she asks, still confused.

"Aren't you forgetting something?" Adam asks in the same monotonous voice.

"What?" Ella blurts out.

"Really?" Adam sighs.

"Yes," Ella says casually.

Adam sighs again and repeats his previous actions. Ella waits for his response with a sigh too.

"Good night," he says sternly.

"Oh... Yeah, good night," Ella responds.

"That's what I was talking about," Adam states.

"What? You wanted me to—" but Adam ends the call.

"Yahhhh!" Ella yells once the call gets disconnected. "How could he?"

"Git!" Ella yells before plopping onto her bed and entering her dreamland.

The clock strikes 11 in the morning, and Ella wakes up, stretching her arms widely.

"Ahhh," she yawns while rubbing her eyes.

Looking around her room and checking the time, she freshens herself. She went downstairs and had breakfast with her parents.

"How's your exhibition work going on?" her father asks.

"Nice... I am working on the 'art of trope' concept," she declares merrily.

"Ahan, well, that's nice," her mother praises.

"Thanks," she mumbles, feeling shy.

"When is the exhibition?" her parents ask.

"Next weekend," Ella says, munching on her food.

"That's close," her father remarks.

"Yeah," she says while fiddling with her fingers. She looks up at her father with beaming eyes. "Will you come?"

"I will try," he says briefly, shifting his gaze to the food in front of him.

Ella briskly finishes her breakfast. "Okay mum, I am going," and she moves for her room. She finishes her artwork, paint smudged on her cheekbones. The alarm strikes 4:25 pm.

"Ahh, time flew so fast," she says and discards her apron after washing her hands. Fixing her hair with her hands, she dashes towards her garage.

"Where's my car?" she mumbles while putting her hands on her hips. "Oh, there it is," she spots her car. She starts her car and drives to her destination. After a 10-minute drive, she arrives and spots Adam already sitting inside the cafe in the corner seats. She quickly checks her watch to see the time has struck 4:50 pm.

"10 minutes," she says to herself in astonishment.

She steps inside the cafe and moves towards Adam, who was busy scrolling through his phone. "Hi," she whispers softly, waving her hand in front of him.

He looks up, eyebrows slightly knitted, and quickly hides his reaction. "Hi," he responds, gesturing for her to sit on the seat in front of him. She takes the seat as guided.

"So, what caused you to call me here?" Ella quickly questions.

Adam raises an eyebrow at her question before taking a sip of his coffee. "It's simple," he says, placing the cup down.

He glances up at Ella, who looks at him in utter confusion, raising her eyebrows as their eyes meet.

"I want to see you," he bluntly says.

Ella's eyes widen at his words, and she instantly says, "What?"

"Yes," he says, nodding his head. "I wanted to see you, that's why I called you here. Otherwise, we could have talked over the phone. Couldn't we?" he says matter-of-factly.

Ella eyes him like he's a freak, and she awkwardly shuffles a little, causing Adam to poke his tongue to the inside of his mouth to suppress a smile. "Ok..." Ella says, dragging the word while nodding her head in acknowledgment.

"And why did you want to see me?" Ella says, sitting up straighter in her seat, looking at him questioningly.

He chuckles again, catching her off guard. Ella frowns at him before composing herself. "What?" Ella says for the tenth time.

Before she can say anything else, Adam's hand gently raises towards her cheeks and swipes away the smudged paint with his thumb. He rubs his thumb while looking at her cheeks, and Ella is freaking out internally.

Still with his hand on her cheek, he states, "Because I wanted to talk to you," and he stares directly into her eyes while continuing, "About your painting."

Ella opens her mouth to respond but stops once she feels him moving his hand away from her cheeks. Stuttering a little and shifting her gaze to the side, she asks, "Why?"

"Because I'm interested," he monotonously replies.

"But it's for the exhibition," Ella states.

"Then tell me when and where it is," Adam asks.

"I- uh, I don't want to sell it," she says.

Adam gives her a knitted eyebrows look before asking, "Then what's the point of this exhibition?"

Ella sternly looks him in the eye before saying, "Because I wanted to be known... I want to make my name in my field... For..."

"For what?" Adam asks curiously.

Ella gulps, looking at him hesitantly. "You can trust me," Adam says with a still stern tone, but this time with a hint of assurance. That's what she wanted to hear.

"For my orphanage," Ella says delicately.

Adam says nothing and observes her for a moment. Ella lowers her head, but then she feels a hand in front of her. Raising her head, she sees Adam extending his hand for a handshake. Once their eyes meet, he instantly says, looking deep into her eyes, "Well then, I guess we will be great partners."