When Real Fear Strikes

To hell with the nonplussing impression that this ever stoic husband is finally starting to open up and accept his true emotions - no matter what this tyrannizing storm of feelings is all about, Adrian is not going to remain indifferent any longer.

He's not about to turn a blind eye on this newly recognized will of his - to never let it get to the point where Cassidy has to shed a tear again, that is. After all, he's already this greatly affected just by her heartbreaking display earlier. He can't imagine how much more he'll lose himself if she is to break down in tears.

This entire thing isn't really supposed to be about what he thinks or feels, though. Regardless of how he responds to this situation, it's her who truly matters. 

Cassidy is the one Adrian should really think about this time around - not himself nor anyone else. 

He knows that she doesn't deserve any of these heartaches, especially since he's the only remaining one between the two of them who's hanging on this marriage. She had already proposed divorce loud and clear before, but because of his selfish reason, he didn't agree. To add to that, he kept her by his side even though he didn't really love her.

"Now that I learned that someone's probably threatening her life - someone who could pull off a deadly ploy like earlier, I realized just how selfish and stupid I have really been this whole time. By keeping her with me even though there wasn't any love between us, I had put her into danger..." Adrian pondered with the heaviest feeling he had ever felt in his whole years of living - his regretful expression now contorting into a guilt-ridden one.

"In all actuality, I'm the real magnet of troubles here."

Then came the defeaning growl of the thunder.

It seemed like it already got to their present location. The sound suddenly went drumming in his ears, eventually making him snap out of his benumbed state. But before he could respond, the rain poured down out of nowhere and started drenching him from head to toe.

"This is bad. The road is becoming less and less visible..." Adrian muttered in immense perturbation before finally deciding to stir his stumps and rushing after his wife.

"Cassidy!"

At the very second he shouted her name, he heard Cassidy shrieking from a distance. Taken aback by how horrified she sounded, he then picked up his speed and sprinted all the way there.

It had only been a few minutes since she left him at the bus stop, but she already managed to get that far. Somehow, that gives him the impression that she's really in a hurry to get out of there.

"Cassidy...!" Adrian called out once more as soon as he reached where he thought she was.

But then, Cassidy isn't there.

Instead, all he finds is a pair of heels that's been left all on their own in the middle of the road. The sight alone emanates a foreboding premonition. He feels every known fear out there crawling up to him as different assumptions begin to flood his head.

Worst case scenario, she's been forcefully taken away and he's much too late.

"N-No... Cassidy..." Adrian stammered out in aghast shock, an unfathomable sense of dread pooling in his stomach.

"Cassidy-"

Then, he paused.

Just when he's about to search further, he suddenly hears a faint whimper from the side of the road. He then turns to its direction and finds a single tree near a row of fences and hedges.

Under its swaying branches, there sits a lone, dainty figure, trembling tremulously and all crouched down into a ball. At that very moment, he swears he feels his heart drop with a gruelingly heavy weight.

Cassidy is now sitting below the tree and embracing her knees, her face buried in her folded arms.

She's uncontrollably shaking in fear and keeps on whimpering whenever the thunderous noise pierces through the place. Her body is just as soaked as his, but it's more than clear that she isn't shuddering just because of how cold it is. 

After Adrian walked up to Cassidy and took a closer look, he could tell. 

As if being electrified, she would jolt and shiver every time the lightning and thunder strike. She also can't stop sniveling like a fretful toddler. Similar to a shaken bunny, she keeps backing into the deepest corner that the tree can offer.

From this sight alone, he could already tell what's wrong. 

"Cassidy..." he breathed out as a tempest of emotions began to ascend within him again.

"Look at me, Cassidy."

Adrian then kneeled right in front of Cassidy, mustering a gravely distressed expression. A deep frown is marring his frame while his gaze is full of nothing but heart-rending pain. 

Only earlier, she was this brave and unwavering woman who faced against three burly men. But now, she seemed to have shrunk into this scared little girl.

"Can you please look at me?" Adrian kept asking gently but to no avail. 

Cassidy is so frightened that she can't even afford to lift her head.

At that very moment, he suddenly recalled what he'd just been wondering about some minutes ago. He remembers asking himself about what her real fear might be since she always looks like an indestructible fortress with a destructive force.

Now that Adrian learns how this recurring event in nature is the answer, he can no longer fathom how much Cassidy tries to bear with everything all on her own this whole time.