The End of the Storm (1)

Elle glanced back and forth nervously as a sales lady stood in front of her with a tie on display in either hand. Adam had plenty of ties, it was probably a boring and unnecessary gift to give but Elle wanted to be able to give it to him nonetheless.

Adam had tasked Elle with the important decision of picking out the clothes he would wear for an important dinner he was going to be having with the higher members of the production tomorrow night. Elle wouldn't be attending the dinner herself, but she had secretly accompanied Adam to the hotel where it would be held. They would both be staying there for two days over the weekend.

Adam had gone out to take care of some business so Elle had taken the opportunity to go to a nearby mall to kill two birds with one stone. She always felt very grateful to Adam, and always felt that she was receiving things from him while giving very little. So when he tasked her with selecting his attire Elle decided she would take the opportunity to also get him a gift. The only problem was that Elle didn't have much of an eye for things like this.

"What do you think Chris?" Elle asked while glancing back at him.

Christopher seemed to have been snapped out of his thoughts by Elle's sudden question. He looked at her blankly before glancing at the ties.

"The grey would go nicely with a navy suit."

Elle nodded in agreement. "We'll go with the grey then."

Chris glanced at Elle warily as the sales assistant proceeded to wrap up the gift. He had been the one who advised Elle that it would be better for them to keep some distance between them and yet here he was, accompanying her in a busy and public place. It was a bit ridiculous even to him and yet it couldn't really be helped.

With a shudder Chris recalled his conversation with Adam.

"I thought I told you not to approach me." Christopher had said.

"Is that still going on? I thought our agreement was satisfied."

"What do you want?"

"I need your help with something." Adam had said with the glimmer of something dangerous in his eyes. "Elle and I will be back on the weekend, I have a wrap up dinner with the producers and some staff. I'll be using that opportunity to make sure I address the source of this problem properly."

"I'm not sure how much help I can be."

"Don't worry, it's not much work really. I just need you to accompany Elle for a few hours."

Chris had almost chocked when he had heard that. "Isn't that a bit..."

"If the rumours aren't true then there's nothing to worry about, right?" Adam asked with a quirk of his brow. It was as if he were daring Chris to contradict him. "I just need to take care of a few things without Elle around. I don't want to worry her about something like this."

"Even so, just because you and I know the truth doesn't mean that it won't cause trouble for her and I to be together right now. Won't the rumours just spread further?"

"That's why I'm asking you. I trust you're capable enough to not let it happen twice. I don't want Elle to have to be overly cautious and worry about things like that, but I'm sure you won't mind keeping a careful eye out for her while staying by her side."

Christopher had eventually relented to Adam's persistence.

That afternoon, when he had pretended to run into Elle coincidentally and offered to join her she had seemed pleased as well. On top of that, no one seemed to have noticed them yet, so Chris really had nothing he could complain about.

He happily let himself blend into the crowd as he quietly accompanied Elle for a bit longer.

~~~

Amelia had heard that Adam would be in town this weekend in order to attend an important dinner. Production had finally wrapped up. Her last day of filming had finished just the day before, and there were only a few small scenes that didn't include her to finish with.

Amelia had expected Adam might come soon so she had been racking her brain for a plan to reconcile with him. The last time they had spoken to each other it had been in argument. She had been anxious to fix things ever since, and now she would finally have the opportunity.

Amelia had her gears already in motion, however, surprisingly, she didn't need to do any work to meet him at all. It was already quite late in the afternoon when Amelia was notified that Adam was waiting in one of the empty sitting rooms of the hotel for her.

'How perfect.' She thought to herself with a wicked smile. Amelia quickly touched up her makeup, putting in effort to make her reflection seem young and innocent, before wandering downstairs to go meet him.

Amelia had been so occupied diligently preparing her own end of things that she hadn't spared a thought on what Adam might be feeling. The satisfaction of being called on by him vanished quickly as Amelia entered the room.

Adam stood in the centre of the room, waiting for her with a perfectly cold and unforgiving expression on his face. An icy air hung to the entire room causing chills to run down her spine. Amelia felt as if she were face-to-face with a stranger.

"Adam, you asked for me?" She asked nervously.

"I told you to stop doing unnecessary things didn't I?" He asked coldly.

"It wasn't me." Amelia stammered.

Adam raised his eyebrows. "Do you take me for a fool?"

Amelia swallowed hard, attempting to gather her courage.

"It really wasn't me." Amelia said as tears began to form in her eyes. "One of the actresses was with me later that night, after you called. She saw the picture in my phone, she must have been the one..."

"Either way, the problem began with you didn't it?"

"I...I..." Amelia stuttered. This wasn't her fault. She had only showed Adam the truth so why had things ended up like this?

The truth was that despite her faults, Amelia was a good actress. Somewhere in the middle of the mess she had created Amelia had begun to believe her own lie.

It wasn't her fault. She just needed an opportunity to get herself out of this mess. With just a little time she could clean her story up. Amelia was in a panic, looking for any string to grab hold of. As if God were on her side an opportunity suddenly presented itself.

In that moment, as Amelia began to crumble under the pressure of Adam's relentless presence, the door to the room suddenly opened for a second time.