I Should Accompany You

It was only a brief moment but Elle felt as if time had stoped moving, making that one moment feel like an eternity. At the same time it felt as if everything had happened so fast. Her mind and heart couldn't keep up with each other.

Just as she felt her annoyance for Amelia peak, Adam opened his mouth, causing Elle to forget the words she was about to say.

"I do know Chris well." Adam had announced to the group. "And more importantly, I know Elle well. I trust them both."

Elle blinked slowly, the joy she would normally feel at Adam's confident admission of his trust was lost to a sea of confusion.

"You know Chris well?" Elle asked incredulously.

The two obviously knew of each other, and they would meet on set or other production related events but Elle couldn't recall more than a handful of times that they had even spoken to each other. Elle had become quite close with Chris and yet Adam had never given the slightest hint that he knew Christopher well. Nor had Christopher ever given any indication that he was close to Adam.

Elle looked back and forth between Adam and Chris, as if the answer to her confusion might be written on their faces. Adam glanced at her with a playful, and almost teasing look before his eyes wandered to Christopher who stood beside her.

"You're being awfully quiet." Adam said with a raised brow. "Are you not going to greet me?"

"Hello, cousin." Chris replied respectfully. Elle watched incredulously as Chris looked down bashfully while a red blush crept into his cheeks.

To Elle, Amelia was all but forgotten. The silence was deafening as she continued to stare at Christopher.

"Adam is my first cousin." Chris proceeded to confess. "I didn't mean to keep it a secret from you. You and I really did meet by coincidence. At first I didn't know and afterwards we had already become friends. I thought it would be nice to get to know you without you thinking of me only as Adam's cousin."

"There you have it." Adam interjected, returning his attention to Amelia. "Don't you have something to say for yourself?"

"I didn't know." Amelia said desperately. "I really didn't know. I've known your family for so long and I never knew that you two even knew of each other. To think that you're related...it's absurd."

"He wanted to make a name for himself without the influence of our family." Adam explained, looking carefully at Elle as he did. As if he were doing it only for her sake.

Adam walked over to Christopher with a softened expression. Elle had rarely seen him look so gentle to anyone other than herself. With one hand Adam reached out to ruffle Chris's hair. "You've done quite well for yourself."

Elle no longer knew what to make of things. Maybe even this was all only part of Adam's show. But still, it was an intimate and loving motion. The Christopher that she knew was confident and independent. Elle expected him to be embarrassed, maybe even annoyed at the intimate touch.

Though there was a mild embarrassment that lined Chris' features and set his face glowing, the emotion that Elle saw clearly written in his face was joy. Through the gleam in his eyes and the shy smile that turned up the corners of his mouth, Elle could see that he was pleased by his cousin's compliment.

"I-I'm sorry." Amelia stuttered. "I really didn't know."

"The one you should be apologizing to is Elle, not me."

"I'm sorry." Amelia said again with her head was hung low.

Elle's annoyance with Amelia returned as quickly as it had left, only this time it had nothing to do with her tricks and schemes. Elle's annoyance was only in the fact that Amelia continued to interrupt this moment.

From somewhere behind her Elle heard Adam finally let out a tired sigh.

"I've had enough for today." He said in a voice that made it clear that his word was final.

Elle then felt his warm hand slide into his. With a tug he led her out of the room. Elle followed obediently, she was too disoriented to do otherwise. As they left the room Elle turned around to steal a quick glance at Christopher and Amelia who were left behind, standing together awkwardly.

"Is it okay to leave?" Elle asked as Adam led her into the elevator.

"Why wouldn't it be?"

The two rode the elevator back up to their hotel room in silence. Elle took the opportunity to collect her thoughts and settle her mind. She had a million questions she wanted to ask him, but as they entered their room and closed the door behind him only one stood out.

"Is it over with this?" Elle asked. "You're not going to punish Amelia for leaking the picture?"

"I won't let it go but I won't punish her now unless you want me to." Adam said decisively. "Her plans already failed, and there wasn't any harm done. Amelia is still the lead actress of our production so there isn't any point if it will result in negative press."

"I really don't mind." Elle admitted. "I'm tired, I just want to focus on the results of our production. No matter how she is off screen even I can't deny that Amelia is a good actress. I don't mind punishing her by having her create a success for us but are you sure you don't mind? The rumours about Chris and I are still going around."

"I don't mind. Rumours come and go easily. You should check, there may already be something to replace it." There was a hinting tone to Adam's voice. A chill ran down Elle's spine and she quickly pulled out her phone.

Elle rushed to open the trending articles and there, front and centre, was a photo she hadn't seen in a long time. It seemed like it was taken in a different life time.

On the screen a beautiful landscape spread itself out. A long beach extended out with crystal blue waters. The sun was high in the sky, casting a favourable light on Adam's handsome face. His lips were pulled into a faint smile and in his arms was the soft figure of a girl with her face hidden against his chest.

Elle immediately recognized it as a picture they had taken on their first vacation. She panicked far more than she had when the photo of her and Chris was released. "What is this?! How did they even get this picture?"

Adam smirked. "It's a nice picture, don't you think?" Elle looked at Adam incredulously. The playful gleam in his eyes had returned.

"It was you." She said breathlessly. "You leaked it yourself? Why?"

"If you're going to go around the trending articles I should accompany you, shouldn't I?"

Elle let out a wary breath. "You're unbelievable."

"You don't like it?"

"I love it."