Chapter 9 The Shadow of The Past
Without much discussion, Ezra picked up his bag and gave Aveline a small nod before stepping towards the exit door. The young man seemed to instantly understand the situation and acted with his usual maturity. Aveline could only lower her gaze, her body still stiff from Adrian's suffocating presence.
As Ezra passed Adrian, the two looked at each other. Only two seconds. But something in those two seconds felt... wrong.
Ezra showed no fear. There was even a certain calm in his gaze, as if he were observing Adrian. Adrian, who was usually able to control his expression, unexpectedly tensed up in an unexplainable way.
The door closed, and Ezra was gone from view. That's when Adrian instantly exploded.
Without giving Aveline a chance to explain anything, Adrian approached her with a furious face.
"Why was he here?" his voice was heavy and sharp. "You brought a student into our house? Into our kitchen? Are you out of your mind, Aveline?!"
Aveline took a step back. "He was just... my student."
"What was he doing here?!" Adrian cut her off again, his loud voice echoing throughout the room.
Aveline bit her lip. "We were just talking. That's all. He had a question about the lesson, and I explained it to him. What else?"
"Talking?" Adrian scoffed, grinning bitterly. "A student... in my wife's house? Talking?"
He shook his head, spitting on the floor, holding back the bubbling anger.
Aveline felt the heat rush to her head. "Why are you so angry? Ezra didn't do anything to—"
"Enough!" Adrian barked again, making Aveline's chest jump.
The rage... It was too intense and felt completely unnatural. As if there was something else behind it, not just jealousy.
Aveline tried to regulate her breathing. "Adrian, this is excessive. He's just a student. You didn't even ask what happened—"
Adrian suddenly swept his arm across the table, causing a glass to fall and shatter on the floor. Aveline covered her mouth, swallowing her own fear.
"Don't tell me what is excessive!" Adrian yelled, but it wasn't just anger that sounded in his voice. There was also panic there.
It was strange. Adrian rarely panicked. This was the first time Aveline had seen him like that.
"That young man..." Adrian's voice lowered, but it felt sharper. "...there's something wrong with him."
Aveline frowned. "What do you mean?"
But Adrian didn't answer. He turned abruptly, walked quickly towards his study, and slammed the door with all his might.
Aveline stood frozen in the kitchen, hugging her own arms. For the first time, she realized: Adrian wasn't angry out of jealousy. It was because of something else. Something that made Adrian look... afraid.
Meanwhile, inside the study, Adrian leaned against the door he had just slammed. His breathing was ragged. His hands were clenched, and his muscles looked tense.
Ezra's face reappeared in his mind. That gaze. It was not the gaze of an ordinary young man. There was something disturbing behind it.
"I must have been mistaken..." he muttered, but his voice sounded like someone who didn't believe himself.
He walked to his desk, opening the bottom drawer. The drawer was usually tightly locked, but today he opened it with a trembling hand.
Inside was a small notepad, its cover slightly worn, but neatly kept. Adrian picked up the notepad like someone handling the most precious yet most painful object in the world.
He opened the middle pages. A photograph was tucked inside.
A photo of himself when he was young, with a girl. Not Aveline, but another girl. Soft black hair, sharp eyes, a faint smile... a face that held warmth and sadness at the same time. The same gaze he had just seen in his kitchen.
Adrian touched the edge of the photo with trembling fingers. He stared at it for a long time. Very long.
His gaze was filled with something Aveline had almost never seen from him. Sorrow, longing, pain, and... a very deep regret.
"It can't be that I'm seeing you, in his eyes..." He paused, closing his eyes tightly.
His breath hitched, and his shoulders slumped.
He lowered his head, holding the photo between his thumb and forefinger.
Then, the voice he hated most in himself emerged, scratching the fragile recesses of his heart:
"...could he be..." Adrian's voice broke. But he couldn't bring himself to finish the sentence. He quickly closed the notepad, as if afraid the answer would emerge from the worn paper he held.
He punched the table. Once, twice. But not out of anger. But out of fear. Fear that the past he had buried years ago... was now returning in the form of a young man he didn't recognize but felt so familiar.
He squeezed his own hair. His heart pounded, and his breathing was heavy.
"It's impossible..." he whispered. "IT'S IMPOSSIBLE..."
But the image of the young man's face, that gaze, refused to leave his mind.
A sadness leaked from the corner of his eye, mixed with longing, hurt, and an unhealed regret.
"It should have... been over," he mumbled. But reality slapped him today. Apparently, it wasn't over at all.
Meanwhile, outside the room, Aveline stood with a mix of anger, confusion, and offense. She repeatedly thought about Adrian's expression. The rage was too great a reaction to Ezra's presence, who was just her student.
And one thing made her chest tighten. Why was Adrian acting as if Aveline had committed a great sin, when he himself hadn't come home last night?
Aveline braced herself, then bravely knocked on the study door.
"Adrian, we need to talk."
There was no answer. Only silence.
She knocked again, harder. "Adrian, open the door. Right now."
The door suddenly swung open. Adrian appeared with a grim face and red eyes, not from anger, but from a conflict Aveline didn't understand.
"Aveline, please don't start a fight with me now," he said flatly.
"No," Aveline held the door. "You're raging as if I committed a huge sin. When you yourself... last night..."
"I don't want to talk about it!" Adrian snapped, his voice sharp as a whip.
Aveline flinched. "So you can be angry all you want, but I can't ask questions? Do you think I don't have the right as your wife?"
Adrian looked at her. Not with anger, not with hatred, but... fear. Fear of something Aveline didn't know.
"I have to go."
Adrian took the black notepad from the desk and quickly stepped out. Aveline wanted to stop him, but Adrian pushed the door, forcing Aveline to step back.
"Adrian! Don't just leave as you please, like this. We have to talk!"
His departure was too hurried. As he opened the front door, the notepad he was holding slipped from his grasp. Something fell to the floor without him realizing it. A photo.
The photo he had just stared at with a face full of pain.
Aveline stood in the doorway, stunned. She saw the photo lying on the floor, half-hidden by the shadow. She realized Adrian was gone. And whatever was in that photo... was now hers to discover.