My Little Sunshine

Chapter 13: Hop-in

Picking up his phone and car keys, Adam headed outside. He found Stella coming out with her stuff in her hands. They headed downstairs taking the elevator. Outside the building's entrance, Adam asked her, "How are you going to return back home?"

"I usually take the bus, but since it's late, I'll have to take the subway." Stella replied.

"What? No! It's too late. You aren't taking anything. I'll drop you off." He exclaimed in response.

"It's alright! I am used to it. So, it won't be a problem for me." She replied politely.

"No way. It doesn't matter whether or not you are used to it, I am not going to let you go home alone at this hour. Not in the bus or the subway." Adam was adamant. 

'How could I let her be on her own, and that too late.' He thought furrowing his brows. 

"Where do you live by the way?" Adam spoke without giving her a chance to say anything.

Stella told him her address to which he replied, "That's great. I live close to that place, so I will drop you off." 

"But---" Stella was cut off once again by a certain someone, "It won't be a problem for me since I am going in the same direction. You have no reason to decline me now."

Stella could only reply with an okay to the unrelenting man before her who always wanted things to go his way.

"Stay right here, I bring out my car." He said heading to the underground parking lot.

In less than two minutes, a sleek black car stopped before Stella, the window on her side rolled down, "Hop-in." 

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Stella sat inside quietly and fastened her seat belt. 

The car headed to its first destination for the night. It was uncannily quiet inside the car. Adam decided to strike up a conversation. 

"So, you live alone or with your family?" 

"No, it's just me." Stella replied looking outside.

"No roommates?" Adam was adamant to know more about her.

"No. At least not at the moment, but there was one. We used to share the apartment but then she left and moved in with her boyfriend around three months ago." She replied calmly, still looking outside the window glass, deep in her thoughts.

The only response Adam gave her was an 'Oh'.

Stella actually came from a well off family. She was an only child and was adored by both of her parents. But when she was eleven, she lost both of her parents in a car accident. They had gone to attend a party. They wanted Stella to go with them but she wasn't in the mood that day so she stayed back at home with her maternal aunt. When the news of their death came, the little girl was utterly devastated. It was as if she had lost her entire world in just one night.

She spent her next few days locked up in her room, refusing to eat or drink. Her aunt had to take her to a psychologist. Though she did return to her normal daily routine after a couple of sessions but she was never the same again. The lively young Stella who always caused troubles for others was no more. It was as if she had suddenly grown up.

Two months after her parent's death, she was taken under the care of her paternal uncle. He was married and had two children of his own, a boy and a girl. Therefore, Stella never got treated fairly. Whenever the children had a fight, she was the one receiving the shorter end of the stick. 

She worked harder and harder, striving for success, just so she could leave that hell hole. And there she was today, working in one of the biggest corporations of Germany. 

Stella was reminiscing about her past when a deep voice brought her back to the present. 

"Stella? I asked you something."

"Huh?" She was confused as she did not hear what he had said.

"Where are you lost to? I said there's this product launch by the end of this week. There will be a banquet after the ceremony. I am invited too, as they once collaborated with us in the past. So, would you like to accompany me that day?" He asked while looking ahead on the road.

"I don't like such events. I am sorry." She apologized.

"It's not like that I like them. I actually don't at all. If I could, I would stay cooped up in my place, reading a good book. But I don't have a choice sometimes, actually most of the time. So, I have to go and show my face." Adam tried to reason with her. "And since you are my assistant, you can accompany me there. Please don't say no." 

"What if I do say no?" She asked with an amusing smile on her face, her brows raised up ever so slightly.

"Umm then I will come to your place and force you to go with me." Adam chuckled looking at her. "It's not like that I don't know where you live." 

Stella's brows raised a bit more as her smile deepened, "Oh, really?"

"Yeah. The thing is, I will be bored to death there. I don't like such events because all they talk about is business. Why bother throwing a banquet or a party when you want to talk about business?" Adam replied. "And I like your company, so I will be less bored."

"I never knew that a businessman like you can get bored while talking about business." Stella said to which Adam replied with a pitiful smile on his face, "That's the thing. People don't know about the 20 year old boy who took over the Levinson's Corp. four years back. They only know Adam Levinson, the President of Levinson's Corp."

Stella looked at him, as if trying to find something hidden behind his expressions. "Okay. I will accompany you, but there's one condition." She spoke up after a minute.

"What condition?" Adam was delighted to hear her answer. 'I would agree to anything as long as she accompanies me.' He thought to himself.

"I won't dress up. I don't like wearing those fancy gowns." She said, turning her head to look ahead through the car's windshield.

"That's it? Okay. I agree. You can wear whatever you like." Adam was over the clouds.

There weren't many cars on the road as it was a bit late. Adam stopped the car outside her apartment's building.

Stella stepped outside and turned back, "Thanks Adam." She said with a big smile on her face. 

"You're welcome. Now go inside."

Adam only drove away once he saw her enter the building.