Finally, Adam looked away, and even though Melanie felt a tiny break from his intense stare, the guilt stayed.
After all, she knew she’d brought up something that had probably hurt him deeply.. Memories he had probably pushed down, locked away, and she’d dragged them right back up.
She was about to apologize again when he gave her a grin. It didn’t quite reach his eyes.
"Sweet melon," he said, his voice light, "you really do know how to hit where it hurts the most."
She winced.
Before she could say anything, he leaned forward and caught her hand. His grip was warm, and she turned her hand, holding his hand right back and stared at their interlocked fingers for a moment. Never in her craziest thoughts could she have imagined him and her sitting like that so easily.
"We’ll do the talking, explaining and apologizing soon. Come on. Don’t apologize. Eat first." He paused and then winked. "I guess we’ll have to wait even longer for dessert."
Melanie looked at him for a long second, unsure if he was brushing it off or simply avoiding the conversation. But she nodded slowly and turned back to her food with a quiet sigh.
He kept the conversation going after that—nothing too serious. He joked, asked her what she thought of the food since he had taken a lot of pain to order take out, and made a few playful comments that earned a few small smiles from her.
Bit by bit, the tension inside her loosened, though it never quite disappeared. It was still there, under the surface.
When the plates were finally empty, Melanie moved to get up and clear them, but before she could even touch anything, Adam stood, stepped behind her, and without warning, scooped her up in his arms.
"Hey—!" she gasped, her eyes wide as her arms wound around his neck.. but that reminded her of how she’d been clinging to him in the morning and she quickly let go, making him chuckle as he almost lost his balance...
"What are you doing?" She almost shrieked but he didn’t answer right away. Just carried her toward the couch with ease, like it was something he’d done a hundred times. She stared up at him in stunned silence. Why did he need to cart her around? She could walk to the couch on her own...
Then, he let go and helped her stand straight but in the next minute,, he sat down on the couch and pulled her down with him, settling her between his legs so that her back was pressed to his chest and her legs were surrounded by his.
Melanie stiffened, her breath catching.
"Adam..." she said, her voice low, unsure.
He didn’t say anything. Just rested his chin lightly on her shoulder, leaned back and let his arms come around to rest on her stomach lightly. "Shh. We need to talk and I need to hold onto something while we do. So.. just sitting here like this...is good okay?"
Melanie nodded hesitantly and then let herself relax as she leaned back against him, letting her head lean against his shoulder. After that, though, Adam did not utter a word. He dimply sat there quietly and so did Melanie.
It was after a long stretch of silence that she felt him sigh against her back. The soft exhale warmed her skin through the fabric of her shirt, and then his voice came, low and rough.
"How long have you known everything?"
Melanie stiffened. She wanted to turn her head, to look at him—anything—but the tension in his body held her still. He wasn’t ready for eye contact. She could feel that in the way he held himself—too still, too guarded.
"Known what?" she asked softly. "That she accused you falsely? That she was the one lying about you all along?"
He let out a quiet hum. A confirmation. Just that.
Melanie sighed, her fingers curling slightly in her lap. "I haven’t known, Adam. Not really. I had my suspicions... I kept sensing something wasn’t right. But this morning, when Sir Collins called me into his office and started talking about how you assaulted Saira but she still ’loved’ you... and then warned me to stand by her or else everything would come out—" Her voice caught slightly. "That’s when I knew for sure."
She paused, her chest rising and falling in a slower rhythm. Her voice was steadier when she continued. "Before Saira came back, you were restless. Distant, yes. But not once did I see anything close to love for her in your eyes. In fact..." She swallowed. "There was something else. Something sharper. Like hatred... or maybe betrayal."
She leaned her head back just slightly, resting it against his shoulder. "And once I heard everything, it finally made sense. Of course you hated her. Because you’d never do what she accused you of."
Adam didn’t say anything. He didn’t need to. She could feel how tense he was. Every breath he took was deliberate, controlled.
"But when she threatened me..." Melanie continued, her voice quieter now, almost like she was confessing. "I didn’t know what to do. I sat there thinking through everything I knew. Everything I’d seen. And I kept getting stuck on those two recent pictures—especially the second one. You did come home drunk that night. I remember that. I saw the look on your face."
She hesitated. "I won’t lie... the memory of that shook me for a moment. I didn’t know what to believe."
She took a slow breath and then added, "But then Max sent those videos. And not just the videos—he sent message after message, practically begging me not to believe anything without giving you a chance to explain. He sounded so panicked even in the messages... and I could tell he was scared of what I might do."
"That’s when it hit me," she said, her voice softening. "If those pictures could be twisted into something they weren’t—if something that simple could be manipulated—then the past could’ve been the same. And it probably was."