As Adrienne entered her house, she was greeted by the smell of fried chicken in the hallway, and her belly rumbled instantly.
"I am pregnant and I haven't had anything to eat since morning," Adrienne said, clutching her stomach.
And, who was preparing chicken? Lisa?
She followed the smell to the kitchen and was stunned when she saw the person in the kitchen.
"Richard?" She dropped her phone and purse to the floor and ran to hug him.
"Hey, careful," he said as she rushed into his arms.
"Where have you been? What is wrong with you? Can you stop making me worried? Can you stop making bad decisions? Do you even care about me?" Adrienne fired him with questions.
"Breathe and relax," he patted her back.
"Don't tell me to relax. I am so mad at you. So freaking mad! It's been days! And where the hell is your phone? Why was I sent those stupid pictures?!"
"What pictures? I lost my phone on the day we last saw," Richard said.
"You sent me pictures of you in bed with another woman who was completely naked. Naked!" Adrienne said.
"What? Come on, don't tell me you believe I'd cheat on you," Richard said.
"I know it was Linc's plot, but even so, how could you have been so careless?" Adrienne scolded him.
"Look, baby, I would have returned the very next day, but I was drugged and blah blah blah... it's not important anymore. I am back now, isn't it?" Richard said, stroking her hair.
"You are even acting nonchalant about it," Adrienne lightly hit his chest.
"You knew where I was, why didn't you say anything to her?" Richard asked.
"Me? What do you mean?" Adrienne asked, taken aback.
"Not you," Richard said and averted his gaze to someone behind Adrienne.
She turned to see who it was, and it was Lisa.
"Lisa? You knew where he was all this while?" Adrienne questioned her.
"Not exactly..." Lisa stammered.
"I'll explain it to you," Richard said and turned Adrienne back to face him.
"I was careless and allowed myself get drugged by one of Linc's men. I can't remember anything that happened during that time, but my phone was taken from me, and so was the money.
 I don't know where I was dumped but as I tried to find my way back, I noticed two men constantly following me.
 Last night, I intentionally led them to a dark and secluded alley where I tackled and dealt with them. 
 Gosh! You should have seen me in action, baby. I've still got it in me you know..." Richard intentionally diverted, trying to lighten the mood.
"Stop it! Focus! And stop diverting!" Adrienne brought him back to his senses.
"Alright. I dealt with them and they confessed to Lisa paying them to follow me around," Richard frowned at Lisa. 
He paused and locked hands with Adrienne then raised their tangled hands up so Lisa could see. 
"Look, I know you don't like me with Adrienne, but you've got to accept it now...we are together, and it's for life now."
"Lisa, why would you do something like that?" Adrienne asked.
"I am sorry for not telling you the truth," Lisa said, lowering her gaze to the floor. 
"It's okay, Lisa," Adrienne sighed.
"I am sorry for hiring someone to tail you, invading your privacy," Lisa added.
"Have you eaten today? My special fried chicken is ready! There's just one problem. There's nothing to pair it with," Richard said cheerfully to Adrienne, intentionally ignoring Lisa's apology. 
Adrienne knew what he was doing and she swatted his shoulder.
"Ouch!" He feigned displeasure.
Adrienne eyed him, and he sighed, surrendering.
"Alright, Lisa. It's okay. But I'm still gonna keep my eyes on you, just in case," Richard said.
"Happy now?" he asked Adrienne and instead of replying, she enveloped him in a hug.
He pressed his lips gently on her forehead, then moved them to her hair, inhaling her sweet scent.
"Let's eat now, okay?" he said and she let go of his body.
He plated the chicken on the dining table and led Adrienne to the table.
"Don't go," Adrienne stopped Lisa who was about to leave.
"Join us," she motioned to Lisa.
"Oh, thank you, but I'll pass. Not that I'm uncomfortable or something. I have eaten more than enough this morning, unlike you," Lisa said.
"You haven't eaten anything today? So our baby is starving in there?" Richard said, touching Adrienne's tummy.
"No, Ethan isn't starving," Adrienne said.
"You can go, Lisa. I'll call you if I need anything," Adrienne dismissed Lisa.
"So, what do I pair with this chicken?" Adrienne thought out loud, staring at the chicken.
Surprisingly, her lips were met with a kiss from Richard's.
"Hey," she said, trying to hide her blush.
"What? I missed you," Richard said, playing with her hair.
"I missed you too," she said and she leaned in for another kiss.
"I am still mad at you though, for being so careless," she said.
"Alright, I'll accept whatever punishment you have for me," Richard said.
"First, I need a glass of freshly squeezed orange juice. Can you help me with that? Our baby wants fresh juice from fresh oranges," Adrienne said, rubbing her stomach.
"Nice of you using our baby as an excuse," he smirked at her.
"I'll get you the juice," he said and stood up to make the juice for her.
"Where did you go so early this morning? I got here like two hours ago and even Lisa didn't know where you went," Richard asked as he got busy in the kitchen.
"I went to see Annabelle concerning Linc. She came to me yesterday, begging for me to hide her," Adrienne said, munching on the crispy fried chicken as she explained everything that transpired between her and Annabelle the previous day and earlier this morning.
"Did you ask her what that 'secret card' is or what it's about?" Richard asked.
"Nope. I didn't want to give her any chance to suspect and not trust me," Adrienne said.
"Linc already got the money from me. I am sure he has left the country," Richard said.
"On the contrary, he hasn't. In fact, he and Annabelle are meeting at a local hotel on the mainland tonight," Adrienne said.
"What? For real? This means the 'secret card' Annabelle mentioned has to be something very important. Want me to steal it?" Richard asked Adrienne and she rolled her eyes at him.
"Besides, it may not even be a literal card," she added.
"You know..." Richard started as he approached Adrienne with her glass of juice, "all these thinking and planning and investigating and running around would have been avoided if you just did things my own way," Richard said and Adrienne was about to scold him when he quickly interjected,
"...but it's okay. We'll do things the right way that won't harm our future and that of our child negatively," he handed her the glass.
"Agreed!" she said as she took a sip from her drink. The freshness of the juice filled her senses and taste buds and in the next second, she was gulping down the entire content in the glass. She let out a satisfied sigh after that.
"I am gonna have dinner with Ryan tonight," Adrienne announced.
"Ryan? Why? I am coming with you, right? Or are you guys having the dinner here?" Richard bombarded her with questions.
"No and no. He asked me to have dinner with him and I was going to decline but Annabelle mentioned something I couldn't get off my mind. That woman named Rosa," Adrienne explained.
"Rosa? Ryan's dead lover that killed his son? What about her?" Richard asked.
"Ryan's dead lover? Were they ever lovers?" Adrienne asked.
"Yes, they were. Not the typical 'lovers' but they had a special kind of relationship," Richard confirmed.
Adrienne was silent for a moment.
"You should have dinner with him then, if you are so curious. I promise, I'll try not to get jealous," Richard smiled at her.
"Why should you get jealous? It's just dinner," Adrienne teased him.
"Yeah, dinner with your ex," he frowned, feigning annoyance.
"Aww..." she said, standing up and wrapping her arms around his neck.
"You're so cute," she said, tapping the tip of his nose.
He wrapped his hands around her waist and pulled her closer to his body. Their faces were so close to each other and they gazed into each other's eyes, both silent until Adrienne broke it.
"Haven't you noticed anything different about me?" Adrienne asked, flashing him a sheepish smile.
"Yeah, you have a bigger butt," he teased, moving his hand down to caress her butt.
"Heyyy. Not that. You haven't noticed anything different on my face? And you said you missed me," she playfully hit his chest.
"Come on... your face looks the same to me," he said.
"Can't you see my nose is a bit bigger? It's all thanks to baby Ethan in my belly," Adrienne said.
He looked at her belly, and then her nose, and his lips widened with a smile.
"Amelia is growing. And your nose is getting bigger because you are breathing for two!" he said with so much excitement as he swung her into his arms, spun her around, and made her sit on the table, his legs in between her thighs.
"It's Ethan," Adrienne said, wrapping her hands around his neck.
His hand moved up to her cheek, slowly stroking it with his thumb.
"Should I just make you pregnant again so you'll give birth to both Amelia and Ethan?" he said huskily as he kissed her lips.
"That is so stupid," she teased him and then captured his lips in another fiery kiss that left both of them breathless.
"I missed your kisses... your touch..." she said in between kisses as she unbuttoned the buttons of his shirt one by one.
They kissed once again and stopped to catch their breaths. He cupped her cheeks again, staring deeply into her eyes. She could see how heavy his eyes were with emotions.
"I love you. Really, I do..." he muttered.
An unexplainably cold chill ran down her spine as a tear rolled down his left eye.
Richard was acting weird. Something was definitely wrong with him.
"Richard, what is wrong? What are you hiding from me?"