Angela woke up with Adriano's big arms wrapped around her. His chin was resting on her shoulder and his breaths were steady and even. Although she wanted to savour the moment, she couldn't help but wonder how he had got here. She turned to face him and shook him a little.

"Adriano." She whispered, trying to wake him up. He cracked open one of his eyes and looked at her.

"Yeah?" he whispered back. Her lips were just a breath away from his and he began to look down at them. Angela had been doing the exact same but snapped out of her daze she was in and spoke again.

"How did you get here?" she laughed lightly at him.

"I came in last night? You said I could."

"I did? I thought that was a dream." She blurted out and regretted it as soon as she opened her mouth. Angela looked up at Adriano's grinning face and narrowed her eyes in mock annoyance.

"Do you dream about me much Angela?" he scoffed cockily, earning an eye roll from her.

"No." she furrowed her brows at him. "Of course not." She blushed and she knew he wasn't convinced.

"Don't worry about it my little Angela. I wouldn't blame you. If I were you, I would dream about me too." She ignored his "my little Angela" and put it in the back of her mind for later.

"Oh shut up." She tugged at his arms, trying to get him to release his arms from around her but he didn't budge. He let out the loudest and warmest series of chuckles and she could feel them rumbling in his chest. Why was he in such a good mood? She knew it probably wouldn't last though. "Be quiet please." She glared at him, half joking.

"I'm sorry, it was funny." He stopped and looked at her.

"Now let me go." She crossed her arms and glared at him again. Adriano didn't want to let go of her, he liked the feeling of her being so close. He didn't know why hadn't felt embarrassed a minute ago when she woke him up and she was tangled in his arms. He had meant to wake up before her and move so she wouldn't know that was how he slept all night but she beat him to it. He finally let her go.

Her walked over to her wardrobe to pick something out to wear. Once she opened it, she felt slightly self-conscious looking in at the bare wardrobe because it was nothing compared to Adriano's. Once she had got here, she hung up all of the clothes she had, but she hadn't got much.

"Are you not talking to me now?" he joked, she turned her head slightly to look over her shoulder. He was on his side, his arm propping him up and still had half of his body under the covers. She turned her head back around to pick something out and busy herself. She had felt a little stupid when she told him about the dream she thought she had and still now couldn't help but blush. He was loving every minute of it.

"Oh come on." She could sense his presence close behind her. "I'm sorry." He said menacingly in her ear. He knew he was testing her patience, and crossing the line but he wanted her to turn around, reach up and kiss him. She wanted that too but she couldn't. So she replied instead, to shut him up and get him away from her.

"Whatever."

"I'm glad you except my apology." He teased her and made his way out of the room. "Oh and Angela?" he peered his head back in the door and she turned around.

"Yes?"

"Can you make lasagne tonight for dinner?"

"Of course." She laughed and he just smiled delightfully at her before leaving to get ready for work. He felt refreshed from his nine hours of sleep and couldn't help but be in a good mood.

He had come home that night from work early, remembering how everyone wondered what the hell had gotten into him. His mood from this morning hadn't died down yet and Adriano didn't think it would any time soon.

"Hi." She said shyly, she was peeking in the oven when he came in. "How was work?" she dared ask, wondering whether he was still as happy as he was this morning.

"Good." He replied, because he didn't really know how work was today. He skipped out on most of it, going out on a long lunch and going home early. She took the lasagne out of the oven and placed it on the countertop, cutting a piece for Adriano and plating it up.

"Are you having any?" he asked, wanting to eat dinner with her tonight.

"Um, maybe later."

"Why not have it now? Don't leave eating on my own. C'mon, let's sit in front of the TV."

"Alright then." she gave in and got herself a plate of food too.

Once they were sitting on the sofa together, Adriano watching the television intently and eating his food, Angela couldn't help but stare at him in bewilderment.

"Something wrong?" he asked through a mouthful of lasagne. She couldn't help but giggle at the sight.

"What's gotten into you?"

"I don't know. I think it's because of all of this sleep I'm getting." He shook his head. "And lasagne." He made her laugh again and just smiled. This wasn't like him at all, she thought, although she did like this side of him.

"So you like my lasagne then?" she smiled.

"It's my favourite."

"Oh stop being so weird and happy." She pushed his shoulder gently and he laughed.

For the next few days, he continued to be a good mood but she could tell that it was fading away gradually. Most nights, they would stay in the same bed together. Adriano told her he slept better when he was with someone; he didn't tell her that someone was only her. And every night when they were in bed, Adriano would wrap his arms around her and the two would talk until one of them fell asleep, which was usually Angela. Although they had gotten closer, both never made a move to repeat what they'd done that night at the piano.

They were both lying in bed together, Adriano had his arm around her shoulder as she looked up at the ceiling above them. Something had been playing on Angela's mind a lot lately and she needed to talk about it.

"How's Luisa?" she tried to casually bring what she thought could only be Adriano's fiancée into the conversation. Angela noticed his body stiffening at her words but she wasn't afraid of him anymore, she couldn't shy away from this.

"Why should I know?" he asked her, wondering why she had brought up the tricky topic of Luisa.

"Well... Isn't she your fiancée?"

"No, not even close." Adriano stated bluntly. "Why should it matter anyway?" he quizzed her, his eyes narrowing.

"I don't know. I just don't know how she would feel about this." She motioned between the two, but could tell Adriano was getting angrier by the minute so turned to look at him and added, "I know we aren't doing anything wrong. Not at all, it's just that well, if I was in her place I don't think I'd want my- whatever you are to her- sharing a bed with someone else while I wasn't there."

"I told you already there's a lot of shit you don't know about Luisa and I."

"Why don't you tell me then? C'mon... Friends tell their other friends things." She said gently, making him want to cave in but could he? Maybe, if he left out a lot of things, Adriano could partially tell her what the problem was between both him and Luisa. She was giving him her version of those puppy-dog eyes without even knowing it and he had to just give in.

"Me and Luisa were together when we were both teenagers. It was a long time ago and a lot has changed since then."

"So you two aren't together now? But I heard you say-"

"My father wants me to marry her." Adriano blurted out, not batting an eye as the words left his mouth, like it was a perfectly normal thing for a father to want an arranged marriage for his son. Silence filled the room for a moment or two until Angela could gather the words to speak again.

"Like an arranged marriage?" she asked.

"Yes." He nodded. Angela noticed how his voice had gone down a few tones colder than it was before.

"But... Why?" Angela didn't understand.

"I can't tell you right now."

"Oh, okay." Angela focused on the "right now" he had said, wondering if he would ever get around to explaining it to her, not that it was any of her business anyway. She just wanted to know.

"I used to think loved her, we were like- childhood sweethearts I suppose. Except looking back, I didn't love her, I don't even know how I could like her."

"I'm sure she can't be that bad." Angela tried to reassure him but he was having none of it.

"No, you don't know her like I do. She's a DeLuca, always was, always will be. I want nothing to do with her family or Luisa. I decided a couple weeks ago to try and give us a chance again to get my dad off my back but it's only made me realise that we just don't go together anymore, even if I didn't hate her family's guts." Angela didn't like the word hate. It was over used and many mistook other, less serious feelings for it nowadays which she never liked to do herself.

She wanted to ask about her family, the DeLucas, and about Luisa and Adriano's relationship when they were both young. She wanted to ask him lots of questions that were swimming around her thoughts that night about what he had told her but refrained from doing so.

"Can we talk about something else now please." He shrugged it off.

"Yeah, I'm sorry. I was just- wondering. I know it's none of my business." She looked down now but he gently took her chin in his hands and pointed it up so she was looking into his now soft brown eyes.

"Don't be sorry. It's just a hard subject to talk about sometimes." He gave her a warm smile to which she returned before moving closer to him. He copied her and put his other arm around her small frame. He could feel her warmth and the smell of her hair, she felt perfect.

"I wish I could just tell you the whole story." He finally said but when he got no reply, he looked down at her, realizing she had already fallen asleep.

********

Adriano came home the following night, a lot later than he had usually arrived home. He had never said anything to Angela about being home late. He had stumbled slightly in the door and closed it quickly. She hadn't turned her head away from the television until she heard him grunt quietly.

He was holding his side and looked to be wincing in some sort of pain, but as soon as he noticed Angela looking at him, he began to stand up straighter and force his expression into one that held a small smile.

"Adriano... Are you okay?"

"Yes, I'm fine Angela. Stay there, I'm just going to get into bed and go asleep. I've had a long day." He mumbled, trying his best not to make it obvious that he was in pain. He had felt much worse than this before and was perfectly fine but he knew Angela would most likely cause a fuss if she found out.

"No you're not. Why were you holding your side?" she asked, her eyes following him as he tried to discreetly walk to the kitchen but his walk had turned into a hobble. He staggered over to the kitchen sink and gripped the edge of the countertop, then grabbed himself a glass of water. He turned around to find Angela standing beside him and jumped at the sight of her. She had her arms crossed and looked very concerned.

"No reason. I'm fine-really." Adriano took out his phone and began to scroll through his things as he walked down the hall to his room, Angela hot on his tail.

"Adriano." She warned. He turned around, just in his bedroom door, and looked at her. Angela's grey eyes held so much worry in them, Adriano couldn't look anymore.

"What?"

"Why don't you take off your coat? What are you hiding?" She asked quizzically.

"Nothing okay? I just need some privacy to get dressed."

"I've seen you in much less." She snorted now and crossed her arms again.

"You know, sassy Angela is not an Angela I like right now- What are you doing?" she unzipped his coat and he saw how her face instantly paled at the sight of him.

"W-What happened? Why is there so much blood?" she was startled and jumped back a few steps, covering her mouth with her hand.

"I told you already, it's nothing." He growled angrily at her but she didn't stop there.

"Adriano you're bleeding, you're losing a lot of blood. You need a doctor. What the hell happened?" Angela tried her best not to panic but she couldn't help it.

"I was in a brawl with Adamo." Adamo, she thought, his name sounded familiar. "He's Luisa's brother." He added. "There's nothing to worry about, I'm going to have a shower and get straight into bed."

Angela looked at him again and hesitantly walked towards him. She unbuttoned his shirt with shaky hands, surprised at how Adriano hadn't stopped her yet. He only looked down at her with wary eyes, his mouth set in a thin line. Angela pulled over the blood-soaked white shirt, to expose the left side of his chest and torso. She shook her head in disbelief at how Adriano was still even standing. She saw the three stab wounds he had taken to his side and looked between them and his face for a moment, not knowing what to do.

"You need to go to the hospital Adriano, this is serious."

"No." he grumbled, tugging the shirt back to its original place and stumbling to the bed.

"I have to go get you something to stop the bleeding, you need to put pressure on it. And clean the wound." She quickly padded out of the room and into the kitchen to find something to help him but once she had returned, Adriano was already lying in bed. She could see this from the hallway but when she went inside, she dropped everything that was in her hands.

Adriano was sprawled on the bed on his back, a trail of blood to his body. He had dropped his phone on the floor and turned a shade whiter. His eyes were closed and his mouth open. She gasped and ran to his side, jumping on the bed and shaking him, her hands on his chest.

"Adriano wake up. Wake up." She shook him again but he was limp on top of the covers. Tears filled her eyes and she broke out into a cry as she leaned over him. "Adriano please."

******

I just want to thank each and every one of you for reading, voting and commenting on my work. This sotry has just gone over 2000 reads! Omg? It means so much to me. I hope you liked this chapter,who doesn't love a good cliffhanger eh?

A. Summers xo

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