Surfacing Protectiveness

Even up until this minute, Adrian is still fuming despite the fact that Cassidy is able to handle the confrontation in a civilized manner.

Such a scene is a reminder that this strong-headed and unpredictable wife of his is good at dealing with her stuff, which often turns out to be weird and the least expected. But then, he never thought that taming animals like this was one of her repertoires.

"Here, Sir..."

While in the middle of having these thoughts, a cold glass was nudged on his knuckle out of nowhere, making Adrian focus his attention back to the counter. That's when he met the pub owner's thin smile.

"No alcohol. Just a pineapple cocktail. In the house..." he offered to which he just blinked in surprise before eventually accepting it and thanking him.

"Your girlfriend there sure knows how to handle her fight, huh?"

"She's not my girlfriend..." he corrected, smirking at the thought that his wife just got praised in the most appropriate way for once.

"Though you're right about her handling her fight... I might even hold her coat when things get bloody."

Adrian isn't sure why his chest somewhat puffs with pride at how the pub owner sounds really impressed.

Perhaps, it's because he rarely hears anyone praising Cassidy, and when someone does, it's always on point. Even way back before, she doesn't usually get complimented, but whenever she received one, he couldn't deny that at all.

Her remarkable traits have always been these small little things that are hard to take notice of. Only when someone pointed those out would he realize that these praiseworthy notes about her did exist after all.

He knew that they'd been there the whole time, but he never got to bring the topic up nor say them out loud.

"Or more like, I chose to be so busy with other things that I wasn't able to pay enough attention to her at all," Adrian suddenly found himself thinking, his smirk dropping.

"Be careful with those other two, Sir. The leader is a Councilor's son and his companions are police officers. They can arrest anyone here in just a snap," the owner warned out of nowhere, making him snap out of his thoughts again.

At that, Adrian tightly gripped the glass and gulped down half of the content before slamming it back on the table. Though he's a powerful leader himself, he has witnessed such scenarios play in real life many times before. He always considers bad cops and abusive officials as a disgrace to society.

"Oh, they're backing out..."

The owner's hushed words obstructed his pondering, making Adrian turn back to the ongoing confrontation. He was surprised to find that Cassidy was able to flip the tide in just a matter of minutes, which he had expected to happen sooner.

At the corner of his eye, he noticed how some of the other customers relaxed the moment the police officers stepped back. The pub owner seemed to have noticed the changes as well. With that, the suffocating tension around the place started to disperse gradually.

Adrian felt it was safe to assume that property damages were ticked out from the list - but a man of many fields and experiences like him knew better.

As the head of one of the country's largest conglomerates, he had come to learn how to read people and situations with just a mere glance alone. He'd been in a number of scenarios where he would scrutinize others, often coming up with the right judgement. Though that doesn't work to everybody of course, he still has that skill to boast.

That's why as soon as Adrian saw a strange flick on the officers' movement, he decided to thank his wife for putting him on the sidelines. Since he's not in the scene, he's able to notice it easily.

As he thought, they're scheming something nasty, all looking ready to pounce on his wife this time.

Much like her husband, Cassidy also sensed an odd shift in the atmosphere as if she just tasted the raw emotion there.

She then prepared herself the second she caught sight of the men's scheming looks. They're up to something again, but before she can find out what it is, a pair of ripped, strapping arms suddenly stretches out from behind her before pulling her back to a sturdy chest.

"Time's up, my dear wife."

At that, her head hastily lashed out and swerved around to find Adrian's unsmiling expression. If not for the situation, Cassidy would shoot him an unamused look for that off-handed, endearing nickname.

"Bossman, you're supposed to be-"

"Relax, I did my job well, and I'm done with it," he cut her off coolly, twining his free arm on her upper body to dangle their phones.

She immediately snatched hers and narrowed her eyes at him while he just averted his gaze. He didn't really mean to make her presume that he was making fun of her heroism despite being a dainty-framed woman.

Adrian just wants to keep Cassidy safe.

"So, you two are actually married, huh?" one of the men scoffed in evident miff.

"Yeah. Have a problem with that?" he retorted smugly, raising a brow.

Before she can react dumbfounded to this part of their exchange, she's caught off guard to find the Councilor's son striking a punch without any prior warning. But even then, her husband is quick to catch on this and clutch his wrist, taking her and the spectators aback even more.

Despite having a bigger and more muscular structure, the man couldn't wiggle himself out from Adrian's firm grasp. His menacing, hooded gaze doesn't help at all either as it begins to get on his nerves.

"Oh, I see..." the Councilor's son snorted sneeringly.

"A prince charming rescuing a damsel in distress - is what this all about then."

"I'm not a damsel..." Cassidy interjected, huffing with her arms crossed.

"And I'm not distressed."

"You heard her," Adrian blurted out, shrugging dismissively.

"Ughhh... Release me at once, you bastard! Or I'll knock your pretty face off."

One of the officers became defensive on behalf of their leader as he began to join the scene and threw a punch squarely on Adrian's face. Much to their demise, he casually dodged and blocked it by his other hand.

Right then, he exerted power and dominance, and boy did he mind intimidating his enemies with these.

"I'll spare you for this..." Adrian growled, his brows scrunched tightly together in vex.

"But try to touch my wife, and I'll crush your bones into pieces. I don't need no title nor position to make you regret messing with her."

Then and again, Cassidy, along with everyone else at that place, feels a calamitous blizzard passing through the instant Adrian dropped that threat with his trademark 'demon lord' look, but this time around, his deadly coldness is no longer directed to her.