Chapter 53.

"How can those sorts of things even taste good?"

"I have no idea. Imagine spaghetti and meatballs with meatballs being pig testicles covered in ground up cockroach shells. Imagine custom made spaghetti infused with her hair that she chopped up as fine as sand mixed into the batter to make the spaghetti. How she made them taste good, I have no idea.'

"Mr.Genovese, you're making me lose my appetite."

"Ah. Sorry. My bad."

"Anyways, Mr. Genovese, do you plan to return to your apartment today? Is there any point for you to continue avoiding the place when regardless of where you stay strange things continue to happen?"

"Well, I guess you have a point."

But before I actually return to my apartment, I do want to visit Adele to verify a few things. Whether boss really didn't see Adele or whether she was just playing around with me yesterday, I found it difficult to determine whether I was actually being played.

Once we finished eating the mac and cheese she'd made, I told her I planned to return to my apartment for the time being. She tried to tag along with me; however, I resolved myself to turn her down no matter what she said. When I left her place, she just grumbled about how much of a beta I was, but I ignored it since it was the truth. I didn't have the gonads to seriously make a move on my boss at the end of the day. Romantic relationships in the workplace never ended well. It also might be because I didn't want her to get hurt due to getting too involved with me, or, it may have been an unconscious self defense mechanism to avoid any more pain in the future.

Just thinking about having a child with her, only for both of them to be murdered in cold blood by one of my exes left me terrified.

It had been a while since I was able to have a decent amount of sleep due to all the nightmares I had recently, but thanks to her I did get a solid ten hours of sleep last night. Deep down, I was grateful for her care despite the questionable methods she employed.

When I arrived at my car, paranoid by what happened yesterday, I checked the back seat and trunk and made sure nobody was hidden inside this time. When I confirmed I was in the clear, I immediately fired up the engine and sped away from Boss' place. Five minutes into the drive I'd somewhat zoned out while I thought about everything that happened recently. I drove on the freeway autonomously, only the sight of the road and cars passed me by in my peripheral field of view. The tall buildings to the sides flew by and created a dreary gray blur amidst the world that had fallen silent without my notice. The white striped lines on the road appeared as singular blurred solid lines with no spaces between them.

I'd been in the middle lane for quite a while and before I noticed it, I realized I was nearly at the turn off for the mental asylum Adele was supposedly located at. I turned on my indicator and shoulder checked to my right.

ScreEeEeEch!

I swerved out of control momentarily from shock, but quickly recovered. In the instant I looked to my side, I found in the once empty passenger seat beside me, was the very person I planned to visit. The very same girl I'd just thought of, nonchalantly sat there with her head facing the window looking at the scenery fly by. She didn't say a single thing despite me having noticed her. It was a relief I didn't get into an accident and I regained control over the car in time, but my heart still beat madly, horrified by the unexpected turn of events. I quickly returned my eyes to the road, I only glanced at her for only a brief second, yet it was still enough to scare me to death.

She's not real. She definitely can't be real. It's just a figment of my imagination. My brain is just playing tricks on me.

Even when I thought that way, I still glanced to my side one more time for confirmation; I found she now had her eyes directly on the road in front of us. She remained dead silent oblivious to me.

I quietly gulped down a mouthful of saliva. Again, I returned my eyes to the road. The turn off for the mental asylum was directly ahead. I shoulder checked again to confirm the lane was still clear, but this time Adele directly locked eyes with me. It left me even more jumpy than ever. My heart rate accelerated further, it was probably the most nerve racking lane change I'd ever made in my short life. After I successfully changed lanes and exited the freeway she never looked away from me. From my side, she only stared directly into my eyes unblinkingly. I returned my focus to the road in front of me and I merged with traffic when I exited the bend.

I never turned my head again, but instead I secretly peeked to my side occasionally. What I discovered was that her face had moved closer to me. Originally there was about a meter between us, now she was only about half a meter away. Neither of us said anything and I naturally kept it that way since I was too fearful to break the silence.

Over the course of five minutes I sporadically peeked at the corner of my eye and discovered she gradually decreased the distance between our faces by about ten centimeters every minute. One more minute passed and the hair on my body stood fully erect on ends, I had a horrible case of goosebumps right now. She still had her gaze locked onto my eyes and now, despite doing my best to not look her way, I constantly saw her from the corner of my eye. She took up an entire quarter of my right eye's peripheral field of view.

Perhaps the creepiest thing was that I couldn't hear or even feel her breaths despite how close she was to my face. I didn't dare to peek towards her direction again and I stared directly forward with my eyes glued to the road. I recited all the digits of pi I knew in my head over and over again to try and forget about Adele who was seated beside me.

Like this, I drove onward with her face practically glued to mine until I finally arrived at the mental asylum. As soon as I parked, I immediately exited the car and entered the building. I'd hoped that was the end of it, but when I checked behind me, I saw Adele. She silently stood eerily still, about five meters behind me. She still stared directly into my eyes. Not a single word was exchanged between us.