All the wrong reason episode 15

🌸 ALL THE WRONG REASONS🌸
🌹 EPISODE FIFTEEN🌹

When Adrienne opened her eyes, she was rested on a
soft mattress. She immediately stood up and her hand went
to her head.
“Headache?” She heard a familiar voice ask her. She
opened her eyes and turned to see Yuan almost glaring at
her. “Serves you right!”
He looked like he was so angry at her, but still he
stood up and handed her aspirin and water. What
happened?
She was dressed in her p-nts and long-sleeved white
shirt. The same ones she was wearing in the office
yesterday.

She looked around the room and discovered that she
was in Yuan’s bedroom.
“Why am I here?” she asked. She didn’t even
remember seeing Yuan yesterday.
“Your hot-looking friend called me. You’re so lucky he’s
such a gentleman. In your state yesterday, you could have
been gang raped and you wouldn’t even have a clue when
you woke up the next morning.”
Adrienne squeezed her temples. “What time is it?
God, I have to get to work.”
“Forget it.” Yuan said. “Jill already told Jada you
weren’t feeling well. She said she needed to interview
somebody for her article and then she’ll come back here.”
Adrienne lay back on the bed and closed her eyes.

“Come on! You could use caffeine in your system.”
Adrienne took a quick shower as Yuan made them
coffee. When she emerged from the bathroom, she was wearing a fresh pair of pajamas. She felt better but she still
had a headache.
Damn those daiquiris!
“Who called you?”
“Jin Starck.” Yuan replied.
Adrienne finally remembered how she poured her
heart out to Jin yesterday.
Oh God, this is embarrassing!
“How did you meet him anyway? He’s not even from
New York. He lives in Paris.”
“He’s here on business. He’s a client of Blush.”

“Well, you don’t get wasted in front of your clients! Or
are you mixing business with pleasure?”
“Hello—no!”
“Well, he said he insisted that you go for a drink after
your meeting. He didn’t know that you have low alcohol
tolerance. I told him you had zero.”
Wait? What? Jin told Yuan we had a meeting
yesterday? He didn’t tell him that he found me drinking my
problems away? Thank God!
“Wondered how he knew to call you,” she thought out
loud.
“He called using your phone. Maybe he checked who
you had on your speed dial.”
After having coffee, she went to the bedroom and
slept some more. Honestly, with the pain she felt in her
heart after losing Justin, there were only two things she
wanted to do. Drink and sleep.
She checked her phone, hoping for the impossible.

That somehow, Justin must have called her or sent her a
message.
But she only had one message from an unregistered
number: Hey, hope you’ll feel better when you wake up.
Don’t forget to laugh once in a while, okay? – Jin
She smiled at his thoughtfulness.
She replied: Up now and still alive. Will learn how to
laugh again soon, I hope. Thanks! I owe you one.
Jill got to Yuan’s place in the afternoon.

“I had a wonderful day!” she squealed. “You’ll never
believe what happened today!”
“Do tell!” Yuan said curiously.
Adrienne’s heart pounded in,side her chest. With Jill’s
excitement, she figured this has got something to do with
Justin again.
“Jada gave me a new column, right? I’m featuring
anybody from town. Real people with their interests and
some personal stuff. So to launch this column, we asked
some interesting people to be the firsts to be featured. And
guess who we interviewed first.”
Please don’t say Justin!
“Justin Adams!” Jill squealed and jumped for joy.
“What did he say, what did he say?” Yuan asked
excitedly.

“I know you will not be content with my narration, so I
got him on camera!”
“Oh my God, oh my God!” Yuan said excitedly. “Let’s
play it!”
“Come on, Adrienne! Let’s watch!”
Adrienne shook her head. “No, guys. I’m really not in
the mood.”
“When were you not in the mood to hear about Justin
Adams? Come on! I’m giving you uncut, unedited scoop on
the City’s most wanted!”
“Really not interested,” Adrienne insisted.
Jill grinned at Yuan. “I know why she’s not interested!”
“Yeah! I can’t say I blame her.” Yuan said grinning
back at Jill.

“What?” Adrienne raised a brow at them.
“Maybe she doesn’t fancy black-haired rebels. She
wanted brown-haired, green-eyed tycoons.”
Adrienne blinked back at both her friends. “What? No
way! It was just a situation that got out of hand.”
“Come on, Yen!” Jill insisted. “That guy is hot! He can
give Justin a run for his money. Ditch Troy and see if you can
make something out with your sudden closeness to Jin
Starck!”
“You look cute together, by the way.” Yuan smiled.
“Yes. Maybe the universe is pointing you to the right
direction. Break up with Troy and go for Jin Starck.”
Adrienne shook her head. “You are unbelievable,” she
gro-ned. “Jin is a kid!”
“He’s two years younger than you, silly! Two years
don’t even count anymore when you’re past puberty!” Yuan
argued.

“Anyway, suit yourself. We’re just saying that we think
Jin Starck is interested in you. Otherwise, he wouldn’t ask
you to come to the bar with him, right? It was like a lame
excuse to get you on a date! He didn’t even care that you
were still dressed in your office attire.”
Adrienne squeezed her temples. “You guys are giving
me a headache!”
Her friends laughed. “No. Jin Starck is giving you a
headache! You know he’s attractive. He’s smoookingg hot!
You may be attracted to him, too, but you just refuse to
admit it.”

“Just stop it, guys! I don’t picture Jin that way. He’s a
client. And he’s way too young for me. Could we please drop
this now?”
Jill shrugged and then she turned to Yuan. “Before we
watch this clip, I’ll tell you a rumor I just heard. Tara
Lambert, that hot lingerie model, in an interview was asked
who she would like to go with her to her lingerie line’s grand
launching. And you know what she said? Justin Adams.”
Adrienne stared at Jill. Pieces of her already shattered
heart were somewhere on the floor and Jill was stepping all over them. Now, she wished they just stayed on the subject
of Jin Starck!
“Even the supermodels have their eyes on him. What
chance do we mortals have now?” Jill sighed.
“How could she even hear about Justin Adams?”
Adrienne asked, trying to disguise the pain in her voice.
Jill shrugged. “Well, Tara used to be a lady bartender.

She was discovered there. Probably met Justin Adams at a
bar since he hangs out in these elite places.”
What Jill said only made Adrienne feel worse. Long
legs, big b-obs, perfect body, all bared and paraded on Fifth
Avenue. Then that perfect Barbie in the flesh. Beautiful
goddess who looked like an angel sent from heaven. What
does the assistant editor-in-chief of Blush have to say to
that?
“I hoped you asked him about this,” Yuan asked.
Jill beamed. “Right ahead of you, friend.”
Yuan got even more excited. “Let’s watch already!”
Jill hooked up her camera to Yuan’s flat screen.

Adrienne didn’t want to watch but her friends forced her to.
And if she refused even more, they might know that
something was up. And she was not yet ready to confess to
them. She needed to break up with Troy first. And that
would only happen this weekend.
Justin’s handsome face appeared on the screen.
Adrienne’s heart broke just a little bit more, if that was
possible.
“I’ll tape this, if you don’t mind,” Jill said. “I’m bad at
writing notes.”
Justin just shrugged. He didn’t look like he was in a
good mood at all.
“How are you doing, Justin?” Jill began.
“Not bad,” he replied. “You might need to excuse me
for not taking off my sunglasses though.”
“You got a shiner there?” Jill teased nervously.

“No not really. But I haven’t had much sleep lately.”
Jill asked about his credentials first. His age,
education. Nothing Adrienne didn’t know about. Then Jill
asked him about his hobbies and where he hung out more
often.
“I go out with my friends, play poker with them,” he
replied. “I also ski and snowboard with my cousins.”
“What’s your idea of perfect date or night out? With a
girl, I mean.” Jill asked.
“Hmmm…tough one. But normally, I just like hanging
out with her at home, cuddling…being with each other.
Nothing grand, really. But that’s the point. If you like being
with a person, it doesn’t matter where you are. You can
have the best time of your life.”
His voice was so sincere that Adrienne felt like crying.
“Best date you ever had?” Jill asked again.

He laughed humorlessly. “Watching the Northern
Lights in Alaska.”
“You actually took a girl in Alaska just to see the
Northern Lights?” Jill asked.
“Yep, pretty much.”
“That’s a lot of effort for one date,” Jill said in a
dreamy tone.
“Well… she was worth it,” Justin said in serious tone.
Jill and Yuan sighed in unison.
“You know the rumor that Tara Lambert is interested in
you, what do you have to say to that?” Jill asked boldly.
Justin chuckled uneasily. Then he said, “I’m sorry. Who
is Tara Lambert?”
“You know her. She’s the girl bold enough to show her
twin C’s on the Fifth,” Jill said in a low voice.

Justin laughed. “You’re not going to print that, are
you?”
Jill giggled. “Of course not.” She winked at him. “Okay,
back to Tara Lambert, now that you know who she is. What
do you have to say?”
Adrienne rolled her eyes.
Justin shrugged. “Well, rumors are rumors. I’m not
sure if it’s true, though. But I’m not really looking for
anything right now.”
Gees! That’s embarrassing!
“Really?” Jill asked. “Does that mean you have a
relationsh¡p with someone now? Is she the one behind your
car plate number? Ienne?” Jill was relentless.
Justin sighed. He bit his lip and thought for a while.
Then he said, “I was deeply involved with someone. It’s a
little… messed up now, but I still feel deeply involved.”
Jill was silent for a while. “What happened?”
He paused thoughtfully and then said, “On paper, you
can write, ‘miscommunication,’” Justin said.

“Okay…but off the record?”
Justin stared at her for a moment. “Okay, promise not
to print this, okay?”
Jill smiled wildly. “Sure, you can trust me on this. No
one will ever see this video too.”
Liar! Adrienne thought about Jill.
“Okay, between you and me… my reputation
preceded me… yet again. She thought I was cheating on her
when she found a girl in my apartment.”
Jill giggled. “But Justin…if you have a girl in your
apartment, then that would constitute cheating, right?”
“Depends on who the girl is,” Justin replied.
“Okay, so who was the girl?”
“Her name’s Ian. Short for Julianne. She’s my cousin,
who visited me from a short college break,” Justin said
soberly.
Ian? Gian’s twin. His cousin?!
Now, she remembered Gian and the girl she found in
Justin’s apartment. Somehow, she realized how much they
look alike.

Adrienne stared at Justin’s handsome face on the
screen. She didn’t listen to any of his voicemails nor did she
read any of his text messages.
Justin was smart and private enough not to confide to
a stranger. And yet, here on camera, he freely told Jill what
happened. Because he knew… she would see this. If she
didn’t, then Jill would tell her.
Just as if it wasn’t enough that her heart remained
broken, she could feel her world crashing all over her.
“Lucky girl, that one,” Jill said.
“Tell me about it. He really seemed into her. I mean,
that’s a first. Justin Adams admitting to the world that he’s
not really the cold and unattached playboy the world
believed him to be. He can fall in love. That is just
rom-ntic,” Yuan said.

“I was too shy to ask him her name. Figured that
would be too private. But if I knew, I’d hunt her down and
tell her, thanks for making him single again, stooooppidd!!!”
“I kinda feel bad for him,” Yuan said. “A good guy with
a bad reputation.”
Adrienne found herself lost in her own thoughts. She
didn’t listen to him. She just immediately assumed that he
slept with somebody else. Defense mechanism. She wanted
to protect herself from getting hurt by him by immediately
assuming that he would.
She felt like throwing up. She felt like crying. And she
knew she would. Right then and there. In front of her
friends.
“Honey, are you okay?” Jill asked.
She nodded. “Excuse me,” she said to them and
locked herself in Yuan’s bathroom. Luckily, her friends
blamed her actions on her hangover.
She silently poured all the tears she’s been bottling up
in,side once she was alone in Yuan’s bathroom.

Now, she remembered everything Justin did for her.
He was wonderful. He treated her far better than Troy ever
did. But she didn’t give him a chance. She gave him a deaf
ear and a blind eye. She had so convinced herself that he
was the cheating type. That nothing good could ever come out of what they had anyway. That it was bound to end
someday. And when they encountered a bump, she
immediately gave up, and didn’t even fight for him, or gave
him a fighting chance.
Oh, God! What have I done?
***
Next day, Adrienne saw Justin in Blush. He didn’t even
look her way. She tried so hærd not to cry. All she wanted to
do is run to him and throw herself in his arms, but maybe it
was too late for that now. She made her bed, she has to go
lie in it!
She hurt him deeply. And she knew no matter what
she did, she couldn’t get him back. At least, not yet. She
had to fix herself first and remove all her excess baggage.
Someday, when she’s free, when things no longer seemed
complicated with her life, she just might give it a try again…
she can try to win him back. Because she knew that Justin
deserved to be more than just the guy on the sidelines.

However, it seemed that Justin’s recovery was coming
at blinding speed. Every night, he was seen in bars, partying
with his friends.
“You know what? A friend of mine saw Justin Adams in
Oxygen last night. Clubbing with guess who? Tara Lambert,”
Yuan said to her Friday night when Adrienne went out with
them for dinner.
And he said he didn’t know her? Bet he does now!
“Well, girls like Tara Lambert have a certain
advantage,” Jill said.
“Yes. They’re called C-cups!” Adrienne muttered under
her breath.
“I wondered what happened to the girl he said he was
‘deeply’ involved in,” Yuan said, thoughtfully.

Jill shrugged. “She probably decided to stand by her
stupidity. What do you say? One girl’s loss is another girl’s gain. In this case, it looks like Tara Lambert is on the winning
end. It looks like he will be replacing his Porsche’s plate to
spell T-A-R-A.”
“Yes. Until now, it still says the same name. He must
have been really into her, huh,” Yuan said.
That made things even worse. Adrienne tried to
endure thirty minutes of another Justin Adams conversation.
Most of it, much to her pain, included how compatible he
was with Tara Lambert.
“They would look good together, don’t you think?”
Yuan asked.

Jill sighed. “Yeah, with her legs that go forever. Perfect
curves. I don’t think she’s really pretty though. Her facial
features are too strong, if you ask me. Justin’s face is
aristocratic. If you ask me, features-wise, he would look
great with someone who looks like a cold and yet angelic
princess.”
“Sometimes, I think Tara Lambert’s face looked too
boyish,” Yuan began. “But she’s got that appeal. Maybe
that’s why she’s hot these days.”
Adrienne hated the feeling of not being able to tell her
friends to shut the f-ck up! Because it affected her. Because
she’s in pain for ending things with Justin Adams for stupid
reasons… for all the wrong reasons!
She received a call from Troy. Even though she knew
she faced another problem, she was thankful with the
distraction. She didn’t know where she was getting all the
courage to endure the Justin-Tara loveteam talk.

“Hi Yen,” he greeted. “The convention is done. My
parents are booking a weekend getaway for all of us.”
“Troy… can we talk first?” she asked. “I don’t think I
should go to this thing with your parents.”
She heard a sound and then she was talking to Kim
now. “Yenny! Mom and Dad will be onboard a flight
tomorrow. They’ll meet us at the Seasons Holiday Resorts at
noon. It’s in New York so you really don’t have an alibi.”
Adrienne closed her eyes for a moment. Damn! How
could she not be given any peace with Troy so she can
finally break things up with him?
Troy got the phone back from Kim. “We’ll pick you up
at your apartment early in the morning.”
“Troy, we really have to talk,” she insisted.

“Then we’ll talk there. I have something to tell you
too. We’ll pick you up at seven.”
Adrienne closed her eyes again and then she sighed.
“Okay. I’ll see you.”
When she hung up the phone, she told her friends
what she was going to do over the weekend.
“Let’s go!” Yuan said. “We’re coming with you!”
Adrienne figured this could be a good way to end
things with Troy. She could talk to him during the weekend.
At least, he won’t have too much pressure and he’s got his
Sensei Kim to tell him what to do. Knowing Kim, she would
support her in this decision. She was never happy with her
relationsh¡p with Troy. Kim was Troy’s mother’s first pick
anyway.

God! Kim was our own mother’s first choice for my
boyfriend!
“They’re picking me up at seven.”
“Great!” Yuan responded. “I will call my agent. I’m
sure they can book us. But we might go there later. Probably
noontime. Which hotel are you staying at?”
“Seasons Holiday.” Adrienne sighed. “This will not be
good.”
Yuan shrugged. “Come on. Now, that you are sure that
you have to spread your wings and explore greener
pastures, you have to find the courage to stand by your
decisions, sweetie. No one said it is easy. But eventually,
this should make you happier.”
“Yes. And we will go with you! Don’t worry. You have
all the support you will need.”
“Look at you!” Yuan stated. “Since you got that
apartment of yours, you have changed so much.”
“You’ve stopped wearing glasses. You’ve started re-
evaluating your wardrobe. You let your hair down often.
You’ve become Assistant Editor-in-Chief.”
“Made some money on stocks as well,” Adrienne
added.

“You invested in stocks?” Yuan asked.
Adrienne realized that even her playing the odds on
Wall Street was unknown to her friends.
“I gave it a try. And I had beginner’s luck. But it was
fun and liberating, thinking I can earn so much more in
some other way. I thought I was going downhill when I
signed the mortgage papers. But I was luckier than I
thought. Except for my mother, Kim and Troy, I can’t say
that I have any right to complain about my life.”
If Justin was still with me, then things would have
been perfect!

“And you’ve got an opportunity of meeting someone
perfect for you.”
“You need not die a V-rgin!” Jill ass**ted with a
mischievous smile. “And you can have your first time with
someone who will wake up every single nerve in your body.”
I already have and I just lost him!
“All right. Jill and I are going to meet you there by
noontime. I need to go to the office to sort out some
things.”
“Yeah, me, too. I need to submit something to Jada
first thing tomorrow.”
Adrienne’s hands felt cold and her heart was pounding
in her chest. She knew that she had to go through with it.
She might not have enough courage, but she believed she’d
know when the time came. And she would be braver than
she needed to be.