"Why do guys always end up coming late?" Liam threw a glare towards the couple as they walked towards him hand in hand.

"There are barely any people here." Adam looked around the quiet hall as a soft piano melody buzzed in the background.

"You should be the first one to arrive." Liam scoffed.

"Stop being so childish, it doesn't look good on you." Adam reprimanded him. "I needed to take care of something before coming here, so we got late, a bit late." He continued.

Stella looked their interlaced fingers and guilt filled her heart. They got late because of her. She took her own time to take a bath and then in getting ready. When she came out after getting all dolled up, Adam was sitting leisurely in the living room, looking all handsome and charming as usual.

She looked up at him only to find him already looking down at her. She mouthed him a thank you which was returned with a wink and a wide goofy grin.

There was no way he would let his girl to be held responsible for getting late before others, even if it was Uncle Liam. Only he was allowed to bully his baby girl about that.

"You look good Uncle Liam." Stella stepped forward and hugged him by his waist.

"Not more than you sweety." He hugged her back.

"What about me? Who's going to praise me?" Adam complained as he stood by the sidelines.

"One has to look good in order to be praised." Liam added as he let go of Stella. His reply made her laugh as she stepped back to be by Adam's side.

"You always look good to me." She murmured, wrapping her hands around his arm.

"It's too late now. You are going to be punished thoroughly once we go back home." He leaned his face in and murmured next to her ear keeping his voice as low as he could.

Stella's face turned a deep shade of red when she heard his threat. She smacked him on his chest lightly, making him chuckle.

"You guys carry on, I have to welcome some guests." Liam interrupted and as he looked at the entrance of the banquet before walking away.

"Where are the others?" Stella asked him as her eyes wandered around.

"They will be here in a while I think." Adam pulled her closer to himself.

"Come with me, I need to show you something." Adam muttered before dragging her out of the banquet.

The banquet was arranged in the garden behind the mention. One could see a number of cars on one side of the banquet while the backside was set up for the catering.

He dragged Stella to that backdoor of mansion but didn't stop there. He continued walking ahead and stopped before another wooden door. He tried turning the knob but it was locked.

"Damn it!" He cursed before looking around to see if anyone was there or not. Stella thought that he might be looking for some maid or servant to ask them about the keys, but what he did next, shocked her to her core.

"I am going to need this." He pulled out a hair pin from Stella's hair which was holding up her hair from one side.

Stella looked at him questioningly. Just as she was about to ask him what he needed the hair pin for, her words got stuck inside her throat as her eyes began to pop out.

He twisted the two sides of the hair pin a bit and inserted it in the key hole. He moved it inside it as his other hand turned the knob from one side to the other. He soon heard a click sound, his lips curling up in a victorious smile as he took out the pin and turned the knob, opening the door wide.

He stepped to the side and let Stella step in first who was still under shock. He followed her inside and closed the door. There was complete darkness around them and Stella couldn't see anything before she heard a switch being flipped and everything turned bright. There was a staircase right before her eyes, leading to God knows where.

She turned around to look at Adam who busy fixing her hair pin.

"Don't bother with that, there are two more pins holding the lock up." She was about to take the pin from his hand and throw it but he moved his hands away from her.

"There you go. It's fixed." He showed the pin to her before putting it back to its original place neatly.

"How did you do that?" Stella asked him as she grabbed his arm before he could take a step forward.

"Your boyfriend knows how to pick locks sweetheart." He pinched the tip of her nose.

"But, how?" She asked, smacking his hand away.

"Blake's father taught it to both of us. It comes in handy at times." He replied.

"What else don't I know about you?" Stella looked at him with a puzzled expression. What else did she didn't know about him?.

"I am an exceptionally good shooter and I can beat a professional assassin with my bare hands. That's if he doesn't have a gun pointed to my head of course." He replied to her softly.

Stella chuckled at his answer thinking that he must be joking. But her laughter died down when she saw his serious expression.

"You are kidding? Right?" She asked him as her brows furrowed.

"Come with me." Adam took her hand and guided her up the stairs to the rooftop.

"This used to be my favorite spot whenever I used to come here." He guided her to the wooden chairs which were placed under a small wooden canopy on one side of the roof.

He continued after making her sit comfortably.

"I used to sit here for hours, doing nothing in particular. Sometimes I used to bring a sketchbook with me with some pastel colors and sketch how the sky looked at that time."

"You know how to sketch? Is there anything you don't know how to do?" Stella asked him as she shot him an envious look.

"There's one. I don't know how to cook. I think that's the only thing I don't know a single thing about." He replied with a chuckle.

"And about that shooting and all, I wasn't joking, love." He added, his expression turning serious as he began to explain the history of his family.