A tear slipped down her face as she stared at Noah who looked as depressed as her. He was yearning to touch her, to hold her in his arms, and to wipe the tears that were running down her face. However, he could do nothing. If he took one step towards her, she would take three away from him. Noah realized that she wanted to avoid his touch at all costs. He smiled in despair seeing her in anger.
"Aria, do you want to leave me?" He asked, his voice breaking although he tried to appear strong.
"I don't know. But I don't want to talk to you right now or even see you. I need space from you." With that, Aria walked out of the house leaving Noah alone in the hallway. Tears fell off her eyes as she ran out and Noah saw how her body shock with every step she took. His eyes too reddened and he stared at the disappearing silhouette until Aria was no longer in the house.
Noah stood in the same place for a long time, his eyes fixed on the entrance. It was only after Ian came out to talk to him did he budge. Seeing his friend's face and red eyes, Ian was sure that the couple had a huge fight and Aria must be angry with him.
Ian patted his friend's back in sympathy. "Everything will be alright. She will come back to you eventually."
"No, she won't."
"What?"
"I know she won't."
"How can you be so sure, Noah? She is just angry right now. Once she cools down, she will come back."
"You have no idea what she told me, Ian. She does not want to speak to me or even see my face. Tell me what it means." Noah said, his voice faltering at the end. Though Aria had told him all the things he was not ready to accept them. He was not ready to lose her or even ready to allow her to leave. But he did not want to hurt her more. She was already hurt by his lies, he did not want to add more salt to her wounds.
"Noah, it is her anger that is speaking right now. Aria is not like that, she will not leave you."
"Ian, I just want to stay alone for some time."
Ian nodded at him and watched his solemn friend go back to his room. He looked so desolate and lonely that Ian felt very bad for him. He wanted to do something for him and the next instant he went in search of Aria to speak to her.
Aria was sitting on the same bench where she had sat with her father a few minutes before and she was staring into space when Ian found her. She was deep in thoughts as she stared without blinking. Ian also noticed her tear-stained face and sighed lightly. He did not blame her for being angry, she had every right to be as they were the ones who lied to her. But he was dissatisfied that she did not consider her feelings in this matter. She was hurting herself without her knowledge.
Aria only noticed Ian when he went closer to her. However, she was in no mood to talk to him, not when even he was also involved in lying to her. She got up briskly and tried to leave him, but she was unsuccessful in doing so. Ian stopped her immediately and held her wrist.
"Aria, I know that you are angry at us and I am not blaming you for this. You can be angry as much as you want, but can you not break up with Noah? Please."
This time Aria did not try to avoid him. She glared at him sternly and her gaze which was filled with fury made Ian to avert his eyes in guilt.
"You ask a lot of things even though you are the ones at fault. Nobody even thought of me or my sister when you conveniently lied to us. Nobody thought about how hurt we would be when the truth would come out before us. Nobody cared for our feelings and now when I am angry, you are coming here to defend your friend. You are more worried about his feelings than mine. Why am I not surprised though?" Aria stated, her fury had gone beyond the sky now. She was so infuriated that she really wanted to strangle someone.
Ian did not have to be a genius to guess that Aria had misunderstood his words. He was only trying to show that she being unhappy led to Noah's being unhappy. He wanted to show her that her happiness greatly mattered to his friend. But his words had taken the complete opposite effect on her.
"Aria, you misunderstood my words. I did not mean that."
Before Ian could clear himself, Aria intervened. "No Dr. Davis, I understood you now." When he was addressed him by his surname, Ian felt a pang in his heart. She had never behaved this way before, not even when he had made her overwork when he had to deal with things after Noah's surgery. At times, she would only scold him or curse him but that was all just a friendly banter. For the first time, she was treating him like a stranger rather than the friend he was and Ian felt miserable.
"You go take care of your friend and his feelings." Aria burst out and Ian did not know how to counter her now. She freed her wrist from his grasp, pulled out her phone, and made a call to Ivy who at that moment was cooking for everyone. "Ivy, I am going to meet Danny. I'll not come back for dinner."
The call ended before Ivy could even respond to her and Aria walked away without sparing another glance at Ian. He stared at her dumbfounded, but he did not forget to inform Noah about Aria's whereabouts. After the call, Ian plopped down on the bench where Aria was sitting previously and sighed in helplessness holding his head in his hands. He had come to help his friend and now he had sabotaged his friendship. How ironic!!
As soon as Aria went towards the entrance, a car swooshed from behind her and stopped right in front of her. Ronnie came out and opened the back door for her to get in. Noah had ordered him to take care of Aria immediately after Ian had informed him about her intentions to go out of the mansion.
While Ronnie waited patiently, Aria gave him one narrowed look before she started to walk away from him, much to Ronnie's horror. "Madam, please get in. I'll take you where ever you want to go. Please."
Aria did not give any heed to words and continued to walk. However, she stopped when she heard his next words. "Madam, this is a restricted area. You will not get any cabs or buses here and you will have to walk two miles to catch one.
Ronnie's words were the truth and if Aria wanted to catch a bus or hail a cab, she had to walk quite a distance. Right now, her body was too exhausted to even take another step further than necessary. All she wanted to do was get out of the suffocating place as early as possible.
Having no other choice, she reluctantly got in the car while Ronnie secretly sighed in relief. Aria could only curse her sister for not driving her car that day and for involving her in this helpless situation. Not long after, the car drove past the gates and exited the mansion.
For the first time in hours, Noah let out a relieved smile. At least Aria was not stubborn enough to torture herself due to her anger towards him. He had been observing her secretly when he had received Ian's call and hoped that she would take Ronnie's assistance.
Though he wanted to follow her, he did not. He did not want to go against her wishes and make her more angry than she already was. She needed space and he would give her just that until her thoughts cleared and her anger vanished.
Meanwhile, in the car.
Aria was silent all along the way as she stared outside the window. Ronnie did not have to guess what might have transpired between his boss and Aria. He had predicted this outcome when they had driven to the mansion from Joshua's house. Anybody was bound to get angry if their dear ones lied to them in these kinds of matters. So, Ronnie did not blame her. He could not help bad for his boss whose intentions were not bad either. So, he tried to put in some good words for him before Aria.
"Madam, please forgive my Boss. He lied to you only to keep you safe. Please, Madam. Please give him a chance. He loves you a lot and I am telling you the truth. I have been his guard for a long time and I have never seen him this serious with anybody. His feelings towards you is genuine, Madam. I know we have hurt you and you have all the reasons to be angry. But please don't leave him and hurt yourself. I can see that even you like my boss as much as he likes you."
Ronnie kept on blabbering for a long time and did not dare to take a look at Aria. When he finally did take a look at her from the mirror, he was rendered speechless. Aria was deep asleep in her seat and all he had said had gone into deaf ears. The day's exhaustion had taken a toll on her and she could not help but drift off the sleep immediately when the car had started.
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