Falling in Love : I love you, Today and Forever

Five hours later.

Ivy was done with packing both her and Aria's bags and now the three people were waiting for Aria to return home. It was past the time she would get off work and she would be reaching home anytime now. In the meanwhile, as the guys waited for her, they also worked and attended to the company's matters. Since neither had of them had their own laptop, they had to make do with the two sisters' laptops.

While Noah took his girlfriend's, Joshua worked on Ivy's laptop. To his surprise, the first thing he saw when he opened her laptop was details on some local thugs and he immediately understood what she was searching about. It was probably related to the meeting that was scheduled three days from now and just the thought of her going there made him all nervous from within.

Although there were Kaito and Ronnie to protect her and she was quite skilled at keeping herself safe, he could still not stop himself from worrying. It was his right as her boyfriend and he wanted to do something about it. Given a chance, he would never allow to work in such a dangerous field where there was a threat to her life every day. She would have had to constantly live guarding her back from the people who were out to finish her and just the thought of it gave him goosebumps.

Though Joshua himself was acquainted with dangerous situations and people, he did not want Ivy to get involved in these kinds of matters. But he also knew that stopping her would be nothing less than taking her freedom and that was something that was far from what he had in mind. Ivy loved her job dearly and it would be incorrect to stop her from doing what she loved. So, Joshua had come up with an alternative solution to keep her safe. So what if he could not stop her, he could take care of her from behind the scenes and look out for all possible risks around her. He would eliminate all the people who even had the thought of hurting her, before they even got to her.

On the other side, instead of working, Noah had found a folder that Aria's photos and videos from her childhood and her university days, and he was going through it one by one. It was as though he had found a treasure box and was carefully taking out all that was present in there. He stared at her photos for a long time, scrutinizing each of them until they were etched in his memory. He found a lot of photos with her family and he could the cute little girl as her father carried her with her smiling brightly at the camera.

Noah suddenly had a desire. He wanted a daughter just like her, cute and adorable and he would make sure she would be treated as the princess as she was. Now he was looking forward to the day when he could actually hold his daughter in his arms. A gentle smile made its way on his face as he imagined it and he could not help but feel giddy in happiness.

He continued browsing through her pictures and he saw many of her photos from her university days when she was still studying to become a doctor. There were a lot of photos and he saw many were taken when they had gone camping or on trips with her classmates. He could see how happy she looked as she enjoyed her youthful days and from these pictures, it was evident that she loved traveling. Noah made a note of the point and started to plan things out immediately. 

However, the next second his eyebrows furrowed when he noticed a photo of Aria with a boy who seemed to be her classmate. The boy's hand was draped around her shoulder while Aria's hand was on his waist as they posed to the camera with a peace sign. He immediately went green with envy seeing the two and he had the sudden urge to smack the guy. The only consoling point was that the boy was only average looking. He was not that handsome in his eyes, definitely not as handsome as him. 

Noah made another note to ask Aria about this picture once they reached home. He would make sure to get all the details from her about him. Thinking about it, his heart calmed down a little. But when he browsed through the next set of photos, he saw that there were many pictures like that with Aria and the guy being together. It seemed as though they were a couple from the university days and they loved each other dearly with the way they were smiling in each other presence.

Noah was so angry that his veins were popping out now and he had the intense urge to kill someone. He was so busy glaring at the pictures that he did not notice Ivy sneakily tiptoeing behind him to see what he was looking at. She had seen the way his mood had changed significantly in a matter of five minutes and wondered what could have happened. But once she saw what he was staring at, she could not help but laugh out loud in amusement, startling both Noah and Joshua.

Noah did not flinch nor was there a change in his expressions on being caught staring at Aria's pictures. Why should he feel guilty? He had not done anything wrong and if there was any person who was at fault here, then it was Aria. Why did he not know about this guy who Aria was being so cozy with?

Ivy laughed until tears formed in her eyes. She could now understand the reason for Noah's behavior and instead of finding this situation to be annoying, she found the man to be cute.

"You got angry just because of this picture?" Ivy asked when she noticed the man's gloomy expression. Though she was greatly amused, she could see that man was angry and jealous. Before the matter blew up, she had to explain the truth to him lest it should affect her sister's relationship with him. "Don't worry. It is not as you think it to be."

Her words did not cool the man's anger and he was still staring at her with narrowed eyes. Ivy sighed lightly before she started speaking. "The guy here is a distant relative of ours and just like Aria, he is a doctor too. He had come as a transfer student to her university for one semester and I think it was then we met him."

Ivy's words brought some relief to Noah. However, he could still not get the picture of them out of his mind. Even if they were relatives, there was still a possibility of something to have happened between them, unless he was her brother. 

Ivy did not see his look and continued speaking. "If you go through the relationship tree, he will become a brother to us and he is older to us by a few months. So, technically he is our elder brother. And he too treated us our younger sisters during his stay with us. After his semester ended, he returned to his university."

Now, Noah felt a little guilty for suspecting Aria without even learning the actual truth. He was filled with remorse and he did not know how to face Aria. "Also," Ivy's words instantly pulled Noah out of his thoughts. "The guy got married recently and he even invited us. But we could not make it as we were busy with other things. So, my dear brother-in-law, don't worry. My sister never had any past flames, you are the first and probably the last too." Ivy winked at him playfully and went back to her seat.

The house was plunged into silence for some time. Nobody spoke a word, but Ivy could not control herself when she realized something. "Don't you think it's weird?" Ivy asked making the two men look at her. They waited for her to continue when she was silent as she arranged her thoughts.

"You got jealous just because you saw her photo with a guy who was in fact our brother. But we never complained about your past flings and one night stands. Don't tell me you never had one because I am never going to believe it." Ivy warned before anybody could speak up and her words were like a slap to both men. It was true that they had been a lot of women before they found their true love and considering those facts, they had no right to be angry or jealous. It was only then they realized that the girls were being magnanimous by not bringing out his topic before them.

Now, not only Noah even Joshua was filled with remorse. He too felt it awkward to face his girlfriend and wished that the ground would swallow him up before she spoke anything else. But nothing like that happened and Ivy still continued with her talk. "I now realized how narrow-minded men can be. They cannot tolerate their woman hugging another man but expects the girl to understand about his past and him not being a virgin. Don't you think that Aria should break up with you or at least be angry with you, considering the way you reacted seeing her photo, if we take into account the women you have been with before you met Aria?"

Ivy's sharp attack rendered Noah speechless. He felt as though someone had dipped him in ice-cold water and left him stark naked on cold land for him to suffer. He could sense the anger emerging from Ivy for the way he had behaved back then and he was not blaming her either. She was right. He had been too narrow-minded to blame Aria for things she did not even do while he done already done the deed with many women before her. He knew that Aria was a virgin given that this was her first relationship ever while he was already tainted. He chided himself all the more for his backward thinking and only hoped that Aria would not break up with him.

Neither Noah nor Joshua said a thing and Ivy realized that she had put her point before them clearly. So, she too did not continue to dwell on this matter anymore. But she also did not forget to add another sentence as a warning to them. "I know it was your possessiveness speaking right now and I don't blame you much for it. I just hope that you come out of the backward thoughts you have in your mind and learn to accept that we women too have freedom and are allowed to do things our way. You never asked us before having sex with other women and we will never ask you to explain it too. But I just hope that you do not reach nonsensical conclusions without even knowing the actual truth."

The main door opened as soon as Ivy ended her speech and Aria entered inside bewildered to find the two men sitting on the couch with embarrassment and guilt written clearly on their faces. Aria could feel the awkwardness in the air and she looked at them in confusion. "What happened? Is everything alright?"

"Everything is alright, Aria." Ivy was the first one to speak. She noticed that the two men's expression looked horrible, but she could also feel that they had understood whatever she wanted to tell them. So, she did not think it to be wise to inform Aria about it. "Now, that she is here, let's go."

As soon as she said the words, both Noah and Joshua and turned to look at her only to get a wink in return. They understood her intentions immediately and smiled at her gratefully for her thoughtfulness. She truly was great to have forgotten the issue right after giving them a great lesson for life. 

"Where are we going?" Aria asked confused as her eyes darted back and forth among the three people around her.

"You will be moving out of this apartment today," Joshua replied with a charming smile on his face.

"Why?"

"We will explain everything later. Let's leave from here first."

"Where will we be going?"

"Ivy is coming with me." Joshua had the answer on the tip of his tongue as though he had predicted her next question.

"And what about me?"

Noah lifted her chin to make her face him before he dropped the bomb on her. "You, my dear, will be staying with me from now on."

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