Aria and Oliver sat on the cold sand laughing like kids, they were both dressed in jumpsuits with their long surfboard beside them. Her body was wet and her hair was dripping with water.
Oliver couldn’t help but admire her as she laughed heartedly. That tooth and face, her long black hair, she was beautiful. He reminisced seconds ago while he was behind her, being very close to her and breathing to her neck, the sensation and her lovely scent combined was a feeling out of the world.
Just then, the others came rushing towards them. “Are you guys alright?” Rosie asked immediately.
“Yeah, hope you aren’t hurt!” Sammy added.
“No guys, I mean yes to the first question and no to the second, we are totally fine,” Oliver replied and fell with his back to the sand.
“What happened? We saw you fall off your surfboard and into the ocean,” Sammy queried.
“It’s not an ocean, it’s a sea,” Rosie argued.
“Whichever one, focus on the point Rosie,” Sammy whined.
“Calm down guys, yes we did get knocked off balance by the wave coming from the opposite direction, but the good thing is that we can both swim so we swam our way out here,” Aria replied excitedly. She was still exposing those beautiful set of teeth
“You could have died Aria, why are you so excited about that experience?” Rosie queried.
“Come on Rosie, don’t say such negative things!” Sammy retorted.
“I wasn’t even talking to you Sam,” she fired back
“Relax guys, you don’t need to argue over this, it is nothing serious…” Oliver said, trying to stop the couple from going deep into the fight. They were yet to settle the ongoing couple dispute and the last thing he wanted was another couple having disagreements just before their wedding.
“I agree that was dangerous, but it was really fun as well, you should have seen the way the wave blew past us, I can’t stop laughing,” Aria screamed amidst laughter. She was obviously enjoying this.
“Yeah, I was hoping to save her but I was shocked to discover that she was an even better swimmer than I,” Oliver confessed and they burst into laughter.
“Well she might be a better swimmer, but you are still the best surfer amongst us. Dude, how are you so good at surfing?” Sammy chirped in and Oliver chuckled.
“Yeah, I thought you used to be a billionaire playboy during your teen age, so how are you so good at surfing?” Rosie queried as well.
Oliver laughed and sat right up, he was still trying to regulate his breath after their little adventure in the water. “Well, I did love surfing as a kid, and what better way to impress a girl than showing off your surfing skills, it did help in making my job easier,” he answered and chuckled again
Aria scoffed. “Of course, he was a playboy and a show off, thank you for telling us how much of a brat you were in those days,” she muttered and stood up, then walked away to the place they had kept their stuff.
“Did I say something wrong?” Oliver asked and turned to the others as he watched her leave.
“Well, congratulations dad, you just succeeded in making mom jealous,” Lena said and sighed, then she made her usual facepalm expression.
The other two burst into laughter and went after Aria, leaving the father and daughter alone.
“Sorry your plan got ruined, dad,” Lena apologized
“What? No sweetheart, it is fine, in fact everything went smoothly… I got a chance to be close to your mom while teaching her how to surf and I am sure I brought the good old memories back to her. She must have remembered the feeling of being with me.”
“Gross, don’t tell me that Dad, I am still a kid, remember?” Princess Lena groaned and made a funny face. Oliver chuckled.
“Well the wave added to the excitement. You should have seen the way she clung onto me at first, before we both started to swim out,” Oliver added and Lena smiled.
“I am glad that you are happy dad, I hope that it all works out and you are back together again with mom,” she said and sat beside him.
“Thank you,” Oliver replied, then he went back to his daydreaming. He had missed being this close to Aria, the way the breeze from the opposite direction blew her hair all over his face while they were surfing, it was mesmerizing.
“Alright Dad, I will go back to making sand castles, mom has made it clear that I won’t try surfing till I am fifteen, not even with the kites…” she said sadly and sighed.
“Oh,” Oliver muttered and turned to face the sea, “Well, she said you can’t surf alone, but she never said you can’t surf with dad, did she?” he asked and smirked.
Princess Lena squealed in excitement. “I love you Dad, I will get dressed up immediately!” she yelled happily and got up from the sand, then ran off to the rental house; it was more like a kiosk.
Oliver sat there on the sand, smiling like a fool. Even if he never got his Aria back, he was glad that he got to create these new memories with her and it was all thanks to the angel given to him as a daughter.
He was glad to be here with his family… without worrying about work or anything. Just having the best time of his life
He finally stood up from the sand and walked towards their canopy. They had arranged for a small canopy where they could gather if they needed to get some rest, it was a privilege of being Stark Oliver Gomez.
When he got there, the others had left already. Sammy and Rosie had gone back to surfing, he couldn’t understand the chemistry between those two… they fight and just get back together in a few minutes, but his one fight with Aria has been going on for eight years now.
He looked around but there was no sight of Aria, so he guessed that she must have gone to the changing room along with Lena. He decided to follow suit but then he heard an alert sound; it was Aria’s phone, she had left it on the mat.
He sighed and waved his head. “She is still careless,” he muttered to himself, then he picked it up.
He checked the notification and it was a message alert, she had received a message from Mike. He remembered what she had told him about Mike and jealousy filled him, he wanted to know the content of the message even though a part of him warned him that it was wrong, he didn’t have a right to pry into her personal life.
He tried to open the text but he needed to unlock the phone first, since the face unlock did not recognize him, he had to go with the four number pin. He tried using Aria’s date of birth but it didn’t open, then he tried using Lena’s but yet he was denied access.
He had just two trials left before the phone goes into lockdown mode till facial recognition is used. He decided to try his date of birth and to his surprise, it opened. He was surprised, why would Aria use his date of birth as her pin.
Now he felt guilty for opening it, but since he had already opened the message, he guessed it was best to read it. The message read…
“Hey… Miss beautiful, I am sorry to inform you that the board has refused to accept your request, the performance is still going to hold and they are planning to give Eliza the contract, I am really sorry about that, wish you better luck in future.”
Oliver didn’t know what to think or say after reading it. Aria had sacrificed her contract in order to come here, maybe he could help her to sort it out.
“What are you doing?” he heard her voice and froze immediately. He looked up and their eyes met, she had changed into a different outfit.
“Hey, I was just…”
She noticed the phone in his hand and snatched it away from him immediately. “Didn’t you know that you shouldn’t touch people’s stuff without their permission,” she scolded and checked the phone.
“I am sorry,” he muttered softly. “For everything,” he added.
Aria noticed what he was viewing on her phone; she didn’t know what to say to him, she just turned around and walked away from the canopy. Oliver wondered what must be going on in her mind.
“Alright Dad, I am set now,” Lena’s little voice jolted him back to reality. He smiled and nodded, then he took her hand.
“Alright Princess, let’s give you some Viking experience,” he replied and chuckled.
To be continued!!