Aiden slowly stood from the bed and walked over to Ariel who was still standing by the door.
“Now, be a good wife and observe your rest as the doctor asked you to,” Aiden whispered beside her ear and walked out of the room.
Ariel sighed tiredly, “Just nine more months…” she whispered to herself.
She took her time to look around the room. She noticed how orderly everything was, almost like he never slept there.
She was too tired to reason anything, the only thing that appealed to her was that neatly dressed and cozy king-sized bed.
She walked over to it and lowered herself on the dark sheets; she took off her shoes and then raised her legs to the bed.
She stared at the pillow, contemplating whether to use it or not; her sleepy brain won.
As she laid her head down on the pillow, Aiden’s faint, musky scent wafted into her nose, causing her to think about him.
She couldn’t understand him at all; she was never going to delude herself and think that he had feelings for her; he had confirmed that he wasn’t capable of loving someone; everything was a game to him, and he played to win.
Ariel tossed around the big bed until she found her perfect position. She would have loved to return to her room and sleep peacefully; this room made her feel small and intimidated, just like the owner made her feel.
The last thought in her mind before sleep overtook her was how she was going to manage sleeping on the same bed with Aiden for the period Grandma Nari would be staying with them.
***
“Let me just check on her before we leave,” Jess said as she came down from the car.
It was already evening; she wanted to come and see how Ariel was doing before she went to the company’s party.
“I’ll come with you,” Ken replied, walking behind Jess as she climbed the stairs to Aiden’s home.
Jess chuckled at Ken. “You’re really something, Ken. You’re coming to hit on someone’s wife in his own home, what if you get caught?” She shook her head as she pushed open the door.
“Trust me, Aiden won’t be home this early, and even if he were, he wouldn’t complain, we all know the truth about them,” Ken shrugged, looking around the living room.
Jess sighed but nodded anyway. That was the truth.
But she couldn’t get the image of her cousin carrying Ariel out of the hospital away from her head.
She had never seen such emotion in him before. He looked so possessive and jealous; she knew she wasn’t imagining things because of Doc. Carla secretly mentioned it to her too.
Then, if it were true, does it mean that Aiden has fallen in love with Ariel? But why would he treat her the way he does if he loved her? Maybe he was still unaware of his feelings.
She frowned. She decided to observe him and Ariel from now on. And if she discovered that he had fallen for his contracted wife, she was changing ships immediately.
Currently, she is part of the ship ‘KenAriel’ because she can really see and feel the love Ken has for Ariel. But, if she dares to confirm that Aiden loves Ariel, she would switch ships instantly to ‘AidenAriel.’
She couldn’t let her own cousin lose the game, and she already had plans of using Ken to make Aiden jealous so he would confess his feelings to Ariel. She felt bad for thinking that way, but Aiden was the most perfect match for Ariel.
“Does he still have the secret office?” Ken asked as he lowered himself on the sofa.
Jess snapped out of her mischievous thoughts and turned to look at Ken. “Ah, yes, yes. Right where it used to be,” she replied.
“Aiden will never change,” Ken murmured.
“Where is Ariel?” Ken asked.
Jess bit her lips and pointed upstairs, “Probably in her room,”
“Can I go see her?” Ken was almost standing from the chair when Jess quickly ran toward him and nodded him back down on the chair.
Still leaning over and holding his thighs, she lifted her face to look at him, “No, no. You don’t have to. You… you have to take it slowly, Ken, if not, you’ll scare her off,” Jess advised.
Ken narrowed his eyes at her suspiciously.
“Would you want that to happen?” She questioned.
Ken sighed resignedly and shook his head. “No.”
Jess smiled and removed her hands from his thighs, “Awesome! So, you just wait right here while I quickly go check up on her and we’ll be on our way.”
Jess quickly turned and ran up the stairs. She opened Ariel’s room but could not find anyone in there, she frowned in confusion.
Where else could Ariel be in this house, she barely got out of this room, or had she gotten accustomed to the atmosphere in the house?
She knew Aiden couldn’t take Ariel with him, he didn’t want them to get spotted together. Then, where was Ariel?
She was disappointed and wanted to go ask Anna downstairs if she knew where Ariel was when an absurd idea came to her head.
She couldn’t believe what she was thinking but she decided to give it a try, maybe she might be right.
Jess was smiling mockingly at herself as she walked toward Aiden’s room. She knew there was no way Aiden would let Ariel into his room, but, she just needed to prove to her delulu mind that it was wrong.
She reached in front of the door and paused, then slowly raised her hand to knock on the door.
Inside the room, Ariel has been sitting on the bed for a while, thinking about what to do next.
She was about to return to her room to get some stuff when a knock suddenly sounded on the door. She frowned, why would Aiden knock on his own room? Maybe he was suddenly being respectful?
She shook her head and went to open the door.
When she saw the person behind the door, she was surprised, and… disappointed.
Had she wanted it to be Aiden?
“Oh, hi, Jess,” Ariel smiled.
Jess didn’t reply; she just stared at Ariel with shock in her eyes. Ariel noticed this and waved her hand in front of Jess’ eyes.
“Jess?” She called.
Jess blinked and then focused on Ariel’s face, “Oh, I’m sorry for staring, but… you’re in his room?” She whispered.
Ariel sighed and nodded her head, then walked out of the room and closed the door.
“What happened? Are you guys for real now? Like, a real couple?” Jess asked, excited and shocked.
Ariel instantly snapped her head to Jess when she heard her question, “What?! No!” She vigorously shook her head.
“Oh,” Jess sounded disappointed.
She had really hoped her imagination would come true.
Ariel chuckled, “Why do you sound disappointed?” She asked as she pushed the door to her room open.
“Ah… no, no, I was just curious, since my brother never really lets anyone in there…” Jess informed.
“No, you misunderstood. You see, Grandma Nari will be staying with us for a while, so we’re trying to convince her about our marriage. We don’t want her suspecting anything,” Ariel walked into her room, and Jess followed her behind.
“Ohh makes sense now,” Jess replied.
“Yeah, so I’m just here to get what I’ll be needing for the short period Grandma will be staying; that way, I don’t have to keep coming in and out of this room,” Ariel explained as she went into her closet to get a few clothes.
“Okay… how are you feeling though? I see the swelling is gone with the red patches, too. Do you feel better within?” Jess asked, concerned.
Ariel smiled as she placed some clothes on top of her bed, “I feel better, Jess, I could even party now,” Ariel joked, folding her clothes.
Jess suddenly gasped and snapped her fingers, “Then let’s do it!”
Ariel paused and stared at Jess in shock and confusion. What was she talking about?
“Um, let’s do what, Jess?” She asked slowly.
Jess moved quickly, rummaging through Ariel’s wardrobe and rushing out with some clothes in her hand.
“Come on, try these on, and I’ll choose the best for you,” Jess excitedly placed the clothes on the bed.
“Calm down, Jess, what are we talking about?” Ariel turned to face Jess, furrowing her brows at her.
“Okay, alright… I’m just saying, you said you felt like partying, so why not? Let’s do it. The company’s party is about to start anyway,” Jess replied, picking up the clothes from the bed and holding them against Ariel’s front.
“Um, well… I was just,-”
“Perfect!” Jess exclaimed with a smile, not listening to what Ariel wanted to say.
She knew Ariel wanted to refuse, but she wasn’t about to let her miss the party. And, she wanted to see Aiden’s reaction when he saw his wife looking all sexy and in another man’s arms.
“Jess-”
“Shh, hurry up, I’ll do your make-up,” Jess pushed Ariel into the bathroom.
**
After a while, Jess stood below the stairs, waving someone down.
Ken was watching the stairs too, curious to see why Jess looked so pumped.
He heard soft footsteps on the stairs, and when he looked up at the owner of the footsteps, his jaw dropped.
“Damn!” He didn’t realize when he said that as he quickly walked to the stairs, offering Ariel his hand.
Ariel was blushing; she knew she looked hot; Jess had chosen a black mini-leather skirt and a white denim corset top for her, pairing it with a black jacket and strapped heels.
She’s never felt this brave and beautiful before, she gently placed her hand on Ken’s as he helped her down the remaining stairs.
“You look gorgeous, Ariel,” Ken praised, his eyes unable to look away from Ariel’s beauty.
“Thank you,” Ariel replied, smiling.
“Alright, let’s get going. It’s going to be an interesting night,” Jess said, smiling mischievously.