Ariel had been silently waiting for everyone to leave so she could get away from Aiden. And the moment the door was shut, she immediately tried to escape Aiden.
But she wasn’t able to, it was as if Aiden was expecting her to try to escape the moment everyone left.
Ariel’s eyes widened in surprise when he suddenly drew her closer, his fingers sprawled flat on her tummy.
“Aiden, get your hands off me. Grandma is gone; we don’t need to pretend anymore,” Ariel was still frowning as she lowered her hand to Aiden’s, which was casually resting on her flat tummy as if he hadn’t heard what she’d just said.
She held his hand and lifted it, surprisingly, he let her lift off his hands.
Ariel was happy; she knew that he, too, must be tired of all the pretense.
But, the moment she released his hand behind her and was about to stand, Aiden swiftly lifted himself and drew Ariel beneath him, caging her between his hands as he stared down at her with deep thoughtful eyes.
“Aiden! What do you think you’re doing?” Ariel asked with a deep frown.
“Shh… you look more beautiful when you smile,” He carefully raised his hand to her face and then gently caressed her creased forehead, smiling when he saw that she had stopped frowning.
Ariel sighed, resigned. “What do you want, Aiden? Stop making things complicated for us,” Ariel slowly looked away from his handsome face; she was starting to feel her will soften as she stared into his blue eyes.
Aiden sighed; he didn’t reply to Ariel’s question; rather, she lowered his face to her exposed neck and lay it there, sniffing in her scent.
Ariel froze when she felt his face on her neck. She tried using her hand to push him away, but he held her hand and gently placed it beside her head, holding it down.
“Shh, quiet, Ariel, my head hurts… just let me stay; I’ve missed you; I missed you all night,” Aiden’s voice cracked as he said those words.
Ariel bit her lips, feeling those unwanted tingles spread across her body as she heard Aiden’s words.
Did he miss her?
That was a lie.
If he did, they wouldn’t have been at each other’s throats earlier before Grandma Nari walked in.
She wasn’t going to fall for his lies.
“You’re a liar, Aiden; I don’t believe you.” Her voice was quiet as she spoke.
She was breathing quietly, staring at the door to keep her eyes away from him.
Aiden slowly shook his head, “I’m not lying, Ariel. Look at me, Please…” Aiden lifted himself off her, placed his hand beside her face, and gently turned it to him.
Ariel let him direct her face to look up at him, she wanted to see for herself the eyes of a liar. But as she looked into his eyes, her heart thumped strongly in her chest; Aiden looked so hurt; his eyes looked as though he was lost and lonely.
“Do I look like someone who would lie to you, Ariel? Do you believe I would lie to you, Ariel?” Aiden leaned his face down to hers, pausing only when his lips were mere inches from hers.
‘Push him away!’ A voice spoke inside her head.
She knew she should listen to that voice and get away from Aiden, but she didn’t; she was getting lost in his eyes, even though she knew he was lying, but at that moment, she believed him.
Stupid. She knew it was stupid of her, but something inside her believed him.
She raised her hand to his face, placing it flat on his cheek. She wasn’t in control of her emotions anymore, it always felt like there was an invisible magnet drawing her to Aiden and making her unable to refuse him.
“I want to believe you, Aiden… but, you acted so bad toward me earlier, you said those bad words…” She paused, looking into his eyes.
Aiden shook his head and placed his forehead against hers, “I – I…” he paused, searching her eyes.
“You were what, Aiden?” She asked softly.
Aiden sighed, instead of replying, he kissed her.
Ariel closed her eyes, allowing him to kiss her, but she never kissed him back. Aiden’s lips moved slowly against hers; she felt he was kissing her as if he was scared. She might push him away; his lips were grazing hers as though he was asking for permission.
But she didn’t grant it, no matter how attracted she was to him, she wasn’t going to make a fool of herself again.
Aiden slowly withdrew his lips from Ariel’s when he realized that Ariel wasn’t kissing him back.
He placed his forehead on hers again and sighed softly. “I was jealous, Ariel,” he confessed and suddenly fell on her.
Ariel froze, “Aiden, what did you say?” She asked.
But Aiden didn’t reply; he just lay above her, unmoving. She frowned and gently tapped his shoulder, his weight was killing her.
What was he playing at? Was he pretending to be asleep just so he doesn’t say it again?
She tapped him again, but he still didn’t move or reply. She placed her hand on his face to make him look and that’s when she noticed that his body was burning up.
She furrowed her brows and called him softly, worried.
“Aiden, you’re burning up, are you okay? Aiden?”
He didn’t answer.
At that moment, she realized that Aiden had fainted. He hadn’t been lying about his headaches either.
She had thought he had been lying all along.
She was about to try and move him to lay on the bed when the door opened.
“What’s going on here?” Moon asked as she quickly walked into the room.
She marched straight to the bed and was about to tap Aiden’s shoulder and ask him to get off Ariel when Ken held back her hand.
“Don’t, can’t you see she needs help?” Ken asked and moved Moon aside.
He helped move Aiden off Ariel and gently placed him on the other side of tne bed.
“What happened?” He asked as Ariel qu, ickly stood from the bed.
Ariel shook her head, “I have no idea, he… we were talking and he suddenly fell unconscious, when I touched his body, he was burning up real bad,” Ariel explained.
Moon scoffed, “Yeah, you were just talking, in that position?” Moon glared at Ariel.
She moved toward Ariel and grabbed her arm, “I’ve warned you to stay away from him, but you still try to seduce him, Ariel, you-”
“Stop it, Moon. Go call the doctor. Your brother needs medical attention,” Ken ordered, drawing her away from Ariel.
Moon snatched her hand away from Ken’s, eyeing Ariel scorfully before she stepped out of the room.
“What really happened, Ariel?” Ken asked, he kept his eyes on Aiden not wanting to look at Ariel.
He still couldn’t look at her without remembering her kiss with Aiden.
Ariel frowned at him, “You don’t believe me? Do you think I did something to him?” Ariel asked incredulously.
“That’s not what I mean, Ariel,” Ken sighed.
Ariel shook her head, “That’s how it sounds, Ken. But, no matter how much I dislike him, I’ll never hurt him. Not just him, I’m not a type of person to hurt someone,” Ariel was disappointed.
Ken finally looked at her. “Ariel?” He called quietly.
“Yes,” She looked at him.
“Do you love Aiden?” He couldn’t hold himself again from asking.
Yes, they had pretended to kiss each other in front of Grandma Nari, but he was no fool, the way they kissed each other looked like they were two lovers kissing each other after b, eing apart for a long time.
He had never seen his friend kiss a girl, and so passionately too. Aiden was never one to show emotions, but whenever he was with Ariel, he tended to lose control over his emotions.
Ariel stepped back and slowly looked Ken up and down. “Why are you asking me that? I thought you knew my feelings for him, Ken?” She was disappointed at Ken, why would he even be asking her that kind of question.
It meant he’s never believed anything she’d ever told him.
Ken slowly walked toward her, “You’re right, Ariel, I knew your feelings, but right now, I’m not sure,” he shrugged slowly.
Ariel tilted her head to the side and strangely regarded Ken, “What do you mean you’re not sure anymore?”
Ken opened his mouth to reply at the to same time the door opened.
“What happened, Ariel?” Carla rushed in and went straight to Aiden’s bed.
“I don’t really know, he had just been talking to me and the next second he fell unconscious, I have no idea why,” Ariel shook her head.
“He’s got a fever, move me the stand, Ken,” Carla pointed to the drip stand at the foot of the bed.
“Ariel, you need to get a bowl and clean him up, it’ll help lower his fever,” Carla informed as she set the infusion for Aiden.
Ariel nodded, she walked into the bathroom, and came out with a of bowl water and a towel.
“Let me do it,” Moon stepped forward and almost spilled the water on Ariel.
Ariel stared at her, her eyes cold, “Let go of the bowl, Moon,” Ariel warned.
Moon scoffed, “No way I’m letting you anywhere close to him, Ariel. You’re not seducing anymore,” Moon spoke with venom lacing her voice.
Ariel smiled, “Seducing him? It’s quite the opposite, Moon. Your brother can’t seem to get his hands off me.”
“Fucking bitch,” Moon stepped back and slapped Ariel on the cheek.
Ariel didn’t dodge; she knew it was coming, and she was ready for it.
As her head moved to the side due to the heavy slap, she saw Carla and Ken stare in shock from the corner of her eyes, and she saw Ken walking toward her.
But she had her plans, she wasn’t going to stand and wait for someone to save her.
“That’s what you get for – Argh!!” Moon screamed as she felt the cold water splash on her face and body.
Ariel stepped back and smiled at her, watching her as she tried to wipe the water off her face.
“Oh no…” Carla whispered.
Ken’s face palmed, halting in his steps as he saw what happened.
“You were saying?” Ariel asked when she saw that Moon had managed to wipe off the water from her face.
Moon was red, she fumed uncontrollably and immediately strode toward Ariel in angry steps.
“You idiot, you dared to pour that water on me, I’ll show you!” She quickly reached Ariel and raised her hand to slap her the second time.
But this time, before her hand could reach Ariel’s cheek, Moon felt a hard slap on her cheek, and in the next second, she found herself falling to the floor.
“That’s for accusing me wrongly, Moon,” Ariel stumped over her, picked up the bowl, and walked back into the bathroom.