“So if we do this, then…” Aria explains to Lucas while pointing from paper to paper within the files she had collected to help them with his project. The pretty woman was so caught up in explaining their plan and layout that she didn’t even stop to ask Lucas for any opinions of his own. But when she finally did look at him, she spotted him staring at her from the other side of the table that they sat on. Aria becomes flustered with a blush as she raises her voice. “Mr. Augustine!”
Lucas jumps when his surname is yelled at. By his reaction and sudden change in expression, it was obvious that Aria’s words had gone in one of his ears and flew right out the other without registering anything in his brain. Aria heaves a tired sigh and crosses her arms while shaking her head. “Honestly, sir, if you want my help then you need to take this seriously!”
The former heir gives a sheepish grin since he was just caught gazing at her in a trance from her beauty once again. “Sorry. And, again, call me Lucas.”
“I’ll start calling you Lucas when you start taking your job seriously!” Aria reports, making Lucas hang his head in defeat. He can’t bring himself to give a cocky or snarky remark when speaking to the beautiful Songbird.
Aria’s impatience turns into curiosity as a new thought crosses her mind. “Speaking of your job… You said you’re the new head director, right?”
“That’s right. What about it?” He asks while leaning back into his chair.
“You were the heir of the Augustine Company. I learned about David Augustine passing away from the news so I assumed you finally took your place as the CEO… but if you’re not, then who is? Did you step down?” Aria asks questions that she didn’t feel comfortable asking until now. It meant bringing up the fact that his father is dead, nobody wants a reminder of something as awful as the death of a loved one.
Lucas frowns and looks away. Despite how carefully Aria chose her words, it still stung just bringing up the title of CEO. “After I got amnesia, they didn’t deem me fit to take the position so they put me in the second best thing. I guess. It’s been three years so everyone thought that my amnesia was permanent but, who knows?” Lucas then gives her another affectionate smile. “Being around you is making my memories come back piece by piece. Maybe I’ll still be able to become the CEO of my family’s company if my memory keeps gradually returning. I’m grateful to have you back in my life.”
Aria can feel her cheeks warm up as they take on a pinkish color and she swiftly looks away. “I… I didn’t do anything…” She couldn’t find the words to say that he was remembering everything on his own. But at the same time, she didn’t want him to remember everything. If he does, he’ll remember their past and she was scared that he’ll act differently towards her. Aria wasn’t worried that he’d feel disgusted or anything negative. She was afraid that he would beat himself up and become depressed over something that he couldn’t change. Nevertheless, she still smiled softly.
“Your progression is all from your strength, not mine.”
“I guess you can say that you’re the fuel to my strength then.” His voice has a hint of a flirt in it, making her cheeks become even hotter.
Aria wanted to yell at him to focus but she knew that she’d only be a flustered, stuttering mess so instead she just clears her throat and looks back down at the papers on the table. “You never told me about the current CEO…”
“Oh, right. My father had a twin brother so he’s taken the position. But…” Lucas’s voice trails off.
“But what?” Aria asks with a tilt of her head.
Lucas hesitates with his words then shrugs his shoulders as he finally speaks his mind. “I don’t know. It just felt odd. And then he started acting differently towards me… colder, curter, never paying any attention to me ever since he became the CEO. That’s when it dawned on me, he stopped treating me as if he was my loving, supportive uncle once he took that seat. Why else would he if that was his goal the whole time? In other words, his love was fake, just to get on my good side.”
Aria’s silver eyes widened. “His love for you wasn’t real? But he’s your uncle! If all he wanted was your position as the new CEO, then… well, do you think he had a part to play in your amnesia?” Aria knew that was a very big question with an answer that neither of them wanted to think about. After all, what if she’s right?
Lucas can’t keep eye contact with her this time. “...I don’t know. We don’t know. Mason has had similar suspicions. It’s as if this is a game of dominos and all the pieces just perfectly fell into Davis’s hands… a little too much for a coincidence, but…”
“You think that your uncle did something to you?” Area asks with a tone that shows how hard it was to believe such an awful thing that still had a possibility of being true.
Lucas shrugs and then gives a sad sigh. “Unfortunately, Mason has been pretty distant lately… I asked him to keep an eye on my uncle for me but lately, he hasn’t been too chatty with me. But, at least he keeps me up to date on what my uncle is doing so I can’t complain too much. For the past week, Davis hasn’t been up to anything special. Thankfully.”
Aria was silent this time. News like this was shocking to even think about it, let alone if it was the truth. But, there’s no proof, so it’s nothing but suspicions and rumors currently. And Aria hopes they remain that way. Even when the truth does come to light, she hopes that it isn’t as ugly as they think it is.
She leans over and places a hand on top of his and gives him a soft smile. “I’ll be here for you, Lucas. No matter what.”
Lucas’s turmoil eased up into something warmer, something that was hard to define. Though he may not have smiled, his eyes told her how grateful he was to have her. Aria then freezes as he sweeps some of her stray black strands of hair behind her ear and then slowly leans forward towards her face.
Aria’s frozen body is followed by a pounding heart as Lucas’s face leans closer to hers. She instinctively closed her eyes just to hide her panic mostly. As she begins to feel his warm breath against her skin, a knock at her office’s door makes the lovebirds jump and spin around right as Aria’s boss walks in.“Are you two- oh…” Her eyes were wide with awkward surprise when she saw what she had just walked in on and then she pretended to fix her shirt and act professional, even lifting her chin a bit as she spoke. “Ms. La Bella. Don’t forget you have an appointment with someone else as well. You’ll have to wrap up what you’re doing with Mr. Augustine soon.” The woman says before walking out of the room, her high-heeled shoes leaving behind loud clacks as they hear her walk down the hall.The black-haired woman lets out a tired sigh. “Oh, gosh, I almost forgot!” She then looked at the man apologetically. “Sorry, Lucas. We’ll pick it back up again tomorrow.”The look in Lucas’s eyes sho
“Thanks for coming with me, Mason. I knew I could rely on you.” Lucas says to his best friend as they wait in the doctor’s office.“Of course. Whatever you need, I’ll always be right here for you.” Mason smiles back at him, doing his best to make sure it doesn’t look like it’s being forced. The man still felt awful for lying to Lucas about being a supportive friend.The situation Mason was in felt like torture, having to lie to the one man who had had his back through the best and worst of times. But he was still terrified over what Mr. Augustine would do to him if he refused to follow his orders. All he had to do was report to his boss about Lucas’s activities, lie to his friend about what his uncle was up to, and attempt to keep him away from Aria. Everything was going as Davis wanted but what he didn’t know was that he was failing to keep Lucas away from Aria. As a result, his friend has regained more memories. What will happen to Mason if Davis finds out about this?The two men lo
The look in Mason’s eyes couldn’t be hidden from Lucas. He could tell that his friend was very distressed and he would even say afraid. But afraid of what? His uncle? The two friends had their suspicions about Davis’s actions and behavior since his twin brother, Lucas’s father, died. But just because his personality changes doesn’t mean that his uncle has turned into a villain. Right?Lucas knew that their meeting had nothing to do with him so it was best if he didn’t interfere. The former heir decides to get back to work on his job but there was still another troubling question that crossed his mind. Why would his doctor on amnesia relay a message from Davis to Mason?The Augustine Company had an infirmary built within the building a long time ago, David cared about his employees and wanted to make sure that if any harm came to them, or even a mild headache, there would be a place there for them to feel better. This is where Lucas has been seeing his doctor for amnesia. At the same t
Papers are dumped on top of Aria’s head, making the woman flinch as all of her hard work gets scattered on the floor and it even messes up her black hair that she had struggled to put into a clean bun. “Unbelievable.” Her boss then tosses her files to the side. The anger in her eyes revealed the fuel behind her cruel fire: jealousy. “Un-fucking-believeable! Why the hell would Augustine be interested in someone like you? A failed singer. Roxanne told me all about how pathetic you are with your little singing career that got flushed down the drain because you were an alcoholic! Oh yeah, I bet he doesn’t even know that you’re a felon!”The rumors that Roxanne had spread about Aria weren’t true. Aria hated alcohol but she’d only make an exception when it was with her friends. But even then, she still doesn’t drink very much. Aria remained silent as her boss released her ire upon her. Her hands were balled up in tight fists where they rested on her lap. Even her whole body was completely
Lucas couldn’t help but watch Aria as she worked. She was speaking to him and yet, once again, her words fell on deaf ears. It’s not like he did it on purpose however, his head was merely full of over things. There was one thing that echoed in his mind the loudest, something that was bothering him the most - Aria wasn’t looking at him the same way she had always done before.Why is that?“Mr. Augustine.” Her pleasant voice speaking his last name caught his attention. But when he looked at her, her gray eyes didn’t hold that tender warmth that they usually did ever since he met her after getting amnesia. “What are your thoughts on the matter?”Lucas bit the inside of his cheek when he realized she was only questioning him just to see if he was paying attention. She didn’t look like she was in the mood to have extra patience for the man who spaced out so often. He finally decides to come out and speak his mind. “Ms. La Belle, I need to ask you something.” Aria put her hands together and
“Aria? What’s wrong?” Lucas questions her when he sees the look on her face change. By the time he looked towards what she was staring at, the shadow was gone but a new voice was heard amongst the familiar voice of Aria’s boss.“Roxanne!” Her boss echoes in surprise. “Well, this is a pleasant surprise. I wasn’t expecting to see you here til later!” “I just thought I’d come to pay my favorite friend a little visit.” Says a voice that Aria hasn’t heard in years that immediately makes her heart sink and feel sick to her stomach. All this time, Aria has been trying to ignore the woman’s name which seems to keep popping up more and more as her popularity grows and she becomes more famous. It was hard to believe that Roxanne was once a petty woman jealous of her talent in singing. Now she couldn’t even call her competition. Lucas sees Aria’s expression dampen even further. He had a feeling it had to do with the woman’s voice that had just appeared, this Roxanne person that Aria’s boss ju
Aria and Lucas get in his car and drive deeper into the city. He glanced over to the short woman who was twirling her black hair with a single finger, lost in thought as she stared out the window. Though she faced away from him, he could still see her reflection in the window. Her gray eyes reminded him of storm clouds that were about to rain. Lucas reached over to her lap and was about to place his hand on it but he then flinched as a sudden headache struck him. The flash of a memory crossed his mind. This isn’t the first time he’s seen her eyes like this. He’s seen those clouds pour rain plenty of times.Aria gives a startled gasp when the car gives a sudden jerk. She whirls around to look at Lucas and panics when she sees him gripping his head with a pained look in his eyes. “Goodness, Lucas, are you alright?! What happened?”“Y– yeah, just another migraine. Hey, open up my glovebox and hand me a pill from the bottle in there.” Lucas pointed towards the glovebox and Aria opened it
“The Songbird.” When people say that name now, it’s only full of scorn and distaste. The love that everyone once poured into the name was nothing but a broken memory after the time she spent in jail over the DWI. Heinous rumors like these were what kept her head low and she tried to work somewhere she wouldn’t be identified so easily. A bustling, fancy restaurant like this isn’t surprising; it has quite a few people who love music and are very familiar with musicians. Aria seemed to shrink in her seat as she looked out the window where she sat in the booth, silently and desperately wishing that this “lunch” would end soon. She did her best to block out the whispers full of cruel words and mocking her career because of alcohol abuse and murdering a member of her band. She had grown used to blocking out the voices full of intentions to harm her feelings, it was a skill she learned back in high school. When Lucas would torment her endlessly…As soon as the reminder of the abuse crossed