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 showed disappointment but at least he managed a smile. “Right… right, of course. I should’ve known someone as hardworking as you has her hands full most of the time.”
Taking in a shaky inhale, Aria still tries to shake off what had just happened a few moments ago. Was he about to kiss her? Surely not… maybe she just had something on her face and he was getting closer to take a better look.
Aria finally convinces herself that she’s thinking too hard about what has just happened between them. As she stands up out of her chair, she reaches a hand out to him. “It was nice working with you today, Lucas.” She says with a genuine smile.
Lucas grabs her hand but instead of shaking it, he pulls it closer. “By the way… Songbird,” He says with a blush still lining his cheeks, he even looks away this time as he says her stage name. “Maybe you can sing for me again…? As in tonight?”
“T- tonight?! I…! I mean…” Aria hesitates with her chosen words and she looks away. She hasn’t ever truly sung since she accidentally killed her friend, Mandy. Losing her spirit meant losing the beauty in her voice and that’s the whole reason her band fell apart. But since Lucas has amnesia, he probably has no idea that this even happened.
“...I’m sorry, but I can’t do that tonight. I’ll be busy. I’m sorry…” Aria apologizes twice with a quiet voice without looking him in the eyes.
Lucas’s eyebrows knit together with confusion over Aria’s reaction. He couldn’t tell whether or not she was lying, but he could see that his question had made her uncomfortable. Was he too forward by asking for privacy with her tonight? It couldn’t possibly be about her singing. She loves to sing and has been listening to music since he’s known her.
Since he’s known her?
“Huh…?” Lucas blinks a few times as his curiosity turns into confusion. Not over Aria’s change in behavior, but because of the odd thought that crossed his mind. He could feel a tingling in his head and he dreaded another migraine to attack his brain and shoot pain into his skull so painfully that it could make him pass out if he wasn’t careful. But, thankfully, the migraine never came and a memory didn’t cross his mind. Only just a few simple words that he tells himself that it was just his imagination.
“Lucas?” Aria tilts her head cutely as she looks up at him.
“It’s nothing. Anyways… you don’t need to apologize. I understand if you’re busy. So, here.” He takes a pencil and writes on one of the papers they are working on. Of all things, he has his phone number on it. He then flashes her a grin. “Hit me up.”
Aria could feel that her blush was remaining on her cheeks. Of all things, the heir CEO was still charming as ever. “O- ok… I’ll contact you tonight.” She says while trying to sound like they’ll only be talking about business. Lucas can’t help but smile as he watches her attempt to act calm and cool on the outside.
“Your co-workers must be waiting on you. I’ll see you later then.” He gives her a short wave.
Aria’s lips purse as she watches him walk away. She didn’t want him to go and she had wished he could have said her name one last time, or at least her stage name. Despite how much she wanted their time together to not end so soon, the woman still forced a sweet smile. “I’ll see you tomorrow, Mr. Augustine.”
She addressed him formally just to feel humored when he turned around and corrected her. “Likewise, Ms. Songbird.”
Lucas’s comeback took Aria by surprise as he left as if he had heard her wish. He’s a man of many things, she’ll admit to that. And she’s very happy about the kind of man he has grown up to be. So much so that she always wanted to be around him. And yet…
Aria’s hands ball up into fists as dark thoughts flow through her head. She did want to sing for him, desperately. And yet, her heart wouldn’t let her. Mandy’s ghost haunts her dreams. If only she hadn’t drunk that last beverage. If only she didn’t get behind the wheel when she could tell that there was something wrong with her. Even if the alcohol in the drink was very little, Aria knew she was a bit of a lightweight. It must’ve taken a few moments for it to all hit her stomach at one time. There was no other explanation for how she could get that drunk so quickly.
And now Mandy is dead.
Lucas will surely have questions, no doubt. It’ll be painfully hard, but she wants to tell him. Despite how shameful it is to admit she got arrested for a DUI homicide. But at the same time… though Aria knows she’s a lightweight, she also knows that the drinks she drank shouldn’t have been enough to get her that drunk. Was it all her fault for running over Mandy? Or was there a third party that caused the casualty that killed her friend?
“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
There was a silence between the two of them as the atmosphere between them changed. Aria could already feel herself sweat and her hands become clammy. She was purposely trying to make her body as stiff as a board in an attempt to keep herself from trembling. Unfortunately, her hands still had the faintest shake. Old habits die hard. Her childhood trauma was starting to creep back into her brain even though she thought she had grown out of it years ago. Being inches away from the man who gave this to her and hearing the hostility in his voice was enough to trigger an anxiety attack but thankfully she had enough strength to keep that much under control. Lucas’s angered frown melted into disappointment. He may not know what the real problem is so all he could do was assume. “Listen, if you’re worried about what your boss is going to do then don’t. I’ll take the fall. I got your back, I promise. I’m sure that Roxanne chick is gone by now too.”“Don’t promise me something that you don’t k