When Aria's eyes shot open, it occurred to her that she did not sleep at her own house, because she did have her sleeping eye mask on.
She would remember the details later, but first, she had to yawn; she felt weak. Her head ached her like a war was happening inside of it, and pain seared through her body, mostly between her legs. Aria's eyes scanned through her view. Two milk chairs were placed by the sides of a black shiny table, the curtains were drawn apart, revealing a wide view of the glass window.The room looked different; it wasn't the room she and Lily, her best friend, had booked yesterday. With a sense of urgency, she attempted to roll over, but her body stilled like a rock when a firm mascular hand gripped her waist. Aria gasped, her eyes bulged with terror, when she noticed that he wasn't Ivan, her boyfriend of three years.She was in bed with a stranger whose name she didn't even know. Her heart raced faster and she felt like screaming even though she knew it was unwise to do so. She hoped it was just a bad dream she could wake up from. Trying to steady her breathing, she reminded herself that she had to get out of this mess. No, she didn't want to know who this stranger was, she just knew she had to get out of her here as soon as possible.Aria took deep breaths and whispered to herself. "You have to get out of here before he wakes up."Carefully, she withdraw his hand from her waist. She heard him make a soft groggy sound as he stirred. Aria hoisted her body and rested her back against the headboard. From the vanity mirror, she saw a reflection of herself. Her hair was scattered, and she was naked. Feeling conscious of her body, she covered her breasts with her hands. Then, the pain between her legs shot through her body. The realization dawned on her, she had slept with him. Her face contorted, she was about to cry. Helplessly, her gaze fell on him; he looked peaceful as he slept with his olive skin and dishevelled blonde hair that fell onto his face. The duvet covered the most part of his body, leaving just a small part of his smooth chest, and his toned biceps. She was sure he was naked like her.Although, the tears had gathered around her eyeballs, yet she didn't let them fall because they were of no use. In dismay, she held her hands to her forehand. How did she get herself into this mess? So this was what she was up to on the night of her college graduation? Heck, she was supposed to thinking about getting a high paying job to clear her student loans, her father's debt, and mother's hospital bills. Not loosing her virginity.Aria felt disappionted in herself. And being unable to vividly remember what had led to this made her frustrated as she ran her fingers through her hair. When her hands fell back to her chest, she noticed a glistening diamond ring on her fourth finger. She wasn't a fan of rings, she couldn't remember owning one. What was happening?She shut her eyes tightly, willing her memory to recall what had happened the previous night. She knew she had been sad and angry that Ivan hadn't showed up for their agreed date. The memory made a knot tighten around her chest. Now what would Ivan think about her if he found out about this? Devastated, Aria had followed Lily to a party hosted at the hotel Lily had planned to spend the night at. Feeling out of place and sad, she took a few drinks, then met the strange man at the bar. Flashes of him flooded her mind. Deep blue eyes, his dimpled cheeks, flirtatious sideways smile, diamond stud on one of his ears, crisp suit, breathy whispers around her earlobes…Quickly, Aria picked her underwear, gown, shoes and bag she found on the floor. She scurried into the bathroom. When she shut the door behind her, she pressed her back against the door and broke into a sob. What had she done to herself? The landlord had promised to throw them out of the house today if they could not pay his rent, and what she was doing? Having sex with a random man. Shameful. She wished the ground could just open up to swallow her, or maybe just wake up from the bad dream. Whichever option was fine by her.Crying wouldn't solve matters, once again Aria reminded herself. She wriggled her body into her bodycon gown, wore her heels, pulled her hair into a bun and slung her small bag over her shoulders. Looking presentable and a little bit confident, she prayed that the man had not woken up yet, then she stepped outside.Aria froze when she saw him awake, body hunched over his laptop, and legs crossed at his ankles. His gaze flickered towards her direction; his deep blue eyes bore into her. Aria's jaw almost dropped; he was drop dead gorgeous. His eyes was warm and fierce, daring you to stare back at them. He had the type of handsomeness that you could never be satisfied with just one first glance. Your eyes would beg you to feed it with more of his sexiness."Preparing to leave already, I see." He finally spoke. Aria noted his accent, he was British."Um yes," Aria answered, her gaze lowered."We did something yesterday," he announced, by this time he had closed his laptop with its lid."We had sex, yeah." Aria shrugged, pretending to be unbothered."If that were the case, then I wouldn't need to tell you about it again." He said calmly and relaxed, and a lit bit nonchalant."Then what?"He looked over to the table by his side, and picked up something and stretched it towards her.Aria grabbed it with shaky hands, eyes scanning through it. It was unbelievable. Reflexively, her hands flew to her mouth. She had gotten married to the stranger whose name was Robert Lincoln, judging from the marriage certificate. No wonder, she had the ring on her finger.She raised her gaze to face him, his expression was a complete contrast to hers. He did not share in her horror, he was completely fine. His calmless annoyed her. What sort of a man is this?When is all these going to end? "Mr Donovan, take pity on us. We will pay up our rent soon." Her sister, Anna, was on her knees, rubbing her palms together in a pleady gesture. She knelt in front of the house, poking her head to get a view of the landlord inside the house. Aria stood next to her, careful not to draw her attention. She immersed herself in deep thoughts. What was she going to do? She was tired of the whole situation. Now that she had just finished college, she had started thinking about how to go about paying her student loans but she couldn't even pay her house rent. The money she had been saving to repay her student loan was what she used to pay her mother's last hospital bills. Since then, any money she had tried to gather up in order to replace it was used to settle another bill or the other. "Oh you're back." Anna stated, drawing Aria from her thoughts. Just then, Mr Donovan emerged from the house with this thug, carrying their refrigerator. The hefty thug marc
Aria's heart thumped faster as she stood in front of Mr Mark's office. She tucked a stray strand of her hair behind her ears as she inhaled and exhaled. For some reason, she was unsettled. She sensed foul play within his offer, but she was already at his door, considered it too late to turn back. Additionally, she needed every money she could get. Pushing her thoughts aside, she knocked softly. "Come in," he answered. She stepped in and walked towards him. "Good evening," she greeted. "You showed up quite early." He noted with a smile. He took off his glasses and leaned into his seat, observing her. She felt uncomfortable under his intense gaze. Aria wondered whether she was supposed to respond to his previous statement, then she spoke. "Yeah, you sounded urgent." "That's correct. You see, I knew you were the perfect person for this job and I could always count on you." Perfect person for a night delivery? Isn't any other person able to do that efficiently? She thought to he
He flung his phone on the mahogany desk, leaned into this high backed chair and groaned. When he had asked her for his number amidst drinks, she boldly took his phone, punched numbers into it and saved it with her name and then called the line. When her phone vibrated, she chuckled and said, "I'll save your number later." That was how he got her name and her number after minutes of talking and drinking over the loud music. Robert wasn't expecting Aria to call that soon and from the look of things, he was right. He knew the call wasn't intentional from the way she said another name and how she was quick to say 'wrong number' when she heard his voice. He was worried about Aria, she sounded like she was on the verge of tears. After she hung up on him, he had been unable to focus on the stark of documents that crowded his desk. He had stayed late at the office today, he was filling up for the previous day where he had achieved little to nothing because he spent the whole day thinking a
While Aria was dressing up for the job interview, Anna barged into the room and hugged her. Aria was taken back, her brows creased with confusion."What's the problem?" Aria asked her sister."You've replaced our fridge and television. Isn't that enough reason for me to be happy?"Aria thought she hadn't heard hee propely. "hm? replace what?""Our fridge and television!" Anna squealed. "The delivery man brought it this morning, he said you, Aria Spencer, ordered it.""But I didn't."Anna was finally convinced that her sister was unaware of the purchase. She folded her arms below her chest and they both stare at each other for while. "Anna I'm running late for my interview, I guess we'll have to talk about this later."-When Aria walked into the office, the chilly air greeted her. She took deep breaths and threaded towards the reception desk. She tucked a stray strand of her hair behind her desk and smoothen non existent rough edges of her pencil skirt. Since birth, she had not been
Lily placed her palm on her jaw staring into the milk coloured curtain in front of her, lost in thoughts. Her phone beeped and she anxiously reached for it, but her chest deflected when she saw the content of the message. It wasn't what she wanted to see. It was a text message from her mum asking her if she was going to come downstairs for breakfast. Although she had heard her mum's soft voice calling out to her earlier on, but she chose to remain silent. She woke up with a heavy weight on her heart. She wasn't in the mood to talk to anyone. She thought about Aria, and how she had sabotaged her relationship with her, over Ivan that had grown cold and distant towards her without an explanation. How does the dynamics of a relationship change overnight? She knew whenever they chatted, he would disappear for hours, and then he'd return with a silly excuse. But she did not think that soon he'd start taking days before responding to her messages. It made her heart ache. And whenever she'
Aria could already envision her financial problems coming to an end.It was a refreshing feeling, a breath of fresh air. For a long time now, she had been in a state of panick, constantly thinking of different means to solve one problem or the other. As much as she could feel the wave of uncertainty blowing past her due to the contract she had signed with Robert, she chose to bask in the new feeling of lightness. Tons of congratulatory messages flooded her phone When she had posted about her new job on her status. It filled her heart with joy. For once, people were not sympathizing with her nor texting her to offer her favours out of pity. She took a deep breath, muttering a short prayer of thanks. She picked up her phone, about to text her sister. Her phone buzzed with a new messge, distracting her from her course of action. Her eyes darted upwards to check the sender of the mesage, it was Ivan. He hadn't texted since she found out he had been cheating on her. Her heart pounded as
It was her first day of work. The moment she got to the door, she pinched herself just to confirm that she wasn't dreaming. It felt good, excitement bubbled within her. She smiled liked a child that had been handed her favourite candy as she checked the time on her wristwatch. The last time she had been here was for her interview and she had arrived late. Attempting to correct that mistake, she had said she would try as much as possible to be punctual now that she had been given the time. It was 7:50 am, five minutes before her stipulated time of resumption. Now that was a good start to her.She pushed the door open, and as expected, she saw the nice receptionist behind her desk, head bent over, scribbling on a note set before her. Her braids were packed in neat bun, edges properly laid, floral chiffon top perfectly ironed. Aria could perceive her perfume from a few distance away; it was soft, feminine and flowery. She walked up to her, feeling obliged to appreciate for the act of k
"I don't understand you." Robert said, almost rolling his eyes but he stopped halfway, realizing Ethan, his best friend, couldn't see him. "All I'm saying that I'm just interested in her." Robert sighed.Robert stood against his kitchen marble counter, awaiting his bread heating up in his toaster when he saw Ethan's incoming call. It's been five minutes now, and their conversation mostly revolved around Aria. Yeah, he needed to tell his friend about her.Ethan chuckled. "You sure you're just Interested in? you sure this isn't just a fleeting interest?""If I wanted something casual with her, I'd have let her know.""Anyways I trust you on this one. I've known you to be an upfront person." Ethan concurred, then stayed silent for a while. He just couldn't believe that his friend had found someone other Becky interesting and he didn't desire a relationship with the person yet. He was aware of his one-night stand with this mystery girl and the contract they had signed but he didn't think