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T H I R T Y
S I X T H
C H A P T E R

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AVA'S POV

FEW WEEKS LATER

"Please pick up my files from my room, I forgot to take them with me." I listened to Mr. Aaron through the receiver of my phone intently. He was about to go to a meeting and he didn't have the important files for them with him.

He's started asking me to go to his room. He's started saying 'please' to me. What's next?

I wonder what's gotten into him. If it's sympathy--- I don't want it. After dad's death he's been awfully nice to me. Where that rude, arrogant Sir had gone who didn't even let me call him by his name.

Well, I still don't use his name in front of him, but recently I accidently used his first name and he didn't say much to me--- just a furious look. I've built up the courage to call him by his name to myself.

All I want from him is to show me no sympathy.

He should stop treating me like this.

Since Kourtney left and due to so many changes I've seen a lot of Aaron's life and surroundings. We mostly go to the meetings together and even on holidays I go to his house and I've been doing a lot of his work-nonrelated chores. Mostly that include Christian.

Christian has grown quite fond of me.

I'm very fine with this all new work. 

Now I can indulge myself in this work and not think about other stuff--- I mean mourn over my dad's death.

I entered his room. It was maybe my fifth time going to his room. He didn't even like anyone going to his room, yet he allows me. 

I entered the huge room and moved to the walk-in closet. A row of branded attires and shoes, and almost everything was in that closet.

He told me that the file was in the cupboard of his closet.

I opened the cupboard and found the file.

As I picked up the file, a photo dropped to the floor. I stooped to pick it up.

Even though I had no curiosity, I looked at the photo.

There was a man and a woman--- they looked like a couple. I couldn't recognize any one of them.

As I turned the photo, there was these words written:
Love you, my sweetheart.

Why Mr. Aaron has this photo in his cupboard? My curiosity was aroused.

But then I shook my head, put the photo back and took the files with me.

I don't care whose photo it was and what was it doing in Mr. Aaron's closet.

Reaching the office, I gave files to Mr. Aaron.

♣

The meeting was quite tiring, but everything went well. Mr. Aaron was looking happy because it was very important meeting.

We both went into his office after the meeting.

He went towards his desk.

"Sir, when will we be leaving for Alaska tomorrow?" I asked him.

He turned to look at me, "Ava, I told you, you don't have to go."

We had somewhat similar conversation a few weeks back. At that time he lost his temper and told me that we'll leave for Alaska after few weeks and that he'll inform me about the date myself. He did and it was tomorrow, but I didn't know the time.

Now he's changed more. At the beginning days of my dad's death, he used to lose his temper when I acted moody or I was rude, but now he barely loses his temper.

Maybe he's gotten used to it.

"But I want to." I insisted.

"Really you don't hav..."

I interrupted him.

"I said I want to!" I might've been harsh this time which I regreted after the moment I said those words in that kind of tone.

"All I'm saying is that you're broken and I just want to help you." He was looking as I was the most poor person on the planet and the only person who needs saving.

"I'm NOT broken." keeping my tone low and emphasizing on 'not', I said.

"But..."

"If you really want to help me--- let me go with you." saying this I left his office and went to mine.

Please, control yourself. Don't let the tears fall. I said to myself while clenching my skirt.

My phone beeped and I checked the message I received:

*"Tomorrow at 8. I'll pick you up."*

I sighed looking at the phone and brainstormed all the things I needed for tomorrow.

♣

Office hours ended and I went to home by bus.

Mom was still mum most of the time. She barely eats. But Mr. David has helped a lot. He mostly come to us and mom mostly listen to him. I don't know what's the relation between mom and Mr. David, but they seem very close.

I went upstairs and started packing. I packed my pajamas, some fancy dresses and some simple jeans and skirts.

I was done in half an hour.

I proudly looked at my luggage bag.

I went down to check on mom and she was sleeping.

I'm glad she's sleeping.

I smiled looking at her. Putting duvet on her, I went to my room and turned off the lights.

It was time to sleep and wait for tomorrow.

♣

When you go through a dark time, you make sure to do all the things in the light to never return to the dark.

I've seen my dark times and this time everyday I want to do something new to never let my mind run back to the past.

I want my memories to drown in a sea and never come back because the bad memories give me pain and this time--- even the good memories are making me go insane. Memories of my dad.

Saying goodbye to mom, I went out with my luggage and saw Mr. Aaron out of the car, waiting for me. I went to him and after putting my luggage in the trunk, he opened the door for me.

I got in and he started driving.

We didn't talk and I just kept looking in front of me. My mind was silent--- it was like there wasn't even one thought in my brain.

SILENT!

We reached to his private jet.

It was my first experience with a private jet. The inside was quite beautiful.

We sat on separate seats and also didn't talk during almost whole journey.

♣

We landed in Atlanta in almost 4 and a half hour.

The journey was peaceful and calm.

We checked in the hotel. The Chinese hotel whose inauguration ceremony was today. They welcomed us warmly. Mr. Jiang wasn't there at the time. 

We got separate rooms parallel to each other.

We received our access cards to our rooms.

"I'll see you tonight, Ava." this was what Mr. Aaron said to me before we went to our rooms.

The room was majestic. There was everything in the room--- all the stuff someone could ask for and all the stuff someone would never ask for.

I moved around in my room, exploring things.

I ate and after a while I decided to rest for a little while.

♣

Waking up, three hours had left for the function to start and Mr. Jiang messaged us to come an hour early.

I needed to get ready now.

I opened my luggage and took out the dress I selected for tonight.

I took a warm shower and put on my makeup. I added extra effort in looking good today. After applying makeup, I changed into my silver dress. I let my hair fall on my shoulders.

After such a long time I put an effort to look good. I was really looking beautiful.

I didn't realize but I was smiling.

I went out of my room and as I was walking in the lobby on my way to the elevator, Mr. Aaron's door opened and he came out. I turned to look at him and there he was, standing at a distance wearing a red tuxedo. He was looking--- handsome. I never saw him wearing any other color other than boring black or grey. He was really looking great.

Before I could utter anything. He said, "Woah."

His jaw was dropped. I looked at him confusingly.

"You're looking..." he was gathering words. "beautiful, Miss Williams."

I looked down and smiled.

Why am I looking down?

I was flushing.

Oh, my God.

"Thank you, Sir." I looked up at him and kept a slight smile on my face. "You're also looking great."

"Thanks." he came near me and moved forward to push the call button of elevator. He said after a while looking at the door of the elevator, "By the way, it's good to see you smile again."

I smiled more brightly and geniuenly.

I was happy to smile too.

♣

The party was huge. We really enjoyed a lot and drank a lot too. I met so many new people and many people appreciated me for my work. Mr. Jiang introduced me to many famous designers and even though I majored in marketing, but I enjoyed talking to all the designers.

Many people complimented me. I made friends too. I mostly remained with Mr. Aaron and introduced myself as his personal assistant. Some people thought we were a couple.

There was also dancing. Mr. Aaron like a true gentleman asked me to dance with him, but I rejected.

I really didn't want to embarrass him in front of all these people. I didn't know a thing about dancing.

Summarizing, I really needed this party.

After the long party, we both went back.

"It was a great event." Mr. Aaron said looking at me. We were standing in the elevator--- completely exhausted.

"Yeah, it was."

The elevator door opened and we both went towards our rooms.

"Good night then, Sir." I said to Mr. Aaron smiling. Somehow I wanted to spend more time with him, but it was time to sleep and I know he was tired.

"Good night, Ava." He passed a half-smile to me.

When I was about to go in, he stopped me, "Wait, Ava. It's just that I wanted say that you can... you can call me Aaron."

WHAT?

I went into a deep shock.

Was he okay?

Is he sick?

How can he say this?

He again passed a slight smile at me and went in.

I kept standing in front of my door and after gaining my senses back, I went in.

I can call him by his name?

YES!

I still can't believe this.

Why am I more shocked than happy now that I won't have to call him 'Sir' all the time and be in a fear of him killing me on calling him by his name.

Changing my clothes, I went to bed but couldn't sleep.

My mind was constantly consumed by thoughts. Even though today was a great and exciting day--- no matter how good the day was in the end my mind went back to that day. The day dad died.

Without knowing tears escaped my eyes and I started crying.

Why can't I stop thinking about that day?

Why does that day still play around like a movie in front of my eyes? Why's that movie unforgettable.

I heard a knock at my door and I quickly wiped away my tears. Clearing my throat, I opened the door. I made sure my sadness wasn't noticeable.

There he was... Aaron standing in front of my door in a simple jeans and t shirt. "I thought you'd be asleep. But you opened the door that means you didn't. I can't sle..."

He glared at me.

"Were you crying?" He asked with a frown.

Before I could say anything, he grabbed my hand and pushed me out of my room and dragged me to his.

We stood in the middle of his room.

"Let's drink and you'll share everything with me." letting go of my hand, he said politely.

"I don't want to drink." I barked.

"Ava, please, share." He came to me and politely held my hand.

I pulled my hand away aggressively and snapped, "Stop it. Just stop this--- this sympathy. I hate when you act like this. I don't want anyone. I don't want to drink with you. I don't want to share anything with you."

Tears invaded my eyes,

"Ava..." He again held my hand.

I released my off of his hold

This time putting my hands on his chest, I pushed him away.

"Stop it! Stop it!" I was shreaking when he angrily held my wrist and gave it a slight twist making me moan with pain.

"That's what you want. That's how you want me to act around you." He pulled me towards him brutely making me wince.

We kept staring in each other's eyes, when he let go of my wrist and stroked the portion he twisted. "I'm sorry. I'm not showing any kind of sympathy and I don't want to act like this with you anymore. I just--- don't want to give you pain, not because your father died." His voice was deep.

"Then why do you not want to see me in pain?" I asked him wiping my tears.

"I don't know." He looked the other way.

I didn't say anything.

There was a long pause. Longer than it should've been. We kept standing in the room and silence surrounded us.

All of a sudden I was opening up to him and I don't know why. "The worst part is my dad's death was my mistake."

He looked at me confusingly. "How can you say that?"

We both sat on the couch with a table in front of us.

"I was also holding the gun. I was so mad to take my revenge that I couldn't stop myself but to fight with him and during our fight the bullet was fired. That bullet killed my dad."

"You were holding gun, but he fired it. He was the incharge of the gun. You were saving your mom. You were saving... me."

His words were really comforting.

"I know you're right, but it was his plan. He always made me suffer like this."

"Who is he anyway?"

"My ex-husband." I told him even though I hated to talk about him.

"So you were married?" He asked curiously.

"Yes. I was young and stupid."

"Did you love him?"

"I thought I did, but it wasn't love. It was torture. First year with him was okay, but soon he started going further away from me. He barely worked and I had to attend college and work for us to live."

"Why did you stay?"

"I wanted to give it a chance to our marriage. I wanted to have a baby and live perfectly and peacefully..."

He interupted, "Did you have a baby then?"

I looked down with sadness, "He just wanted to use me. I was nothing more than a sex toy to him. Still I gave our marrige a chance, but even after so many chances nothing was getting right."

"You should've left him at that time."

Remmebring all those days--- all the pain was getting fresh in my mind. All those ways in which he tortured me.

"I had to stay becasue of what I did."

"What you did?"

"I made a mistake. I know I shouldn't have done this, but I thought... I really thought a baby would solve all the problems. He would start loving... us."

"Us?"

"I got pregnant with his baby."

"What?"

There was a pause.

"Yeah." Tears formed in my eyes but I tried my best for them to not come out.

I contniued, "I lied to him about taking pills for birth control and I got pregnant. But."

"But?" He was afraid.

"One day I decided to tell him. He usually remained outside and came late at night. That day--- that day I was really excited. But when he came, he had a girl with him. She was wearing short clothes and--- she just made me angry. She was a whore."

"What did you do?"

"What any wife would've done. I snapped. I started screaming. I wanted her out. We both argued. He was completely drunk and that woman stood there and watched the whole drama. Then I don't know what happened, but he really got angry and like most of the times, he slapped me."

Aaron clentched his first.

I really didn't know why I was sharing this all, but I continued, "This time he didn't even slap me. He... he pushed me so hard that I fell on the wooden table. My head collapsed with the table's corner and I started bleeding. There was so much bleeding and every thing blacked out."

"How could he do it?" Aaron was fuming with anger. I could see the fire in his eyes.

"I woke up in the hospital, Aaron."

I started crying. He quickly held my hand tighly. "It's okay. It's enough. You don't need to tell anymore."

"Aaron... I lost my baby." I sobbed. My face covered with tears. "I lost my baby."

All the pain from that day came rushing back.

"The hospital contacted my parents. After two years I saw my parents. I had lost my baby--- I remained silent for days. I was recovering when after a week he came at my parent's house and he attacked me. I still remember running half naked on the streets begging for help. Finally, he got arrested." I cried. "Now he's returned. He has no humanity in him. He killed my unborn baby."

I cried and couldn't stop the tears.

Aaron hugged me and wrapped me in his arms, comforting me.

✴ ✴

N e x t :
37th Chapter.

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D e s i g n e r | me ⤴

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