Arranged Marriage

Chapter 43

Ariana's POV

It's been a week.

It's been a quiet week since she left.

It's been a week but it's so still so hard to recover from the pain especially to Justin.

Every time spending time with me, every time looking at me, he didn't talk much.

However, he tried to smile and acted to be happy even though I know he isn't at all.

He didn't talk a lot but I can feel the pain of his smile through the silence.

I know the pain behind his forceful smile. His smile is physically smiling but his eyes don't. I know the pain on his heart every time talking about Elaine. I know he's crying secretly some time when he's not with me. I pretended didn't notice it but I actually did.

I should understand him as I knew this is a very tough moment for both of us especially to him, but it's so hard to see him like this.

Every time trying to chill him up while receiving a look of his forceful smile, it didn't make me feel better. I felt so tortured and worried about him.

Every time looking into his eyes, it hunted me down as I see a man who's calling help at me. I knew he's struggling and he tried to shake it off but it's just too heavy for him.

"Hey, Ari, coffee or tea?", Thomas took a seat on the bench and interrupted my thought by asking me for drinks politely as there were two drinks held on his hands.

I jumped a little and turned my attention back on him, I simply picked one and thanked him "Coffee. Thank you.".

After taking a sip of the hot coffee from him, silence was filled between Thomas and I as both of us are waiting for each other to start a conversation.

I remained silent while enjoying the view of the sea and allowed the cold wind to hit on my skin and break through my hair.

The view is just so beautiful. It's a cloudy day today, the view of sunlight which penetrate through the gap of the clouds and hit on the surface of the sea is so beautiful.

Thomas broke the silence by apologizing to me "Ari, I've heard about the news. I'm sorry for your loss.".

I took a deep breathe without looking away from the view, but this time I elevated my head a little to look at the sky, I sighed "I really miss her a lot.".

I remained silent after finishing my line as those bitterly sweet memories come across my mind which kinda chilled me up yet broke my heart a little.

"Hey, it's Sunday, Ari. Stop thinking about those sad things. I mean no offense, it's already a past then just let it be. Just leave that moment in the past, there's no point to bring it up to hurt yourself anymore. You can't change that anymore.", Thomas held a smirk and advised me.

I placed my coffee aside and rubbed both of my palms against each other, I disagreed with him "I know what you mean, but it's not that easy as Elaine is just a stranger to you. She means a lot to Justin and I. I mean...".

I paused for a while and tried to change the conversation instantly as I really didn't want to talk about it, I elevated my head to reach his eyes contact and asked curiously "Let's not talk about this, by the way, why are you asking me out today?".