Wearing a white maternity dress that faded to a pinkish undertone at its bottom part just a bit higher than her ankles, a loose fluffy oversized cardigan matching the color of the dress, and a pair of white flat shoes, Aria was slowly descending the stairs helped by a maid.
She was almost seven months pregnant at this point, and although she could walk fine on her own, for safety reasons the maids had started helping her up and down the stairs.
A helping hand she had wanted to decline, but once the servant girls mentioned the babies and their safety, Aria had refused no longer.
'I am sorry. Have you waited long?' She asked, slightly wheezing, a clear indication that she had rushed to get ready in time, but as a pregnant woman unfortunately she had encountered some problems, and the perfectly planned time could not be kept in order.
For one, she had lost count of how many times she had needed to use the bathroom. She had a smoothie in the morning, a lot of water and a glass of orange juice afterwards, so it was no wonder. Though she would have still made it in time, if she had not touched with her belly some cosmetics, smearing her dress.
So changing her clothes, in between visits to the restroom, had landed her in the current tardiness.
'It is alright. We have plenty of time, and even if we don't, the doctor we'll wait for us. Don't tire yourself out!' Zane said with a normal stone face, but a hint, a very small small hint of a gentle tone could be heard. For some reason, he kept overlapping her normal rosy face from today to the one from last night, so he felt afraid that she would cry, even if he did not reprimand her, and just talked like his usual self.
Of course, this was his personal opinion, Aria had already recuperated her cheery outlook on life, and decided to take thing as they came. Besides, she was not that softhearted as to cry at small things. She had also gotten used to his normal tone, and would not take it to heart.
Anyway, perhaps she had just needed the outburst of emotions to calm down and start anew. It was just that she had not wanted to do so in front of the handsome man in front of her.
Looking at Zane, she sighed with a voice others would think she felt relieved hearing his words, but inside her mind she was actually appreciating Zane dressed in casual clothes. With a v-neck nude colored sweater, black pants and casual shoes, nobody would ever think of him as one of the most powerful men currently in the country. He resembled more an actor or a famous superstar.
But unfortunately, this was only when one checked him from the feet up until they reached his neck, because if they moved their gaze to his face, they would realize that he had a stone like appearance.
If he just smiled a bit more, she was sure the ladies would flood to his side, in fact this was the reason of her sighing. Surely no matter how beautiful he was, who would want to freeze staying in his presence each time. Unbeknownst to Zane, Aria had already classified him as a pitiful man, and could not picture any woman in love with him.
Come to think of it, she did wonder how he would look like with a smile on that almost android like face of his. Not a small smile, or a smirk, but a real genuine sunshine like smile... she really could not imagine him with one. Nodding her head at his words, she was still trying to visualize how he would look, as she reached for the backseat's door.
'What are you doing? Don't open the backdoor.'
She jolted a bit and immediately retracted her hand, looking towards him, as she did not understand why he stopped her. Was it because she wanted to open the door herself, and did not wait for the maid to do it?
'The driver had an emergency, so he had to leave at the last minute. I will drive today, so move to the front seat.' Zane informed her, detailing his explanation this time a bit more than he usually would, with an even gentler voice, seeing her flinch.
Normally, he would have just told her to get in the front seat, as they would go alone. But to him it seemed she was still immersed in her thoughts concerning what had bothered her so much that she cried, so it had been insensitive of him to ask her like he did. But he could not help it, this was his normal way of speaking, and he could not control himself.
'Alright!' She smiled a bit and moved to the front door, and this time waited for the maid to open it, before taking the front passenger seat of the car. At about the same time the maid closed the passenger's door, Zane also took the driver's seat, and after buckling his seatbelt, wanted to start the car.
But, ruffling sounds from his right side caught his attention and looking at the petite woman, he stopped his hand from reaching the start button of the engine. He gazed at her for a few more seconds, but try as she may, Aria could not reach the seatbelt that was a bit hidden most likely behind her seat.
She was feeling frustrated and embarrassed, as she realized Zane was waiting for her to put it on before starting the car. Sighing a few times, she tried to move her right hand to reach it, but unfortunately her hand was in a bad position and she could not grab with it or even touch the seatbelt, and the unluckiest thing was that her left hand was also useless, because of her growing belly.
After several more attempts of reaching the seatbelt, she was about to give up and alight the car, so she could search easier for it and move it to the front, but she could not put her thoughts into actions when a clicking sound of another seatbelt was heard, as if it was released from its holder, and not a second later a big hand appeared in front of her abdomen.
Startled a bit she leaned her head backwards, only to realize there was not much room for her to lean back, even though she felt Zane hovering above her, as he searched with his hand for the missing seatbelt.
Seeing his face so close to hers, she felt her cheeks warm up as she tried to rail in her breath, she felt he was too close for comfort. His handsome features, if one were to see them from a distance it could make one lose their breath, if they were not accustomed to him. But now up close his defined sharp features, and the faint smell of cologne that took over her nose, were deadlier.
If she had not built up some degree of immunity against his looks these past few days, as they sat on the same bench in front of the piano, she might have become red from head to toes, she thought. Though only if she were to look in a mirror, she would not be able to see the slightest of immunity she believed she had built.
Frozen in her place, she did not dare to even move her hands or shift in her seat, feeling as though she would touch him at the slightest of gesture.
Zane on his part, had not thought much of his actions at first, he was only trying to help her, though he was not used to do so. This was his original intention, an intention that could be understood clearly as he was only reaching the back of the passenger's seat. But he did not know why he felt that his position was one that could be easily misunderstood.
Should he have explained to her what he wanted to do, before leaning near her? Aria seemed frightened as he looked down on her. But now he feared that if he did try to explain it would lead to a bigger misunderstanding, because it would appear he was only justifying his actions. The best thing was to just quickly find the seatbelt and place it in the holder, so his actions would explain themselves.
He really was just trying to help the big eyed beauty with sparkling hazel eyes and a somewhat flustered appearance, he really did not have any ulterior intentions regarding the cute heart shapes rosy mouth, not to mention he did not even think of how those lips would feel against his own.
'D-did you find it?' Aria asked, a bit breathless, not able to keep holding in her breath.
'Ehhh?' Zane murmured snapping out of his thoughts, not understanding her words.
'T-the seatbelt.' She stated confused. Wasn't it his intention to help her? Her expression seemed to say.
'Not yet!' The stone faced man replied, after a moment of silence. And feeling the awkwardness level rising to a maximum, he leaned a bit more almost touching her. It was better like this, it was better to shorten the moment looking for the seatbelt, than be more careful around her and prolong it.
As expected, after extending his hand a bit more he finally found it, but he met with another problem, as he could not retrieve the metallic latch. Moving his hand hurriedly along the belt, in hopes of finding it, he frowned when he felt like it was stuck somewhere, and as he could not check lower without touching Aria, he opened his hand and tried to catch the latch with only his fingers.
Touching with the tips of his fingers where the latch was stuck, he pinched between his fingers the fabric the car seat was made of, wondering why the leather material that was supposed to feel hard to the touch felt soft and bouncy.
Aria flinched even more than before, and quickly placed her hand along his own finding the latch that was under her bottom.
'Thank you, I found it already!' She stutteringly said, and speedily clutched the latch in its holder.
The swiftness of the motion surprised Zane, and not understanding why her face was at this point red as a tomato and why she had not waited for him to find the latch, he became a bit upset, as he sat once more on his own seat and started the car.
Was he so disagreeable to her eyes that she could not stand him so near? Or did he smell weird and she could not stand it?
The thoughts swirled in his mind, and did not give him peace. So much so, that looking a bit with the corners of his eyes at her, and confirming she was looking out the window, he lowered his head a bit and smelled his shirt.
It only smelled of a bit of cologne, so surely it wasn't this, then remembering the bouncy feeling of the fabric, he placed his own hand on the edge of his car seat only to find it was made of a hard material, and was only a bit soft. He lowered his eyebrows in confusion at this discovery, and looked at her car seat, realizing the soft fabric he had felt, resembled more the fabric her cardigan was made of.
Then what did he touch, was this the reason of her flusteredness? But he only searched at the bottom of Aria's car seat. No it was not the bottom of the car, it was her bottom.
Finally realizing this, Zane lost control a bit of the wheel, making the car slightly lose its direction, before quickly readjusting it again. It was lucky they had not yet exited the premises of the mansion yet, or he might have had a minor accident.
Regaining the control of the car, the couple sighed slowly at the same time, and because of this first mishap, they kept silent all the way to the hospital.
One could not apologize for the slight touch, and the other did not even want such an apology, doubling the awkwardness of the matter.
And all this happened in the first ten to fifteen minutes of their outing, how would the rest of it go?