PLAYLIST----Taylor Swift ft. Zayn Malik - I don't want to live forever
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~Aaron's POV~
(A/N: I know what you're thinking. OHMIGODDD!!!)
"F***ing door!" I cursed under my breath, glared at the offending door momentarily and stepping out before it gets another chance at jamming me.
Just who does it think it is to hit the sexiest man on the planet with its filthy, shitty piece of metal?
Keeping my brewing vendetta against the elevator doors aside, I strode confidently further into the office floor. My Prada executive shoes made repetitive hollow sounds against the pristine white marble as I fixed my black tie. I was looking absolutely dashing (which I know I am) in Givenchy navy blue suit and crisp white shirt, my new Rolex watch and Armani sunglasses; my mahogany hair styled to perfection and a well-trimmed 5'o clock shadow simply enhanced my edgy, professional look. I spotted a woman sitting in the reception in beige suit coat and I smirked to myself.
Blonde, my favorite.
I strode towards her and kept a dominant arm on her desk, commanding her attention immediately. She looked up alarmingly and I flashed her one of my trademark smirk that was known to make women swoon. It seemed to work, her red lips parted in awe and admiration.
"Hi." I winked at her as I removed my sunglasses to reveal my fake brown eyes and I heard her gasp. I smirked wider. "Aaron Krystals. I am here to see Adam Lexwood." I told her with in my usual sultry voice.
"I-I..uh, er..appointment, um, yeah...Sir?"
She stuttered to find something intelligent to tell me. I chuckled deep at her reaction. It's not that I haven't seen this type of reaction before, I actually deal with awestruck women all the time but each time it simply gets funnier.
"Ah, unfortunately I don't have one. I hope you don't mind." I asked her with a charming smile. And such reactions come in handy at times like this one. I put on my best puppy dog eyes and a golden boy smile that seemed to win her over completely.
"Thank you so much, Miss...." I jumped up to snatch the opportunity at her dilemma.
"Celine" She supplied, slightly breathless. I smirked victoriously.
"Celine." I repeated her name in a deep velvety tone that women appreciated. "A beautiful name to suit a beautiful woman."
I murmured my usual line in a seductive undertone; giving a false impression that I was using this the first time in my life, which was a massive psychological lie. But she seemed to buy my bullshit and blushed to the roots of her blonde hair which I realized was as faker than my eyes.
"Thank you, Celine. I owe you big time."
I told her with a flirty wink and with a rustle of my suit which undoubtedly worth more than her monthly income, I was gone. I pushed through Adam's signature dark wood door and the sight that awaited me was what I had expected to see.
Adam's sandy blonde hair was disheveled as though his fingers went through them more than just once. His lips were pursed in concentration as he scratched his days old beard, his sunken eyes scanning through a monotonous black file tiredly. His suit was wrinkled, his cuffs opened and collars loose. Styrofoam cups over Styrofoam cups littered his desk along with papers, pens and files clumsily.
He looked as if he were ran over by a truck.
"That's a lot of coffee." I commented in a casual tone that made his head snap up in alarm. I plopped on the black visitor's chair with a slight swing. I pointed at his infuriated face and clicked my tongue, "Even for you."
His forehead was wrinkled in a frown, his tired and bedraggled appearance making him appear older than he was. The muscles in his jaws ticked in silent anger as he breathed harshly, trying to reign in his anger. I made a quick calculation that I have less than ten minutes to present my case before I get chortled to death.
"Who let you in?" He bit out, trying to calm himself before he went berserk.
"That desperate chick outside." I answered as I tied my fingers behind my head as I swung back on the easy chair. Adam was getting annoyed at my mere existence, his dead blue eyes now shone of hatred. For a moment there, it actually stung. But my near perfect mask of ignorance and arrogance that I had been wearing since 21, stayed where it was.
"CELINE!"
Adam barked out, the veins in his forehead and neck bobbing. I didn't move an inch from where I sat; instead I comfortably kicked my legs on his table that sent him in another fits of seething. I knew Adam like the back of my hand and I know that anger isn't the best of his character. But strangely enough, he saw rationality within anger; he tends to think things over under strong emotions. That is Adam for you.
I heard the sound of the receptionist's scared foot steps outside but I never broke my stare away from Adam's loathing gaze. The door opened with a click behind me and I assumed that she must be peeking her fake blonde head through the crack, her eyes wide in fear.
"Go back to work, Celine." I told her levelly, with a hint of authority in my voice as I stared right back at Adam. "Your boss and I need some time alone."
Adam and I were staring down at each other like a pair of vicious dogs now and I could hear uncertain rustles behind me indicating that Celine sure didn't like the suffocating testosterone in the room.
"Go back, Celine."
My voice was dominant and authoritarian this time which had a hint of angry growl, a dead giveaway of my authority and superiority. I liked it better when I am not questioned, wherever I am. But my lips quirked up in a smug smirk when I heard her click close the door and hurry down the hall. Adam bristled in his seat, not backing out from the impromptu staring competition.
"Is it true?" I blurt out.
"What?" His voice was cold and detached, as if I were a petulant client who was of no importance to him.
"That you are proposed to Sarah?" I asked, half hoping that it was some gossip joke.
"I did." Adam answered with an air of formality and satisfaction, as if he closed a major contract. And I knew better than him that this marriage was just that to him; a business deal. "I proposed to my fiancé a month before. We plan on getting married by the beginning of May. You will be invited."
"F*** off with your invitation." I hissed venomously. "And let me guess, you are buddy-buddy with you glorified ex as well?"
"Chloe and I are in good terms after running into each other three months ago. And moreover, my fiancé is interested in purchasing her wedding gown from Chloe's boutique." He answered diplomatically, his eyes wary and tired. "And why am I to explain myself to you, Mr. Krystals?"
"Oh, so it is Mr. Krystals now? The woman who ruined your life, keep ruining your life is on first name basis with you and I, who had been by your side through thick and thin is Mr. Krystals?"
I asked him with a growl as anger started making the tips of my fingers numb. How can he be so blind? I wanted let my fist fly but I clenched my fists instead. His ignorance to plain truth that was right in front of his eyes just annoyed me, irked me and angered me. I worked my jaws as I realized that I was slipping into my emotions again that made me crazier. My chest tightened under the thousand dollar suit and I suppressed the urge to tug at my collar. My breathing was erratic with the sudden bust of anger and tried to remember what my therapist told me.
'Imagine there is an orange in your hands. Squeeze it. Squeeze till all its juices are overflowing from your fists.'
I squeezed my imaginary orange. The effect was immediate as I started calming down.
'Flick it. Flick off the juice and clean your hands. Flick it off, slowly and carefully.'
I flicked my hands and Adam watched me with recognition. He had seen me do this a thousand times ever since I came out of the hospital. I took a deep breath.
"I don't know why I came here." I said with a dry chuckle, "I have no obligation to save you from a depressing life and you sure as hell don't deserve her. Ria loved you with all her heart and what you've given her was insecurity, hurt and heartbreak. She would be better off without you. If she did make a mistake of sleeping with a scumbag like me, you should have been the one who was supposed to tell her that you loved her despite her mistakes."
Adam's eyes hardened on mine as his entire self simply withdrew into a shadow of a man I knew once.
Flick. Flick it off your hands.
"Did you even love her?" I seethed, "Or were you waiting for her to cheat on you? Was that mistrust is what you call love?"
"What I do or what I don't do is none of your concern." Was his hollow and mechanical answer.
"It is when I was the one who had to watch that woman crumble in front of my eyes, to see her pain and her broken heart when I know I played a part in her suffering." I told him, my voice rising in anger that was beyond my control. For a moment I saw a flicker of concern, of hurt in his eyes that made me calm down a bit. He looked like he was hurting and regretted of his actions; that he too was genuinely suffering. He had that look on his face that I saw when I stared at my reflection every day on the mirror. Right then, I knew what I should do and why I should do this.
"You could have killed her that day Adam, she'd rather go through that rather than what you put her through." I told him truthfully. Truth hidden from someone did no good to anyone, and I am not going to experiment now. "And still she never blamed you but herself, convincing herself that she didn't deserve you. How wrong she was." I spat at him, watching with sick satisfaction when his face contorted in pure pain.
"You think Chloe appeared out of no-where in your life to pat your shoulders and be your new pal?" I seethed as I whipped out my iPhone and opened the app before throwing it right on his face like a Frisbee. "This the last time I am doing this shit." I murmured in irritation.
He caught my projectile phone with a confused frown and watched it with confusion as the tape started playing. Ria's ringing laughter with a hint of heavy intoxication filled the still office room. Adam visibly stiffened.
"...I don't even-even know why I am ranting in your voicemail, Zoey. It's not like you he-ear your voice(hic)mail when you are busy smooching your man....." He voice trailed off in a drunken slur and a loud sigh. "I wish my man was here...Lucky you."
"Move your head from my shoulders, woman." I heard my husky voice through the recorder, an event that was wiped clean off my memory till yesterday. "You are f***ing with my balance."
"(moan)Stop whining, dipshit." There was a faint sound of a smack which I assumed was her hand hitting my biceps, "And pour me some more."
"Go get it for your self." Was my barely audible answer as something rustled and there was a sound of a cling of glass.
"....urg....Imm, Aaron?"
"Yeah."
"I feel...sleepy."
"So...? Go to sleep...I do too, sleep. Mi sento come una caramella di cotone. L'ultima volta che mi sento cosi, stavo fumando." I could hear me slurring in my mother tongue.
"Whaaaaaa....at?"
"Chiudi, donna. Mi stai dando un mal di testa."
"Bleh-blu-balh. What...are...say?"
"WHAT...urgg.."
There was a thud and silence. I took this time to take in Adam's posture. He was tensed and he looked vulnerable. He looked...scared. I could make out his anxiety of his fear; fear that what he thought wasn't true. I had seen this 12 years ago, when I showed him my CCTV footage of me banging his girlfriend.
And what was about to happen is exactly what happened then. But this time, I am proving not just my innocence but hers too.
In the tape, footsteps were heard. One of the footstep was heavy and brisk, two another which clopped indicating that it were two females who wore high heels. I saw the way Adam's face darkened, the silver of his fear broadening and his eyes growing wide.
"The drug works surprisingly fast." Said the malicious voice with her usual wicked sing-song that had once trapped many lives in misery. "Both of them are out cold."
"Chloe."
Adam breathed, his eyes closed shut as if he were stabbed. His face was contorted in pure agony as my expensive phone dropped out his limp hands. And when he opened his eyes, they were red-rimmed with tears, and saw with so much regret and guilt that some of my past surfaced from beneath my wounds that were still raw as it were 14 years ago.
"Will you come back for me?"
Wind got knocked out my chest and I gasped for air, cold sweat beading my forehead as another one of my vivid memory of her surfaced.
"I would wait for you"
Her thick brunette hair was let open and soft breeze made them flutter around her heart shaped face. The merciless Spanish sun made her mocha skin glow as she gazed me with those expressive hazel eyes, her long lashes fanning against her soft cheeks when she batted them. Her lips were soft and sweet like the rest of her. Her innocent smile and doe eyes drew me in like magnet and I was just a helpless man. And what was the most beautiful about her was that she never knew how beautiful she was, she never knew what she did to me. But every time she smiled at me, I knew that it was it. She was it. She was my everything; my happiness, my future, my world, my universe.
My love. My lily.
"I love you"
Her melodious voice rang in my head and robbed me of every defense. I was that awestruck eighteen year old boy again gazing at her, standing in the deserted streets of Palermo as she stood on the other end with a smile so sweet that I mistook her for an angel at first sight. She held a bouquet of delicate white lilies in her petite hands, lilies that very as beautiful and innocent like her.
The loud crash of an ornamental vase broke me off from the memories that I had buried deep within me, woke me up from a dream that showed me what I lost forever. Tears rolled off of his eyes as he shook with stifled sobs. A searing pain shot through my chest, his loss reminding me of mine.
It reminded me of who we were; men trapped in love, men tortured from love, men who lost their love.
"Pick them up." I heard Chloe command someone.
"Yes, ma'am." Replied a deep voice and Adam's eyes snapped to mine in fury as he recognized the voice.
It was Anderson, his bodyguard whom he trusted more than himself. The trust that he was reluctant to the only one who had loved him truly and only.
"Hurry now, sir's flight is due to land within an hour. We should leave early to erase off our trace."
The third voice made its presence clear and I saw thunder gather in his eyes. It was the fake-blonde PA of his. He closed his eyes as everything became crystal clear to him. He didn't want me to see his vulnerability but it was too late.
"Where exactly should we put them?" Anderson said with a grunt, as if he were carrying a weight. I heard Ria moan in pain and my fists curled.
"We are going to put them in my dear exes' bedroom where he can conveniently find them cheating on him. Oh how I wish I could see his face."
"Yeah, whatever." His PA piped in. "As long as we get our share in whatever your planning on."
"Oh that you will get. That dumb Sarah is ready for anything to have Adam. And once everything moves according to my plan, she will help me get elbow deep in his finances." Chloe's obnoxious voice chimed in an air of superiority, "After eliminating my good-for-nothing husband from the scene, I need more input so that I can expand my already flourishing business. Turns out, all needed was to meet a desperate family friend of my ex."
"Yeah, so flourishing that you have 10 million dollars debt." I heard Celine's mocking tone.
"Shut it, wench." Chloe hissed, "Watch your mouth or I will walk out now and leave you to the vultures."
"If you ladies are done fighting, can we get to work?"
Anderson cut in and with that the voice tape stopped. There was silence for a while as no one spoke. Adam was deep in his thoughts, his face a myriad of emotions but none of them pleasant. I saw his deep grief and most of all, self-loathe.
"What have I done, Aaron." His voice was raspy and thick with emotion. "I was such a fool. I hurt her, I broke her heart, her love and her trust. I broke her for something that she didn't even dream of." If I wasn't hallucinating, I heard his voice get caught in a sob.
"You are right; I don't deserve her but am this selfish prick who wants her back despite that. I can't lose her, Aaron." His voice was broken with misery and spoke of how desperate he was. But all I could do was look at him with an empathy shining in my eyes.
"I am sorry, Adam. It's too late." I confessed in a low tone.
"What do you mean?" His eyes were pleading, heartbroken as it clung on to the last straw of hope. It was painful to so much as to look at him that I diverted my gaze. I took a shaky breath before delivering him the words that may most probably break him.
"Ria she..." I took another soothing breath, "She is getting married. Today."
If I thought I had seen his pain, I was so wrong. After the last word left my mouth, I instantly regretted as I watched his face crumble away. Words were not enough to express what passed through his eyes then but I saw the depths of what love can do to you, something that I had experienced firsthand.
"I wish her friend had contacted me sooner about this tape. Although I had my suspicions, I was never too sure. But now, there is nothing we can do."
"I don't care!" He exploded with emotions, "I will go to the end of the world and back if that's what takes to get to her. I don't care if she is married or not, I will go to her and fall on my knees asking for forgiveness even if I might never bloody get one! I will beg and grovel at her feet if that's what it takes for her to give me a chance!"
"Adam." I sighed wearily, "Shake off this fantasy and think realistically! She is going to be practically another man's wife within hours! You have spies all around you and even if move an inch, they will sniff you out. And even before your jet touches the Indian soil, it will belong to Chloe, that's how deep she wiggled into your bank account."
"I don't care about money! I just want her back, screw Chloe."
"Even then, do you think she can do anything even if she loves you? She is trapped in her own home and she told me that this time she will do nothing to struggle either. She gave in."
"THEN WHAT OPTIONS DO I HAVE?!" He roared, "I cannot live with myself if I let her grieve because of what I did. If I get nothing in return, I will still do it. Even if she denies me of forgiveness and her love, I will still do it because I LOVE HER!"
Adam was breathing like a bull at the end of his rant and I smiled. Goal hit, I thought drily, he finally realizes his feelings.
"Well, if things are like that... I've got a plan."
"What?"
"How about you inform your loyal PA that you are about to go on a business trip with me to visit your partner in India?" I juggled a pen from his desk between my fingers as I flashed him a secretive smile. "Afterall your business partner's daughter is getting married. It wouldn't hurt to lend your congratulations."
And the determined smile on his face told me that just like other times, we are just going to wing it.
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OH MY GODDD!!!!
Reasons why I think that the next chapter is going to be a bomb:
1. Change of scene. Our heroes are flying to land exotica; India.
2. Who doesn't like a dramatic resuce mission?
3. Did she ACTUALLY get married? Suspense, suspense.
4. Is Ria going to kick their handsome butts?
Wait till next time, Imma gonna go and hibernate until this totally amazing and totally fantastic ideas. Until I come over that comatose state of idea fishing, you know how to chear me on. Press that star, go on, press it. VOTE, COMMENT and (do I have to really do this all the time?) SHARE!
Remember, Momma love you guys so much!
(Virtual kisses everywhere)
Siya :P
P.S----This chapter dedicated to @celinaknight who is this amazing person I met (over the chats, of course). I worked my cute ass off after talking like 10 minutes with her. What can I say? Angel, you should try being a councilor, you rock!