Feather After // Chapter 58 // Truth And Lies
Aria's POV
"What are you even talking about?" I asked Ignatius as he drank the second cup of masala chai. Now after saying that word for so long, I kind of had the swish in my mouth to move my tongue in such a way to make masala chai sound like masala chai.
"The Royal Society which was like I said was also known as the People's Society was abolished and this new society was formed, the new society consisted of a lot of people but the people were pure American men who were married, American woman, there were no changes, the people who were not pure Americans were not allowed to join the Society then, so the number of family that is the original Royal Society which was formed after the war had no additional members," he said and called the waitress for the bill.
When the waitress put the bill off the table, I snatched my credit card from the back pocket and gave it to her, "I got this," I told Ignatius.
He looked at me and put his hand on mine before I could hand my credit card to him. I tried to pull away from him but he held on to my hand. I tried glaring at him and tried pulling my hand away but all was in vain. He didn't even let me move my hand.
"No, you'll not pay the bill," he said and let go of my hand. I glared at him and rubbed my wrist, he did have a very firm grasp.
"But-"
"No, see I know you're all feminist but I'll pay the bill," he declared as if mentally adding no more question asked.
The waitress looked at me and then at him, maybe she was not used to people fighting over 5 dollar bill or maybe because she has never seen to peculiar people like us before.
"Why didn't you let me pay the bill?" I asked him when the waitress had left to get the credit card machine.
His hand clenched around his card and then he took a deep breath, "and risk your family knowing where you are? No way, no fucking way."
"What do you mean?" I asked him, I knew what he meant but I was still not able to believe what he was saying. It was not possible, no way.
"I mean, the only reason they have given you this damn card is that they want to know where you are. See do you get a message when you buy things from this card? What I mean is do you get a message when you buy something from this card?" He looked at me and I just looked at him. We both already knew that answer to that.
No, I never get any notifications or messages when I spent money from the card mother gave me this card quite recently. He looked at me and continued, "It's their way of knowing what you are going with the money."
"I don't, I don't know what to say," I told him honestly. I never thought this was possible. There was no way this was possible. No way.
"Well that's okay, you can't really do anything about it, you really can't," he held me and grabbed the credit card machine from the waitress and inserted the card in and then inserted the pin.
He paid the bill took the receipt and shoved in his pocket. "So where were we?"
"The peasant Society which was later started being called as the Royal Society," I told him as he nodded and he pressed his lips together.
"Well let's keep going if you don't want your mom to catch you with me," he said and got up. He waited for me to stand up and when I did, he went back to the counter.
There were pastries and different kinds of dessert that were placed on display, "do you want anything?" He said and tapped on the glass which was separating him and the pastries.
"No, I'm on diet, considering that I am getting married at the end of the week, I have to fit in the wedding dress you know?" I said and instantly regretted it, I knew Ignatius didn't like talking about the wedding, he didn't like thinking about it but I don't know why the only thing that I actually talked about these days was the wedding.
His expression fell, but he covered that up real quick.
"I- wait outside I'll come there," he said and asked the shopkeeper to give him something, I nodded and turned around.
I walked toward the door and I looked at the sign it said pull. I moved my hand forward and then pulled it back. Oh, so I had to pull the door to myself.
I went outside and soon Ignatius joined me with a plate of red velvet Pastry and took a bite from the spoon in his other hand, and I rolled my eyes.
"Do you want a bite?" He asked and took another bite. I guess he caught me staring at him, well to be honest I was looking at him because I liked that way his throat moved when he took a bite, kill me.
"And regret it for the rest of my life, thanks but no thanks," I turned around so that my back was facing his front.
"Why are you so into losing weight? I mean if I was Zachariah even though I'm not I would even gladly marry you even in your crappy jeans," I heard him take another bite and I just gasped. He could really make my heart skip a beat.
"Well, I enjoy wearing these crappy jeans! It's Channel okay?"
"Who wears Channel jeans?" I guess I shouldn't have mentioned that detail.
"Whatever," I didn't want to continue that conversation, mom had sent me the pair last winter on my birthday as a post birthday gift and well I wore it for the first time today.
"What are you thinking about?" He tapped on my shoulder and when I turned around I saw him looking at me.
"I'm thinking about how thankful I'm, that I chose not to wear my glasses today," I told him honestly.
He nodded, took the last piece of cake in his mouth, crushed the paper plate and the plastic spoon and mumbled, "why is that?"
"Because I'm on a diet, and I can't see the red velvet cake in HD," I told him and he burst out laughing.
What was so funny? He threw his head back and bent forward. He put his palms on his knees and continued laughing. After what felt like infinity he stopped laughing and then came closer to me and put his hands on my cheek, and started squeezing my cheek, "you're such a cute little puppy," he said and continued pulling my cheeks.
He after what felt like an hour left my cheeks, but I could feel that they were red now. Why was he behaving like that? He looked at me and started laughing again. I raised my eyebrow at him. "Do you have grey matter syndrome?"
He looked at me and laughed some more, "let's get you to school, we are already very late."
Soon, the funny Ignatius was gone; he was replaced by this serious and not so funny Ignatius. We walked towards his bike and I climbed on. He instructed me to wear the helmet and we were on the road again, I don't know what happened until I checked my watch. The school was already over and we were late. I just wish we wouldn't be caught because if we did, I was going to be in so much trouble.
I went to the school gate and asked Ignatius to you know, park the bike two blocks away from the school.
"You go first and I'll follow you?" He said or rather asked. I nodded, shoved my hands in my pocket and started moving towards school as fast as I could. I could feel my heart beating fast in my chest and suddenly I felt that something wrong was going to happen.
Mom was already very suspicious about me; she knew I was up to something. I don't know Nanna was able to get that or not but mother knew I was up to something. I sometimes felt like Nanna knew everything to, she knew what I was doing and that I wasn't really attending classes but going out around with Ignatius, but like I said I wasn't sure.
As I entered the school, I saw two cars standing outside the school gate and by the gate number I knew they were my cars. I had seen them parked outside my house after father and mother had come back. I was in big trouble now. I took a deep breath and turned around. I saw Ignatius standing there with his hands shoved in his pockets. I looked at him and he stared back at me. I nodded and he mouthed an 'it's okay,' and I stepped inside the school.
As I entered the school, I saw my mom pacing around and I tensed up. She was mumbling something like, "I knew this was going to happen, we should have put more security. This principle is also good for-"
I couldn't hear her say that about Ignatius's mom. I could understand that she wasn't the best role model but she had raised Ignatius and the other three kids on her own. What I mean to say is that, maybe she had tattoos and she drank but that didn't mean that she was not a good mom. She took in Ignatius, Veronica, and the other two siblings even when she could have turned her back on them.
Maybe they weren't the richest people of all times, but they were richer than us. They were a family and we were just a business deal. My mother and father were so into keeping their business sailing that they were ready to let me drown in that process.
"Mom?" I said, but I wasn't sure if it was loud enough to be heard by her. She turned around and before I knew what was happening, Nanna came rushing to me and engulfed me in a big tight hug.
Where did Nanna come from? She put her one hand around my waist and the other one on my head and then I felt her kiss my head, what was happening?
"What happened?" I asked her and she looked at me like I was crazy. She pushed me back, her hands never leaving my shoulder blade. Then she pulled her close to me again.
"I thought, I thought-" she rubbed my hands.
"Don't be so scared. After second last period, I went up to the terrace, to get some fresh air, all I could think about was Zachariah, and you know I really don't want to be married, I just couldn't take the whole thing, so I left. I went and look now I'm back. I didn't mean to cause any trouble but yes, I forgot about when the school ended and-"
"You do realize that school ended an hour ago?" Mother butted in, she didn't ask me where I was because I think she believed in what I had said, but I wasn't as sure about Nanna.
When I was talking to my mother, she kept looking at me with her eyebrow raised, I just shrugged it off, trying my best to not make a big deal about of it.
"Anyway," I heard mother say, "we have a party tonight and it's in honour of your and Zachariah's engagement so we have loads of work to do. So keep moving, go and take a bath Aria, I'll deal with this later on," she said and left us.
I turned around and started walking behind her, but then Nanna stopped me, "we're going for grocery shopping and you better start telling me what is going on."
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