Chapter 9

WHO IS HE?

"Aria, sweetheart! The way things had gone last time, I am simply sorry!"

Daniel entered with a guilty smile. His tone was gentle but begging and his eyes guilty to the extreme. "can you not be angry with me"

His face wavered between guilt and desperation—eyes wide open, lips trembling slightly, as if hoping that she would be fooled.

Aria did not move. She glared at him, her arms crossed over her chest. Disgust burned in her belly like a snake, curling tighter with every breath he took. She worked to maintain an even face, suppressing the bitterness that welled up within her.

"I'm not angry," she told him, speaking in a firm voice as she pronounced each word slowly and clearly "Leave me alone, Daniel. I need to study. I've got a case tomorrow that's critical."

She kept her eyes on her flung-open laptop, reading case files with the same calmness as though his standing did not disturb her. But her head was working. She felt his gaze change, reading and trying to interpret her like a book he once could read but now couldn't understand.

Daniel stood still for an instant, as though weighing his reaction. Then the mood changed.

"Oh. I won't trouble you," he said, tone immediately darker. "But you have to get dressed."

Her hands hovered above the keys. She didn't even look around.

"But you what?" she said, voice rising slightly.

"You have to get dressed," he told her again, his voice dripping with that kind of authority which caused her to grit her teeth. "I want to celebrate your birthday."

Aria closed her laptop with a slow motion and stood before him. His face was no longer pathetic. It was eager, demanding, as if he deserved to be forgiven by her.

She laughed, filling the room with the sound like broken glass. "Did I just here- Makeup?" she said, raising her eyebrows. "Oh! Really?"

He stepped forward, extending as if to touch her arm, but she receded before he could. His hand remained half-way, awkwardly and unbidden.

"You think you can forget it, making something at the last minute?" she whispered to where it could not be heard. "You think it will be fine showing up with sad eyes and a commanding attitude to set straight what you did wrong?

Daniel opened his mouth but no words came out. He looked like he wanted to argue, maybe even beg, but she didn't give him a chance to do so.

“I will be ready in a moment” Aria said finally, her tone flat. She stood, her spine straight, her shoulders seemed like she was walking into a courtroom rather than a birthday celebration. “I’ll be done in a moment!”

She slipped into her room silently without even waiting for his reply.

Daniel breathed softly behind her, maybe in relief, maybe in bewilderment. But Aria did not care. His touch inflamed her skin. His voice, which was once so charming, now filled her with nothing but disgust. His deceptions taunted her eyes as it ignited a burning agony to her chest.

She shut the bedroom door, her hands shaking. Not with fear—but with control. She'd have to summon all of her control not to slap the self-important haughtiness off his face. Not yet. There would be a time for honesty. For justice. For repercussions.

Not tonight, though.

She'd play along.

Let him believe that the game was still his.

Evening was in a town's poshest hotel—crystal chandeliers that shone above gleaming white marble floors, a barely perceptible whiff of high-cost perfume and vintage wine in the air. Dining room was dark and it was sophistication incarnate and it had an on-location lounge where there was soft music in the background. Waiters moved effortlessly and efficiently back and forth among tables with finesse.

Aria sat on the opposite side of the table candlelit, serene and peaceful in a sumptuous emerald colored gown that clung to her every contour. She evened out her back and with face like a mask, she gazed down at the plate in front of her. She ate leisurely, never once glancing at Daniel who sat on the opposite side of her.

Daniel paced back and forth in his chair, though. He toyed with the corner of his napkin. He cleared his throat, first and then again to break through the quiet between them but the quiet wasn't quiet—it was deafeningly quiet with tension. He tried to speak up, to provide some insincere words to fill the void, but when he tried to open his mouth, his phone was ringing on the table.

The screen flickered to life, the letters "My Assistant!" flashing in huge letters on the screen.

Aria's eyes sprang up to the screen before he could cover it from her. She could see the name. And then a sneering expression stayed on her face as she emitted a sneering noise, the noise low but unmistakable.

Intriguingly, however, she did not sense the sharp stinging she was accustomed to. No pain. No jealousy. Only an odd sort of placidity, as if whatever long lay within her had finally become sharply defined.

Won't you get your call?

she said, her tone infested with sarcasm and something more—detachment.

Daniel blinked in astonishment at what she had just said. "It doesn't matter," he said to her and then routinely closed the phone and pushed it into his coat pocket.

He pushed forward a bit, trying to get their eyes to meet each other. "Aria, I—"

But before he could continue, a tall silhouette appeared in the restaurant.

Heads swung around. The man standing had an authoritative, charismatic aura. He wore a crisp black suit that appeared to draw in the light around him. Hard jawline, piercing stare, and an aura of unhurried confidence with each step—he was a man who entered spaces looking for notice. And he got it.

Daniel bristled, slouching openly in his seat as the stranger strode towards their table. There was something in the standing of the stranger that unnerved him.

The man did not even glance Daniel's way. His gaze was fixed on Aria.

Her eyes flashed with a warm, in-grant smile, her very first one to disperse this evening.

"Aria," the suave voice of the man resonated in a note of command

"come along."

No hesitation. No question. Just a command, firm and decisive.

Aria did not wink.

She stood up slowly, wiping her lips against the napkin and then placing it neatly on the table. She did not glance Daniel's direction for an instant as she effortlessly but deliberately moved in the direction of the door.

Daniel was half way, looking confused and disheveled. "Wait—Aria, who is this?"