The familiar acquaintance

|Aria’s POV|

Ace Kings!

Gritting my teeth, my eyes blazing fury “Don’t tell me it is who I think it is?”

Walking out of the room with clenched fists, “Does he think he can just waltz into my life like he fucking owned it after years of not caring?” I boomed.

A cackle escaped my lips at the whole thing happening. “Why does he suddenly care about me?”

“Is it because he thinks I would not make it in life after doing all of those myself? He thought I wouldn’t survive without my family’s help.” I scoffed in disbelief.

I paused to catch my breath “Do you know what happened today? The children asked for their father. I hope he remains the ghost he has been for years.” I snarled.

My voice broke, and my lips quivered, “D-do you know how hard I struggled to build and get to where I am? He doesn’t deserve to just come into my life and act like we were a couple that decided to take a break,” I croaked out.

Walking further away from the children, “He cheated on me with my sister and had me sign a divorce paper because Gabriella was back in town,” I whispered.

I leaned against the wall, trying to suppress the rage brewing in me. “Am I to take her place because she is not available for him anymore?” I reasoned.

“You know what? I think it is high time I spoke to Ace Kings. I don’t want him in my life and I believe it should be the same in his POV,” I concluded.

Penelope heaved out a sigh, “You think you hate him as much as I do? Of course not, and babes, your anger is justified. He can’t just come into your life as if he owned it. He lost that privilege five years ago,” she conceded.

Genuine concern laced her voice and she asked curiously, “But are you sure you’re stable enough to talk to him?”

The real interpretation of her question was, have I gotten over him?

Have I??

Why am I deeply affected if I have?

Well, it doesn’t matter. The whole point is I no longer love him and if he is just realizing that he loves me, he can shove the feelings up his ass.

I couldn’t come up with a solid answer without being sure, so I settled for, “Whether or not I am, the thing there is I have to tell him before he ruins things for me. I love Zion and don’t want to be with anyone apart from him.”

He fixed the heart that he didn’t break, was patient and very understanding. He was all Ace Kings was not. What more could I ask for?

She didn’t believe it, but she also didn’t press further. “Good. You know I will always support your decision. How are my little munchkins?” Penelope beamed as if she hadn't seen the kids yesterday.

”I know. They are fine” I sighed in relief at the mention of the kids. “Penny, I love you. Thank you for sticking by me.”

I could picture her scrunching up her face in disgust and disregarding my words. It irritated the hell out of her whenever I decided to get all emotional that she stood by me.

“I guess that is my cue to go. But you know I will walk through the ends of the earth for you.”

"Hmmm…. Who said you aren’t sweet? See how well you confess your feelings through poetry for me,” I gushed.

Ace most probably knew where I was, but he didn’t know about the kids. My heart clenched as I imagined how he would react when he found out that I had twins, even with my condition.

I guess I don’t need to imagine because he would never know about them.

Is it too late to relocate? The familiar feeling started coiling itself around my spine. The feeling of running away and fear of my heart being broken.

“You’ve conquered it the day you gave birth to those kids,” I chided myself.

I was done running, I didn’t even do anything wrong in the first place.

The tightness in my chest reduced as I poked my head into my children’s room. They were both sprawled on the floor, their iPads singing away, soft snores escaping their lips.

I didn’t know how long I stood there, as beautiful memories occupied my mind; Their first cry, their first words……. Their first everything. They filled the hole their father left vacant, they were all I needed to get through everything I was going through.

A smile crept off my face after switching off my tablets. I placed both of them in their beds and closed the door after me.

I walked to the kitchen to clean their mess. The black cabinets all took the shade of the flour. Humming a tune to myself, I rolled up my hair into a messy bun and opened the fridge, so I could clean it but everything was almost empty.

“Wow, I didn’t know I was short on groceries,” I admitted.

The première had my attention for almost three months, and I was just eager on making it perfect so we wouldn’t fuck it up, and I am glad we didn’t.

The wheels in my head spun as I tried to calculate the children’s nap time and the time I would take to pick up the groceries. Picking my Benz keys up, I shut the door and headed to my garage.

-------

I walked into the store after a long, excruciating fifteen minutes. I didn’t like leaving my babies to themselves, but I also didn’t want to bother Penelope to come over.

I don’t know if I was the only one who couldn’t go out without my smartwatch. It kept me on track, the timer was counting as I grabbed everything I needed, pushed the cart around and packed everything I could. Money wasn’t my problem anymore.

My heart clenched painfully, remembering the early days of my pregnancy made my hatred for Ace intensify. I remember starving myself. I couldn’t even buy the necessary pills I needed.

There were some that I cried myself to bed and the only thing I did was eat stale bread or beg for leftovers. I didn’t know those children would be healthy. Mr Jimmy didn’t step up as a provider till I was five months into the pregnancy.

A flash of grey popped into my focus and I met the worried gaze of an old woman. “Miss, are you okay?” She questioned.

Giving a tight-lipped smile, I nodded and wiped my tears. She looked at me again to be sure I was. That was one of the reasons I chose this place.

Even as a celebrity, you can live a peaceful and somewhat anonymous life in this city. No unnecessary fan trailing you around. While we enjoyed the attention, most of us wanted peace and to be normal.

The smartwatch beeped. Time up.

I did a double check of the items that were in the cart. After figuring out that they were things I wanted to buy initially, I pushed the cart towards the cashier, eager to get back to my children.

She scanned the items and told me my bill. As I was about to pay, someone stretched their card toward the cashier.

 “Add her bill to mine.”

The familiar voice made the blood in my veins freeze, my heart thumping wildly.

Grinding my teeth to the point of breaking, I forced out the words from my lips “No. I will pay for it myself.”

“How can I let you do so? I was trained to be a gentleman,” Damien insisted.

A sigh escaped my lips as I looked at him, placing my hands on my hips “I will stop patronizing the store then.” I threatened.

Damien was one of the acquaintances I knew in this city. It started first as a love interest, but he was kind to get the idea that I had a boyfriend.

A slow smile spread on his lips as his blue eyes registered my stance. “It wouldn’t kill you to thank me instead of nagging,”

“Thank you. I have an event later… So I need to go now.”

I quickly piled everything in the booth and decided to check the update on the event I was attending. My eyes were glued on the update as my phone slipped from my hand after checking the guest lists.

My ex-husband would attend this event after so many years of not showing up.