"Aria my child we can still talk about this, you don't have to leave," her father pleaded as she struggled with her bag out of the house.
Her mother cared less, she stood by the far end of the room and fumed. She felt like her daughter was exaggerating. This was a minor thing. It wasn't like they took her entire savings. She had only received two million dollars from Aria and she was being dramatic about it.
"What do we want to talk about?" Aria asked as she wiped the tears from her face. "What is there to talk about?"
Her father moved closer to her in an effort to try and hold her but Aria raised her hands stopping him.
"Don't touch me," she whispered sternly.
"I'm sorry. I won't touch you." He held his hand back, "but you can't leave like this. You are hurt, I can't let you go just like that." There was pain in his eyes as he spoke to her.
Ariana knew that her father was misled by her mother but the fact that he had allowed his greedy wife to lead him astray was what pissed Aria off towards him. He needed to be thought a lesson.
"If I stay will it change the fact that you cheated me?" Aria asked him. She turned completely so she could look into his eyes but her father looked down unable to meet her eyes. The shame was too much to bear.
But the silence was the answer she needed.
"Goodbye dad," she hissed before finally stepping out of the door.
Ariana Brown could not tell if it was her heart or the weather, but it felt really cold and lonely standing outside. She started moving her box in the first direction she could p think of. She wasn't even sure if the train station was the way she was taken, all she knew was that she was moving away from her cheating parents.
The Brentwood gave her two million dollars as compensation. On her own she had roughly ten thousand dollars as savings. She had sent two million for her father's treatment and another seven thousand for their feeding pending the time she got another job. On her own she barely had three thousand dollars left.
All her earning she had giving them and it was all a lie.
Tears flowed down her eyes and her vision became blurry. She raised her sleeves and wiped them off angrily.
She shouldn't cry. She should be strong for herself now.
This situation just made her understand that she had no one in this world anymore. All she had was herself.
She sniffed her tears away and decided to focus on the road. She would have to go back to the city to start searching for a new job. Her rent would soon be up and she would need to eat. Three thousand dollars was not going to solve all of that.
Aria noticed that she had luckily taken the road that led to the train station. All she had to do was take the bend on her right and she would be able to get there in no time.
She was about taking the bend when she crashed into someone.
"Oh, I'm sorry," she mumbled as she held her throbbing head.
"Aria?"
She raised her head to see who it was and she was surprised to find that she had crashed into Zion.
"Zion!?" She exclaimed happily. "I thought you have gone back yesterday," she said.
"Oh, no. I decided to see my parents before going. How about you, I thought you wanted to stay for a few weeks?" Zion asked her.
Aria's face dropped immediately as she got reminded of the reason she was leaving. She was so full of hope. The city was toxic for her and she thought spending a few days with her parents would be therapeutic. But how terribly wrong she was.
"Did something happen?" Zion's voice was filled with concern for his friend. He adjusted his glasses on his nose. He then took a few steps closer and held her shoulder.
"Let's go take the train first, we can talk on the ride home," she stated.
Zion nodded and picked up her bag for her.
"Hey you don't have to do that!" Aria shrieked but Zion was already moving with her bag.
She took long strides towards him to try again but he declined. "I only brought my laptop bag," he said raising the strap of the bag for her to see. "There is nothing wrong if I carry your bag for you."
"Thank you," she whispered weakly. After being cheated by the people she thought meant the world to her, she could no longer trust people blindly. At least not now.
Aria and Zion moved to the ticket booths and got themselves passes. The train was not yet in the station, so they had to sit in the waiting room.
Aria slumped down on the first seats they reached. She suddenly felt too exhausted but her eyes refused to close. Her world had been thrown apart and there was nothing she could do —except fight harder.
"You wait here with the bags, let me get us something to eat," Zion said.
Aria just stared ahead. Her brain could hardly register things outside her mind anymore.
Zion saw the distant look but decided to get her something to eat before poking her for answers to what was disturbing her.
He got them coffees and burgers.
"Aria, here, take this," he said as he sat on the seat beside her.
She looked at him for two seconds before she realized what he said.
"Oh, thank you," she whispered. She took the coffee and the burger from him. She hadn't even eating that morning and her body didn't request for it. But she had to force herself to eat something. She took a bite of the burger and it tasted like it was made out if disloyal dough.
It tasted like her life.
"What, you don't like it?" Zion asked her, when he saw the face she was making as she chewed through her burger.
"Uh?" She asked jumping out of her thoughts.
Zion dropped his meal on the bench and cleaned his mouth. Maybe the meal wasn't what she needed. She had to talk and free her mind.
"Aria, what's wrong?" He asked in the softest voice he could muster. "We are friends, you can tell me anything... Is it your job?"
Aria smiled bitterly as tears pooled around her eyes.
"If it was just about my job, my heart would have taken it just fine..." She whispered as the first of the tears dropped.
"Then what is it?"