Amilia
The days passed by quickly. I joined St Xaviers College of interior designing which had always been my dream. Both me and Sejal who is also my best friend took the same group in the college. Life is very different in college when compared to school. Now we are treated as grown-ups. Often we are sent on industrial tours to gain real life experiences and to say I enjoy it is an understatement. Aiden never allowed me outside the house except for a few visits to his parent's. But now life has been much fun and busy. During industrial tours we often have sleepovers with each other and during weekends it's a lot more like partying drinking. During my last tour I experimented with my first taste of alcohol though I would never let Aiden know about it. Some of us had even started dating though the word sounds something nasty to me. It's because you are brought up by the great pietist, Mr. Aiden Gregory Pascal. I pushed the crazy voice away and started walking to my next class.
It is library period now and all of us went to the top floor of the building where the library is situated. We were advised to read the interviews of famous interior designers so that we could imbibe some tips and incorporate it in our careers. To my surprise instead of glancing famous magazines like 'Remodelista' and 'Elements of style' by Erin Gates my friend Sejal was ogling at some news over the Business magazine. Curiosity powered better of me and I dipped my head to find out what she was reading relating to business when the field never attracted her in the past. It was an interview hosted on one of the most eligible bachelors of young Germany Mr Aiden Gregory Pascal and about his future plans and life.
I was dumbstruck learning about my friend's approbation towards Aiden. I shook her by her shoulder when she looked into my eyes. It was a mixture of admiration, respect and most importantly love which I could ever see for anyone in her eyes.
An unknowing foreign feeling slowly crept inside me which I couldn't comprehend. I was jealous of her for ogling at Aiden in such a creepy way. Quickly I changed the topic and shifted the book away from her. The day no longer went on peacefully for me. After we left the library, I purposefully came back during the recess and got the magazine issued in my name by the librarian. Before I could even start reading the interview, my eyes fell on the pictures in the next page. They were way back the clips taken when he went to New York last month on a business tour. So this is the business he was doing there. My blood pressure rose to the maximum. Aiden was posing to the camera with half nude girls hovering over him. He was putting on his cocky grin as though enjoying every glimpse of the situation. I felt breathless within few minutes of digesting the sitch. It was like crawling of an outlandish, unacceptable and abhorrent feeling unknown to me.
Before I could realise, I was already in tears. There was a knock at the door pulling me out of my stupid infatuation. I quickly wiped my tears trying to make no trace of it. It was one of housemaids at the doorstep informing me that the dinner was ready. Thinking of food made me nauseous in my present state. I took a warm shower trying to relax my agitated nerves and went to bed immediately.
Somewhere in the mid-night there was a knock again. I try to ignore the call with sleep overpowering me but after a few minutes the knock was louder. I had no choice but to open the door. With wobbly steps I reached the door and opened it. Aiden was standing in front of me with a questioning look. "Why were you to bed without having dinner?" There! All his dominance starts over again. I scratched my head with my already messed up hair and told him in a sleepy voice "I am not hungry." He wouldn't accept my statement and retuned in a few minutes with a plate filled with food.
I wanted to ask him many questions before I start to eat but instead I ended up eyeing him secretively. Exchanging tenuous glances, I examined him minutely with every nook and corner of his body. It was an unfamiliar feeling budding inside me about which I had no idea. He was putting on a simple black polo shirt and grey sweatpants. His hair was neatly combed styled to sophistication as though he was going to address a group of delegates. His half sleeved shirt was oozing sexiness with nerves rippling out of his rough arms. Overall he was sinfully gorgeous. Shaking myself out of the luscious reverie I look at him with aching eyes. What was I doing a moment ago? I never felt these strange feelings earlier. These are unknown sensations lately powering inside me. What are these concealed emotions which I wasn't acquainted with? My head seems to shake and I close my eyes in response trying to stop the wave of sensations.
The next moment I felt somebody shaking me "Little girl what happened to you? Are you alright? Should I take you to the doctor?" Aiden was anxious, showering me with unending questions. I took a deep breath and decided to challenge the insufferable. "What were you doing with those half naked girls in New York? Were you sleeping with them?" I asked him the unendurable question which was beyond ache in my anatomy.
His expression was unreadable for the initial moments but slowly it took the shape of an untameable fury. "What do you mean by it? Do you think I go drooling on those American models to sleep with them?" His annoyance was now incommodious. He looked towards the sky for a few moments as though trying to calm himself from the burning fury.
"Little girl, there are so many things I do in public. Not everything which I enact in front of a camera is true and this one is one among them." He marked his words to me with sincerity in his eyes. "I did not sleep with any of those girls but" he sighs with a hint of displeasure. "You have no right to speak to me in such a way and come to wrong conclusions." Later he continues "one of the brands which I recently launched is titled 'Allure'. As the name suggests the brand etches on formal shirts for young men. I was supposed to photo shoot with some foreign models to increase the marketability and visibility of the brand overseas." Taking my hand in his, he kisses and continues to explain "all these shows are business tactics which we entrepreneurs do to publicize our brands. Everything that you read in magazines is not true. I think you learnt about all this in last week's 'business' magazine. He spoke to me looking into my eyes analyzing the situation. "Moreover to assure you I want to say" he hints slight a bit of smile "I don't discuss about my private life in communal, and whatever I do in public is colossally different from the actual life I lead." He then pulls my head to his lips and kisses it. "To feature on what I spoke to you, I want you to understand" he looks at me with softness in his eyes "you are with me since almost five years from now. Did you picture yourself in any magazine or newspaper or at least a business portal? That is because I don't club my business with my private life." He concluded with determination in his voice.
Pulling my cheeks his eyes were now playful and I relaxed myself after a long gap since today morning. "Now I want you to finish the contents of the plate within ten minutes." He addresses me in dominance but at the same time with a subtle softness. I plucked the plate out of his hands and emptied the contents within moments as I was already starving. He gives me a short laugh and exits my room to his bed.