"Why the hell on earth you came here?" Aiden yells as she yanks the door of Chloe's car and gets in the driving seat.
"I received a call and," Riley buckles the seatbelt "They told me you're kidnapped,"
"Kidnapped?" She repeats aloud as she hits the steering wheel "Do you think that I can be kidnapped?" She snaps.
"I didn't think about it at that moment," he utters in a low voice.
"You could have called me, right?"
"I did it, numerous times but there was no answer,"
"You did?" She frowns taking out the phone from the blazer coat’s pocket, she switches it on "There was no signal I guess, luckily it worked for once," she inserts the phone back in the pocket "I'll get someone to take your car," she starts the engine.
"Whose car is this?" He breaks the long remained silent.
"Chloe's," she blurts her eyes never leaving the windscreen.
"Had a great time together?" Riley asks.
The red light illumes by a roundabout, she faces him "Not bad."
"Not bad, does it mean it's good?"
She takes a second of silence not knowing how to answer “None of your business," she chuckles when he lets out a loud dramatic sigh.
"Heading to the court?" He questions to continue their conversation.
"Where else?"
"To buy clothes,"
"To buy clothes?" She takes a glance at him and looks at the road quickly "We don't have much time!"
"But my dress is stained with blood and I can't go like this,"
The car stops by the corner, she turns to her left and gazes at Riley up and down at his track suit.
"That's right, you can't go this way," she drives to a nearby dress store.
Letting out a sigh she sits back and faces Riley "Buy it here, we are not going anywhere else, there is no much time," she exhales.
"You want me to walk in with blood-stained clothes," he scowls.
Her gaze moves down, she purses her lips to a flat line and removes her coat as it has blood on it, she takes Riley’s phone to make the payment and unbuckles the seat belt.
"It will be my choice then," she utters her voice dry.
"Your choice is my love," he winks.
She rolls her eyes and slams the door shut. The door of the store opens and she steps in looking around, Aiden rolls her sleeves up as she noticed blood on her sleeves, the white blouse is not dirtied as she buttoned up her coat... A young lady welcomes her with a polite smile. Aiden examines the statues kept by the entrance, two male statues with different style of tuxedo, without looking over at the dresses hung in pile, she just points at a suit randomly and buys it.
She tosses the bag through the open window, Riley shoots straight and opens the bag in excitement, an ear-to-ear grin plays on his face when he pulls out the suit.
"Wait outside, I'll get changed," he stands and spreads his leg wide jumping to the back seat.
He steps out with the three-layered brown suit, the inner shirt beige and brown tie. He keeps a step ahead close to Aiden, the wide smile never leaves his face. He points at his neck where the tie is hanging.
"Seriously, you still don't know to tie it," Aiden snorts, she keeps a step forward and unfolds the collar.
"Just like how you don't know to tie a shoe lace," she looks up at him "You can teach me," he utters.
"First, you should take this part," she drapes the tie around the neck neat and continues to instruct.
Riley focuses on her hand, his mind studying the movement of the next step, his gaze averts in a second, his orbs staring at her when she focuses on her job. He looks down at her hands whenever she takes a glance at him.
Aiden chews onto her inner cheek, her heart skips a beat when she catches him staring at her "And then pull it up," she blurts dryly as she fixes her eyes to his neck.
She folds the stiff collar of his shirt, the touch of her fingers on his neck giving him tingles. She looks up at him, the upper lid of her eyes makes a small movement of expansion as Riley gapes at her like it's the first time he found her.
Her grip below the tie knot tightens "Were you listening?" She questions her voice stern... Riley's eyes widen when she pulls it up strangling him, he gaits back when she lets go.
"You almost choked me," he utters, faking a cough " I was listening," he scowls adjusting the tie.
"Did you?" Aiden raises a brow questionably.
His lips part as he looks at her for a second, clearing his throat he scratches the back of his head.
"Shall we have breakfast? I'm starving," he changes the topic "There is an hour more, we can eat and head to court," he requests, his eyes shining stars to her.
"Okay," she utters under her breath and turns around.
They visit the bakery next to the clothing store. They sit opposite to each other, by the square shaped small table placed outside. Riley makes the order of two milk boxes and pancakes, he returns with the tray, the whole space of the table occupies with the tray. The two remain silent as they fill their empty stomach.
"You have good eyesight," Riley says, he sits straight and leans forward "I love the colour of the dress it goes well with my skin tone," he smiles and continues "I don't have a brown suit, it's the first time I'm wearing it, I really like it, I like your choice," his shoulders shake as a wave when he moves forward again "Seems like we both have the same preference," he titters.
"Riley," she licks her fingers and looks straight, one part of her feeling bad... "I just chose it in random," she runs her hand through her hair "I just ordered the dress worn by the statue at the entrance."
Riley licks his lower lip, embarrassment gobbling him up. He nods questionably asking her whether it's yes or no... Aiden curls her lip in biting on it, she nods hesitantly... He glares at her while she pricks the straw into the thin silver circle avoiding his gaze.
"You could have at least lied instead of," he stands and hovers over the table "Embarrassing me," he squeezes the milk packet, the milk erupts throughout the straw, the liquid spills over her dress.
His eyes widen watching the scene as he didn't expect a large amount to spill out, Aiden looks down at her trouser where it's wet and looks up at Riley who is frozen. She chews onto her inner cheek her eyes throwing daggers at him. She grinds her teeth furiously. He gulps down his saliva.
"Oh my god," he covers his mouth as he stands straight, just like a princess syndrome girl saw something shocking.
The air with in the two tenses... Aiden's eyes are on fire which makes Riley to look everywhere except her as he chews onto his upper lip nervously...
"I'll buy you a dress," Riley claps like he found a solution for an elusive problem.
"No thanks, it can be wiped off" she stands and steps aside "There is no time, let's go," she walks to the car.
"How can you wear the clothes on a fight to a place like court? Look!" he jumps forward and Aiden stops when he points at her pant "There is still blood on your dress," he says and crosses his hands over the chest like a teacher who waits till the student answers.
She looks at the spot where he pointed, furrowing her brows she clicks her tongue.
"Fine," she exhales and they walk into the same store.
Riley stops by the entrance when he notices the very first statue with his suit... His heart literally breaks into pieces for the fourth time of having ironic illusion, all he wanted was for her to search and make a very hard choice... He lets out a loud sigh of depression and wanders ahead.
"Are there pant suits?" Aiden asks the young lady.
"I'm sorry ma'am, we only have with short skirts," the lady informs.
"How's this?" Riley calls out.
Aiden turns around, her gaze moves down from his face to the dress he is holding by the hanger. The grey blazer is outlined with black at the edges, the inner solid white blouse along with a grey knee length skirt.
"It will look good on you," Riley says.
Aiden looks at the dress and looks up at him she looks down and up again.
"Let's go," she utters dryly and keeps a step to take her leave.
"Hey...hey," he jumps forward and rushes to her, blocking the way "We don’t have enough time to go somewhere else to buy or we can't go back home to get changed and you can't go to the court this way, you know that there will be reporters... just for few hours and I'm sure you will look good in it, the court dignity on attire should be followed" he explains with a single breath.
She takes a moment to think as he makes sense, she runs her hand through her hair and lets out a sigh, grabbing the dress from his hold hesitantly she strolls to the fit-on room... It's been more than five minutes and still she didn't exit...Riley waits outside impatiently, he checks the time and fixes his eyes to the door of the fitting room, his inner being eager to see her...He raises his brows in amusement when the door opens... Finally, Aiden walks out...
She keeps small steps uncomfortable with the attire, she stands straight with a small gap between the black boots...
"Indeed, you have a feminine side," Riley says "It's just a small difference, an exchange of pants to skirt but it shows a massive change,"
"It's getting late, let's leave," she blurts dryly ignoring his compliment.
"I'll drive," she gets in the driver seat and throws the bag of old clothes to the back seat.
Starting the engine, the car races to the court. As always, the reporters gather outside and this time there are more of them as it's about the popular group in the city, the president is known to have relations with the higher state of people because of his success and of course money.
"We got this," Riley shows a thumb up and clicks his tongue when they stop by the large courtroom door.
"Yes, the war begins," Aiden states and they walk in before the judge arrives.
Riley walks in and sits opposite to the attorney table where Tira is seated, her eyes squints as their arrival are unexpected. She turns to her right and nods at Kevin.
Kevin, the secretary of the president of AIM'S group, he receives message direct from the president from hiring or firing an employee, the only person who is very close to the president in the group even among the shareholders. He is almost like a mask of the president that some people believe that he is actually the leader of the group.
Aiden keeps her legs joined in difficulty as her legs cannot be spread as usual.... She is with a skirt... She sits among the people who helped them to open the lawsuit, the ones urging for justice for the death of their children who worked in the warehouse. The crowd stands when the judge arrives...the hearing begins.
The black five-inch heels click on the polished floor when Tira walks to the judge table, she hands over three official files of the group from the health centre, the certificate which proves that they are clean...She then begins to speak proving her side...
Riley buttons the blazer as he stands and walks to the centre.