Third Person P.O.V
“You are trending,” Lisa shouts, she throws herself to the sofa beside Aiden who is seated down on the floor in front of the short table, she opens the can of coke and takes a sip immediately to let the gas drizzle in her mouth.
She looks up and rests her head on the edge of the sofa, she watches Lisa scroll down her phone with an ear-to-ear smile on her face. Lisa looks down at Aiden, the excitement on her face drowns as she notices Aiden, zoned out she stares at an empty space her eyebrows furrowed in a deep thought.
“Den, are you okay?” she asks .
After a short moment of silence Aiden closes her eyes and inhales a deep breath in, she lets it out and opens her eyes “Nothing,” she sighs her hand runs through her black hair as she sits straight and takes the can, she gulps down half the coke “Why am I trending?,” she asks drowsily and picks up Lisa’s phone, unlocks it, her eyes squints when the image displays, she moves the screen closer to her vision as she scrolls down at the multiple images with different titles and new comments keep popping up.
“How are you with him?” Lisa questions her voice comes out loud as she slides down to the floor and sits beside Aiden.
“You know him?” Aiden questions, confused.
“Of course. He is my idol,” she clasps her hands, closes her eyes like dreaming a fairy tale “He is handsome, charming and, wait!” she alarms, her eyes shoot open, she faces Aiden who is staring at her with knitted brows and uneven formed lips “How come you are with him?” She exclaims.
“Idol?” Aiden repeats, her tone dry not surprised or astonished “No wonder many people were staring at him” she takes a sip of cola “I just ran into him,” she shrugs.
“Ran into him? How?” Lisa asks, her body sways impatiently.
“The job which I applied,”
“Yeah,”
“The son is him,” Aiden rubs the back of her neck massaging her muscles.
“Really, Whoooaa,” Lisa howls, she hugs Aiden by the side in excitement “You just kissed him. It is a dream of many girls,”
“Kiss?” Aiden repeats with creased brows “It was an accident,” she corrects.
“Anyways it was a kiss, how was it?” Lisa giggles her mind pictures the scene of the images online.
“Girls like you might be cursing me right now,” Aiden turns to her right facing Lisa “Aren’t you mad as the people in the comments because I just kissed your idol,”
“I would be mad if it was someone but you, now I’m excited on the fact that my friend is closer to him,” Lisa holds Aiden’s arm, she rests her head on Aiden’s right shoulder, she flutters her eyes “Introduce him to me later,” she blurts.
Aiden moves the can close to her mouth and rolls her eyes “We are not close, don’t think too much,” she says and gulps down the cola.
###
A ringtone plays in the messy room for a while, Riley groans aloud, he slips his hand through the white duvet over him, his finger swipes up the green call icon, he stays on the bed, his body arched. He puts the phone on speaker and buries his face in his hands waiting till the voice on the other side hit his ears.
“Are you out of your mind?” Evan yells “Didn’t you want to get back on stage?” he screeches “You are being bashed online,” he growls in anger as his expectation of getting another job is destroyed.
Evan, as Riley’s personal manager he lost his previous job due to Riley’s scandal, he resigned as their bond was special, he was happy to find Riley another opportunity but now, everything seemed to be crumbled down. The toxic comments viral online is easy to ruin his contract.
Riley’s fingers crawl up to his hair, he pulls the strands out its roots and kicks on the mattress “I know,” he bawls, continuously kicking the mattress “That was my first kiss,” he cries, his eyes squeeze shut while his mind replays the scene in the bus.
“First kiss?” Evan repeats aloud in surprise “Is that something to be worried about now? Your image is being ruined online,” he grunts low.
Riley turns and lays flat on the bed, his arms spread wide, his posture in a shape of a star, he stares at the ceiling “What am I supposed to do?” he scowls.
“Try to fix this or,”
“Or?”
“Let's find a solution together,” Evan hangs up.
Riley closes his eyes, takes a deep breath in and lets it out. His brows meet when the image of Aiden on him flashes in front of his eyes, the way she stood and remained like nothing happened rewinds “How can she take it so easy?” he lifts his eyelids and stares at the ceiling again “Seems like it’s not her first time….,” he jolts up and sits straight, his legs crossed, he rubs his chin and speaks to himself “Why am I so troubled? It’s just an accident and it cannot be taken as my first kiss,” he snaps his finger, his lips form to a grin “It's not a big deal for me too,” he shrugs and finally gets off the bed.
He walks in the washroom, his mind tries its best to push the thought of the incident away from his head. He never read the comments or any articles online as he knew if he had gone through those he will be devastated, no matter how many times he tries to relax himself yet a part of him is frightened to face the music, not ready to accept failure.
Cling! Cling! Cling!
The door bell rings, he wraps the head towel around his neck ,drips of water from his wet hair strands over his forehead drops down on to his warm ivory cheeks. He looks down at himself the only piece of cloth on him is the towel around his waist, despite he answers the door as he knows it will be Evan.
He pulls the door open, his eyes widen, his lips apart, his jaw dropped to the ground, he blinks once, twice and thrice, gulps down his saliva, moves his gaze to the ground and looks straight “Why are you here?” he asks Aiden, his voice comes out casually but inside he is astonished and flustered, the incident begins to replay in his head again.
She stops talking to the caller and moves the phone away from her ear, the phone screen in his display, his mind reads the name on it: Mr. Mintz.
Riley stares at the screen for a while, his consciousness accepts that he cannot escape from her because of his dad, his brain suddenly clicks on something which makes him to face her with big eyes, those eyes ready fall out of its sockets. He bites his lower lip and looks down at himself, Aiden follows his gaze with furrowed brows.
“Shit,” he curses under his breath and holds onto the towel around his waist “Give me a sec,” he steps back and slams the door shut, his shoulders rest on the door “Dad, why am I oblivious?” he sighs feeling ashamed.
He grabs a wardrobe from the rack, wears it on and walks back to the door. He takes a deep breath in and out “Be normal,” he orders himself and he pulls down the door knob.
Aiden waits outside, her hands crossed over her chest, the noise of her boot tapping on the tiled floor in rhythm is the only noise in the surrounding. Riley’s lips curl in at the sight of her, he moves aside to allow her in, before he utters a word, she steps in and rushes to the balcony, she checks out as she felt someone following her.
“Hey, hey,” Riley calls out “Who gave you the permission to come in?” he snarls crossing his arms over his chest, he raises a brow at her questionably.
“Your dad,” she answers walking to the sofa and takes her seat on the sofa, Riley follows her and stops in front of her, the glass coffee table between them as she is seated on the large sofa placed at the centre with two single sofa at the either sides of the table.
“Seriously, did he tell you to barge into my house,” he points his index finger at her.
Aiden nods in reply, she raises her brow when his phone rings.
He grumbles under his breath and runs to the room, he answers the call and puts it on speaker.
“Why didn’t you tell me that she is coming home?” Riley barks as he grabs all the dresses on the floor and throws it to the corner of the room.
“I called you many times but your line was busy,” Mintz explains “From today onwards Aiden will follow you,”
“Aiden?” Riley mentions her name, he jumps forward to the cupboard and moves the phone to his ear, “Dad,” he exhales “Do you have any idea what’s happening online, if people see her around me again, I’m sure that……,”
“That’s none of my business,” Mintz cuts off.
“How come it’s none of your business when I’m your son,”
“Keeping you safe from my doing is my business, and now it’s your doing,” Mintz blurts smiling in the other side “It's not like you haven’t been in any mess before and how was the kiss,” he chuckles.
“Kiss!” Riley repeats “It was an accident,” he explains.
“I know that your image is ruined right now, as you’re my son I’ll give you an idea,”
“What is it?” Riley asks instantly interested at the topic, he sits on the bed and waits till his father speaks.
“Make her your girlfriend,”
A moment of silence takes over their conversation “You seriously got the nerve to joke now “Riley grunts.
He hangs up the call and tosses the phone on the bed. He lays on the duvet and after ages he walks out dressed up. His eyes widen at his surrounding, three men in blue walk around some electrical items in their hands.
“Wait, Wait,” he stops one of them who walks pass him “What’s happening here?” he asks.
“Fixing the cameras, sir,” the electrician replies.
“Camera?” he repeats his voice comes out loud in surprise “Who called you?”
“Ms. Aiden,” he points to his left where Aiden orders one man to fix the camera at the right angle.
Riley rubs the back of his neck in frustration, he grits his teeth and stomps toward her “You’re making me lose my patience right now,” he shouts “Who gave you the permission to fix cameras in my place? Are you doing all these for money? You just want to get paid for doing your job, how about this. I’ll pay you a higher amount. I’ll pay you three times the amount dad paid you if you sleep with me right now, I’m sure that you will be fine to sell your body for money, isn’t money everything?” he stops glaring at her, she chews onto her inner cheek and keeps a step forward, Riley regrets the very next second of his words his expression softens watching her silent.
Aiden keeps another step forward; in a blink of an eye, she grips his right arm and twists it behind his back, his stomach over the sofa head “Ow. Ow,” he hisses holding his shoulder with his left hand “Let me go,” he begs struggling in her grip which is strong to keep him still or is he weak to fight her.
“Your words were not right, you know?” Aiden says dryly, she watches him from behind and orders the workers to continue with their job.
“I know…I know,” Riley stutters.
“So?” she arches a brow as she twists his arm, he lets out a scream.
“So,” he repeats curiously, out of habit, “Oh, Oh,” he howls when her grip tightens “I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” he apologizes “Let me go now,” he requests softly.
The doorbell rings, Aiden keeps a step back and releases his arm. Riley holds onto his right arm and rubs over his muscles, he passes a glance at Aiden who talks to the worker like nothing happened. He sticks his tongue out behind her back and hurries to the door.
“A witch, witch ,witch” he utters under his breath till he reaches the door.
“What’s taking you so long?” Evan exclaims the very next second the door opens “You are just in trouble with some crazy girl and I should answer numerous calls to explain the incident,” he grumbles.
Riley raises his brows, his lips curled in to a flat line, he steps behind leaving way for Evan to enter.
“Whoever that girl is, I don’t care... I have to meet her…,” Evan stops in his tracks his eyes glued on Aiden.
From Aiden he turns to his right with the expression of what’s-going-on-here.