Third Person P.O.V
“Have a seat Ms. Aiden,” Mintz requests after they shake hands. “I preferred to meet you in a cafeteria because there is nothing formal,” he chuckles.“ Make your order,” he smiles when the young lady stops by their table with a notepad and pen.
“Iced Americano,” Aiden orders and sits straight. She faces Mintz, her lips spread to a smile.
“I hope you remember me,” Mintz asks, he leans forward in interest waiting for her reply.
She takes some time to recall her memory “I’m sorry, I don’t,” she rubs the back with a crooked smile.
“That’s okay,” Mintz brushes off, “I wanted to thank you for your help that day. If it’s not for you we would have been beaten to death in the restaurant,” slight wrinkles form at the corners of his eyes when his smile widens “I know that it’s not nice for a girl to be around a guy but I have no one to offer this role,” he adjusts his blue tie and moves forward again, “My son is not safe due to my job and I’ve noticed that he is being stalked by some people.”
“Why don’t you inform the cops?” she questions. “Will you mind to elaborate?” she pulls the glass of Americano close to her and takes a sip.
“To be honest I know about your background and I’ve followed you for some days,” he declares.
Aiden arches a brow questionably.
“I know your father. He is my client,”
“Client?” she repeats, her brows meet. “What do you mean?”
“Johnson was my client and we have been working for a while secretly. It was eight months ago when he visited me regarding something suspicious in the AIMS group distribution. Johnson and I tried our best to work on it together, all we needed was a valid proof to the court but unfortunately our case was stopped mid way when he was arrested. I know that he was framed for the chemical drug which had been added to the medicine, the time reached when I informed the health department to check on the manufacturing site but everything was closed up when he was arrested. The major clue which we discovered is that the president is unknown, his assistant is the one who passes the orders. I’ve tried to get in touch with you but couldn’t, fortunately I did. To be honest I spotted you by the warehouse and other building of the Aim’s group,” he takes the black leather bag which he placed on the next chair and pulls out a pair of cards. He places those on the table and pushes it to the opposite direction “It's my business card and name tag,” he informs and moves back. He takes a sip of his coffee and looks at Aiden who picks up the name tag of his work place as a manager in the AIM’s group.
“So, you are the lawyer whom dad referred as his friend,” she asks dryly, her eyes fixed on his lawyer card. “I’ve seen dad by your office,” she continues, her brain reminding her father by the sixth street. She lets out a loud weary sigh and tosses the card on the table. She moves back, “Things wouldn’t have got worse if I had done something,” she states, almost telling it to herself.
“It would be even worse if you’ve known,” Mintz leans forward, he rests his arms on the table, “He didn’t want to involve you into this as nothing would be better if you were involved,” he tries to explain in a short time. “I know that the Aims have a strong support from the cops a d court. I need your help, Aiden,”
“Help?” she repeats, the left corner of her lips twitch upwards, she crosses her arms over her chest, “Isn’t that something which you didn’t need,” she sneers.
 She removes the straw from the glass and gulps down the Americano leaving the glass empty. The air between them stiffens when silence takes place, they never face each other for a while.
 “Did you convince dad on the case?” Aiden’s cold voice breaks the silence.
“Pardon?” Mintz’s word comes out low, puzzled, unable to understand her statement.
“I mean,” she slides forward from her seat, chewing onto her inner cheek, her eyes never leaves the person seated in front “Did you seek help from dad or….,”
“He looked for me,” Mintz answers. “I was in an ongoing case against the Aims. It was because of a victim who was a worker and hospitalized for inhaling toxic chemicals but I failed the case as there wasn’t valid evidence. I couldn’t fetch for any. After a couple of weeks your dad looked for me and provided thorough information.”
“Everything makes sense now. He had a lot in his mind before the mess,” she chortles sarcastically at the thought of being clueless of her father’s act as she was busy with her duty. She lets out a sigh and runs her hand through her hair. “I never step back from what I’ve started and I will make them pay for their deeds. That’s what I’ve been longing for.” She says.
She has been investigating on the Aim’s for eight months but couldn’t find a chance to bring them to court.
The words of Aiden make Mintz smile “Your dad was right,” his smile widens while he nods, Mr. Johnson’s words rewind in his mind.
“What was he right about?” she questions instantly with furrowed brows.
“He was right about you.”
“What was he right about me?”
“That? I’ll let you know later.”
“Okay, What about my job?” she shrugs.
“Aren’t you really curious to know what your dad told me?” he asks as he observes her expression which shows no sense of curiosity. “Alright,” he exhales. “I’m worried about my son’s safety, I want you to protect him and..…,”
“Why is she here?” the voice interrupts. Aiden and Mintz looks at the direction. Riley walks to them “Dad, why did you call me,” Riley frowns.
“I called you because.…..”
“Don’t tell me that this is something about the bodyguard you spoke about lately,” he cuts off. “If you are so worried about it, just drop the case for god’s sake,” his shoulders hunch, his upper eyelids fold under the curled brows “Nothing is going to change if you continue on this. At the end of the day you are going to lose anyways,” he squalls.
“Why do you say that? As a son don’t you have hope in me. Do you want me to sit back and watch all their deeds, doing nothing,” Mintz snaps.
“Nothing is going to change anyways,” he argues.
Aiden crosses her arms over her chest and leans back. Her gaze move to the left and right watching the scene, she remains silent waiting till they finish.
Mintz stands, his small eyes never leaves Riley, his only family left “At least I don’t feel guilty because I’m trying,” he retorts, his voice stern enough to put a full stop to their conversation. He turns to his left and passes a smile at Aiden “I got to go, I’ll call you later.”
“Sure,” she nods. Her eyes follow him until his figure moves behind the opaque door of the cafeteria.
“Such coincidence,” Riley claps and flumps on the seat opposite to Aiden. His lips spread to a grin when she looks at him, her eyebrows furrowed. “Hey,” he calls out to grab her attention “I’m actually grateful for you but may you……,” he stops, hesitant whether to complete his sentence or not. She raises her brows questionably “May you not take this job,“ he finally says. His inner being dances in joy and his smile gets bigger while he waits for her answer expecting her to say yes.
“Why should I?” she looks away and pushes the business card of Mintz into her jacket’s pocket.
“It’s because….”
“See you tomorrow,” she steps aside and pushes the chair behind not wasting a second to look at him.
Riley jumps off the seat and hops forward, he follows her. His steps widen to match hers, “Let me explain,” he requests. “It's not right for a girl to follow a guy everywhere, people would think that you are chasing after me because I hang out a lot,” his feet comes to a halt abruptly, his eyes widen when his body was about to hit hers at the sudden pause of movement.
“I don’t care of what others think as long as I do my job,” she rolls her eyes and sits on the bench in the empty bus halt. She bends her upper body and spreads her legs with her elbows rested on her thighs, her hands clasped and fingers intertwined.
“Alright you can do your job but this will be embarrassing to me,” he explains his cheek bones lift, his eyes curve while his lips form to an uneven shape. He slides a little more to his left towards Aiden and bends. He moves his head closer to hers “Please do me this favour. I’ll get you a better job,” he begs.
“Why don’t you convince your father instead?” Aiden blurts her gaze fixed straight to the road, watching the vehicles and the people pass by.
“Why would I follow you around if I could talk to him?”
“I told him I’ll accept the job.”
“Seriously! Why are you rigid?” he grunts under his breath and sits straight. He looks up and runs his hand through his brown hair “Why is he so concerned about me?” his murmurs come out loud enough to get into her ears “I know to protect myself,” he sighs.
“Protect yourself?” Aiden snickers, her eyes still fixed to the busy road, her tone conveys clear sarcasm “You can really protect yourself,” she chuckles as she nods rewinding the scene in the restaurant.
“Hey, What’s with that tone?” Riley stands and glares down at her.
The right corner of her lips twitch up to a smirk when the bus stops by. She walks forward not bothered take a second to glance at the person talking to her and climbs in the bus. No empty seats, she stops by the centre seat, the only person standing. She holds onto the pole when the bus moves. Riley follows her inside not bothered to take the bus for the first time. He stands beside her and takes a glance at her every passing second. He tries to grab her attention to speak but she remains unmoved like he never existed.
He keeps a step closer to her and whispers “Please!” he looks around casually at the people. Some pair of eyes fixed on him. “I'll get you to get a better jo….,” before the pronunciation of the letter ‘b’ rolls down his tongue, his feet wobble backwards, unbalanced. A loud scream leaves his lips when his shoulders get in contact on the bus floor as the driver pulls the break all of a sudden.
Aiden removes her hand from the pole and turns. She chews onto inner cheek to hold in her laughter and finally looks down at him. Her brows meet as she looks around at the people where some of them are away from their seats. They are busy taking pictures of him. A low vexed sigh leaves her lips as she bends low and moves her arm forward. She gestures him to grab her hand “Don’t you know to hold tight while standing,” she utters low, sure that her words were only audible to him.
Riley takes her hand and lifts his body a little away from the floor. A slight smile plays on his lips. The bus pulls over, the abrupt movement makes Aiden loose balance. She falls over him. Riley’s toes curl, his eyes squeeze shut at the jiffy moment.
Is this even possible? Can this happen? But how? Isn’t it unrealistic?
Riley’s eyes open, they widen: startled.
How come? An accidental kiss?
Her lips are on his!