Chapter 10: Chapter 10

After their multiple romp in bed all night , Aaron and Paris wearing nothing but their birthday suits had tried cooking an omelette which they ended up burning, almost setting the kitchen ablaze in their attempt to outdo each other in a cooking contest and they had ordered pizza instead , watching a movie whose title the duo didn’t know as neither of them was paying attention, lost in a heated make out session which led to them stumbling back to bed unable to help themselves , Paris was letting herself go and very fast but she was so in love with Aaron, she would have done just about anything to prove her love to him, crawling out bed an hour later they shared a bath in the bathtub, bubbles floating around them as they laughed and fought throwing bubbles at each other, Aaron was happier than he had been his entire life , he felt like he was finally living after years of being held captive, a fact he realised looking at Paris’s laughing happy face , her bunny teeth on full display , sitting there they talked about their lives , dreams and their aspirations , him finding out it was Paris’s dream to be a pilot , a dream she tells him she hadn’t shared with anyone else not even nana who he had found out was Paris’s grandmother who she adored as nana saved her life more than once and who was the only balance Paris ever had as she never met her father and never enjoyed the love of her mother , feeling doubts knocking on the door of his heart he told her he hoped to meet nana soon and Paris had smiled sadly saying nana would absolutely love him , after their conversation they had kissed again which led them to straight to their favourite part of the huge, straight out of a catalogue house … the bedroom.. again.

Paris feeling hungry had woken up two hours later, and stared at Aaron who was still asleep, after shamelessly announcing that he and Paris had broken the bed , words that had made Paris blush shyly from her head to her toe , looking at his calm sleeping face, he looked so handsome it brought a smile to her face, his hair was a mess , wild, mussed and scattered, his dark locks falling onto his face and covering his eyes , his lips full dark pink and swollen, nothing but the blanket covering his naked body , brushing his hair away from his face and pressing a light kiss on his nose , she put on his shirt which was lying on the floor closest to the bed and tucked the blanket around Aaron as he tossed and turned murmuring in his sleep and hugging her pillow tightly, a smile on his face at the faint smell of strawberry , she then walked out of the room with a huge grin on her face, and into the kitchen, and grabs a few slices of bread and a glass of milk taking in his huge fancy kitchen as she ate , she had then after her light meal took a tour of the magnificent house , stumbling on a slightly open door curious as to what was in the room she had pushed the door open and walked in putting on the light as the room was dark , as the room lit up she finds it empty and walking to the drawer she had pulled it open and gasped in shock as she took out a picture of Alexa and Aaron smiling at each other , feeling breathless she opens another drawer and finds another picture of the duo at the beach holding on to each other without a care in the whole world, swallowing her cry of agony she puts the pictures back as her hands brush against something solid and opening the drawer wider she finds couple rings with the initials A and A on it and to the side of the drawer finds a pair of baby shoes, letting out a loud sigh she stumbles back , looking around the room in panic realising her whole relationship with Aaron was a lie , she runs to the wardrobe in the room and throws them open, finding baby clothes and shoes in them, moving to take them out ,she heard Aaron call out her name and closing the wardrob,e she walks out the room and goes to meet him in the kitchen as he is smiling triumphantly at the successful meal of toast , bacon, hotdogs and scrambled eggs he had made. ‘’ You must be starving so I took it upon myself to make us food … bon a petit baby’’ he says placing a plate in front of her kissing her cheek, taking a bite of the egg which tasted more like paper to her, unsure it of if it was because of the ache in her chest or because he was a terrible cook. She asks solemnly ‘’ Do you have things you want to tell me Aaron? secrets you want to let out?’’ as she watched him surprise, fear and a myriad of other emotions covered his face and she notices his falter but he just nods. Say the truth please, she begged silently. ‘’ My only secret is that …. I love you so so much and that doesn’t even count as a secret, you know it and I do too’’ he says and realising how deceitful the man she loved she was, she leaves the table and walks back to the room carrying her bag and running out the door as Aaron called out to her. CHAPTER TWENTY – FOUR – BLACKOUT.

Arriving at her apartment with a heavy heart , she walked into her apartment and collapsed on her bed , her mind trying to give her reasons why he was a good guy ,but whatever the relationship between him and Alexa was or is, it was serious enough for him to have thought of marrying her and making a baby with her, wiping a tear off her face, her phone rings and expecting it to be Aaron it turned to be a strange number instead , she nevertheless picks up only to hear Alexa’s voice on the line asking her to meet at the café near her apartment and even though Paris was itching to refuse to meet her ,she needed the truth, wanted the truth, whatever it was.

Sitting ,looking into Alexa’s hazel eyes was the most painful thing Paris had done recently as the latter’s eyes held the answers to all her painful questions , looking away from her and at her palm, Alexa spoke her, voice full of supressed hostility ‘’Am sorry I called you out this early but I need to tell you certain things about Aaron, you might think you know Aaron but Aaron is a very complicated man so you have been living a lie, I don’t know if he told you but last year Aaron and I were engaged to be married , we loved each other very much and we had a baby on the way but unfortunately I lost the baby and that threw Aaron off and our relationship suffered a strain but at the beginning of this year we made up and started M and M together and everything was great until you showed up and things started falling apart again , he was cheating on me with you and I tried to reason with him ,condone him for keeping his options open but …. hell…I even forgave him for leaving me to grieve our child alone and for messing with you shamelessly behind my back but there is so much a woman can take paris, Aaron you see is like a pet, feed him and he will follow you around’’. ‘’ He is not like a pet to me!’’ says Paris angry at herself for even defending the jerk, but the woman she was dealing was unbelievably nasty. ‘’ Well then you don’t know him that well then… the night he drove me home after your little rendezvous in the dressing room he told me you meant nothing to him as he was only fulfilling his duty’’ Alexa says maliciously. ‘’it’s a lie!’’ shouts Paris, a loud ringing in her ears. ‘’Well then you need to hear this’’ Alexa says placing her phone on the table and playing a record where Aaron is heard saying ‘’ I am only doing what I have to do keep her distracted as she is a loose cannon, she means nothing, absolutely nothing to me, helping mother is the goal’’. ‘’ Helping mother is the goal? Meaning?’’ Alexa is heard asking. ‘’ Paris used to work for my mother at her store in Madison but mum accused her of taking a diamond jewellery and things escalated, my mom physically assaulted Paris, she wanted to take mother to court and mother came up with this idea and asked me to help, am just … helping’’. ‘’ So you employed her just to pacify her? And your closeness with her is a distraction? Wow what a grand plan’’. She says excitement obvious in her voice. ‘’ I have to do what I have to do, if I don’t what kind of a son would I be? But... Alexa let this be our own little secret okay? ‘’ Okay! But what about the scene I walked in on?’’ Alexa is heard asking. Silence * Aaron sighs. ‘’ That just happened, it meant nothing as I have said earlier’’ Aaron says. ‘’ That just happened? you are supposed to keep her on a leash not prance around with her or kiss her … what will your mom say if she heard about this?’’ Alexa asks. ‘’ Just let it go Alexa’’ Aaron replies in a stern voice, and Alexa sighs deeply. Standing up having heard enough she turns to walk away but Alexa’s next words stops her dead in her tracks ‘’His mother had him hire and seduce you to keep you distracted so you will forget about the lawsuit, everything was a big set up, it was all planned, he didn’t love you Paris he was just using you.’’. Tears streaming down her face Paris runs out into the street as the sky became heavy and pregnant with rain, walking slowly and lifelessly under the rain she realised how much of a fool she had been, believing Aaron, picking Aaron over Baylor who would have never done this her, her broken tears mixing gracefully with the rain. CHAPTER TWENTY - FIVE– BLUE FLAME Aaron having tried Paris’s line for the fiftieth time that night had hopefully ran to the door at the first ring of the doorbell only to meet Alexa by the door a bottle of wine in her hand, finding the right words to wade her off without being offensive, he settled for ‘’ Hey …. What are you doing here? and by this time? ‘’ Well I brought champagne so we could celebrate , Lord knows we have a lot to celebrate’’ she says sauntering into the apartment without waiting for him to invite her in , disappointed he closed the door and turned to her , who had taken off her coat and had settled herself on a couch in the living room, wine glasses on the centre table , furious at her ability to make herself comfortable in his house he moved to walk away from the living room when she spoke ‘’ I remember our memories here …. On this couch, sipping wine and eating caviars then making love, I remember us watching our favourite show keeping up with the Kardashians here and arguing about who was prettier between Kylie and Kendall, you were always team Kendall and I always thought you were just being bias as you guys once modelled together, Kylie was always it for me …. Ohhh remember the day we slow danced to Justin Timberlake’s mirror wearing nothing but towels, that will always be my favourite memory in this house, it was so romantic, second only to the day you proposed to me … you were so nervous ,the ring box kept falling off your hands ,and I remember the earnest look on your face when you asked me to marry you’’ she then stood up and walked up to him , hugging him from behind , compared to Paris he felt cold instead of heat radiating from her body and the close contact made him utterly uncomfortable ,removing her hands from his waist , he slowly turned to her . ‘’ Alexa… ‘’ he said but she cut him off, her eyes brimming with tears. ‘’ Do you know the reason why I accepted to marry you that day? ... it was because I knew you were the man I wanted to spend my entire life with, there was no doubt about that, it was you, it still is you, it’s you Aaron, we were perfect together, we are perfect together’’ she said grabbing his hands and fondling them. ‘’ Well things have changed for me Alexa, once upon a time I wanted to be with you but things didn’t work between us so we have to let it go, I have, I have moved on Alexa, you should too …’’ he says only to be cut off again. ‘’ With the blondie? Aaron you are just confused right now, you are pumped full of adrenaline, the thrill of messing with her is clouding your judgement Aaron, you don’t love her neither do you care for her, you told me that! Just give us a chance, give me another chance to make it up to you. ‘’Initially I was confused about my feelings and I was torn between right and wrong but I care about Paris… hell am crazy about her , I love her and I am going to be with her , the confused one here is you Alexa for holding on to the past, I never even liked the show neither did I ever like caviars, I hate fish and anything fish related neither was I ever a fan of kylie I only gave my opinion on who I felt was more bearable, all that was you forcing the things you liked on me , you never once asked about how I felt about anything , my opinion , my feelings never mattered to you… we were never perfect , we were just trying to endure each other and like I was saying earlier before you interrupted me , Han likes you, he has since the first day he met you and he hasn’t for a day stopped showing you his feelings , you should give him a chance , you and I are done , we have been over since a while ago, I love Paris and I won’t stop loving her anytime soon’’. ‘’ That’s not what you told me that night in the car, I have it recorded on my phone! … you said it meant nothing!’’She says wearing a crazed look, doing a double take on her words he moves closer to her and grabs her by the shoulder. ‘’ What did you just say?... you recorded our conversation that night?’’. ‘’ Well…...’’ she stuttered, looking down in guilt. ‘’ What did you do with the record Alexa? What did you do with it?’’ he bellows in anger. ‘’ Nothing!’’ she spat back in defence. ‘’ I know you Alexa, you had it recorded for a reason, I know what you are capable of, so am going to ask you one last time … what did you do with that record?!’’. he asked angrily, in that moment wishing he never met this vile woman. ‘’ I played it for her, so she would know her place’’. She says maliciously, gnashing her teeth. ‘’ Her’’ the three letter word rang out loudly in Aaron’s ear, a word that pointed at only one person in particular, the her undoubtedly being Paris, that explained her refusing to speak with him, but why did she run out of his house as she did? He took three steps back as the realization dawned on him , he was fucked he realised , he fucked up he knew , he had to make this right , he had to explain himself , he couldn’t lose her this way , she needed to hear the truth from him , he thought to himself as he looked away from Alexa disdainfully and without waiting to say a word to her, races out of his apartment with only his socks and slippers on his feet, a short and a Lakers t- shirt on his back. He then drove off to Paris’s place, breaking almost every traffic law there was and after packing messily in the lot like a rookie race car driver, he walked hurriedly up the stairs , ran into the almost full elevator , squeezing himself in to the chagrin of the others, then ran through the hallway to Paris’s apartment whose door he met wide open , and stepping in, he stopped eyes wide open and gasped as everywhere in the apartment was a bloody mess , the television was broken , plates and glass in broken bits all over the floor and in the midst of the carnage was Paris who was hugging herself tears streaming down her face in painful droplets , a cut on her hand was oozing out blood, her eyes bloodshot and rimmed with tears, wanting to console her , he says softly ‘’ Am sorry Paris , am so sorry, my mom told me to distract you in any way possible but me employing you to work for me at M and M was my choice.. believe me’’. ‘’ A choice made to seduce me, to distract me right… I feel like such a fool, am such a big fool!’’ Paris shoots backs with a low hoarse broken voice… ‘’ Was any thing you ever told me even true? You hid your true self from me, you bloody hypocrite’’ she says angrily. ‘’ Everything I ever said was true, I never once lied to you, those things I couldn’t tell you I hid from you but I loved you Paris … I love you’’. ‘’Liar!’’ she screams throwing a glass bottle at him which narrowly misses him and hits the wall behind him shattering into pieces, feeling her pain he begins to confess ‘’ Alexa and I were once a couple, we had a kid on the way. I was planning to quit the modelling world and opening my own company, Alexa was still modelling, she then got pregnant and I was happy to be a dad but Alexa…’’ he says his voice breaking ‘’ she had a show coming up and she … she got rid of our baby, she didn’t even tell me, a doctor friend of mine who was aware of our relationship had told me weeks later and I had called off the wedding … Paris that is the truth … Paris please ... falling in love with you wasn’t planned… it just happened’’. ‘’ But you and her got back together this year’’ came Paris’s weak response. ‘’ No! she needed a job as she was depressed and I felt sorry for her plus I needed workers so I employed her and drove her home a few times but it never went further than that Paris… believe me Alexa and I are done, have been for a long time.’’ ‘’ Get out!!’’ she yells out, breaking into a fresh bout of tears ‘’ get out!!!!’’…. she says again almost choking on her words , nodding slowly and tossing the first aid kit to her, he walks out closing the door and collapsing behind it as tears streamed down his face , the only time he ever cried like was the night he found out his baby was gone , letting himself go he cried out loud as a sharp pain spread through his body, he thought about how ironic it was that his name was win and how so far in his life he had always suffered losses , first his father, his unborn child, then Paris.