Splash!

I took a sharp intake of breath when my face hit the water. Where was I? Why was I drowning?

I opened my eyes with a jerk and sat up. Looking around, I realized I was still in my room, on my bed. No tsunami? No drowning?

"Get up, sleepyhead." I heard a girl's voice say to me. I turned my head towards the familiar voice and saw the familiar face standing next to my bed. It was Nadia.

She had an empty glass in her hand and I touched my face only to realize it was soaked. My face had not hit the water, it was the water that had hit my face. And my clothes. And my bedsheet. Nadia had poured the whole glass over my face.

"You could have just sprinkled it!" I said, suppressing a yawn.

"I was debating if it would work but then it was getting late so I took the best route," Nadia explained. Taking me by my arm she pulled me out of the bed.

"You'll be late!" She said, pushing me towards my bathroom.

I'll be late? Where am I going?

Milan, you idiot!

The more conscious voice in my head informed me.

My eyes went wide with the realization. I looked at the clock and slapped my forehead. It was already 6 in the morning. I was definitely going to be late. Thanking Nadia, I ran inside my bathroom for a quick shower.

"Quick, Caro! Quick," Nadia shouted from the other side of the door.

I had called her last night to inform her about the trip. Her excitement for me was even greater than mine. As expected, she told me she wanted to see me off at the airport. It was also that she wanted to officially meet Aaron for once.

Nadia had pulled out a pair of jeans and a shirt for me by the time I walked out of the bathroom. I got dressed and went to put on some makeup while Nadia paced around the room, thinking hard if there was anything I was forgetting. I had already packed my bags the previous evening so I didn't think anything was missing. Once she was sure, we took the bags and ran down the stairs.

We had woken everyone in the house by paying no attention to all the loud noises we were creating in hurry. They had come out of their rooms to check for the source of the voices, but I was too focused to make it to the airport on time to bid them farewell. Apparently, Nadia did.

"Ba bye, bitches," she waved to the three of them as we walked out of the house.

We threw the bags in the trunk of the car and Nadia went behind the wheels. I did not trust my driving enough in a stressful situation like this one. I did not trust Nadia's driving too, but it was not like there was anything I could say to change her mind. She had already warned me to sit silently and leave it to her to get me to the airport on time.

What would I have done without a friend like her?

"What happened to James' nose? I can imagine someone breaking it for the kind of bitch he is," Nadia laughed as she zoomed through the empty streets. It made me contemplate if I was going to die before we made it to the airport.

"Aaron did. And slow down the car!" I screamed, but she ignored me and pushed the accelerator further. Yup, that's my end.

"He really did?"

"Yeah. With a tennis ball." Nadia laughed then controlled it and focused on her driving.

Exactly 10 mins later, we were outside the airport. There were a lot of people carrying their bags and entering the waiting area and I hoped I had not missed the flight. I can't miss my first flight. I can't miss my trip with Aaron.

"It's 6:35. We're late," Nadia said glaring at me as if it was my fault.

It was. It was definitely my fault.

"I'll go inside and check," I told her as we pulled the bags out of the trunk. I had started to walk inside when I heard someone call my name.

A well-dressed man in formal attire was making his way toward me. He spoke something in his earpiece, then nodded at something.

"Ms Caroline?" he asked. I nodded.

"Mr Woodwords is waiting for you over there," he said pointing towards a black SUV parked on the opposite side of the waiting area.

The man took the bags from my hand. Nadia and I followed him towards the car. As we moved closer, Aaron stepped out of the car. He was wearing a gray t-shirt that showed off the muscles of his arms, pairing it with black jeans and sky blue-tinted sunglasses. He took off the sunglasses and smiled at me.

"Sorry," I whispered for being late as I went closer to him. His response was just a wider smile.

"Hello, Mr Woodwords," Nadia forwarded her hand, "I'm Nadia. Caro's best friend," she said cheerfully.

"Good to finally meet you," Aaron said and took her hand for a handshake.

"It's so good to finally meet you too. I've heard so much about you from the newspapers and the media. And of course, Caroline talks about you a lot. But it's great to finally get to meet you in person. I just want to say that I'm very happy for the both of you and that..."

"It's okay, Nadia," I patted her back, chuckling as she was just blabbering by the end. She always does that when emotions overpower her head.

"Come. We need to leave soon," Aaron said, looking at me with an amused smile.

"I hope you take good care of my friend, Mr Woodwords," Nadia said again. Her face was dead serious when she spoke this time. "Because if you don't, let me warn you, I can be bad too," she threatened him. Aaron frowned, confused by the sudden change in her attitude. I bit my lower lip to suppress my laugh.

"Bye. Have fun," Nadia hugged me and turned around to go back to the car.

"I don't like her," Aaron said with a pissed off look.

"Oh wait," Nadia exclaimed all of a sudden as if realizing she had missed something and ran back towards us. "I wanted to thank you for what you did yesterday. I hope you do it more often," she giggled and went back towards the car.

Aaron gave me a confused look, "meaning?"

"You broke my father's nose," I sighed, shaking my head. Aaron's expression changed as he understood Nadia's meaning.

"Now I think I like her," he chuckled and placed his hand on the small of my back, guiding me away from the conventional waiting area of the airport. I looked over at Aaron, not knowing where he was taking me.

Aren't we late for the flight already?

We kept on walking till my eyes finally landed on the big jet standing at a short distance in front of us. As we walked closer to it, with the men in formal attire moving ahead of us with our luggage, I realized this was his jet. His private jet. I gasped.

Aaron gave a few instructions to some people before we boarded the jet.

A girl professionally dressed in a white blouse and a black skirt, greeted us as soon as we climbed the stairs.

"This is Lara," Aaron introduced her. She smiled at me. I did the same.

A man, whose attire gave away that he was the pilot, came forward to give Aaron a hug. "Caroline, meet Mark. He's my pilot and a good friend."

"You're beautiful," Mark smiled at me in a flirty manner. He didn't look serious. He was pulling a joke on Aaron.

"Stay back. She's taken," Aaron pushed him away gently to make way for me to go deeper inside the jet, and Mark chuckled.

As we moved further inside, I was surprised by the interior. It was a jet, but it had all the comfort and even luxuries a person could only dream of.

I looked around, taking in the beautiful designs when I saw the flight of stairs going somewhere up. What the hell? It had another floor?

Aaron took my hand in his and walked me up the round staircase, revealing a much more luxurious area than it was down below.

We sat in comfortable seats and Aaron helped me fix the buckle of my seatbelt. He took out a small phone from the side of his seat and told Mark to take off.

As soon as the plane started to move, I clutched Aaron's hand, squeezing it with all my strength. I closed my eyes shut and pressed my lips together. This was my first flight, I had not thought about it much, but now I realized I was scared of it.

Aaron placed his other hand over mine and leaned to whisper in my ear, "Don't worry, we won't crash."

I opened my eyes to glare at the handsome man sitting beside me and he chuckled with a raspy sound. Here I was worried about being inside a machine flying so high in the air and this man had the audacity to invoke a new fear in me.

"Shut up!" I tried to snap at him but my voice ended up like a whisper. My heartbeat quickened as the speed of the plane increased all of a sudden making me jerk back in the seat due to inertia.

"We're in the air," Aaron spoke after a short silence. He unbuckled both of our seatbelts and pulled up the window shades for me to look out. I did. We really were quite high up.

He got up from his seat and went back somewhere. He came back after a few minutes with a bottle of wine in one hand and two glasses in the other one. Aaron poured it, handing one to me and sat opposite to where I was sitting. The girl, Lara, came and placed different kinds of food on the table between us. I thanked her and she went back with a smile.

The food was sizzling hot and smelled heavenly.

"Where did you get that from?" I asked Aaron, pointing towards the food. We were in a jet, so getting this type of freshly made looking meal was a little odd.

"Lara cooked it," he answered, taking the first bite and urging me to do the same.

"You have a kitchen here?" I asked, my mouth wide open.

"Of course, I do," he smiled. Aaron offered me a bite and I took it.

Of course, I do? How simple and casual all this was for him?

We talked and laughed about different topics after that. He told me funny stories about his childhood. I even told him some of the crazy moments I had with Dylan in my childhood, the ones that I remember faintly. He also told me about his business in Milan. It was startling to see him talk about his work. Even though most of the technical business talk went over my head, I was once again surprised by how smart he was. It was only when Mark's voice from the speaker informed us about the landing, did we realize that we were already in Milan.

I was really tired till the time we got off the plane. Aaron thanked Mark as we moved out. A number of people were standing outside, waiting for him.

As soon as Aaron stepped down, they all came near him. After a brief conversation with them in a foreign language which I assume was Italian, he guided me towards a black limousine.

We ducked inside and the chauffeur drove off. I looked outside the window, admiring the beauty of the city until I dozed off on Aaron's shoulder.

********

The next morning, I woke up to the golden rays of the sun filtering through the glass window to fall over my face. The bed I was sleeping on was softer and much more comfortable than the one I was used to. I pushed aside the comforter and sat up.

Blocking the rays of the sun with the palm of my hand, I looked around the room. It was a hotel room.

Getting off bed, I went outside to look for Aaron. The suite was empty. Since there was another room directly opposite mine, I knocked on the door. When there was no response, I opened it and peeked in. Aaron wasn't there.

I felt the first tinge of panic hitting my senses and I stood in the middle of the suite with Aaron nowhere to be seen. Where was he?

I ran back to my room to look for my cell phone. I needed to call him. The little note at the bedside table put a hold on my frantic movements.

'Going out for work. Order some breakfast. Will be back soon. Miss me.

-A'

I sighed in relief, but still searched for the cell phone and called him. He didn't answer. Must be busy.

I took a shower, then looked for the kitchen. Last night, I went to sleep without eating anything. Now my stomach was growling for some food. Before I ordered any breakfast—as Aaron had asked me to—I went to the refrigerator. Pulling out a carton of milk, I poured it into a glass and drank it.

The noise of opening and closing the door made me dash out of the kitchen to greet Aaron. He was wearing his formal clothes, his tie hanging loose around his neck and the coat draped over his arm. He dropped the coat over the chair and sat on the couch. I went and sat beside him. He looked tired.

"Where were you? I got worried until I saw the note you left me," I said, carefully not sure of his mood.

"Had a meeting," he said, leaning his head on the arm of the couch and turning to look at me.

"Don't you think it's too early? Who calls a meeting this early in the morning?" I checked my phone for the time and it was 9 in the morning according to Milan's time.

"I did," he said simply.

"What? Why?" I asked, surprised by that piece of information.

"Because you see, I have this beautiful girl by my side, who is my fiance and I wish to spend my day with her, taking her on a tour around the city," he said, bringing his face closer to mine.

A blush crept on my cheeks and I smiled my biggest smile as he said those words.

"We have an entire week here. You don't have to tire yourself," I said stating the fact, but the smile did not leave my lips.

"I will be busier in the coming days. What if I don't get to spend much time with you afterwards? I don't want you to complain later," he said with an amused smile playing on his lips.

"I don't complain," I said, feigning hurt.

The smile slowly left his face as he kept on staring at me. He didn't say anything, but his eyes remained on my face.

"You don't," he murmured, pulling back. Though he was looking at me, he appeared to be in deep thought.

"That's the problem. You don't complain. You don't demand. You just listen. But you know what, Caroline. Start complaining, start demanding. If you don't like something, if you don't want something, don't do it. It's your life and only you have the right to control it. No one else," he said, looking straight into my eyes.

What happened to him? A moment ago he was teasing me. He had just told me that he had called a meeting early in the morning just so he could spend the day with me and now, he appeared to be angry. What happened? What did I do?

I blinked at him. Several times. Trying to figure out the reason behind his words. What have I done wrong?

"You're angry with me?" I whispered, scared that I had offended him by something.

Aaron frowned, then shook his head, the smile returning on his face, "angry with you, Caroline? Never."

He shifted closer and leaned for a kiss. It was all the assurance I needed.

"Get ready fast. You're going to love Milan," he said, with a wink. Taking his coat, he disappeared behind the door of his room.

What the hell just happened? Did he hit his head somewhere?

- Analia