Authors POV
Her legs didn't wait to understand the exact meaning of it. As soon as his grip on her hand loosens, she runs out of the room. Her breath was ripped as she climbed the stairs leading her downstairs. The fear was still clinging to her.
Back in the office, Vincent stood rooted in place as his eyes lingered in the direction where Aria had disappeared.
His face remained stone-carved, avoiding any emotions, but something had changed in him. Those grey eyes, which always remained void of emotion, revealed something deep and buried, hard for anyone to understand.
Aria's feet touched the hall as her hand moved to her chest, trying to catch her breath.
She turned her gaze towards the main door which was leading her out of this nightmare.
Her legs moved towards the path out of this nightmare, each step desperate to leave.
But before she could reach there, a voice stopped her.
"Aria!..... Aria!"
Aria turned around and saw Sylvia coming towards her. Sylvia was Aria's friend who always helped her with everything. Her gaze caught a familiar bag in Sylvia's hand as she came to stand in front of Aria.
Sylvia extended the bag towards her and mumbled, "You forgot this yesterday… your bag. It has your phone and all your things. I thought you might need it."
Aria took the bag, and a wave of relief washed over her. "Thank you," Aria murmured. It was low, but the gratitude was clearly there.
Sylvia smiled at her words, but her expression slowly shifted into a concerned one as she asked, "Are you okay, Aria?" In Sylvia's voice, the hesitation was clear, her brows knitting together.
"I don't know what happened that made you marry him. But… if you ever need help… I'm here for you, okay?"
Aria looked at her, her eyes softening, burning with tears, but she controlled them. She felt a sense of warmness in her words, knowing someone was there for her.
Aria nodded softly. "Thank you, Sumati."
Sylvia gave a reassuring smile as Aria turned to leave, heading toward the door.
As Aria stepped outside the mansion, she raised her hand to a taxi. When she opened the door and got inside, she gave her location to the driver. She caught the strange look he gave to her clothes, but Aria ignored it completely.
Aria had no plan to tell her mom what she had done about the contract marriage and everything. While stopping the taxi by her house, she changed her clothes.
Her thoughts drifted to Vincent's words, sending a shiver through her body as she promised herself that she was never touching his clothes again.
When the taxi stopped at the hospital, Aria paid the driver and rushed inside. The smell of the hospital hit her immediately; this smell always made her feel uneasy. She approached the stairs.
Aria reached her mom's hospital room. Her hand moved to push the door but stopped as she quickly adjusted her clothes, to hide the marks. She didn't want her mom to see.
Taking a deep breath, Aria pushed the door and stepped inside, only to be surprised.
A man was sitting on the chair beside the bed, his back facing her. From his build, he looked in his fifties, speaking to her mom.
It didn't take long for Aria to recognise the man; it was her maternal uncle, her mom's brother.
Hearing the sound of the door opening, he turned around, and a warm smile formed on his lips.
"Aria," he said, getting up as he took her into a gentle hug.
Surprised but touched, Aria looked over his shoulder towards her mom. Her mom's face looked healthier than she expected, and a full, emotional smile made its way to Aria's lips.
After pulling back from the hug, Aria immediately moved towards her mother's side.
"Mom, are you okay? How are you feeling? Is there any pain?" Her voice came out trembling with worry.
Her mother shook her head, reaching for Aria's hand and guiding her to sit on the chair next to the bed.
"Calm down first. And look, I am totally fine."
At her mom's words, Aria's eyes filled with tears as a sob broke through her lips. She had almost thought she had lost her mother. She loved her mother so much that she didn't even step back from selling herself too.
Her mother, seeing her daughter breaking silently, pulled her into a hug. Her surgery had just taken place, so she wasn't able to make much movement.
"Take a breath, I am here"
---
After sending her mother with her maternal uncle before, her mother and she used to live here, but after her mother's surgery, her uncle argued that they were going to come live with him, till her mother is stable.
She managed to make them let her stay because of her upcoming exam, but it was not the only reason. It was the contract, too; she couldn't leave this city or go anywhere for six months, and she needed to live with Vincent for those six months.
Her heart felt heavy with the weight of the unbearable loneliness she was feeling this time.
She wanted to run away, far away from those haunting grey eyes. The silence of the evening made it worse, making her feel how alone she really was.
Taking deep breaths, she almost forced her legs to move inside. The mansion was quiet. In front of her gaze, she couldn't see a single human being in the hallway.
Her stomach growled painfully, reminding her that she hadn't had a piece of food since yesterday. Her body felt weak, as if it had reached its limit and could give up any second.
Her hunger was greater than the hesitation she felt as she finally made her way to the kitchen.
She stepped into the doorway hesitantly, her pride still holding her back.
But a cruel, painful twist in her stomach reminded her that nothing was bigger than hunger and survival.
And the pride she had already lost.
She opened the fridge, her hand trembling as it found the leftover food. Without thinking much, she grabbed it and heated it up.
Taking it on a plate, Aria took her first bite, a big one. She didn't care how it tasted. Her hunger overpowered everything.
As the food slid down her throat, tears gathered in her eyes. Everything hit her at once, her mother leaving, the loneliness suffocating her in the worst way, and the contract marriage, selling herself… a situation she never imagined.
Her bites became fast and frantic, as if eating could fill the emptiness she was feeling. But the more she ate, the harder she cried. The tears falling into the food. The silent tears broke into sobs.
Her body shook as she slid down on the cold floor, the plate slipping from her hand. Her arms wrapped around herself as her face buried into her knees, her body shaking with broken sobs and hiccups.
She felt like a totally different person like a stranger in her own life, a life that no longer felt like hers.
After what felt like hours of crying, Aria forced herself to get up. Her body felt heavy and drained, but she gathered herself, washed the plate, and put it back in its place.
She made her way to the room hesitantly, the room she had spent the previous night in.
Her steps stopped outside the door. Her heart was racing, her hands turning wet with sweat as she gripped her dress tightly. She didn't want to enter the room again and didn't want to feel suffocated.
And most importantly, she didn't want to face him.
But did she have any choice? The answer was no.
Taking a deep breath, she pushed the door open, first peeking inside.
The room was empty. A wave of relief washed over her, thinking he wasn't there.
She entered inside and, moving toward the bed, she threw herself onto the mattress. The exhaustion of everything hung on her like a burden she couldn't take off.
She didn't care about anything, her body, her mind, everything in her body demanded rest. Her eyes closed automatically as sleep surrendered her.
Time passed, but sometime around midnight, a strange sensation woke her. She felt something wet brushing against her neck.
Aria's brows furrowed as she tried to shake off the sensation.
Slowly, the sensation trailed lower, moving from her neck to her collarbone, and then lower. Her heartbeat grew faster as she felt something hovering over her.
Her eyes flew open in shock and what she saw froze her to the core.