The thin line
“That bastard! I cannot believe that I swallowed my pride and showed my interest in him. He turned me down. He fucking turned me down,” Ellen panted and ranted at the same time storming to and fro every corners in the room, fuming beyond normal and unable to catch her breath.
She had never been outrightly rejected by a man in that sort of polite manner, on any of the blind dates that she had gone to. However, it was hard to fathom what she did wrong, that made it even seem like the guy’s outlook changed when he turned to see her. She remembered his freezing smile when their eyes first met.
‘Had they met somewhere before? Does he know her so personally?’
“I really cannot believe that this date would totally get ruined for you. You probably weren’t the woman of his dreams,” Emma, who was just ready to leave the house, stood in front of the mirror to adjust her dress. She had replied to her sister in a frivolous tone, peppered with sauciness which made Ellen more bitter.
“Is that what you are going to say about this?” Taken aback in surprise about how blunt her sister was, Ellen asked in exasperation as she tried not to release her tears. She detested humiliation.
“I am sorry this happened to you, Emma. I really am. But, you gotta move on and feel good as fast as you can,” she answered her sister in the most honest way that she could.
“I am checking the internet right now, to know who the heck he really is!” Ellen grabbed her phone immediately and quickly typed his name on the search engine, as she angrily pulled off the heels that she had been standing in since she came back sad.
“And check for any related women too. Scandals and all kinds of news. You said he has another in his heart. There might be a clue,” Emma reminded her, as she tried hard to curl her hair perfectly into nice waves.
She had watched a practice video hours ago and it looked quite easy when the blonde lady in the video did hers, but she had been struggling to make it as perfect as the one she saw for hours. It was like a fun break for her, after she spent weeks studying the research information her grandfather gifted her.
“He just inherited part of the Carson motors, owns his own resort and other companies too. Young, handsome and highly intelligent. He is …………He is scandal-free?!” Ellen yelled at the reading of the last sentence she didn’t expect to see in the article, as she scrolled quickly to other websites to see if the information was plausible.
“That is really uncommon to come by. An elite without scandal? Not even dating news? He is the perfect man, then,” Emma commended with a huge grin on her face, as she grabbed her phone to check the location of where the person she was planning to meet had chosen.
“Is he gay? Is that why he is not interested in me? Maybe he hasn’t come out to his father yet? Do you think so? Do you? Is he by any chance playing hard to get?” Ellen speculated so many things in her head in a few seconds, as she said them out loud to Emma’s hearing. It was really hard for her to accept an instant rejection.
“Do not jump to conclusions, darling. He is probably another man like Dalton who has taste for weird people. Nothing personal.”
“Where are you going by the way?” Ellen suddenly realized after her endless crying and shouting to the smudging of her makeup, that her sister had been getting dressed since she entered her room. It was almost 8:00pm, and she rarely left the house from evening till the next morning.
“Guess what? I found a website that helps you meet other people from other countries and become friends with them. A girl and I became friends about two weeks ago, and we are meeting this evening. She is from the Philippines,” Emma informed her sister, who shook her head disappointedly at her really vulnerable sister.
‘Well. They both were.’
“Did you hide your identity on the website? And ain’t you really scared of meeting people that you have never seen before?” Ellen asked with the little bit of strength in her. She couldn’t dissuade her anymore though.
“This is America, and we are fine. I’ll be back soon,” Emma rushed out immediately after grabbing her purse, before her sister would say something to discourage her again.
~•~. ~•~.
The house in sight was really beautiful and simply built in water, with more of everything around the view of pure and beautiful nature. There was a man and a woman sitting comfortably by the aesthetically constructed chairs that were by the pool, face to face as the lady munched on the snacks they were on the table.All rights © NôvelDrama.Org.
“Are they all related to everything that has been going on around your life lately?” Collin asked with concern, regarding what Aria had asked him to do for her.
“I honestly don’t know. I just want you to help me find someone to take up the job instead of me. Trailing Ellen has been really hard, because Dalton is always in my trail. I am focusing the attention on her right now, because she is most versed with the internet,” Aria answered with a smug suddenly tugging across her lips, as she remembered what had happened between her and Dalton a few days ago.
She had caused trouble in the lab and threw an emotional rage, which ended up with the doctor having to write a report of her instability. Dalton was not convinced by her action and everything the doctor had confirmed, but he immediately signed papers for her to start seeing a therapist.
In the course of seeing a therapist, she would only visit the shopping mall twice a week, while legal management would take on managing most of the shopping mall workload. After she had shown signs of progress in the therapy, then she could now proceed to whatever she was meant to do.
She was glad that she was about to get the doctor fully convinced with her fake display, and beat Dalton to his own unwilling game. The look he gave her when she came out of the test room still playing her role was so hilarious, that she wished she could take a photo of it and put it in a frame. The entire night that same day too remained a silent one too.
‘It is better to remain with a therapist that you will not cooperate with, than a man who is forcing you to take a check at your mental city.’
“What are you thinking about? You seem so far away from here, but you do have a smile on your face,” Collin pointed out as he continued to watch Aria, who had spaced out for a few minutes while he was talking to her. It was a genuine smile that he rarely saw, and he wondered what she was thinking about.
“Nothing much. Just a prank I played. How did your date go yesterday? Was she your type?” Aria diverted the question from things that revolved around her, to the date that he had told her about the previous day.
She knew that it was unfair asking him to help her without telling the full details, but she was not willing to get him fully involved in her affairs. It would make it easy for him to pull out if things got rough. She needed to get more information from the anonymous being who was willing to help her, even though she had not confirmed why.
“You wouldn’t believe who came. It was Ellen Miller, and she was definitely not my type,” he told her with a cringe on his face, and Aria’s eyes dilated in surprise to hear what Collin was telling her.
It became a really funny scenario in her head of what could have taken place, and how the date would have ended on a good short notice of never to proceed further.
“That is a black card then,” Aria chuckled, and gently sipped from the glass of cocktail that she was drinking. She really wanted to know how Ellen would be feeling having faced second rejection, “What kind of lady is your type then? I have not seen any lady snooping around you with romance,” she inquired.
The question Aria asked nonchalantly kind of hit Collin in his truth sac, that he wanted to spill everything that was in his heart to her. He wanted to tell her how much he truly cared for and loved her, and how badly he wanted her to divorce her husband and live in another place with him.
Instead, he stood up immediately and pulled the shirt he was wearing over his head, to reveal his rippling muscles and beautiful body divine to eyesight and was left in his shorts.
Collin jumped into the pool immediately as the water engulfed his head, and he pulled his head out of the water shortly after to catch his breath. The water had waved over his hair and made it so drenched and curly, which made him look even more cute in the pool.
“Come for a swim,” he called out to her, but he gave him a playful scowl that she didn’t think she wanted to.
It was fair enough to consider because she wasn’t in a bikini, and it was a private home with a pool which would definitely have none. She just preferred watching the beautiful sight of him as he swam, but he seemed persistent about it though.
“I do not want to get wet. A shirt and trousers is definitely not a perfect swimsuit,” she said.
He came out of the pool after a while of swimming in the pool, all dripping with water crystals and walked over to where Aria was sitting while eating. He instantly swooped her up without warning as she lost guard of herself, and threw her into the pool before she could even think of a defense.
It was a very loud splash that plunged her deep into the body of water, but she ended up floating back up as he jumped back in too. She screamed at him and sneered at him for drenching her cloth unnecessarily, but for him, it was the only way he could gain courage and confess to her once and for all.