𝘼𝙧𝙮𝙡𝙞𝙚 (𝙄𝙢𝙡𝙞𝙚 & 𝘼𝙧𝙮𝙖𝙣)

Chapter Six

Thank you guys for 800 reads. Enjoy🖤!

Imlie POV

'Where are we going?' I asked as he held my hand and led me through the hallway and we were at the front door.

He didn't respond and when we got to the steps leading out of the house, he took out a blindfold and turned to look at me.

'Put this on,' he demanded. I looked at him and I was about to protest but he gave me a stern look.

'Fine,' I say.

I put on the blindfold and he held my hand. We walked for a few seconds until he stopped. He gently removed the blindfold and I gasped. Laying in front of me was a tent and inside the tent was a birthday cake, food and drinks.

There were balloons inside the tent with a bunch of lilies on the table with a birthday card. 'Happy belated birthday Imlie.' He beamed.

I was still in awe and I did the only thing that could come to my mind, I hugged him. 'Thank you ABP but why did you do all this, the setup? You could have just done this in your room. It must have taken a while to set up.' I was overjoyed.

'We can't have two birthday parties inside the house and besides I wanted you to have your own experience.'

We sat down and he told me, make a wish before you blow out the candles. 'What did you wish for?' He inquired.

'So nosy but I won't tell you. If I do, it won't come to pass.' He opened the cover on the plates and I blinked so hard to prevent the tears from falling. It was roti and curry.

'I made u roti and curry, it might not taste like ur mum's roti but I hope you like it.' I was overjoyed but suddenly I blurted out.

'Aryan, why are you doing all this for me? Why are you doing this for just a mere employee.' Tears were rolling down my eyes, I have never felt so much joy as I have in the past year. I could feel my heart swell with happiness.

'Here,' he said feeding me the roti. 'Such a cry baby' he mumbled and I laughed amid tears. He was trying to dodge my question because he was not looking me in the eye as usual.

'The flowers smell so nice but why did you get me lilies?' I asked as I inhaled them. I tried to change the topic because, on second thought, I wasn't prepared to hear the answer to that question.

He didn't respond and I thought to myself to google it later. The silence became so awkward and I started to tell him about my experiences in the village and the silly things I did while he just sat there with amusement on his face.

I was beginning to like this version of Aryan and I was over the moon, I got to be the one to see it. 'Aryan since today's my birthday, why don't we play truth or dare for one last time.'

He rolled his eyes and I knew he couldn't refuse. I chuckled, he doesn't know how funny he looks when he does that.

'Truth' he said and I jumped with joy inside. I was hoping he'd pick truth because I wanted to know why he has such an attitude.

'What happened to you six years ago?' I asked and he looked at me shocked. It seemed like he was having a panic attack recounting those events so I reached out and held his hand squeezing it gently.

'If you don't want to talk about it, it's fine. I just overheard Arpita asking you to let go of whatever happened six years ago, I'm sorry for eavesdropping.'

He stood up quickly and said, 'I hope you liked the surprise.' He said trying to change the topic again and I let it go because judging from his reaction, it's better I don't press further.

I was hurt a little bit but I made up my mind to find out more from Aripta. I felt he didn't trust me enough to share his pain with me.

'Are you kidding me, Aryan,' I looked at him, I did enjoy myself. 'Everything was perfect!' I yelled in excitement.

'When did you prepare everything and the food? You are such a good cook.' I winked at him and he rolled his eyes but I caught his grin before he could hide it.

Time flew by in a blur and it was 10 pm already. The guests were already leaving and I had so much fun. He made a phone call and a few servants arrived. One cleared up the tent and the other took the leftover cake to my room.

Arpita was waiting for us when we finally got inside. 'Where were you two? I wanted you two to say hello to some of my friends.'

'I'm sorry di but I got to go. I have some work to finish, please send Rajiv to my room to make me coffee.' He said and walked to his room.

Arpita sighed and crooned. 'He is always working even on days he should take a break like today.'

The guests left weren't much and everywhere was pretty much cleared up by 10:50 pm. I made sure coffee was sent to Aryan but the servant looked new, It was my first time seeing him.

I was helping Arpita clean up and we made small talk. 'Who is the new guy? Did you hire someone new?'

'He was brought in this evening, Rajiv was sick and this is his substitute for now.' She answered.

'Arpita, could you spare a few moments to talk.' I say changing my facial expression to being very serious.

'What happened six years ago?' She looked away but I held her hand. 'Please di, say something.'

'You should ask him'.

'I did but he doesn't want to answer and judging by his reaction, it would be too painful to recount. Please di, I want to help Aryan, even I don't like seeing him like this.'

'Arvind, my ex husband wanted to build a pharmaceutical company in pagdandiya to help the villagers get access to quality drugs. On the day of the inauguration, a journalist appeared and provided fake evidence saying Arvind wanted to sell and produce hard drugs and he didn't want to do it in the city because of the government and police.'

She stopped and I took her hands in mine, squeezing it gently. 'What happened next di?'

'He was burnt to death by an angry mob and Aryan managed to escape.' She croaked.

'I'm sorry di.' I say, she smiled faintly and continued.

'Aryan was supposed to get married a month after the inauguration but she left Aryan on the mandap without showing up.'

'Who was this journalist and the lady?' I asked Arpita.

'I have no idea about the journalist and the lady's name is Jyoti, we heard she left the country.' She answered honestly.

I made up my mind to find out who the journalist is and help my Aryan. Judging from what I knew about aryan, he was trying to find evidence to clear Arvind's name.

'Okay,' I muttered and suddenly I remembered I haven't thanked Arpita.

'Thank you Arpita, you are such a beautiful soul.' I complimented her and I meant it, she was God sent.

'What did I do imlie?' She looked at me puzzled.

'Don't act so humble, I'm talking about the period care package you sent.'

'Me? Oh, I didn't send you that. Aru did.' She disclosed getting up to continue with what we were doing earlier.

I stopped dead in my tracks and stared at Arpita. I could never in my wildest dreams think that ABP would get me a period package. I dropped the box I was holding and ran to Aryan's room and knocked.

There was no response and I suddenly had this strange feeling. I turned the door knob and I found the door wasn't locked. I shut the door behind me and I trembled at the sight in front of me.

Aryan was sprawled on the floor, he was arching his body in a way unusual for a human being. He was frothing in the mouth and the teacup was a few metres away from him.

Author's Note: Please don't forget to vote and leave a comment. Thank you for reading.