Elected To Love

Chapter 13

As Aliara sat on the chilly couch, she watched with wide eyes as the number of views on the post increased minute by minute. She hadn't thought the page would fire back when she had discussed this yesterday.

It was a cold afternoon, made worse by the post from yesterday. Ivan was still working with Saint and Federico to find the person behind it, and Zara was trying to find out anything she could learn about the admin, as she assured them that multiple people were involved in the confessions page.

Aliara was preparing for a Zoom call meeting that she needed to attend to plan the exhibition with her team, but her thoughts were still straying over the posts on the page.

Yesterday, after the conversation with Ivan, she had not bothered to glance at the page and had told Uma good night before falling asleep, not realizing that her friend had called and messaged her again after their chat.

It was then that she came across the post and the stories about shipping, which she clearly regretted.

As Sofia continued to talk and Saint kept adding things, Aliara's fingers grabbed the sides of her phone, unable to focus halfway through the meeting.

She was surprised to see that the page had been made private as she scrolled to see if there had been any updates, and she gasped as her fingers went to open Ivan's chat screen after getting a brief message from him.

"Hey there, everything is under control. Although trying to identify the person responsible was unsuccessful we were able to request that the owner to remove any posts that mentioned us and also make the page private," his text read, reading the message and she smiled broadly as a wave of relief swept over her body.

After quickly replying, "Thank you," she paused to read the subsequent text he sent, which said, "Also, I would not be able to chat with you for some time, maybe till the end of the weekend. After reading the posts, my mother got upset about the false rumors circulating." 

Aliara abruptly got up from the meeting, calling him as her eyes became wide with shock.

As soon as Ivan picked up the phone, she enquired, "Is everything ok?" "Hey, calmed down and everything's under control, Carina," he responded before continuing.

"I'm fine, but my mom didn't like that I brought you along with me in this. She is more worried about the girl I was shipped with, and her reputation."

When Aliara heard this, she burst up laughing, and Ivan's tone changed, 

"Hey, I'm not that horrible to be shipped with. She was just afraid that everything would be revealed and that people in town would take the wrong impression since you never know-"

Aliara interrupted Ivan once more, but this time he was pleased because he could still hear her chuckle.

She added, "I get it, stop explaining so much. It's not like you are going to propose to me," but she quickly stopped as she realized what she had just said. On the other end of the call, Ivan's face heated.

Once more, there was a painful quiet between them. A minute later, Ivan began, "Yah, as I said I will be keeping a distance just to make sure my mom-" but Aliara interrupted him abruptly.

"No worries, you can explain to her and you don't have to take on the entire responsibility for something you didn't do.... Also, y- you are n- not an awful person to ship with. I have to go now. Bye."

Ivan burst out laughing at her haste after she had complimented him, but she swiftly ended the call, attempting to console him but not wanting to hear anything from the other end as her ears turned crimson.

Whoa! Aliara was still trying to figure out how she could say that aloud when her heart was racing, and boy, he was falling for her silliness.

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Aliara addressed her members, and as she saw Uma walk into her room, her expression lit up.

"So that's it and Saint bring the file with the printed documents in it to show it to Mrs. Nancy and I will get going guys also so sorry I left the meeting just like that in the afternoon," Aliara stated.

Uma waved at the screen. "Oh also guys, we will have Uma to help us with the decorations so she will be joining our team," Aliara remarked and the others nodded in agreement.

After exiting the meeting, Aliara settled down on the bed next to Uma and noticed her browsing through Instagram.

 Uma stated, "Congrats, all the posts were taken down," which caused Aliara to smile a little too much and catch her attention.

Uma got up and sat down, leaning her back against Aliara's bed's headrest, staring at Aliara, who was silently grinning into the abyss.

"Hey? You there?" Aliara looked up at Uma as she waved her palm in front of her and said, "Oh, s-sorry, it's just that I am happy it was all taken down." Uma shrugged at her ridiculous reaction.

"Yes, hopefully not too much was shared for the entire town to hear, and I'm glad I stopped Mariana from using her Twitter skills any further," Uma spoke with pride, and Aliara understood by nodding.

The majority of their conversations soon came to an end, and Uma needed to help Aliara in choosing a dress for the upcoming Friday party that she had to attend. "Let me try out two of my options,"

Uma patiently waited there as Aliara spoke, getting her to nod in agreement as she hurried to the bathroom to change out of each of the gorgeous dresses. "Well, so this is the first one," Aliara declared as she walked out.

Uma was drawn to it right away; it was a straightforward blue gown with a light blue sheen on top and a single flared layer on the bottom that gave it an attractive yet simple appearance.

 Aliara arched an eyebrow at Uma's seductive comment, "This one's really nice, show me the next one honey," before entering and changing.

"My dear, I hope you enjoy this one." Uma's lips pursed as Alaira spoke in the same tone as her as she walked out, saying, "Because this is the only other choice," yet her eyes were shining on the violet outfit.

"Oh my!" Uma stood up and approached Aliara, grazing her fingertips along the neck area as she murmured, "This one is perfect, the pearls around its neck look beautiful."

Her gaze drifted over to the dress, which enveloped the majority of her body as it touched the floor and fit flawlessly. 

Aliara moved closer to Uma and whispered, "Hey, stop looking at me like that. Or do you like what you see?" Her appealing question made Uma gasp at the unexpected closeness as she pushed the lady back.

Uma said, "Man, you need to find a boyfriend or we might turn gay," which made Aliara laugh aloud while she looked in the mirror. 

She nodded and gave Uma a thumbs up, saying, "Okay, then I'm going to wear this." while Uma said, "Totally it's great." 

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Three days went by quickly, and on Friday night, Aliara and her family walked towards the event hall.

 The pathway was lined with pink blossom flowers, and when Aliara first entered the auditorium, she faked a smile while gripping her purse.

She simply followed the wealthy parties' formula, having a solid grasp of it. She walked hand in hand with her parents towards the massive front door, her father striking up a conversation with one of the elderly rich individuals, most likely the hosts.

When Aliara heard her father calling, she moved to join them. Her father introduced her and then resumed their talk, which exhausted Aliara.

 As soon as her mother walked away, Aliara excused herself and followed her.

~Maria