She was walking barefoot on the sand when her eyes drifted to the quietness of the waves hitting the shore.
Her mind raced over everything that had happened; she never wanted to yell at her dad, but he was unaware that he was no different from everyone else in how he treated others.
She was tired of being perfect for him, yet her eyes grew teary as she considered how terrible she felt about offending her father.
This had occurred before, every time she rebelled against her will, and his reputation came in.
There was nothing else she could have done, as this was the first time in the previous three years that she had stood up, and the last time she had, her dad and 13-year-old self got into a heated argument.
Despite her deep affection for him, she could no longer put up with him thinking only of himself.
She looked ahead at the soft sand but stopped when she felt a presence behind her; she turned back to meet Ivan's gentle eyes as he inhaled deeply and smiled softly as if reassuring her that he was there for her.
She wiped her eyes rashly, trying not to show that she had fallen apart but it was too late. She gasped. "What brings you here?" Ivan took off his shoes and walked forward as she questioned him.
With a slight smile on his face, he remarked, "The same reason you are here," and walked forward. "Come on, let's walk together," he murmured, drawing her to walk with him.
They strolled silently, taking in the sound of the water splashing. While keeping a close eye on everything that had happened Aliara stared at Ivan and considered her father's disapproval of her relationship with him.
Of course, there was barely anything between them, but they both knew that if one of them took a step forward, there would be no stepping back.
Ivan glanced at Aliara as they finally sat down on the night's cool beach; her brown eyes shined as the moonlight glowed on her face; it was undeniably captivating to him.
His attention turned back to the lonely dark sea, which caused him to think deeply.
He knew his father had issues with Mr. Marinelli, but he had no clue they were so serious that Mr. Marinelli would not allow his daughter to be with him. He mentally faced palmed himself, wondering what the hell he was thinking.
Did he want to be with Aliara?
His thoughts rose again as he looked at the girl sitting beside him, who was almost in tears;
his answer, perhaps he did.
"You ok?" He asked, handing her a handkerchief; she quickly nodded, laughing out loud, but tears still ran from her eyes; "Yes, I can't believe I fought with Dad" Hearing this made Ivan glance at her as she decided to tell everything to him.
"I am sorry," Ivan replied after hearing what had happened. He felt terrible; if he had been faster and requested the admin to take everything down sooner, it might not have spread as rapidly.
"Hey, you didn't do anything and to be honest if it wasn't for you the page wouldn't have taken all of that down, and- thankfully they stopped the commotion- also I don't think that was that bad it was them having fun- nothing wrong at all" she continued,
"It was simply my father who made a fuss over it, and I'm not even sure what I was terrified of. Getting shipped with you by the school or Dad knowing that his daughter might have a boyfriend," she remarked, making Ivan scoff.
"What's with the reaction?" She enquired, "I guess you need to correct it, might have an 'eligible' boyfriend," he teased, making Aliara giggle again.
"Anyway, it was all people's misunderstandings; it shouldn't have gone so far," Ivan remarked, and Aliara nodded.
"But I think I am not good enough for Mr. Marinelli's daughter, even though I was the best ship of the year," he continued in a quiet voice that implied more than just sarcasm, making Aliara smile.
"Well, you never asked his daughter," she responded, and the two chuckled.
Their laughter quickly went down, and Aliara called out to Ivan as they stood up and walked near the shore.
She turned to face him and stared into his eyes, encouraging him to do the same. Their hearts raced as they broke off to speak. "Thank you," she replied, her voice filled with gratitude.
Ivan nodded at her before opening his arms and hastily asked for her permission, "Can I?" She quickly nodded as his arms closed around her, pulling her close to him while Aliara buried her face into his neck.
A Comfort hug, Aliara thought, realizing that was all she needed.
They remained silent, unwilling to say anything further. Their hearts still raced, but they found comfort in one other. Aliara let loose as she put her arms around him in exchange for his hug, and they remained in that position.
.
.
Sighing, Aliara walked along the street in the direction of her home.
When they had parted ways, Ivan had urged her to talk to her dad about it after their time together at the beach had helped her to calm down, and she had agreed.
She stood outside her house when her mom suddenly opened the door revealing her dad hastily walking out but the two stopped when they saw her standing there. Suddenly she was engulfed by her mother who pulled back quickly to bring her in,
"Where were you? We got anxious" Her mom said, Aliara quickly assured her that she was fine,
"Mom I am sorry I didn't realize the time, I was at the beach, you know it's just on the opposite side," she said making her mom settle down on the couch and her dad sit beside her.
"You should have informed us of the place at least, and don't worry Dad and I are not angry at all," Her mom said but stopped as she heard Mr. Marinelli clear his throat and she quickly smacked his shoulder.
Seeing her dad's reaction Aliara took a deep breath before explaining the whole situation, "So that's what happened" her mom mumbled listening to her.
"And you made a huge scene out of it," Aliara's mom said which made her father turn towards them, "I- I didn't have an idea," he said to which Aliara looked at him confused.
"I didn't know you were not happy with my decisions" he further added, his sentence making Aliara's eyes widen, there was no way her father agreed to it. She quickly stood up and walked to her father, hugging him as she cried her eyes out.
Her father instantly calmed her down patting her back and her mom smiled at them, as she sat next to Aliara, "It's fine, we are always here for you" she said receiving a nod from her.
~Maria
YOU ARE READING
Elected To Love
Novela Juvenil"Together, they're perfect as a team, but when it comes to matters of the heart, can they find a way to make the perfect match?" Aliara Marinelli, the fiercely competitive head girl, has a plan for everything except Ivan Sokolov. Ivan, the annoyingl...
