All Along

chapter 19

“Kayla?” Kris shouted from downstairs.
“What?” I shouted back.
“Aiden is here.”
Aiden had called me yesterday after Aaron left to ask about my exam. We had talked for a while and then he had asked me to hang out with him. I had agreed and here I was, still getting ready and he was waiting downstairs.
“I’ll be down in a minute.”
I gave myself a final look in the mirror and was satisfied with the result. Since it was a sunny afternoon I decided to wear cotton, knee length grey floral dress with pink, black and yellow flowers designed on it that looked perfect with my black loop earrings and black heels. I tied my hair in a pony tail and closed the door behind me. I could hear Aiden and Kris laughing. They got along very well.
Kris was sitting on the couch and Aiden was standing near it. He turned to look at me and smiled. I did the same. He was wearing black tee and black jeans.
“Hello beautiful.” He winkled at me and I smiled a little.
“Hi  Aiden.”
“Ready to go?”  He asked, giving me his hand to hold. I nodded and held his hand.
“Bye Kris.”
“Bye guys.”
Aiden led me to his car and opened the passenger’s door for me. I got in and he closed the door. He walked to the other side and got into the driver’s seat.
“Where are we going?”
“To the Concert.”
“Huh?” I raised my eyebrows.
“It’s my friend’s concert. He’s in the band. They are performing this evening. He is the guitarist. He asked me to come so I thought I’ll take you with me. But if you don’t want to, we can go someplace else,” He added quickly.
“No. no. it’s fine. I would love to go,” I said with a smile.
“Great. Then let’s get going.”
He started the car and began driving when Aaron’s car came from the opposite direction. Our eyes met for a
second and then he looked at Aiden and then back at me. Aiden slowed the car and so did Aaron. Aaron rolled down his window and greeted Aiden and then drove away.
Aiden stopped the car in front of a huge building. I got out of the car and looked around. There were many cars parked and many were still arriving. Many people were heading inside. I craned my head and saw ‘HOTEL OCEAN’ written in bold italic above the door. It was one of the top hotels in town though I had never visited it, just heard about it.
“The concert is happening here?” I asked Aiden and he nodded.
“Let’s get inside before it gets too crowded and no seat will be left for us.”
“You think I’m dressed properly for the event?”
“You are perfect.” I smiled on the compliment.
I placed my hand on his arm and walked towards the entrance. He showed the V.I.P passes to the guard and he let us in. The inside was beautiful and grand. We walked through the glass doors and into the huge lobby. One side of lobby was made of glass through which one could see the beautiful view of the lake and trees. The rest of the lobby was painted in white and golden. Many big chandeliers hung from the ceiling and the walls were decorated with beautiful and elegant paintings but the center of attention was the marble fountain with glittering stones decorating its rim. It gave water red, blue, green, purple, turquoise and golden shade. There were two wooden stairs on each side of the lift and two hallways, one on the left and one on the right side. There were golden sofas and few chairs as well.
"It is beautiful." I gasped.
"I know." He said patting my hand with his other hand.
Aiden led me towards the right hallway. We were at the corner about to turn left when three people emerged from the room. Two of them were wearing black suits and the other was wearing metallic grey suit. He was tall and handsome and seemed to be in his late thirties or early forties. He had sandy brown hair and hazel eyes. Aiden stopped when he saw him and so did the man. Aiden’s jaw clenched tightly. He motioned the other two to leave and
they left. I was confused and looked at the two people in front of me who were staring at each other, one with guilt and longing and the other with hate.
"What is he doing here? Oliver said he was out of town." Aiden said through gritted teeth. I looked at him in confusion, not sure what he was talking about.
“Aiden,” The man finally said.
"Dad. What are you doing here? You were not suppose to be here." I looked at Aiden and then at the man whom he called dad. So he was the man who left them.
"This is my hotel. I came back early."
He came towards us as if to hug his son but Aiden stepped back. His dad looked hurt.
“How are you son?”
“Great. Thanks for asking and still remembering that you have a son,” Aiden answered sarcastically.
“How is Addy? And… And your mother?”
“How is Addy? Addy? Dad you have no right to ask about her, about mom,” Aiden shouted.
"Aiden-"
"Do you know how much she cried when you left? You never came to visit, dad. If not about mom, at least you should have thought about Addy. About me." His voice broke a little. “I used to worship you dad. I loved you. You were my hero but what did you do? You left us to go live with that woman. I’ll never forgive you dad, never ever. Because of you, mom cried, Addy cried, I cried. Mom couldn’t sleep for days. I have seen the pain she went through and you were the reason of that pain. You never cared about us. All you ever cared about was yourself. I hate you."
His dad was speechless. He looked down and Aiden held my hand and walked past him.
“I’m sorry Aiden,” He said turning back.
“Like your sorry is going to change anything,” He spat back and walked away. I looked back and saw his dad
staring at him.
“Aiden.” I stopped near the auditorium.
“Hmm?”
“Do you want to go inside?”
“I don’t want to but I’ll. I don’t want that man ruining my day.”
“We can get out of here if you want.”
“No. I’m fine and besides, I promised Oliver. Let’s get inside.” I nodded and held his hand. He looked at me with
eyes that were full of hurt, sadness, emptiness and hatred.
I moved closer and hugged him.
"Everything is going to be alright. Cheer up." He nodded his head. In the moments like these I feel so stupid. I don’t know what to say to people to make them feel better.
“I’m sorry you had to see this.”
“Hey don’t be sorry. What are friends for? I’ll always be there for you and if it helps then let me tell you something,” He looked at me. “You are a great friend, a great son and even a greater brother.”
He smiled a little. “I know.”
Aiden opened the door for me and the seats were almost filled with people. Aiden let me to the front row and we sat on our seats. The lights went off and the band members appeared on the stage. The crowd shouted and went out of control on seeing them. They all were extremely good looking but the most handsome among them was the guitarist. He had spiked blonde hair, tattooed muscles and
blue eyes. He was wearing sleeveless black jeans jacket and he played guitar fabulously.
“This is Oliver.” Aiden pointed at him.
We said our goodbyes to the band members and came out of the auditorium after the concert ended. It was a huge hit.
Aiden was feeling much better now and from what I learned this was his father’s hotel.
"Today was fun and thanks for cheering me up."
“Yeah it was fun. The band was fantastic and thanks for such a beautiful evening,” I said with a smile.
“Anytime.” He smiled back.