Secrets? Never.

6. To Chance Meetings

Emily, while taking great pleasure in her charity work, was often reduced to ruing the day she'd ever gotten herself involved in such endeavours, whenever a benefit was organised which she must attend. To this particular event, everyone, including her in-laws, was expecting her and Daniel to drag along three children, one of whom was fast approaching teenager-dom, and wasn't at all eager to be seen anywhere with her parents, another of whom wasn't even out of diapers! It frustrated her to think that this is what she'd been reduced to - using her children as a means through which to get donations.

As Emily put the finishing touches to her lips, her attention was seized by a wail emanating from Danny's room. She instinctively rushed in to him, picking him up, calming him, and setting him down on her bed. "Daniel!" she called downstairs "Could you take the baby? I'm fixing my face!" The rumble of feet on the stairs could be heard before Daniel appeared in the doorway, and sidled up to her, telling her "There's nothing to fix; you're perfect." "And you," she continued "are too charming for your own good." Returning to the mirror, she mumbled through paralysed lips "Take Danny downstairs and put his little tux on." Daniel, who had become adept at understanding what he affectionately referred to as her 'lipstick voice', nodded with a smile, and took his son downstairs.

The collective hum of polite small-talk always had irritated Daniel Grayson. One would have thought he'd be more than use to it at this late stage, however, the steady purr of unimportant chit-chat had always managed to worm its way into is ear, resulting in him feeling as though his brain itself was vibrating; knocking quickly, and ever-so-slightly against the interior of his skull. The flames of his distaste had only been fanned as of late, mostly due to a deluge of veritable annoyances; varying from his children's incessant whines, to Danny's recent acquisition of colic (which made him spontaneously burst into tears every half hour or so), not to mention the girls' unrelenting pleas to go home. After all; a charity benefit is no place for children. He himself was never subjected to such activities, despite the nature of his otherwise public upbringing. Emily had agreed with this view, but had however been swayed by the insurmountable pressures put on them to bring their 'delightful children' as one of the state senators had put it.

After conversing alongside Emily with some potentially major donors; he took her aside and told her he'd take the kids home if she decided to stay on later. She decided she should, seeing as she was head of the board, and kissed her children farewell before returning to brown-nosing the rest of society's elite.

It wasn't until the crowd had thinned out, and the evening was drawing to a close; that Emily noticed the man who had situated himself at the edge of the room. He was tall, dark, and muscular, with a chiseled jawline and a thick English accent (this she gathered from overhearing him order his fifth dirty martini). She should've known Aiden would make an appearance. He was most likely masquerading as Takeda's proxy yet again, she thought to herself.

"Aiden," Emily greeted brightly, eager to set aside the events of their previous encounter, despite being inwardly livid "I hadn't expected to see you here this evening. Are you in town acting as Takeda's proxy?" Aiden smiled at the ground, drawing small circles with the toe of his patent dress shoe, "Actually, I've recently come into some money, and was looking into making some charitable endowments." Slightly taken aback by this revelation of newfound wealth "Well, I hope you have a lovely evening!" she replied, pairing her ever-present smile with a non-committal wave goodbye as she turned around to walk away.

All of a sudden, her arm was grabbed and she was turned around to face Aiden once again. "Let's get out of here, let's get a hotel room somewhere." Aiden breathed. "I'm married" she insisted, placing her hand on his chest. "We both know that's not how it was supposed to turn out. It was always meant to be us together." His eyes darted between hers, looking, searching, for some hidden answer; for her true feelings that he knew they had always harboured for one another.

He was almost about to give up, and admit defeat, when, out of the blue, she shakily mumbled; "Let's go."

© Sarah Egan 2014 - 2015. All rights reserved. This story is subject to copyright and may not be copied or reproduced without the express permission of the author.