Betrayed To Be Loved

Chapter-10 Discrete Liking

Third Person POV

For the whole month Ethan had tried to distance himself from the beautiful girl working as his personal accountant. Arabella Grace, her name also does no justice to her beauty, he thought. He was sure by now that she was different from all the beautiful people he had ever met. It was not her face that attracted Ethan but her soul...her innocent soul draped in immense beauty was the most attractive thing about her according to Ethan. She never looked at him in disgust, not even when she saw him for the first time. Nor does she ever hurt him by standing by his good side so that she doesn't have to look at his ugly side. She was truly something else he thought. But that evening when Lillian called and informed Ethan about Arabella's phobia and how Arabella was not responding to her calls; Ethan never thought he can be so worried about anyone in this world. And the moment he saw her, standing beside the elevator almost like a statue with tears continuously flowing down her eyes like a dam had broken somewhere...Ethan felt as if someone has pricked him with a hundred pins together. It took him a moment to bring her out of that stance. He was guilty of not knowing enough about her, guilty that she had to go through such trauma. Almost annoyed at himself for not checking on her before leaving, angry for the sudden and untimely fault in the electricity of the building. That very moment in between all the angry thoughts the one thing that stood above all others was the realization that struck Ethan hard; without him knowing, this girl has occupied a very big place in his heart...or has she captured my whole heart...he thought.

***

That day when Ethan was on his way to Arabella's place to pick her, he was not sure if she would be wearing the dress he sent her or something else. He wanted to see her in that dress, the rational part of him knew this was not correct. Ethan has never shopped for a girl ever before, of course he had bought stuff for his sisters. But never for a girl, he found himself at the verge of falling for.
Yes, this was a bitter sweet truth for the cold and rude Ethan Garcia that he was about to fall head over heels for a beautiful girl. But who was he fooling? The man was already head over heels, the only thing was that he couldn't believe that something such could happen with him.
Arabella was definitely different, Ethan tried very hard since the first time he saw her, to stay away from her...maintain his distance...but there was something about her, the innocence in her eyes was his undoing. He always tried to remind himself how beautiful people have stinking personalities. But this girl proved him wrong each time she looked at him directly and spoke her mind. Ethan was always aware that people don't prefer looking at the distorted side of his face. If by chance someone would look they used to flinch and make a disgusted face. There was a time when such looks tore his heart, but not anymore. Now he was determined to give everyone a cold and disgusted look even before they could think about it. But again, this girl seemed unaffected by the fact that Ethan was not actually pleasurable to look at.
Whenever Ethan was trapped in his thoughts ultimately his brain would drag him to the memories of that awful day, the day of the accident which changed his life forever.
He was just 14 at that time, a joyful kid, an energetic teenager. But everything changed that one evening. He was out to take a stroll in the park with his mother one evening when suddenly a young boy probably 18-19 years old came running towards them. Ethan did see the boy running like a madman and heading in his direction. What he didn't notice was the small bottle in his hand and the girl probably of the same age group walking in front of Ethan. It all happened within a few seconds...it was hard for Ethan to understand and react, or at least try to save himself. The guy was aiming for the girl and fortunately for the girl, she understood on time and sat down shielding herself from the liquid the boy threw at her. The girl saved herself but it was Ethan who got sprayed with that liquid. It was extreme agony that he felt and howled in pain. His mother was quick to call for help, but the damage was already done. Ethan fell unconscious while on the way to the hospital. The pain was unbearable for the little him, but when he woke up he could feel that almost the whole of his face was wrapped in bandages. He wanted to know what happened with him, and what was that liquid which made him go through such pain. He thrashed in the hospital bed of the VIP room. The doctors had to sedate him, the next time when he woke up his mother tried to calm him immediately. That was when Ethan came to know that the young boy was going through heart break as that girl broke up with him. The guy named Dave was somehow able to steal a bottle of acid from his college science lab. He wanted to have revenge. This was not end of the story, when his plan went down the hill Dave was quick to take action. Immediately after throwing acid he turned around and ran. In a rush Dave did not bother to look around and came under a truck. He died on the spot; somehow Ethan was not happy to hear this. He wanted the boy behind bars and serving a life term. Ethan never agreed to go for cosmetic surgery. He had his own stubborn reasons.
Ethan was brought out of his thoughts when his driver informed that they had arrived at Arabella's address. All the pain and sorrow of his past vanished in the thin air the moment he laid eyes on his beautiful angel, Arabella was looking absolutely amazing in the red dress...little did he know she was glowing for another reason. Little did he know that Victor has lied to Arabella and she was happy to know that the gifts were from Victor and not Ethan. Little did he know that Victor was playing a filthy game. All Ethan knew was that he lost his heart to the beautiful girl approaching his car.