Her not so fortuitous Love

Chapter # 14

Aiden POV:-

I never felt this awkward sitting in the lounge of Uncle James’s place. Why are we here? Why are we here? Why are we here?

Oh, I agreed. But, still. Oh, God, she’ll reject me right in the face. I don’t know why I agreed to this stupidity. God, I am such an idiot, why will she agree to marry me? I continued to curse myself for doing this stupidity as my breath became heavy.

All of us are present in the lounge except Aunt and Jessica.

There was a silence between us, which seemed comfortable to anyone present in the room except me, I found it crushing as my lips formed a thin line and my heart clenched, with my heartbeat becoming low and low by each passing second, filling me with dread of how she’ll reject me. Would she slap me or what? Oh God someone save me, I promise, I’ll never turn my back on her again, please save me from his humiliation, I felt so awkward to face her, how she’ll react, is she still the same Jessica? Does she look the same? 

I inhaled and raised my hand only to see her entering with Aunt with a fake smile plastered on her lips. I taught you how to smile like that, I know this is fake. A sad smile crept upon my lips when I looked at her. And then my eyes scanned her for a second as the sadness was turned into astonishment, she stood there in a beautiful blue coloured dress with a black belt around in it’s mid section. She looked really pretty, I have seen her in dresses more alluring than that but I found her so appealing right now. But, what made my heart torn was her eyes, they seemed so void. Like her ravage turned her benumb of every emotion. I felt bad looking at her like this and it made me feel like it’s my fault. Her beautiful eyes are now ice. She greeted everyone decently. And then finally stopped at me. Her gaze met mine as I stared deeply into her emerald gems. She seemed so fascinating like an angel- what? When did I start thinking about her like that?

“Aiden?” She called me, the way my name rolled on her lips, made my heart to skip a beat. I was dragged out from my thoughts as I looked at her.

“Good Evening. Want to take a drink?” She offered me a tray of drinks. My heart skipped a beat as I felt butterflies in my stomach to see her this close to me.

“Uh.. Yeah.. Thanks.” I mumbled and took a drink. She just blinked and moved away, devoid. Ouch. 

She also sat down as I inhaled deeply when my father decided to speak first. Get ready for rejection. So that you can know how she felt that time.

“You know why we are here, James.” Father began to say.

“Yeah.” 

“We wanted to come soon but better to come late than never.”

“Yeah, you are right.” Uncle replied.

“We all love her. We wanted Jessica to be our bride.” When father announced it, Jessica stood up. Get ready. I involuntarily brought my hand close to my cheek as I felt scared. But, that moment never came she just left without saying another, averting her gaze from anyone.

Her sudden leave made me feel confused. 

“Ah, dear she’s being so shy.” Aunt laughed off. A nervous chuckle escaped mother’s lips as Uncle began to say,

“Look Edmond, We also wanted to see our daughter to get married, But, we can’t force her. We don’t have any objections but we need to ask about her consent. If she agrees we can talk about this matter further.” Uncle explained and now I am hundred percent sure that I’ll face nothing but rejection. Such a donkey I am!

“Yeah of course. You can take your time to tell your answer.” Father said.

“Thanks for understanding.” Uncle replied.

“No problem.”

“Anyways, Our kids have known each other for years but don’t you think that they should talk to each before we leave?” Mother suggested. No, no, no. 

“Yeah of course. Aiden, Go son talk to her. She might be in the kitchen.” Aunt said. 

“Uh.. You don’t have..to.” I trailed off.

“Oh, Son, Don’t be shy. Go.” Aunt said. I let out a rapid breath and nodded as I stood up and walked out. What am I doing? 

I went to the dining hall only to see Jessica sitting there, lost in thought. I passed her a faint smile and took a seat beside her. I just stared at me for a second and averted her gaze. Under that piercing cold gaze of hers, I realized that smiling like an idiot is just making fun of myself as I curved my lips downwards but not in a frown as I asked, feeling awkward, “How.. are you?”
”Fine.” She replied coldly. She changed a lot, the eyes which used to glimmer in admiration are no more there. What should I say, God I felt so abashed.

“Uh.. m-mother..and f-father..you k-know.. they” I stuttered like a bird on the verge of dying.

“I can’t marry you.” She said monotonously. Ouch, it hit me like an arrow right in the chest.

“Oh.. Um.. Why?” I once again asked stupidly. She sighed and began to say,

“Look, I have tried my best to forget about you but I couldn’t, it took me a lot of time to finally remove- bury these feelings inside my heart and I have no intention of digging them out, so it would be good if both of us forget about it.” Her words made my chest tightened as I spoke sadly,

“You always wanted-”

“Wanted. I don't want it now. Not after I spend those countless nights, trying to forget about you.” She said in her emotionless tone that is breaking me and burning me in a fierce fire.

“.. Jessica…I.. will not back away.. from the proposal.” I said as she hummed and looked at him devoid. And that time I did what she did when she was overwhelmed with the emotion of heartbreak and grief.

I lowered my head and shook my head and stood up and left without saying another word..