I Need You

17. The Surprise

I wake up in his room. But he is nowhere around. I head to the training area. I am welcomed with Damon's wink and Dylan's bright smile. I look around the room for him. "He left early due to some work" Stephen says handing me boxing gear. "I'll fight without the gear. I won't be wearing them when someone attacks me right" I say and walk towards the punching bag. "Make sure you don't hurt yourself. Orelse he will shoot me death" they all shout in unison. I just chuckle walking away from them.

Today's practice has been tiring. "Next time when you punch him make sure that he bleeds" they say with a mocking grin. I took a shower and went downstairs. Staying alone in my room is boring. Someone is continuously banging the door. I was about to get up from the couch but Stephen opens the door and with that the ones on the other side of the door come running and fall on me. It takes me some time to calm down.

I have been expecting them from so many days. I didn't know if I can ask my friends to come here without asking him. But finally they are here. The pain is horrible , but I let them hug me for sometime. I missed them soo much. "Miss Suzy and Miss Claire , Mam is still weak. The bruises are still fresh and any physical contact on them will make the pain worse." Stephen standing behind the couch so firm. Aaron is such a control freak. He makes the  people do what they don't actually need to do. 

Suz and Claire slowly pull apart and they sit on either side of me. They bombard me with many questions that I lost the track of them. "Both of you stop. I am okay. I am doing good. I don't know who and why. Emma, who took care of me when I was kidnapped sent the location to Aaron. He came. He kicked the hell out of them. He brought me here. He even got Emma here" I say pointing towards the kitchen. 

They speak to me about how worried they and the fans were. They are speaking to me but always staring at their phone. "You can leave if you are busy." I say but they are too busy looking at their phone. Both their screens light up and their faces to. "Come" they both say and pull me along with them to the stairs. I whimper in pain. Worry crosses there face and they leave my hand. 

"Where is your room?" Suz asks me after we reach the last floor. I point towards my room. My room is at the end of the hallway. And Aaron's room is just beside my room. There many other rooms but I feel safe being close to him. They stop near his room and they raise their eyebrows. They both act like they are twins. They react the same, they act the same, they speak the same. I look at them questioningly. "This....." Claire says pointing towards his room.  "His room" they raise a single eyebrow and smirk. 

"Only his not mine" I say and walk towards my room. Even though I am not seeing their faces I know that they are wiggling. They follow me into the room. "This is amazing baby doll" Suz says looking at the view from the window. The sunset looks beautiful from my room. Meanwhile Claire opened my closet she just goes through all the clothes and picks a black dress. "Wear this" she says throwing the dress into my face. I open my mouth to ask them why but I know they won't tell me and I know that they wouldn't take a NO for an answer. I took a quick shower and changed into the dress she gave me. A black skater dress that reached my mid thigh. 

They both work on my hair and face. Suz covered the bruise on my neck and she applied a thin layer of makeup to cover my dark circles. She did a minimal eye makeup. Meanwhile Claire is doing my hair. My usually straight hair has been curled up at the ends and she let it lose. "Why?" I ask them. More simple the question more chances of getting an answer. "Party" Claire shouts from my closet. "It's a girls night baby doll. So cheer up." Suzy says looking at me through the mirror. 

"These...." Claire says bringing up a pile of clothes from the closet and sets them on the bed. They both laugh. I look at them confused and then I look at the clothes. They are all his clothes. The clothes I stole from his closet.

"What are you planning to do with them?" They won't stop till I give them the answer they want. "I actually stole them." And I know their next question. WHY? I look at them and they are giving me wicked smiles "because I love.."  "him" they say not letting me finish. I smile to that inside but I say "No. These" pointing towards the sweatshirts.

We met Aaron in the living room. "Everything is ready, you can go" he says to Suzy and leaves the room without looking at me.

I thought it would be hard to convince him. I thought that he would insist on coming or sending Stephen with us. But he didn't say anything. They must have tried hard to convince him. "Baby doll it's time to go." Claire tells me. Suzy is already out. "Just a minute" I say to her and run upstairs. 

I check his room but he is not there. May be he is study. My heels are clattering on the floor. I just take them out and catch them with my hand and run towards his study room. I open the door slowly. He is sitting at his desk with his head resting in his  hands. 

I slowly go to him. The cold floor is sending chills down my spine. "Aaron " I say his name like a whisper, like I am speaking to myself. He meets my gaze. He looks at my dress and he looks at my lips, eyes and everything. I catch his face with my free hand "Is everything okay? Why are you like this? Why are you avoiding me?" his eyes turn to his cold state. He pulls away "Did I ever ask you why when you were avoiding me?" he says and looks away. I pull his face towards me. 

"Let's speak after the party Mia" he says with a firm tone. I leave the room after that. Something is wrong with him. He never speaks to me like this. Claire is waiting for me in the living room.

We head to the party area. I thought we were going out for the party. But the party area is just behind the training area. The party area is amazing with all the lights and the pool. There are people in the pool and some are just watching them. It is an outdoor party. There is even a party room. But the garden is decorated with lights and all there are some tables set across the garden with flowers.

Someone hugs me from behind very carefully so that they don't hurt me. Their scent hits my nostrils. I know who that person is and I turn back to hug her. I hug her tight. 

"Easy girl. You will get hurt." she says but I just hug her. It's been years  that I have seen her.
"When did you come back Eve?" I ask her slowly pulling back. "Morning" she says and she ruffles my hair. "It took me an hour to set her  hair so let it be like that for atleast an hour" Claire says from behind me. We both just laugh and I hug her again. Evelyn is my childhood friend. Her parents died in an accident. So she went to live with her grandparents in France. 

"A hug for me also" says Olivia coming out from the party room. I missed them both. We make a group hug.  We just laugh at each other. At first Evelyn used to come for summer breaks to meet us but later she didn't have time to come because of the family business and everything. She took over her fathers place at a very young age and she has been working so hard to keep up with the company. She made her family proud and Olivia has been out for her fashion designing course. We see each other when we facetime but we never met in person over years.

"A hug for those who gave you surprise" Claire and Suzy shout from behind us. We three laugh and add them to the group hug. They slowly pull apart and see me. "You okay? We didn't hurt you right?" Evelyn asks me. I just nod at them. Sometimes pain is okay. Like when your long lost friends and the person you love hugs you.

"Good evening everyone! The concert of our beloved Mia Blaine is next week. So get ready to set the stage on fire along with her." Ollie announces it in the megaphone she is holding sure enough for everyone to hear. I didn't know about this. I was happy that finally I am going to do my concert after a long break. I they postponed it many times due to my weak state. Not that I am okay now but I can atleast sing on the stage now. I am so happy for that. 

I am still wearing the bracelet Rick gave me that day. Looking at that I feel happy. This is a sign to their love for me. I only looked at two or three gifts. I didn't look at the others and I don't know where they are.

Claire has intertwined her fingers with me and pulled me to center. Everyone gathered around us. These are the people I earned. I earned endless love and admiration from them and from the fans. They accepted me. They loved me. They adored me. They are happy for me. They laugh with me and they cry with me. I am happy to be here. I just give them the brightest smile though tears are rolling down my cheeks. 

My friends, my family and Aaron made everything possible. I can't lose them ever.