Arwen felt somewhere betrayed. She had been desperately looking for him all this time, yet he stayed by her side without ever letting her know.
"Moon …" Aiden’s voice was soft. He read her expressions very well and it cut through like a blade when he realized that unknowingly he had hurt her in a way he had never thought he would. He reached out, trying to cup her face and soothe her, but she swatted his hands away and shifted farther from him. "I didn’t mean to hide it from you."
"That’s a lie," Arwen snapped, her voice already thick with emotion, betraying the feeling she was holding inside. "You did hide it —that’s why you never told me. You didn’t even visit me in the hospital. I waited for you, but you never came. Was it fun for you? To leave me hanging like that?"
She didn’t even realize that instead of showing anger, she was complaining. As though she wanted him to punish himself for what he had done to her. Girls often spoke like that to their fathers —placing all their faith in them, believing they would do right every wrong done to them. But Arwen had never known such reliance until she met Aiden —a reliance where she trusted that Aiden would not let anyone treat her wrongly, not even himself.
"You waited for me?" Aiden asked, surprised a little. He knew she had been waiting in the hospital. But he never thought it was for him. After all, she had forgotten him.
Arwen looked away, not wanting to let him see the tears that were again coming into her eyes. "How does that matter anyway? You didn’t even care about it."
Aiden could no longer take it. He needed to touch her to believe it. Unfastening his seatbelt, he shifted in his seat so that he could have better access to the situation. "If not you, who else would I care?" he asked, before turning her face to her.
"Teasing you could be fun, but I would never do anything that would bring tears to your eyes, Moon," Aiden said, already losing the calm seeing the tears filling her eyes. Reaching out, he slowly wiped her tears and then continued, "I didn’t think I was hurting you. I am sorry."
If Arwen hadn’t known, she would have thought ’sorry’ was an easy word for him to say. But she knew Aiden rarely apologized, yet he did it to her as if it was very natural to him. And that alone melted her heart. How could it not? This man undoes all his rules for her every time without any hesitation.
"Why did you hide it from me?" she asked, still wanting to know his reason.
Aiden shook his head. "I never hid from you, Moon. It was just that I was waiting for you to ask. But you never did, so …"
"You were waiting for me to ask?" She raised her brows, and Aiden nodded. "But how could you wait for me? I mean how would I know that it was you if you never told me about it?"
"Even though Dr. Clark never openly admitted, I know it was you who asked him there. Because of his skills, my legs healed. Otherwise, today even if I would have survived, I definitely wouldn’t be able to walk or dance." She said.
Aiden immediately added, "You still cannot dance. Not until you are recovered."
Arwen almost chuckled. "I am fine. Dr. Clark already said by tomorrow, I will be all fine."
"Moon!"
"Alright, I get it. I will only go to represent my academy if I am good to go. Otherwise, I will abort. Good enough now?" she said.
Aiden nodded. "Good." He then turned to start the engine. But just as he did, Arwen remembered something and she asked, "Oh yes, I remembered something." She then turned to look at him before continuing, half expectantly, "That night I heard you calling my name, as if you have known me from before. How did you know me? Have we met before?"
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