Chapter 8 The Familair Acquaintance

• |Aria’s POV|
• Ace Kings!
• Gritting my teeth, my eyes blazing fury “Don’t tell me it is who I think it is?”
• Walking out of the room with clenched fists, “Does he think he can just waltz into my life like he fucking owned it after years of not caring?” I boomed.
• A cackle escaped my lips at the whole thing happening. “Why does he suddenly care about me?”
• “Is it because he thinks I would not make it in life after doing all of those myself? He thought I wouldn’t survive without my family’s help.” I scoffed in disbelief.
• I paused to catch my breath “Do you know what happened today? The children asked for their father. I hope he remains the ghost he has been for years.” I snarled.
• My voice broke, and my lips quivered, “D-do you know how hard I struggled to build and get to where I am? He doesn’t deserve to just come into my life and act like we were a couple that decided to take a break,” I croaked out.
• Walking further away from the children, “He cheated on me with my sister and had me sign a divorce paper because Gabriella was back in town,” I whispered.
• I leaned against the wall, trying to suppress the rage brewing in me. “Am I to take her place because she is not available for him anymore?” I reasoned.
• “You know what? I think it is high time I spoke to Ace Kings. I don’t want him in my life and I believe it should be the same in his POV,” I concluded.
• Penelope heaved out a sigh, “You think you hate him as much as I do? Of course not, and babes, your anger is justified. He can’t just come into your life as if he owned it. He lost that privilege five years ago,” she conceded.
• Genuine concern laced her voice and she asked curiously, “But are you sure you’re stable enough to talk to him?”
• The real interpretation of her question was, have I gotten over him?
• Have I??
• Why am I deeply affected if I have?
• Well, it doesn’t matter. The whole point is I no longer love him and if he is just realizing that he loves me, he can shove the feelings up his ass.
• I couldn’t come up with a solid answer without being sure, so I settled for, “Whether or not I am, the thing there is I have to tell him before he ruins things for me. I love Zion and don’t want to be with anyone apart from him.”
• He fixed the heart that he didn’t break, was patient and very understanding. He was all Ace Kings was not. What more could I ask for?
• She didn’t believe it, but she also didn’t press further. “Good. You know I will always support your decision. How are my little munchkins?” Penelope beamed as if she hadn't seen the kids yesterday.
• ”I know. They are fine” I sighed in relief at the mention of the kids. “Penny, I love you. Thank you for sticking by me.”
• I could picture her scrunching up her face in disgust and disregarding my words. It irritated the hell out of her whenever I decided to get all emotional that she stood by me.
• “I guess that is my cue to go. But you know I will walk through the ends of the earth for you.”
• "Hmmm…. Who said you aren’t sweet? See how well you confess your feelings through poetry for me,” I gushed.
• Ace most probably knew where I was, but he didn’t know about the kids. My heart clenched as I imagined how he would react when he found out that I had twins, even with my condition.
• I guess I don’t need to imagine because he would never know about them.
• Is it too late to relocate? The familiar feeling started coiling itself around my spine. The feeling of running away and fear of my heart being broken.
• “You’ve conquered it the day you gave birth to those kids,” I chided myself.
• I was done running, I didn’t even do anything wrong in the first place.
• The tightness in my chest reduced as I poked my head into my children’s room. They were both sprawled on the floor, their iPads singing away, soft snores escaping their lips.
• I didn’t know how long I stood there, as beautiful memories occupied my mind; Their first cry, their first words……. Their first everything. They filled the hole their father left vacant, they were all I needed to get through everything I was going through.
• A smile crept off my face after switching off my tablets. I placed both of them in their beds and closed the door after me.
• I walked to the kitchen to clean their mess. The black cabinets all took the shade of the flour. Humming a tune to myself, I rolled up my hair into a messy bun and opened the fridge, so I could clean it but everything was almost empty.
• “Wow, I didn’t know I was short on groceries,” I admitted.
• The première had my attention for almost three months, and I was just eager on making it perfect so we wouldn’t fuck it up, and I am glad we didn’t.
• The wheels in my head spun as I tried to calculate the children’s nap time and the time I would take to pick up the groceries. Picking my Benz keys up, I shut the door and headed to my garage.
• -------
• I walked into the store after a long, excruciating fifteen minutes. I didn’t like leaving my babies to themselves, but I also didn’t want to bother Penelope to come over.
• I don’t know if I was the only one who couldn’t go out without my smartwatch. It kept me on track, the timer was counting as I grabbed everything I needed, pushed the cart around and packed everything I could. Money wasn’t my problem anymore.
• My heart clenched painfully, remembering the early days of my pregnancy made my hatred for Ace intensify. I remember starving myself. I couldn’t even buy the necessary pills I needed.
• There were some that I cried myself to bed and the only thing I did was eat stale bread or beg for leftovers. I didn’t know those children would be healthy. Mr Jimmy didn’t step up as a provider till I was five months into the pregnancy.
• A flash of grey popped into my focus and I met the worried gaze of an old woman. “Miss, are you okay?” She questioned.
• Giving a tight-lipped smile, I nodded and wiped my tears. She looked at me again to be sure I was. That was one of the reasons I chose this place.
• Even as a celebrity, you can live a peaceful and somewhat anonymous life in this city. No unnecessary fan trailing you around. While we enjoyed the attention, most of us wanted peace and to be normal.
• The smartwatch beeped. Time up.
• I did a double check of the items that were in the cart. After figuring out that they were things I wanted to buy initially, I pushed the cart towards the cashier, eager to get back to my children.
• She scanned the items and told me my bill. As I was about to pay, someone stretched their card toward the cashier.
• “Add her bill to mine.”
• The familiar voice made the blood in my veins freeze, my heart thumping wildly.
• Grinding my teeth to the point of breaking, I forced out the words from my lips “No. I will pay for it myself.”
• “How can I let you do so? I was trained to be a gentleman,” Damien insisted.
• A sigh escaped my lips as I looked at him, placing my hands on my hips “I will stop patronizing the store then.” I threatened.
• Damien was one of the acquaintances I knew in this city. It started first as a love interest, but he was kind to get the idea that I had a boyfriend.
• A slow smile spread on his lips as his blue eyes registered my stance. “It wouldn’t kill you to thank me instead of nagging,”
• “Thank you. I have an event later… So I need to go now.”
• I quickly piled everything in the booth and decided to check the update on the event I was attending. My eyes were glued on the update as my phone slipped from my hand after checking the guest lists.
• My ex-husband would attend this event after so many years of not showing up.