Kenna
''I have a question,'' Aidan says, causing me to turn and look at him as we sit on opposite sides from one another on the ferris wheel; watching the crowd below, seeing how humans are rather tiny but we have big dreams while some might even have a big ass sass. ''Why did you break up with Noah?'' He asks.
''You're direct,'' I chuckle as he joins me.
''I mean . . . I know that you broke up with him but you never told me why, I want to know. I'm only seeing this as how I see him; in my own point of view but he seems like a really nice guy, Kenna. He was in love with you. So, why?'' His question seems more off than I expected, not that I didn't expect him to never ask questions like this but the reason why I broke up with Noah was never discussed.
Aidan's right, Noah was or still is a nice guy. He has always been there for me, no matter what or when. He understood me most and he took care of me when I needed him. There was no such thing as giving space when it comes to Noah because when we fight, it'll only last for a few minutes . . . he'd come straight to apologise, even though, sometimes . . . I was the cause of our fights and arguments.
''I'm like the bad guy here, aren't I?'' I smile, playing with my fingers as he continues to look at me; only waiting for my answer.
''I didn't mean it like that,'' He replies. ''I just want to know why,''
''Okay . . . let me just tell you the whole story, then. You know how we met, right? We clicked right away and things just went with the flow; he couldn't keep himself away from me and I had fallen for his charms. He was like no other regular guy because he understood me like no one does, no offence . . . all I'm trying to say is that, he was a great boyfriend.'' I say, earning myself a smile from Aidan. ''I was the cause of our breakup. I didn't want to hurt him,''
He furrow his brows, ''What do you mean?''
I hesitate for a moment before continuing, ''I was always busy. Wait, no . . . I am always busy. Things were going on fine for the first few months but as soon as I got myself occupied with work, I started to spend less time with him. I'd even forget about our dates . . . every time he planned them,'' I reply.
Truth be told, I hate it when I'm being reminded of what happened to my past relationship. People would say that we were perfect and that we'd get married one day, have beautiful children but things didn't work out as they said. There was nothing wrong with Noah; he was too perfect. There was just everything wrong with me.
''I even forgot about our first anniversary. So, when I got home . . . he was sitting at the dining table, all by himself; the candle had gone off and he was just staring at the empty plates, the empty spot in front of him where I would've been sitting. We didn't talk for days, he shut me out for constantly being busy but it didn't bother me much,'' I frown. ''Is it bad to say that I feel sorry for making him wait but as soon as I got to work, everything slipped off my mind?'' I add.
''Then, when he came to apologise . . . '' I look up at Aidan's face, seeing him surprised at my story. Just like that, ''Why? Why do you look surprised?'' I ask.
''It's just that, you forgot about your first anniversary with him but he came to you to apologise? You even busied yourself with work in order for you to forget about the whole thing instead of solving things out,'' He continues to speak.
''What was I supposed to do? I forgot that it was even our anniversary; I don't have time to remember a lot of things at once. You know how busy I am, Aidan . . . I can't simply push my work away to just pay attention to my own relationship.'' My voice raising with every word I speak, not realising how hard I'm trying to defend myself; even though, deep down, I know it all began with me.
I should've apologised and I should've fixed things between us but I didn't. He fixed things between us because he didn't want to lose me; his effort was worth more than mine. Noah was everything a woman could ask for, he was patient. More importantly, he was in love.
''Well . . . it was your fault,'' He mutters but loud enough for me to hear. ''You should've put more effort to fix things than letting him give in just because he loves you. You were taking advantage,'' The words he said sting but there's no doubt that it's the truth. It was my fault and I shouldn't have felt nothing when I was going through my days but I felt fine.
''I know,'' I breathe out; looking away.
We keep quiet for a couple of minutes before he starts to speak again, ''What if you were given another chance? Not a chance with Noah but a chance with someone new . . . would you try everything to make sure that you won't repeat the same mistakes?'' He asks, leaving me to think of something uncertain.
''I can try.'' I reply, seeing him nod his head with a small smile plastered on his face as he turns to look away, letting the wind blow onto his hair; carelessly. There are two kinds of situations that I find him being undeniably handsome . . . when the wind blows, when the sunlight hits his skin and I can't stop myself.
We step down from the ferris wheel as soon as our ride is over, walking side to side towards the crowd. Couples are walking hand in hand as they smile, enjoying themselves; showing how they're somewhat happy to be here.
Just as Aidan is about to say something, my phone starts to ring which causes me to look down; seeing that it's a call from the hospital. My body tenses immediately, knowing that this might be an important call and there's nothing I can do.
''It's a call from work,'' I say, frowning down at my phone.
''I'll be here,'' He replies as I quickly make my way through the crowd, finding somewhere more quiet to pick the call.
I immediately answer the call to hear an anxious Marley, one of the male intern nurses. ''Hello . . . Dr. Anne?'' He greets; the staffs would sometimes call me by my middle name instead of my surname. ''I'm sorry for calling you on your week off but it's about Albert,'' He adds, which worries me.
''What's wrong with Albert? Is he okay?'' I ask, running my fingers through my hair.
''He's doing fine but his tantrums are getting worse. I'm worried about his health,'' He continues to speak. ''He wants to see you even though I've told him that you won't be here until next week; he won't bother listening to me. The other doctors have tried to calm him down but he said that they don't understand him like you do. He also resisted on eating anything so they had to give him drugs,''
''Marley, I told you. He's an old man, he can't have too many drugs in his system. It's going to give his kidney a long-term side effect,'' I reply, thinking about Albert and how his tantrums are always the worse; except when he's with me. He would be making sassy jokes but what's most . . . he would always tell me stories about his late wife.
''I know, Dr. Anne. I know that you would be upset about this, too but we didn't have a choice. Dr. Vince told me not to tell you but I can't simply lie because Albert is your patient,'' He mutters.
''Thank you for telling me, Marley.'' I reply after a few seconds of silence before letting out a deep sigh, not really knowing what to say or how to respond. It's hard when the other doctors have tried to make sure that he'd be comfortable with someone else than just me but he would always resist.
I try to calm myself down as I inhale and exhale before making my way back towards Aidan, my head is fully occupied with work; something I've forgotten for the past days I've been here but now, has made me worried again.
I look up to find Aidan but instead of finding him standing in the middle of the crowd with his phone in his hand, I find him near the 'shooting games' as he smiles, receiving a big teddy bear as a prize for winning.
As soon as he turns, he starts to make his way towards me before using the teddy bear's hand to wave at me, ''Hi . . . I'm Mr. Bear. Would you like to cuddle?'' He says, giving Mr. Bear a voice of his own while I stand with a smile slowly creeping up on my face; eyeing the big teddy bear which is almost as tall as me.
''Do you just go around and ask strangers to cuddle?'' I ask, crossing my arms; pretending to be having a conversation with the bear.
''No, ma'am. Only you because I've never seen anyone as beautiful as you,'' Mr. Bear or more precisely, Aidan; replies as he hides his face with the teddy bear, not letting me see but as he peeks to the side, my eyes catch the grin on his face.
''Are you flirting with me, Mr. Bear?'' I take a few steps closer towards him.
''Is it working?'' Mr. Bear replies, lifting both of his hands up to snuggle as I laugh, catching him in my arms; feeling the softness of its fur against my skin as I look up at Aidan, seeing him staring back at me.
''Looks like Mr. Bear has an irresistible charm that he managed to steal my wife,'' Aidan laughs, ''Do you like it, Kenna?'' He asks, tilting his head to the side as he crosses his arms; his smile never fading away from his face.
I nod my head multiple times, ''I love it. Thank you, Aidan; you're the bomb dot com.'' I say before winking at him, causing him to chuckle. My smile widens at the sound of his attractive laugh, not denying how they seem to make me smile, too.
--
''Damn you, Aidan!'' I scream as the roller coaster goes down, making me grip harder onto his hand, not denying that his hand will be pale due to not having blood properly flowing. ''This is all your fault. You forced me into this!'' I add.
He, on the other hand, continues to laugh beside me without having fear of heights or scary rides. His hand keeps on gripping onto mine; without showing any signs of letting go or discomfort. It eases me, just knowing that he's here, by my side, incase anything happens . . . we'll still be here together.
I close my eyes as the ride goes down in a very fast pace, knowing that my fear of heights won't simply disappear even if I try to overcome it. There are a lot of things that I tend to get freaked out by, spiders or more precisely, bugs, clowns and even being in small spaces.
Claustrophobic? No, I wouldn't really call myself that but being in a small or confined space gives me anxiety and even discomfort. My heart would be uncontrollably fast and my body would start to shake, probably because of how bad I want to be in a more larger space; not that it has bother me much, I can be in an elevator or in the fitting room but I can't for long.
Fifteen minutes, tops. If I stay for longer than that, I'd end up fainting.
As for clowns, I'm sure eight out of ten people has this fear. Clowns are easily known as creepy, weird and even scary. They appear at birthday parties, trying to bring that happy and cheerful vibe but whenever I see one, I end up wanting to just bang my own head against the wall; hating the fact that I'm in the same room as a clown.
''Kenna . . . we're here,'' I hear a familiar voice say beside me which causes me to open my eyes, blinking a few times before looking around; seeing that people are still queuing to get on this ride.
''Are you sure?'' I ask, looking around.
Aidan chuckles, ''Very. I was worried that you might've had a panic attack or something because you kept your eyes closed and you just . . . held tightly onto my hand and even onto the railing.'' He replies.
''Wow, I'm good. I'm good,'' I stand up, slowly and quickly step down from the ride; my hand never letting go of his.
We both walk further away from the roller coaster as I try to make sure that I'm calmed down. The roller coaster ride almost gave me a heart attack but I'm fine; mostly surprised by how extreme it was but I'm going to be just fine.
He looks down at me, ''You okay, Kenna?'' He asks, his voice hinting with sincerity while his expression shows the amount of worry.
''Yeah . . . I'm okay.'' I reply with a smile plastered on my face; wanting to show him how the roller coaster didn't affect me much. It did affect me but just not as much.
We keep quiet for a few seconds before he starts to speak up again, his hand grabbing onto mine in a slight surprise but my fingers remained entwined with him. ''Do you want to go someplace quiet?'' He asks, looking directly into my eyes with a small smile.
''Where do you have in mind?'' I chuckle.
''Come with me,'' He replies as he pulls onto my hand, slowly leading me away from the crowd as we walk further away from the lights and fair.
The warmth radiating from his hand is somehow soothing me, letting me enjoy the night out without having to worry about feeling cold because I know that even if I do end up freezing, he'll be there for me to keep me warm; probably in his arms. Maybe, even more than that . . . we might as well snuggle.
''You're not going to murder me, right?'' I ask, realising that we're out in the dark, only the sound of cars but far away at the highway.
He laughs, ''Even if that does sound tempting, I wouldn't really want to kill you. Just . . . trust me,'' He adds, looking at me with a smile; we both walking further and further away without looking back at where we came.
I trust Aidan, I always have. It wouldn't be an issue when it comes to trusting him; because for as long as we've been friends, he has never broken my trust. He keeps his promises, he respects me as his best friend and he cares for me like I'm his little sister so, I have no point in not trusting him.
We stop walking, slowly finding a perfect spot to sit on the grass as he looks up at the night sky, trying to see if the sky is clear enough to see the stars. Once he has found the right spot beside him, he pats onto the grass, gesturing for me to join.
''This is your 'someplace' quiet?'' I raise an eyebrow, sitting beside him.
He looks down at the grass as he smiles, letting me see his profile. ''Well . . . I've been here once. I still remember when I was just a teenager and I was very pissed off at my grandma; so, I ran out here from the house . . . she was worried sick and she even called my parents, she told them I was gone. I stayed here for hours until morning and it was the best night of my life, exclude how many great nights I've had,'' He winks, ''If you know what I mean.''
''You're disgusting!'' I laugh. ''What happened between you and your grandma? You never told me anything about it,''
''We fought. She pissed me off and I ran here; I didn't feel like telling you because when they found me here in the morning, she apologised. I apologised first but she insisted that she should be the one to apologise than to forgive because she had offended me . . . that was what she believed. I simply can't remember what happened but we were okay,'' He replies, thinking back of the old memory.
''If I ask you . . . where is your favourite spot in Dallas, this would be it?'' I ask, slowly.
''This would be it,'' He turns to look at me; his brown eyes meeting mine. ''But . . . if you ever ask me if tonight is one of my favourite nights, it'd be a yes.'' His eyes won't look away from me as I try my best not to blush, luckily we're in the dark; not clear enough for him to see the tint of redness on my cheeks.
''Why is that?''
''Well, why wouldn't it be? Every night or everyday that I spend with you is the best moment of my life; it doesn't matter if that exact day or night was just filled with arguments, I want to remember it for the rest of my life. I want to remind myself that I had a great life with Kenna because she was the perfect woman to ever make me the happiest,'' He mutters.
I look away, ''You're good with words, now.''
''What can I say? I've been reading a few romantic novels and I can't help but say that I'm hooked,'' He replies.
Just like that, he starts to lay down on the grass, looking at the beautiful night sky as the stars shine brightly above us. As soon as he's laying on his back with a small smile plastered on his face, I begin to join him; right beside him.
''What if we play a game?'' I ask.
He looks at me, ''I'm in. What kind of game?''
''We, each, ask and tell one fact about ourselves. No lies. Just . . . our true selves. How does that sound?''
''Let me start?'' He raises an eyebrow, somehow excited to start playing this little game I managed to create in a short amount of time.
I nod my head, waiting for him to start. Both of his eyes start to pierce into mine as he clears his own throat, ''Do you like someone, now? Anyone . . . you maybe have a little . . . crush?'' He asks, smiling.
''Well . . . maybe. I'm not sure if I like him but I'm starting to feel a little, something, something when he's around.'' I reply, with full honesty but slightly hinting it; he didn't ask me who and he's never going to get it.
''I assume he's a lucky man?'' He chuckles.
''The luckiest,'' I grin. ''Now, it's my turn to start asking you. Everyone has a weakness. My weakness appears to be near any good pastries. What about you?'' I ask, wanting to make sure that I can tease him about it or even fool around, that's my technic.
He runs his fingers through his hair, ''This is kind of embarrassing but I can't ride a bicycle,'' He looks away, his voice low and almost inaudible which surprises me as soon as he spoke the words. I mean, there are a lot of people who doesn't know how to ride a bicycle but . . . Aidan is like the perfect catch with no fear or weaknesses at all but I guess I'm wrong.
''You can't ride a bicycle?'' I start to laugh.
''You say it as if it's a bad thing!'' He exclaims as I sit up straight, laughing at the fact that he can't ride a bicycle; something simple and basic. Also something that we learn when we were kids but unfortunately, he didn't have that opportunity.
''No, no, no. Don't get me wrong, Aidan but, look at you. You're Aidan Ashton, you're the youngest and most successful CEO. Your name and your pictures are in Forbes Magazine . . . but you can't ride a bike. You can cook, you can swim, you can write and you can do Calculus as you read about Business and Management but . . . riding a bike?! You've got to be kidding me,'' I shake my head a few times, wanting to make sure that he's not joking.
''Father didn't have a chance to teach me. He taught Alain but he didn't teach me. Neither did he taught Mia,'' He mutters. ''Alain was the one who taught Mia how to ride a bike when father was and is always busy with his career, rarely there for his own family who would always wonder,'' He adds.
''You never told me things like this . . . '' I breathe out, ''I never knew.''
''I never wanted you to look at me and feel sorry about my boring childhood.'' He chuckles, lightly. ''I'm not surprised that Alain went through a perfectly good childhood and life up till now because he would always get whatever he wants ever since he was a kid. He's the first son in the family and he has always made father proud; not me but him,'' His voice low and almost inaudible but I understand by his pained expression, it shows how much he would want a better spent childhood with his father than letting Alain; the only one who got that chance.
''I mean, look at him, he won ten spelling bees when he was just a kid and then he became the captain of the football team when he was in high school as he got a high score for his SAT, he followed my father's wishes as he went to his chosen university where he took his 'chosen' course, he fell in love with a woman who comes from a good background, ended up being the CFO because he's by far, really good at accounting and all that shit . . . while I'm stuck, no idea whatsoever on how to ride a damn bicycle,'' He continues to speak as he sighs, shaking his head about his brother's accomplishments but by the look on his face, it shows how he just wanted more love from Marc.
''Are you comparing yourself to him?'' I ask.
''No. I was not the captain of the football team or anything special to my father but I got you, Kenna. You proved how worthy I am just by letting me be your best friend and I'm more than glad that I've pushed you down the swing. His life may have been far way better than mine but my life has always been great when I first laid eyes in you,'' He replies.
''So . . . no regrets,'' He laughs as I join him.
Just like that, I begin to lay my head on his shoulder as I wrap my arms around his, wanting to comfort him in any way possible.
''You'll always have me, Aidan. No matter what happens in your life or mine . . . you'll always have me to turn to,'' I mutter before smiling up at him; seeing him smiling back at me, his eyes glistening with hope that I've came to acknowledge.
''That's why I love you, Kenna.'' He snuggles closer towards me as he pecks onto my forehead.
''Aww, you're a sweet lil' guy, aren't you?'' I grin widely at him as I pinch the bridge of his nose, nudging side to side as we both laugh before letting him push me onto the ground, tickling onto both sides of my waist; causing me to laugh loudly.