They were watching the sky turn pink when Ian's phone notified him of a message. He excused himself and went inside the mansion. The coast was clear, if she was fast enough and if she wanted, she could run to the forest and they wouldn't be able to trace her scent. She had the chance of running away but the irony is even when she had the opportunity, this idea never popped in her head. She was sitting there, smiling and enjoying her surroundings. The fact that Ian trusted her so much that he left her alone without a second thought was enough for Adina to know that she was trusted and valued. She was lost in the beauty of the nature when suddenly her phone rang. As promised, Krystal had video called her. She panicked and stood up facing the mansion so that Krystal could only see the garden in her background. As soon as she picked up the call, Krissie started singing happy birthday to her. Adina smiled widely and thanked her.
"Wow, the place is beautiful",Krystal said enchanted by the beautiful garden.
Adina chuckled saying,"It is, isn't it?"
"Are you in heaven or what? What place is this dude? So beautiful.. I wanna go there too."
"Secret. Can't tell."
"That's not fair", Krystal whined but Adina just smiled. That's when she saw Ian and Aiden making their way towards her. Panic started rising inside her and her eyes widened a bit. She held up her left hand towards them indicating them to stop and they did. She sighed but again got startled when Krystal asked,"Hey, you okay? Is everything alright there?"
"Y-yes, of course. Everything is fine. Anyways, Krissie if you don't have anything else to say, I'll be hanging up the call. K, bye. Love you."
"B-" , before she could say anything Adina hung up the call.
She let out a breath saying,"Well, that was close",then looked at the twins and smiled. Even though Aiden wished her a happy birthday with a straight face, still Adina blushed and gave him a shy smile saying thank you. After that Ian put blindfold on her eyes and took her somewhere. Aiden just followed the pair from behind. He had already said to Ian that he didn't wanna be a part of this but Ian threatened and forced him to join them.
They entered through a door then Ian let go of Adina's hands which he was holding, to guide her to the room. "Can I open it now? Where the hell did you go? I don't like darkness, come on! Please",she whined and pleaded with a cute pout on her face which made Ian giggle.
"Alright princess, you can take the blind fold off now." As soon as she heard it, she let out a sigh of relief but when she took off the blindfold, she was left stunned. The living room was decorated with black and white balloons and happy birthday banner in gold colour. The decoration complemented the room a lot. Adina covered her mouth with both her hands and looked around the room. It was simply beautiful.
She ran forward towards Ian and hugged him tightly whispering,"Thank you, thank you so much for this." She broke the hug and looked at him with a face splitting grin plastered on her lips. Ian ruffled her hair and smiled back.
"Well, you should thank Aiden. He did all of this",smiling mischievously he pointed towards his brother who was standing a few steps away from them.
She started walking towards him when Aiden stepped back and put his hands up hesitantly saying,"No-.. no need. It was Ian's idea, I only helped him."
She still smiled sweetly at him and said,"Still, thank you so much Aiden. It means a lot."
Aiden scratched his nape, avoiding eye contact with any of the two occupants of the room. He just nodded to let Adina know that he heard her words. Ian suppressed a smile looking at the two. He then came between them saying,"Yaah! Birthday girl needs to cut her cake." And on cue David entered with her birthday cake. He also wished her a happy birthday and was going to leave when Adina stopped him and insisted him to have a piece of cake before going back to his work. She then cut the cake and gave a piece to David. Then as she fed the cake to Ian, she playfully rubbed the cream part on his whole face and both started chasing each other around the room with cream in their hands. Ian finally caught her and put the cream on both her face and hair, to which she whined.
"Not the hair.. please ... Aaahhhh!" She pouted angrily and Ian just laughed.
"Serves you right",Ian said leaving an angry, messed up hair Adina on the couch to have a proper piece of cake. All this time Aiden was just standing there looking at them with emotionless face. He just wanted to get out of the room.
Adina cut another piece of the cake and advanced towards Aiden who stopped her and took the piece from her hand saying,"Thank you."
Adina giggled saying,"Don't worry, I wouldn't have done that to you", she pointed towards Ian's direction who still hadn't wiped the cream off his face and was enjoying the cake. After celebrating her birthday they had dinner and drinks and went to bed.
Adina again hugged Ian and pecked his cheeks saying,"Thank you. I really had a lot of fun today. Thank you for making my day so amazing." They then wished each other good night and entered their respective bedrooms.
Adina took a shower and got ready for bed and was about to lie down when she heard a knock on her door.
She opened the door only to find Aiden nervously standing there, looking at her. "Yes? Do you need something Aiden?" Adina asked him. She was curious as to what he was doing there at this time, so late.
"Uh- if you don't mind, can I come inside?" He seemed hella nervous.
"Yaa, sure!" Adina replied a lil bit hesitant. This was the first time that Aiden has asked permission from her but she understood why.
He steeped inside the room and took a deep breath before digging out something from his pocket. Seeing the blue rectangular velvet box in his hand Adina got confused. She looked back up at him and he looked everywhere but at her and awkwardly handed the box for her to take. She hesitantly took it and again looked up him with confusion filled eyes. He scratched his nape saying,"Open it. It's a birthday cum apology gift for you. Umm.. I hope you like it." Seeing Aiden so nervous a giggle escaped her lips.
She immediately composed herself and said,"Well, thank you but you didn't need to."
"For God's sake! Just open it already."
Adina smiled and nodded. She opened the box and her mouth hung open. It was a beautiful charm bracelet and the charms being the initials of the names of her loved ones engraved on small hearts. She took it out and touched every engraved initials lovingly. One had her own initials, the other had her mom's, dad's and Krystal's too. She smiled happily, tears brimming her eyes and blurring her view. She blinked a few times and looked up, biting her lips, trying her very best from stopping herself from bursting into tears. She somehow managed to say,"Thank you. It's beautiful. Really very beautiful."
Aiden gave her a genuine smile saying,"There are spaces left so if you want to add someone else just tell either me or Ian. We'll get it done for you."
Seeing him smile for the first time ever made her heart flutter. She said,"You should smile more. It looks good on you."
His smile dropped and he said,"I- I'm... I should go now. Good night."
He turned around to leave but froze in his place when Adina said,"I forgive you Aiden and thank you...for this and for everything."
He didn't look back but smiled to himself and continued walking until he reached his bedroom. That night both of them slept with smiles on their faces and hearts filled with happiness and contentment.