บท 109: Second woman (2)

After saying bye to Vivian, Sarah went straight to the apartment.

Aiden was on the sofa in the living area, with his laptop. "What happened?", he noticed Sarah's bad mood immediately as she entered.

Sarah snuggled next to him. He put his laptop on the side and hugged her.

After some time, she took a deep breath, "Do you have another woman somewhere? Is your family arranging for you to marry someone else?"

"What kind of questions are those?" He was surprised that she suddenly brought up such questions.

"Just answer me..."

"No, I don't have anyone else, and my family is not arranging anyone for me. I was lucky..."

"What does that last thing mean?"

Aiden was quiet for some time before speaking with carefully chosen words. "My family is a bit... different. My brother is the first son in the family, so there are some... arrangements for him."

Sarah was curious to find out more, but now she was more focused on Aiden... she needed to confirm. "There is nothing for you?"

"No, for me there is nothing arranged."

Sarah sighed in relief and tightened her hug. "Families are such a pain sometimes."

"Will you tell me what happened?"

Sarah told him how Vivian is with Gabriel, while he is still with Victoria, and how he can't find a way to tell his parents that he does not want to be with Victoria.

"I thought he is a man, and he is just a wimp. He is taking advantage of both Vivian and Victoria. How come he does not have courage to speak up? These are not ancient times, even if parents arranged something twenty years ago, he should be able not to be forced into things."

"This applies to Jeff also?", Sarah could not help but ask.

Aiden shook his head, "He does not care about these things. He was always focused only on studies and career. If it's not something that will bring him money, he will not bother with it."

Sarah silently agreed with this; her assessment of Jeff is also along those lines. "I can't make myself to care about Gabriel. It will be good if I don't punch him next time I see him. But I'm sorry for Vivian. I asked her how she can handle being a second woman... and she asked me back what I would do if that is us?"

"Don't even think about that. It will never happen."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes. Even if my family tries something now, I will not let it happen."

"Thank you... it means a lot to hear you say that."

"I am disappointed in one thing...", he didn't finish his sentence. Sarah looked up at him. Aiden raised an eyebrow and asked, "Where are groceries for my dinner?"

"Oh, I forgot... how can you think about food in the time of crisis?", she was still sad thinking about Vivian.

"What crisis? Crisis of me having instant noodles for dinner?" Aiden looked at her sad expression and understood that he needs to comfort Sarah first. "Come on, cheer up... you can't do anything about two of them, it's their choice. You can support them or not, but you need to let them make their own decisions. And we should focus on ourselves."

"You are right. Can we stay like this for few more minutes?", feeling him close made her worries disappear slowly.

"Of course. As long as you don't try to bail out of making diner."

"Seriously... you are only thinking about food.", Sarah's temper was rising again.

"I'm more thinking about you in apron, cooking for me.", he teased her.

"Can't you hold a normal conversation?"

"Define normal."

She sharply exhaled, "I give up, let's go shopping."

He laughed seeing that he was successful. 'Well, at least you are not sad anymore.'

...

Next day Sarah confirmed with Jeff details about her work with security enhancements for White corp. She will lead a team of five people: three existing employees, and two new hires. If they need more people, they will hire more at that time. For hiring process, she needs to come up with job descriptions, and once candidates are found she will do interviewing in person from LA office. For the work itself, Sarah will get to decide if she needs to be there in person, or she can work remotely, but Jeff recommended that she is there in person, at least at the beginning. Sarah agreed with this.

"It seems we will go back to Los Angeles soon", Sarah told Aiden.

"You need to go, not me", Aiden responded. He did his best to keep a straight face when he saw Sarah's shocked expression.

"You must be kidding... you are coming with me, right?", she looked desperate.

He laughed, "Of course I am."

"My heart stopped. Don't joke like that anymore.", she patted her chest.

"OK"

"I don't believe you." Why would she believe him? Sarah would be blind not to notice that he enjoys teasing her.

"Hmph, why are you asking if you will not believe me no matter what I said?"

"I was not asking. It was an order.", Sarah took a firm stance and gave him a stern look.

He tilted his head and looked at her in disbelief. Aiden grabbed her around her waist and carried her over his shoulder to the bedroom.

"Hey, what are you doing?", she protested.

"You want to order me around? Some discipline needs to be administered."

"Oh, you would use anything as an excuse! You are shameless!"

He laughed while pulling her lower, and her legs wrapped around his waist. "You are right. I'm just looking for an excuse.", he admitted.

Sarah wrapped her arms around his neck and looked him in the eyes. "You know, you don't need an excuse to enjoy what is yours."

"Sometimes I think that you are not in the mood."

Sarah laughed, "I'm probably in the mood more than you are."

He perked up, "Oh? How about we do some research on that topic." Aiden sat on the edge of the bed with Sarah seated in his lap, her legs still wrapped around his waist.

"How do you suggest we go about it?", Sarah could not help but think what is coming, and it made her breathing shallow.

"Let's start with a hands-on approach.", his hands already undid buckles on her bra.