Falling in Love : I love you, Today and Forever

It was past lunchtime and Aria had another hour until her shift ended. She was tired and wanted nothing but to have a good sleep for a few hours before she had to go meet Daniel. When she saw his face on Rachel's phone, she was thunderstruck. She had not expected him to have gotten a girlfriend when she was away. She was not annoyed due to this, it was the fact that he had hidden it from her was what getting on her nerves.

They were friends since childhood and they hid nothing from each other. This was a huge matter. Rachel was an outstanding woman, no doubt in that. Aria regularly followed the tabloids, though it was during her break time. She had read about the Carters and she knew how well established they were.

She had read Rachel's interview in one of the magazines and she was impressed by her demeanor. She did not have any attitude of a pampered princess like the ones from a rich family. She was bold, confident, and excluded an aura of an independent woman, thereby making Aria a fan of hers.

She knew, there was no better woman for Daniel than Rachel. Yet she was unhappy that he had not told her about them. However, she did not realize that she had done the same to him by hiding about her relationship.

"So?" Rachel looked at Aria expectantly. Her test results were out and if everything was normal, she would be discharged that evening. She wanted to leave this boring hospital at any cost. The white walls were making her sick and she was missing her life.

"No." Aria deadpanned.

"Why?" Rachel cried. "I am perfectly fine. There is nothing wrong with me."

"Although there is nothing with you, I cannot discharge you today. You need rest, you are overstressed."

"Yes, my dear. You need rest." A voice said from the ward door.

"Grandpa."

Jonathan Carter walked inside in a dignified manner. His old age had not made him weak or less powerful. In fact, he looked all the more menacing. He did not look anything like he had fallen ill just a few days back.

"Rachel, how are you, my dear? I apologize that it took me some time to visit you."

Jonathan Carter had intended to visit his beloved granddaughter the day he had heard about her accident. However, he was stopped by his son and daughter-in-law as they thought it would take a toll on his health. He controlled his anxiety for one full day. But he couldn't stop himself the next day, although his son had assured him that Rachel was fine.

So, Jonathan had snuck out of the mansion when nobody was looking. He had been careful enough to divert all the people's attention in the house when he was executing his plan. Not even his personal assistant knew where he was.

But he also knew that he couldn't trick them forever. They would find out sooner or later and he did not care. His son would reprimand him for ignoring his health, but at least he got to meet his granddaughter. Moreover, he was going to a hospital that was filled with doctors. So, how could his health deteriorate?

"Grandpa, I am fine. Why did you come here? You need to rest at home."

"Nonsense. I am perfectly fine. I can even fight the ongoing war if you want, I am healthy."

"Yes, yes. You are the healthiest person alive." Rachel gave in. She knew it was useless to fight him. If he was determined to do something, he would stop at nothing to accomplish it. This was a trait inherited by the Carter men. They neither cared about the method they used or about themselves; all that mattered was the end result.

"That's more like it."

"Grandpa, didn't Mom and Dad come with you?"

Jonathan was silent. Looking at him not answering, Rachel was agitated.

"Did you sneak out of the house?"

Silence again. She got her answer.

"Grandpa, how can you do this? Mom and Dad will be worried." She raised her hands in frustration.

"They'll guess where I am. Don't worry dear."

"Grandpa." She cried. She did not know what to say.

Jonathan looked at Aria who was standing silently, watching them bicker. Surprise flashed through his eyes. He recognized her at once.

'Ain't she the one who my grandson has taken a liking to?'

He observed her carefully before shifting his eyes back to Rachel. Aria had seen his eyes on her, it made her uncomfortable for some unknown reasons.

"Who is this lovely lady?" He asked Rachel.

"This is my doctor, Aria West and Aria this is my grandpa."

"Hello Mr. Carter." Aria greeted him.

"Nonsense." Jonathan raged, making Aria flinch.

'Did she annoy him by any chance?'

"Grandpa." Rachel started.

"Call me grandpa, my dear. Mr. Carter makes me feel distant, we are family."

Rachel stared at him for a while before she gasped.

"You know?"

"Yes I do," Jonathan smirked.

"What? What are you talking about? I don't understand." Aria was bewildered.

"Aria, grandpa knows about you and Noah."

"What?" Aria's jaw dropped.

"Yes, my dear. I knew about it long back."

"How long?" Rachel waited for him to speak. Jonathan was intelligent. He knew it was not something that was to be disclosed in front of Aria. He assumed that things would not go well if he told Aria that Noah went to London just to woo her. She might even consider his grandson to be a stalker. So, in order to save his grandson's love life, he lied.

"I found out after Noah came back from London."

"Oh," Aria said.

"Come here child, let me take a look at you." Jonathan summoned her nearer to him. He then carefully observed her. She was beautiful, her pretty eyes were intriguing sucking oneself deep into them. She was polite and well-spoken and since she was a doctor, she must be intelligent. She had all the traits to be his grandson's wife.

Suddenly, he started smiling like a fool which made the two women look at each other.

"Ugh, Grandpa what happened?" Rachel queried. He was smiling weirdly as he stared into oblivion.

"I am imagining how good my great-grandkids would be. They would have extraordinary genes."

Aria was speechless listening to him. Her relationship with Noah had just begun and his grandfather was already dreaming about grandkids.

Rachel let out a laugh on hearing his words. On a second thought, she too started to thinking about her niece or nephew.

"Grandpa, that would be awesome. Imagine how beautiful they will be and given that they would have superficial genes, they will be intelligent too."

Aria gaped at Rachel. 'You too?'

'Sorry, I couldn't stop myself picturing being an aunt.'

Aria raised her eyebrows. 'Oh. shall I tell you about you and Danny?'

'No. No.' Rachel begged through eyes. "It's not yet time for that."

"Time for what?" Jonathan asked. He had not seen the silent conversation between the two women.

Rachel wanted to bite her tongue off, she did not realize she had said it out loud. Aria grinned at her discomfort.

"I think it's not time for them to have kids yet. They have just started dating Grandpa. Give them some time."

"I can't wait for long." The old man whined like a child.

"Oh, trust me Grandpa. You will get grandkids sooner than you could expect." Aria gave Rachel a wink, making her scowl. However, she did not know her words were misunderstood by Jonathan. He smiled happily. He immediately pulled out his phone.

"Hello." Noah's voice sounded from the other side.

"Where are you?" The old man questioned.

"Office."

"Come to the hospital immediately."

"Why? What happened? Is everything alright?" Noah panicked at once listening to the word hospital.

"You have an important task to accomplish."

"What?" Noah was already walking towards the elevator. He was already fearing the worst.

"You have to make babies and promote me to great grandfather as soon as possible."

"What?" Noah stopped in his track.

Aria was dumbstruck. What was the old man even talking? Rachel stifled a laugh, she was enjoying the show greatly.

"Yes, Aria has already accepted to give me great-grandkids," Jonathan said with a smile, and this time Rachel could not control her laughter. All this time, Aria's face had gone beet red. She was blushing furiously. These people were planning for her to make babies while she was still early in her relationship.

"I'll be there in a few minutes," Noah answered. He was still flabbergasted. Aria wanted to make babies with him. She was quite forward in her thoughts than he had expected.

"Aria, your wish is my command." He beamed and entered the elevator. Now he had babies to make.