Is this destiny?

When the first round of an excited chatter ended, Jeff exclaimed: "We should celebrate!"

Sarah put her arms around Aiden protectively. "Not yet. He is still weak, and we need to decide who will know that he is awake.", Sarah explained.

Sophia agreed with this right away. "When they find out that he is awake, Voronins will send another spy to watch him and Lebedevs will not be happy that their plan didn't work as expected. In public, Sarah holds her arm like it's not fixed and we should keep Aiden low key… for now."

"Mom and dad would want to know that you are awake.", Jeff told Aiden hoping that he can get an ally in this women-rejecting atmosphere when he saw JoAnna nod in agreement to Sophia's words.

"We will come up with a reason to invite them here.", Sarah said. "And we can celebrate on the weekend. By then, he should be able to eat normally."

Aiden grimaced and rubbed his belly. He remembered that he is hungry, and those popsicles Sarah brought him are not helping much.

JoAnna swiftly wrote down a list of foods he can eat, order in which they should be introduced and few minutes later Jeff, JoAnna, Sophia and Felix went out to give them privacy.

Genie arrived with a tray filled with a variety of fruits.

"Master…", she was unable to hide her surprise. "It's good that you are awake. Light vegetable soup will be ready shortly."

Sarah took the tray from Genie. "You can tell the rest of the staff that Aiden is awake. But remind them that he needs to rest. When he feels better, he will come out and greet everyone."

"I understand, Madam.", Genie smiled and went out.

Aiden watched Sarah while she cut the apple into thin slices for him.

He thought that those are too thin slices. Does she think that he lost his teeth? He realized that she is probably concerned about his condition. "Other than hungry, I feel fine." Aiden stretched his arms to demonstrate his mobility before wrapping them around her waist.

Sarah threw him a side glance and smiled. "I know. But just in case… I want you to take it easy."

Aiden didn't miss Sophia's huge belly and he remembered that three months ago he suspected that Sarah is pregnant but… he can see that she is not. He did a math in his head. If she was pregnant at that time, it would be almost two months, and now three months later… there would definitely be something visible, and her tight top is showing that her toned abdomen is perfectly flat. Should he ask about it? He sighed… better not. At least not now because it can't be a positive outcome and he does not want to ruin this day.

Aiden reminded himself not to rush. Today he will let Sarah talk to him about whatever she wants. There must be a lot that happened in previous three months. Eve told him some things, but he wants to hear it from Sarah.

"Eat these before your soup arrives.", Sarah placed a plate in front of Aiden with apples, kiwi and papaya. Cut, peeled and ready to eat.

"Tell me what have you been up to without me." He found a comfortable position and placed a piece of apple in his mouth.

"Oh, where do I start? … Let's start from home… There is a new boy, Ron. He is with the kids…" Sarah told him about Ron and about Penny… and that Emma is staying at their place and that Charlie is a regular also. 

The soup arrived and Aiden demanded that she feeds him. Sarah didn't object.

She fed him soup while continuing her talk: "Jeff is currently facing some resistance due to Marcus. I went there with Jesse, Haru, Ade and Jamari to help out. Shawn is out of the picture. That is where I met Ron…"

By the time Aiden finished his soup, Sarah was on the topic of Evalina being held captive.

"No matter what I went through, the hardest part was that you are not with me. I wanted her to suffer at least as long as I am. I don't know if you want to see her or not…"

Aiden listened to Sarah and he was not sure if he wants to see Evalina either. No matter how much he tried, he could not remember Sarah and him walking back after the company meeting, or when Evalina attacked.

Aiden wanted to see the kids and meet Ron, but he didn't want all of them in the bedroom. With all those machines it looks like he is sick. They met in the living room.

Sarah used this opportunity and told Genie to arrange for the medical equipment to be moved out of the bedroom and to return their master suite to the previous state. Her desk with PC was moved as well, since she does not need to work from there anymore.

Emma and Charlie returned from their lunch in the town.

Charlie pouted while sitting in his wheelchair when he realized that for the next hour (and probably longer) Emma will be busy with Aiden. He is awake and she wants to do a checkup before deciding what treatments are needed, if any.

Emma and Charlie strolled in the city after lunch for more than two hours. Charlie used that as his walking exercise, but because he does not like medical aids, he used Emma to support himself. A shameless way to allow him to put his arm around her shoulders.

Charlie saw that the dinner time is approaching, and he thought that he should head out for the day. Emma was already ushering Aiden to the room with the medical equipment she uses.

"I will come and pick you up for lunch tomorrow.", Charlie told Emma. Two of them are having lunch together daily, so it's not unusual for him to assume that she will be available.

Emma paused. "Not tomorrow. I have something else planned."

"Brian?", Charlie guessed and hoped that he is wrong.

"Yeah. I will let you know when I'm free. Have a good night!", Emma said and went with Aiden toward the elevator.

Charlie sighed and put his hands over his face.

Sarah clicked her tongue, reminding him that she is still there.

"I'm not the one to meddle usually, but… Did you confess your feelings to Emma?", Sarah asked him.

His troubled expression answered her question.

"I don't know what are you waiting for. Everyone sees that you are interested in Emma. Everyone except for Emma. Considering how the two of you met and everything… even if she sees that you are treating her better than any other girl, she will think that you are doing that out of gratitude."

What Sarah said is nothing new to Charlie, but…"What about Brian?"

"What about him? Don't you think that there is a reason why even with such an obvious attraction between the two of them they are still not together? Emma is accepting his lunch invitations and that shows that he still has a chance to be part of her life, but she is spending her time with you as well. How I see it, both of you have a chance."

"What should I do?"

Sarah almost rolled her eyes. "Tell her how you feel. Why is that such a difficult thing to do? Are there any obstacles from your side? If yes, deal with them. And get out of that wheelchair. Even I can see that you don't need it anymore. Maybe then Emma stops seeing you as a patient and starts looking at you as a man."

Sarah went to join Aiden and Emma. Aiden is awake, and Sarah does not want to be away from him if possible. She left Charlie in the living room by himself. Well, Charlie spends so much time at the Cliffside villa that they are all treating him as a regular, and not as a guest.

Charlie left with thoughts what he should do next. He never confessed his feelings to a woman before, and he is finding it to be more difficult than expected. Not because he can't say 'I like you' to Emma, but because he fears that she will reject him. In his own way he is staying close to Emma, stealing her time and attention while getting sucked deeper into the friendzone. Or worse… the patient-zone (if there is such a thing). He knows that he needs to do something different if he wants to make a progress.

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