The Traps of Black Swan

The three hours earlier at the mall,

After hanging up the call with Aarvi, Aaron grabbed their drinks and stood unbothered about the gazes on him looking towards the elevator and the escalator. 

He was absolutely sure that as soon as she entered the floor, she would search for him so he stood in a clearly visible place.

It wasn't even two minutes, he noticed little Lara entering the escalator with her parents. She was the same little four-year-old girl who used to play with Aarvi when they were staying in the lakefront villa.

They were just neighbors and her parents were always busy with the work so they never exchanged numbers. Hence after all the residents moved out of the regency during floods, they lost contact.

Aaron thought Aarvi would love to meet the little one before the movie as he watched Lara excited about standing on her own on the steps of the escalator while her parents kept their eye on her as they probably discussed their business.

Aaron really felt bad for Lara who hardly gets time to spend with her parents and when she finally got it, it wasn't even complete attention. The problem of highly career-oriented workaholic parents who have no time for their own kid but working hard for their kid's better life.

How pathetic, right?

The parents helped her get off the escalator safely and were walking towards the food court still discussing with each other. Lara was clutching the hem of the jacket of her father as she looked around enjoying the lights, pictures, and the crowd.

Her eyes fell on the ball that was rolling down and other younger ones were running behind it. At the thought of helping them, Lara let go of the jacket and ran behind the ball.

Aaron noticed the ball direction and was alarmed seeing the ball go towards the descending escalator and her parents totally unaware of her movements.

He stuffed the popcorn and drinks to somebody who was passing by him and ran towards the escalator despite knowing he was too far off. He let go of his aloofness and shouted at the escalator passerby, "Stop the little girl."

However, people who heard his words thought of him as a negligent father and just glanced at Lara. 

By that time, Lara caught the ball at the edge of the escalator but to balance her footing, her one leg stepped on the moving escalator and she slipped.

"Ahhh…." A heart-wrenching cry of the little girl pierced the busy crowd including her parents as she rolled down the stairs hurting her head and body repeatedly. 

Aaron noticed the mall security person who was appointed for guarding the escalator area exiting the restroom corridor and ran towards the escalator sensing the agitated crowd.

Before the stand guardsman could see the situation, a strong fist of Aaron jabbed right on his face. It wasn't wholly the stand guard's mistake, he wanted to do that to Lara's parents too.

He also noticed Lara's mother fainted in shock and his father caught hold of her. Ignoring them, Aaron descended as quickly as possible and reached the ground where Lara was lying in the pool of blood.

The little pretty girl had bruises and cut laying on the floor like a lifeless body. Anybody's heart could tremble at the sight.

Aaron didn't have time to think, he checked her breathing weakening with her heartbeats. His gaze searched for the standguard of that floor who was calling the ambulance so he focused on the little girl in front of him.

He tore the dress front to make sure there weren't any wounds on her chest before performing the CPR. He was highly careful to make sure he won't hurt her in form as he repeatedly checked breathing and pulse.

After a few tries, Lara's body responded and sniffed more air through her mouth.

The mall staffs were fastidious, when Aaron scooped Lara to avoid wasting time, the staff reminded him, "Sir, stretcher here. Please put the girl on it."

Lara identified Aaron and started calling him in her cry, "Do...or Un...le…" 

Hearing her say 'Doctor Uncle' repeatedly, he so wished he could take her pain seeing in extreme pain. 

One who always ran to Aarvi's arms giggling happily, playing different games with her, was laying on the stretcher soaked in her own blood. 

He didn't want to see Aarvi distressed and heartbroken looking at Lara's state so when his hand reached for his mobile, he controlled himself forcefully and focused on Lara.

Aaron tried to keep Lara distracted from the pain seeing her cry as they went to the infirmary for the first aid. He heard Naomi's voice repeatedly asking what went wrong but he shrugged her off without bothering why and how she reached there and entered the infirmary.

He was preparing himself to do the first aid when the mall doctor stopped him, "Excuse me, sir, please step out, we will take care from here."

They didn't have time to waste, Aaron removed his hospital identification card to hand him when Naomi said in an annoyed tone, "He is Aaron Rivas, Doctor Rivas."

Aaron didn't care about her, he pushed the mall doctor aside and went inside quickly. The nurse who was inside, helped him take off his blood-stained blazer, he pulled his shirt sleeves up so that he could start treating her without bothering about the clothes.

Treating her, he heard his mobile ring, followed by Naomi's voice, "I will look into it." 

Aaron was aware Aarvi was the one who was calling him, "Ask Aarvi to come here quickly." He instructed without taking his eyes away from Lara.

Little did he know, Naomi won't do that.

'Aarvi?' She gritted her teeth looking at 'My better half' on the screen.

She clicked the volume button to mute the ringing volume as she thought about what she should do. She didn't know sneaking away from her driver to go to the mall will end her up meeting Aaron.

Assuming if she got rid of Aarvi, she could spend time with Aaron. She thought for a moment how to handle Aarvi. If she speaks and if Aarvi has any call recorder application, she will be caught so Naomi didn't answer the call.

'That bitch will call again.' She thought and made her mind before going to Aaron.

Naomi poked him, "Aaron, look here for a second…" 

Frowning at the disturbance, he turned to her and realized she unlocked his mobile with the scan of his iris. Naomi noticed his cold gaze and blurted out, "The call hung up, I don't have Ms. Evans's number, I will call her and inform." She lied.

Aaron didn't respond to her and wrapped the gauge around the head and arm of Lara very quickly with the help of a nurse. 

Naomi quickly blocked the contact 'My better half' and sighed deeply. Now incoming and outgoing both would be blocked. To leave the proof as she had called Aarvi, she dialed the contact and decided to tell her number is not reachable. 

So she was cent percent sure Aarvi and Aaron were going to misunderstand each other for the whole night.

Her fingers were itching on the screen when she was thinking what if Aarvi calls through some other number. 

'Should I switch off the mobile?' She thought.

Just then the mobile started vibrating so she blocked another number right away and also deleted the call log of it.

She patted her chest praying for things to fall out in her way.