One Missed Call

29:Angels don't lie

Bella can't stop humming as she shoves the third triangle sandwich into her mouth while staring down at her small fury tablet, enjoying the little cartoons that pop up every second on the screen.

She giggles at a few of the funny faces they make and continues to remain silent when they aren't amusing.

In the meantime, Ria is sitting just across from her and scrolling through her very own tablet as well, dragging a few clothes icon into a small basket at the corner of her screen as she checks the endless page of clothing and shoes.

Megan glances over her shoulder and to Ria with a slight frown before glancing over to Bella who also doesn't seem to acknowledge her own mother in the room.

Obviously trying not to engage in conversation as Ria rarely replies to anything she says. Thinking Bella is still a kid and could say just about anything when she feels like it.

"Are you done, Bella?" Megan asks as she walks up to Bella with a small sippy bottle filled with some apple juice, placing it down on the table Bella is sitting at.

"Nope." She shakes her head in denial and shoves another sandwich into her mouth. "Where is daddy? He's going to be late for work."

"I don't know, Bella." Megan smiles down at the little girl who drops her gaze back to the tablet and giggles when her favourite character pops up on the screen.

"Oh, right." Ria sighs out as she brushes her hair off her shoulders while grabbing her mug from the table. "Bella, yesterday you didn't come home after school. Why?"

"I was picked up by someone." She simply replies with her gaze still fixed to the tablet as Megan frowns slightly and turns from the table, heading back to the kitchen to continue her dishes.

"Was it a friend's mummy?" She asks as childishly as possible, knowing Bella is one who doesn't lie unlike her father.

"No. it is was the nice lady." She bluntly speaks out and Ria leans back into her chair as a frown makes its way to her lips.

Megan clenches her jaw at that but continues to do the dishes in silence, knowing Ria is one of the many that hate sharing the thing she has.

Even when she doesn't want them.

Ria quietly gets up a moment later and leaves the kitchen, getting Megan to glance over to Bella in horror.

Even though she doesn't know who the mysterious woman Aaron had spent a night with that day, and the very same woman who seem to have taken Bella's heart, she can't just let Bella spill the beans about her if Aaron isn't comfortable with it.

Ria is just someone Hailee doesn't want to meet.

The dull eyes staring back through the mirror only makes him cringe as he knows he looks a little worse than he usually looks on a bad day.

He sighs out as he fixes his tie, staring down at the red and black patterned tire that somehow brings Hailee's name to thought.

The short kiss they shared in the car before she decided to drive off was enough to convince him to want more from her, even if his own wife was in the building a few feet from the car.

He was planning to risk it just to get her out of her system.

Like a drug that doesn't seem to want to leave his body just yet.

"Next time you lie, teach your daughter how to too." Ria hisses from the door, getting him to step back from the sudden voice as he turns his gaze from the body length mirror and towards her.

"What are you talking about?" Aaron asks while turning his gaze back to the mirror, knowing a little too well what she is talking about. "Did Bella say something?"

"The previous night I had asked you who had taken Bella from school, which you replied was her friend's mother." Ria points out and Aaron innocently shrugs his shoulders, still pretending not to know what she is implying. "Yet she tells me a different story that it is the nice lady  she constantly talks about."

"And you believe her?" Aaron asks as he glances at her from the mirror, meeting her glare in am instant. "Bella probably just thought you were asking about that day. Like I told you, I haven't met her since."

"I'm not stupid, Aaron." Ria rolls her eyes as Aaron chuckles lightly.

"I didn't say you were." He shrugs his shoulders and turns to face her. "Anyway. I should be heading off to work. I have a meeting very soon."

"If you met this woman so recently, how is it that you seem so connected to her?" She asks as she stares right into his solid gaze. "To the point she is literally taking your child from school is clear enough to me that you two aren't just a one night stand."

"I didn't meet her last night. Why are you still believing in a child that doesn't even like you to begin with." Aaron still defends himself as he walks towards the kitchen, clenching his jaw tightly at the realization that he forgot to tell Bella not to tell Ria the truth about where she was.

He doesn't want to get Bella into lying a little too much, since he knows she can not really lie and she can tell him anything. If he changes that much about her, Bella won't be the Bella he knows any more, she will become something else.

"You liar, even after all the evidence pointing towards you, you still want lie to my face, don't you?" Ria asks as she walks right behind Aaron who reaches down to Bella and lifting her off the chair and into his arms.

"Like I told you before, Bella was just saying things." Aaron still defends as he walks with Bella to the front porch while Megan only watches with wide eyes from afar. "I should really get going. I'll be late for the meeting."

"Okay." She nods slowly and watches as he rushes out of the front doors and down to his waiting roaring car that Mr Leavens had pulled out.