You know when you were younger and they told you that you could be whoever you wished to be? You could grow up and become whatever you set your mind and heart upon?
Yep, well I'm here to tell you that's a complete load of bull.
So as I stared acros...
"Y-Your what?" I asked, as my mind just went blank. Did I hear her right?
"Ex-fiancé." She reiterated nervously.
"O-Okay." I nodded, unsure of what to say.
I wasn't mad per say, that would have been very hypocritical of me considering I too was marry and have a son. The only difference was, I was honest about that part of me. "Was this recent? Or a while back?" I asked her as the wind started to pick up.
"About a month ago." She confessed.
I felt my heart practically drop into my stomach as she spoke. I was worried about how soon she had jumped into this relationship. Was I just a rebound for her? Hell, she was going to be married!
"It's not like that." She spoke quietly, look at me. "You weren't some guy that I was using to get over my ex." She said, surprising me by how well she could already read me. "The relationship wasn't much of one to begin with. Things ended... Badly."
"What do you mean by badly?" I asked, trying desperately to read her face and see what she was thinking, the way she knew what I was.
"I- I ran out on him... At the alter."
"Wait, so you were actually seconds away from getting wed, before deciding you couldn't follow through with it?" I asked, honestly unsure of how I felt about it all.
"Yes- and no. I never wanted to marry him. It was just what I was supposed to do- what my family wanted me to do. I finally had a clear moment while standing at that alter, looking at faces I had never seen before in that extravagant church I couldn't give less of a fuck about. I realized that that life wasn't what I wanted. I realized whatever dream Jake had for me, wasn't the dream I had or wanted for myself, and I decided to finally do something about it."
"Jake. Is that his name?" I asked, trying to keep a cap on my jealous side. This guy, for whatever reason, still had a hold on Aria, and I didn't like it. I wanted to be the only man in her life.
"Yes. He's the person I'd have to talk to, to clear all this up with." She nodded, her body starting to relax a bit. I had a feeling that we had gotten over the worst part of this talk and I thanked the heavens for it. I wasn't sure how much more I would have honestly been able to take. I still wasn't mad at Aria, I could tell that this had been eating away at her for some time now and I counted my blessings that there wasn't some child or law suit she didn't tell me about. I could handle an ex fiancé.
"How did you and Jake meet?" I asked, curiosity getting the better of me. I needed to know everything about the man who almost trapped THE Aria Lane in a lifeless marriage.
"He had connections with my mother's friends. I wasn't even sure how everything happened, but before I knew it, my mother had set me up on a date with him. He was handsome and charming and everything I thought I wanted at that time... But as soon as things started to get serious, I saw a side of him that I hadn't seen before. He soon became very... Controlling." She explained uneasily. "It wasn't like he would outright tell me which friends he liked and which friends he didn't, but he would always find a way to ruin the plans I would make with the friends he didn't.
"I hadn't noticed it at the time, but my friends group began to dwindle out. I was only left with the friend who had an influential impact of entertainment or politics, I was left with the friends who were in a sense "better off" than my others. He had that way with him, the way to manipulate me into doing what he wanted. When he met me, I was just starting out law, but I wasn't too sure about perusing it any further. Within months, he had me working for his firm." She continued.
I could feel my blood boiling just by the way Aria described him.
"After a few months, being a lawyer was the only thing I did that could get me praise. Jake never told me to stop art, but he made the practice of law more important than breathing sometimes. At first, when there was that spark, he made the judicial system seem exciting- defending the innocent and prosecuting the guilty, but now I see it for what it really is... A cheated system. A system made to benefit the rich, and only the rich. It made sure there was that 1% of cases where the underdog won, to give the poor that false hope in actually benefitting from such a corrupt system. I grew to hate the practice of law." She admitted.
Hearing her broadcast her thoughts were insanely enlightening, and made me want her even more. The fact that she was so open to everything around her, was what made her different. "You stayed because of your mother."
"Exactly." She replied. "We grew up poor. My father was an abusive alcoholic, and my mother was a victim of the abuse. This is why this case means so much to me. I know what it's like to hate the man you know, yet love the man you knew. After my father passed, my mother made it her mission to provide a life for me that I would never have to struggle with. Without knowing, she provided a relationship that I struggled with daily."
I held her hands tighter, as I felt my heart drop once more. Hearing her history, and everything she went through when she was younger, made me just want to whisk her away from this life. I wanted to show her that the world can be a beautiful place if you're willing to open your eyes to it.
I wanted her to realize that she could be loved, if she would let me.
----------------------------------- Thank you all so much for reading! It's come to my attention that wattpad doesn't actually notify me when one of you guys post on my wall or message me with questions. If you ever want to reach me, my Instagram is probably the only platform I'm on so feel free to message me there.
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