Aiden got out of his car and removed his sunglasses, leaning back on the car.
He was frustrated.
He was getting out of patience with Moon's antics.
How dare she lie about Candy's health just to get him to co over to his house when she knew he had a very important eting that morning?
Did she think he was going to keep tolerating this from her?
If she tested his patience one more ti, he would take custody of that child and give her a restraining order. That way, he'd have a peaceful life again; he felt like he was going to rub mad any ti soon.
He felt distressed.
However, he knew that a child as young as Candy would need her mother's presence in her life, even though Moon wasn't really that present since Candy had loads of Nannies taking care of her, at least knowing that she still had a mother she could see whenever she wanted was so kind of comfort to her than knowing that she would never see her mother again.
Moon wasn't really fit to be a mother, she only appeared with Moon in public because she wanted people to see them with him and know that she had a child for Aiden Chaz; apart from that, there was no motherly relationship between them.
"Aiden, the receptionist said that Ms. Sloan is already waiting in the eting room," Ken inford beside him.
Aiden sighed and leaned away from the car.
"If you're not in the mood, we could always reschedule another-"
"No way," He cut Ken off angrily.
Ken was surprised by the sudden aggression, but he was used to it; this was Aiden's new character, after all.
"Right, then we need to hurry, she would probably be angry by now," Ken cautiously reminded.
Aiden frowned; he'd never been this pressured by a woman in business before; his curiosity to know who this woman was grew tenfold.
He ignored Ken and strode forward.
"Good morning, Mr. Aiden," Sun greeted enthusiastically, balancing her glasses on her nose bridge.
Aiden successfully ignored her and walked toward the elevator.
"Food morning, sunshine, your face is as bright as your face," Ken smiled at the receptionist who looked like she was about to shrink and cry from Aiden's cold treatnt.
Sun brightened up imdiately, "Good morning, Mr. Ken. Have a nice day," She waved excitedly as he walked by
Ken nodded and followed Aiden into the elevator.
He knew Aiden would leave him behind if he delayed a second later.
He gave Aiden his space in the elevator and was glad when the doors slid open.
It always felt suffocating each ti he was in a small space with Aiden.
Aiden imdiately walked out of the elevator, he was lost in thought and didn't see the little ball of energy running toward his direction.
"Aiden watch out," Ken warned behind him.
However, before Aiden could react, he felt sothing like a small head bump into his knees followed by a little thud on the floor.
Aiden was shocked as he stared down to find a boy sitting on the floor in front of him, placing his hand over his forehead and looking up at him with a small pout.
"Oh no," Ken muttered as he walked to the staff beside Aiden.
He knew Aiden didn't work with kids, so he wanted to step in and help the poor lad.
But before he spoke to the boy, Aiden had already lowered himself in front of the boy and gently removed his hand from his forehead.
"Hi, are you hurt? I'll take you to see the doctor," He gently helped the boy stand on his feet and stared at his red forehead.
He was about to touch the red area when the boy stepped away from him, "It's alright, sir, I'm fine, it was my fault too; I wasn't looking while running," He smiled up at Aiden in reassurance.
And the mont Aiden looked into the boy's eyes, his breath hitched on his throat. He slowly ran his eyes over the boy's face and his own face turned ashen.
He gently held the boy's arm and pulled his closer, then slowly looked up at Ken who also had a shocked expression on his face.
"No shit..." He muttered.
"Language, Ken," Aiden frowned at Ken and lood back at the boy.
"Sorry, but he looks like-"
"I know," Aiden interrupted.
Ken had been shocked by how Aiden interacted with the boy, but when he saw the boy's face, he felt his soul leave his body; there was absolutely no way this was a coincidence.
"You're not letting go, am I in trouble?" Jace asked as he stared down at his hands that Aiden was still holding.
Aiden cleared his throat and released one of Jace's hands.
"No, you're quite safe with ," He assured.
This was unexpected. He never knew he couldn't find her face in soone else. After all the years of searching for her face, he never knew he would see it in a little boy, and how his heart hurt looking at that little boy; his green eyes were just like hers; he stared into them and felt his heart hamring loudly.
"Um, I think Ms. Sloan is his grandma," Ken whispered.
Aiden slowly blinked and focused on the boy's face.
"What's your na?" He asked gently.
Jace bit his lips before he replied, "I'm Jace."
Aiden couldn't help but notice the familiarity with the way Jace bit his lips.
He even missed the important clue from the boy's na, but Ken didn't.
"Jace? As in Jace Tech?" Ken asked curiously.
Jace nodded, "Yes, sir," He confird.
Aiden sighed; he felt like he was having a whirlwind of emotions just by staring at the little human in front of him.
"Jace, are you here with Ms. Sloan?" He asked softly.
Jace nodded vigorously, "Yes, co on, I'll lead you to her," He held Aiden's hand and led him along the hallway.
Aiden and Ken obediently and quietly followed the boy until he led them to the sa room where they'd be having their eting.
"Umm, could you help ? I can't reach the handle," Jace looked up at Adien and pointed to the door handle above him.
Aiden couldn't resist smiling at his cute behavior, which surprised Ken; this might just pass as the first smile Aiden had for three years.
"Sure, little man," He touched the boy's head before pushing the door open.
"Co on," Jace excitedly dragged Aiden inside the eting room.
"Mom! I made a new friend, look!" Kace announced as he entered the room.
Ariel, who was facing away from the door as she spoke to Gideon, turned in surprise.
"Jace, I told you not to run a..." her words were cut short as she turned and locked eyes with the least unexpected person in the world.
Aiden was speechless, shocked and he felt limbless.
He felt like he was going to fall face-first if he didn't grab onto sothing.
He slowly moved slower to the table and placed his hand on top of it.
Ken couldn't believe his eyes, how was this possible?
Ariel? A child? Alive? And in the States?
He had missed a huge plot in this story, and he had never felt so confused in his entire life.
Ariel stared at Aiden for a while before she removed her eyes and cleared her throat.
"Co here, baby," She motioned for Jace to walk over to her.
"Nice eting you, sir," Jace removed his hand from Aiden's hold and walked over to his mother.
"Gideon, are these gentlen our business partners?" Ariel asked with a professional smile.
She had forced her shock out of her; she was still shaking, but she concealed her emotions and got this eting over with. Her hands were getting cold, and her legs were shaky, but no one would know unless she told them.
Gideon walked out from the chair beside her and nodded.
"Yes, boss, I'm familiar with Mr. Ken; I never knew we'd be eting with the famous Mr. Chaz, too. Nice to et you, sir," Gideon walked over to Aiden and offered a polite handshake.
Aiden's eyes were still locked on Ariel as he absent-mindedly shook hands with Gideon.
Gideon moved over to Ken and shook him too.
"Please, gentlen, let's be seated, we're already behind schedule," Ariel first drew out a seat for her son before she lowered herself beside him.
"Oh, um, sure, Mr. Chaz, please take a seat," Ken was the first to co out of his shock and gently tapped Aiden's shoulder to break him out of Ariel's spell.
Aiden blinked and looked at Ken, "Sit, Aiden, we're here for a eting," Ken whispered.
"Right..." Aiden replied and slowly walked over to the other side of the table, but instead of going to the head of the table, he sat himself by the side, right in front of Ariel.
He couldn't believe his eyes, apart from the fact that she got more beautiful, nothing had changed in her.
He sat there so he could properly look at her face throughout the eting; sothing told him he wasn't about to pay attention to the discussions.
He found them at the sa ti. Ariel and the "Jace Tech" company's CEO were one and the sa.
He was lost; he thought anger would be his response when he saw her; however, as he stressed at her, he didn't know how he felt; all he knew was that he couldn't get his eyes off her.
"Gudeon, please share with them our revised contract," Ariel professionally ordered, keeping her eyes on her iPad in front of her.
"Yes, boss," Gideon quickly passed a few printed notes to Aiden and Ken.
"Please, go through it, and tell what you think of it, gentlen," She gave both Aiden and Ken a professional smile before she looked down back at her screen.
"We'll sign it," Aiden finally sports to her, hai eyes not wavering, from her face.
"Mr. Chaz, I suggest we read through it first," Ken suggested gently.
"It's alright..." Aiden took out a pen from his side pocket and sighed the papers in front of him, "It's signed, now everyone can leave. I need to ,speak to Ms. Sloan privately." He dropped the pen and folded his arms against his chest, staring deeply at Ariel.
Ariel couldn't believe it; she didn't think Aiden would want to speak with her the mont he saw her.
She thought they were going to just ignore one another unless it was business-related.
"It's alright, if that's all, then we'll take our leave; My son needs to eat sothing after all," She made up an excuse and was about to stand up, but Aiden's voice stopped her.
"I insist, Ms. Sloan, it's about the business," He stated with a serious and deep voice.
Ken felt the tension in the air and slowly stood from his chair, "Don't worry, Ms. Sloan, I'll take your child to get sothing to eat, Gideon, co on," He said to the nosy assistant who didn't want to stand up.
Gideon already sensed sothing between the two bosses and wanted to find out if they knew themselves from sowhere, he could feel they had a story.
However, he was forced to stand and leave. "Co on, Jace, let's go get so ice cream," He sighed and held the boy's hand, leading him out of the office.
"Bye, Mummy" Jace waves to Areil as the door closed.
It was just them, the estranged couple. They were back in the sa room, each bearing a false scar that was believed to have been left by the other.
Ariel cleared her throat and looked at Aiden, "What did you want to talk about, Mr. Chaz?" She asked with a straight face, her heart was threatening to jump out of her chest, she never belived she would still react this way to Aiden.
Aiden tilted his head and didn't say a word.
He slowly stood from his chair and strode toward her, stopping behind her chair.
"Ariel..." He called quietly, the na he'd missed for three years.
He drew her chair back and turned it so she faced him.
He leaned his face down to her level and asked a very simple yet complicated and loaded question, "Why?"
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