Alia could only sigh. Lady Vanity was awfully efficient as always; if this online tabloid magazine had dedicated itself to dicine as thoroughly as it did to reporting gossip, they would have cured cancer and solved world hunger in the process.
anwhile, Aiden was holding his phone away from his ear, a wince on his face as the dulcet sounds of his mother screaming in indignation echoed through the air. This ti, Alia heard her loud and clear.
"You stupid boy! You could have left her well enough alone― this wasn’t even your business―" Catherine continued to screech, but Aiden began to yell, pulling his phone even further from his mouth.
"Mom? Mom? I can’t hear you... you’re breaking up... hello? Hello?"
Alia watched, as Aiden pulled the oldest trick in the book to hang up the call. She had to give him props for effort, he even rubbed his helt to produce a squeaking noise to simulate the loss of signal.
Finally, he ended the call. Just for good asure, Aiden turned off his phone.
"Whew," Aiden said, "I nearly lost my ears back there."
"Your mother has incredible lung capacity. She should have been a swimr," Alia said dryly, but she couldn’t stop herself from feeling bad at the tongue-lashing Aiden had received. Knowing Catherine’s personality, her precious son had only delayed the inevitable by sticking out his neck for her.
"Will you be alright?" Alia asked, pointing to his phone. "Your mother didn’t sound too happy."
"When is she ever? She’ll get over it. This isn’t even the worst trouble I’ve caused this year alone," Aiden retorted, rolling his eyes. Then he brightened and smiled at Alia. "So you’re concerned about ?"
"Why do you sound so happy and shocked about that?" Alia shook her head.
"No reason," Aiden said, sounding pleased. "But since you feel bad, maybe you can invite upstairs to your humble abode? I need to give my mom so ti to calm down before going back."
"Fair enough, co on then," Alia agreed. Matteo would not be too pleased, but she did owe Aiden. It didn’t feel right to let him loiter around, possibly causing more trouble.
Before they entered the house, Alia raised an eyebrow at the familiar pair of shoes waiting outside the door. Matteo had returned so early? She was sure the lights were off the last they checked.
She opened the door and called out.
"I’m back!"
"Alia, are you alright?" Matteo rushed over, a look of concern on his face. That concern imdiately twisted into annoyance. "What are you doing here?"
Aiden shrugged, "Alia invited here." He took off his shoes and strolled casually inside, whistling as he took a good look at the house. "Man, it seems a bit gloomy here. Alia, you really ought to put so flowers here and there to brighten the place up."
Matteo’s eyebrow twitched, and he turned to Alia. "Why is he here? Surely you didn’t―"
Alia could only reply with an awkward laugh. "He did help out of a tight spot with my relatives. There’s no harm in inviting him over to wait it out."
Matteo didn’t want to be angry with Alia, so he decided to vent his anger on the next available culprit.
"You. Why did you create such a big ss? Now the tabloids are whirling with accusations that you caused Alia’s grandfather to have a heart attack, along with the suspicions that you’re currently having an affair with my fiancée!"
"Really?" Alia gasped, quickly whipping out her phone to actually read the rest of the article.
Her eyes zeroed in on one of the images, it was of Aiden grabbing her wrist from earlier, and there was another one where he had his arm wrapped around her shoulders. The comnts were rife with speculation, along with people comnting that Aiden seed very possessive and protective.
Aiden peered over and scoffed. "These comnters are having as much sex as your grandmother. Have they never encountered body contact in their life? What do you say? We stir up more rumors? Maybe I should visit a retirent ho to make them believe I like grannies."
"Don’t be ridiculous― do you want to give both my grandparents actual heart attacks?" Alia scolded, nearly stomping on his foot. "We need to find a way to resolve this ss, not make things worse."
"In my opinion, both of them having matching heart attacks can only improve their relationship and make things better for everyone." He caught sight of the thunderous expression on Matteo’s face and scoffed.
"Co on, you don’t seriously believe that I caused a heart attack? I’m infuriating, but I’m not God. That old man was definitely faking!" Aiden added, indignant, "Matteo, if he’s actually suffering from a legitimate heart attack, I’ll tear apart my motorcycle and eat it piece by piece."
"The rest of the city doesn’t know that! It’s bad enough that it had to happen, but to have it happen in the company is disastrous."
"Well, they ca to visit, so what could we do about that?" Aiden retorted. "Besides, I wouldn’t have needed to intervene if you were there. They would have taken one look at your face and got on their knees to suck your dick for cash. Which would have been another scandal. But anyway. Where were you?"
Alia also had a questioning gaze. "Did everything go well at your eting?"
Matteo nodded. "It went as expected," he said. But that wasn’t all. The eting only took so long because he was also investigating the strange phone call Emline received during the charity banquet.
"That one eting sure took you a long ti," Aiden grumbled under his breath, casting Matteo a sideways glance.
His words caused Alia to raise her eyebrows. "Or were you investigating―"
Matteo shot Aiden a dirty look. He wanted this interloper gone before he revealed the news, but Aiden glared back and refused to budge, sitting himself on the couch with deliberate firmness.
"Are you not going to leave?" Matteo asked, his tone dripping with mock politeness.
"Why? Is there sothing private I’m not ant to hear?" Aiden complained. "Matteo, in case you forgot, I hate the thought of being married to Emline. If you have sothing that promises freedom, please tell so that I can seek the love of a hot, rich, older lady."
"It’s okay, you can tell him," Alia cajoled, shooting Matteo a vaguely apologetic look. Aiden’s presence was not good for Matteo’s blood pressure.
Matteo eventually agreed, and he opened his mouth to speak.
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