Chapter 177: Love Is An Ambition All Its Own
Aaron briefly explained the predicant he found himself in because of his father and the Knightons. "Any ideas would be helpful at this point. I've got nothing."
Jennica thought about it a mont.
"If it's soone who doesn't exist…say you've been doing things long distance and you didn't want to tell anyone in case it didn't work out but that you couldn't hold back your love when you saw her again and that's why you proposed in public."
"Alistair might fall for it," Caron mused. "Just act as lovesick as you always do when you talk about Keeley and you should be fine."
He scowled. Was he really that bad? He thought he was better at hiding his emotions than that. If even Caron could see through him, why couldn't Keeley?
"Speaking of Keeley…does she know about this?" Jennica asked hesitantly. "I wouldn't want her to be hurt by it."
Aaron let out a small, hollow laugh at the very idea that she could be hurt by him getting engaged to soone else. She didn't care. She had texted him to congratulate him as soon as she found out. In her mind, she probably saw him getting engaged as a way to get rid of him.
"She knows but even if she didn't, she wouldn't care."
She made a soft skeptical noise. "Don't be too sure. Before you guys got into your fight I was near positive she liked you."
His blinked several tis in disbelief. Jennica thought Keeley liked him?! How had she co to that conclusion? She obviously hated him.
"Really?" he asked faintly.
"Well she always got really defensive whenever you were brought up. I think it was a case of protesting too much."
Interesting. Aaron didn't know Jennica well enough to gauge her ability to read people but if she was right, Keeley had been softening towards him before discovering the truth.
It was like she said; she never would have been friends with him if she knew he rembered everything. She only accepted him because she thought he was an entirely different person.
All he could do was make a noncommittal noise in response before changing the subject. "Well, that's all I really needed. I can embellish the story from here. Thanks for the idea and enjoy the rest of your night."
They both said goodbye before hanging up. He imagined they resud their cuddling without giving him a second thought. How nice it must be to have the one you love by your side.
He felt even worse after the call than he did before. If Jennica was right, he might have actually had a chance if Keeley hadn't figured out the truth. The thought was like a dagger straight through his heart.
There was nothing he wouldn't give to be spending the entire day holding her while they watched movies like Caron and Jennica were doing right now.
Aaron had never been the biggest fan of movies so back in the day whenever Keeley asked him to watch one with her he said no more than half of the ti. He should have taken it as an opportunity to be closer to her and disregarded what was happening on the screen.
He wanted to slap his younger self for being so stupid. Here he was, desperately wishing for sothing he used to turn down.
===
As predicted, everyone wanted to congratulate Aaron on his engagent at work. People he had never spoken to before in his life were coming out of the woodwork to wish him happiness. It was unnerving.
It was only a matter of ti before his father called him into his office. To his surprise, it didn't co up until they were out to lunch at a sushi restaurant nearby.
Alistair normally ate lunch out with other executives but today it was only him and his son. This ant Aaron was in for a serious scolding. Joy.
He didn't attack until after the appetizers had been ordered.
"Care to tell why you didn't answer any of my calls this weekend?" he asked in a tone that could freeze an ocean.
"My cat knocked my phone under the couch when it was on silent," he deadpanned.
"Since when do you have a cat?"
"I got her last sumr. Haven't you seen the picture in my office?"
Aaron knew for a fact that his father swept his office for evidence against him that he never found at least a couple tis a week when he wasn't in there. Aiden had the footage to prove it.
He wouldn't admit to that though so he cleared his throat before continuing. "That is beside the point. Your little stunt put in a very awkward position."
"Why, because you tried marrying off without even consulting on it? I have told you a hundred tis: I would rather cut my own ear off than marry Lacy Knighton. I already have soone I love."
Alistair grew even colder.
"You could have told about her sooner. Bethany Carlisle is a perfectly acceptable candidate for your wife. I wouldn't have said no. All you accomplished by keeping your relationship secret was embarrassing in front of one of my business partners."
"Our relationship was long-distance. I didn't want to say anything until we were on more solid ground," he lied, using Jennica's idea.
He waited a mont to see if his father took the bait. The appetizers arrived while Alistair gathered his thoughts and Aaron dug into his spring rolls as if he didn't have a care in the world. He could not show a speck of weakness in front of the enemy.
"If you were waiting to be on more solid ground why on earth would you do sothing as incredibly stupid as proposing in public at soone else's party? That was done in very poor taste. I raised you better than that," Alistair said icily.
He hardly raised Aaron at all. Anything he did impart onto his son was cold, harsh, and businesslike.
He had so nerve talking about raising him when he only gave him the ti of day if he was excelling at sothing. The rest of the ti he was ignored and left in the care of nannies.
"I lost my head in the heat of the mont," Aaron said, trying to sound the way he did when he talked about Keeley. "I was so overwheld by seeing Bethany again after a long separation that I couldn't control the urge to make her mine permanently."
Aaron wasn't sure if it worked. Alistair looked less convinced this ti. "Love only gets in the way of ambition."
"Love is an ambition all its own," he replied coolly, thinking of his own ambitions in love that would likely never be fulfilled. "It does not affect my business sense so you have no room to complain."
"Lacy Knighton would have been a better choice business-wise," his father said stiffly. "Her father and I already work together. We could have rged our interests much more easily. As it is now, you've offended them and I have to clean up your ss."
"Your business partners have nothing to do with , Father. None of this would have happened had you not jumped the gun and set sothing up without talking to . I am not to bla here."
Alistair wanted to refute but he couldn't deny his son's logic. Point to Aaron. He ate his next spring roll with a sense of supre satisfaction. He had won this round.
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