Crush or Crash

Opening her eyes, Aira slowly moved her body noting the sting in her arm and the slight soreness in her chest. Looking around, she realized that she was still in the middle of the highway where people were starting to gather and some of them were holding their phones to report the accident.

Slowly looking to each side, she realized that the other car smashed into the passenger side of hers. Hence the throbbing in her left arm.

Noting that her life wasn’t in danger, the first thing that she thought about was that she was going to be late for her exhibition.

She opened the door slowly maneuvering her way out of the car clutching her phone in her hand. As she stood up, she was hit with a sudden bout of dizziness and lost her footing for a moment.

She felt something hard support her back as strong arms wrapped around her effectively stopping her fall and sending a wave of electricity through her skin where the hand touched.

Funny that the first coherent thoughts she could muster out of her foggy mind were how nice it felt to be held by someone so strong. And muscular. And maybe even…

“Careful!” A masculine husky voice whispered into her ear. If her knees weren’t giving out on her already, she was pretty sure that this unrealistically sexy voice was going to do that.

Looking up, she wasn’t surprised to find herself gazing into the most beautiful green eyes she had ever seen.

Ugh… This was getting better and better…

“Are you okay, Miss?” the owner of the eyes asked his deep voice vibrating through her.

“Y-yes, thank you. I was just a bit dizzy for a moment,” Aira answered straightening up to face her handsome savior.

His hands remained on her waist for one moment too long as their eyes locked. Then as if they were being pulled back to reality the sound of a honking car started them out of their trance.

“Uh, right. Sorry about that,” Aira said as she stepped back,

“Are you sure you’re going to be okay? Can you stand?” He asked his hand still hovering over her waist and making her feel something she probably wasn’t supposed to feel for another man.

“Yeah, I think it was just me moving too fast after the crash. I didn’t hit my head or anything so I should be fine,” She responded stepping back to remove his hands. 

Which left her waist strangely cold… A thought she was trying not to ponder over too much.

She looked at him again, this time taking the time to really see the man. He was several inches taller than her and wearing what she could tell was a tailored three-piece suit. He had green eyes and jet black hair combed back neatly except for the few stray locks that escaped- probably due to the accident.

“You could have a concussion, why don't you rest over there for a little bit as we wait for the EMT to get here,” He asked and Aira nodded.

With his hand on the small of her back, he guided her toward the side of the road. Aira felt it the moment he had touched her before, but the sensation was clearer now. The place where his palm rested was tingling with anticipation sending her heart into tiny backflips.

Trying to compose herself, she leaned against the side of the road and looked at their cars. 

“What happened?” She asked, “I didn’t see much before the crash was upon me.”.

“A classic hit and run,” He answered following her gaze, “He ran into me then as he tried to escape he bumped your car causing both of us to crash,”

“Must have been a drunk driver,” Aia said and the handsome businessman made a silent humming sound looking down at her. 

“You’re injured!” He exclaimed, his eyes widening with alarm as he looked at her arm.

Aira looked down to find it running down with a dark red liquid which was probably her blood.

“It’s okay, just a scratch,” Aira answered reflexively,

“Of course, it’s not okay!” He exclaimed pulling out his handkerchief and pressing it to her arm.

Aira flinched.

“Oh, sorry,” he said gently making Aira smile. There was something about such a big man trying to be gentle that was just endearing,

“It’s okay, It’s just a little scratch,” Aira repeated feeling awkward to be tended to by the stoic yet somehow gentle man.

“Still, we need to stop the bleeding,” He answered intently putting pressure on her wound “ Hold this for a bit,”

He reached for his necktie efficiently bandaging her arm with it.

“Oh no! Your tie! It’s going to get all bloody,”

“Never mind my tie,” He said with a gentle smile, “It would be much worrisome if I let you bleed out like this. Your dress, however, is beyond saving. I’m so sorry…”

“Ah… Shoot…” She said as she looked at her bloodied dress, “You don’t need to apologize though. This is not your fault,”

Aira said inwardly cringing. She was going to have a hell of a time trying to find a replacement for it. But seeing how bad he clearly felt about it, she just decided to suck it up for now.

“I can’t shake the feeling that it is,” He said with a wry smile,  “You must have been headed to an important function”

“Yeah, I have an exhibition in a few hours. But that’s really okay I can always replace the dress, I’m just glad none of us was badly hurt” She answered, 

She saw the people around them gathering but no one approached them.

Then she glimpsed the hard cold look that her companion was sending to the crowd.

Strange…

“If I hadn’t crashed into you, this wouldn’t…” He repeated but he couldn’t finish the sentence as she interrupted him, her voice holding a light hearted spirit.

“Okay, I’m going to stop you there. This is in no way your fault, accidents happen and this is not your fault,” she repeated frowning up at him.

“Okay… I probably should change the subject before I end up with you lecturing me,” He said and she laughed.

Looking around them at the people gathering around them on the other side of the road. It seemed like they were calling an ambulance.

“So, You’re an artist?” He asked as he leaned on the side of the road next to her, drawing her attention back to him.

“An Illustrator, I design characters, scenery, and settings for things like games or movies.” She explained and he was pensive for a moment.

“An Illustrator, I design characters, scenery, and settings for things like games or movies.” 

“Hmm, have I seen your work somewhere before? I’m a bit of an art lover so there’s a chance that I might have seen it before” He added his steely gaze fixated on her face making her blush and at the same time want to lean forward.

God the man was handsome, and exactly her type. Businessman or not...

Fate was seriously playing a trick on her. Aira was pretty sure that she was laughing her ass off somewhere. Sending a man like this her way, just when she made that decision… 

“I am surprised…” Aira said managing to hide her expression from him.

“Why?” He asked

“Well, not many people call Illustrations ‘Art’. Especially not seasoned art connaisseurs,”

“Well, I might not be a connoisseur,” He answered, “But as someone who loves art, I think it’s absurd that Illustrations can’t be called art. I mean look at Gina Lee’s works for  example,”

Aira felt her heart flutter at the mention of the name and tried to hide it.

“Yes, so true…” She answered, “ And to answer your question, I am not nearly as good as Gina Lee, but, I usually go under an alias. I work on commissions so my work is not widely known,”

“ I don’t work so far from your area of expertise, so I may know,” He commented.

Aira was about to answer him when she suddenly remembered her first drafts in the backseat of her car,

“Oh my god! The first drafts,” she exclaimed abruptly standing up,

“Hold on! You shouldn’t move abruptly!” He exclaimed taking her arms and gently pulling her back.

“But, my work is still in the car! What if it got damaged?!” Aira exclaimed feeling a pending sense of panic. 

She couldn’t screw up her meeting with Vincent Valory! 

“Where is it? I’ll go get it,” He volunteered

“In the backseat. It’s a tablet,” Aira responded as he let her go and headed toward the car returning with her unscathed drafts.

He came back a few moments later with her tablet in his hand. He seemed to be fixated on the markings on her cover and Aira wondered for a moment if he could distinguish her work from what had been drawn there.

She dismissed that though as soon as it came. She wasn’t famous enough for that to happen.

“Should I call someone for you? I would offer you a ride, my car is in no state to drive it, and calling someone to pick me up will take up some time,” He asked after she made sure her tablet was still functioning and that her wask was safely stored in it.

“Oh, right!” Aira said, “I will see if my fiance can pick me up,” 

His eyes widened slightly almost imperceptively, then he mumbled something under his breath.

“Did you say something,” Aira said as she waited for Jace to pick up,

“Nothing,” He said, “Is he not picking up?”

“No, it went to voicemail,” Aira said, “I’ll try someone else,”

Aira rang Meghan who picked up on the second ring,

“Hi, Girl! Are you here?” 

“No, sorry Megs but can you pick me up? I was in a car accident, I’m Okay!” She added before her friend began a major freakout, 

“But the car can’t be moved and my dress is ruined,”

“Oh god. Of all days for something like this to happen. Are you sure you’re okay?”

“Yeah, I’m sure.” Aira lied,

“I’ll come to pick you up right now, I will call someone to replace me here. I will bring you to the Exhibition then we can order a dress to be delivered.”

“Ok, thanks Meghan,”

Shutting her phone down, she saw her companion was about to say something when the ambulance arrived. He was helping her to the medics before she could say anything as they bandaged her arm assuring her that it was simply a scratch and didn’t need any stitches.

Everything passed in a blur as the dispute was resolved surprisingly easily. The young businessman as she had been calling him in her head, had insisted on paying for the damages, Aira wouldn’t have cared either way and left matters in the hands of the police officers promising to go down to the station if the next day.

Soon Meghan was there to pick her up. She looked for the handsome businessman to find him engaged in a phone conversation. So she left her business card with the police officer asking him to give it to him in case he needed something.

“You’re injured!” Meghan exclaimed as soon as she entered the car,

“It’s just a scratch, don’t worry.”

“Are you sure about leaving the car there?”

“Yeah, I contacted the insurance company. They will be there soon to deal with it,”

Hmm… Meghan mumbled as she eyed the scene.

“Something wrong?” Aira asked

“No, Nothing. Just thought that I saw someone familiar. Must’ve been my imagination…”

Meghan drove away from the scene heading toward the exhibition. Little did either of them know that they left a shocked Businessman looking for them.

Nor did they notice the smirk that drew up on his face when he saw the card that the police officer handed to him.