Ariana’s POV
“Since we both like each other, I don’t think it is wrong to kiss you.” His smile turns into a teasing one as he leans forward.
Quickly, I place my hand between our faces which causes him to kiss my palm.
“Ariana.” He groans, “You can’t say no to kissing... we are not taking that slow.” His response makes me laugh.
However, before I can say something, I watch two cops coming towards us, which immediately brings back my anxiety.
Of course, someone would have called the cops.
“Samuel.” I point at cops while holding Samuel’s hand tightly in mine. My hands are getting clammy, and I am grateful he didn’t pull back his
Samuel's POVBiting my lower lip, I attempt to stop myself from smiling as I watch Ariana fussing over my hand as she cleans my knuckles."Kitty, do you realize that I am not of Justin's age? I am not going to feel hurt because of these scratches." I raise my eyebrows at her while a low chuckle leaves my mouth as she applies some antiseptic cream on bruised knuckles while blowing air over them.What I do find really amusing is that she is continuously trying to comfort me that it will not hurt like she is talking to some kid.I will not lie and say that I am not enjoying her attention, but it still feels strange."Pain has nothing to do with age." She lifts her eyes from my hand and locks her gaze with mine. Her mouth curved in a rueful smile, "Pa
Ariana's POV Something has shifted inside me, and this change feels good. The reason behind this change is Samuel. I am falling for him, and I am falling hard. When I think about it, all this seems so weird because how can I feel so strongly for someone in so little time? But then I feel like I have known him all my life. No matter how much my heart is telling me that I should allow myself to act on my feelings, but I won't. I do want to take things slow between us and want to see where things head because I can't risk losing myself over something which was not meant to be. I wish there were someone with whom I could talk about all my crazy feelings. Sighing loudly, I grab all my hair in my hand
Ariana's POVI look at him in slight shock, as I have never imagined him asking me something like this. In fact, no one has ever requested me to draw them. I will not lie and say that the idea of painting him doesn't excite me, but at the same time, I am feeling a little nervous for some unknown reason."I don't think I can do that." I shake my head while chewing inside of my cheeks nervously."Well, I think you can." he instantly replies confidently," However, I am not sure that you will be able to do justice to my handsomeness." After a moment, he adds smugly."You are just okay." I pointedly look at him up and down, "But a little less arrogance can make you look a little better." I give him a curt nod an
Ariana’s POV Buckling up myself, I look outside the airplane window while a happy sigh passes through my lips when the plane takes off as finally, only in a few more hours, I will be home. Honestly, there are many reasons why I can’t wait to return home. Out of which two main reasons are one, because I am missing Justin like crazy, and two, I can’t wait to see how my and Samuel’s relation works out once we get back to our routine lives. Amidst our everyday life, the real challenge for us will be able to manage our relationship, as this will be like a testing period for us that will decide the future of our relationship. We both come from completely different walks of life. If his profession is demanding, then even mine comes with its own challenges. There is a chance that even my personal
Ariana's POV Nearly fifteen days have passed since we returned home, and as expected, both of us got busy with our lives. Samuel is busy with his hospital shifts, whereas I have to work on paintings that are supposed to be a part of the upcoming exhibition, so either I am holed up in my room, or I am in the art gallery all day. However, even with our hectic schedules, no matter how at what time he gets home, he always tries to stop by our house. This is something that really warms my heart. "Justin, get ready fast," I shout from the kitchen while plating the breakfast, "Otherwise, you will be late for school." There is still an hour before his school bus arrives, but if I do not ask him to hurry up, then he will definitely get late for school.
Ariana's POV That day after staying for some time, Samuel had left without even saying anything. Even I didn't force him to talk because I could sense he's trying to cope up with his emotions, and I didn't find it right to pressure him to talk. I haven't seen him since that day, and I haven't heard him returning home, so I really don't know the reason for his sudden breakdown. Sometimes we just need some time to allow ourselves to open up and express our feelings. However, there's something about that whole incident that has left me restless. I tried to contact Samuel once or twice, but he didn't answer any of my messages or calls. He had informed me that when he gets busy with his shifts, he might not answer my calls because he keeps his phone switched off to avoid distraction. However, if there is some kind of emergency or anything
Ariana's POV This last week has flown by, and finally, the day has arrived for which I was working so hard. I have not let the thought of Samuel or his betrayal linger inside my mind by keeping all my focus on my work and Justin. Justin sensed the shift in my mood, but he never asked anything. However, he gives me extra hugs whenever he can, a small way of him trying to make me feel better. Honestly, his hugs work as the best cure to every pain which I am feeling. With each hug, I can feel my pain lessening, and it becomes easier for me to breathe. Retouching my lipstick, I check my make-up in the bathroom's mirror. Satisfied with my make-up, I put the lipstick in my clutch and run my hands over the front of my dress to smoothen it. Stepping outside the bathroom, I head towards the gallery's front, where the exhibition will be held.
Ariana's POVA few days have passed since that incident, and I have made sure to avoid Samuel at all costs which was not a difficult as I thought it would be. He works at crazy hours, so mostly, he is gone.However, I have noticed Samuel's disappearance from our lives is affecting Justin. It seems like Justin got attached to Samuel more than I have realized. I never asked Justin not to talk to Samuel or stop meeting him, but somewhere Justin seems reluctant to meet Samuel.I hate myself because somewhere, it is my mistake that Samuel got into our lives. This is the reason why I am always skeptical about letting someone into my life.The mistake of letting Samuel in my life has taught me a huge lesson, and I am sure I will not let myself repeat such a mistake ever again.
Samuel's POV Ten years later. That moment is still fresh in my mind when Ariana left me. How can you forget the moment when your everything was walking away from you? I wanted to beg her not to leave me and just give me one more chance, but something refrained me from doing so. This was the punishment which she had chosen for me. Therefore, even if it was killing me, I decided to accept my punishment. There's a hope in this punishment that when it ends, I will find my eternal happiness. Only I don't know when or if this punishment will ever come to an end. Numerous times, I broke down because the pain of bei
Ariana’s POV “Everyone is not lucky to get a second chance at love in their life, but I am one of those few people lucky people who found true love after losing their trust in love.” Samuel smiles softly, but the sadness in his eyes reveals his true feelings, “I fell in love for the first time it was with a wrong person, but when I found the right person, I was not able to cherish her the way I should have.” “I want to blame the circumstances. I want to blame the world for whatever wrong has happened in my life. But the truth is the only person to blame is me.” He clenches his jaws while he stares at the table, “Only if I had the courage to tell you everything from the beginning, then I would not have made you feel betrayed and hurt. Maybe we would still have been friends. But I was a coward, and now I am paying the price of my mistake.”
Ariana's POV Until now, I never realized how good it feels to take charge of your life. You feel so powerful. Whenever anything went wrong in my life that turned my life upside down, I always tried to put together my life again. Even now, I am doing the same. The only difference is that all the other times, I didn't want to, but I had to. But now, I want to get hold of my life and put together the pieces of my life for myself. I want to be in charge of my own happiness and destiny. I want to do this for myself and Justin. He deserves a sister who is stable in her life, not someone who is an emotional mess. I don't want the impact of my poor choices to reflect on him. So even though I have said many times, I will say it again; I will make ever
Ariana's POV Gathering snacks in my arms, I walk into the living with a wide grin on my face. Justin turns to me, adorning a similar grin, and rushes to help me carry the snacks. "Be careful." Turning around, Justin glances at me then he crawls inside our blanket fort. Rolling my eyes, I smile as I carefully enter Justin's fort. "Next time, we will make an even bigger fort," Justin exclaims and opens the packet of chips. "Which movie shall we watch?" I ask while turning on my laptop and connecting it with the Bluetooth speakers because my laptop speakers volume is not very loud. "The Karate Kid," After thinking for a moment, he replies.
Ariana's POV Max's fingers draw lazy patterns on my arm while keeping his arm wrapped around me. My head is resting on his chest, finding comfort in his strong heartbeat. He is alive, and he will be okay. We both lie in each other arms in silence. However, there is no awkwardness between us, just meaningful silence. Somewhere we both are at a loss for words. Maybe we do not know how to voice these newfound feelings. I feel him pressing a small kiss on the top of my head, which causes me to raise my head from his chest to glance at his face. His throat works as he swallows while blankly staring ahead. A moment later, his gaze flickers to me, and I watch a myriad of emotions passing through his face.
Ariana's POV There are rare moments in my life when I truly feel helpless, where the feeling of being useless dominates all my other emotions. This is one of those rare moments as I sit across Max with a stoic expression, probably because I feel too numb to react. The silence around us is heavy. I can clearly hear the ticking of the clock on the wall behind me. Its ticking reminds me of the ticking of a time bomb, and somewhere it is not far from the truth. Time. Is. Ticking. With each moment passing, I feel my chest constricting. All these feelings were too familiar, the vice-like grip clutching my chest, making each intake of breath difficult than the previous one.
Max's POV Uncertainty is a part of our life since the beginning. Never in our life can we be sure what will happen next or what will be the outcome of our decision. I can't change some things in my life because those things are not in our hands. However, this doesn't mean I will submit myself to my fate. My life may be full of uncertainty, but this will not stop me from living my life the way I want. When I beat cancer a few years ago, I promised myself that I would not waste my second chance at life and live my life in the best way I could. I want to live my life free of any burden and totally focus on my happiness. I have seen people living the last days of their life with unfulfilled wishes. And I choose not to be one of those people.
Samuel's POV Ariana has left to drop off the children. Justin has also gone with Ariana. Even I was about to leave, but when I watched Max limping towards the bench, I changed my mind because he was in real pain, and he may need someone to be with him. I can clearly see Max is trying to downplay his pain, and the reason behind this pretense is Ariana. He is definitely hiding something from everyone, especially her. I recall the look on his face when I saw him at the hospital; he was shocked. Probably because of the thought of Ariana finding something he doesn't want to share. However, it would not have been possible because firstly, we are not in contact, and secondly, even if we were, it's not my truth to tell. So I would have never told Ariana anything if he didn't want to share it with
Ariana's POV "It has been so long since we all did something together as a family, other than hiking. Please do arrange such classes in the future as well; my family and I had a great time." Mrs. Brooke smiles, handing me the canvases which her kids were holding. A smile forms on my face when I notice both of her children have attempted to draw a landscape. And honestly, for someone who has painted for the first time, it is excellent. "Sure, I will try to arrange such painting sessions whenever it is possible." I keep the canvases on the table where other canvases are also placed, "I have your contact details, I will inform you where these paintings have been donated. So if you want, you can go and check them." Following dad's footsteps, I will donate these paintings to hospitals, retirem