Chapter three.

**

Aria rushed out through the door before he would change his mind and try to stop her again and headed straight to her corner where her things were already arranged inside a small brown box to be carried away.

She continued to pant nervously as she leaned against her desk, trying to steady her breath a bit.

Straightening up to her full length with a new kind of fire burning in her chest. She picked up her box and turned to walk away and stopping only to say her final goodbye to her follow colleagues who were more than shock to hear about her decision before heading out.

Once outside the building, Aria was beaming with happiness. She has never felt so free in her entire life as she continued to walk towards the direction of her car.

Her feet was light on the ground as it hit each pavement outside in the garage. She was practically floating at that moment. Aria felt like a caged bird that has finally been set free to sore high above the great horizon.

She continued to walk with her head held so high as cool breeze caressed her cheeks, congratulating her victory or stupidity, as her ever conscious mind had so reminded her but she brushed it aside as she came closed to where her Toyota corolla was parked.

Placing her box at the passenger seat. She took one last glance at the magnificent building that has being like her second home for the past six years now and  gave a half smile that barely reached her eyes and a single salute before getting into her car and leaving it all behind.

*

Aria was forcefully dragged out of her slumber the next morning with the constant ringing of her alarm.

She rolled over, gave a loud yawn and full body stretch before grabbing her lens from the night stand and putting it on.

She glance at her table clock and realized it was just 6:30am in the morning and instantly regretted her decision to leave the alarm on. That time was meant for days when she would hurry off from bed and off to work and she had no reason to do so at that point which why interrupting her beauty sleep at point onward has to be stopped.

After turning it off and placing it back against the table. She reached for her phone lying just across from it. Sleeping across the phone screen, her eye lid shot up in alarm the moment she saw the numerous list of missed calls on her phone that came in while she was asleep.

Thank God the phone was on silent.

She could only guess why judging from the names of the callers reflecting against her screen. Ten was from her mother, three form her father and the rest happens to be from her brother Larry who havent even in touch with her for years now.

She bet the news of her resignation has gotten to them as well.

Oh well, facing any of them at the moment isnt even part of her to-do list so they can definitely wait. She has other things to do like shop for new clothes and put her life in other.

Placing her phone right back where she had picked it from, she jumped off the bed and slipped her feet into her flops before dancing her way over to the bathroom,humming to whatever song that came to mind.

Since she was already up, she batter get into her morning routine as well as she proceeded to having her shower as well.

Thirty minutes more and she was fully dressed in a plain oversized Tee that was paired with jogger pant and seating at the stool in her kitchen while waiting for her breakfast to finish warming up in the microwave.

While waiting, she decided to look through some fashion blogs online for tips and color mash up and accessories to go with. Aria wanted to change how she dresses to match the way she felt on the inside.

She wanted colors to compliment her brown olive complexion but not in a slutty way but enough to make her feel comfortable and modest.

She quickly rushed over her breakfast when the alarm went off indicating it was ready. It was around 10am still when she was ready to head out for the day.

She strapped her brown leather sandal around her feet with her swing bag containing her credit cards and grabbed her car keys before heading out.

It was going to be a busy day ahead.

**

Few hours later, she returned back to her apartment with bags and bags of clothes and accessories to go with  that barely fit into her arms as she stood fidgeting with the door lock.

After trying on some of the clothes she came home with, she fell back on the bed feeling exhausted and burned out. New messages and calls seems to be piling up more when she took another glance at her phone screen. 

With a deep sigh, she stashed the under the pillow and pulled off her glasses and followed by her shoes. She was feeling too exhausted due to how long she had to spend going through so many piles of clothes to get  what she  want for herself. Some were either too revealing or to short.

It was all worth it at the end of the day because she was feeling pretty proud of herself  and everything she  returned home with.

She let herself relax fully on the bed before blinking lazily a few times. It wasn't long before she finally dozed off.

Aria woke up to her phone ringing on repeat. It was barely just an hour since she fell asleep and must have turned off the silent mood unknowingly.

She didn't have to look at the screen to know who could be calling as she had set apart a ringtone for her Mom who  also happened to be the caller at that point as well. Speaking to her seem inevitable and the further she pushes it off, the more difficult it would be for her to explain things to her.

She let the phone rung away before redialing her number while bracing herself for some serious scolding. It wasn't even up to another heartbeat before she heard her Mom's voice answered from the other end.

"Have you lost your manners? Why in the world have you refused to answer your calls Aria?_do you have any idea how worried your father and I have been because of you?" Her mother's high pitched voice had stunk her ears through the receiver causing her to cringed internally.

"Mom! Mom please calm down for God sake or you are going to damage  my hearing for sure" Aria had first tried to reason with her mother was still raging mad at the situation at hand.

"My God Aria_first you put in your resignation and then you refused to answer any of our calls and all you are worried about is me causing damage to your ears? I believe as your mother, I deserve more than that"

Aria couldnt very much sense the disappointment in her voice at her statement but she wasn't about to allow herself be manipulated either. There was absolutely nothing she could say to her mother at that point that would justify her crazy ass attitude or without her thinking she needed some sort of deliverance from whatever has taken hold of her and making her act without thinking of the consequences.

"Mom please,can we talk about this some other time?because it's obvious now is not a good time"

"Now is not a good time you say?" Her voice that of sheer disbelief.

"Yes mom because its obvious you are upset"

"Of course am upset. Your father is angry if not furious. Do you have any idea how hard it was for your father to secure that job position for you that you so easily threw away without as much as a second thought? Of course am upset!"

"I can only imagine Mom so how about you help me apologize to Dad on my behalf while I call you some other time so we  can all talk when we are less upset and angry"

Aria had said in a bit to get her Mom off her back but she wasnt having any of it.

"Oh no young lady_don't you dare hangup on me because am still talking to you and you haven't given me a reasonable explanation as to why you could be so reckless"

When she couldn't take it anymore, she quickly hung up on her Mom but not before before blowing her a good bye kiss. "I love you too Mom, please try not to be upset. I will call you soon"

Aria sighed in relief the moment the call like went dead. She could very much imagine her mother's reaction at that point but what else could she have done. Listen till she is forty? Because that's exactly what she has been doing all her life and she was already thirty!

Thirty and alone! And she was done listening at that point.

Aria was thirty years for crying out loud, not thirteen and has every right to decide what's best for her life and what doesn't serve her anymore without anyone sounding like she has committed a crime against humanity.

She could very much understand her parent concern but she wasn't as stupid as to walk out on a  high paying job without doing as much as saving up.

Aria has enough money saved away to do whatever the heck she wanted but that not even top of her worries. She has  this sense of loneliness crawling all over her skin and needed to connect back to the world as soon as possible.

Aria has been isolated for way too long. She was in serious need of comfort and friends. The last time she spoke with Lizzy, she was on the verge of moving over to her city. All she had to do was find out if she was around so they could finally meet up.

Aria quickly searched her number and called her up but it just kept ringing away without any answer. She ended up leaving her a message instead, hoping she'd call back as soon as she heard them.

She fell back on the bed before her eyes caught sight of the to-do list on the wall as she went over the remaining items she was unable to get.

The painting on the wall was already worn out and needed new ones and some art decoration for her living room as well.

First thing tomorrow morning, as soon as she was up and had her breakfast, she would head out for them but right now, she just lay back and sank deeper into the bedsheets not willing herself to think about anything else.

She wanted nothing more than to sleep her thoughts away. It was already past her bed time.