Chapter Three
Everything was becoming a mess, much to Mina’s disdain. She had half a mind to call the security on Greta and have her sent home. The other half wanted to violently grab her in a choke hold and smash her head into the platter of biryani until she had snorted enough grains to die of suffocation.
Mina, breathe, she mentally recalled a meditation, violence is not the solution.
“Why is this pasta so spicy? Do Indians add curry to everything?”
IS SHE PURPOSELY BEING IGNORANT AND DUMB? Her internal self-roared and stood over her form from the seat beside her, but Aaron beat her to it. He looked extremely embarrassed and apologetic. He knew Mina’s ancestors involved people of Indian and Pakistani decent and that she respected their culture well. There were some here present as well, representatives and workers of multiple branches of McCarthy Continental. Mina felt sorry for him, but she didn’t understand how someone so open and compassionate was dating someone so close minded. This would not have been the first time Mina would have called out on her bullshit. Greta had clung onto Aaron like a leach and would try to suck his face the minute she felt threatened by a female onlooker. That really set of Mina to the edge because he looked so uncomfortable and she knew he was being violated no matter how he and Greta were related. She’d asked Greta to respect Aaron’s comfort zone, or leave the premises. She would not have anyone be uncomfortable or causing ruckus at her mother’s wedding. Not on her watch.
Aaron got up and grabbed Greta by the arm, leading her away. Mina kept an eye on the two, and the scuffle seemed pretty intense. It came to the point that she left the area on her own accord. Aaron tried to hold her back but she would have none of it, leaving Aaron to dejectedly come back to the table.
“I like how you don’t stand for bullshit,” commented Aaron’s older sister, Paige, “I hate that woman to the core.”
“Someone had to say something,” Mina grumbled, “but I don’t want to dwell on her existence anymore. How’s your business holding up?”
“We just opened up internships for university students in Sweden,” she recalled with a smile, “and it’s amazing to see what these fresh young minds come up with. We’ll be hiring them right after they’ve graduated. We’re doing the same in the other countries we’re present in to try and innovate more designs. We also have an exhibition in Dubai coming up. You should join us.”
“I would love to, but I hardly get a break from work,” Mina laughed, “Clients can be so demanding, but it’s understandable since they’ll be spending quite a while with what I give them, so their satisfaction is necessary.”
“When was the last time you went on a holiday?”
“Never.”
“Goodness,” Paige laughed, “why?”
Mina paused thoughtfully, then grumbled, “I procrastinate.”
Paige laughed heartily and they were soon engaged in talk of their college days. Aaron soon joined them at the table, quiet and upset. Paige noticed his bad mood and took her leave. It wasn’t a secret within them at all that Mina eased Aaron back into normality easily.
“I apologize on beha-” he started but she shushed him with a finger to his lips and spoke, “You will not take responsibility for her behavior. She needs to apologize herself.”
Aaron’s eyes crossed to her finger against his lips for a fraction of a second before he nodded obediently. Mina grinned and gave his shoulder a playful punch, “Come on, you didn’t even eat much. Let’s get some cake!”
“You just ate two plates of pasta!”
She paused to think back to it, “I genuinely forgot. But I have a hearty appetite so LEZ GO GET SOME!”
Aaron could only laugh and followed her to the buffet, coming back with two plates piled high with black forest cake, baklava, rice pudding, and ice cream. They engaged in a rather odd competition of who could finish their plates first, garnering a few bewildered yet amused onlookers. Some kids stopped by as they watched the competition unfold, and they became divided against each other as they cheered for the either. The married couple watched from afar, Heidi face palming herself and Dave laughing at the scene.
“They’re adults, for God’s sake!” Heidi cried, “When will she ever grow up?”
“I wouldn’t want her to change one bit,” Dave admitted cheekily, “She such a joy.”
Heidi could only smile to hide the sadness. It took Mina so much work to be who she was now. And when she had fixed her battered heart, she came to her mother’s rescue that was so shattered by her previous husband. She’d forced her to divorce him at 46, but Sean East had caught on and filed for the divorce himself. He felt threatened by Mina. His own daughter, his own blood and flesh. And he felt threatened by the one thing he was never mean to control in the first place. Mina’s existence was phenomenal to Heidi and she thanked God a million times every day that she had not given into the pressure of aborting her upon her husband’s request. Her birth was not an easy one and she almost lost Mina then again, but her baby persevered through the ordeal. There was not a time where Mina was not hurt in one way or the other, but she wore her heart on her sleeve and was not afraid of embracing her emotions. She was not afraid to change. She was never afraid to fight. And she was never afraid to learn and own up to things.
Mina looked at Aaron trying to stuff his face with ice cream and choked at the sight.
“Aaron,” she cackled, “you have cake all over your face.”
“I shall sacrifice her dignity if it means to win!” he cried out. Her sides hurt as the laughed bubbled larger in her stomach.
“A-Aaron, stop, please,” she begged.
“No.”
Mina could only try to get a grip on herself as her laugh rang through the place along with the loud chatter and crying children. She gulped in large breaths and inhaled water for composure as she grabbed at a few tissues to wipe her face with. She then proceeded to pick at more and pinched at his cheek, making him turn to face her.
“Such a baby,” she scolded him playfully. “Your beard is an absolute mess.”
“I can always wash her face, Mina,” he grumbled. She made a voice of dismissal as she wiped away cream from his beard and lips. She had to hold herself from gazing at his thin pink lips for too long. She reached for his nose with the tissue, and met his gaze quite by accident.
It was burning. The good kind where her insides turned to mush and set a small flame in her lower belly. His hazel eyes were intense, and so beautiful, reflecting off light and switching between green and honey.
She gulped as his hand came up to hold hers. He pulled it away from his face and set it at his knee, rubbing the back of her hand, “You’re really warm, Mina.”
“I-it’s June, Aaron.”
“No, it’s Mina,” he smirked, “Mina’s blushing. Why?”
Mina grew flustered, unable to form a coherent sentence. She stumbled on her words, forming syllables that made no sense. It grew worse as his large hand completely engulfed her small one, bringing with it a foreign sense of absolute security that flabbergasted her.
She pulled her hand away and stood up abruptly, “I need to pee!”
His face contorted into disgust, “Did you have to say that out loud?”
“And take a shit!”
“Should I escort you?”
“No!” She cried and scurried off to the bathrooms, wondering how on Earth she was going to calm herself down and face him after that little event.
Sure, he was good looking, had matching interests with her, and was an absolute sweetheart and gentleman. He was sensitive and extremely honest, something she didn’t see in a lot of people. But she didn’t have the time to entertain romances. And she was so unromantic, it made her own mother throw up when she tried being cute and cheesy in that way when in a playful banter with her. It didn’t help for a fact that she’d prefer being taken to a wrestling match for Valentine’s Day instead of a nice candle lit dinner. Her mother was on the phone the whole time as Mina roared with the crowd next to her in support of plundering an old soul.
She’d been on dates, all right. With guys from her university, from her workplace, and with friends outside the category. But no one really made the cut and it was better to stay friends. Plus, most of the men she had met felt more intimidated by her character than respecting her. She never really felt truly appreciated.
Not until now. Here was a man who let her be who she was and was in complete awe of it. Not intimidated, but accepting, not needing her to drop herself down anywhere, but only raising himself to her instead, and raising her graciously to him where she needed it. They connected in ways she never connected with her own mother. It was new, it was different. It felt like it would last.
But he was taken. And he was her brother now so that would serve an awkward reminder of why it would never really work out too well for the whole family should any conflicts arise. Sure, her mother had teased her a lot about Aaron and encouraged her to shoot her shot, but she didn’t have the time yet. Her heart was still healing. It needed more love from her own self right now than it did from a man at the moment.
It would take some time. And maybe then she could come across someone better.
But who could be better than Aaron? she questioned herself. She would need a miracle to come across another like him.
She breathed deeply to calm her racing heart and looked in the mirror, fixing her navy blue dress and touching up her make-up. She then placed her hands on the marble top and gave herself a fixed gaze.
You’re going to go out there and pretend it was all in good fun. It was just a joke, nothing else. You hold no concrete feelings for him, and you will not give yourself false hope. Also, he’s, like, six years older than you. You’re a baby! Alright, then, you got this.
Heaving yet another breath, she nodded to herself and headed out with a confident stride, opening the door and slamming right into a hard chest.
“I was thinking you’d died in there,” rumbled Aaron’s deep chuckle as he held her by the waist to set her upright.
“Oh, puh-leez,” she said haughtily as she looked up at him with a snap of her fingers, “it takes more than getting hit by a car to kill me.”
“It killed your sense of humor, though, didn’t it?”
“Hey!” she cried and pinched his face as he laughed, “Don’t insult her dark humor.”
“Your reactions are funnier than your punchlines, admit it.”
Mina had to admit, she was a horrible comedian. But her facial reactions to memes and videos were priceless and Aaron recorded and saved enough to embarrass her for a few lifetimes. Aaron let go of her and held her by the elbow, “I have memes to show you.”
“Please, no,” she dramatically whined as he dragged her away. And she was grateful for the way it had all played out. He made it easier for her. He must’ve been one of the very few men who actually made anything easier for anyone, really, and she was thankful.
From a distance, Greta watched the two communicate. She was absolutely livid, green with envy.
He’s cheating on me with that bitch, whispered the devil to her, I need to get rid of her.
She reached into her purse, producing a phone she kept to contact only those others had no knowledge of. She didn’t think they would come in handy for such purposes, but jealousy was a bitch she could never control.
This is unfair, she thought spitefully as tears pricked her eyes, He’s the one good thing that ever happened in her life and she has the audacity to try and make moves on him!
Somewhere deep inside she knew it wasn’t Mina doing anything at all. She knew Aaron liked her. She was forcing herself to watch him fall in love with her. And that couldn’t happen. He couldn’t be with anyone else. He couldn’t love anyone else. Not while she was around. Not on her watch.