"What happens in the Underworld?" Aria asked the question and lifted her eyes to meet Noah's gaze. There was no emotion on her face whatsoever and it seemed as if she was treating him as a stranger now.
Although he was hurt by her indifference, he still answered to her. "We train all the guards there. After intense training, they will have to undergo an examination and a skill test before they are appointed as private bodyguards."
"So, the guards around your house have been trained over there before they took over the jobs here?" Aria asked, intrigued by this newfound information.
"Yes. They are mainly in charge of providing security to the Carters, the Martins, and Ian's family. But we also provide services to anybody who is on good terms with us and sometimes the government."
"What else? Do you deal with drugs and weapons? Are you into that sort of illegal thing?"
"Drugs no. Weapons yes. We need ammunition to keep ourselves safe. So, we do deal with it."
"Do you kill people?"
"Unfortunately yes," Noah answered honestly, not leaving even a minute information although he knew that it would only push Aria further away from him. He did not want to lie to her again and get on her bad side. "But we don't kill innocent people. We deal with the ones who have tried to harm any of us or the rats in the society, like Jared and his men. This is the ethics we follow and nobody dares to break it, not even me."
Again Aria went into a deep thought while Noah waited for her next question. "Doesn't the government or the police do anything since you kill people?" Aria's innocent question sounded quite harsh to Noah and to him, it felt like she was accusing him to be a serial killer.
"No. Most of the time, we deal with these kinds of things secretly. Nobody interferes with it unless it is a mission handed over to us."
"Do you have a place or a base where things like these happen?"
"Yes, we do. It is on the outskirts of the city."
"Can I visit it someday?"
"What?" Aria's sudden question made Noah widen his eyes and he wondered if he had imagined things. But when Aria repeated her question again, he could not help but stare at her in shock.
"Will you take me there someday?"
Noah furrowed his eyebrows in confusion and he blinked at her. "Why do you want to go there?"
Aria sat silently for a few seconds before she crawled over to reach Noah. Before Noah could even speak, she had already settled herself comfortably on his l_a_p with her legs straddling him. Her sudden shift in behavior stunned Noah and he could not comprehend what was happening. He had become speechless and now he could only wait for Aria to explain everything.
"My man has such an amazing place under his control. Why would I not want to visit it? I would love to take a look at how things are out there. Will you take me there someday?"
"What?" Aria's words fell on deaf ears. Everything she said after the first sentence went out of the window. All Noah could remember were the words that made his heart race. Aria had called him her man even after she knew the truth and this made his so ecstatic that he felt as though he was flying in the sky.
"I want you to take me there. Will you?" Aria repeated her statement once again, perplexed on being asked the same question again and again. "Why are you asking me the same question again?"
Noah did not answer her. Instead, he asked her a question of his own. "Are you not going to break up with me then?"
"Will will I break up with you?" Aria tilted her head to her right slightly in confusion and parted her lips. Noah narrowed his eyes to see if Aria was lying and when found her look to be pure and innocent, he realized that she was not lying. She was genuinely interested in going over to his base and this change in her surprised him.
"Weren't you angry with me?"
"Why will I be angry with you?" Aria threw another question. Her question was the answer Noah was waiting to hear for a long. He had assumed her to be furious by now. But on the contrary, she seemed to be perfectly fine and moreover, she looked excited as though she had decoded a century-old mystery. 'Did this mean his relationship was no going to end?' He questioned to himself and thought of confirming the safe from the woman who had scared the shit out of him a few minutes ago.
"The, why did not reply for a long time? I assumed that.."
"You assumed that I was angry at you. No way. I was not furious. I was only trying to arrange my thoughts so that I could understand what was happening."
"Are you really not angry at me? Are you not going to leave me?"
"No. Why will I leave you and if I do, where will I find a man better than you? You are an amazing man and the most perfect man I have ever met in my life. Why will I go around looking for someone mediocre when I have a high class and out of the world treasure with me?" Her words were like honey to Noah and he could not help but smile at her like a fool. His dead heart was revived by her simple statement and his happiness knew no bounds.
"So, are we good now?"
"Definitely." Aria nodded at him happily while she was still seated on his lap.
"Awesome. Tell me one thing. Why did you stop me when I wanted to hold you in my arms?" He put forth the doubt he had that started to bug him out of nowhere and hugged her as he waited for the answer.
"That," Aria scratched her head in awkwardness. She wanted to avoid responding to this question. But she knew that Noah needed to know the truth in case he misunderstood her. "As I said earlier, I wanted to collect my jumbled thoughts before I made up my mind. But your s_e_xy torso was quite distracting and I could not concentrate properly. So, I had to push you away." Aria confessed and her checks and ears turned red in embarrassment.
"Ohh," That was the only reply Noah could come up with.
"Yes and I sorry for putting you through such a dilemm...." Aria had to swallow her words the next moment as Noah had removed his shirt once again, baring his torso for her eyes to feast upon.
"Are you happy now?" His eyes gleamed with a devilish glint as he stared at Aria seductively. Aria subconsciously nodded at him, not knowing what she was doing. She was completely enticed by his hot body. But once the realization hit her, she averted her eyes away, mentally chiding herself for getting blown away this easily.
"There is nothing to be shy about, love." Noah held her chin between his right thumb and index finger and made her face him. "This body is yours and you can ogle at it as much as you want. You can do anything you want with me. You can bite me, eat me, ogle at me..." Noah was about to continue with his brazen words which Aria did not have the courage to listen to. She came up with the only solution to shut his mouth and that was to kiss him until he forgot who he was.