Chapter 40: Noah tricks Aria

Noah led Aria to his black Maserati. He opened the door to the passenger seat and waited for her to get in.

"We could have lunch here. There are a lot of restaurants here." Aria looked around. She had seen a lot of restaurants while walking to the entrance of the parking lot. Thinking of the parking lot, she remembered that Kaito had parked the minibus at the parking lot.

"Wait a minute. The minibus we came in is still at the parking lot. I could wait for my colleagues there. Why didn't I think of it before?" Aria said.

Noah had somehow persuaded Aria to come with him to have lunch. 'Why did she have to remember about the minibus?'

"Let me take a look. Thanks a lot, Mr. Carter for your help. Now I'll get going." She didn't see Noah's dark expression and sprinted off in the direction where the bus was parked.

"I'll drop you off." Noah started to accompany her.

Will his plans just end this way?

Aria went to the spot where she had remembered that Kaito had parked the minibus. But there was no trace of the bus.

"Where did Kaito go?" Aria said looking around. She clearly remembered that they had got down from the minibus at that spot. She immediately made a call to Stuart. This time the call connected.

"Aria, where are you?"

"Stuart, I am still at the Palace entrance. Where are you guys?"

"Aria, we are sorry. We thought you had already left without us. We tried searching for you at the Palace entrance. But we couldn't find you. We also asked the people around and the Palace guards told us that you had already left. We tried calling you, but your phone was not reachable. We were so scared, we did not know what to do. We are on our way back to the hotel. We assumed that you would have gone there. Sorry, Aria."

Stuart's glum response made Aria pinch her nose.

"It's okay, Stuart. You guys carry on with the sightseeing. I'll join you guys at the hotel in the evening."

Noah smirked hearing her words. His plans had not ended. He could still go on a date.

"Are you sure, Aria? What about you?"

Before Aria could respond, she heard Mason's voice on the phone.

"Is that Aria? Where is she? Is she safe? Give me the phone. I want to talk to her."

"Stuart, Stuart, I am fine. I'll take care. You guys carry on with the trip. Now bye." Aria cut the call after blabbering out her words. She was in no mood to deal with Mason. Her phone rang the next moment she ended her call with Stuart. It was from Mason. She turned her phone into silent mode and looked at Noah.

"Is the lunch offer you made earlier still available?" She did not know anyone there. She could as well take Noah's help.

"Yes. It is." Noah replied with a smile. Aria stared at him mesmerized. His smile was truly breathtaking.

Noah's smile widened looking at Aria in a daze. He held her hand and pulled her with him to his car. His hold on her was strong, but not strong enough to hurt her. He opened the car door and this time Aria sat down.

"Don't you think this car is a little too eye-catching."

"Nope. This is the cheapest car in my London garage. I am trying to be low key."

'If this is called being low key, then what would being high profile be?' She wondered.

"So, where are we going?"

"You will get to know in a while." Noah gave her a side glance and continued to drive.

"Don't you have your bodyguards tagging along with you today?"

"No. I have given them a holiday. I wanted some me time." Noah looked at the rearview mirror of his car and saw his guards following him in another car.

"So, what are your plans for today, now that your friends have ditched you?" Noah questioned, after some moments of silence.

"I don't know. I want to visit some places. So, maybe I'll just do that after having lunch."

"What about you? What are your plans Mr. Carter?"

"Same here. I have some places in mind which I want to visit." He replied, though he wanted to say that he wanted to visit the places with her. He didn't even care where he was going as long as he was with her. Suddenly he realized what Aria had addressed him as.

"Please, Dr West. Call me Noah. I think we are close enough now to call each other by our names."

"Then you must call me Aria."

"Sure, Aria." Hearing her name from his mouth, made Aria feel something in her stomach.

"Umm. Aria, I have a suggestion." Aria looked at him, waiting for him to continue.

"Why don't you join me? I am alone and your friends have left you. Both of us can continue with the sightseeing."

Aria thought about it. It was not a bad idea. It was better for her to be in someone's company than to be alone in a foreign land. And Noah was not bad. Other than him being short-tempered and unreasonable, he was quite a fine man.

"I'll drop you back to your hotel by 10 p.m. I promise."

"Okay Noah. Let's do it."

Noah gave her a toothy smile, taking her by a trance once again.

"And we have arrived." Noah turned off the car engine and got off the car. He walked to the other side with the intention of opening the door for Aria. But she had already got down and was waiting for him.

"You could have waited for me."

"For what?" Aria looked at him in confusion.

"To open the door."

"I am fine doing it myself and I don't like it if somebody does it. It makes me feel like a delicate doll. I don't want that."

"Hmm, duly noted," Noah said, making a note of it in his mind.

Aria gave him a hearty laugh and walked towards the restaurant. Noah walked beside her after giving his car keys to the valet. The maitre'd welcomed them at the entrance.

"A table for two, sir?" He asked politely. He could guess that the man in front of him was not ordinary. Although he was casually dressed, there was still the air around that made him look like an aristocratic and with the Franck Muller Aeternitas watch he was wearing, it was clear he was not just rich. He was Richie rich.

"Yes, I would prefer a private booth," Noah said in all seriousness.

"Follow me sir, ma'am." The maitre'd led them to a booth at the far end.

"Is this fine, sir?"

Noah nodded. The booth they been led to had the best view of the London eye and the river Thames. It was silent and quite ideal to have a private talk.

"Your waiter will be here in a minute." The maitre'd left the booth.

Aria looked at the London Eye. "I want to go on that."

"Sure. Let's do that."

"Wait. Are you going to come too?"

"Why not? We have the entire day. We could go on it in the evening and watch the sunset. It has the best view at that time of the day."

There was a knock at the door and the waiter walked in.

"Hello sir, ma'am. I'll be your waiter and here is your menu." He handed the menu to Aria and Noah and stood at the side waiting for them to order.

After giving their orders, Noah and Aria sat in silence. They did not know what to say.

"So, what do you say? Do you want to come with me on the London Eye?" Noah spoke up, hoping for her to agree.

"I am not sure."

"Come on. You'll love the view, I promise."

"Okay fine," Aria said, reluctantly.

Noah jumped in his seat due to his happiness.

"So, tell me about yourself," Noah asked, immediately composing himself. Aria fidgeted in her chair seeing Noah's intense gaze on her. She had not realized how handsome he looked with his hair falling right on his eyes. The blues jeans and the white shirt made him look quite hot. She realized that their outfits matched. She blushed thinking about it.

"What do you want to know about me?"

"Anything."

"Okay. You know my name already. I am 26 years old. My birthday is on the 16th of May. I have a twin sister. Her name is Ivy and that's it. What about you?"

"I am Noah Allen Carter. I am 28 years old. My birthday is on the 30th of December. You have already met my family."

Aria nodded. The waiter knocked on the door and entered, carrying the dishes they had ordered.

"Do you need anything else?"

"No thank you," Aria replied, giving him a smile.

"I'll be right outside. Give me a call if you need anything." The waiter then took his leave.

"What about your parents?" Noah asked, after serving himself some food.

"My Mom died of a heart attack three years ago."

"Oh I am sorry."

"No that's fine. We have moved on." Aria replied with a smile. But the smile didn't reach her eyes.

"What about your Dad?"

Before she could reply, Aria's phone vibrated. She looked at her phone.

"I have to take this." Aria pointed to her phone.

"Hey Danny. What's up?"

Noah smile dropped at once hearing his name. 'Danny again?'

He clenched his fists and the temperature in the room dropped at once.

"Aria, thank you very much. I have made up with my parents. If not for you, I would have hurt them seriously. Thank you so much." Danny replied. He sounded a lot happier compared to their last chat.

"Hey Danny. Calm down. I know, you did not mean to hurt them. It's just the circumstances that made you do so."

"Yeah. I am relieved that I realized my mistake in the nick of time. Anyway, what are you doing now?" He asked holding the phone on his left hand, while signing some papers with his right hand.

"I am visiting some places in London." Aria looked up to see Noah already looking at her. He had heard her entire conversation. He was exploding with rage inside, yet on the outside he looked calm.

Daniel's phone beeped indicating another call. It was from Rachel.

"Aria, I have another call coming in. Have fun. Love you."

"Okay bye. Love you too."

That's it. The volcano exploded. Noah's mind was hatching plans on how to kill this guy named Danny. 'How dare he speak to his woman like this? And what did Aria say, love you too? What is the meaning of this?'

"Sorry, about that," Aria said, picking up her spoon.

"Is that your boyfriend?" Noah asked. It was a question he had been waiting to ask since the day he had thrown her phone.

"What? No. He is just a friend. We grew up together since childhood."

Aria's words calmed the raging beast at once.

'So, he is just a friend. I was jealous of a mere friend.' Noah laughed at his foolishness.

"Why are you laughing?"

"Ohh. It's nothing. I just remembered something. Are you done?"

Aria nodded, gulping down some water.

"Do you need anything else?"

"No thank you."

The waiter arrived with the bill.

"Noah, I'll pay."

"You are kidding, right? No, I am paying."

"Let me pay."

"No."

"Noah."

"Aria."

The waiter looked at the couple's banter. They looked so cute and perfect together. It was like they were made for each other.

"How about this? Let's split the bill."

"No way. I cannot let you pay. Aria. Try to understand. Okay, how about this? I'll pay this time. You pay when we go out the next time." Noah offered her a choice, seeing her being stubborn.

"Fair enough." Aria thought about it. It was quite a fair deal. However, she did not realize she had just accepted to go out with Noah again.

Noah's grinned. He understood that Aria had not yet realized she had been tricked by him. He became excited thinking about his next date with her.

"I'll look forward to it."