Chapter 431: Seeking help - Part 1

Maggie stared at the message, and she shook her head immediately. "No way. I am not going to allow you to put your life at risk for me once again. I cannot do that, Aria. I am sorry, Aria. I really am." She deleted the message, only to receive another the next moment. 

'Call me when you are free. I need to talk to you and don't you dare ignore me.'

Maggie ignored her message once again, and she deleted it right away. "I am not going to call you, Aria. I know you will try to persuade me. But I am not going to put you or Ivy in danger. You are the only two people I have in my life. I am sorry."

More than an hour passed since Aria had sent the message and she had not received any response from Maggie. At first, Aria had been skeptical about Maggie's intentions. But after not getting any reply from her even after a long time had passed, Aria was now certain that Maggie was ignoring her on purpose. 

Right at this moment, she received a call from Ivy. "Aria, what the hell is this message? What is Maggie trying to do?" Ivy almost yelled on the phone, and Aria had to keep her phone away from her to save her ears. "What is wrong with her?"

"Ivy, calm down. I have no idea what she is up to. But we cannot allow her to be careless." Unlike Ivy had gone bonkers with worry, Aria was relatively calm, and she tried to reason out with her sister. "We need to do something to save her. That girl does not know what she doing."

"But what are we going to do, Aria? She has decided to put her plan into action today, and right now, she is not responding to my messages." Ivy was just short of losing her cool. She was in the mood for some punching and Ivy was relieved that there was nobody around her. Otherwise, they would have been at the receiving end of her wrath.

"Ivy, I-I-" Aria licked her lips, picking up her courage to tell her sister the plan she had in mind. "Ivy, I have decided to come clean before Noah."

"What?" Ivy shouted on the phone and Aria flinched, fearing for her ears.

"We need help to save Maggie and there is nobody but Noah who can help us. Only Noah's men can tackle Jared's gang."

"But-but.." 

"Maggie might escape from the gang unscathed. But we cannot rule out the possibility of danger either. I do not want anything to happen to her. It's best we have backup."

"Aria, are you sure about it? We might end up sabotaging our relationships with the men once the truth comes out." Ivy voiced out her opinion. She knew Aria was right in her place but she could not ignore what the future may hold for them once the men found out their truth. Ivy did not want to lose Joshua for she had come to love him slowly. Although she had hidden her feelings for Joshua in front of his parents, that did not mean she did not love him. She loved him, more than anything in this world, but after Aria of course.

"Ivy, the truth has to come out someday or the other. It's best we get over it sooner. I know what is running in your mind and why you are reluctant to go ahead with this matter. But we can't stay hidden forever." Aria declared, trying to remain confident. Only she knew that it was not the case. Her confidence vanished the moment the idea had even come to her mind. However, saving Maggie was more important than saving her relationship. 

'If my relationship with Noah gets vandalized, I'll spend my entire life making up for it.' She promised in her mind. When she did not get any reply from Ivy, Aria sighed lightly. "Ivy, if you are unwilling to tell Joshua the truth, it's okay. I'll take the blame for you too. Don't worry. Let one of us be at peace, at least." Aria suggested only to hear Ivy object to her plan immediately.

"No way. What do you take me for, Aria? I am not going to allow you to do so. Are you insane?" Ivy seethed, clenching her phone. "We were in this together and we will take the responsibility together. I will not allow my younger sister to take all the blame when I am equally at fault." Ivy stated, not giving her sister a chance to respond.

"But.."

"No buts. We are doing this together and we will face the consequences together too."

"Thanks, Ivy. Thanks for understanding."

"What do you have in mind, Aria?"

"Let's meet at Joshua's house. Maggie is not replying to us and we need Joshua's skills to track her. That stubborn girl has not even told us where she is right now." Aria wanted to curse her friend for putting them under stress. Maggie had been extremely stubborn and had not divulged any information to the twins regarding her whereabouts. Although the two sisters had threatened her a lot of times, she had ignored them, and now that her life was in danger, Aria just wanted to kill her for putting them in such a situation. She even cursed herself for not smacking her friend when they had the time.

"I will wait for you, Aria. Let's just hope that the men will be understanding."

The call ended and Aria stared at the ceiling, wishing everything to be fine. 'Please, Noah. Please forgive me. I don't want to lose you. I don't to leave you. Please, don't leave me.' Her thoughts broke when she felt Noah hugging her from behind, his arms around her waist.

"What were you thinking about, sweetheart?" He mused, kissing her cheek. 

"You. I was thinking about you." Aria did not lie, and her answer pleasantly stunned Noah. A satisfied smirk made its way on his face, and he narrowed his eyes teasingly. He made Aria face him, and he stared at her, his eyes filled with love and adoration. 

"Aria, what were you thinking about me?" He did not allow her to leave his embrace, and Aria too wanted to stay close to him and feel his warmth.

'I might not be able to hug him after this.' She thought to herself, a lone tear slipping out her eye. Noah immediately panicked seeing her tears, and he held her face in his hands, cupping her cheeks.

"What happened, baby? Is everything alright? Are you hurt? Why are you crying? Tell me. Did someone do something to you?" His thoughts ran wild, and he started to assume the worst possible situations.

Aria shook her head to calm the man and sought to stop her tears. However, Noah's concern and sincerity were making it difficult for her, and she burst out crying, adding more to his panic. "I am sorry. I am sorry. I am really sorry. I should not have lied to you. I am sorry. Please forgive me. Please don't leave me. Please don't leave me." She begged, hugging Noah tight, her actions and words shocking Noah greatly.

"Aria, baby, what are you even talking about? Come with me." He tried to free her from his embrace, but the girl only hugged him tight and buried her face in his shirt. Sighing in defeat, he picked her up, his hands under her butt, and walked towards the bed. 

"Aria, what happened? Tell me. What happened?" He sat on the bed, and placed her on his laps, while he coaxed her to speak. 

"Please don't leave me, Noah. Please. I don't want to lose you. I like you very much. No." Aria stopped suddenly and pulled away from Noah, facing him in the eye. "No, I don't just like you. I love you, Noah. I really love you. Please don't leave me."

"I am not leaving you, dear. I am never leaving you. Now, tell me what happened." Noah wiped her tears gently and cajoled her softly. "I am never leaving you, Aria. Don't even think about something like this." Noah chided her, wondering what happened to her for her to behave this strange suddenly. Though he was delighted to hear her confession, he was also worried for her. This was the first time he was seeing Aria this broken and anxious. However, he could not make out what was wrong and why she was behaving this way.

"Noah, there is something I have hidden from you." Aria made her mind and started to speak, her eyes not meeting his intense dark brown orbs. She knew that she would never be able to confess the truth if she looked at his deep and soul-sucking eyes. So, she lowered her gaze and stared at his blue shirt. 

"Yes, baby. Tell me." Noah continued to wipe her tears as he waited for her to speak.

"In fact, I have a lot of secrets, and I want to confess all of them to you today." Aria took a deep breath and braced herself. "I just hope you will still be with me when this ends." She mumbled to herself but Noah too heard it, and he frowned at her words.

"What are you talking about Aria?" Noah could not understand the head or tail of what she was speaking. Every word of hers was like a code word he could not decipher.

"I'll tell you everything, Noah. But not, not right now. We have something else to do." Aris stood up suddenly, starting Noah. 

"What do we have to do?"

"We need to save someone and I want your help in this."