Her Charming Secret

by Sam Ayers

  Jo giggled and rested her head on his chest. “Thanks for today, it was amazing.”

  “No, I should be the one thanking you.” He smiled a genuine smile.

  Jo just smiled at him. The first time she had met him, he was geeky and scrawny, but the minute he had sat down to play the piano, she had fallen in love; his fingers gracefully flowing over the keys, the intensity in his eyes and the brightness of his smile – every single thing made her like him more.

  He kissed her one last time before letting her go. He caught a cab back while Ben picked her up.

  * * *

  The finals were coming closer, and Brad knew that they had a good chance of winning as Jo was doing a great job at distracting Gale. Or at least, that’s what he thought. No one knew that Jo was really in love with him. They spent more time together and enjoyed it, too. The day before the finals, Jo decided to talk to Gale about her feelings. Just as she made her way towards the music room, someone stopped her.

  “Long time no see,” came the most arrogant voice from behind. She turned around in shock to see Richard standing there, smirking at her. “Father wishes to speak with you!”

  Just as he said that, two men wearing black suits came up and grabbed her arms. She struggled to break free, but before she knew it, she was dragged off to a limousine parked nearby. And the fact that she was being kidnapped by her half-brother didn’t really register in her mind for a minute. When it did, she started kicking those men, groaning and begging Richard to leave her alone.

  * * *

  No one knew that Jo had been kidnapped – except for Jacob and Ben, who had figured out Joseph’s plan. Jake made arrangements to fly to London that day and bring her back. Knowing he couldn’t do it alone, he asked Ben to help him and also called his lawyer to take care of the Knights.

  On the day of the finals, Gale decided to meet Jo and tell her how he felt. In this past one week he was head over heels, completely and unconditionally in love with her. As he made his way towards the music room where Deep Storm practiced, he saw Brad waiting at the entrance.

  “Hi, is Jo here?” Gale asked politely.

  “Why the hell are you here?” Brad frowned. “She’s gone. She left without a single word. We are gonna be disqualified now!”

  “Gone? What do you mean by that?”

  “Why do you even care? She played you all along, just to distract you from your practice,” Brad smirked. “Yes, I was the one who told her to do it, but I didn’t know she would be so good at it.”

  Gale looked down quietly. So nothing she said had been true, she had just played him. He knew that no one liked him, but this wasn’t the right way to bring a competitor down. He walked away, not listening to what else Brad said. He couldn’t believe he’d been fooled by her innocent face.

  Gale didn’t know what was really happening to Jo. She had fallen asleep on board and when she woke up, she was in London, facing her father. She wasn’t ready for this, and now she only prayed that Jake would find her soon and save her.

  * * *

  The finals did happen. Deep Storm participated without Jo, but lost. Gale quit. He wasn’t ready to face anyone else right now. He packed his bags and headed to the airport; all he wanted to do now was go home.

  He wasn’t aware of what he was doing as he boarded the flight. Hours later when he reached Toronto, he called a cab and gave the cabbie the address to his home. He wasn’t sure if anyone would be there, but he wanted to be there.

  When he reached his house, he rang the doorbell and waited for someone to open it. The door opened immediately and he saw his mother; she was smiling as she opened her arms to him.

  “Aiden, you’re back!” Adelynn said and pulled him into a hug, not knowing what he had just faced.

  - Chapter 30 -

  To Aiden, With Love

  Alex’s car screeched in protest as he went faster, zipping down the roads in his hurry to get home. He hit the steering wheel, frustrated. He wanted to slam his head in, too, because he hadn’t seen the truth even when the complete picture had been clearly in front of him.

  Aiden did go to Paris for some competition, but he had come back early. His behavior had changed, and Alex finally realized why; Aiden had thought that Jo left him, and he came back with a broken heart. A whole load of misunderstandings caused by Brad and Richard, who had been responsible for taking Jo back to London. The girl from Aiden’s dream was Jo all along, the fact that his memories started returning after meeting Jo was a sign that everyone including Aiden missed.

  After Jo told Alex about Gale, she told him that she had found out Aiden was Gale when she saw the photograph at his home, during lunch that day. The face she had forgotten was the face that belonged to her lover. That was the reason she panicked and left early that day. She had gone upstairs after that because she couldn’t talk about him anymore, and Jacob told them about his past: Joseph and his sister, Erin. Alex sighed heavily as he remembered Jacob’s words.

  “Erin was my sister, my only family. Our parents died when I was a kid. She was the one who raised me. We were poor, but she worked hard to bring back some bread and milk for me. Sometimes she wouldn’t eat, but she never let me starve. One day she got a job at the local café; it was her third part-time job and she used to come home late. She started acting weird one day and I realized she met someone. Joseph Knight came into our lives and completely destroyed it. He flew here for a business deal and met Erin at the café. He started coming back often just to meet her, said he was in love with her. He wooed Erin, took her places and made her fall completely in love with him. They got married a month later.”

  Ben had placed his hand on Jacob’s shoulder and said, “Jake is like my brother. We were neighbors back then. When Jo came into our lives, things changed. We adored her, but Joseph used to leave them and disappear for months. As we grew up we realized that something was fishy. Once he didn’t return for almost a year.”

  Abigail had looked at them in horror as she held Alex’s hand tightly. “Then what happened?”

  Jacob replied, “We were eighteen, Ben and I; that’s when we decided to go search for Joseph. Jo missed her father a lot, so we decided that getting him to come home would be a good gift for her. We went to London and found him, but we met someone else that day: Richard. Joseph had already been married once, an arranged marriage, for some business purpose. He claimed he never loved his wife, but they had a son. She died at childbirth.”

  Alex’s heart had skipped a beat in shock; the same thing had happened to his own mother. The only difference was, his father had loved his mother so much that he hadn’t forgiven Alex for taking her away from him. He couldn’t imagine his father actually leaving him alone and getting married to someone else when he was a kid. Thank goodness that never happened.

  “When we found out about Richard, we came back home to explain it to Erin.” Ben had said. “She didn’t believe our words. She loved that man so much that she didn’t trust us. Joseph didn’t come back because his father had put a foot down and didn’t allow him to meet Erin or Jo. Erin was depressed, and soon she was dying. He claimed to love her so much, but I ask: why wasn’t he there for her?”

  Jake had sighed heavily, “I watched my sister die that day,” he’d murmured with a painful expression. “My whole world shattered. She made me promise that I would take care of Jo. And I did. After her death, I became Jo’s guardian, as Joseph never returned. I was 20 and alone; that day at Erin’s funeral, I promised myself that I would never let Joseph come near Jo again. He did come back, a year later, and regretted when he found out about Erin. He wanted to take Jo back, but she wouldn’t go. She wanted to stay with me. And then, years later, in Paris they found the perfect opportunity and took her away. Ben and I flew to London to bring her back home. Since then, I’ve always been protecting her from him. Till now, that is. They broke my little girl’s heart and they’ll pay for it!”

  Alex sighed again as he drove. He pulled out his phone to call Adele;
he had to tell her the truth now. She picked up on the first ring.

  “Alex, come to the hospital now! Aiden has been admitted again,” she said before he could get a word in, her voice panicked.

  “Darn it! I’ll be there ASAP!”

  He ended the call and turned his car around, going towards where the hospital was. When he reached there, he saw Ashton coming out with Danielle. Pierre was carrying Aubrey as she sobbed into his shoulder.

  “Ash, where is he?” Alex asked quickly.

  Ashton told him that Aiden was under observation again, and told him the room number. There were high chances of him going into a coma again. Only Adelynn was allowed to be with him, so they were heading home, as Aubrey wasn’t feeling well.

  “Here, take my car,” Alex said, throwing him the keys before he ran inside. He found Adele and Gabriel standing outside the room where Aiden was. He pulled Adele into a tight hug as he came closer.

  “Al, look what happened to him,” she whispered.

  “Ady, I think I know what’s going on,” Alex replied.

  Gabriel, who was watching them, asked them to come to his office as they could talk there, without interruption.

  Gabe opened the door and walked towards his desk. He picked up the file and checked Aiden’s report. “He broke the mirror by punching it. Ashton said that they found him clutching the glass shards as his hand bled.”

  Alex looked at Gabe in horror. “Yes, Alex. I know what you are thinking right now. This is what I warned you about before. We couldn’t afford something negative to get triggered in his mind and make him lose control of himself. And the bad news is, it happened.”

  “So he regained his memory?” Alex asked Gabe.

  “I think so, yes. Everything that he forgot still remained in his subconscious mind. He had forgotten many things, but as time passed, it did come back. Mom said that he was talking about someone breaking him twice,” Gabe replied. “We need to figure out what he meant by twice.”

  Alex sighed. “He was talking about Jo. They broke up.”

  Adele was shocked when she heard that. Alex explained the situation to her, everything, from the start, right from Richard’s letter to Gale’s story.

  “I remember him using that name, Al! We used to tease him when we were kids,” Adele said. “Remember how we called him Gale and said that’s how powerful his music was?”

  “Makes sense now!” Gabriel spoke. “Jo was the girl all along. But what bothers me is, the first time was a misunderstanding. If her father interfered then and Jo was innocent after all, why can’t that happen again? Maybe she didn’t lie about loving him. What if he assumed? Like before?”

  “This is the first time you said something that made sense to me.” Alex snickered. Gabe frowned.

  “When will Aiden wake up? Can we talk to him?”

  “Umm . . . Alex, that’s not a good idea. Talking about Jo might just lead him into depression, and as his doctor, I can’t agree to his health to be put at risk like that,” Gabe replied.

  Alex just sighed and nodded.

  * * *

  Aiden did wake up that night, but only Nicholas and Adelynn were allowed to see him. Nicholas was furious to find out what happened; he came to the hospital straight from the airport to see his son.

  Both Adele and Alex spent the night in the hospital, waiting for their turn to meet him. When they were finally allowed, Aiden told them about Jo, the one he met years ago and how he had forgotten her. He was glad that his memory was finally back, but he wasn’t ready to meet her again. Not yet. The pain was too raw, and he didn’t think he could keep himself together if he saw her now.

  As for Jo, she was emotionally drained, beyond depressed. Jacob did everything to make her feel better, but she stayed away from everyone, spending almost all her time alone. When Abigail or Jake tried talking with her, she gave them a small smile or monosyllabic answers. They were all getting really worried about her.

  Ben was visiting again. He finally decided to meet Jo and make her feel better. Jacob was sitting on the couch with Rachel, talking about Jo, and he told Ben to be careful; Jacob didn’t want her to feel bad again. Ben made his way upstairs to see her seated next to the window, staring outside at the rain. It was pouring, and they couldn’t go out; Jo made that her excuse to stay in her room. She looked so sad, all signs of happiness lost from her face, looking completely tired and lost.

  Ben came closer and patted her head. “Hey! Why so sad?”

  “I’m fine, Ben,” Jo said for the umpteenth time and sighed heavily. “I just miss him. A lot.”

  “Must have been a good guy!”

  “He was great!” Jo had a faraway look in her eyes. A single tear slid down her cheek, unnoticed by her, but Ben saw it.

  “Do you still love him?”

  “Yeah. I had imagined our whole life together, just the two of us. The desires he stirred in me and the hopes I had in my heart – everything shattered. I can’t forget him. Not that easily.”

  “Then don’t! Make him realize that you still love him.” Ben grinned.

  “How do I do that?” Jo stared at him in confusion. He just got up, walked towards her desk and picked her laptop up. She was writing the dedication page and not knowing what to actually write, she had kept the laptop aside. He brought it to her and placed it on her lap.

  “You have the power to reach thousands of people through this. Dedicate it to the one you love, and who knows what will happen when he reads it?”

  Ben winked at her. Getting up, he placed a soft kiss on her temple and went back down.

  She stared at the screen for a while before finally realizing what she was going to do.

  * * *

  One month later

  Aiden stared at the sky. It was gray and clouded, not a single ray of sunlight filtering through. The weather was right by him in feeling downright miserable, and his life had become exactly like it: completely drenched and devoid of all color. Aiden kept telling everyone that he had completely gotten over Jo, but he wasn’t convincing anyone, let alone his family. The way they parted still made him question himself. Why did his life shatter in that fraction of a second? Like a glass crystal, it had gone from glittering stone to broken shards that were dull and almost lifeless, the earlier shine lost.

  He had finally become a physicist and was working at a research institute. Aiden was in love with his job, doing what he wanted, learning more every day. Unfortunately, he had become a loner again. He started wearing glasses again and sported a clean-shaven look; it made him look much younger. He moved back to his parents’ place, but stayed to himself, only talking to his family. He stopped visiting any place that reminded him of Jo. All their photos were shut into a box that he kept under his bed, but he didn’t delete even a single picture of hers from his phone or remove her photo from his wallet. It was easy to say that he let her go, much harder to actually do it. He woke up each day and promised himself that he would smile so his family wouldn’t worry. But his heart was completely torn to pieces, and he didn’t know if it would ever be fixed. The only person he spent some time with was Adele. She forced him to go out and explore the town with her.

  One day, they were just walking around the town, sightseeing and, as Adele said, ‘exploring’ it. Aiden was surprised at how new and exciting it felt. “I can’t believe I drove through this street every day for work but never knew these buildings existed!”

  “That’s because you were a workaholic and only cared about reaching the office on time. Now you are just my twin Aiden.” Adele grinned. They stopped by a café and once again Aiden ordered his favorite drink – coffee. That was something he would never let go. While he paid for their coffees, Adele noticed something in his wallet. It was a picture of him and Jo hugging each other.

  “You still have her picture in your wallet?” Adele asked when they walked out of the café.

  “If I couldn’t remove her from my heart, how will I take her photo out of my wallet? Every time I consi
der taking it out, it feels like I am trying to carve my chest open and pull my heart out.” He smiled sadly.

  The old Aiden was back, the one who disappeared after the accident. Everyone tried their best to make him happy, but his job was so satisfying that he started smiling more often. The only thing wrong was that no one knew how devastated he was. He walked alone in the darkness, but that didn’t scare him. He feared that he wouldn’t be able to forget Jo. As each day passed and the pain lingered, he wondered if it would ever fade.

  * * *

  Jacob was taking Jo to a restaurant to celebrate Ben’s birthday. Jo had finally started going out and meeting people again. Jake was grateful to Ben for making her realize that the world wasn’t over yet. As she sat there quietly staring out the window, something caught her eye, a very familiar face. Across the road, Aiden and Adele were chatting and laughing, pointing towards something and clicking pictures. The expression on Aiden’s face was carefree, as if nothing wrong had happened.

  She looked at him and smiled to herself. Just that was enough assurance that he had moved on; he was happy, and he didn’t need her like she needed him. When Jacob drove again, she saw Aiden for once last time and sighed, closing her eyes to keep that face in her mind. Gale had come back, but she had lost him once again. Maybe that was their destiny – to meet but to never actually be together. They were to be a happy memory for each other but nothing more.

  They reached the restaurant where Ben was waiting outside with Abigail. Abby was close to him, too, and thought of him as a big brother; so here she was, waiting for Jo and Jake. She waved happily towards Jo.