Meera was working constantly the whole day without even resting. Noah was observing her silently. She had the same resistance and was as hardworking as before, but he felt as if she still wasn"t the same as her old self. The old Meera loved him and could do anything for him but she straightaway told Sam to kill him. The old Meera would never hurt anyone but she destroyed so many buildings without regret.
The more he thought about the difference the more suffocated he felt in that room. He stood up from the chair and walked out in a hurry.
"Aren"t you tired? It"s better if you sleep for a while." She suggested and was still looking at her laptop.
"No, I...I need some fresh air." He said and rushed out.
She thought he was just frustrated by staying in the same room for such a long time and continued her work. She had conference calls, meetings with several people, and also a pile of doc.u.ments to read and sign. She didn"t even realize when the sun dawned.
She finished her work and realized that he still wasn"t back and decided to go out to get some fresh air. She organized her table and stepped out of her room.
"Wow, princess! You"re finally out." Jimmy said enthusiastically and Sofi smiled.
"G.o.d! I"m so tired." She said and stretched a bit.
"Where"s Noah?" She asked then as she picked up an apple from the fruit basket and sat on a chair.
"He went out in the afternoon and didn"t return. Didn"t even tell where he was going." Sofi said and was working on her iPad.
"It"s clear that everyone from that building escaped." Jimmy said and was sitting beside her.
"As we wanted."Meera said and they both agreed with her.
"What does Noah"s tracker show?" She asked Sofi.
"You planted a tracker on him?" Jimmy asked in surprise.
"Ari suggested that." Sofi said and pointed towards her.
"He might be in danger because of me cause Sam knows my weakness very well." She said and he understood her concerns.
"He"s at the beach." Sofi said and showed the iPad to her.
"What"s he worried about now?" She asked in confusion.
"What?" They both asked her.
"He goes to the beach whenever he"s worried I have to go there." She said and stood up. They both looked at each other.
"Say it." She said as she understood that they both wanted to say something.
"Ari, listen... um... I think this guy, he"s nothing like what you told." Jimmy said and she just looked at him with a confused look.
"See we know you both loved each other a lot but it doesn"t seem so now. He"s quite weird, it seemed as if either he was afraid of you or was spying on you." Sofi explained further.
"I know you guys are worried about me but..." She said but Sofi cut her off midway.
"Didn"t you observe anything different about him? Wasn"t he a bit indifferent to you?" Sofi asked her and she was speechless now. She connected all the dots and it made sense. Him not speaking to her properly after the attack, him arguing with her about stopping the fight and just leaving without a word now.
"Ari we know you love him and you know him better than us, maybe we"re wrong but people change and feelings do too. If you love someone for a long time it becomes a habit, a habit that"s very hard to let go. I don"t want you to get hurt, please don"t open your healing wounds You said he the one who shot you." Sofi suggested and patted her shoulder.
She left without saying a word and asked her driver to take her to the beach. She reached there and saw him standing in the sand, waves rolling over his feet and his hair slowing moving due to the breeze. She smiled and walked towards him.
"You should have brought me with you." She said and stood beside him.
"You were so dedicated to your work." He replied.
"Can"t leave that behind. It"s something I must do." She said and looked at him.
"More important than someone you love." He said and frowned.
"You know all these years my time was dedicated to my work, it"s what I love to do..." She wanted to say further that it was something that kept her going, telling her that she had to be as good as her dad but he cut her off in between.
"So you don"t like me now?" He asked.
"Noah, I love you but I can"t dedicate my whole time to you, I have a whole Empire to look after." She said looked at him helplessly, hoping that he"ll understand they both weren"t in the position as before.
"No Meera. you aren"t the same as before. You"re this completely different girl that I don"t even know." He said and she rolled her eyes.
"Noah please don"t get started again.." She said and looked away.
"The whole problem is that you"re not Meera anymore, you"re just Aria Rong, a girl who can do anything and hurt anyone without feeling anything." He said without considering her feelings.
"Noah you know they were all murderers." She reminded him.
"But can"t just kill people that casually." He rose his voice.
"You did the same things all these years, isn"t that wrong too." She said in her defense.
"I was forced but you weren"t." He said and was keen on making her realize her mistake.
"You could have resisted if you didn"t want to, but you didn"t do it because you have this habit that someone else will always save you. You have to learn to protect yourself." She said and wanted him to consider her feelings as well. She just wanted him to be stronger so she didn"t have to worry about him.
"Yeah, I didn"t rebel cause I enjoyed killing people. And you know what that place is much better than staying with a two-faced girl like you, you pretend to be innocent but you"re worse than Sam. I now hate myself for falling in love with you." He said while looking into her eyes.
"W...what?" She asked in disbelief.
"You know what the moment I saw you again, I didn"t feel anything. I thought I would be overwhelmed and happy but I wasn"t and now I realize that it was because loving you was just a habit of mine, the feelings died long ago. And I now let go of that habit as well." He said and walked away.
She was left there heartbroken again, her world crumbled and her hopes came crashing down, tears gathered in her eyes but none escaped for she didn"t let it. She closed her eyes making the tears escape for the very last time. She took a deep breath and wiped those tears away.
The clouds from the sky cleared and the sun was visible, the thoughts in her mind cleared and the reality was clear. This fight was hers, and she had to fight it alone for she was the only one who felt the pain of losing her loved ones, seeing them die in front of her eyes.
But the person she loved the most could not see her pain and also made a.s.sumptions about her just like others did. She was left all alone, just like how she started this journey by joining the agency, alone. They all know that she"s heartless but no one even tries to know why what made her hide all her feelings. They just go on making a.s.sumptions like she enjoys hurting people but no one has seen her true self, not even Noah.
The sunset is said to be the most beautiful part of the day, the end is always beautiful and if it"s not beautiful it"s not the end. Their story ended painfully to bring a new beautiful end...