Chapter 104: Aria Doesn’t Give Up on Noah.
Noah arrived at the high school thinking that, for once, he might get a quiet morning.
After the visit to Iris’s house the day before, he still had a few things on his mind, especially the way she had acted before saying goodbye.
She had clearly wanted to say something, but the problem was that Noah had no idea what.
’I’m probably overthinking it.’
He kept walking down the hallway while several students entered their respective classrooms, since there were still a few minutes left before classes began.
Noah checked his phone, but there were no new messages, so he put the device away and turned down the next hallway.
Then he stopped because Aria was standing in front of the entrance to his classroom.
She didn’t look like she was just passing by, nor was she talking to anyone, nor was she even pretending to check something; she was simply standing next to the door, waiting for him.
Noah seriously considered turning around, but Aria saw him before he could.
"Good morning, Noah."
’Too late.’
Noah kept walking.
"Good morning."
Aria smiled.
"I’m glad you got here early."
"I don’t think I got here early."
"For me you did."
"That doesn’t make sense."
Noah reached the door, but Aria shifted slightly and blocked his way, so Noah looked at her.
"Aria...?"
"Noah."
"I need to go in."
"There’s still a few minutes before class starts."
"Exactly because there’s still a few minutes, I want to go in now."
Aria kept smiling.
"We’d better use the time to talk."
Noah sighed.
"I already know what you want to talk about."
"That makes things a lot easier."
"It doesn’t mean I want to talk about it."
Aria tilted her head slightly.
"I don’t understand why you keep resisting."
"Because you’re asking me to be your fiancé."
"Correct."
"And that’s a pretty important decision."
"You’re right."
"Then you should understand why I’m not going to answer right away."
Aria watched him calmly.
"You’ve already had time."
"How much?"
"Several days."
"That’s not a lot of time to decide on an engagement."
"Depends on the person."
"Not for me."
Aria crossed her arms.
"You could solve a lot of your problems by accepting."
"It could also create others."
"I’d take care of them."
Noah looked at her.
"That’s exactly part of the problem."
Aria raised an eyebrow.
"That I can solve them?"
"That you want to solve absolutely everything for me."
"I don’t see why that would be a bad thing."
"Because it’s my life."
"It would still be your life."
"With your family paying for things, getting me security, deciding where I live, and probably checking who I talk to."
Aria stayed silent for a second.
"I wouldn’t check who you talk to."
Noah stared at her with complete disbelief.
"Seriously?"
"It wouldn’t be necessary if the people around you were trustworthy."
"That didn’t make your answer any better."
Aria sighed.
"Noah, you’re exaggerating."
"I don’t think so."
"You’d have a family with enough influence to protect you from practically any threat."
"Yeah."
"Then I don’t see the downside."
"The downside is that I’d also have your family on top of me."
"My family would be your family."
"That doesn’t justify what I said."
Aria looked at him for a few seconds.
"Is there someone else?"
Noah blinked.
"What?"
"Are you considering another proposal?"
"No."
"Do you have a different candidate?"
"No, of course not."
"Then why are you hesitating so much?"
"Because getting engaged to you is something that would completely change my life."
Aria didn’t seem offended; if anything, the opposite.
"Good."
Noah frowned.
"Good?"
"That means I have to convince you that I’m a good option for other reasons as well."
"That wasn’t an invitation for you to try harder."
"But it wasn’t a rejection either."
Noah opened his mouth, then closed it.
’Now I understand why Ren is desperate.’
Aria took a small step toward him.
"Noah."
"What?"
"Become my fiancé."
"You’re not going to convince me with that."
"Seriously consider it."
"I am seriously considering it."
"Then accept."
"It doesn’t work like that."
"I’ll make it work."
At that moment, a hand appeared from inside the classroom and grabbed Noah by the arm, which made Aria whisper.
"She’s here."
Noah turned his head and saw that Ren was there.
"What?"
Ren pulled him.
"We have to go in."
"But there’s still..."
The bell rang, so Noah looked up, then looked at Aria, and Ren pulled him again.
"Class."
Noah went in and Aria tried to say something, but Ren closed the door.
Noah stared at the wood for a second and then looked at Ren.
"Thanks."
Ren let go of his arm.
"It wasn’t for you."
"Sure."
"I just didn’t want you to be late."
"The bell rang while you were dragging me."
"Then it worked."
Noah smiled slightly while Ren looked toward the door and her expression changed for a moment.
"Was she at it again?"
Noah started walking toward his seat.
"Yeah."
"Persistent."
"Very."
"You can reject her."
"I know."
"Then do it."
Noah stopped, looked at Ren, but she avoided his gaze.
"I’m thinking about it."
"There’s not much to think about."
"Easy for you to say."
Ren looked at him again.
"Actually, for me it’s not easy at all."
Noah stayed silent, because that was true.
Aria had originally been the fiancée meant for Ren, and even though the engagement had gotten complicated because of the whole identity situation, it was still a problem directly tied to her.
Noah continued toward his seat and saw that Iris was already sitting there, as always, with her phone in one hand.
She looked up when Noah approached.
"Hey."
"Hey."
Noah sat down next to her and Iris looked toward the door.
"Was that Aria?"
Noah set his bag down.
"Yeah."
"What did she want?"
Noah looked at her.
"The same thing."
Iris frowned slightly.
"The engagement?"
"Yeah."
Iris went back to looking at her phone.
"How annoying."
Noah raised an eyebrow.
"Aria?"
"Yeah."
"That was direct."
"It’s the truth."
Noah remembered the conversation from the day before, since Iris hadn’t reacted particularly well to finding out that Aria had proposed he become her fiancé, and now she seemed even more uncomfortable.
"You don’t like her?"
Iris looked at him.
"No."
"That’s obvious."
The teacher came in, so the conversation had to end, but during class Noah glanced at Iris several times.
She was paying attention, or at least seemed to be, but every time someone mentioned the student council or Aria’s name came up for some reason, her expression hardened slightly.
’There’s definitely something there.’