39 Chapter 24.3: The Prominent Deal

After Sarah's disastrous project burn down in Romania, she took a flight to Beijing where Aiden was supervising his business operations after rescuing Sarah from the blazing building. Aiden was in his house, reading the company documents while Sarah came up to his door and rang the bell.

She pushed away all the bodyguards patrolling the main entrance and marched up to Aiden's porch and rang the bell. As he answered the door, his eyes hardened at the mere sight of her. There was an awkward silence. Aiden promised Sarah that he would kill her if he ever saw her again. He was about to take off the gun from his pocket when Sarah held his hand and said with tears in her eyes, "I'm sorry! I have been really unfair to you, but you still saved me. As I saw that blazing building, I realized that everything happened for no reason, and it's all my fault. You might not even believe me, but I have to say this: I love you." Aiden's eyes softened at her, but then he remembered the fact that his father's last wish was almost about to be shattered because he had faith in her. He was afraid that she would betray him again.

He grabbed his hand with anger and pulled her out of the house. She screamed as they arrived in the lawn, "Zhoufong!! I won't leave until you don't believe me! PLEASE Zhoufong! Just believe me!" But instead, Aiden just shut the door on her face, and he walked away. Sarah burst into tears and sat on the staircase in front of the porch waiting for him to believe in what she said. She arrived at his place in the morning and remained there even after dark. Soon, it started raining heavily with a thunderstorm.

Aiden looked out of the window and saw Sarah sitting at the entrance, She got all wet due to the rain, and he couldn't bear to see her like that anymore. He went outside with an umbrella and stood next to her. Sarah turned around and stood up with tears in her eyes. It was hard to see it because of the storm, but Aiden could visualize it clearly. He asked with anger, "What are you trying to prove?" Sarah replied, "That I love you." Aiden's eyes finally softened, and he asked again, "Why do you think that I should believe you?" Sarah responded, "I broke my engagement with Vincent, and you didn't even ask me why." Aiden stared at her blankly; she took a deep breath and continued, "I never loved him Aiden! I always loved you! But seeing you with Olivia made me feel that I don't stand a chance with you against her. She was perfect for you because she is just like you. Both of you share the same interests, have similar opinions on matters, and were the toppers of the grade. I thought that you were done with me and--"

Aiden put his finger on her lips and interrupted her mid-sentence, "That's it! You have said a lot of things, and I heard enough of them! What do you think, huh? Did you even give me a chance to apologize?!: NO!! What you did hurt our group! Yes, I agree that I love Olivia more than anything else in the world, and I knew that you figured that out. But even you didn't ask me why! Whenever I used to stress about my mother and father fighting over the firm, I used to tell her everything! I told her my secrets, and she told me hers. We adore each other, but only as siblings. She never had any, and neither did I. The situation was more like, two strangers, one position, friendship and after that problem solved! I fell for you the moment I first saw you at Holland College, but I wasn't sure how you felt."

Sarah stammered, "W--w--what were Olivia's secrets?" Aiden took a deep breath and said, "She always had a rough life! Life threw a lot of challenges at her, and she faced them with courage and determination. She has been betrayed by many people in her life. After a lot of serious conversations, she started to trust me. She wanted me to teach her how to love again. Before migrated to PEI, Samar and Olivia dated for a year and then broke up because of Olivia relocated to Charlottetown without telling him. When she transferred to Rural High, she and Samar got back together and dated for another year until Olivia repeated the same mistake with Samar and me all over again."

Sarah asked with curiosity, "What happened between them?" Aiden continued, "After I yelled at Olivia for abandoning us at the last second, Samar heard everything. He and Olivia got into an ugly fight. All that transpired after we left Rural High. He begged Olivia not to contact him. She was heart-broken. Since then, she never loved anybody. Her parents even tried to get her married, but she wasn't willing to."

Sarah said, "Whoa! That's hard to take in! Especially for her! God! I feel terrible!" Aiden gave her shoulders a comforting squeeze and responded, "Yeah! So what are you going to do about it?" She grinned confidently, but it faded away, and she sat down again on the stairs. Aiden asked, "What happened?" She asked as tears started to fill up her eyes again, "Do you really forgive me?" Aiden takes a seat beside her, looks her in the eyes, and slowly presses his lip against hers. Sarah didn't pull back. Time stopped, nothing was important to her except Aiden. She wanted to feel that moment, again and again, never wanting it to stop. But nevertheless, she pulls back with a genuine smile spread across her face.

Aiden pulled Sarah into a warm embrace and said, "You know I was thinking that we make a deal." Sarah pulled back and asked, "What kind of deal?" He answered, "How about we do a partnership? It will benefit both firms, and everyone can be felicitous and live in peace." Sarah responded, "I accept your deal, Mr. Zhou." Aiden escorted Sarah into his mansion and the beautiful night just passed away in no time.