Bewitched His Soul

Aria had spent an amazing evening with Piper and her boyfriend. His friends were pretty chill and after dinner, they went to a karaoke club.

Even though she sat at a corner and listened to Piper's high pitch signing, she did not get bored even for a second. It was 11:30 pm by the time everything ended and since Piper had come by bus her boyfriend offered to drop her home.

Aria reached home and opened her bag to take out the key, but unfortunately she could not find it even after she emptied everything out of her handbag on the floor.

She panicked, not knowing what to do, and at the same time, Piper called apologizing that the key was with her. Piper had come by public transport and was sweating a little, so she dragged Aria to the washroom to get her makeup fixed.

She was trying out the beauty products in Aria's bag and in a hurry had mistakenly taken her key. Piper even offered to come to and return the key, but Aria refused as it was so late, and coming back and forth will be an inconvenience.

But Piper felt bad and was not ready to listen to Aria. She assured her that there might be a duplicate key with the management. Only then Piper relaxes and ends the call, but honestly Aria had no idea whether the management had a second set of keys.

Aria headed down to the maintenance room to talk to one of the guards. They informed her that they did not hold a spare key because in this building the high class people living in it were particular about their safety.

She can get another key only after lodging a complaint and showing an identification card. Usually the locksmith comes in an hour or so but since it's already late at night she will have to wait until the morning.

Aria was really frustrated and was thinking of going to a hotel nearby and just staying there for the night.

"Are you alright," Justin had heard everything.

Aria saw that Justin was returning from work and answered, "My keys are with my friend and these people cannot help me now."

"You can come to my place," Justin said after a second.

"No thank you… I can manage," Aria declined politely.

"You cannot spend the night on the streets and it's not easy to get into a hotel," Justin stated.

"Thanks for the offer, but I think I can find something," Aria did not have a good relationship with him so she thought she couldn't bear his cold attitude even after office hours.

"Fine, remember my offer is still open," Justin turned around and walked away without even giving her a chance to say something.

Aria was very confident that she can get a room somewhere, it's Italy after all, so she started searching online. There wasn't any hotel in the ten km distance and even if she drove so far the rooms were already filled.

She groaned thinking Justin must have known there were no hotels nearby, that's why he was very sure she needed his help. Having no other way she walked towards Justin's flat . She stood in front of his door but was a little hesitant to ring the bell when suddenly the door opened with Justin wearing khaki shorts and white t-shirt.

"I really don't want to disturb you, but I have no other way. Why didn't you tell me that the…," Aria trailed off when Justin turned away.

Was it his habit of not listening to people and walking away in the middle of the conversation?

"How did you know I was standing outside?" Aria asked as she walked in.

"There," Justin pointed at his front door camera.

He got her a bottle of water from the fridge. "Thank you," Aria sat on the sofa while he sat at the kitchen counter with a laptop in front of him.

He had a big open kitchen so she could see him easily from where she was seated. After a few minutes Justin went to switch off the microwave and it looked like he was in the middle of the cooking when she came.

Justin was multitasking with chopping the vegetables and talking on his Bluetooth speaker. Aria noticed his biceps, surely he worked out regularly at the gym. He looked quite professional holding a knife in hands and his side profile was too enchanting to take her eyes off.

"Are you hungry," Justin looked at her.

"Ahh…," Aria answered, hoping he did not catch her checking him out.

Justin opened the kitchen cabinet, tore a packet and emptied all its contents into the pan. Only then did she realize that she agreed to have dinner again.

She was already full after her date with Piper,but she felt it would not be good to refuse him after he already started cooking her potion and remained quiet.

Aria got up to look around the house. Just like his office, the house had a modern and classy taste. It did not look like a bachelor pad, it was colorful and lively.

There were some items which were very old and not so good looking, they did not match the rest of the house's interior . Then she thought these may be sentimental things or may be old memories which were difficult to part with.

She kept on walking but did not reach the end then she realized he had joined two flats together. They never gave permission to modify the house, first parking space and now this house . All these made her curious to know more about him.

"How did you break the partition wall, didn't the management say anything?" Aria asked.

"Help me in setting the table," Justin said sternly. Aria understood he was dodging the question and decided not to push his boundaries.

"Which one?" Aria asked as he had a big collection of crockery.

"Anything is fine," Justin removed his speakers and plugged his laptop in for charging.

Aria decided to choose the one with a beautiful gold design. When Justin went to serve her, she took the spatula from his hand saying she can do it herself.

She served very little on her plate thinking she would not be able to finish this also. But when she tasted the food, it totally melted in her mouth .

"My god, this is so tasty," Aria complimented.

"You can have some more," Justin said and she did exactly that.

"Where did you learn such amazing cooking? You know if you stop being a director you can pass as a Michelin chef," Aria thought the sauces were perfectly blended.

"Do you always come home so late and cook for yourself?" Aria commented and Justin did not lift his head and was busy eating.

"Is there a rule in your house where we are not supposed to talk while eating," Aria asked. Justin finally lifted his head and looked at her blankly .

"I guess it is a yes," Aria murmured and stopped asking anymore questions.