Bewitched His Soul

Aria was deep in sleep when her phone started to ring, she covered her face with the thick blanket hoping the phone would silence, but it did not happen.

It was a call from Piper, scolding her that she was not in the office on such an important day.

Aria looked at the clock and it showed 11 am, she cursed and got out of the bed. Last night she kept on crying and thinking about what went wrong, or how she could have been a little bit smarter.

When she looked at the mirror her eyes were puffy, hair tangled and seemed dull. Today was an important day in her career and she did not want to spoil it because of some jerk.

Even though she had been with Justin only for a few weeks, the pain did not lessen as this was her first relationship and she assumed Justin was her Prince charming.

She remembered what her father always used to say that the eyes are windows to the soul. Her mother has limited patience and easily got angry at her father for silly things, but her father pacified her with honey coated words and even teased her until she laughed.

Her father said that her mother is just concerned about him and masked her worry with anger. She complained when he was working late and neglected his health, how he does not wear warm clothes during winter or drinks more in social situations. She loves him too much and her eyes never held any anger.

Aria thought if she had been attentive enough, she could have seen that there was no desire or passion in Justin's eyes. His eyes were blank and his actions felt like they were performed mechanically.

So she decided to push all of her thoughts aside and went to take a shower. After getting dressed, she put a lot of concealer under her eyes to hide the dark circles. After making sure she looked presentable she left her home.

Piper's boyfriend has come to support her and waved his hand as soon as he spotted Aria. "Aria how can you be late today of all days," Piper scolded her.

"Sorry, my alarm was turned off," Aria lied, not wanting to tell her all the details. She has not said anything about her relationship with Justin to Piper, so she had no clue had no clue that their boss Justin was her neighbor.

Aria went to do a last minute check of her paintings and everything was perfect. The exhibition started and guests started arriving. She was interacting and answering to the guests when Justin walked towards her.

He was wearing a tuxedo with a black bow, he truly looked so handsome that she could have blushed if they still had the same relationship, but now she had only one feeling towards him and it was hatred, just pure hatred nothing less or more.

She clenched her fist and gritted her teeth and tried to control her temper, so that she would not run to him and slap him so hard.

Aria pretended not to see him and turned towards the other side.

"Aria..," Justin called her, but she did not respond.

"Aria, Aria, I am talking to you," he called her again and placed his hand on her shoulder.

She frowned at his touch and pushed it away and said with an indifferent tone, "Oh there is so much noise, I did not hear you. "

Justin did not notice the change in her behavior and continued praising her. "You look very beautiful," Justin complimented her.

She was wearing a brown dress with a pair of dazzling diamond earrings and nude high heels. "Hmm... I know," Aria replied in a bored tone.

Before Justin could say anything Josie arrived shooting a deadly glare towards Aria and held Justin's hand possessively. "Justin, the director wants to talk with you," Josie said.

Justin did not like Josie interrupting their conversation, but he did not want to make a scene and tried to be polite. "Ya, I will be there in five minutes," Justin removed Josie's hand from his arm.

"It's very urgent, the director will be leaving now," Josie pulled his suit coat.

"I think you should go," Aria said, unable to stare at these two people any longer.

"Okay," Justin agreed hesitantly and Josie flashed a victory smile towards Aria before going away.

Aria scoffed, thinking Josie was still threatened by her presence. As if she even wanted Justin after knowing he was such a liar and a cheat.

Most of her paintings got sold quickly at a very high price. A few people asked her to do customized portraits for them and Aria replied they could meet later and discuss the details later. Some big shot in the art industry had a friendly chat with her and asked what type of work she was familiar with.

Josie was sticking to Justin like glue, and sometimes roamed her hand on his back. Don't know why he did not tell her to behave properly, either he enjoyed her closeness or he wanted to let Josie have her way because a few artists were here because of Josie's connections. The more people liked his art gallery then so many investors will come.

The art exhibition almost came to an end and all the guests started to leave one by one. Tomorrow they will sum up how much each artist has earned and will declare the winner.

Aria went to the washroom but there was a long queue so she decided to use the one on the ground floor. It was a little dark and the washroom was at the corner, when Aria went there she became angry and disgusted seeing the scene in front of her.

Justin and Josie were making out like two horny animals. Justin's shirt buttons were undone and his hands were roaming all over her whole body while Josie's dress strap was undone and she was panting loudly and screaming she wanted more.

They thought no one would come down here and they could not control their urges until all the guests went home. She remembered how Justin's kiss felt so platonic and he never tried to be physical with her. He was already sleeping with Josie and Aria was just an obligation.

Shewas very thankful that she never proceeded any further with Justin. But seeing all those things hurt her and her eyes filled with tears. She turned back and quickly ran the opposite direction. They both were so lost that they did not notice Aria or heard her footsteps.

Aria was out of the office and it was raining heavily but she did not mind. Justin's betrayal, seeing him and Josie naked and sweaty made her lose her mind. Her vision started to blur and she felt tired as the last meal she had was lunch from yesterday.

She collided with a hard chest who was wearing black suit, before she lifted her head to look at their face, her body decided to disobey her and she became unconscious.

The last thing she remembered was the faint sounds of her name coming from a man's mouth.

Note -

Some of the readers are confused and not able to remember all the names so below is the family tree-

*Tristan and Ava

- Travis

- Hazel

*Blake and Sara

-Evelyn

*Dimitri and Aurora

- Lorenzo (Enzo )

- Logan

*Aiden and Sophia

- Asher

- Aria

*Reynold and Leena

-Valeria

*Nina and Ian

-Jayden

*Gabriel and Violet

-Esther

*Nicholas and Adelyn

-Daniel