Bewitched His Soul

The next morning when Aria got ready and went to the living room Travis was sitting on the dining table with the newspaper in one hand and coffee in another.

"Travis, I'm leaving," Aria said.

"It's not good to go to work on an empty stomach," Travis closed the newspaper.

"My office is very far from here, I don't know whether I will get a cab," Aria thought. If a cab is not available then she should ride a bus which takes two hours to reach her destination.

"I will drop you at your office. Quickly, order what you want to eat," Travis said in a stern tone. Aria ordered simple toast and scrambled eggs. She noticed Travis was intensely staring at her.

"What's the matter?" Aria asked, sipping the organic juice.

"You have lost some weight, didn't Uncle hire a chef to cook for you?" Travis knew that Aria cannot cook anything except instant noodles.

"Hmm, that lady cooks well, but I was so busy with the upcoming exhibition that I neglected my meals," Aria replied.

"You are a grown up, yet do not know how to take care of yourself. No wonder Aunt Sophia was worried to send you abroad," Travis sighed.

"Hey! I am very capable of taking care of myself. This was my first exhibition, so I was stressed out," Aria defended quickly.

In fact she was quite careless and kept things till the last moment. Early the next morning she had got a message from the apartment community that today was the last day to pay the maintenance charges.

She quickly transferred the money online and thought it was good Travis had no idea about it. Otherwise, it could have proven his statement that she cannot survive alone in this big world.

After breakfast Travis dropped her at the office. "When you are free, call me, we can hang out sometime," Aria said, to which Travis nodded.

When Aria entered the office, Piper ran to give her a small hug. When she did not pick her calls yesterday, Piper had gone to ask the receptionist if she knew about Aria's whereabouts and learned she was sick.

"Aria, congratulations you have won third place. Go look at the desk there were so many bouquets and cards," Piper said.

Aria was happy as the results were better than she expected. On the table there was a list of people who were interested in buying her art pieces.

She had a hectic schedule, calling back everyone and setting up a meeting to discuss their exact requirement, how long does she take to complete each painting and also the price range. Around the afternoon Travis messaged her, asking for her home address and Aria replied back without thinking.

"Did you know Josie's boyfriend had come to yesterday's event?" Piper gushed. Before Aria could say anything, Piper continued in an excited tone.

"Someone caught Josie being intimate with a man on the ground floor, unfortunately they could not see the man's face properly. "

Aria learned someone else has also spotted them. She felt like Josie purposely seduced Justin in such a hope that they will get discovered by everyone.

Maybe she was tired of being his dirty secret. Aria did not understand why Josie decided to degrade herself and be with a man who refused to admit their relationship publicly.

Josie was beautiful, smart and classy and any guy would be lucky to have her.

"I bet it's the musician from the last party, Josie did not spare a second glance to anyone but she was giggling to that musician and even danced with him," Piper stated.

"Maybe, I guess we will find out soon," Aria had no intention of revealing the truth about Josie and Justin.

Aria reached her home and opened the fridge only to find it fully empty. She checked the kitchen cabinets and there were so many items which she needed to purchase.

Someone knocked on the door and when she opened it, Travis was standing in front of her.

"You were going out?" Travis asked as she had dressed and was holding a wallet in her hand.

"Hmm... I needed to buy some groceries from the list the cook had left behind," Aria said.

"Let's go together," Travis said and Aria locked the house.

"Shall we go for a walk? The supermarket is very nearby," Aria asked to which Travis easily agreed.

"Which flavor should I pick? Green or red?" Aria frowned, holding two packets of pasta sauces.

She was having difficulty buying groceries even after having a list in her hand. The cook has just written sauce but here there are so many varieties of sauces.

"Give me that," Travis took the two packets from her hand and after looking for a few seconds he put the red one in the cart.

"Are you sure?" Aria asked doubtfully.

"Very much," Travis said in a confident tone.

"There are so many jams, which to choose?" Aria groaned.

"Take the one on the third shelf,"Travis suggested.

"Have you tried this?" Aria asked.

"It's the best," Travis replied and Aria assumed he had tasted it. She kept on asking questions and after some time Travis snatched the paper from her hand and quickly shopped everything on the list.

They were standing in the queue for billing. "Travis, I'm very much impressed that you have learned to cook," Aria complimented him, she thought this guy is an all-rounder and has mastered every art.

"I do not know how to cook,"Travis replied.

"What? Are you kidding me? Then how did you so easily choose all the items?" Aria was confused.

"It's very easy, whichever is costlier that's the best," Travis said as if it was a very simple fact.

Aria's mouth was wide open, unable to believe that this guy acted professional a few minutes back, so much for pretending like a pro in cooking.

"Tell me, with parents like Tristan and Ava do you expect me to learn how to cook?" Travis raised his brow.

Aria burst out laughing, she knew how terrible her parents were. Uncle Tristan never set his foot in the kitchen and Aunt Ava cannot even boil water to save her life.

In school, everyone at least once everyone brought food cooked by their mother, but the closest thing Travis brought was the fruits cut by his mother.

"I guess it's a terrible idea for us to shop. What if the cook says everything we bought is not what she required?" Aria asked.

"Then we will return all the items and this time you can tell her to write everything in detail," Travis replied.