Wing Of Change
Chapter 31

*

Frank woke up the next morning to a ray of sunlight pouring in through the curtains. He raised his palm in other to shield his face a little but made it worst when he rolled over and landed on the hard floor with a thud.

Poking an eye open, he struggled to get back on his feet but couldn’t. He wobbled back on the floor before realizing that his feet were tangled with a pair of sky blue blanket pooling at his feet and any sudden movement would only have his face kissing the floor yet again.

Groaning in frustration, he untangled himself free before lounging back on the cushion and finally taking in his surrounding.

The first thing he recognized was the photo frame hanging on the creme painted wall.

His shoes were neatly arranged beside the cushion while his suite jacket hung on the opposite one. His throat felt dry and itchy not to mention the throbbing pain in his head when he bend over with his head in between his hands.

Darn hangover!

He couldn’t remember how he got to where he has found himself at the moment but judging from his breath that reek of alcohol plus the many symptoms, he could only understand how.

Before he could struggle up on his feet, Aria’s head popped out from the kitchen door before emerging fully with a bottle of water in one hand.

“Good morning” she called at him with cherry smile

“Good morning Aria” He replied with a half smile before shifting uncomfortably on the cushion.

“You look like you could use this” Aria told him before holding it out for him to grab.

But instead of grabbing the bottle of water from her as he should. Frank just sat there staring a hole through her face.

“Uhm hello?” Shaking the water before him.

Frank finally snapped out of his thought and grabbed the bottle of water from her outstretched hand with a nod and quickly down it before replacing its cap.

“Thanks”

“Will you like some breakfast? It’s almost ready” she asked before walking towards the kitchen.

“Ah, maybe I should go?”

Aria gave him a sideways glance. “I made breakfast for two so you should really stay” Aria had insisted and he couldn’t refuse.

“Okay”.

Frank watched in silent as she walked back to the kitchen. Aria was dressed in a faded blue jean paired with an over sized shirt. Her braid was pulled to the back to fall freely along her spine.

He got up on his feet after a couple of minutes and tagged along in the direction she had went earlier.

Frank realized there must be a list of other things he probably didn’t know about her and seating down there won’t make him see it.

Aria on the other hand was too engrossed chopping vegetable on her wooden board to notice Frank leaning against the kitchen door as he stood watching her with his arms crossing his chest.

It intrigues him to see her that way. Fully concentrated and doing her chores so effortlessly and still looking beautiful with no single make up on.

She reminded him so much of someone. Someone he love so damn much even though he has been paying less attention to her lately and that’s because she has just one problem mapped out for him to solve and he is yet to do it. At least not yet. And as long as he is yet to do her bidding, he might as well keep avoiding her like a plague.

He pushed himself off the door way and went over to the kitchen counter to meet Aria while trying to figure out just what to say to her without messing his speech up again.

At least not this time.

“I’m sorry Aria” he told her.

“What are you talking about?” she asked him with a low chuckle.

“I’m sorry for showing up at your doorstep like I did last night. I guess, I just had too many issues to deal with and it’s funny how it led me to where i was not needed” He ended with a nervous chuckle while Aria just raised a questioning brow at him.

“Where you are not needed?” She asked.

He gave a careless shrug and shifted from one foot to the next.

“You and I both know what I meant when I said ‘where am not needed’_ The last time I showed up here acting way out of boundary. You made sure i understood exactly why am no longer welcomed here”

“Oh?”

Aria couldn’t help but chuckle at his statement. It was obvious he believed Henry was indeed her boyfriend but after the k**s they shared last night, one would think it was enough to convince him otherwise but then again, he was drunk and probably have no recollection of it either.

And since he doesnt remember it then maybe it was better to keep it that way as she rather keep mute and let him finish.

“I’m always so clueless when it comes to you that I always end up hurting you instead and I don’t know how to fix things with you either”

His eyes found hers momentarily for a split second before getting somewhat distracted by her lips.

Aria could tell by the way he looked at her that he had more to say and she wasn’t about to open her mouth and ruin it either. So she just stood there with wide eyes, staring at him.

“It took you walking out on me to realize just how much I needed you and even when you told me you had a boyfriend, I still couldn’t bring myself to say just how I feel because for once in my life I knew what i wanted but I was afraid that I was too late”

Aria had a look of sheer disbelief in her eyes when he said those words at her.

“You realized you needed me?” The question slipping out of her mouth in a whisper.

Frank seeing the doubt in her eyes quickly closed the distance between them and held her across the shoulders. Tilting her head slightly, he looked back at her with fire in his eyes as he held her gaze.

“You have no idea just how much I have missed you ever since you left the office Aria. And when i found out you got that job you interviewed for, i knew I had lost you forever because I kept wondering and thinking to myself. Is your new boss better than i was or if he’d treat you better than I did?. The list was endless if I had to go on” He gave a wry smile as he finally let go of her and took a step back.

At the back of her mind, all she could think about was how unbelievable he really sound at that moment.

And for a moment there, she was sure she already had him all figured out. She realized how wrong she has been because the Frank that was standing at her kitchen at that point and saying all those things to her was nothing like the same one she has worked with for over six years.

The frank Okoji she knew was conceited, arrogant and the exact opposite of the one spilling his guts to her.

Aria couldn’t believe he was admitting all that to her and even worst, he wasn’t faking it neither was he drunk with alcohol.

He was actually sane.

Frank noticed the disbelief in her eyes as she stood with furrowed brow and staring at him with.

“I know you are surprised if not shocked. I didn’t want to believe it myself. Heck!_i even tried to fight how i feel but guess who is the biggest loser. I couldn’t even stand the thought of you working for another man!”

Aria raised a brow at him as if to say ‘really now’?

“I’m not yet comfortable with it alright? But I will”

“Why would you?” Her voice barely audible.

“Why?”

“Yes why. Why would you learn to get used to it and even admitting to all of that now”

“Well, because_because I…..” He stopped mid sentence and crinkled his nose.

“What is it?”

“Can’t you smell that?” He said pointing at the cooking pot before her.

“Oh God! The rice is burning” she screamed before reaching for a hand towel to put it down but before she could reach for it, Frank had already grabbed it over the cooking gas and even burned the tips of his two middle index fingers in the process.

“Whoa whoa, let me look at that” she grabbed hold of his hands and looked at the red swelling before pulling him over to the sink.

She placed his hands under the running water to smoothen the pain while she grabbed the salt container from the cabinet and applied some over Frank’s fingers after drying them off with a hand towel

“Where did you learn to do this?” He asked, still staring at her.

“From my grandma. She does this anytime someone has a burn back at home. It’s her special remedy for burn” she replied, blowing little breeze at it.

After she was done nursing his burns, he held her hands in his as he looked back at her face that was giving nothing away.

Was she angry or furious at him.

Frank had no way of knowing as she only stared back at her hands in his before looking up at him.

“I really am sorry Aria” he tried again.

She quickly retrieved her hand with a flushed cheeks and turned away to hide her nervousness. Her stomach won’t stop flipping at the way he was looking at her.

“You really need to stop apologising please. Let just pretend none of that happened” she brushed past him and rushed for her cupboard to retrieve a frying pan when she heard a knock against her door.

“Are you expecting someone?” Frank had asked looking at the door and back at her.

“No am not;let me go check who is there”

She rushed over and unlocked the door to revealed a smiling Henry at the door way.

“Oh hey! Good morning” she chirped

“Good morning Aria, sorry to disturb you but I needed you to talk to the mechanic I got to fix your car..he is waiting outside at the parking lot” He told her.

“My car? You brought a mechanic to fix my car?” Her voice that of total disbelief and joy.

“Yes! I thought you might want to go out later and you will be needing a ride so I thought I should help get my mechanic to fix it for you as early as possible”

“Well I don’t know what to say other than thank you Henry. You have no idea how much of a relief this is for me” she replied with a smile.

“Then come on, what are you waiting for, let go talk to him so he can get started”

Aria took off after him and halted before hurrying away.

“Oh! Hold on a minute, I need to do something really quick but I will meet you down there in a minute” She told him before hurrying back to her apartment.

“Okay then. Just be quick”