Chapter 67: LXVI

LAIA WAS SURPRISED that the boy's form of escape turned out to be him taking her back to his house.

But she certainly wasn't surprised that the boy apparently owned a car. At this point, she wouldn't even be probably surprised if she finds out that Aiden is secretly the heir to a huge fortune and was sent to live a "normal" life with his grandmother before he comes of age like those melodramas that her mother watched often.

"Here we are," Aiden pulls to a stop right in front of his house. He was about to open the door on his side when he noticed that Laia wasn't doing anything. "Are you okay?"

Laia reluctantly nods. "Yeah," She glances at her house which was empty as she expected. Her mother still wasn't home like always. "I'm just worried about not living up to your grandmother's expectations,"

Did she really have to say that out loud?

Aiden turned to her with a perplexed expression. "Why do you need to live up to my grandmother's expectations?"

The girl nervously wrung her fingers together. "I don't know," She avoids his eyes. "I guess it's common for me to feel nervous about meeting people for the first time before prior knowledge about them,"

Well, except for the fact that she's your grandmother.

Great, now he knows how much of a people-pleaser I am, Laia thinks as she couldn't stop herself from letting out an exhausted sigh.

He's either going to pity me or completely cut me off since he has no time for a self-deprecating girl who is supposed to be the perfect and ideal student.

"Laia?"

Shit. Did she actually say everything out loud?

Laia turns to look at Aiden slowly whose lips unexpectedly curled up in a smile that made Laia's heart unintentionally skip a beat. "Yeah?"

"No one is supposed or made to be perfect," He suddenly says without any hint of fake sympathy, just pure honesty. "As corny as that statement is, it's true,"

"But--"

"Don't you find it ironic how people want us to be perfect but they don't even try to be perfect in our eyes?" Aiden drummed his fingers at the steering wheel for a while and then he turns to Laia with a small smile. "You ready to go inside?"

"Okay,"

Laia slowly made her way to the front door of Aiden's house, the boy already opening the door, and was immediately greeted by an old woman who Laia presumed is the boy's grandmother.

When Laia had finally stepped inside the living room, the old woman shifts her attention from her grandson to the girl who had just arrived. "You are Laia, yes?"

"Yes," Laia attempted a smile which obviously looked forced since the smile on the old woman's face threatened to disappear. "Sorry, I suck at introducing myself to new people,"

Great. Let's make ourselves more pitiable, shall we?

Laia fought the urge to add the fact that she sucked at everything except studying like hell for an examination that she shouldn't be studying for as those examinations happen at least months away.

"That's not a problem dear, don't worry about it," The old woman gently pushes Laia towards one of the couches and settles in front of the girl. She even beckons Aiden to go to the kitchen, probably to give them space. "Aiden had mentioned you to me before,"

He does?

Hopefully, the boy didn't mention how Laia almost punched him in the face when they first met one another.

"Good things I hope?"

The old woman lets out a chuckle. "Indeed," She momentarily turns away from Laia to check on his grandson before turning back to the girl again. "He tells me you're smart,"

Ah. Of course.

What did Laia even expect?

While the old woman was for a moment distracted by her grandson who came out of the kitchen holding a tray with two cups of tea, Laia took the opportunity to look at the old woman's face and she had a sudden thought that Aiden would probably look like the old woman when he grows older if he was a girl.

"Do try the tea that Aiden made," The old woman says after sipping from her cup and gesturing for the girl to do the same. Laia quickly complies. "He's learning to brew tea in a way that I did when I was his age,"

The tea was a mixture of sweet and earthy. She glances at Aiden who smiles back behind his own cup of tea. 

"Is it good?"

Laia nods. "Yes, it's very refreshing,"

The old woman smiles as she placed her half-empty cup on the nearby coffee table. "I did tell him to add a bit of lemon juice so it wouldn't be too bitter,"

No wonder he has a few small cuts on his fingers, Laia thinks as she once again glances at the boy who finally settled on the couch directly facing the two women he is with.

"Why have you suddenly decided to bring Laia here rather than watching a movie or whatever ways you hang out with your friends at this age?"

Laia looks at the boy as well to see how will he respond to his grandmother's question.

Aiden shrugs. "All the movies were bad anyway,"

"Honey you think every romance film is bad," The old woman shakes her head in amusement and turns to Laia. "Do let me know if you manage to change this boy's mind regarding romance films, dear,"

Laia forced a chuckle. How the hell was she supposed to change his mind?

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However, she didn't voice her thoughts out loud and just watched the grandmother and grandson pair have a conversation.

It was only after a few minutes of silence or forced laughter from Laia's side that Aiden shifted his full attention to her. "Laia?"

Laia was absentmindedly humming a tune inside of her mind. She had been doing it more often these days and sometimes she thinks it's her simple way of escaping situations that make her uncomfortable.

Not that being inside Aiden's house and being in the presence of the boy's grandmother was uncomfortable but Laia wasn't really good at situations like this.

"Laia," Aiden stood up from the couch and offered his hand to the girl who had just noticed his eyes on her and immediately gathered her thoughts. "Do you need some air?"

"Uh,"

Laia awkwardly turns to the old woman who proceeds to stand up from the couch. "I'll be making dinner then,"

The two were left alone after the old woman made her way to the kitchen.

"Laia--"

"Aiden--"

The two exchanged glances and turned away from one another with sheepish grins on both their lips. Aiden then gestures for Laia to talk first.

"Uhm," Laia cringes at the first word that had to come out of her mouth but nevertheless continued talking. "I'm sorry about the whole situation,"

Great. He probably thinks that the only thing that the girl in front of him could do is apologize or be awkward.

Instead of responding to the girl, he spontaneously reaches out for Laia's wrist and gently pulls her towards the garden.

Laia doesn't bother to pull away. 

Their garden turned out to be bigger than the garden at Laia's house and had more variety when it came to plants.

Plants that Laia still had no idea what were but she doesn't attempt to ask the boy about since the goal of the boy didn't seem to be showing off their plants to her.

The boy stopped in front of two swings hanging from a tree with a long and sturdy branch. "Would you like to give it a try?"

Laia glances at the sturdy-looking material of the swing and nods. "If you're not opposed to it,"

"Why would I be opposed to it?"

Laia shrugs. "I don't know, maybe you just brought me here to push you?"

Aiden laughs at the girl's words but stopped when he realized that the girl wasn't joking at all and was actually serious. "You're serious?"

The girl nods sheepishly. Aiden settled on the first swing and gestured for his companion to do the same who complies.

The swing proved to be a good distraction to everything that happened today. Absentmindedly going back and forth, the girl was suddenly interrupted by the feeling of someone's gaze on her the entire time.

She turns to the boy on her left whose eyes didn't leave her. She raises an eyebrow at him regardless of how frantic the beat of her heart was from being alone with the boy.

Not that alone since the boy's grandmother was inside the house but still alone.

Laia mentally facepalms at her thoughts and decides to call out the boy for the staring. "Do I have something on my face?"

Or did she look too silly swinging back and forth like an immature child? Her mother does reprimand her sometimes about her ocassional childishness.

Aiden shakes his head. "No," He proceeds to swing slower than Laia but on a steady pace. "It's just nice to look at someone enjoying the swing,"

"Do you not have friends who come over?" Laia asks.

Like Vivi, for example, Laia's traitorous mind supplies.

The boy looks at her, perplexed. "I haven't invited anyone here except you,"

Laia averted her gaze immediately so that the boy wouldn't see what sort of embarrassing expression Laia might've had on her face at his words.

Unfortunately, the boy noticed it. "Did I say something inappropriate again?"

The girl turns back to the boy with a frantic shake of her head. "No," She tried to distract herself again by swinging for a while before continuing to speak. "I was just surprised that you haven't invited anyone yet,"

"Nana doesn't like many visitors," Laia was quick to understand that Aiden was referring to his grandmother. "She doesn't like noise very much,"

"Oh," Laia thinks back to how Vivi can be noisy sometimes. "Aren't I noisy, though?"

"Nah," Aiden was quick to assure her. "You're doing just fine."

Laia smiles to herself and for a couple of minutes the two remained in comfortable silence.

Just as the girl was about to start another conversation, the front door opened and revealed the boy's grandmother.

"Dinner time!"

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