Livid Guardian's Endless Coddling

After dinner at Morgan mansion, Arna was too tired to sit with them so she wished them good night and promptly went to sleep after a hot shower.

Aria didn't force her to speak with them as Arna had told her, she was alright. They could see it too. Arna was finally living her days instead of drowning herself in sadness.

Everyone was sitting outside for some fresh air when Noor poked Aria and whispered, "Aunt Aria, could we talk for a few minutes?"

Aria's eyes involuntarily moved at Arsh who was chatting with Rooney about the latter's sculpture and work. Even though he was busy with Rooney, she knew well his focus would be on all, a little more on Noor.

Despite knowing Aria's gaze on him, Arsh turned a blind eye and continued to speak with Rooney.

Aria turned to her left and saw Noor blinking her big beautiful chestnut brown eyes, anticipatingly. "Sure." She stood up as she held Noor and guided her aside to take a walk.

"It's been a long time since you dropped a visit. Busy with work?" Aria asked a simple question to start their conversation so that Noor could be comfortable speaking.

Noor was always comfortable with Aria as the latter treats her more like a friend instead of building a barrier of age. "The work is normal." But she oddly didn't miss them. Probably seeing Arsh occasionally. Now she realized seeing and talking with Arsh was enough for her to feel like she had been to the Morgan mansion and met everyone.

Shaking her head to disperse her thoughts, she started walking side by side to look at Aria and speak. Aria too lowered her speed which was already too slow.

"Seems like… Something's bugging you." Aria was first to speak as she flashed a faint smile.

Noor nodded, "But I don't know how to ask. Aunt Aria… Hmmm… Why do we feel like the person is still the same yet different? Is it me who is thinking too much? Or the changes in me? I am confused."

Aria didn't consider Arsh in the matter. She didn't want to force her opinion or son's feelings on Noor. So she tried to help her like a one who doesn't know about Arsh. 

"Ambiguous question," Aria commented.

Assuming Aria will ask who the person is, she mumbled in embarrassment, "I actually asked my friends. They pestered me to tell them the name and said I have feelings for him and I should propose a date. I wasn't satisfied so I thought Aunt could help me out." She meant, she won't speak the person's name instead of turning down Aria directly.

Aria nodded, friends will always be excited to see one falling in love and date a handsome guy. She could understand that. She tried to give her opinion hoping Noor's confusion for whatever reason it was created to be solved, "Since you said the person is same yet different, I will presume as you know the person from a long time."

Noor promptly hummed, "Pretty long time."

"That means the chances of you being attracted or infatuated is low." She tried to untangle her messy thoughts.

Noor gave thought before responding, "I don't think it's an attraction or crush for the looks as he isn't new to me… But…"

"You are still attracted to him out of the blue." Aria completed her words.

Noor was glad Aria could understand her inner turmoil unlike her hellbent teasing friends, "And that confuses me." She complained.

Aria rubbed her head looking at her making a sad, crying face for it. "Our behavior and feelings depend on the other person too. If you see changes in you with that person, that's because you are sensing and feeling different emotions positively or negatively."

Hearing the word negative, Noor injected immediately thinking she might have been unclear with her unclear questions. "Positive."

Aria took a step before she stopped, looked at Noor who paused to think about her response. Making Noor understand herself was easier than others due to her willingness to accept and way of her thinking.

'Positive.' Noor hadn't thought about how she was feeling towards the simplest actions of Arsh. She only cared about whether he was the same or different and why she was oddly getting attracted to the face she grew up looking at. 

She always labeled it as weird and overthinking. Now, differentiating if it was good or bad, positive or negative, she inclined towards accepting the changes instead of disliking them.

She looked up and saw Aria who had a faint smile at her while asking, "Are you alright?"

Noor felt a little shy while accepting, "I think I like it." Since it never made her distrustful or offensive or terrible, that meant she was actually enjoying Arsh's little more care, concern, and attention. 

The thought of enjoying the attention of a man, especially Arsh Morgan, who was cold as ice, made her laugh at herself. 

The intense flush crept up her face, 'What the hell am I thinking?' She couldn't believe, out of all, she thought Arsh who she used to treat like a mentor, changed into a man. 

Aria didn't want to point it out but her smile slightly widened. It was the first time she saw Noor shocked, embarrassed, and speechless at the same time for her own deduction on something. 

"Like what?" Aria asked.

"His attention." Then she gasped and flushed further.

"Looks like you solved your confusion. Why are you so red? Won't you tell your aunt?" Aria teased.

Noor pursed her lips and stared at Aria carefully thinking she might blurt out everything if Aria tricks her.

Aria wanted to tease more but controlled waiting for her to react. Noor slowly breathed after confirming Aria wasn't going to force her, "I think yes and… It- It is embarrassing too." She felt uncomfortable to think of facing Arsh again. 

Aria chuckled and tried to ease her uncomfortableness by telling her it's common. "Do you know? Despite visiting Morgan's mansion every other day, Alan and I never really met and whenever there was a chance of a conversation, I always saw him livid. Then Alan was my legal guardian when I was 17+ and started living here."

Noor knew each of the love stories of the Fourie, so she exclaimed, "Then you must have felt super awkward when Uncle Alan confessed to you."

Aarvi chuckled, she didn't want to pick up the confession topic yet. It feels like Arsh was going on the right track. Noor's heart already knew what Arsh was up to but her brain was taking time, feeling it hard to accept it.