Chapter 69 What Are You Doing?
The door was gently pushed open, and Arthur walked in carrying a tray, bringing with him a rich sweet and sour aroma.
It didn't seem like Ann's cooking. When she made pasta, it was always black pepper or creamy mushroom. Even when she added tomatoes, it never had such a strong sour taste.
Aria wrinkled her nose, her mouth unconsciously starting to water. She sat up in bed, a bit surprised.
"You made this?"
Arthur laughed. "How would I know how to make this? I asked Ann to do it. I noticed you haven't had much appetite lately, and you don't like the things you used to love anymore, so I thought adding more tomato sauce might give you a change of taste. Maybe you'll like it."
He placed the tray on the nightstand. "Try it. If it's no good, I'll have the servants make another one."
"Thanks." She picked up the utensils and took a small bite.
It actually tasted pretty good - the tomato sauce was just the right balance of sweet and sour, the ground meat was cooked perfectly, and there were a few vegetable leaves as garnish.
"Is it good?" Arthur asked, a hint of anticipation in his eyes.
Aria nodded. "Yeah."
She lowered her head and continued eating the pasta while Arthur sat down on the edge of the bed, quietly watching her.
The room was very quiet, with only the soft sounds of her eating.
"Aria," Arthur suddenly spoke up, "downstairs earlier, it seemed like you had something to say."
Aria's hand paused, but quickly returned to normal. "No, you're overthinking it."
"Really?" Arthur looked at her. "But I can't help feeling like you seem..."
Before he could finish, there was a knock at the door. Without waiting for Aria to say "come in," the door was pushed right open.
Sophie stood in the doorway, lazily leaning against the frame, wearing a silk robe with a very low neckline that exposed a large expanse of pale skin.
The robe was very short, barely reaching the top of her thighs, her long legs showing a honey-colored sheen under the lights.
"Arthur, so you're here with Aria." Her voice was soft, with a hint of playful complaint. "Why didn't you say anything? I've been looking everywhere for you."
Arthur looked a bit awkward. "Did you need something?"
"I can't sleep." Sophie walked in and naturally sat down next to Arthur, linking her arm through his. "Plus, I wanted to check on Aria, afraid she might be unhappy about me staying here."
She looked at Aria with a sweet smile. "Aria, you're not mad at me, are you? Actually, I didn't plan to stay either, but my old injury suddenly flared up, and Aunt Elizabeth was worried it wouldn't be safe for me to go home alone, so she insisted I stay."
She was clearly showing off that Elizabeth's attitude toward her had completely changed.
Aria put down her utensils and looked at her. "Why would I be mad? You've stayed here many times before anyway. What difference does one more time make?"
"I was worried you wouldn't be comfortable here, but thinking about it now, I guess there's no need to worry. Maybe you're even more used to this place than I am?"
Sophie raised an eyebrow. "That's hard to say."
Then she added, "Aria is so generous. Since you're not unhappy, I feel relieved. I just need to borrow Arthur for a bit?"
Without waiting for Aria to say anything, she hugged Arthur's arm and shook it gently, acting cute. "Arthur, I think there's a mouse in my room. I'm scared. Can you go check for me?"
Arthur looked displeased. "How could there be mice in the villa? You must have seen wrong."
"Really!" Sophie pouted. "I heard the mouse squeaking. It was so scary. Please go check for me, otherwise I won't dare sleep tonight."
As she spoke, she pressed her whole body against Arthur, the neckline of her robe slipping even lower with the movement, almost revealing what was inside.
But Arthur looked back at Aria.
Aria completely ignored them, lying back down and pulling the covers over her head. "I'm tired and need to sleep. Do whatever you want."
Her voice was so calm you couldn't detect any emotion.
Arthur's eyes darkened.
He stood up. "Let's go, I'll check it out with you."
Sophie intimately linked arms with him and whispered in his ear. "Trust me, it's a really big mouse."
Her voice carried a heavy suggestive undertone.
Arthur's jaw tightened. He stared at her back, started to speak, then stopped. Without a word, he turned and left, closing the door softly.
Aria lay in bed, listening to the footsteps gradually fade away, an inexplicable sour feeling rising in her heart.
Of course she knew Sophie was doing it on purpose.
Deliberately dressing like that, deliberately saying there was a mouse, deliberately acting cute with Arthur in front of her.
She also knew that Arthur had just been testing her reaction.
But what reaction could she have? Get angry? Jealous? Or sad?
It was too ridiculous. She just felt tired, too tired to care about these things anymore.
She closed her eyes, forcing herself to sleep.
Around midnight, she felt a bit thirsty and groggily sat up. The room was pitch black. She turned on the bedside lamp and tiptoed out of the room, wanting to go downstairs for some water.
Passing through the living room, she suddenly noticed someone lying on the sofa. Looking closer, it was actually Arthur.
He was lying on the sofa with a thin blanket over him, sleeping deeply. Light from outside the villa reflected through the floor-to-ceiling windows onto his face, outlining his deep features.
Aria froze.
Why was he sleeping here? Shouldn't he be in Sophie's room?
The suggestive meaning in her words had been so strong - even she had picked up on it. How could Arthur not have taken the opportunity to stay?
Their eyes met, and both of them froze.
"What are you doing here?" Arthur sat up, his voice still hoarse from just waking up.
"I... I was thirsty, came down for water." Aria coughed dryly to cover her embarrassment. "Why are you sleeping here?"
Arthur looked at her and suddenly smiled, his gaze seeming to appraise her with amusement. "So where do you wish I was sleeping?"
Aria avoided his gaze and turned to leave, saying as she walked. "This is your house. Sleep wherever you want."
Before she finished speaking, Arthur grabbed her wrist.
"Aria, were you angry just now?"
"Why would I be angry? That's ridiculous." Aria tried to pull her hand back, but Arthur held it tight.
"Because of Sophie." Arthur stared into her eyes. "Because she dressed like that to find me, because she asked me to go to her room."
Aria scoffed, "Arthur, aren't you being a bit too full of yourself?"
"Just yesterday I said you could do whatever you want with her, I don't care. As long as you stop bothering me, I'll even help cover for you two."
"Lies." Arthur gripped her wrist and pulled her closer, his breath falling on her ear. "You were still eating your pasta before Sophie came in, but after she came in you said you wanted to sleep."
"If you really didn't care, why did you cover yourself with the blanket so I couldn't see your face?"
Aria's heartbeat skipped.
She tried to pull her hand back but couldn't.
She gritted her teeth. "I just didn't want to see her. I simply dislike her, okay?"