Chapter 130 One thirty

Chapter 130 One thirty
Aria’s POV

“Yes… we need to talk.”

The way he said it, slow, firm, and without a trace of softness sent a strange chill down my spine, because Damien wasn’t the kind of man who hesitated when he wanted something, and yet there was something heavy in his tone, something that made my chest tighten even before I fully understood why.

He was looking straight into my eyes.

My whole body went stiff without my permission, like every muscle in me had suddenly locked in place, and I could feel my heartbeat picking up in a quiet panic that I tried desperately to hide, because the last thing I wanted was for him to notice how quickly my thoughts were spiraling out of control.

Was this why he had been acting so quiet since morning?

The way he barely spoke during breakfast.
The way his mind seemed elsewhere even when he was sitting right in front of me.
The way his eyes lingered on me like he was trying to figure something out but didn’t know how to ask.

What did I do now?

That question echoed loudly in my head, louder than anything else, because no matter how much I tried to convince myself otherwise, a part of me had already assumed that whatever this conversation was about… it wasn’t going to be easy.

My mind started running through different possibilities, one after another, too fast for me to even hold onto a single thought.

Did I say something wrong?

Did I upset him without realizing?

Was this about last night?

My breath caught slightly.

Was this about the baby?

I swallowed slowly, forcing my face to remain calm as I looked back at him, matching his gaze even though everything inside me felt anything but steady.

He didn’t look away.

If anything, his expression only grew more serious, like he had finally made up his mind about something.

“The baby,” he said, his voice quieter now but somehow even heavier than before. 

“We need to talk about the baby.”

There it was.

My heart dropped.

For a brief moment, I forgot how to breathe properly, because even though I had expected it, hearing him say it out loud made everything suddenly feel real in a way that was impossible to ignore.

“We need to talk… what’s your plan?”

The word lingered in the air between us, stretching the silence that followed, because the truth was, I didn’t have one.

Not a real plan yet.

Not something clear or structured or thought out.

Everything about this had happened so fast, so unexpectedly, that I hadn’t even given myself the chance to sit down and truly think about what came next, because every time I tried, I ended up feeling overwhelmed and pushing the thought away again.

I nodded lightly, more out of instinct than certainty, my fingers subconsciously tightening around the edge of the fabric beneath me as I tried to find the right words.

“I… haven’t really thought about it,” I admitted quietly, my voice softer than I intended, because saying it out loud made me feel a little more vulnerable than I liked.

“I was waiting for us to talk about it.”

There was honesty in my words, and I hoped he could hear it, because the last thing I wanted was for him to think I didn’t care, or worse,vthat I was avoiding responsibility.

I wasn’t.

I just didn’t want to make decisions alone when this wasn’t just about me.

It was about us.

He held my gaze for a few seconds longer, like he was weighing something internally, before finally nodding slowly.

“I think we should keep the baby,” he said.
Just like that.

The certainty in his voice caught me off guard, because I had expected this conversation to be complicated, maybe even tense, but instead there was a kind of calm determination in the way he spoke that made my chest feel unexpectedly lighter.

“I’ll come and see your family,” he continued, his tone steady, like he had already thought this through far more than I had. “You should talk to them too. We need to know where we stand before we decide our next move.”

I blinked softly, processing his words, because everything he was saying made sense, even if it still felt a little overwhelming.

Family.

That alone brought a different kind of nervousness into my chest, because involving them meant this was no longer something private, no longer something I could quietly figure out on my own.

But still…

I nodded calmly as if my inside wasn't about to explode.

“Okay,” I said gently, agreeing with him, because deep down I knew this was the right step, even if it scared me a little.

The tension that had been sitting between us since the beginning of the conversation slowly began to ease, not completely, but enough for the atmosphere to shift into something lighter, something more familiar.

And somehow, we found ourselves drifting into a different kind of conversation.

One that felt safer and easier.

We started talking about the day we met.

It happened naturally, like neither of us wanted to stay in the heaviness for too long, and before I knew it, a small smile had found its way onto my lips as the memory replayed in my mind.

“The club,” I murmured, shaking my head slightly as I let out a soft laugh.

He huffed quietly, the corner of his lips lifting just enough to show that he remembered it just as clearly as I did.

“You were shy,” he said, his tone carrying a hint of amusement.

“I was not,” I protested lightly, even though we both knew it wasn’t entirely true.

“You were,” he insisted, raising a brow slightly. “You could barely even look at me.”

I rolled my eyes, but the warmth in my chest only grew stronger as the memory unfolded.

“They told me to go to you,” I said, laughing softly despite myself. “Imagine… telling me to walk up to a complete stranger and…”

I paused, covering my face briefly in embarrassment before finishing in a quieter voice.

“...and give him a blow job.”

The words sounded ridiculous even now, and I couldn’t help but laugh again, shaking my head at how insane that moment had been.

“And you were so uninterested,” I added, glancing at him.

He smirked slightly, leaning back just a little.

“I wasn’t uninterested,” he said calmly. “I was observing.”

“Observing?” I repeated, raising a brow.

“Yes,” he replied without missing a beat. 

“You.”

I huffed softly, but the small smile on my lips refused to fade, because there was something about the way he said it that made my heart feel… lighter.

We continued like that for a while, talking about little things, random moments, shared memories that didn’t seem important at the time but now felt like pieces of something bigger, something that had slowly been building between us without either of us fully realizing it.

For a moment, everything felt normal.
Peaceful.

Almost like we weren’t standing on the edge of something uncertain.

But then…

A slight discomfort settled into my body.
At first, it was subtle.

Easy to ignore.

But gradually, it grew stronger, making it harder for me to stay in the same position without feeling the need to move.

I shifted slightly, trying to adjust, but it didn’t help much.

A quiet sigh slipped past my lips before I could stop it.

“You okay?” Damien asked, his eyes narrowing slightly in concern.

“Yeah,” I said quickly, even though I wasn’t entirely sure that was true. “Just… 
uncomfortable.”

I shifted again, this time turning my body so I could face him properly, thinking it might ease the tension building in my back.

The movement was slow, careful, but deliberate.

And then…

The moment our eyes met.

Everything changed.

The color drained from his face so fast it was almost unreal, like someone had flipped a switch and taken all the life out of him in a single second.

His expression froze.

His body went completely still.

And his eyes…

His eyes looked at me like he had just seen something he couldn’t explain.

Something that terrified him.

My breath caught in my throat, confusion crashing into me all over again as my heart began to race.

“Damien…?” I whispered.