Falling in Love : I love you, Today and Forever

"What do you think about Linda's words?" Aria was the first one to break the silence as Ian sipped on his coffee. They were completely shocked to find out Linda taking Granpa Carter's name, especially when both of them knew the man's character. So, neither of them believed her or her malicious words against the man, who they both respected and admired.

Ian tilted his head and placed his cup on the saucer as he stared at Aria, who was waiting for his thoughts on this matter. "I do not trust her, not one bit. She is lying for sure. What I want to know is why she is lying to us? What will she get out of it?"

Aria nodded in agreement. This was exactly how she too was feeling. But a small seed of doubt had still taken its place in her heart, and she could not pull it out even if wanted to. It was as though her brain was screaming at her to check Grandpa Carter and find out the truth about him herself. 

Ian did not miss the way Aria was looking blankly at him, and he discerned what was running in her mind for he too had had the same thought a few moments ago. He too had felt suspicious about it and wanted to find out what the actual truth was from Grandpa Carter himself.. But as soon as the thought had entered his mind, he realized how absurd it was and had brushed it off immediately, reprimanding himself for even having such notions.

"Are you thinking of investigating Grandpa Carter?" Ian did not hide what Aria was thinking.

"Yes. Although I trust him, I just want to make sure that he has no involvement in this matter or with even Jared or Charles so that situations like these will not arise in the future. What if we meet other people who start claiming and blaming Grandpa in the future? Isn't it better that we are prepared first? We can slap their faces with the proofs when it happens?"

Aria did not conceal her thoughts at being exposed. Instead, she revealed her plan to Ian, waiting to find out what he thought about this.

"You are right, Aria. There are only two possibilities now. Either Grandpa Carter is in no way involved in this matter, and someone out there wants to frame him for things he has not done. Or..." Ian stopped speaking and bit his lip. He was unable to continue with his words, hoping for this part of his thoughts to never be true.

"Or, he might actually be involved in this and has hidden brilliantly from everyone all these years." Aria completed his sentence for him, and Ian slowly nodded at her. "What do you think we should do now?" She brushed her finger on the rim of her cup, pressing her forehead in worry. "We cannot reveal what we learned from Linda to Noah. He will just kill her."

"Yes, Noah admires his grandfather more than he admires his parents. I don't think he will be able to control his rage if he were to listen to Linda's accusations. If we were to investigate it, we will have to do it against his knowledge." 

Again silence engulfed the duo, and it continued until Aria's phone rang. "Ivy, we are at the canteen."

Barely a few minutes had passed, Ivy came running towards them in a hurry. She was gasping for breath, and from her stance alone, Aria guessed how fast she must have ridden her bike to get here.

"Calm down, hurricane." Aria pushed a bottle of water towards her, and Ivy gulped it down immediately. "Did you rush here on your motorbike?" Aria chided her softly, and Ivy just nodded as she continued to empty the bottle in her hand.

"Idiot." Aria smacked her hand lightly, and Ivy just pouted and took the seat beside her. "Don't you ever do that again."

"I will not make any promises I can't keep." Ivy's reply was short and she turned to Ian, who was looking at the sisters in amusement.

"What did Linda say?" She did not beat around the bush and jumped to the topic immediately.

"How are you certain that we met Linda?" Aria queried from the side, and Ivy turned to her, her face filled with a bored expression.

"Aria, I know you better than you do. Why do you think I called Ian? You will never be able to sit still in matters like these. Your inquisitiveness would have got the best of you and the moment you called me, I realized what would do next." This shut Aria's lips and she took a sip of her coffee.

"Smart," Ian commented with an impressed smile.

"That I am. Now tell me what happened. What did Linda tell you guys?" Ivy could not sit still any longer, and she wanted to find out everything that had happened and all that Aria and Ian had found from the woman in her absence.

Aria took a deep breath while Ian spent the next few minutes divulging all that they had heard from the woman. Ivy just had one word on the tip of her tongue when Ian finished speaking. "Liar."

"What?" Ian bent forward to hear her clearly. 

"I said that woman is a liar. Don't believe anything she says."

"How are you this sure?" Aria gave her a questioning look, asking her to continue.

"Since the time I have met her, all she has done is lie to me. Heck, she even lied about her name to me. Apparently, Linda is not even her name and I don't remember what her actual name is. She must have lied about everything to me, and I doubt there is even one ounce of truth in what she has told about Grandpa Carter. Why would grandpa Carter be involved in such matters?"

Ian and Aria let out a sigh of relief as soon as they heard Ivy's words. Their restless minds were now at peace, and they got the answer they were looking for. Jonathan Carter was in no way involved with Jared or Charles, and someone out there wanted to frame him for reasons unknown to them.

Aria was just about to ask her more about Linda when her phone rang. Her eyes widened in shock when she heard the person on the other side speak, and she stood up at once, her sudden action startling the two people with her.

"Is everything alright, Aria?" Ian gave her a worried look once the call ended, only to find Aria shaking her head at him.

"Linda is dead."