CHAPTER – 29

LOVE IS... A CHOICE

'He loved her, of course, but better than that, he chose her, day after day. Choice: that was the thing.'- Sherman Alexie

Saving Ashton from Dad's deadly gaze was easier said than done. Add to that, it looked like my parents had gone through every possible website upon searching the words 'Negative effects of drugs' on Google the night before and were keen on making me understand each and every point in grave detail in Ashton's presence, who looked nothing but amused with his lips pressed tightly in a thin line. I was getting really late for my meeting with Priscilla. I had already repeated that almost twenty times, but they still thought that pointing out the many negative effects of taking drugs was a lot more important than my job.

After what seemed like an entire day, but was an entire hour, I managed to convince them that I was anti-drugs and they let me leave for office.

Just as I was about to rush out of my apartment in haste, Ashton called out from inside, "I'll drop you!" His voice sounded hastier than mine, courtesy – Dad's deadly gaze fixed on him.

"Oh, thanks," I replied while adjusting the strap of laptop handbag on my shoulder and glancing back at him with a grateful smile. My eyes fell on Dad, who was looking at Ashton's retreating back with narrowed eyes. "Dad," I called out, doing my bit in saving Ashton. His eyes snapped towards me and I shot an innocent smile in his direction. "Bye!" Not giving a chance for him to reply, I shut the door once both of us were outside my apartment.

Ashton relaxed visibly and let out a breath of relief which made me laugh at him. He rolled his eyes at me and asked, "Do you have any idea what exactly happened in the last one hour?"

"Of course!" I exclaimed, going down the stairs with him beside me. "I just got lectured as if I'm the drug mafia or I'm the one who is responsible for all the drug dealings in the country."

"No, Liana. You're wrong here," he informed me and I shot an incredulous look in his direction. "I got killed about a hundred times, attended my own funerals, funerals – pay attention to the 's' as in plural, and came back from the dead all hundred times, like the freaking Undertaker." Laughter escaped my lips at his description while he shuddered at the memory.

"Undertaker had seven lives, Ashton. Not hundred." I corrected the childhood joke in between my laughter.

Snorting, he jumped the last stair and said, "Lucky him. He was not at the receiving end of your father's deadly gaze." My laughter doubled at that, while he continued, "If it would have been Undertaker, he would have chosen to stay in the grave the first time itself."

"Oh please. He is the Undertaker. He would have handled the situation better than you." I snorted and followed him as he led the way towards his car that was parked in the neighborhood.

He snickered at my sentence and said in a highly smug tone, "Yes, Liana, he is the Undertaker, but why do you forget that I'm the beast?" He unlocked the car and got inside in the driver's seat.

There was his stupid 'beast' joke again. My lips cracked up in a smile, but I hid it before he could see my expressions. "Maybe because you're not?" I offered with a sweet, innocent smile as I sat down on the passenger seat.

He raised his eyebrows at me and said, "Then maybe you can walk your way to your current destination."

"Ashton!" I whined, looking at him with wide eyes. "Stop it. You, yourself, offered that you'd drop me. Be a man of your words."

"That was my way of making a great escape from experiencing my one hundredth and one death and attending one more funeral." He smirked. "Now, accept the fact that I'm a beast and this beast would drop you off to your destination."

"Jerk," I hissed, narrowing my eyes at him.

"Beast," he corrected with a smirk and a wink.

"Creepy jerk." I grimaced.

His smirk grew and he corrected again, "Sexy beast."

"Ill mannered, pervert and creepy jerk."

"Aren't you getting late, Liana?" he asked, pointing towards the digital watch fixed in his car.

"Beast. You're a stupid, creepy, and opportunist beast," I cried in frustration which he enjoyed.

"Now, it wasn't hard, was it?" He looked smug with that handsome smirk fixed on his face. He seemed to not mind the other adjectives that I had added along.

"Start – the – car," I ordered, stressing on each word and looking at him with narrowed eyes. He pressed his lips in a thin line, closed his eyes as if he was in a daze and opened his eyes in shock. "What are you doing?" I asked incredulously.

"Just attended my one hundredth and one funeral," he answered with a smile.

"Ashton," I hissed even though I wanted to laugh at his unusually peppy behavior today.

He started the car and shuddered dramatically, "Easy there, tiger." Shaking my head at him with a little smile on my face, I observed him. He seemed happier despite of the many imaginary funerals he had attended. He looked younger, with his beard gone. He looked carefree and relaxed. He looked much more handsome and beautiful with that tiny smile on his face.

"Why exactly are you going to your office today?" he asked, putting a break on my observation skills.

Clearing my throat, I averted my gaze from his face to the road ahead. "I have a meeting with Priscilla."

In reply, he just hummed and continued driving the car till we reached there. "Do we have an appointment fixed for the day?" he asked, looking at me with a little frown on his face.

Smiling, I teased him. "Aww, you would miss me if I say 'no', won't you, Ashy?"

He shot me a dead panned look in reply. "I plan to sleep for the rest of the day, that's why I'm asking."

I asked in mock curiosity, "Beasts aren't supposed to be lazy, are they?"

He laughed at my question and mumbled, "I'm many things I'm not supposed to be."

"What?" I pried not getting the hidden meaning behind his words. He shook his head at me and pointed towards the watch, making me jump in haste and open the door. "I'm so late," I whined. He chuckled, and I told him, "We do have a meeting tonight. We are going for a dinner with our next candidate. Be ready by seven."

His reply was a dramatic yawn, which made me chuckle. Smiling slightly, he said, "See you tonight, Liana."

And right there my heart skipped a beat at the way he said my name. Smiling, I replied, "See you tonight, Ashton."

*******

My eyes drifted around my office walls and a slow smile made its way on my face as I took in the words written on the chart papers stuck on the walls - the many love quotes. And for the first time in the last four months, I didn't feel like tearing them apart. In fact, I quite liked them here now.

"Good morning, Ma'am." I turned around to see my secretary, Tori at the door with a smile on her face.

"Good morning, Tori. How are you?" I asked, keeping my handbag on the table.

"I've been better than this; assisting Megan in your absence." She grimaced referring to the gossip queen of the premises.

Chuckling, I consoled her, "Don't worry. I'll be back in ten days."

She grinned at me and chirped, "I'm waiting for your assignment to get over." I grinned back. "How is it to work with Ashton Parker?" she pried, making me bite my lips.

I chose not to disclose the details to her. Keeping it strictly professional, I told her, It's fine."

He grin faltered at my tone and she smiled meekly. "People here have been gossiping a lot about Ashton and you."

My eyes widened at her implication. "Really?"

"Yeah. Megan has been trying to get details from me, thinking that I must know everything about you as I'm your secretary," she mumbled, fidgeting her fingers.

I shook my head at the typical office behavior as this instantly reminded me of the many gossips that had followed my break up with Nolan. "Let her pry, Tori. I'm not concerned about it." Just as she was about to add something, I interrupted, "I should get going. I have a meeting with Priscilla."

"Yeah, sure," she said, back in her secretary form.

Smiling, I passed by her and made my way towards Priscilla's cabin not paying heed to the gossip mill going around me. I knocked at her closed door. "Good morning." I smiled as I opened the door.

"Oh Liana. Good morning. How are you today?" she asked me with a smile, removing her over expensive specs and placing them on the table.

"Good. Thank you. What about you?" I asked.

"Great." She grinned and motioned for me to sit down. I complied. "I'm sorry that I couldn't attend you properly at the party last night."

Shaking my head at her, I told her with a smile, "It's fine. I understand."

Folding her hands on the table in front of her, she asked, "So, how is the assignment going on?"

Pressing my lips in a thin line, I thought about the answer to the very expected question. "Fine," I managed to give the one word reply and watched as Priscilla looked at me with a skeptical look.

She hummed in thoughtfulness and nodded her head. "Ashton is not giving you a tough time, is he?"

"No," I answered way too instantly. "He is fine."

Back on her face was the skeptical look as if she couldn't believe what I was saying. "Has his thoughts about love changed?"

'Mine have,' I wanted to say but didn't. "We have met a few candidates till now," was my answer instead.

"And he didn't like any of them, did he?"

"We still have a few more meetings lined up for the next few days," I answered in an excuse to my poor performance in the assignment. Even if the subject of my next assignment was her son, I couldn't alter the fact that Priscilla was my boss. And no matter how close or comfortable a person is with their boss, a given project has to be completed within the given deadline. Well aware of the fact that I was nowhere near succession of the assignment even after completion of fifty percent of the timeline was making this conversation tougher and uncomfortable with each passing second.

She sighed in disappointment and I shut my eyes, cursing her brain for coming up with such an idea.

But did I really regret this assignment?

A smile threatened to spread on my lips as a 'no' echoed in my heart as the answer to this particular question.

"But you managed to bring him to the party yesterday." Priscilla's voice broke my train of thoughts and I snapped open my eyes to look at her smiling face.

"It was the other way round," I mumbled, tucking a loose strand of hair behind my ear.

She ignored my little input and continued as if in a world of her own, "I'm sure that by the end of twentieth day, my son would be back." This just raised my curiosity to new levels. I decided to keep quiet and witness her mumble some more, in hopes of getting some information about anything related to Ashton's past, but my hopes got crushed when she focused her attention back to me. "Your contract gets over at the end of this month. Have you looked for a new job?"

Her question was like a bucket full of ice water thrown at my face. Amidst all the mess of last ten days, I had completely forgotten about this little but significant fact. Twenty days later, I would be unemployed, well, if I don't include the chance of continuing writing 'The Love Column' for next one year. But, I didn't want that. I wanted a change from 'The Love Column'. In between managing Ashton's terrible mood swings and my variant, ever changing feelings for him, I had completely forgotten about looking for a job for myself. I sucked big time!

"I have an offer in hand," I lied smoothly. I didn't want to come across as 'desperate for job in front of my current Boss. It was better to come across as someone who had things planned out. Where in the world was that Liana who had everything perfectly planned out?

A flicker of disappointment passed through her eyes, but then she smiled. "I hope that offer is not better than the one that I'm going to make."

My ears perked up at her words, but I tried to maintain poker face. She was a businesswoman after all and I was merely an employee. "Let's hear it to judge that."

She beamed at me. "I understand how difficult it has become for you write for 'The Love Column' since last few months and honestly, I'm not ready to lose a valuable asset such as yourself. So, it has been decided that your assignment with Ashton would be last article for this column. The readers as well as you can say 'goodbye' to 'The Love Column' this month."

Mentally, I did a happy dance around the entire floor upon hearing this while still maintaining the poker expressions on my face. Seeing lack of any sort of reaction from me, she continued, "We are planning to start a 'Travel Column' in place of 'The Love Column' from next month's issue. And I want you to write it."

It was turn for me to do mental happy dance around the entire building, and I didn't bother keeping a check on my expressions this time. My lips stretched up in a huge smile and I confirmed, "Me?"

She beamed at my reaction and answered, "Yes, you. I know you want a change and I guess we should try something new now. Each month for the next one year, you would be given a new destination – a new city like Paris, London, Amsterdam, Cape Town and many more. You would live there, travel there and write an article on living in that city. You'd have to write about your experience, whether it was tough or not, what all difficulties did you face being a girl, if you faced any. You'll be required to write anything and everything. A photographer would be sent with you on this assignment. You don't need to worry about security; you know how strictly we follow such issues. As far as your expenses are concerned, don't worry about that at all. Everything would be covered as allowances."

I kept staring at her wide-eyed, taking in every word of the offer she had just made to me. Travel. New city every month. Living independently. These words echoed in my head and I tried to calm my rapidly beating heart. Who wouldn't want to grab such an opportunity? I opened and closed my mouth to agree to her offer, but no words came to my lips. Taking my speechlessness as reluctance, she started again, "I understand that you have another offer in your hands..." I shut my open mouth, seeing her believing my smooth lie. "...but give this offer a thought." She passed over some documents to me and continued, "This is your renewed offer letter. Go through this. Think about it. You can't deny that this is a once in a lifetime opportunity, Liana. Consider yourself lucky enough to get this offer served on a plate."

I nodded with a little smile on my face. She was right. This really was a once in a lifetime opportunity. "I'll go through this." I glanced at the offer letter in front of me.

She smiled back. "Let me know your answer by the end of this assignment. Ten days are enough to think about it, I guess. We need time to plan everything out."

"Yeah," I mumbled an automated response, still in a world of my crowded thoughts.

"Okay, then. I'll meet you on the twentieth day of this assignment. I hope things get better from now on, considering how tough dealing with Ashton can be. I can just wish you luck."

"It's not that tough," I said in an instant and Priscilla smiled at my reaction. 'He is a wonderful person who has many flaws, but still, he managed to make me fall for him,' I wanted to say, but settled with, "He is a nice man."

A surprised look overtook her features, which again took form of a smile. "I'm hearing this from someone after almost seven years."

My curious mind wanted to take control and ask away all the questions that had been bottled up inside my head since the last ten days.

'What happened seven years ago? Why does your husband hates Ashton? What went so wrong that you needed to assign this assignment to me? Why doesn't Ashton talks to you? Why is he so bitter towards love? Is there even an ounce of truth in any of the rumors that keep doing rounds about him? Why is he such a mystery?'

But, I controlled it, not letting it spoil my chances of having a better career. I was sure that no woman would take personal questions about her husband and son's relationship from an employee in good spirit.

"It's the truth," I said instead of everything that I wanted to say. Her smile got bigger as the time passed and that started making me feel uncomfortable. Clearing my throat, I picked up the offer letter. "I should go. I'll get back to you once I'm done with this entire ordeal."

"Sure. I'm looking forward to your acceptance, Liana." She smiled confidently, leaning back in her comfortable leather seat. She knew she had given an offer that nobody could refuse. Smiling slightly, I got up from the chair and left the room.

In the silent four walls of my office, sitting in my chair, I stared at the letter in my hands. Accepting this offer meant - independence, leaving New York for the next one year, living a dream life, taking risks, boosting my career, growing as a person, travelling to new places, having a lifetime of experience, and getting paid for all the fun. Who wouldn't want that?

But accepting the offer also meant – leaving Ashton.

And that caused a hollow pit in my stomach and made me take a few deep breaths. The excitement that I had gone through upon hearing the new offer was replaced by jumbled up, confused thoughts.

Here I was stuck between two choices. Stuck between what to choose between my career and the guy I loved. I had chosen Nolan over my career two years back. It was a choice that I clearly regret now. Was I ready to take that same risk again, that too for a guy who loathed love and called it 'bullshit'? For a guy, who I was damn sure didn't love me back?

With a sigh, I closed my eyes only to rest deeper in my chair and rubbed my forehead. I had to make a choice and I had a few days to think about it, but the saddest part was that I didn't know what my choice should be.

Career or Ashton?

"I don't know," I mumbled in distress.

A/N

Hello everybody! Sorry for such a long wait in this update. But I had a major writer's block along with my favorite cousin's wedding for which I was away for a good 10 days. Then add to that, my job took a toll on me as I took 10 days leave for my cousin's wedding. So HECTIC!

Oh, and I met my niece after whom I've kept Liana's name & let me tell you guys, she is the most adorable 3 year old in the entire world. She is a sweetheart & she addresses herself in 3rdperson by calling herself as 'Baby'. Lol. Yup! Enough ranting!

How was the chapter? Hate it? Love it? Like it? Was it worth the wait? Now, Liana has to make choices, again. She regrets her first choice... so of course she is confused as to what she should do now.

VOTE. COMMENT. FOLLOW.

Thanks! <3 :D