The previous morning, at the OBGYN Department of the hospital

'Mrs Aria, you should have let the nurse inform the doctor you have come for the appointment.' Anne said to the small woman as they both sat in the hallway, waiting for Aria to have her weekly check-up. 

Just some minutes ago, a nurse spotted Aria and immediately came to her to take her to the appointment, skipping the people who were already lined up to enter the doctor's office, but Aria had refused.

'No, it's alright. We have already intruded in the doctor's normal schedule, let's wait patiently until she can receive me.' Aria said with a small smile. 

Because of Zane's early discharge from the hospital, they had moved the normal afternoon appointment to the morning, disturbing her attending doctor's normal program. So waiting for a few minutes, when the doctor was kind enough to modify her schedule was really not a problem.

'Mrs. Aria, the hospital is owned by the Black family, there is no issue with announcing our presence and letting you have the check-up first.' Anne immediately informed her.

'Even if it is. We should wait for our turn. Anyway it's the weekend today, so I don't think it will be a problem for Zane, if we are a bit late.' She maintained her stance.

Anne gave up when Aria insisted on waiting, and did not contradict her again. In the time they had spent together at the mansion, she knew that Aria meant her words, and wouldn't change her mind. She also knew, just how polite and well mannered she was.

'Excuse me, can I bother you for a second?' A heavily pregnant woman, a bit uncertain of whether to  speak or not, asked from a seat near Aria's.

'Yes?' Aria turned to the woman, and maintained her mellow usual tone, with a brightened face.

The lovely face coupled with the approachable attitude of Aria, gave the woman a bit more confidence, and finally dared to speak of the motive of her interruption.

'I have the next appointment with the doctor, and I would like to ask something of you. I do not know if it is a bother or not, but...' The woman tried to explain her request, feeling embarrassed of bothering the two.

'I am listening.' Aria told her with a tone that emphasized she would help the woman if it was in her abilities, at least that it was how it seemed in front of the woman who finally stated her request.

'I had to bring my little boy with me today to the appointment. I didn't have anyone to leave him with at home. Would it bother you to look after him while I am having my check-up? I know I am demanding something outrageous, but he is really scared of nurses and would cry if I let him with them.' The woman explained slowly. 

She had wanted to leave her boy with a nurse as she did not have any choice, even if the child was to cry. She was getting a physical control and could not look after him during her check-up. But seeing the two woman, and hearing their conversation, she could not help herself and dared ask Aria for her help.

For the  wife of the owner of the hospital to be so humble and polite, she was sure the latter would help her. She would not dare ask anyone else, as there were only strangers in the hallway, so naturally Aria's identity guaranteed she could trust her. 

'Ohhh... It would not be a bother at all. I am pregnant with boys, it would be a learning experience for me on how to interact with them.' Aria smiled, looking towards the four year old beautiful boy.

The woman knew that Aria wanted to reassure her with her words, and felt even more grateful.

As such, during the appointment of the woman, Aria sat next to the small bundle of joy, who kept laughing continuously as she played with him.

She was so immersed in keeping the young boy entertained, that she failed to notice the presence of a doctor who passed  by them, and had even stopped a few feet away, watching their interaction.

Present time

'I am telling you, the transmigrated characters in novels are far more interesting than the reincarnated ones. The modern people, them going to the past and using advanced technology, and thus gaining power and money to enact revenge for the body they took over... is thrilling!' Malcom loudly reasoned, not showing any possibility of letting his opponent change her mind.

'What's the point of having a feeble person die, then another soul taking over their body and enacting revenge? How could it be satisfying for the dead person to have his or her revenge done by someone else? In contrast, the supposed villainesses that were misunderstood in their past lives, and then reincarnate to revenge themselves are more fascinating. It shows that a person has the capacity to better themselves, to wise up, as a result of their life changing experiences and death!' The small woman stressed out her point, with her usual mellow voice carrying an imposing tone.

'It's not logical for a supposed villainess to get that much smarter just because she died once. If she was that intelligent, then how did she manage to get herself killed the first time? But for the modern people who transmigrate, they already possess the intelligence to survive the calamities that will follow. It's an extra added point if he or she read the novel that they had transmigrated into.' Malcom followed with added reasons.

'How is it logical how modern people are portrayed? I mean the knowledge needed to build weapons, advanced blueprints of carriages, ships, and the likes, although anyone can get their hand on them these days, it would still be impossible to know them by heart. Even for a modern person... who knows all that? If they were an engineer or something similar who were transmigrated, I could understand but...' The small woman was even gesticulating with her hands, fearing that he could not understand her rational point.

'Of course they would know. If it was something that was a hobby to them. You just don't get the amazing appeal of transmigrated characters, so your opinion is flawed!' Malcom said raising his voice even louder. 

Both of them seemed to think that the one who spoke louder was the one who was more right than the other. As such their voices kept escalating with each argument they brought to prove their point.

'No it's not flawed, your ideas are too farfetched...' Aria voiced, and even rose from her seat upset, thinking that just loud words were not enough to support her arguments any longer. Although because of her belly, she took a bit of time in getting up, so by this time her imposing words and posture had already lost their flare. But nonetheless she overcame the awkwardness and opened her mouth to speak again, only to swallow the remaining words in her throat.

'What are you doing?' Zane asked expressionless, interrupting the contradicting conversation of the bickering transmigrated small Aria and Malcom, who had previously believed she was a reincarnated villainess.

Looking at the small woman who had a hand on her waist and the other pointing at Malcom in anger, and the man who though was still sitting was as upset as the woman, and was clearly about to retort her words, appearing even eager to do so, Zane waited for the answer.

The voice he had heard when he entered the apartment upset Zane, thinking that Malcom was arguing with Aria, and so he rushed inside to throw Malcom out. Those two had never gotten along with each other, and with Malcom having an aversion towards Aria, it was to be expected that he was still not willing to believe her change as being real. But what greeted his eyes as soon as he entered the living room, although the two seemed to be contradicting one another, was actually a friendly atmosphere. 

On the table in front of the sofa there were refreshments, cookies and opened books which had been used in their discussion. It was clear that they were having a chat. And the conclusive evidence was their faces. Malcom's face seemed to carry a small smile, as though his upset face was a teasing one rather than an angered one, and Aria's face was also lightened up.

They were like long lost friends, or better said birds of a feather. It baffled him, how the two could get accustomed to one another so fast, even though Malcom had never liked Aria. And what surprised him even more, was Aria. The woman who never raised her voice in his presence, seemingly incapable of this in the slightest, was speaking so comfortably with Malcom, without any sign of struggling to do so. 

For some reason the image in front of him irked him, it felt painful to his eyes. It would have been better if they were really quarreling, he thought.

'You came back.' Aria stated the obvious, as she quickly returned to her meek posture and mellow tone, hiding the hand that had been pointing to Malcom and the one who was placed on her shoulder in the back.

'Hey, Zane!' Malcom greeted his friend, but still acted like his normal usual self. 

'I'm back.' Zane responded to Aria's words, with the calm usual tone he had around her, but then turned to Malcom and his attitude change one hundred and eighty degrees.

 'What are you doing here?' He questioned, looking sharply towards his friend.

'I came to see how you were, my friend.' Malcom replied with a bit of a blaming tone, finishing his sentence with the words that were supposed to remind Zane of their close bond... 

'And you do not have a phone to call before you come, self-proclaimed friend? ' Words that Zane did not bother to acknowledge, as he continued unyielding with his interrogation.

'I called you an hour ago, but you did not bother to reply, then my battery died. And how could you say self-proclaimed when we've known each other since kindergarten.' Malcom stated bitterly. So much for their friendship of decades.

'If you called, but I didn't reply, you should've just waited for me to call you back. Aria was alone at the apartment, what if you frightened her? And I've put up with you since kindergarten, that doesn't make us friends.' 

Malcom almost choked because of Zane's words. He had always come to the apartment on weekends, if he felt like it. He never announced it before. Zane lived on the top floor, which meant he also had an open terrace with green grass on the ground and a tennis court. It was perfect for them to play in the summer. So as long as he knew for certain that Zane was home and he was bored, he would just visit without a word, and Zane never cared about it.

And why would his presence frighten Aria? He wasn't scary looking or harsh for that matter, he wasn't even the least bit of akin to an imposing man. If Aria was to be frightened by someone, the likelier possibility would have been Zane rather than him.

Malcom sighed defeated, but did not bother to retort Zane's words anymore. The latter would just continue to refute anything he would say, and as he had a businessman's glib tongue, any intent on his part would backfire.

'Alright! Alright! I should have called beforehand. Aria, I am sorry if I scared you. It wasn't my intention.' He immediately apologized towards the small woman, who had already intended to correct Zane's words, but hadn't managed to as Malcom had spoken before she could.

'No, I was not scared at all. It wasn't a problem, please do not apologize. In fact, I really liked the constructive conversation, and your recommendations on what to read next have really picked my interest.' Aria replied, with a bit of a smile, unaware of the sharp gaze that was directed towards her. 

'Yes, even though we have quite opposite opinions on genres, I will also read some of your favorite books to broaden my horizon. In fact, I may have been a bit carried away with my opinion on villainesses. I mean on the first life they did not know of their enemies, but in the second life they would be more on guard on who to trust.' Malcom stated, acknowledging her point of view on the earlier discussion.

'Yes, I also think that transmigrators are quite interesting, and perhaps if they had indeed took a serious interest in their hobbies then...' Aria also put down her claws, and recognized Malcom's point of view.

'Cough...' Zane was long forgotten by the two as they were starting to resume their talk, more or less making him invisible. If it was a normal situation, he really did not like to talk all that much, so keeping quiet in a social event was exactly what he wished, but having his presence ignored by Aria in favor of his acquaintance... he wouldn't allow it in the slightest.

At his interruption, the two stopped talking once more, and waited for Zane's words. His cough was too obviously fake, so they were more or less aware it was only used as a way to stop the ongoing conversation... at least Malcom was.

'Have you caught a cold? Were you out exercising? You shouldn't have, you just got out of the hospital. Your clothes are soaked already, go quickly and take a hot shower, I will make you some warm tea. Oh... and could you call Anne to bring some medicine when she comes.' Aria said after a moment of silence, worried for him. She would have called herself, but although she saw the landline in the apartment, she did not know the mansion's landline's number.

'I'm alright, just had a tingling feeling in my throat. Anyway, Malcom, I will send you downstairs.' 

'Okay. Then I will leave now. Bye, Aria!' Malcom said and took his leave with Zane following behind, giving him the feeling of an unwanted guest escorted out of the premises.

'Bye.' Aria responded, and watched them leave. She had wanted to insist for Zane to change his clothes before going out, but the latter was already making his way towards the door, followed by Malcom. Moreover... she was also in no position to make him do anything, she had no right to. Aria thought to herself, feeling a small prickle in her chest.

'So, why did you want to escort me down?' Malcom asked Zane, as the both entered the elevator.

'How did you manage to make Aria talk like that?' Zane frankly inquired, still feeling annoyed because of the two's friendly atmosphere. Though his tone seemed his usual unperturbed calm own.

'How what?' Malcom frowned at his question, looking towards Zane, as though his face would have an indication of his meaning.

'How did you make her act so natural, without a hint of shyness and reluctance?' He really was not willing to ask Malcom this question, but his desire to make her act similar in his presence, overcame the uncomfortable feeling.

'I didn't do anything special, I just saw some books on the coffee table while I waited for you to return, and we found ourselves speaking about them. There's nothing more to it, than this. I have never met anyone who shared my interest in web novels before, so the discussion kept itself alive so to say. 

Let me tell you, I think your wife has done nothing but read books since she woke up from the coma. She is practically an encyclopedia of the latest Chinese and Korean web novels.' Malcom replied sincerely, leaning his back on the wall, not looking towards Zane more, as he remembered the fired up Aria.

'Web novels?' Zane asked, bringing his hand to his chin pensively.

'Yup!' Malcom replied enthusiastically.

'As in on the internet?' 

'Yes.' Malcom replied again, not understanding what Zane was getting at.

'What site?' 

'There are several ones, or you can buy the books in paperback, Aria has quite a few. Why are you asking?' Malcom frowned at the question. Zane had never been interested on knowing such information before, and he was not one to care about it in the slightest either. Why would the CEO of a group of companies ask about web novels?

'Just for reference.' Zane replied honestly.

'Don't tell me... Are you thinking of reading novels just so you have something in common with your wife to discuss about?' Malcom widened his eyes, turning towards Zane again. He really could not comprehend his friend these days at all.

'Why not?' Zane stated, lost in his thoughts, not bothering about Malcom's shocked face.

Malcom sighed, realizing Zane was indeed serious, and sincerely advised his friend.

'Zane, you don't necessarily have to share Aria's love for reading just so you have something to talk to her about. Didn't you say, you were teaching her piano? I am pretty sure you can find some more to talk about on the topic of music. 

And first and foremost, to try and read something she likes, you can do that temporarily, but not for your entire life, and it would only turn out like you were deceiving her, by doing this. You can ask her what she likes to read about, her hobbies and interest, but don't try to match it. 

Or what, if the lady likes to crochet things, will you crochet as well? Be yourself, and find the middle ground for the both of you.' Malcom said, and rose his hand and lightly patted Zane's shoulder. Then as the elevator's doors opened, the both of them exited the elevator, and went outside the building.

'But she never talks like that to me. She also almost never talks, if I don't talk first. And even when we do, she is almost always shy and restrained in her choice of words. If I don't approach Aria, I doubt she would approach me on her own.' Zane admitted as the two walked down the stairs.

'Now that is not a necessarily a bad thing. To be comfortable when talking with a guy, for someone like how Aria is now, I mean shy and innocent like she is without her memories, then it means she is not conscious of that person. 

She does not see that person like someone of the opposite gender. If she was feeling too comfortable with you, then that would have been a problem.' Malcom said and lightly chuckled. He was finally feeling more mature than Zane, which was quite a rare thing.

To give romantic advices to one of the most powerful businessmen of their country, who ever had such privilege?

Zane said nothing more, pondering about Malcom's words, as the two stepped towards Malcom's parked car.

Seeing him with nothing else to ask about, Malcom was about to take his leave, but thinking for a bit did not move his feet, and open his mouth to speak again.

'Zane, I want to ask you again. Have you really fallen in love with Aria?'

'Yes. Why do you keep asking me this?' Zane asked with a deep hoarse voice, preparing himself to lash out at Malcom again, were he to rebuke Aria, like he had done yesterday in the hospital room. 

Just now, Malcom had sincerely advised him on what to do, so he thought that Malcom finally believed that Aria had indeed lost her memories. She had not used deliberate actions to manipulate him into falling in love with her. Not to mention, he had also discussed with her quite friendly in the apartment, to his annoyance. Was he still suspicious of her?

'Wait, don't get upset, I am not saying this because of Aria. Now I also think she really lost her memories. Just hear me out. It is just that... I was afraid whether my words influenced you in some way when you came to my apartment, and you mistook your feelings towards her for love. I mean you accepted fairly easily your feelings for her. So...' Malcom rushed to get his meaning across, as Zane showed a murderous expression. This damn cold man, how could he still be so scary, while all the muscles of his face seemed frozen in place without even a slight grimace.

'Malcom, first of all you know I see things only in black and white. I love or I don't, there is no maybe. I am a businessman, I have always been