Three days later.

Noah, Ivy, and Joshua were waiting in front of the Military Grounds for Aria and Ian to arrive. The previous day, Ian had called them and had informed them about the time of their arrival. Though Aria had recovered a little, she was still far away from her usual self and again, Ian had to lie to them that she was suffering from a severe cough and her voice was gone. His words had made Ivy and Noah lose their minds once again and Ivy was sure that something was wrong now.

Ivy did not tell her concerns to anyone, not even to Joshua. The man would only call her delusional for assuming things that were not true. But somewhere in her mind, she was sure that Aria was not well and something had happened to her. Ivy could not help but worry about her sister and she was looking forward to see what exactly was wrong with her.

As nobody was allowed inside the grounds without the authorized permission, they had to wait outside for them to come. As they waited, Joshua saw Ivy spaced out and he nudged her hands to get her attention.

"What are you thinking?"

"Just some work stuff?" Ivy answered absent-mindedly, but Joshua did not buy it. He knew what she was thinking as he had seen her spacing out a lot since the time Ian had informed her about her sister's sickness. Only he knew what the actual matter was and he was feeling extremely bad for Aria. He could not imagine how Noah and Ivy would react once the truth came out. He was worried about them now and hoped that Ian to have somehow cured Aria.

However, Joshua's hopes had not become true. Though Aria had recovered slightly, she had become too silent and dull. Just by looking at her, anybody could guess that there was something wrong with her. Her eyes had become lifeless and it seemed as though her soul had left her body. Ian had tried all he could to bring her back or at least to see a smile on her face. But he had not got any response from her. She only stared blankly at him, nothing could evoke a reaction from her.

Even the soldiers around them, Stuart and Ethan tried to cheer her up, but in vain. She had lost her smile and had started to talk less. Ian was very worried about her now, her mental state was not fine and ultimately, he decided to consult a psychiatrist once they reached home. He had to do something to bring her back to normal.

Finally, the gates opened, and all the doctors and nurses left the grounds one by one. Noah, who was leaning against his car, straightened up seeing them walk out and the next second, his eyes fell on Aria who walking in between Ian and another man he did not know. He scrunched his eyebrows as he felt something to be out of place. Aria had grown visibly thin and what struck him more was that she did not look as excited as he hoped her to be on seeing him. She was looking at something god knows what instead of him or even Ivy.

Now even Noah was sure that something was wrong, he could sense it from where he was. His feet took him to them automatically and he halted in his place when he saw the injuries on her neck. Those marks looked horrible on her skin and he did not have to be a genius to guess what might have happened to her. Somebody had tried to harm her and he had no idea about it.

Noah rushed to her the next second and held her in his arms. Even Ivy was horrified seeing those gruesome knife marks on her sister's neck and her eyes almost teared up. She dashed to her and hugged her with force. She had missed her a lot and now that Aria was back, she had returned with injuries. How could she not be sad? But what distressed her more was that her sister did not hug her back making Ivy pulled away in confusion. That was when she noticed her sister's dull expressions.

Ivy let go of her sister immediately and held by his collar. She was beyond furious now and all she wanted to do was kill someone or even punch the person responsible for her sister's broken state until they bled to death. "What happened to my sister?" She seethed, as she glared at Ian.

"I'll answer all your questions one by one. First, let's go to Joshua's house." Ian gave Joshua one knowing look and the man pulled Ivy towards him.

"Yes, let's go home first. Let's not create chaos here and attract attention."

Though Ivy did not calm down, she stopped pressing the matter after listening to Ian and Joshua's words and decided to have a serious talk with Ian once they reached home.

"I am going to leave now," Stuart said suddenly. Though he wanted to stay and help Aria, he had informed his grandparents about his return and they would be waiting for him eagerly. He did not want to disappoint the old folks and moreover, his chauffeur was already here to take him home. So, he could not stay any longer. "Ian, take care of her. I'll keep in touch with you."

Ian nodded at him with a faint smile. His eyes then fell on Noah who was silently watching Aria. He had not uttered a word since the time they had come out of the ground and this was scaring him. Ian did not know how to face him. "Let's go."

Ian went with Joshua and Kaito while Noah led Aria and Ivy to his car. Ronnie, who was sitting inside the car, did not know what had happened outside. So, as soon as Aria sat inside beside his Boss, he greeted her like he usually did. "Welcome home, Madam." But he did not get any reply in return which was quite unusual.

Every time he greeted Aria, she would give him a reply with a smile. However, this time neither did she smile nor did she greet him and for a second, Roonie assumed Aria to be angry on him. But when turned to look at her, he observed her blank look. He then realized that something was wrong about her. His eyes immediately darted towards his Boss, who was silently staring at Aria and then to Ivy, who looked angry for some unknown reason. Grasping the situation to be quite serious, Ronnie stepped on the accelerator and drove towards Joshua's house.

It did not take long for them to reach Joshua's house and as soon as they stepped inside, Ivy took her sister with her to the guest room which was her room for now, and made her lie down. She patted on her forehead silently and waited for almost an hour until Aria fell asleep before she came down.

"What happened to my sister?" Ivy stressed each word calmly, yet the men realized that she was just of losing her cool. They had been waiting for her for a long time as she had to know about the incident too.

Ian took a deep breath before he started speaking. He told them everything that had happened three days ago, not leaving even a small event. As the words flowed out of his mouth, their expressions changed from horror to anger and then to sadness. Even Joshua who had heard the story before could not help but feel sad for Aria. She had gone through so much and due to this, she was in this state.

When Ian stopped speaking, nobody spoke a word. Everybody was deep in their own thoughts unable to believe the turn of events. Half an hour passed before Ivy spoke first. "Is this the reason why Aria did not speak to us when you called? She was not sick, was she?"

At her question, Noah finally lifted his head and stared at Ian only to see him nod. "I know I should not have lied. But I was helpless. Aria was mentally upset and I did not want to worry you guys, not when we would be returning home in a few days."

"Are we not worried now?" Ivy shouted, her eyes blazing in anger at Ian for hiding the truth.

"At least Aria is with you right now. Just imagine how you would have felt if I had told you right on the day the incident happened. Could you have tolerated it? Do you think you would have had peace of mind thinking about your sister? Ivy, I know I am fault but think in my perspective too. Please."

Ivy understood what he wanted to convey. But before she could speak, everybody heard the sound of the footsteps and they immediately knew who it was. Aria had woken and was coming down the stairs slowly. At first, Aria had been scared of finding herself in an unknown place. But then she had heard her sister's voice when Ivy had shouted at Ian and she relaxed slightly. She then followed the noises till the living room where she found her sister Ivy along with Noah.

Not wasting another minute, she sprinted towards her sister and hugged her so tight that Ivy almost felt suffocated. Yet, she allowed her to do as pleased as her sister needed her. Aria vented out all the feelings she had as she hugged her sister and everybody's heart broke seeing her cry so badly.

It took Aria a lot of time to calm down and when she finally did, Noah held her hands. "Come with me." He then fixed his gaze on Ivy. "You too, Ivy."

"But where?"

"I want you two to meet someone and I am sure, he is the one Aria needs right now."

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Hey guys,

Please read the author's note.