Arwen paused at that. Her gaze stilled at his face as if trying to understand that she heard it right. "Chocolates?" she repeated, nothing understanding, her eyes filled with confusion. "What chocolates are you talking about?" She shrugged at the obviousness. "I usually don’t eat chocolate. The only ones that I have had are given by Granna and —" Her words faltered as she continued further —not ready to accept it. Those chocolates were given by Granna —the same grandmother of hers who has raised her, adored her and loved her the entire life. The one woman who never allowed her to feel weak and lonely in this world, where she didn’t even have her mother to take care of her. "It can’t be those chocolates," she muttered, refusing to believe it. But when she saw the way Aiden looked at her, she closed her eyes, letting the reality sink in. The chocolates ... the chocolates that she had loved taking every day like a ritual. "Why did she do that?" She opened her eyes and looked at him. "I cannot believe it. She cannot do anything to harm me. Even my small injury had made her frown. Although she is not good at expressing her love, I have seen it. I have felt it ... her love and care. It’s always been genuine." Aiden’s brows furrowed. He took a moment before he reached out and brushed away the tears from her face. She glanced at him and again shook her head. "She cannot harm me, Aiden. She —" "Shh!" he slowly shushed her, silently asking her to take a deep breath before finally speaking. "Your Granna wasn’t the one to harm you. You never trusted her wrongly, so stop blaming yourself." Arwen stared at him, and he continued, "That drug was given to you by her. She gave you the chocolates that had the drug neutralizer, which means she didn’t try to harm you but rather save you. Save you from the effects of the drug." "But it also means she always knew about it, yet she never told me." She shook her head as she couldn’t wrap her head around the thing. "Why do you all have to play this secret game with me. This was all about me, yet I was the one who was always kept in the dark. Why?" Aiden cupped her face almost immediately as if he was desperate to explain to her ... desperate to make her see that he had a reason behind hiding things from her. If not, he wouldn’t have hidden anything from her. One thing that he wanted to share with her was the transparency. Yet that was one thing he wasn’t able to give her fully. It made him feel incompetent. But it was fine. If she would blame it on him, he was ready to take that as well. He deserved it. But still, he wanted to explain it to her. "We never meant to hide it from you, Moon. We just were too scared to lose you." Fınd the newest release on 𝓷𝓸𝓿𝓮𝓵※𝓯𝓲𝓻𝓮※𝓷𝓮𝓽 Arwen stared at him, helpless —not because the situation made her feel like that. But because she knew that even if she had been in the same place, she wouldn’t have chosen differently. She would have made the same choice that Aiden made. And that’s why, even though she was feeling betrayed inside, she couldn’t bring herself to blame him. How could she blame him when she knew that she wouldn’t have done anything differently if she had been in his place? "Did you confront my Granna when you came to know about it?" She asked even though she already knew the answer. Given Aiden’s personality, his going to confront her grandmother wasn’t unimaginable; rather, it was the most imaginative thing. And as she had thought, Aiden nodded to her, responding to her question. "Did she tell you who was behind it?" Aiden paused for a second, his brows drawing tight and expression becoming hard. "She didn’t. She knows it, but she wouldn’t tell." Arwen’s brows tugged in a frown. Her grandmother wasn’t ready to tell it means only two things. Either she was scared of Aiden’s action, or she was ... protecting one who was responsible for her state. The first possibility wasn’t viable because she knew her Granna wasn’t a definite angel. She knew how to punish people to the worst. And if she knew who is one who drugged her such cruelly, she wouldn’t carry mercy for the person. If anything, she would punish her. So, being scared of Aiden’s action wasn’t the thing. And if that wasn’t the thing, then the other possibility that remained was ... Arwen’s eyes became sharp as she thought about it. Who could her grandmother want to protect? "I will find it out," she muttered almost under her breath, but it was still quite loud for Aiden to hear her. "No, you won’t," Aiden rejected her idea without considering. When Arwen stared at him with furrowed brows, he spoke, "You don’t have to. I would protect you. There is no need to find anything or stress yourself in remembering things that are already forgotten." "No, I want to remember them all. I want to know it all. I can’t just let it go. Our past meant something and —" "It might mean something, but you mean more, Moon." There was a tinge of desperation in his voice which made her halt. "You always mean more," he added, continuing, "I can live without the past that we once shared. But I can’t live without you, Moon. I can’t. Don’t scare me with the possibility that I might lose you." Arwen pursed her lips. "You don’t have to be scared." "I am scared," Aiden didn’t even hesitate, putting on his vulnerability. "When it comes to you, I am scared of losing you. So, please ..." His hand, which was framing her face, trembled slightly as though he was on the brink of losing his sanity. Arwen felt it. She pressed her hand over his and then slowly nodded. "Fine, I won’t do try to do anything that would scare you. But —"