The Traps of Black Swan

Looking at his adoring gaze while softly pinching her cheeks, "I love you." She heard him profess.

She knows he loves her but is he trying to trick her to confess?

Her lips curled up and stuck her tongue out at him before chuckling seeing him wordless.

After pinching her cheeks hard, he went to the main point, "Do you think President Kelly is with Leon Harmon?"

Out of seven who tortured her in the Shipyard warehouse, they all knew six. So he directly asked her to know her opinion because according to the reports he got about Hayden, he wasn't involved with anything.

Aarvi shook her head promptly. Hayden wasn't involved in anything that was related to the tragic event of her life.

"That day Leon Harmon and others went to meet Gra… grandfather faking about a project. Grandfather had turned down working with Leon Harmon lying a reason. Anyway, Leon Harmon went there to know about me."

A little relief coursed through his heart after knowing he didn't judge Hayden Kelly wrongly. "Then why are you avoiding him?"

Aarvi pouted, she might sound childish but she just couldn't get over the things easily. "I never blamed him for anything before three years but now I feel like he could have avoided everything that happened in my life."

She wasn't blaming him for her encounter with Leon Harmon or her wedding with Vance. She blamed him for her birth and how her parents treated her.

When Hayden knew her mother hated Shane Kelly and she tried to abort Ava so many times, why did he have to force them to get married?

When he knew her parents weren't treating her well, she always fought to live her life, why didn't he take her away from them?

Why did he have to indoctrinate her as her parents loved her but her little brother needed more attention?

Why did he persuade her as endurance will mend everything?

Why did he have to coax her every time she wanted to leave from there and study with Zain in boarding school?

She wasn't old enough to understand her parents' physical and verbal abuse, couldn't he protect her from all of it?

He shouldn't have to make her a good girl, he could have just made her strong who could see reality.

If he had told her the truth about her life and parents, wouldn't she have grown stronger?

Wouldn't she have avoided looking forward to little affection from her parents?

Was she such a big burden just to leave a room in the Kelly mansion?

Was it worth living with parents when she was treated worse than a child of a mistress?

The world didn't even have an idea there was an elder daughter until she came of wedding age. Why? To sell her for some benefits at the company end.

If she had grown strong, wouldn't she have ignored her pretentious parents?

Aaron understood why she was avoiding Hayden Kelly. She had respected and followed his footsteps to become a businesswoman. Excluding Zain, she only got family love from Hayden.

If she meets him, she would definitely blame everything on him and she didn't want that to happen.

Aaron wanted to embrace her but Aarvi secured him on her lap flashing a weak smile, "I understand he was devastated after losing grandmother so early. Then he couldn't tolerate his elder son started targeting younger son."

Shane was greedy for power and wealth. Assuming his younger brother got married to win the favor of Hayden giving him an heir, he repeatedly tried to hurt his younger brother's reputation.

Hayden had seen only a happy family due to his wife handling everything smoothly. The sudden loss of his wife and his sons' behavior made him detached from his own family.

"There are many nuclear Kelly families around the country living a hard life. If grandfather can work hard to employ them, find various ways to improve their lives, why couldn't he spare a few minutes on his own granddaughter?"

She knew if she started confronting Hayden, she might not be able to end it in a day.

Aaron didn't respond to her question. It was a question probably Hayden couldn't respond to either. After looking into Hayden's information, he got to know there are many Kelly families living a better life due to Hayden but they just care about money without knowing Hayden was sacrificing most of his time to establish a stable way of income for them.

We can't say Hayden is selfish for focusing on his work instead of his granddaughter because he always strived for others. We couldn't accept his selflessness for making others' lives better because his own granddaughter was suffering every day.

It was hard to decide if one should appreciate Hayden Kelly or not. But for Aaron, Hayden Kelly's life is a failure.

The change should start from home, if one can't keep their loved one happy, all their effort to make others happy isn't worthwhile.

Holding her hand, trying to comfort her, Aaron told about his reasons for being in contact with Hayden.

...

Aaron had decided the day he accepted his grandfather's words to study abroad, he would look for his Cupcake the day he steps in the Mocon, country A.

There were just a few days left for him to leave country S and go back to country A. He had thought after six years abroad, he can finally be with his family and get his Cupcake.

However, destiny had different plans for him. Aaron had reached the city with doctors for Ariel Rivas. He had stepped out of the airport when he heard his mother met with an accident and lost her life.

It had taken him a long time to accept his sister is brain dead which was equal to death. There was no hope which each of them knew but they weren't ready to accept hence they were trying all their best to find the smallest hope.

In that time, hearing his mother left the world too, all he knew was somebody guiding him to the car and to the hospital where the happy family, the joyous welcome he had expected were in tears, heartache, and intense grief.

Looking at everyone broken, he knew it's time he should take the responsibilities for an elder son and brother.

Two days passed, handling one or the other thing. He was grieving but couldn't afford to fall weak. He was very restless like he was going to lose somebody.

When Shawn left the city without speaking, all were worried sick something might happen to him. They really weren't in the position to lose another one.

A whole batch of security was sent behind Shawn to keep him safe. Everyone was overcoming the loss but Aaron was edgy. It was a kind of fear and anxiety he couldn't define.

He remembered his Cupcake, he was already two days late to look for his Cupcake. He actually wanted to ask his father but knew it wasn't the right time. So he went to meet Hayden Kelly as his Cupcake was closer to him than her parents.

Early in the morning, when he reached the company, he saw Hayden reaching there straight from the airport, worried sick.

Even after hearing Aaron's identity, Hayden repeated he doesn't have time to talk until he heard Aaron utter 'Ava'.

Hayden assumed Aaron might have found 'Ava' who was missing from the previous day evening. So he took Aaron to his office while Aaron still had no idea.

Hayden's first question stepping inside the office was, "Where is my granddaughter?" He was desperate for the response. "We can't file missing complaints until it's twenty-four hours."

Aaron froze.

That when he realized what is meant by the whole world came crashing down around.