The Traps of Black Swan

Sophia and Aaron went inside the house while the two ladies sat facing each other at the same table.

Zelda watched Aarvi sitting calm and composed with a hint of anxiety. Thinking Aarvi might be hiding her nervousness, she gazed into her eyes and focused on her body reaction. Anyway, she met with no changes, Aarvi was indeed patient.

Unlike many girls who used to try to be nice or behave kindly, she wasn't talking nonsense or trying to show herself as a good person. Zelda appreciated it as handling pretentious queens would be much more tiring.

"Where does your confidence come from?" Zelda asked, her hand reaching out the teapot and pouring it into her cup. She had no wrong intention behind asking it, she just wanted to read Aarvi's personality more.

Aarvi had noticed Zelda drinks a lot of freshly homemade tea without milk. Coming to the question, her confidence. "When I know what I am doing and what I did, I don't need to doubt my capability."

Aaron gives her strength, he could encourage her to go ahead like all others but her confidence could only be brought by Having faith in herself.

Zelda placed the pot back on the tray as she signaled to Aarvi to get some for herself. Since it wasn't caffeine, she nodded slightly and took some for herself.

Aarvi felt like Zelda was observing her deeply. Her movements, her words, and her reactions. Even Jordan wasn't so hard on her to judge her personality. She felt like Aaron's sense of judgment was like Zelda, patience was like Connor, affection, and care was like Jordan, politeness was from his mother. Then indifference to coldness?

She shrugged her thoughts. She was about to taste the tea but the smell reached her nostrils. She sniffed once, she could find different notes in it and mainly it was chamomile and a drop of lime juice. She could sense honey so she was expecting it to be bitter. After a sip, she didn't get much of the flavors so the second sip made her feel slightly relaxed, adjusting to the tartness. She would prefer to add honey.

Zelda kept her cup down and the sound caused by the saucer and the cup caught Aarvi's attention back. "Why did you forgive Jordan?" She asked directly. She was also curious how could Aaron let go of it so easily.

The corner of Aarvi's lips slightly arced up hearing Zelda. The latter wasn't just concerned about them but also Jordan. She doesn't know how to show it to them.

"I truly haven't." If she remembers the past, a frown settles on her forehead so she knew she couldn't let go of it completely.

Zelda lifted her eyebrows in question. She was intrigued to know how she was considering this matter.

Aarvi kept her cup down and continued seeing Zelda unsatisfied with her short answer. "If I forgive grandfather Jordan, will that erase Aaron's struggles in the past year? Could it give back the nine years of Aaron's life? I am not a saint to let go so easily when I got to know everything just a few days back."

She wasn't a virtuous woman. And pretending to be forgiven only meant she wasn't being true to herself and the other person.

Zelda admired her truth and straightforwardness. In a world full of people who pretend like gods and say strong will forgive and weak couldn't. She wanted to let them, there is a difference between ignorance and forgiveness which people often get confused with. Either person isn't ready to face the truth or give themselves time to finally let go.

Understanding, Aarvi must have let Jordan know her opinion, Zelda thought why Aarvi didn't mention herself but was concerned about only Aaron. So she asked her, "What about the wrongdoing against you?" She sounded unemotional, yet there was a curiosity thinking whether Aarvi had forgiven Jordan for whatever he did to her.

Aarvi could sense, Zelda gave a lot of importance to her and Aaron's opinion on the matter. She hoped her words could make Zelda let go of her long years of punishment and return to Jordan.

"Grandfather Jordan wasn't obliged to tend to me when he wanted to keep Aaron safe. He wasn't a doctor over there but a helpless, anxious grandfather who wanted to keep his grandson safe at any cost. How is it wrong? Wasn't it just me being weak?" Aarvi asked back in the hopes of Zelda to think about the situation differently.

Zelda frowned hearing Aarvi. They were doctors, their goal was to help and try their best to save and survive the patients. So in her view, what Jordan did was wrong.

"What about humanity?" She asked, getting slightly irritated, without ready to accept what Jordan did to Aarvi, wasn't wrong.

Aarvi chuckled softly, for her it was difficult to read Zelda. She was concerned about Jordan. But when it came to them, she was getting angry at Jordan. She couldn't ever understand Zelda's love that was mixed with her principles towards her profession.

"When Grandfather Jordan had no idea what I am going through, how could he behave accordingly?" Aarvi calmly threw the question.

If Zelda was expecting her to add yes with her yes, Zelda was going to be disappointed. What Aarvi was saying meant whatever Zelda took the decision was wrong.

Zelda realized she and Aarvi were contrasting, yet both hadn't forgiven Jordan. According to Aarvi, what Jordan did was right at the movement whereas she was vulnerable.

According to Zelda, Jordan could have handled the situation in a better way, had the patience to speak with Aarvi who saved their grandson. That's not how you treat the benefactor, the savior of their grandson.

Zelda knew Aarvi didn't look at herself as a savior. For her, it was a pure coincidence and she was glad that coincidence could save Aaron even at the cost of her life and memories.

Zelda sat so calmly that it was frightening to think if she was angry or accepted Aarvi's words. She narrowed her eyes at Aarvi and sneered, "So you came all the way here to tell me I was wrong." She mockingly laughed.

Aarvi: "..."

She knew it. She knew the conversation between her and Zelda couldn't be so smooth. Both being strong-headed, contrasting principles, views about everything, they were fated to end on a bad note. She didn't want to ruin the things between Jordan and Zelda.

…

At the window of Sophia's room, Sophia paced back and forth in the darkroom thinking if Zelda was going to argue with Aarvi and Zelda would shoot her blood pressure.

Even though she didn't know the real reason behind Jordan and Zelda's separation, she hoped Zelda wouldn't have to live alone in her hoary life.

….

Upstairs, Aaron rubbed between his brows after watching his serene Cupcake and was infuriated but the calm-looking Zelda.

He wanted to go downstairs and keep the things down but Zelda's words rang in his head.

'Don't you have faith in your Cupcake?'

If he intervenes, it would only mean he didn't trust Aarvi enough to let her handle the issues.  It wasn't that he had less trust in Aarvi, he didn't want Zelda to hurt Aarvi in any way due to their difference in opinions.

He watched as Zelda didn't wait for Aarvi to say anything and stood up suddenly. She strode towards the door saying something to Aarvi.