CHAPTER – 32

LOVE IS... BETRAYAL

'When I love, I love with no limitations. But if you betray me, I love myself enough to let go.'

"I will miss you, Mrs. and Mr. Bennet. I'll keep your Jane happy forever!"

My shoulders shook from silent laughter as Dad shot an irritated frown towards Mr. Bingley while starting the car and Mom just laughed at his overdramatic antics. I waved and shouted a 'bye, love you' one last time as their car took off from the parking lot. But I didn't miss the furious look that Dad had shot towards Ashton before driving away. It was not his usual warning look, it was something entirely different. The weirdest part was Ashton's reaction. He didn't reply with his trademark smirk or a sarcastic smile. He replied with narrowed eyes and clenched jaw.

This little exchange piqued my curiosity to new levels. What was this about?

With raised eyebrows, I turned towards Ashton. He stepped towards me and smirked while tapping my forehead. "Your eyebrows are touching the sky."

I set aside my little surprise at his action and frowned at him. "Why was Dad looking at you like that?"

Before he could even open his mouth to answer my question, Mr. Bingley jumped in between us, swinging one arm over my shoulder and the other over Ashton's. "What are we doing today, Elizabeth and Darcy?" he asked in his usual over-enthusiastic charm.

"Attending the ball," Ashton replied in a dead panned manner and I chuckled slightly at the sarcasm dripping from his words.

Mr. Bingley either didn't detect the sarcasm or chose to ignore it, as he removed his hand from Ashton's shoulder and pushed him lightly. He turned towards me and snaked his free arm across my waist, pulling me to him, taking me completely by surprise. "May I have this dance, beautiful?" He tried to sound seductive, but with his charm and that infectious grin, he sounded friendly.

But it was the word 'beautiful' that made me blush, not because Mr. Bingley said it now, but because of the person and the way he had said this to me just a few hours back. Slight laughter escaped my lips as he hid his grin behind a smirk; a smirk much like Ashton's but less alluring. "Sure." I giggled and right in front of my building, on the pavement, he made me dance like we were actually in a ballroom.

But Ashton didn't let the spectators laugh at our absurdity or let me laugh some more as he dragged his friend away by grabbing the collar of his T-shirt.

"Ashton!" I hissed, feeling bad for Mr. Bingley.

"Darcy! He is Darcy." His friend corrected me and shot a grin in Ashton's direction with a thumb up sign as if he had done him a favor and handled the situation. Again, my shoulders shook in laughter.

"Stop making a fool of yourself and of your friends," Ashton suggested him, rolling his eyes as he removed his hold from his shirt.

His friend jumped slightly on his spot and asked with a wicked glint in his eyes, "Are you sure this is the reason why you stopped me from dancing on the street with the beautiful Elizabeth?"

"Of course," Ashton answered with disinterest in his voice as we started climbing the stairs that lead to my apartment.

"But you didn't say anything when two years back we walked on the streets of London as cross dressers," Mr. Bingley pointed out and what he said made both Ashton and I stop dead in our tracks.

"You what?"

"You a*shole!"

These were mine and Ashton's words respectively at the same time. The only difference was my question was directed towards him and his curse was directed towards his friend. I doubled over in laughter as his words settled in my mind and all kinds of colorful pictures got painted in my head, thanks to my creative imagination.

"Do you have any sense or not?" Ashton shouted at his friend as he killed him with his deadly gaze.

But that didn't affect my mood as I asked my question, "Do you have any pictures or not?"

Mr. Bingley, as expected, grinned and said, "To answer both of your questions, 'yes'."

"Don't you dare show those to anyone," Ashton growled, but both of us ignored it and got indulged in laughing heartily.

"You have to show me!" I told him.

"Of course!"

"Like hell you would!" Ashton walked past us. "Do you remember that one time when one of your hook ups ended being a mugger and stole everything... even your underwear?" His smirk was enough to tell his friend that he knew way too many secrets and this was just the beginning of disclosing one of those.

"Oh God!" I gasped and started laughing, yet again. "That must have been priceless," I said between my laughter.

For once, Mr. Bingley wasn't laughing. He looked at Ashton with determination in his eyes and then he looked at me and said, "He spat on the face of the girl who tried to steal his first kiss."

A loud gasp escaped my lips and I covered my mouth in utter shock. I didn't know what was weirder, the thought that he spat on some girl's face or the little picture of him kissing some other girl. I had to put a full stop on my flying imagination!

Ashton's face paled a bit at the revelation and he looked embarrassed as he looked at me with wide eyes. "I was just a kid!" He clarified his past actions, looking back at his friend.

Mr. Bingley threw his head back in laughter and added, "A seventeen year old kid!"

My eyes widened to the size of saucers at the latest piece of information. His first kiss when he was seventeen? How in the world did he become the player he is now? For some reason, I had pictured him as a player since forever, but never as a guy who would spit on a girl, approaching him for a kiss. A smile tugged at my lips as I watched Ashton, who was looking at his friend with a murderous glare.

I wanted to know more; more about how he was before becoming the rude, ill mannered jerk that he was now. And for that, I wanted his friend to continue speaking, which he thankfully did.

"Weren't you a shy seventeen year old?" He teased and a little chuckle in pure amusement left my lips.

Ashton's mouth gaped open as he stared at his friend and then at me, most probably thinking about his next move – his friend's next big secret. With the sudden glint in his eyes and the smirk that covered his face, I knew that he had managed to find his next weapon. He proved me right with his next words. "Liana, you've always wanted to know his real name, right? Well, here it is! His name is..."

And before he could end the mystery for forever, his friend had him pinned to my apartment's door with his hand clasping Ashton's mouth. He was shaking his head in a series of 'no'.

"Let him tell!" I begged, trying to push Mr. Bingley off Ashton. But he was strong and my feeble attempts did nothing to move him.

Ignoring me, he exclaimed, "Have I ever told you, my dearest friend, Darcy, how much I love you?"

In reply, Ashton removed his friend's hand from over his mouth and guffawed like a mad man, while I cried out, "No! Tell me his name!" Yet again, I was painfully ignored by the two friends as one of them laughed and the other sighed in relief before grinning like his usual self.

*****

Day - 13

No matter how much I pried the previous day, I didn't get to know his friend's name. Their love had been restored after Mr. Bingley's confession and they were best buddies again. No more spilling of dirty secrets. Trying to know his name had been a failed attempt on my part, just like meeting the next candidate had been the previous afternoon.

Things were not getting any better as with each passing day, my feelings for Ashton were growing at a rapid pace. I had to make sure that he ends up liking someone, in order to make things easier for me. But, unfortunately, every meeting was proving to be futile.

"You've got to try this lasagna. Ivy is an amazing cook," Mike informed me with pride in his voice and on his facial features.

My eyes darted towards Ivy, who was blushing slightly at her boyfriend's compliment. A smile made its way to my lips as I watched them together. They made a lovely couple. Ivy, as Mike had mentioned earlier, was a shy girl, but we shared a mutual love for novels, which helped in subsiding her shyness.

I couldn't help but lick my lips after taking that delicious bite of lasagna. Grinning, I told her, "You've got to give me the recipe. This is amazing."

She laughed lightly at the compliment and said, "Sure."

There was no chance that I was going to say 'no' to Mike's dinner invitation when he called me in the afternoon. Add to that, this time Ashton and I didn't get stuck in any kind of traffic when I told him about my dinner plans. He had very kindly- as kindly as he could manage – dropped me at my place after meeting one of the candidates.

I had to meet the girl who had successfully managed to wrap the school's player around her little finger. She was beautiful with her dark blonde hair that passed her shoulders and her chocolate brown eyes that always managed to land on Mike with such clear love and adoration that I felt nothing but completely happy for the lovely couple.

Could I ever find this kind of peace in life . . . with Ashton? I shook my head to clear it from such thoughts yet again. I didn't want this with Ashton. I wanted to focus on my career and for that, I had to make him fall for someone. So, as I sat opposite Mike and his girlfriend, Ivy, on the dinner table in Mike's apartment, my thoughts drifted towards the last meeting we had that afternoon with the next candidate – Jasmine Ralph – twenty three year old cartoon artist.

######

The afternoon of Day Twelve

"Am I supposed to introduce myself as Aladdin? Oh, you're Genie?" My lips lifted slightly upwards at Ashton's joke and I shook my head. I didn't say anything as I didn't trust myself to say anything to him. Here I was, again, making him meet a new girl; a girl he could possibly fall in love with. And yet again, there was that pain in my heart that I tried my best to subside.

Could I see him with another girl or was it better to think about what they might be talking about from afar, like last night? I shook my head at my thoughts and decided to take the best course of action – having a sip of my latte.

"Wow! You're hot."

Our heads snapped up to see the girl who had spoken these words, obviously directing them towards Ashton. Her white blonde hair fell over her forehead, touching her eyebrows. Her freckled cheeks gave her a cute appeal. But that cute appeal was stolen by her lip piercing. That must be new, I concluded. She didn't have the lip piercing in the pictures. However, it suited her. It gave her a raw edge. The oddest part was that her dark blue eyes were fixed on me, rather than on Ashton.

"Really hot!" She completed her sentence and my mouth gaped open as I tried to think of something to say.

"Thanks?" I raised my eyebrows with a smile and glanced towards Ashton, who was looking between Jasmine and me with amusement sparkling in his beautiful gray eyes.

She grinned at my reply and made herself comfortable on the couch between Ashton and me. "You must be Liana Moore. I'm Jasmine."

"I know. Nice to meet you. This is Ashton Parker," I introduced them and she glanced in his direction with a little smile.

"Whatever! I've always wanted to meet you since I read your first article almost a year back," she said with a fond smile, surprising me. By looks, she didn't look like someone who was a romantic. Recalling the famous saying 'never judge a book by its cover', I receded my surprise and focused my attention back on her words. "The way you write about love and the stories you pick to write about are so heart touching that I just don't have words. I'm a fan, Liana. Truly! Add to that, you're hot."

While my heart swelled with little pride at her praise, which was odd as I didn't feel anything negative about hearing about 'The Love Column' now, my mind made an unsettling groan at her last words. I pressed my lips together as I watched her looking at me with nothing but awe. Not knowing what to do and what to say, my eyes drifted towards Ashton, who was holding back his chuckles or laughter by covering his mouth with the back of his hand.

Smiling at her, I chose my only true companion – coffee, and took a sip of it. Jasmine took that very moment to say her next words, "Your writing is one of the reasons that my girlfriend and I are together today."

I choked while Ashton stifled his chuckles. "Sorry," I apologized when I recovered and said, "That's wonderful."

"I know, right? One fine day, I was reading your article in the Central Park and just two feet away, another gorgeous girl was reading the same magazine. Our eyes met, we smiled, I lifted the magazine to show her what I was reading in a completely friendly gesture and she lifted her's. Surprisingly, both of us were reading your first article. We laughed, sat together and discussed about how amazing you write. And then, we started meeting everyday at our spot. Rue and I have been dating for almost ten months now. Thank you!"

My heart warmed at her story and I couldn't help the smile that made its way to my lips despite of the initial surprise.

"That's a lovely story, Jasmine," Ashton said the words that I was about to say. With that, I welcomed back my surprise. Ashton finding someone's love story 'lovely' was a miracle in itself. Knowing Ashton, what was lovelier was the fact that we had one more candidate who was out of consideration.

"Thanks." She grinned.

"Yeah, that's great. Really!" I smiled as her happiness was infectious. "But then why did you agree to meet Ashton for this matchmaking thing?" I couldn't help but ask the only valid question in this situation.

She laughed as if I had just asked her a very stupid question. "Because I wanted to meet you. Isn't that obvious? C'mon, let me take a picture of you." Ashton and I laughed at her enthusiasm. Awkwardly, I shrugged my shoulders as I faced Ashton. This girl was making me feel like a celebrity. I was not that! Not at all!

As if sensing my uneasiness, Ashton's lips curled up in one his most beautiful and genuine smiles; the smile that made my heart skip a beat and suddenly, made everything alright.

With that the flash went off.

######

"You seem lost." Mike's voice brought me back from the little flashback and I offered a smile to him while shaking my head.

"I'm lost in the deliciousness of Ivy's cooking. You surpass me!" There was no use of expressing my absurdly confused thoughts in front of them.

The couple laughed lightly, but thankfully didn't indulge in too much display of their affections. Though, their eyes said a lot, which was kind of cute and uncomfortable at the same time.

"So, any progress with Ashton?"

I grimaced at Mike's question and took my sweet time in chewing the bite that was currently in my mouth. "I'm trying to find the perfect match for him. So far, we have met a weirdo who has a thing for group pleasures." They chuckled at that and I continued, "Then we met a girl who had already slept with Ashton a few months back, well, the surprise element was the fact that he had also slept with her mother." The couple laughed at that revelation along with me. "Then we met a fitness freak whose idea of a date was jogging in the park at seven in the morning. There was a face reader, who was genuinely a wonderful person, but things didn't work out for some reason." I didn't get into the details of her knowing about my crush on Ashton, that piece of information was not required. "We met a beautiful lawyer and a completely gorgeous fashion designer, but for some unknown reasons, Ashton didn't take any interest in them. Maybe, they were too active in comparison to his lethargic self." Again, they laughed at my narrations and I continued, "The girl we met today looked quite pretty but she had a foul smell, like really bad. Oh, and the girl we met yesterday, was a lesbian. So yeah, no progress till now."

"You've an interesting job," Ivy commented with a smile on her face.

I scoffed. "Not really. However, I would love to see some of your work sometime. I don't know much about art, but I know when I like something I see."

Grinning at my interest, she said, "Of course! I have an exhibition next month here. I want you to come."

'I won't be here in New York next month,' I wanted to tell her, but kept quiet and chose to smile.

My phone vibrated in my pocket and I was quick to take it out, hoping it was Ashton. My lips curved up in a huge smile when my suspicions proved right. 'Make sure the next one smells better.' His message read and a little chuckle escaped my lips.

'Should have added the question – 'what perfume do you use?' in the profiles, right? Did you really not like Brooke?' I typed and pressed the send button, biting my lips as I waited for his answer.

"Liana, you want to look at Seth's wedding pictures?" Mike asked.

"You have them?" I asked back in surprise. "Of course, I want to see. I didn't click any picture that day."

"Of course!" He rolled his eyes at me. "Both of you look at these. There are a few great pictures of Ashton and you as well." He wiggled his eyebrows at me and made me look at him with nothing but curiosity.

My phone vibrated again and I opened to read his message. 'She was too high maintenance. Not my type!'

The little girl in me danced a happy dance as I read his message, and I typed, 'What do you actually want? Huh?'

We started seeing the few pictures he had clicked with his phone and we couldn't help but say a few 'awws' at the beautiful and cute pictures of the couple.

Ashton's message again popped up and I read it, 'Your definition of the day.'

An inaudible chuckle escaped my lips and as I started typing my message, 'Love is...', Ivy's voice interrupted me, "Zacchaeus, what is he doing here?"

Startled at her shocked voice, I looked at the picture she was looking at. A frown covered my face as I saw her looking at a picture of Ashton dancing with me. I had no clue that Mike had sneakily taken this picture. It was towards the end of our little dance competition when both of us were looking into each other's eyes. A warm feeling started spreading inside me as I looked at it. We did look good together.

But then Ivy's last words settled in my mind, and I saw her still looking at the picture with surprise. "Who Zacchaeus?" I asked with a frown.

"Well, I call him Zach. Zacchaeus is a little tongue twisting and a mouth full." She chuckled.

My eyes went towards Mike, who was looking at the picture as if remembering something and then he said, "Ah, I did tell you that I have seen him somewhere. Now I remember, he had put up an exhibition with Ivy in Paris a few months back. I couldn't go there, but she showed me the pictures. Amazing artist. No wonder, I didn't know him as Ashton."

"It's his secret. He doesn't want the world to know about his identity. I mean, the media shows him in such a bad light every now and then. With his amazing work and achievements, he can shut everybody's mouth, but he chooses not to. I wonder why," Ivy said with a grimace.

As I took in every word they had said, I felt every bit of energy leave my body. Breathing raggedly, I shook my head in order to stop myself from imagining things. But the bitter truth was that I wasn't imagining anything. With shaking hands, I tugged a strand of hair behind my ear.

My phone vibrated again, indicating his new message which read, 'Liana, love is...?'

I gripped the phone tighter in my palm as I faced the many truths; the incomplete truths.

That painting in my room; it is his creation.

How could I be so stupid? So naïve?

Amongst every other thought that crossed my mind in that one minute, one particular thought that overpowered every other was the fact that I had been lied to, yet again. Even after telling him every bit of my past, he had not trusted me even the slightest. I had been made fool of. I had been betrayed, yet again.

With clammy hands, a tightly clenched jaw, and tear filled eyes, I typed my last message to him, 'Betrayal.'

****

A/N

Tadaa! Here is the much awaited update. Lol!

This time, Ashton is screwed!

Tell me, how was it? Yes, many of you had already figured this out as it was actually quite obvious! :D Well done, people! Yayy!

VOTE COMMENT FAN!

Thanks! <3