Resisting Mr. Heart Breaker

This 29th year of Aria's life would be the last year she would get to do whatever pleased her. The moment she clocked thirty, it would be time for her to take over from her father as the CEO of 'Queens'.

Her only competition was her sister; Amy, but Aria was confident in her abilities. As far as Aria was concerned, Amy stood no chance against her. Therefore, Aria wanted to spend the earliest hours of her 29th birthday, planning the next year, so she could have maximum fun while working hard. Dearest Lucas just had to come and ruin it.

Gadamn it!

She struck the steak on her plate viciously as her inside curled with suppressed anger while her perfectly made-up face carried the serenity of an elegant, confident, self-aware, pretty woman.

Lucas was startled by the sudden movement, and he glanced up from trying to cut a piece of his steak.

"Is something wrong with the steak?" He asked, looking worried.

"No." Aria heaved. "The steak is perfect." She met his worried gaze with a reassuring smile. A smile meant for the well-hidden camera of the bald pig that was eating at the table right behind Lucas.

Aria was pissed because Lucas had unknowingly brought the paparazzi with him.

Lucas returned her smile with an indulgent one that spoke of love and devotion. He then quickly cut up his steak and swapped their plates.

Aria acted touched and they kissed across the table. No paparazzi worth its salt would miss this kind of shot. Aria had sighted 3 of them, but when the kiss happened, the others stopped being so discreet. They brought out their gears and snapped away.

Instantly, all over the internet, the pictures of Aria and Lucas surfaced and started spreading. Lots of netizens gushed over the beautiful pictures. Their fans...

Yes, they have fans.

Their fans started praising their outfits and price-tagging them. Everyone knew that today was Aria's birthday, and they were waiting for pictures.

In the past years, her birthdays have always been private but wild, and they didn't expect anything less. It was private because it always consisted of her best friend, her assistant, her boyfriend; if she had one at the time, and herself.

Just three to four people. But these four would turn wherever they went upside down. She would close down shops for shopping and hire whoever was the most popular musician to perform.

The next day, Aria would release pictures and video clips on her social media pages. Teddy was her media handler. She would send out clips and transcripts of the previous day's activities to selected media houses.

But here was Aria, eating at a restaurant with the love of her life and kissing across the table. It was a pleasant shock.

After the kiss, Lucas got up and used his napkin to gently dab at Aria's lips, helping her to clean her lipstick which wasn't even smudged.

"Thank you." She giggled like a love-sick girl when he was done.

"Finish up, birthday girl. I have a little surprise for you." Lucas leaned over and whispered to her.

Aria returned his mysterious look with a curious and excited gaze. "A surprise? Babe! Okay, I will finish up now."

She truly wanted to finish up, just so that she could leave and not give a damn about his gift. She dug into her food while the other customers watched them with wishful eyes, envying what the cute couple had.

30 minutes later, they were done with dessert and Aria was just dropping her napkin when Lucas suddenly stood up from his chair and went on his knees with sparkling eyes.

"Aria." He called out softly to her as he brought out a red jewelry box from the inside of his black suit.

Shit! Not again! Aria groaned inwardly.

"What are you doing?" She asked Lucas with a small smile.

In response to her question, Luca opened the red box, revealing a white golden ring with a diamond stuck on it. The diamond caught the lighting of the restaurant and sparkled, drawing everyone's attention. Everyone who saw the diamond gasped.

Except for Aria.

The sweet girl smiles she had before was gone. In its place was her signature ice-queen stare that announces her anger.

Lucas was surprised. An ominous feeling started enveloping him.

Is she upset that I am proposing to her...? That will be ridiculous.

"Lucas, what are you doing?" Aria asked again.

Taking a deep breath, Lucas shrugged off his unease and pressed forward, maintaining his awe-struck gaze.

"Aria, we have been together for so long..."

Aria twitched her nose. It was a slight movement but Lucas saw it and he started losing his confidence.

Something told him to withdraw his ring and stand up, but how could he? What would people say about him if he does that? He has to go through with his plans.

^^

Aria Queens just clocked 29, but her little oval face with small lips and enough flesh just for a little bite betrayed none of that. She looked better than any 25-year-old eating at any of the tables inside the West Palm Beach restaurant where she was having a late lunch. Sitting across from her was Lucas Meyers, her boyfriend of 15 months.

Lucas is handsome and tall; almost 6 feet (1.83 m), - and that was all that Aria liked about him. The fact that she could place her head on his chest and he would rest his chin in the middle of it.

The picture they took with that pose is her favorite couple's picture. Considering the number of men she has gone through in the past ten years, Aria has what should be considered a large collection of couples' pictures.

For Aria's 29th birthday, she had only wanted to attend West Palm Beach's once-in-a-year SunFest Music Festival. And thereafter, spend two months in Hawaii, having fun... alone.

Who would have thought that Lucas, her boyfriend who was supposed to be supervising a project in Thailand, would suddenly show up at her hotel room with that annoying smile of his, saying he didn't tell her he was coming because he wanted to surprise her?

Aria didn't want any surprises. She was happy he would be away. The best gift he could have given her was to stay the hell in Thailand, let her send pictures from the Fest, then call her at midnight this morning to say 'Happy birthday!' That would have been the best gift from him. But Lucas just had to ruin everything.

That wasn't the only thing pissing her off.

After her breakup with Peter, a future Duke of Scotland, 7 years ago, the media had turned hostile. One would think that the Americans would pick sides with her. But, no! They sided with Peter, the Duke-to-be.

The media craze over her breakup was so much that 'She went out of circulation for two years.'- a media outlet had reported after it was leaked that she was dating again.

Until this day, Aria still couldn't figure out why they were so angry. Was it because she refused to be the next Meghan, or because she refused to give a single reason for calling off their relationship?

Several years later, with 6 more exes in between, Aria has long stopped worrying about what the media says about her or the fact that wherever she goes, more than one paparazzi follows her.

"Real Celebrities don't have it this bad." Teddy, her best friend, had complained at the airport a few days ago.

For her 29th birthday, Aria didn't want any crowd. She didn't want any audience. She wanted to be alone. Aria put a lot of effort into making sure no one would know about her whereabouts except for Lucas; her boyfriend, Robin; her assistant, and Teddy; her best friend. She also made it clear to them that they were not allowed to tell anybody.

She had been in Florida for some days now. Went everywhere without cameras, and attended the Music Fest, which ended last night because of Lucas who appeared out of the blues.

Until Lucas' arrival, everything was perfect.